#fuck everyone who likes to talk about everyone except about the real victims

[dez-wade]

So how long until people say the French union who sued other big game companies don't know what they're saying or how it works?

[sourlove]

Kingpin ~ Part III of 'Street Rat' YANDERE BAKUGO KATSUKI

TW: OBSESSION, KIDNAPPING, YANDERE THEMES, MENTIONED GANG ACTIVITIES, MENTIONED MURDER, MENTIONED BLACKMAIL

READ PART 1 HERE

READ PART 2 HERE

(Female reader) (Mild NSFW)

Bakugo Katsuki was a force of nature. When Eijiro met him, Katsuki was an angry scrap of a boy who everyone thought was going to get himself killed with his attitude. But he didn't.

Despite having a rough start in life, he managed to join a small time gang on the outskirts of the city and fought his way, literally and figuratively, to the top. Eijiro was proud to stand next to Katsuki as his best friend and right hand man. He thought he knew everything about the man, from what made him angry (everything) to how he liked his coffee (black, boiling hot). Eijiro did know everything about Katsuki.

Everything, except you.

You were a wildcard nobody expected. When Katsuki ordered an attack on a wedding of all things, nobody questioned him. When he forcefully silenced all the guests in attendance with blackmail, everyone dismissed it as standard procedure. But when he brutally slaughtered the groom and showed up with the bride in his arms, it definitely raised some eyebrows.

From the moment you woke up at their base, you had done nothing but cause trouble. You would throw tantrums, destroy furniture and torment everybody who was unfortunate enough to approach. You were beautiful, sure, but clearly batshit insane and everybody tried to steer clear of you as much as they possibly could.

That's why it was so It was off-putting how nice Katsuki was to you. Eijiro had watched his boss rip out a man's tongue and feed it to his dogs because the man had called him called him weak. Now, you could hurl every insult under the sun at him and Katsuki would pat your head with an indulgent smile. You spoke like everyone was beneath you, sometimes barking out orders to the men who would stop and stare in confusion. Until Katsuki showed up.

"The fuck are you dipshits looking at? Did she fucking stutter?"

It was pretty clear that Katsuki worshipped the ground you walked on. And Eijiro supported that, he really did! Being so unashamedly in love, especially in their line of business, was pretty manly. He only had a real problem with how you treated Katsuki like trash. Even as a rookie on the streets, he was never one to take orders from anyone. But he jumped through flaming hoops to spoil you, just for his gifts to be thrown back in his face.

Literally. That was your favorite form of attack and your favorite victim seemed to be the man who would kill someone for you. Sure there was that little issue of Katsuki actually killing your very new husband, but couldn't you see that he was doing his best to make up for it?

Now, Eijiro wasn't the brightest crayon in the box but even he knew that the relationship between the two of you might not be the healthiest. So as the best bro he had to ask Katsuki, preferably when you weren't there. Though that proved to be very difficult (why did you go everywhere with the man if you couldn't stand him?!), Eijiro managed to slip into Katsuki's office when you went to bed and Katsuki wanted to get some work done.

"Hey Boss! Long time, no see, huh?"

The ashy blonde eyed him suspiciously. "I saw you an hour ago, Shitty Hair. You on drugs?" He turned back to his paperwork with a huff.

Eijiro laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, I mean, sure I always see you, but...you're always with her."

It was only years of being in close proximity with the Kingpin himself, that alerted Eijiro to the fact that he had just acquired a shovel and was about to start digging his own grave. Katsuki calmly dropped his pen and steepled his fingers over the papers he was working on. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

The redhead gulped. "Nothing! There's absolutely nothing wrong with your relationship. Okay, good talk! Bye!" He stood up to escape.

"Sit down."

Eijiro sat down. Katsuki sighed and rubbed his face tiredly. "You know, she's the only reason I'm where I am today."

"...what?"

"Look, Y/N, she-she was the prettiest girl I ever set my eyes on." He reclined into his seat, looking off thoughtfully into the distance. "Everyone wanted her but no one deserved her, not even me." Katsuki chuckled ruefully. "I always thought I had no chance, until she gave me one. And I'm obviously not a fucking idiot so I took it."

Eijiro frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"Look around, Shitty Hair," he gestured to his office. "Do you think I give a fuck about all this fancy shit? It's all for her. Everything I have, everything I am, is all for Y/N."

"Bro, that's like, romantic but also a bit concerning. Everything you have? That's like...everything!"

Katsuki scowled at him. "Yeah no shit, dumbass. I'm gonna marry that girl."

"Woah, bro," Eijiro sniffled. "You're so manly! I totally respect your decision now, even though everyone said you were as crazy as her!"

"What the fuck did you just say?! Oi, Shitty Hair! Get back here, fucking coward!"

Katsuki growled as the annoying idiot who called himself a friend scurried away. He glanced outside and noted the dark sky, before packing up his remaining paperwork and hurrying out of his office. The few goons that saw Katsuki only received a grunt in return of their greetings before the boss flew off, leaving them wondering where he was rushing to.

Or who he was rushing to. When Katsuki carefully opened the door, you were stretched across the bed, fast asleep. He smiled and quickly took of his clothes, before slipping into bed next to you. While Katsuki enjoyed Y/N at any time, he especially enjoyed you when you was sleeping. Then, he could admire as much as he wanted without any disturbance.

He stroked a finger down your cheek and bit his lip. Once a distant dream, you were so soft and warm laying beside him. Now, he could also touch you as much as he wanted. And this time, you let him.

You woke up to the feeling of Katsuki's stubble scratching you as he mouthed hungrily at your neck. Rough, calloused hands tugged at your nightgown and squeezed your soft flesh.

"Noo, get off" you whined, half-asleep. "Still sore..."

He chuckled lowly. "My bad, baby. I'll be gentle this time."

You pouted as he nipped at your collarbone. "Liar. You're always so mean-ah!" His hands ripped your nightgown down the middle, finally growing impatient, and Katsuki grinned wickedly.

"Hmm, you say that now," he cooed. "But you love it, don'tcha? So be a good girl and spread your legs for me, sweets~"

A/N: This has been requested a lot and shown so much love! Its insane how I only started posting a couple of days ago and I already have so much support. Leave an ask if you want to see some side stories or headcanons!

Please leave a like, comment and reblog if you enjoyed. Go ahead and give yourself a kiss on the cheek for being so amazing xxx

@darious @ssplague @justabratsworld @pinkrose1422 @slayfics

[telekinetic-electronica]

bendy, "ink demon", and trauma responses

I've recently got back into Bendy. (tbh this shit is never gonna be going away this has been my special interest for 7 years FDKJNDSJKFD) and I did some thinking on him again. It's crazy to me on how... dehumanized Bendy was. While, yes, he's not an actual human, but he's still, y'know a person. He has feelings, he's conscious. He just doesn't have a soul. Which brings me to this post. The Ink Demon has never been called by Bendy. Which, you're all like "well, duh. That's his ink form. His other form is his toon form, just to tell which forms apart." I know that's possible the case. But I do wanna look into this attitude a bit more. When Bendy was first created, Joey literally called Bendy a THING, and for him to lock him away because he wasn't what he wanted. His literal crime was looking scary. So, Thomas Connor and Gent by the request of Joey, locked Bendy away for... God knows how long. Tbh, it's never clear on how Bendy ever acts, but Bendy was probably scared out of his mind. Can you imagine you're finally made and some people are talking. You have no idea what's going on, but this Joey dude says that you're wrong. You came out wrong. You are a mistake. You're suppose to be loveable, silent, and small. But you're not that. You're tall, empowering, posing, and not even a real chance to prove you're not as scary as you look. You aren't even called by your name, nor the title you would gain via your infamy. You are a thing. You are not someone who has emotions or needs, a thing. You are a monster. Now, you're locked away, probably terrified, and calling for help but people around you are too scared of you to help or don't wanna face the wrath of this Joey Drew.

