#having to be only surrounded by people smarter than me will be the death of me. get me out of here. i dont want to be in academics

[creatureesque]

I wish there was a way to like take your part of the brain that obsesses over a new piece of media every few months and point it at something purposefully, because i could really use that rn. I would use that to get obsessed with greek mythology and history because knowing a thing or two about it rn would truly save me from the hell that is the ancient literature class

[lvpislvzuli]

If you are an Avatar fan then you’ve probably been rather bewildered by the unaccountable animosity that has developed toward Spider. What’s obvious is that the brains of some moviegoers are rather blank slates.

Here’s the thing—Spider Socorro’s arc in the film requires some reflection and analytical thinking on the part of the audience. Automatically labeling him a traitor or a Terrible Person demonstrates a lack of effort to understand this complex character.

Of course, it is natural that we may find ourselves frustrated with Spider for seemingly going along with the RDA/Recoms and for saving Quaritch’s life. After all, those are the bad guys! But if you take the time to analyze some of the plot points and Spider’s own personality and history, you can better understand his motivations.

Here are a few key takeaways to help you empathize with Spider’s choices. I think most Avatar fans will have already picked up on these.

One: Early in the film, Spider is kidnapped and interrogated by the RDA. An interrogation that borders on physical and mental torture. This is a sixteen-year-old kid who has never been in that kind of terrifying situation, so of course he’s going to take the first opportunity he has to escape, even if it’s with the Recoms on their mission to hunt down the Sullys. Anything to not be handed back to the lab coats, right? But even then he is still being held hostage by Quaritch, who places a tracker inside his Exopack to keep tabs on him. Spider is smart—he knows he has no choice but to tag along with the Recoms.

Two: It’s important to recognize that despite having spent his whole life on Pandora growing up in the forest among the Omatikaya People—befriending the Sully kids, painting blue stripes on himself, and speaking their language—Spider knows he is still just a human. And even though he has a confident personality, it is reasonable to assume that there are times when he feels different or inadequate. Sort of an “I need them, but they don’t necessarily need me” kind of situation that many of us can relate to.

But now Spider finds himself surrounded by a group of foreigners from Earth, who it turns out appreciates that he is Pandoran. Appreciates that he operates with the knowledge and physical capability of the Na’vi. Here he can prove his worth and skill, and it’s obvious that Spider gets caught up in the feeling of being useful (and of being smarter than the Recoms, because let’s admit it, Spider can be a bit cocky 😆).

However, this is only the case until he witnesses the violent potential of Quaritch and the Recoms in those heartbreaking scenes where they destroy Metkayina villages and murder Ilus. Spider has a wake-up call at this point in the film, and it’s here that he actually stops “helping” the RDA.

Three: Saving Quaritch from drowning. Spider’s decision to rescue Quaritch at the end of the film boils down to two inconvenient but very realistic and credible reasons.

A – Quaritch is his father. We cannot try to claim that a son choosing to save his father from death is an evil or traitorous act, even if the father himself is evil. Especially a father who potentially just saved his son’s own life, because I don’t think Neytiri was bluffing during that standoff. So yes, he’s clearly not happy about it, but at that moment Spider accepts that Quaritch may have saved his life, so in return he saves him from drowning.

And B – the simple fact that Spider is a good person.

In addition, I think some people have overlooked that at the end of the film, Spider ditches Quaritch and returns to the Sullys without hesitation. That speaks for itself to the resolution of his arc in this film.

So there you have it. I wanted to contribute this to the discourse in the hope that it might sway a few minds. Spider is a fascinating character, particularly because of his intrinsic relationships with both the heroes and villains of this story. Saving Quaritch’s life has put him in a really tough spot, and I don’t think this character is finished being caught in the middle. I’m very excited to see where Spider’s story goes.

Amazing writing James Cameron and amazing acting Jack Champion!

💙

[idcbabyialreadylostmymind]

I love the norm x Navi trader that you write! I’d love to see something where they do end up having a kid but end up with twins which are probably like super rare for Navi

This has been in my inbox for a millenia

Two Blessings

Pairing- Norm x Na'vi!reader

Summary- Norm Fluff w/ pregnant reader and the birth of twins.

Warnings- Pregnancy, pregnancy with twins, mentions of throwing up, birth, descriptions of the said birth, cursing

Na'vi Translations: kalweyaveng- son of a bitch, Tsawke- Sun, Oare- moon

Tsahik Mo'at rubbed her cool hand on your little bumped up belly and her face contorted to one of confusion. You begin to worry and squeeze your mate's hand and look at him full in panic mode. He winced at how strong you hrip was thinking the great mother ve decided to go Na'vi form today. She brought her other hand to your stomach on two different parts. Her mouth opened slightly and the sides curled up slightly. She pulled her hands from your stomach and put the few things she brought with her in her bag. This did nothing to ease your panic and worry.

"Do not worry 'eveng." She said, smiling towards you. "Eywa has blessed you," she said and you were now even more confused as was Norm you already knew that much. "With two." She said and Norm's eyes widened as he looked at your stomach.

He was in shock, two. Two kids. His kids. His thumb caressed your stomach as he looked to Mo'at who was getting a sign from the great mother.

"They have strong hearts. One will be mighty and brave but she will be careless." Your smile widened that you were going to have a daughter. "The other he will be less brave but will be a great healer and smarter than his sister." She said looking into the space before blinking.

She left you two and Norm's hand rested on your stomach he leaned down and placed two small kisses on your tummy making you giggle before sitting up and throwing you hands over his neck, trapping him in a hug. Not that he minded.

"We will have a daughter and a son Ma Norm." You say as tears pricked at your eyes.

All the battling, all the blood, carnage, and death you never thought that it would end but here you sitting with your lover, your Norm someone of Sky people origin with a growing family, it was all coming together.

It was a rough pregnancy, you weren't going to lie. Morning sickness all the time, you couldn't eat anything sweet even the smell of sweet fruit or candy made you want to vomit. And for some reason you wanted your dinner extra spicy every night. And your emotions were a disarray when you woke up and he had his back turned to you, even if you were the one who turned over at night, waterworks. He made a joke about naming your guy's son Yoda after some creature in a sky people movie, he had to sleep on Jake and Neytiri's floor for three nights and he had kid feet all up in his face.

And the birth wasn't easy either.

The pain of one of their heads getting ready to crown shot through you as you screamed head thewing back as you screamed. "Get them out of me!" You screamed at everyone, some of the healers that helped Mo'at who sat in front of you looked terrified as they handed the Tsahik her supplies.

"Okay one hard push and then breath." Mo'at instructed and you only shook your head, closing your eyes and gripping Norm. "Now!" Mo'at explained. Your other hand held onto a healer who looked like he wanted to cry, clenching your jaw you pushed as hard as you could. You breathe and Norm comforts you by kissing the top of your sweaty head.

"Push " and push you did. Pushing as hard as you could you screamed in pain. "Ah- Norm.." you said pushing and he never thought he would hear what you were about to say. "You kalweyaveng you did this to me, ah eywa- great mother- I'm going to k..kill you." You screamed before pushing once more and one of them was out now. The sound of baby squalling surrounded the birthing tent.

Giving the baby to Norm, "It is the girl." She said before ducking in front of you as you begin to push more and look up at Norm who stared in awe at his daughter even though she was covered in placenta and blood she was most beautiful, but your son he was stubborn not wanting to come out, you kept pushing and pushing and then giving one more hard push his head finally popped out. His cry was much softer than his sister who had finally calmed down in her fathers arm.

Norm crouched next to you as you held your son and he held your daughter. They were truly the most perfect things you've ever seen and they were all yours.

"Let's name them," he paused for a moment before the perfect names came to mind. "Tsawke and Oare." Norm said and you smiled at him. "Yes, you shall be our Tsawke." You cooed to your daughter who had her tongue out of her mouth and stared at her father. And then you look at your son who was asleep. "And you shall be our Oare."

[chansaw]

on red and blue symbolism in heathers: an essay

i read one of those buzzfeed listicles the other day that was like “crazy fun facts and secrets about your favorite 80s movies!” and one of the first fun facts was “did you know that in heathers, every character is associated with a color?” that’s not a fun fact. it’s not even a secret. heathers is a lot of things but one thing it’s not is subtle. heathers practically beats the viewer over the head with color symbolism but in this essay, i would particularly like to draw attention to the colors red and blue and their significance in heathers’ narrative.

a short preface: when possible, i cite stills sourced from the movie itself. some images, however, are served better by the gif format, so whenever i post a gif i will also cite the tumblr user who made it. if your gifs are used in this post and you would like me to remove them, please let me know.

okay, with that out of the way, let's start at the beginning (naturally). below is the title card. right away, the cinematographers inundate the viewer with red, informing the viewer that red (and whoever wears it) will be significant to the narrative.

red represents the social order and the natural hierarchy of predators and prey at westerburg. red is omnipresent throughout the production design of the school's campus.

by assuming the color of the school itself, heather chandler assumes control of the school. and when she drags veronica along to the remington party to help boost their reputation, the whole dorm is bathed in red light.

when we first meet veronica, she's wearing gray and black, with only occasional pops of blue (the brooch in the outfit above, her croquet mallet, etc) but as veronica's discomfort and unease begins to grow, something interesting begins to happen!

blue light slowly begins to creep into the frame, and once veronica has finally had enough of brad's bullshit, it becomes even more prominent. just as red represents control of the social hierarchy, blue symbolizes discontent and rejection of the social order.

(gif by @/fireairshadow)

meanwhile, heather chandler isn't having a great time at the party either. this scene is the only time in the film we see heather chandler completely alone, in a moment of vulnerability and self loathing, and she's surrounded by the color blue.

(gif by @/tibby ily tibby)

and then all hell breaks loose. i honestly dont think one image or gif alone can do this scene justice so im linking to tibby's (beautifully colored) gifset of the scene.

note how as veronica declares war ("lick it up, baby!"), red and blue lights flicker across her face. and as heather promises to ruin veronica in turn, the red light casts heather's face in shadow and overpowers the blue.

of course, heather never gets the chance to make good on this promise because veronica and jd kill her. and that may have been a mistake, but the color of their poison is quite deliberate.

(gif by @/nowadayz)

and right before she dies, she takes off her red scrunchie - conceding her control.

of course, heather's death doesn't mean her exit from the narrative. red lingers throughout the rest of the film. but guess what color veronica wears to the funeral?

tumblr is a little bitch and i dont have the time or energy to expound upon the rest of my argument at the moment. it's probably been examined and analyzed in greater detail by people smarter and far more eloquent than me. but i'll conclude with veronica's reclamation of the red scrunchie at the end of the film. you could choose to interpret this as veronica conceding to the hierarchy even after all she's been through, but i choose to interpret it as a bitter compromise.

(gif by @/nowadayz)

and so it ends the way it begins.

anyways all this to say vote for chansaw in the @redandbluebracket tomorrow or i'll kill you.

ETA: a note to anyone who came to my blog from this post - hi! you don’t have to like chansaw romantically/as a ship. im not expecting to proselytize and convert people en masse (although if you HAVE been converted, welcome). even without the shipping element, i believe that veronica and hc’s dynamic as character foils is the backbone of the narrative, which is why i genuinely think they deserve to win the red and blue bracket. vote here. my name is heather chansaw and i approve this message.