I think Alice said this best back in Chapter 4 of the original game. At the studio, you were in someone's pocket, or someone was in yours. The studio was a disaster pit. Even if not everything happened was "real" or w/e, Joey was still a dickhead to everyone around him. Bendy was no exception. I think Bendy probably learned the best way to survive the studio, and the harsh reality around him was to manipulate. Bendy is a pretty good manipulator, he can get into someone's head, mess with them, and still taunt them. No one is born or created evil. That's a learned method.

In extreme cases of trauma, many people are in survival mode and thinking about themselves to survive, and how they can get by. This is because their safety, wants, and needs weren't being met. Not to mention, Joey and Gent just threw Bendy into the cartoon world, probably to just lock him away forever. Joey locked Bendy up for God knows how long, and now he's in this like- cartoon world version of the studio. He goes from nothing to everything in one fell swoop. This just made Bendy retreat more into himself. It just made his coping mechanism of always having to be on top, always being in control, the one everyone needs to fear. Because, fuck it.

If he's so horrible, if he's so monstrous, if he's so terrible, than he'll just become it. Minus when Bendy meets Audrey in his toon form, Bendy doesn't have anyone. Bendy has never been shown any warmth, kindness, or love in his entire life. The only thing he does know is pain, suffering, coldness, been abandoned, and been made out to be a monster. Which brings me to this - no one has every called the Ink Demon by his real name.

Even when he's technically no longer being locked away, and ruling the cartoon studio, he's still been dehumanized. Or never seen as a fellow victim of the machine and Joey. Everyone has said to BEWARE the Ink Demon, look out for him, and watch your back. The one rule down there was always beware the Ink Demon. Hell, Bendy calls himself the Ink Demon. Bendy has just embraced the title of being seen as this almighty, opposing figure. People either blindly worshipped him or feared him. They never saw him as someone who was unjustly hurt. Unjustly locked away and abandoned. Unjustly painted as a monster because he didn't turn out the way Joey wanted him to be.

You know who has called Bendy by his name? Someone, for the first time, called him by his real name and not some title?

Audrey.

Audrey is the first person to show Bendy any kindness or warmth. While, yes, it was in his toon form. He actually gets treated like a person. Someone who has emotions, and even APOLOGIZED when she, on accident, hurt him. And Hell, dude accepts it! I really hope, going forward, as a way for Bendy to heal when he's in his Ink Demon form, Audrey shows him the same compassion and kindness in that form of his. But she also calls him by his name. Bendy. Not to mention...

The cycles are interesting to me. It could possibly just being a plot thing. But it could be seen as a continuing of generational trauma and toxicity, and Audrey is the one who stops it. Joey clearly has some shit going on. He hates not being in control and wants to be in control of how other people perceive him. So, he turns out destructive towards everyone. Which is... eerily similar to how Bendy treats his own trauma. Bendy and Joey were physically and emotionally destructive to the people around them. It's also kind of sad because Bendy thinks he's in control of the studio. Dude says it's his domain, when Joey was still in control all along.

Bendy is continuing that toxic cycle. Then Wilson comes along and projects his own trauma, and issues. While the cycle stopped, Wilson didn't make it any better, and probably made the cycle for everyone in the studio just worse. By Audrey having the book now, she's putting a stop to the generational trauma via helping out everyone still trapped and helping Bendy out. That's why I've been calling Ink Demon, Bendy.

Because that's his name, after all.

ADD ON-; I just wanna say that Bendy was HARDCORE self projecting on Audrey near the end. I also wanna touch on Bendy and suffering. Bendy was so miserable, and had nobody he just gave into his own suffering, and became the Ink Demon. If he has to suffer, he's going to make everyone else in the studio suffer. He only found any purpose was in harming others. Also, obvious disclaimer this doesn't justify what he does to the people he has hurt. It explains it, doesn't justify it.

It's just downright depressing that he thinks he had no purpose, his existence was a lie, thought of himself as a mistake, and monster. To be frank, I wouldn't be surprised if Joey called Bendy a monster or a mistake. He did call Bendy a THING after all. I really hope Bendy does get to heal and realize his purpose doesn't need to be him suffering and he can have SOME peace.

[acowardinmordor]

I needed to warm up, so I did not plan, just wrote this, and I'm about to hit post without editing or rereading. This is Steve&Eddie more than its a slash

----------

It was a week after the rumors made the rounds about Harrington and Hargrove getting into a fight. Eddie would normally assume it was nothing but posting jock bullshit, and ignore it the same way he ignored what he overheard about cheerleaders hooking up with other cheerleader's boyfriends. Except a couple days after the rumors hit a peak, Harrington showed up at school looking like someone beat his face in with a plate.

That made a pretty strong argument for the rumors being true.

The guy avoided his old crowd, and despite his ex and her new boyfriend - if that rumor is true, there was some overlap - trying to include him, he kept away from everyone for the first two days.

Eddie put him out of mind, one less asshole to cause trouble, one less shithead to dodge. Not his problem. Until he found Harrington sitting at his table in the woods the next week. It made sense, sort of. The guy was obviously having a shit time, and like most of the locals that kept Eddie's business afloat, he was looking for a distraction.

Eddie was right, and Harrington bought some weed before asking about getting anything stronger.

"I don't know man, I just wanna like, not be in my body for a while."

"Fair enough, but I don't keep that on me.

Harrington showed up when told to, and bought enough shit that Eddie hesitated before handing it over. He gave the guy a whole speech about not overdosing and ruining Eddie's upstanding reputation. Whether he listened or not wasn't something he could control.

So, the next Monday, when Harrington chased him down, and, as best as Eddie could tell, tried to become his friend, Eddie's first thought was that it was a ploy to get his next massive purchase of drugs on discount.

But Harrington didn't buy again except for a bit of weed. He did stick around. Outright said he wanted to be Eddie's friend. Kept at it through January until Eddie, confused as shit, admitted that yeah, they were friends. Mostly friends at least. There was stuff that Steve wouldn't talk about; his headaches, his nightmares, his tendency to freak the fuck out if the electricity got weird. Maybe it was better to say that Steve was his study partner who he sometimes hung out with. Cause that was the thing, Steve was pushy about Eddie studying.

"You really want to come back for a third run at graduating, man? Fuck that. 85 is gonna be your year, even if I have to bribe the teachers to pull it off"

"Why do you even care Steve? Maybe I want to become a legend of terrible scholarship in this crap town."

Steve never gave a real answer about it, just kept pushing him, hounding him about his homework, and showing up at his trailer every morning to drag Eddie out of bed if he had to. Wayne thought the whole thing was incredible and gave the guy a spare key. Traitor.

They got closer. Eddie finally met the kids Steve babysat. They immediately decided that Eddie was much cooler than Steve, and ragged on him constantly about it. They were close. They were. Fell asleep at each other's places. Spent half their time together.

Close, but not close enough for Eddie to get answers about why the fuck Steve had bruises and burns and scrapes sometimes. Bad ones. No matter how many times he said it, Steve didn't get those because he got distracted while cooking. It drove Eddie crazy sometimes. That was a lie. It drove him crazy all the time. Steve would tell him about how shit his parents were, but wouldn't admit why the fuck he needed stitches at the top of May.

"You did it."

"I think you'll find that you're the one that did it, Steve, I was an unwilling kidnapping victim in your quest to get us both across that stage."

It wasn't graceful, literally or figuratively, but Eddie got his diploma in 1985. Steve gave him what he said was a small part of his grad present from his parents. A thousand dollars. A thousand goddamn dollars. It was enough that Eddie didn't put the dots together right away. A small part, plus Steve's crappy job at the newly opened mall.

It was weird. But Eddie let it go, because Steve was his friend, maybe could have been best friends if the guy would stop pulling back whenever they got too close. He let it go, and he let Steve push him towards the goal of getting the fuck out of that town, and he promised he'd call when he got to Chicago.

It didn't really click for Eddie until he heard about the mall burning down from Wayne, that Steve never promised that he'd call too. The guy was there, and when Eddie called and demanded to know if he was okay, got another partial answer, another dodge, another thing for the list of shit his friend wouldn't talk about.

They fought about it. Loud enough as Eddie shouted into the phone that his neighbor banged on the wall. Maybe Eddie crossed a line. Maybe he crossed it a long while back. He didn't know. Eddie kept calling until September, but on the rare times that Steve answered, it was awkward and curt and terrible. He stopped trying when Wayne told him that Steve never stopped by, or even waved when they crossed paths.

Steve wanted it over, and it was so fucking weird. The guy slammed into Eddie's life out of nowhere, shifted it, changed the course, cause there was no way in hell Eddie would have graduated if it wasn't for Steve forcing him to try. The guy did all that, and nine months later, was gone again. Out of his life.

It was a week after new rumors reached him in February of 86 that a package arrived. His uncle called outside their normal plans, and said it wasn't sure yet, that there wasn't any proof, but Steve was missing, and some of those kids of his said he'd saved their lives. Said that he wasn't going to come back. Wayne didn't really understand what it meant, but passed on a message from those kids that they'd answer when he called.

Eddie got a box a week after finding out that Steve was gone, full of letters. Long, detailed, apologetic letters. The first was dated in December of 84, written after Steve spent a weekend 'out of his body' just like he wanted to be. The promises at the start didn't make sense. Steve said he'd save him. Steve said he'd make sure he got out. The apologies got more complex. Something about keeping Eddie away from friends he'd never make. About being selfish. About keeping secrets and lying when all he really wanted was to tell Eddie everything.

It was so fucking weird.

The last one was dated a couple days before things went bad in Hawkins, longer than all of the others. Monsters and nightmares and death and chance to make it right. Apologies for not doing it better, doing it sooner. For not wanting to risk it, for pushing Eddie away. Promises that Steve would call him as soon as it was over, that he was only writing this just in case. That it wouldn't ever be sent, and he'd burn the whole box after they won. Then he'd drive up and apologize in person, explain it in person, fix it, because Eddie meant more to him that Steve had ever let show, and he wanted to make it right.

At the bottom was a post script.

"Eds, If it doesn't work out, call this number, and ask for Robin. She knows the whole thing. She'll help. So will the kids. I hope you never read this. So I'm sorry if you are."

[brujahinaskirt]

Real talk: I used to dislike LH Arthur because fanon low-honor Arthur is... boring. But canon low-honor Arthur? He--his arc--is somethin' else.

[RDR2 MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW]

To start with what LH Arthur is not: MOST (not all, most) of the time, the fandom's interpretation (generous word choice) of low-honor Arthur amounts to little more than a mind-numbingly generic dark edgelord fuckprince with little to zero textual support. All his interesting traits, concerns, and cares are stripped away to leave a generic evil sexyman doll with no psychological complexity and maximum y/n fuckability. Or even duller, fanon LH Arthur is just a cornball redditor projecting all the dumb chaos shit they did in sandbox mode into the narrative and promptly ignoring said narrative in its entirety. (i.e., HAR HAR ARTHUR CANONICALLY BURNED HIS HORSE NAMED MARY ALIVE FOR FUN AND PISSED ON THE ASHES, YOU CAN DO THAT SO IT MEANS ROCKSTAR SAID IT HAPPENED) (sorry about your brain)

... but the canon low-honor Arthur trajectory is actually so fucking good. like yesss son please wake the fuck up after 20 years of consciously and painfully murdering your own self-concept to transform yourself into a workhorse of service to provide for a father who gives you nothing in return except a shadow of love (not even a genuine thank you).

yessss it is time to notice yourself again after two decades of blindness, to try and stop the bleeding, but you have lost your ability to heal with the crude tools you have turned your hands/mind/soul into (and for what? for whom??). So all you have at your disposal is to bleed some justice from the prophet-preacher-god-figure who was supposed to love you & love everyone you love most in this world.

yessssss forget revenge and fairness (pretty lies) and just get the only satisfaction available to you which is to make this, the final act of completing your self-destruction at his hands, take his entire family from him (prioritizing the people you love the most, he never deserved them).

And YESSSS use your last acts to spurn him, to rip his mask off, to let him know that YOU, the product of his own creation, his son, the blindly loyal pet he hammered into existence out of a child, SEES HIM for who he really is. Make sure he knows that someone is finally looking through this glitzy shell of a patriarch and psuedo-dreamer and looking RIGHT AT what's really under there. Which is nothing. Make your last words remind him of all the other people who destroyed themselves for him ("not Molly, not Ms. Grimshaw...") because they were more human and lived & felt more genuinely than he ever will. Make SURE he knows that YOU know he has nothing inside him, absolutely fucking nothing, he's not even a complete man; he's just a pathetic shadow of humanness, like a parrot imitating speech without ever really understanding it or feeling the weight of it ("[I'm dying but] you're dead, inside you're dead"); he has therefore become nothing more than the victim of another manipulator, another nothing-creature wrapped in a shell of someone who loves him but doesn't, really, and can't, and never did.

Yessssss hurt him so bad with the way you die he stops talking for seven years

[decolonize-the-everything]

If Americans shouldn't vote for Biden what should they do instead? Vote for trump? Vote third party? Not vote?

(I know most people would probably ask you this in bad faith but I'm just really distraught at the state of politics and keep hearing people say "don't say he's the only option and don't support him" but there's never alternatives given and I don't know what an effective alternative could even be)

I think a good place to start that a lot of people are comfortable with is probably volunteering and petitioning for 3rd parties to make sure they Do have ballot access next year. So that ppl Can vote for someone else next year.

And yes, vote 3rd party this election. Or don't vote at all.

Besides that? Learn some basic defense and join protests. Support encampments and do things leftists say like join a union and organize your own community whether it be your schoolmates, coworkers, or all your friends and their friends.

Y'all see the news right?

Censorship and propaganda are rampant right now, along with transphobia and racism and even Nazis are back. Tensions are high to say the least and everyone is worked up about the election and Israel.