[heavenlydeceptor]

“I recently found out that Jim had ordered the cyanide well before November 18, 1978. That means that there was no spontaneity in the deaths during Congressman Ryan’s visit — it was all staged. I want to know who helped, since I know Jim was drugged and mentally ill. I want to know how we all got to that point that our involvement with a crazy man made us crazy too. I want to know why Jim wasn’t stopped by people close to him and who saw what was happening. It doesn’t change my dream of what Peoples Temple could have become. It does change how much I blame Jim and those who enabled him to take everyone with him. It was not a final act of a single crazy person. I have often quoted, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” and I use it in reference to Jim. But, it wasn’t only Jim. It was those around him who grew bold with importance. And, I am afraid that I am no different than any of them — not smarter, not dumber, and not more or less perfect. I saw notes that we all wrote over our years in Peoples Temple. In some ways the best was brought out of us, in some ways the very worst. What could I have done? It is very scary to me. I truly want to be self-righteous and say I would or could never… But I knew the people surrounding Jim so well. They started out with good intentions, as I believe Jim did many years beforehand.” – Laura Johnston Kohl, Peoples Temple member (1970 – 1978).

[riverhag2]

my favorite characters die in my favorite media all the damn time

my current hyper focus is a tragic opera that ends with my blorbo having his life flash before his eyes in a horrid fever dream where he's confronted for perhaps the first time with how horribly he's failed everyone he's ever loved and then he dies

death isn't the problem

pointless and hurried stuff-her-in-a-fridge death that doesn't actually even serve the narrative purpose cobbled together as an after-the-fact explanation is the problem

the idea that Izzy's arc was "over" is frankly ludicrous

he'd only just begun to rediscover the parts of himself he'd buried away or lost to piracy, to Blackbeard, to Ed

he'd only just found love with the crew

he'd only just started the arc that Stede and Ed set off on in the beginning of s1

his death does nothing for his character

it also does nothing for anyone else's

smarter people than me have spoken extensively on why the "mentor/father figure" thing is just outright non-existent in the text

even without that, the show is obviously trying to use Izzy's death to free Ed from the mantle of blackbeard and that would be a valid and interesting narrative choice if you'd set that up at any point before the last five minutes of the last episode but um

Ed had already begun the work of releasing himself from blackbeard, and even when he dons the leathers once again, it's not even the tiniest bit for Izzy's sake nor in any way at Izzy's insistence or encouragement (and in fact, Izzy had already encouraged him to step away from it)

whatever is still tying Ed to blackbeard, it is textually very much not Izzy

Izzy's dying sentiment of "they love you" holds no water because out of Ed, Stede, and Izzy, only one of them has actually connected with the crew this season and it sure as fuck isn't Ed

Izzy's dying admonition of "you're surrounded by family" is immediately followed by Ed and Stede fucking off and leaving the ship

there's nothing in Izzy's death that serves Ed narratively

there's apparently then the argument that Izzy is representative of old piracy, a dying world, and therefore he must die (which, ok, fine, but to what end?) but that's *actually insane* in the context of a show entirely about starting over in middle age

killing a character is often a good narrative choice, but if you're gonna kill him, doing it with a stray bullet in the middle of his arc in a way that does nothing to further anyone else's narrative is at best a cheap emotional punch

death also is the problem though

in a show where mortal wounds seem to pass almost unnoticed amongst our heroes, casual death by a stray bullet is bonkers

in a show where the only real villain is a cruel and corrupt state, to punish with death someone at the mercy of that cruel and corrupt state is bonkers

most importantly: in a show that presented itself as ultimately being about queer outsiders finding family in each other, there's no good reason for any of the foundlings to die

even assuming they're planning some miraculous resurrection for Izzy in s3, they work very hard to show you precisely how dead he is here

they want you to know and believe that he absolutely is dead

Lucius falls into the sea in a way that no one ever once believed actually meant he was dead

in contrast, we watch the light go out of Izzy's eyes after he tells Ed he's ready to go

we see him buried in the dirt

if this truly is meant to be impermanent, then it is even more cruel and meaningless than if they actually just killed him for nothing and no amount of "indestructible little fucker" foreshadowing redeems it

I hate everything about this ending, for everyone involved

it's such a disappointment

[hisuian-history-makers]

Casual Casualty—Indigo Park AU, Part 2.

Two-ish days after thinking up the foundation and first part of the AU, I had a small epiphany.

.

.

.

Ed was dumb for an urban explorer!

We can see from the in-game sprite he is really fit, but the way he handled exploring Indigo Park was weird. One—he wasn’t wearing gloves or any long sleeved clothes which can add some extra protection against debris. Two—he didn’t bring his equipment outside of a camera, flashlight, and presumably a bag to carry stuff.

I’ve done a small dive into how urban explorers operate though DISCLAIMER don’t quote me on the little I scrounged up. Urban explorers never go guns blazing into an abandoned property. Urban exploring is technically trespassing in the eyes of the law meaning they have to be extremely careful demeanor wise.

Most follow the rule of “take only photos, leave only footprints” when it comes to exploring. It’s a death sentence to share the exact location of where they explore cause other people will come to vandalize it. The stereotypical carrying bolt cutters, crowbars, and even a gun could bump them up to serious offenses if/when they are caught. If Ed did a full on exploration, then he’d have things like: a first aid kit, food, water, batteries, extra flashlight, sturdy shoes, etc…

Things that a hiker would carry and which he could technically deflect the true reason he came onto the Indigo Park property.

The more I think about it… the more it sounds like Ed was initially going to scout out the Park. He was going to map if there were any obvious ways to enter, if people came out there often, park his car far enough away from cameras or the general foot traffic so it isn’t noticed. Urban exploring comes with major risks if someone doesn’t pay attention to their surroundings. The rubble falling right after Ed got into the tunnel entrance—is a close call nobody wants to risk!

As for how this relates to Casual Casualty: What if Ed didn’t go into Lloyd’s stage when he saw the full grown lion(?) sleeping on stage?!

You can very easily see mascot Lloyd’s form shifting—breathing—as he sleeps on the stage.