Figure out what you wish someone else would do and then do it. Is that de-arresting protesters? Organizing a bail fund, fighting cops and throwing tear gas back at them when they make things violent?

There's a lot to fight against and even more to fight for. Find what's worth fighting for (to you) and actually start fighting for it. Don't let cops or your principal or boss or anyone else stop you.

I think one of the most important things we can do right now is remind the government and those that serve the government that they won't take our rights so easily. That if they want to silence us then we're gonna make sure it'll hurt more than it'll help. That we can and will fight back.

And that's why it's so vital that we show them we won't settle either. We won't vote for Biden.

We settled for Clinton and look where that got us.

Does it feel like voting for more and more conservative blue candidates actually helped prevent harm? Or does it feel like you were manipulated and lied to?

Gonna be real, it feels like the government is a manipulative abuser and we're all it's gaslit victims who don't want to believe things are that bad just cuz he killed someone else instead of us.

Which is like...it doesn't mean good things for us that our government could do that and we'd rationalize it, you know?

How we want to get out of this fucked up dynamic is up to us. We work, we pay taxes, we listen to the governments rule of law, and still our government won't codify rights, our trans friends are being abused by the government, or it's banning apps with censorship. And the whole time it's telling us to shut up and be grateful it isn't worse.

Abusers never ever tell you that it could be better too. And they don't want you to know that. Cuz then you leave. And if you leave then they can't manipulate and abuse you.

So yeah. They'll shit on us for doing Anything that doesn't result in us staying, for doing anything that results in us choosing our own well being instead of theirs.

But that's what we need to do.

And you need support before you do that. That's what organizing is. It's like calling the besties who hype you up to leave your shitty ex. Except it's a bunch of people agreeing to support each other when they choose to stand up for something. Organizing is making sure there are people watching back and making sure if one of you is harmed or arrested that there'll be someone there to help bail you out.

The more people you have to bail you out, the less you have to worry about being outnumbered, spoken over, or physically stopped with force.

So yeah. Do that.

Organize. I hope I stressed that enough. The people on our front lines need us to be there for them as much we need Them to keep fighting for us.

Also since I'm here: make sure you and your friends don't talk shit about protesters even when they get violent and break shit. It's not abuse when the victim finally hits back at their abuser, it's self defense.

[hero-israel]

Can i just say I am so sick and tired of people claiming genocide. I mean with saying Israel is committing genocide on Palestinians right now. Every time I see it I want to scream. This is one of the numerous reasons why the pro palestine movement sucks. They can't just say something is bad, focus on real grievances. Instead they have to exaggerate and claim everything is the worst possible version. They can't just say "palestinian civilians are suffering," or even "excessive civilian deaths." No. they have to claim genocide.

it’s disgusting. they are appropriating terms and watering them down in the process. genocide is a very real horrific problem that is ACTUALLY happening to people right now... and they have to claim that term for their situation because why? to paint israel/israelis as the ultimate evil? to claim this issue is the worst ever and insist everyone else drop everything and only care about this? to add more emphasis on their lies and propaganda of israel being a colonial empire practicing apartheid? intentional flipping because they know Jews have been victim to genocide (we see this more explicitly when they compare Israel in this war to nazis)?

Maybe part of it is that if israel is responsible for genocide, then there’s no need to acknowledge how HAMAS and their actions play a significant role in palestinian suffering? (It can't be that hamas steals aid for civilians, no it must be 100% israel’s fault and only theirs! Also joe Biden I guess! /sarcasm)

No matter what, it’s a cynical ploy and absolutely disgusting.

In some ways it reminds me of how people online have taken terms like “trigger,” “gaslight,” and more, and completely twisted and watered down their meaning, turned it all into a joke ... except obviously much worse, here.

what really grinds me up is seeing how many people are buying into this. especially gen z. I am so done with my generation honestly. im ashamed to be associated with these people. part of me doesn't get it. im not jewish. and i try my best not to be antisemitic, educate myself. it does take work, but also it’s NOT THAT HARD to just NOT post completely unverified stuff, NOT absorb your news from social media, NOT give accusations of genocide without doing any research, bothering to learn about historical context, actually understanding what experts say and explanations why it is not genocide? And most of all actually LISTEN to jewish people when they talk about their own history and heritage?

Im not saying this to say im so great, in fact it's the opposite: what im doing is nothing special and amazing. it's really BASIC. yet SO MANY PEOPLE fail this??? what the fuck????

I understand people cannot educate themselves on literally very single topic. But then if they are ignorant, then they should just SHUT UP and not weigh on something they didn't take the work to understand. That is not hard!!!! NOT casually throwing around accusations of genocide should be the bare minimum and yet here we are.

All of the above. I am sorry you are dealing with this from so many among your cohort, and deeply appreciate your commitment as a non-Jew to resisting the new Christ-killer / stab-in-the-back mythology. It will continue to be difficult. For decades - for CENTURIES - all the wealthiest and most educated people in societies worldwide "knew" the Jews were guilty of these terrible things.

Derek Chauvin was convicted of the second- and third-degree murder of George Floyd. There were people at that time who were upset he hadn't been nailed for first-degree murder - he was obviously guilty! Look what a horrible thing he did! Get him for everything! But there actually really are different standards of evidence for different crimes and if prosecutors had tried to go for that one they would have lost.

I don't doubt for an instant that the IDF has committed multiple war crimes during this entirely preventable, entirely pointless cataclysm. But people are racing past the crimes that are clearly visible and could be supported by evidence because they want - need - HOPE for the very worst one to be true. It is a moral obscenity. And you can tell how much they are enjoying themselves, how fine it feels to be able to invoke genocide against Jews and Uno-reverse that nagging Holocaust card, by how quickly they revert to petty Internet slang to silence counter-arguments: "lol WELL ACTUALLLYYY, so you're JUST ASKING QUESTIONS rite, nice SEALIONING." It is meant to be an inherently, automatically truthful claim, one that the Jew has no right to deny.

The Disputations of our time.

And as we did in the past... we must answer, because not-answering will not help.

[eowynstwin]

same anon who sent the ask abt price: MW3's writing was embarrassing tbh. i agree 100% that narratively, its the most logical and sensible for price to be the one who takes the fall. what you wrote i flat out completely agree with, and its deeply disappointing that we are stuck with an extremely poorly written and rushed story. the game was a hot steamy pile. everyone was slightly out of character, they all growled their lines like mad dogs, and the missions were ass. i cant believe no one talks about the mission where you get anti arab hate crimed. what was that??? what was the reason??? (the only thing i liked about that game were the 9 minutes of nikolai. i just find him entertaining.) i was replaying mw2019 while super high and got to the mission where you threaten the butchers wife and son and just thought to myself; that lady and that kid are gonna have nightmares about price for the rest of their lives. that room is going to come back to them again and again and again. they literally did nothing wrong except the crime of being the butchers family. what price and gaz did is never going to leave them, and gaz was right to question price on that. of course, the game doesn't care at all. they're disposable NPCS for a shock value scene. i dunno, the fact that the game doesn't really give a fuck, and seemingly even condones what happened, just kinda hit different and i had to put the game down for the evening. i guess that hit at that moment bc i had also read a fic a bit earlier where the reader was price's civvy gf and gets kidnapped by his enemies. it bent my brain a bit bc, the thing in the fic is literally a canon event perpetuated by price, portrayed as a good thing by the source material, that now price is the victim of. it was a very weird feeling for my weed addled brain to try and process. think i blue screened actually. i wanna put price in a jar and shake him vigorously. pin him to a board like a entomology insect. i want to bite him. i do love him i swear. but maybe make him actually face a single real consequence for his war crimes? (disappointing that it will never happen on screen bc these games are all gas no breaks outright propaganda. not to mention real war crimes are happening constantly in front of everyone's eyes and going completely unpunished) sorry this is really long, i have no one to talk to abt these games and i dont understand my feelings toward that British man

Yeah. The thing about Price is that he's not a good person in the slightest. We write fiction about the kind of man he can be--the best version of himself, a version we can all stomach--but the real Price is distinct from that, and the best people in this fandom recognize that.

Soap and Ghost have some plausible deniability simply because we haven't seen them doing anything other than action movie stuff. Gaz is on the road to becoming Price--Price is doing his damndest to turn Gaz into himself--but he isn't there yet. (@391780 did a GREAT analysis of the driving scene in mw19 and how Price subtly manipulates Gaz, but I can't find it.)

EDIT: Early kindly provided.

We, as the audience, are not actually supposed to worry that much about the Butcher's family, because Price is one of the Good Guys who would never let something Bad actually happen. Infinity Ward does not take the Butcher's family seriously, and does not want us to take the family seriously, because they are just a convenient vehicle with which to move the plot along. Their presence is, in the end, shock value. We are meant to stare, wide-eyed, wondering is Price really going to go that far? while in the back of our minds knowing of course he's not, because he's our hero. He's just doing whatever it takes. The family is not meant to be anything other than fodder for Price's characterization.

Same with Samara. We are not supposed to care all that much about her, personally--we're supposed to marvel over Makarov's canny brutality, his bRiLLiANcE in recognizing the obvious fact that an Arab woman would make a perfect scapegoat for a plane bombing. Samara does not matter to MW3. Only the shocking way she dies. None of these Arab characters matter to Call of Duty--only the entertainment value of their pain.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I am reminded of when Price threw a man restrained into a bomb jacket off a balcony, with not a shred of remorse afterword. I'm forced to ask the question--who would Price scapegoat, then, if he felt justified enough?

And yeah, he's never going to suffer the consequences of his actions, because Infinity Ward doesn't think he's actually done anything wrong. We throw the word propaganda around a lot without actually defining it, but Price is emblematic of how the propaganda of Call of Duty works. Price does something reprehensible, and is shown to be justified in doing it--implying that real men like him are justified, too, because don't you understand how little choice Price had? Don't you get that there's no good choice to be made? This is how he has to act, and this is how all soldiers have to act, because war is a dirty business, and someone needs to be willing to do it for the benefit of the ignorant public.

The question of why any of this should be happening at all is never asked.

[ransomnote]

it's incredibly easy to vet asks and gofundme's from people in gaza yourself. instead of instantly reporting what is most likely a real person in need of help, here are some tips.

1. the bots will often have taken their stories from someone else that you can find by copy and pasting a sentence or two into google in quotation marks. if you find the source, report the bot and donate to the actual person who's story was stolen.

2. paypal is not functional in and does not service the gaza strip. to the extent that no money sent from paypal to a bank account in both gaza and the west bank will reach it. why? because elon musk is looking at the world record for the number of genocides one can be complicit in or actively facilitate in their lifetime. no actual person in gaza is going to be asking for donations via paypal.

3. scammers are often asking for a much smaller amount of money than legit fundraisers. scammers will be asking for $400-$1000 for evacuation expenses that actual gazans are being extorted tens of thousands of dollars for by egyptian agencies. generally, gofundmes for individuals and families in gaza will range from $10,000-$100,000. bot scammers don't take risks on huge amounts of money like this. now, there are exceptions to this. if the fundraiser is for medicine or food and passes test 1 and 2 but asking for an amount like $800, see tip number 4.

4. when in doubt, just DM them. ask about their situation, their family, fuck, ask them what they need. or you don't have to ask anything at all, just start a conversation. if you receive a response instantly or within seconds that addresses every question/ thing you talked about thoroughly, that's a good sign of a bot. if it takes a while, if their english sounds broken or put through a translator, if they make mistakes, you've found a human that needs your help.

reminder: reporting what looks like someone asking for help without taking every step in good faith to make sure they're actually a bot that should be reported isn't genocide complicity, its active facilitation. ask yourself, what does more damage? falsely reporting a blog set up to ask for help in escaping genocide and forcing a victim in gaza to start from square one on a social media platform they're unfamiliar with, or donating $10 to a scammer? even if it was 99% bots out there, which it's not, reporting without varifying would still be an absurdly evil thing to do. fuck everyone participating in this shit and god bless @90-ghost for the work he does.

[madam-o]

Why So Serious, Buggy?

What's so interesting and wild about Jeff Ward's portrayal of Buggy is that he doesn't play him at all like Buggy from the manga/anime, or even like any of the other villains in OPLA. His character feels closest to Luffy or Garp, in that he's giving a surprisingly nuanced and three-dimensional performance of a character who you absolutely didn't expect to feel like a real person.

I also see a lot of comparisons of Jeff's Buggy to the Joker, which is funny because he's actually more like the anti-Joker. The Joker would maniacally laugh and smile and terrorize his captive audience just like Buggy does, but he would never drop character and talk like a regular guy like Buggy constantly does in Episode 2.

The Joker is always On, and he's always dressed sharp. He's very much a showbiz professional. Buggy, otoh, feels messy and grubby like pirates do, and he's constantly stopping the show to bitch about the insufficient production value provided by his crew. His circus isn't particularly spectacular and he truly feels like the small-time criminal he's starting off as.

In his spotlight episode, Buggy's more pissed off at the world than anything else, and he's serious about getting information out of Luffy. The Joker would intricately design a game show or something for his victim to participate in, but Buggy doesn't have the patience for that. He just tortures, interrogates, and belittles Luffy, then tries to drown him when none of that works. He just feels so bitter and angry, like being a clown is the only thing he can do because it's his lot in life and not what he chose for himself. The Joker acts like becoming the clown prince of crime was his great destiny, while Buggy's more like, "Fuck you, I'm a pirate clown. Now laugh or you're dead."

Then he loses almost everything and finds himself in trouble with Arlong, and his reaction to that is to ramp up the annoying, foul-mouthed clown shtick. It's his defense mechanism to appear harmless and ridiculous. The minute he's safe and by himself, out comes that seething rage and bitterness again.

So basically, Buggy's the Joker, except if he was sane and hated absolutely everyone. Which, honestly, I need a LOT more of.

[ninainthetardis]

Other things that I absolutely despise in the Oak/Wren situation:

- Oak was fine before she came along and made him feel so horrible that he started to question whether his own family really loved him or he somehow compelled them to feel that love and sense of protection towards him. I thought the point of love is that the other person truly sees you and makes you feel accepted the way you are, not pushing you to doubt your worth or make you feel awful about yourself.

Oak was there: "I see you, you're not a monster, you're not good either but I love you anyway and I trust you even if you imprisoned me". And meanwhile, she was there: "your love means nothing, I can't trust your feelings, any word you say is a lie even if you can't properly lie. You are awful" And then she proceeds in attempting his family's murder (while he was trying to save hers).