If Ed’s an experienced enough urban explorer, he has probably run into situation where doors are locked. The pad lock keeping him from going further into Jetstream Junction is a simple pad lock on a semi-loose looking chain.

Why I bring up a situation like this is, what if Ed managed to get into Jetstream Junction without having that close shave with Lloyd? He could have found a way to pick the lock, or… managed to squeeze in by taking his bag off. This would decrease the threat level of the mascots to him I imagine though he might still be cautious seeing them. (He also wouldn’t have seen Mascot Mollie “Macie” peering at him from around a corner.) Since y’know, they are living flesh and blood versions of fictional characters. AI Rambley was one thing. But this?

Shocking.

I think the actual shock of seeing another real living Mascot and Mollie’s frankly startling appearance… Would dull his reaction.

Leading to Ed’s very unfortunate death.

———————————————————————

[If you can’t tell I wanted to make Ed seem more… competent? I wanted to make him feel smarter than just the game protagonist heading straight into danger after the near death by Lloyd. Laura won’t have a Critter Cuff.]

Thoughts?

[anamericangirl]

As a high-schooler, it's strange to see adults arguing over something that seems like a no-brainer. Why remove people's security (guns) because of the minority who misuse them? All of these school shooters had some form of mental illness, and I don't think the problem is guns.

Also, personally speaking, I'd feel much safer if my teachers were armed. If some deranged person ever came strolling in, trying to kill my classmates and me, there is a higher possibility of that person being neutralized without us having to wait for police and risk dying. They say they care about us but also want to remove an essential factor in making our schools safer in the face of a life-threatening situation.

Obviously, in an ideal world, we wouldn't need guns. But the world is far from ideal; we can sit around and lament about how things should be or adapt and make the best out of our situation.

Well you're a lot smarter than a lot of adults. With all the research we have that shows over 90% of mass shootings happen in gun free zones, and that the people committing the shootings are all seriously mentally ill in some way, and the fact that even the mere possibility of someone having a gun has deterred crime, and with the records we have of armed citizens stopping mass shooters much faster than police and with less deaths, you would think it would be a no brainer.

And as much as they talk about "common sense" gun control what they don't realize is that common sense is actually against them. Common sense would question why they want to take guns from victims just to call people with guns to come save them. Common sense would show that if you're armed or someone around you is armed there's a nearly 100% chance you can stop a would-be-mass shooting before it becomes a mass shooting. Common sense would say if someone is trying to shoot you, shooting them yourself has a much better success rate than running away.

If there is a shooter at a location and the only person that has a gun is the shooter you are guaranteeing a substantial loss of life before there's even a chance of stopping them. But if someone is armed, the shooting can be stopped as quick as it starts.

Guns are the best defense against another gun. It is a no-brainer and what's concerning is that the politicians who call for gun control while surrounding themselves with armed guards are refusing to give children the same protection they give themselves.

[aho-dapa]

Honestly, it’s not really talked about enough that Aelin is a colonizer. She’s somehow both a white savior, tyrant, and Mary Sue at the same time - lowkey impressive (I really don’t know how SJM managed fit all these archetypes into one character). The whole series is problematic, especially Aelin’s entire character. But what really gets me is Nehemia’s death.

I remember reading the books back in middle school, and even then, I thought it was weird that Nehemia, the only black character, had to die a gruesome death to progress the story line and add to Aelin’s character development. Not only did SJM decide to kill Nehemia, she did it in a unnecessarily violent way.

Nehemia shouldn’t have sacrificed herself for Aelin of all people. Nehemia was way more interesting than Aelin. She’s smarter, more politically savvy, and would’ve made a much better rule than Aelin. But instead, she had to die horrifically all to prop up a colonizer who repeatedly made selfish decisions and threatened to kill those that didn’t immediately obey her.

If the series was centered around Nehemia, it would’ve been a million times better. If SJM didn’t kill Nehemia, the series would’ve been a thousand times better. But honestly all the side characters of TOG were so much more entertaining than Aelin ever was.

SHE REALLY IS ALL THREE!!!!

There's this whole thing with sjm trying to be clever with Aelin's character and intentionally not telling the readers what she's doing off screen which is like, meant to reflect how no one around her even knows what she's doing either until she pulls it out of her ass.

I honestly have so many thoughts about Nehemia but I think its overall just horrible, but Nehemia's death, her people, her suffering, isn't even about her, it's all about how it affects Aelin. Like, there was a way to write this that wasn't whatever sjm spat out. Even if Nehemia "had" (sighhhh) to die, sjm could have taken care to actually expand on how her death wasn't just the death of Aelin's friend, but of a person. She was a princess that affected people around her, and the most sjm could do with that was... slave revolts in Endovier before Adarlan killed every single person there. The ONLY character from Eyllwe we ever get to actually know is Nehemia. We don't even get a scene with Aelin meeting Nehemia's parents or her family or how they even felt about her passing. (Edit: and like, not even just her passing. but the brutalization of her body, of dying a painful death and sighhhhh)

That's only because ultimately, Nehemia was just a tool in Aelin's story and it pisses off every time I think about it honestly. Because sjm never gives the people of Eyllwe peace (in this book where the plot just conveniently falls to Aelin's whim and making her more of a pitiful character for brownie points but)

In CoM, Nehemia dies. In HoF, the slaves revolt in Endovier and are all murdered (and is made Aelin's suffering because she was once a slave there, there's just something sooooo ugh about that because I know sjm thought she was being sneaky with have a white woman bear the chains a black person has historically so that Aelin could somehow play their savior. There's like, a huger discussion here about how sjm didn't have to racialize her fantasy in this way but alas).

In EoS, Eyllwe is literally burning. And in KoA, we get nothing about them. Kingdoms and allies surround Aelin and her victory, her conquest, her journey hard won, and the one person that began Aelin's very narrative to fight isn't even there as a coherent thought.