Basically, she thought of herself as unlovable, so she treated him like shit and at the same time, she wanted him to feel like shit and to feel unlovable as well. And Oak was there: "I know she didn't mean to hurt me, but that stings". I think she meant it, dude. Look how she's been treating you since... well, day 1.

- Suren being problematic is never addressed in any way, except in those two lines she wrote in the letter she left for Oak at the end of the book, before fleeing like a coward. Such an issue deserved more focus. And surely not an endgame for them.

And even before that, when she said she was wrong for imprisoning him, she then immediately proceeded by accusing him of abandoning her, manipulating him into believing that him, as a KID, took away from her the chance to grow up in Elfhame. When he did all he could, at that age, to help her. One moment, Oak was thinking that he had indeed talked to Jude to help her, the next he was blaming himself for not knowing Suren could not go back to her human house. Not doing enough. As if she actually talked to him about anything at that time.

When did Suren actually prove herself sorry for all she put him through? Two sentences are not enough. And Oak is all "it's OK I forgive you" while she makes him feel horrible even for the tiniest of his mistakes.

She constantly guilt trips him to deminish her own wrongdoings.

She is so self-centered that she doesn't even consider that other people - amongst those who live in Faerie at least - have been through horrible things, too, like she did. She has a difficult past. Hence, she feels entitled to give everyone hell. To put Oak through hell. The one person who's always cared about her. This is so awful.

When Vivi used faerie magic on Heather, Jude remarked it was wrong more than once, and even scolded Vivi for doing that. They were not even the main couple, and there's been the right amount of focus on the problematic in their case. Heather left Vivi because of what she did, and then they worked things out. In time.

Heather acknowledged the wrongdoing Vivi did to her. Oak doesn't even realise what Suren did to him. That is a major issue. Cardan and Jude are well aware of the shit they did to each other. Tiernan and Hyacinthe, too. And they all did serious shit to each other, very different from keeping a secret from each other. They worked it through. They worked it through in time, "because they live in Faerie and there are worst wrongdoings there". Because, let's be real, irl none of those couples could've worked things out. And even them, they proved to each other things. In Oak and Suren's case, only Oak proved himself to her. And how are we supposed to accept that when she's the one who did the worst things to the other?

All Suren got was Oak saying that he loved her and wanted to be with her despite everything. He doesn't even fucking resent her for a moment, because she gult tripped him into believing he deserved all of it. That's the classic abuser's manipulation of the victim modus operandi. And this sort of toxic and abusive dynamic is too similar to what happens irl to a lot of people to advance the claim "it's fictional. That's a fantasy novel. They're fairies". It should have all be handled much differently to be acceptable, even if just because it's a fantasy novel about fairies.

[cindersnows]

ok @storgicdealer i started writing out a thing in your askbox and then lost it so im writing it in a post instead.

freevic ramblings

(...that kind of ended up turning into mangvic my bad)

ok so like. vic escapes the youtube video. and they find the freedom ad and instantly go into the outernet. theyre one of the first citizens of carteblan, and exactly the type of stick freedom had set out to help when he started a city in the outernet.

(for a little context; the original victim is still dead, as well as all her clones. in my hc/theory, the victim we know who starts rocket corp and lives in the outernet escaped from a youtube video after basically just living out his own death in a fucked up loop over and over until she gained sentience and decided to break out. she's like. a copy of the original victim. haha xerox of a xerox.)

in the beginning, most of the houses in carteblan are still being built, so vic ends up rooming with freedom. and they were roommates. they become friends pretty quickly and freedom tries to help vic come to terms with their trauma and stuff, (he doesn't know that vic escaped from the youtube video --- vic is insecure about being a copy so they lied and said they just survived the deletion and got to the outernet).

they both get happier together even after vic decides to move out and start their own company. freedom's happy that vic's moving on from what noogai did to them and becoming their own person (hahaaa if only he knewwww,,,). freedom also decides to support the company as it's the first proper organization thing to open up in the town and it's pretty useful! as carteblan grows, freedom gets officially appointed as mayor and rocket corp kind of becomes tied in with the government, giving them tech and stuff.

i don't think freedom and vic ever properly label their relationship as anything other than a friendship, though they do go on dates and stuff pretty frequently. its pretty queerplatonic actually. vic likes to spend time with freedom a lot because he makes it feel like a normal person, a good person who's doing what's right for society. for freedom, hanging out with vic is like a breath of fresh air, one of the few things that didn't change after he was given responsibility over and entire city of traumatized stickfigures.

sometimes vic has major depressive episodes where its difficult for him to do any work which makes him even more frustrated, and freedom is the only person she really considers close enough to help. they remind me of that one short where the couple text each other "feet pics" to get each other out of bed when they're sad.

honestly, when i think about it, i'm pretty sure freedom is the only person vic actually considers a friend. most other people she hangs out with, she only vaguely likes, and a lot of the time she has to pretend to like people for pr. (in my hc, their relationship with the mercs is purely transactional, and i doubt either party is looking for more.)

both freedom and vic have insecurities about their relationships with other people; freedom has gotten into multiple romantic relationships over the years, though none of them have really stuck, and he often feels like people only like him for his power. vic feels like that too, but with the added feeling of "if people knew the real me, they'd hate me". they lie to everyone, so they feel like everyone's lying to them in return, with the exception of freedom, who's only ever been honest (and vic convinces herself that she's not lying when she says she's happier now and that rocket corp is working for a good cause).

freedom's probably unsure about the idea of capturing chosen (and dark?) at first, but vic manages to convince him by talking about how many people have been hurt by them and lost their home websites/games because of them. the capture is left up to rocket corp alone, since it was their idea, and since by this point rocket corp is basically just the military but if it also sold household tech. freedom's proud of vic for taking the steps to help keep other people safe after vic has frequently beat themself up for acting 'selfishly'.

spoiler alert: freedom gets called to the rocket facility after a massive fight is reported and the place basically blows up, and finds the color gang + chodark + kingduo + the mercs + vic and several other workers all badly hurt with signs of them having gotten into a fight. freedom automatically takes vic's side, because those are two terrorists fighting against fucking Rocket Corp, of course he's going to assume vic's in the right here.

but then cg and kingduo explain the situation (including the torture and the interrogation and sutff), and while freedom doesn't want to believe it, vic refuses to answer when freedom asks if it's true, and freedom knows in his heart that vic was the 'villain' here.

freedom is just. extremely disappointed in vic. and vic in turn feels horrible, because she was convinced freedom would take her side, having seen the ugliest parts of her and accepting her regardless. but freedom thought that vic had moved on, that she no longer wanted revenge, that she was happier.

he can't bring himself to formally arrest vic, much to the protests of cg+kingduo+chodark. they're best friends, after all, and freedom knows from his experience with his own animator that hurt people hurt people. but vic still needs to face consequences, and freedom knows more than anyone else what would hurt vic the most. he strips vic of his power, removing him from the position of the ceo of rocket corp and saying the government is going to take full control of it.

he also says that he's going to completely cut contact with her.

this hurts vic more than anything else, being abandoned by the one person she considered a friend, close to a lifelong partner, all because of her own actions. even after mango and purple decide to help pick vic off hir feet and become a better person, vic spirals, shutting out everyone else and refusing to connect with anyone.

it's only when mango lets vic stay with him after she loses all her property, continuously being kind to them even after seeing what a horrible person they are (because he's been in their place), that vic starts to open up.

this DOES lead to vic beginning to put mango on a pedestal the same way he did with freedom, but i mean, people don't change THAT easily. it'll probably take a few talks with purple to help break the cycle, since purple also struggles with idolizing people (albeit in a different way). i could say So much about victim and purple helping each other become better people but this is so long and also that's off topic so that's a ramble for another day.

[ca-suffit]

to all the ppl wanting receipts on maven, let me explain this to u.

racism isn't just slurs and some single "gotcha" moment. especially when it comes to white women. racism is hidden behind several layers of "nice" when it comes to them because whiteness and womanhood protect them from certain judgments and being more easily seen as "victim" than "abuser." why do u think anne rice even had a career. u think a black or brown woman could have done all that and still got paid? hell no. shit, u think even a black or brown *man* could have done that either? double hell no. that shit is only reserved for white ppl.

a lot of white women in this fandom don't think they're racist at all because they vote democrat and don't say slurs and also watch the interracial vampire show. but u don't talk to real ppl. and then u do all kinds of shit bts to black and brown ppl otherwise because u feel justified about it as a white person. u see ppl criticize whiteness in lestat and u say but he has trauma too, how dare u say this! and you come down episode 5 style on everyone and say "see this is what u deserve" without *any* self awareness. maven's videos say harmful shit throughout them, which are made more harmful because she looks and sounds so fucking stupid. Her weird stans rely on that to come after anyone who says "what the fuck is this" (in regards to what she's actually saying) and say "why are you abusing this white content creator who does nothing but this silly dance to entertain us, what do u do with ur life!" Just like u all love when white men on the show are some kind of funny drag queen cunty slay yasss mother as they outright look to slaughter black and brown characters physically or emotionally, so also do u love to say don't criticize this woman, it's not that serious. or don't judge anne rice, she was soo CrAzY (affectionate), old and/or dead now. "ur so mean!!!!!" u never want it to be serious because u never want to have this conversation. that's what's real. fragile fucking bitch ass egos of urs. we're having this fucking conversation now. Maven creates a safe space for racists by being a popular, uncritical white book fan who associates with other racist book fans. she has witnessed racism happening in this fandom for years and years and never once used her big platform to talk about it (or learn about racial topics in general before opening her dummy mouth about the show). she is a spineless, basic ass white woman who only cares about herself and her own white attachment to these books. inaction against harm u know is happening around u and lack of speaking up is racism. creating a safe space for racists is racism. making white fandom comfortable with u is racism. for the quickest test of whether someone is promoting white fandom shit or not, see how many black and brown fans will recommend that person or thing. nobody here can stand maven except white fandom (and white fandom is not just white ppl, it's any person who promotes the idea that talking about race is harmful and we should remain colorblind except for supporting white ideals and values). there's ur fucking answer by itself.

this is not done out of malicious focus from what white fandom would have u believe is "jealousy" over popularity (another tactic meant to distract from talking about the criticisms themselves). this is done out of real concern of who tf is gonna cause harm or not. maven does not create a safe space except for white fandom and her ignorance to that is her issue at this point because it's LONG been documented. not everyone who isn't supporting u is some general "hater" for no reason and ur fucking dumb if u don't ever examine the reasons ur being criticized. wake tf up, bitch.

[not-poignant]

For the behind the scenes asks 20, 21 & 26 about A Stain That Won't Dissolve please!! <slightly obsessed w it rn

Ahhh - so I have 21 in the queue, it's coming! The TL;DR for that one is 'I didn't expect so many people to apologise for the way the town behaves towards Alex, and it's like watching abuse apologism and self-defense of inaction around familial abuse in real time, which is a weird phenomenon that happens sometimes when you write trauma narratives.'

20. What is something you wish more people noticed about this fic?

Hmm.

I don't know if it's something I wish for, so much as something that I think people don't notice as much and I think it would be interesting if they did.

Things like... it's a shame more people don't realise that the reason Alex isn't a 'good communicator' is because no one in that town is except for maybe Dr Harvey. Even Haley, who is getting better, is a people pleaser who undercut herself and her skills all her life. People can't learn what isn't around them to learn. So when I get comments like 'I wish Alex would just open up to these people in the town' I can't help but always think: 'Why would he based on how the town has treated him for a solid 25 years.'

For me, connecting these dots naturally flows together, but I've had 10 years of practice writing trauma recovery, and 43 years of practice experiencing many different kinds of abuse and many different flavours of trauma recovery and I think, actually, I now have a weird skillset in this area that other folks don't have, or don't even know exist. So it's not something I 'wish' they noticed because firstly it would likely mean more readers who are victims, but secondly, I also appreciate having this be something more subtle, and it's not like I'm upset or angry when people say that Alex is the poor communicator because like, he is. He's a symptom of the entire town.

So it's like, it's normal for people to notice what's right in front of them (Alex not communicating well and then thinking his problems would be solved if he just talked about stuff, because there's this presumption that everyone wants to listen if he'd just...talk), that's actually the fun part of writing? I love the comments people leave so much, and I learn a ton, and I love the insights folks share. I'm sure people are noticing a lot of stuff like this and just not saying so. Especially folks who have lived these situations and just can't be fucked talking about it in comments because life's hard. (And it's also possible to notice that and still be mad or frustrated that Alex doesn't communicate more).

I don't think there's really anything else though. I think that's partly because I'm not... uhhh, sitting there going 'PLEASE NOTICE THIS' because the gift of writing serials for the most part is pivoting when people aren't noticing something subtle, and thinking 'this might be me not meeting the reader where they are, I can step it up in the next chapter.' So, I feel like I flow towards pushing the things I want people to notice or gravitate towards, and as a result, they almost always do.

And with the stuff they don't, there's usually extremely understandable life-experienced-based reasons for that!

...This response is really long x.x

26. Wild Card! I'll tell you a fun fact about this fic!

I have actually always imagined Alex and Sebastian making out together. I imagined it even before I wrote The Wind that Cuts the Night, but Alex/Sebastian fics existed, I didn't like them (no shade to those authors, but I clearly wanted a very specific crunchy kind of angsty toppy Sebastian fic and very understandably no one was writing my fantasies they were writing their own lmao), and I thought Elliott/Alex would be faster to write. (It was).

That's actually one of the reasons I make it clear that Sebastian is gay and topping the farmer in The Wind that Cuts the Night! And also why I felt it was important for Alex to know that. Even back then, I couldn't resist just a little tiny glimmer of some kind of chemistry, even if it was just friendship chemistry.

I find Sebastian really annoying as a spouse. He's one of my favourite NPCs to romance, and my least favourite to marry of the ones I marry. The storyline of Martingale divorcing him is based off me daydreaming about doing that (I can't because it's mean) in one of my farms. I found him cold and detached compared to many other NPC spouses, and too work-focused. So the premise of an older Sebastian recovering from being divorced for these exact flaws was extremely appealing and vindicating to me. Most people don't feel the same way about in-game Sebastian as I do, but I'm like 'you have so much potential and then oh no.' It turned out Martingale felt that way too, and eventually did something about it.

And that gave me a really flawed Sebastian to work with and that's been awesome.

I did always imagine him as being a dominant/top/sadist though. It's actually really hard for me to imagine him as anything else.

I don't think this fact is fun but it is a fact! Sebastian is a character I love but he's also literally 'I can improve him' and this fic is me doing that lol

~

From this meme!