I agree, but I also feel like Nehemia being a main character is impossible for the person sjm currently is. She doesn't know how to not make herself the center of everything she writes. And that's like, morally neutral I think, but it gets honestly icky when sjm writes about slavery and can't even ponder what it means outside of her self insert white protagonist.

[randomthefox]

I think one thing that annoys me most about remake/reboot culture is the audience's tendency to justify the remake's existence by finding fault with the original on an ad-hoc basis. It's as if folks feel obligated to put down the original in order to rationalize the existence of the remake, even if such "flaws" were never a problem to begin with. I don't know why "Pyramid Head was unable to swing his sword inside the hospital corridor so they switched to a spear earlier than intended" was such an issue that it retroactively ruins the game for some people. But a YouTuber mentions it once in contrast to SH2 remake's supposed greater focus on Muh Emotions, what with the closeup on James' horrified face, and suddenly people will expect PH to cleave Maria in half with the Great Knife. Never mind how A.) creators frequently change course during the development of a project. Things get shuffled around; plans go in new directions, bugs and crashes occur. It happens all the time. It's expected. Somehow, this is framed as some flaw Team Silent had to compromise on when it should instead be considered a testament to their craft that they made it work and nobody even noticed there was a problem for 20 fucking years. And B.) They probably cut death-by-Great Knife because on top of being impractical, they might have realized it was a stupid way for Maria to die. It's so stupid I once wrote a crackfic about how James buckled under the knife's weight and wound up slicing himself in half. Rest in pillow. But no, more seriously, on top of being a smarter choice in terms of pure technicality, the spear works well given the themes of sexual frustration surrounding Maria's character. Makes sense, given how the segment leading up to the chase represented the trials of marriage. James leaves Maria to PH's mercy just as he left his wife behind in death, and only when her dying becomes impossible to ignore does he think to look back. "This scene could be improved by a close-up shot of James' horrified face because seeing his Emoshuns more clearly helps us sympathize with him" is a shallow-ass take when there's plenty to read into the original scene as is. We don't need to see his face when the more pertinent information is him slamming the elevator buttons and wrenching on the doors in vain as he can do nothing but watch death claim Mary a second time. The struggle represents James' helplessness, his attempts to brute-force a broken system to work: he read tons of medical books in search of answers, but nothing "fixed" the metaphorical elevator. It's a parallel to his plea to Mary's doctor: "It's your job to heal people," just as it's the elevator's job to provide escape. Sometimes artistic "mistakes" serve to enhance a story more than the original intent.

It's such a "we were always at war with eastasia" type of thing, and it's so transparently performative and insincere. Suddenly this thing which nobody thought was a problem, and might have even considered a benefit, for years and years and years NOW is a "problem" that needs to be "fixed" by the remake. And it's only ever stuff that was changed by the remake which gets this treatment. Nobody is arguing that there's things that the remake SHOULD have "fixed" but didn't, and thus the remake is incomplete for not doing ENOUGH are they? No, they're only saying the things that the remake changed were "always" bad and that's why the remake is good for making those corrections. The fact they're not suggesting other things that the remake could have done, but didn't, makes their intentions very clear to me.

And when you realize that, you start asking the question of "then WHY are they turning around and pretending these are things that necessitate a remake?" Why are they going out of their way bending over backwards and making things up for the sake of propping up this remake as 'needed'?

They're either paid off, bootlickers, or bandwagon followers. I do not acknowledge ANY of them as having a sincere genuine opinion that originated from their human heart. They are not voicing an honest feeling that they themselves had. They are reciting a script off of a teleprompter. They are imposters who mean you harm, and I don't trust any of them.

[bluedalahorse]

those things you’re a little afraid to say (YRS3 intimacy edition)

I’m reading this thread here (which I’m pretty sure I missed the first time around due to my hiatus surrounding S3) and it articulates some of what I struggled with re: the intimacy coordination in season 3.

Here’s something I’ve always been afraid to say in fandom spaces: I have a bit of a complicated relationship with the intimacy scenes in YR more generally. I love the ones in season 1 and 2 (both wilmon and sargust) when we see them in the context of the episodes. I think they truly did something unique in terms of how they communicated character and relationships and themes. I also think the writers did a great job of acknowledging the reality that some teenagers can be interested in sex and have ~these feelings~ and that first love can be really significant in a person’s life, without doing the kinds of weird voyeuristic stuff that other teen dramas have sometimes leaned into.

Now comes a part where I am only going to speak for myself. I’m not going to say that anyone has to share my opinion. I have historically felt a kind of way that tumblr as a medium allows for the manufacturing and proliferation of gifsets of a fandom’s favorite scenes in the show, often in a way that takes these scenes out of their context. Sometimes this is fun! But sometimes it has other impacts on how we view the art.

Now, intimacy scenes are often among the things that get gif’d. I found—reminder that I am only speaking for myself here—that seeing the s1 and s2 YR intimacy scenes, again and again, divorced from their context and cropped and curated to look a certain idealized way… well, that just didn’t feel the same as seeing the scenes in context, and I started to burn out on the gifsets pretty quickly and feel uncomfortable. And then came the period when I was seeing them alongside even more kissing gifs from RWRB and Good Omens and Heartstopper and Our Flag Means Death and maybe something involving Andrew Scott or some other actor but I can’t remember what? There was quite a lot and it all started to blur together.

I understand, for a lot of people this felt empowering, and/or hot, and/or fun. And I do recognize the importance of the milestone here—you just didn’t see queer intimacy this visible in the 90s and 00s! And it’s really important to see that! Do you know how much I didn’t have scenes like this as a teenager? And I think for many, posting gifs again and again is a way of celebrating.

I can also acknowledge that for me, personally—again just solely speaking for myself!—the decontextualization and the endless repetition of these intimacy scenes felt more like… almost more like a commodification of queer intimacy than a celebration of it. And it felt increasingly sour for me to see this on my dash 24/7. To be clear: I am not saying I am objectively correct and everyone else is wrong. I am talking about my own feelings.