[vintageseawitch]

to those who are either protest voting (as in, not voting at all) or voting third party: i understand protesting & speaking out against the president. yes, absolutely they need to held accountable. that said... are you also protesting members of the Senate & the House? for being as knowledgeable as you claim you seem to think the president & the vp are monarchs & make all decisions themselves. please know that it is Congress who decides to go to war or not, etc.

are you voting locally? are you making sure these same ghouls who don't give a shit about what's happening to Palestinians & wants Israel to succeed don't get into office? or are you saying that your vote doesn't matter & you just choose not to? why are you surprised then that these pieces of shit are voted in if you continue to allow older generations to choose your representation for you?

genocide is evil. it's something everyone should be against, absolutely. but if your only solution is to vote only during federal elections (jill stein is a putin puppet & tbh it's weird that the problem that is Russia isn't more of an issue still. she doesn't get involved except during presidential elections & idk why that isn't sus to you) & to cause discord & division during an election that really isn't normal, it doesn't really feel like it's for change. it feels like the kind of change that you want needs to happen yesterday & fuck everyone else in this country.

you want things to be better? start by caring about what happens locally. younger voters are notorious about not voting in local elections. i don't want to victim blame but voting actually works & if you decide to not let your voice be heard then that's your choice but don't be surprised when people become pissed at your whining when you didn't show.

is there any outrage aimed at Congressmen? it's hard to tell since Palestine & protestor's anti-biden stance are the loudest about it but it just tells me you don't actually know how this government works & you need to make your local politicians held responsible, too. change starts at the local level. if you're not there then your voice just won't be heard.

Project 2025 is real, too. if you claim people voting for Harris in order to protect themselves & their loved ones are "pro-genocide" for it then don't be surprised they don't take you seriously. frankly it's vile to claim that stance. there's so much nuance here. it's complicated. i understand your anger but in the end stein has no real chance to get into office & it will be between Harris & trump. you will be governed by one of them whether you like it or not. trump promised Netanyahu anything & Harris has shown she is willing to listen. what will you choose? ignoring it won't make it better for you or anyone who isn't white, xtian, straight, cis men. just think about it for a bit.

anyways NEVER STOP TALKING ABOUT PROJECT 2025/AGENDA 47. please check your voter registration status often. talk to any friends, family, acquaintances, etc who are even THINKING about voting for Harris/Walz. it doesn't matter what party you're normally affiliated with; every voice matters in this fight for our democracy. vote early of you can or take PTO/call out sick if you can, just MAKE SURE YOU VOTE. good luck & stay safe, esp everyone in red & red/swing states 💙

[kawaiichibiart]

I can't find it (although chances are I never posted it :/), but to this day I think about the post where I share possibility of past akuma victims just, remembering everything. All of them remember.

All. Of. Them.

And, it just sets off this series of support systems.

Individual and group therapy is something that is set up for those who need it.

August's mom starts a forum after her son starts remembering his time as an akuma, and it leads to more parents speaking up about their children, very young children, having nightmares and needing to sleep with their parents or older siblings because their memories as an akuma is hitting them hard.

People who work call off in order to process what's going on.

School gets cancelled for a brief period (like maybe a week or two) of time, some students stay home for longer.

Friends support each other whenever the memories get too intense.

We see so much support and love between everyone who remembers and is remembering...

...but then we have Adrien.

Adrien who can't bring himself to look for support. Adrien who feels like he shouldn't get help.

Everyone who's been akumatized is remembering what they did, what happened, and people can back up what's happened with clear evidence (articles, blogs/vlogs, clips from past livestreams or news reports, etc.) but he doesn't have that.

Chat Blanc's timeline is gone and Ephemeral's was reversed. There is no existing evidence that he's been akumatized. No one remembers he was akumatized, except for Marinette.

Marinette, who's Ladybug.

Ladybug, who's kept things from him. His akumatization, the fact she must of planned on having him reveal his identity just to not tell him hers (and she must of planned on having Viperion in on it, too, which makes it worse).

The girl he no longer knows if he can trust.

He doesn't have anyone who can support him. He doesn't want to say anything in case people thing he's making it all up.

After all, can he prove Chat Noir got akumatized, killed everyone in Paris, maybe even France, split the moon in half and almost killed Ladybug again? Could he prove he was Ephemeral and helped his father win (and God, if that isn't just another peachy thing to find out)? That Ladybug lost her Miraculous because he couldn't break out of his father's control?

He's remembering killing the people he loves and finding his mother (fuck, his mom is under his house) and not being able to resist the akuma and the world ending and being alone surrounded by water and just the continuous thought of "I killed them...it's all my fault..."

He's alone, moreso than he normally is. He shows to school and photoshoots looking dead. He slowly stops talking to his friends, eventually stops showing up to school (Nathalie informing them that he's unwell, since that's what he told her) and eventually leaving Paris to find someone he can talk to because his memories won't leave him alone.

No one knows where he went. No one knows where Chat Noir went. Both of them just, vanished. No one knows why. They can't come up with a reason for him to run.

Nino thinks he's runaway after finally having had enough of how Gabriel treats him, and he took advantage of everyone remembering their akumatizations to leave.

Lila thinks he didn't run away and instead was shipped off to who knows where in case Hawkmoth/Shadowmoth/Monarch sends out an akuma and he he can target past victims who have this new found guilt, she'd just hate it if she got turned back into Volpina or Chameleon and target him :(

Some people think Chat Noir is running away from his responsibilities. Some think he ran away to get real training, maybe an extra weapon in case he needs it.

Meanwhile, Marinette is having a crisis, because if everyone is remembering what happened while they were akumatized....but the time line got erased. Chat Noir couldn't possibly... he'd find a way to leave his Miraculous with her, right? Maybe he wanted to prove he could still be a reliable hero? Maybe she's looking too deep into it (look deeper, honey, you hit the nail on the head, keep hitting it and be a better partner).

I honestly don't know where Adrien would go, part of me wants to say London, because if he could vent to anyone who might possibly believe him, it could be to Felix. Part of me wants him to literally still be in Paris/France, just with a new found ability to wield shadows and be able to hide in them without being noticed. And yet another part of me wants him to run to an entire different continent and leave everything behind.

Just, it's one of the worst ways he can find out what secrets are/were kept from him, and he's not able to say anything because:

He can't know anybody's secret ID, despite it being important he does in case he has to get help on the off chance Ladybug can't (she's captured, she's affected by the akuma's powers, etc.). Look what happened when he found out who Ladybug was. Death on the one hand and his father winning on the other.

Ladybug likely had to go through so much in order to defeat Chat Blanc, why would she want to hear his POV about it? The damage was reversed. He should be happy everyone is still alive alive again after he killed them.

Ladybug is the Guardian, of course she had to know his secret identity. Right? Maybe if she didn't hand out the miraculous, Fu would have and he'd know everyone's secret ID. But she's the Guardian now, so it has to be important for her to know who holds what Miraculous.

He should have known his father was the villain this whole time. Wow, you lived with the villain and didn't suspect him at all? You could have saved time by taking them time to look further into things, but no.

He got akumatized twice and the second time he just handed his miraculous over. It doesn't matter that he wasn't in control, maybe this is a sign he doesn't deserve a miraculous, let alone one of the two most powerful.