For that reason I eventually figured the best way to deal with this feeling of sourness/frustration was to block and filter certain tags to keep my dash relatively clear of this kind of curated endless repetition. That way other people could continue to celebrate the gifsets that mattered to them and I could engage through text and other ways of engaging. It also helped me appreciate the YRS1 and S2 intimacy scenes more when I got to see them in canon again—for me that context is so important! Maybe that’s a personality thing, or maybe that’s an ace thing. I don’t know.

Continuing to speak only for myself: I don’t really have an academic way of saying this (honestly @heliza24 has smarter ideas about how the intimacy in S3 was directed, which maybe she’ll share someday, but I am not as smart as her about this stuff) except that when S3 had the “hallway scene” and subsequent stuff happened, it really just felt like the creators were winking at us like “this one’s for the gif makers!” It felt like it was there to be aestheticized and decontextualized and endlessly repeated. Which is fine for like, other shows, but for YR it felt particularly strange and off. I just did not vibe with it.

But other people did! And that’s great! Like I’m glad other people got what they wanted, and at the same time I think a lot of the bonding in YR fandom comes from holding these moments of intimacy in a sort of religious awe. So it’s something that binds a lot of people in the fandom together but it also sometimes leaves out the people who’ve got their own reasons to feel their own way about these scenes.

I have one other thought about season 3 and intimacy, which is that I feel like the girls got done dirty a bit? One of YR’s strengths in my opinion was that in S1 and S2 it acknowledged how teen girls can be just as horny as teen boys, and didn’t hold back from exploring that horniness and yearning. Moreover, when this was explored with say, Sara—Sara’s also got AuDHD, so it’s actually pretty damn important that they didn’t desexualize her like they often do with disabled characters.

But in season 3, they withhold the fact that she’s still feeling stuff about August until the end of episode 5, framing it as a sort of shock twist that she kisses him when he’s at his low point. And I don’t think the writers should have withheld her lingering feelings about him from the audience. I feel like we could have gotten some earlier indication that she’s still yearning and horny and feeling conflicted about it. Because by the end of the final episode, when she makes her decision, we know she says she still has feelings for him but she’s choosing her friends and herself. And it’s important to me that that’s a weighty decision for her, and not something that’s easy for her to do because like, idk, sargust is obviously the devil’s pairing or whatever. I guess Sara’s feelings being hidden away for most of the season makes her more likable to more of the audience, but I hate that we live in this world that holds female characters to these kinds of standards.

We see Sara as an object of desire through August’s eyes but we don’t see her looking back at him, whereas in season 2 we got an equal sense of their yearning for one another. And I know that’s about the falling apart of their relationship, but there also could have been a way to show the disconnect between them, that didn’t involve sweeping Sara’s feelings under the rug until the last hour of the show.

And maybe it wouldn’t have bothered me as much if Felice got to have a new crush in s3. (Rosh and/or Ayub were right THERE; she could have talked to one of them at the camping trip and texted with them in a flirty way.) Maybe it wouldn’t have bothered me if Stedrika hadn’t happened mostly offscreen. And maybe we would have needed eight episodes to incorporate that, but—speaking solely for myself!—I feel really not amazing about the way that the girls’ collective horny-yearny feelings were downplayed in the third season compared to the first and second.

Replies and discussion welcome. I’d especially be interested in hearing from other people who struggled with the intimacy in S3—and if you don’t feel comfortable sharing in the replies, you can DM me instead. I was originally going to make this rebloggable, but then I decided against it because well. People.

Anyway, I hope you have a good Saturday! I am going to get ready to do my exercise for the day.

[kawaiidoodles95-blog]

The Stranger Stampy Circus: Chapter 10

The ninth chapter of a long series I am making!

NOTICE: This is 11+! Throughout this story, there will be light mentions of blood, death, war, darker humor, and violence. While nothing here is explicit, if this bothers you in any way, keep on moving. Also, there is a kidnapping in this. Trust me. I won't be mad.

AN: I am making this not only on here but on google docs. This is a crossover between Stranger Things, Stampy's Lovely World, The Amazing Digital Circus, and Wonka. Each chapter will have a name of one of the characters (or main POV's I refer to them as,) and whoever's name is on the chapter title is the person narrating the chapter.

Anyways, enjoy TSSC!

Chapter 10: Stampy

(A day later)

The day droned on and on. We left the Upside Down city’s borders and entered an area even Vecna didn’t know about. “So this is what the monsters talked about when they said ‘the desert.’ This place is dead and barren!” Vecna exclaimed, looking around at the empty scenery that seemed to extend forever. “So you recon this is the way Hit The Target went?” I asked. “I know this is the way he went,” Vecna said. “He’s right. There are the glitchy footprints,” Pomni agreed, pointing at the strange footprints.

The walk was long and unbearable. I was so tired already, and it was only the morning. I stared at the mounds that seemed to shift in the moonlight. But I then saw something else move; something alive. “Guys, what’s that?” I asked, my tail tucking and my ears lowering. I pointed at the ground, which was quickly being raised as it was coming closer. “I THINK WE SHOULD RUN,” Pomni exclaimed. We all picked up the pace as all of the sudden, the ground started erupting into abstraction-stuff. It looked like a geyser. “SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT!” Pomni screamed. “Pomni, I know you dealt with abstracted people. Does this normally happen?!” Vecna asked. “No, this is not at all what happens!” Pomni responded. 

On our sprint, I tripped multiple times but didn’t fall somehow. We all seemed to catch up with each other, when I finally fell. “GUYS, JUST KEEP MOVING!” I called them. “I’LL BE FINE.” However, it was too late. The geysers of abstraction goo surrounded us as it created a dome over us. Once more, we all passed out, waking up into a strange realm unlike any other…

-+*~*+-

“Stampy? STAMPY?”

My ears were ringing as I opened my eyes. Pomni was right as my face with her iconic, WIDE eyes. “Augh… where are we… my head hurts,” I murmured, sitting up and scratching behind my ears. When I fully got my vision back, I saw Vecna uncomfortably pacing in this weird completely black, glitching space. “Welcome to the void, at least, what was the void. Seems like HTT corrupted it. Trust me; it didn’t previously look like this,” Pomni explained. “Oh, ok. Let’s just find Hit The Target, beat him, save Willy, and leave,” I said. “It isn’t as easy as that,” Vecna countered, “If it’s true that Hit The Target is here, then it’d be very hard to find him because of the camouflage.”

“Wow, ỳ̵̼̮̪̘o̴̡̡̯͗ù̸̫͉̦̃̉́ are much smarter than I thought.”

We all whipped around, and there he was. Hit the Target. “LET. WILLY. GO,” Vecna yelled, vines popping out of his back, his claw growing sharper. “You’ll have to do more than that, Vecna. Besides, you should never let your guard down,” Hit The Target laughed maniacally. “What?” I heard Vecna murmur. Suddenly, HTT threw Vecna on the floor, holding a knife to his neck. “RUN! JUST, DON’T WORRY, I’M FINE!” Vecna screamed at me and Pomni. “P-Pomni… What should we do!? We can’t leave him here!” I said to her. “Vecna told us to run, so I guess we should run,” Pomni frowned, grabbing my wrist and dragging me away. I tried resisting, but her grip was surprisingly strong.

“But- Pomni,” I whispered.

“He said he can handle himself!” “Everyone says that, and it always goes wrong!” I cried. “What should I do?” I thought.

[vriskaserketdaily]

what albums are those and why do you connect it w vriska :3?

THANK YOU mwah

it's not so much that i connect these albums with vriska, but rather with the persona vriska constructs for herself and with vriska's perceptions of mindfang.

the first album is celebrity skin (1998), the third and final album of the band hole. you might have heard this song from the album if you listened to rock stations in the 2000s. it deals heavily with doomed romance, suicidality, the façades of fame and the ugly, sad truths which lie beneath.

the second is soho lights (2008) by the UK-based pop-punk band tat. it is their first and only album, and i have no idea if it got radio play at all, but here's a song from the album to give you a feel for the sound. this one themes itself around the rock-and-roll lifestyle, sexuality (particularly unwilling and unrequited love) and rebellion against expectations of how women are "supposed" to behave.

both albums present an aggressive (and aggressively heterosexual) brand of femininity that i believe 13-year-old (and younger) vriska would latch onto in her quest to emulate and embody mindfang as depicted in her journals. people much smarter than me have pointed out that vriska reads very strongly as a lesbian character suffering from compulsory heterosexuality, because despite her many many attempts to replicate the important men-oriented relationships of her ancestor, these relationships consistently leave her dissatisfied; and because her most intense and passionate relationships are with women (terezi, kanaya, aradia) rather than the men she should be interested in (eridan, tavros, arguably equius). (i also think she is suffering from "compulsory heterosexuality" in the troll sense in that mindfang's quadrants are very neat and delineated whereas vriska's cannot help but be . . . messy. see: terezi and tavros)

vriska's picture of mindfang as a historical figure is incomplete, because she only ever consults one source on mindfang's life and personality. yes, it's a primary source, but there's no reason to believe mindfang's account of her conquests or conduct is accurate to historical events. she could have been creating a character just as much as vriska is, someone who is cool and in control of all events, never afraid for her life or doubtful of her abilities. vriska, taking this account at face value and being unable or unwilling to conduct further research beyond the contents of one volume of mindfang's journals, internalized this potentially fictitious characterization as fact, projecting onto mindfang her desires and aspirations.

like all the other characters in homestuck, vriska's outward appearance of a ruthless, 8adass cerulean marauder is a façade. a sham. her conversations with john, aradia, and meenah reveal her to be introspective, affection-seeking (or at least, connection-seeking), conscious of the weight of her actions and remorseful for them. even before her introspective conversations, she is established as a character who is not happy with her life and the things she has to do to stay alive, the role she believes she has to play so she and her friends don't die. she is scared of the things she has to do and the role she has to play, but even at her introduction the stakes were life and death.

for her, mindfang is a persona, an armor she steps into when she needs to be the person her society insists she is. to that end, i believe that if she had access to celebrity skin and soho lights, she would use them as "mood-setting music" to get into the headspace of the mindfang persona and affirm that the aggressive, rebellious, at times morbidly depressed, heterosexual picture of herself is an accurate one reflected by this music---music mindfang would have made or enjoyed.

(there is also something to be said about the controversy surrounding courtney love that may make her a compelling individual for vriska, but when it comes to music as experienced by a 13-year-old i do not believe the artist is the most relevant factor in that 13-year-old's processing and interpretation of the music---it certainly wasn't for me at that age)

tl;dr vriska listens to these aggressive rocker chicks growl into the mic about their heterosexual love lives that have failed in various ways, and the depression that comes with their lifestyles, and thinks to herself as an aggressive depressed teenage girl whose relationships with men always flop for reasons that have nothing to do with her not actually liking men and thinks, "she's just like me fr"

[kamejapan]

Kawaii Yankee Episode Four

"let's do this one!" mareo said as naoya took the iPad and read the file carefully. "isn't this an old one?" naoya had asked, looking up at the other who had already moved to his computer and was pulling anything and everything he could find; including what he could find in his own database. "so, what'd you find?" naoya had asked, taking off his lab coat and standing next to mareo at his desk. "we have to go out and investigate. now." "wait. what?"

naoya and mareo had run out of the station quickly, getting onto their motorbikes and speeding towards the college. when they arrived, they saw the influx of police cars and looked at each other. "fucking for real?" naoya breathed as they got closer to the scene, putting on their masks and hat. "how'd you guys find out we had a case?" detective nazumi asked, only receiving a look in return. "oh yeah. well, his body was found in the judo locker room. he has whip marks on his body, vital stab wounds, skinned on his face, and.." he trailed off as the two squinted in confusion. "say it man! come on! we gotta go check out the area!" naoya pressed as the senior only held up a bag and looked away. "oh shit. yeah, put that fucking thing down." naoya said as the two shook their heads and walked off to look at the surrounding area.

"hurry up, we don't have a lot of time." mareo said to naoya as he stood still at the back of the classroom, feeling naoya open up his battery and button frame on his side, pressing the pairing button to pair to the app they had on their phones. let me know when you're connected. "scanning classroom." mareo's robotic voice said, causing him to go still. naoya watched from the video view on the app, making sure the scan went smoothly. "scanning complete."

as the two reviewed the room scan video, they both blinked quickly and rewinded the video multiple times. "did you see that?" mareo asked as naoya nodded slowly. this was a beautifully done job. naoya moved to swab the outlines of the tarp they had seen and collected a cloth piece that seemed to be of alligator and snakeskin mix. "is this?" "yeah."

the two decided to walk around the campus and find more clues, they spotted a group of people with their phones or cameras, speaking into the cameras about what was happening. “so he must be the boyfriend of someone.” naoya said stating obviously gossip and impromptu bulletin that had all sorts of notes and papers on it talking about the deceased. "this is weird. i'm analyzing this and this feels like a ripoff of a birkin bag. we might have to do more at the lab." mareo said as naoya nodded and the two started heading back to the scene.

they shut the door to their office room and turned on the privacy windows, noticing that they were being watched by the other scientists who weren't happy that there were high schoolers smarter than them. "so, someone was trying to live the luxury life but failed. this is a dupe for the birkin bag." mareo said as they sat around the table with their head scientist tsuukumo ryuuske and captain of their mini unit-- arata joe. "what about the scan you guys did?" arata asked as they pulled it up onto the tv screen and watched it together. "that outline is?" tsuukumo had asked as naoya spoke. "from some type of protection. it was more like a tarp to us. we swabbed it and that's what we got. but when we ran it through mareo's analysis program, we found no prints on the ground. only something like examination gloves. but who could've killed him? there's a bunch of medical students here. not to mention there's a nurse in each department."

the meeting and investigation plan went on for a while longer, them coming up with a bunch of different suspects and reasonings.

"i have a feeling there's going to be more deaths at the college. don't know why though." mareo sighed out as naoya placed his hands behind his head and hummed. "then you might have to get used to being babysat by your brother." "no, never."

monday came and mareo sat on the stairs, head hung low in tiredness. ruka sat next to him and handed him a soda, silence filling the space. "you look tired. what did you do over the weekend?" he had asked as mareo held the soda up to him lazily, prodding him to open it as his head hit his shoulder. ruka had stiffened up a bit at feeling mareo's head on his shoulder, surprised he even was comfortable enough to do that. mareo had taken the soda ruka had opened for him and took a sip. 'he's like a baby, how adorable' the taller thought as he allowed the silence to consume them again.

it wasn't until naoya had come to the steps to let the two know how late it was. they had missed all their classes. how didn't ruka notice? he's been on his phone the whole time keeping a close eye on the male sleeping. "wake up. i have to go to lessons and need your books." naoya had said, causing the sleeping male to wake up quickly. he stretched and headed back to the classroom as the other two followed behind slowly, having a conversation of their own. "you're whipped." naoya said smugly as he got punched in the arm. "i'm just being a friend." ruka spat back with a face that said otherwise.

mareo and naoya were walking around, doing anything and everything they found of interest, coming up with a plan to investigate outside of school since they were in school most of the week. "hey aren't they picking on someone the wrong size?" mareo said as naoya's head turned in the same direction. there were a group of guys who were a rather large group picking on a single kid. "now? really? wait." naoya punched mareo in the back of the head, earning a hiss in response and an unwanted automatic function. of course, even after so long, naoya still knew all the shortcuts of mareo's body. "automated zoom. scanning." the AI voice had said, mareo's pupils rotating in a circle and analyzing the scene before them.

"recording saved to files." mareo blinked and raised a brow, turning to the other who only smiled. "why don't we go visit the captains?" naoya said as mareo only followed suit, them making it in no time to the station.

"get plugged in." arata said as mareo took his jacket and shirt off to get plugged in to share to the big screen for everyone to see. mareo gasped and his eyes went a human white as naoya stood guard outside his pod, opening the system that manually controls mareo. "oh that jacket is an old one. class from the 90s. i think 99? but he's got to be the age of your brother, mareo. his face says so." joe said as mareo pouted. his body was seen sitting on the floor of a white area and he rolled around at the thought. he knew where this was going.

as soon as mareo got home, he sat down and noticed that his brothers are always at home and together eating dinner with him. it was a first. the orphanage had them train like dogs and eat in groups or not at all due to the tight schedule of training. especially mareo, he lived off oil and nuts and bolts.

"so, i'm going to be gone a lot more often." mareo said loudly, interrupting the comforting arguments of the other five. they all looked at him in surprise. he's been quiet for the past hour. "oh? why?" souta asked as he blinked. "oh. uh. extra classes! at natsu-nii's college!" natsu choked on his rice in shock. what?

"hey kid, did you even check with the school to see if you can do that?" natsu asked as mareo's eye twitched gently. technically, yes. the police. "yeah. it's being offered to me and a few others as an exclusive. they're only taking in two students to see how it works out." he replied before quickly shoving a piece of meat in his mouth. "thank you for the food." mareo said as he shoved the rest in his mouth and tried to escape, to avoid further questioning.

his brothers would not give up the questioning or anything. several hours had passed and they were now in the living room, looking over the courses he could take and what the program offered. if it wasn't for ruka, they'd be in the shithole. "wait, why don't you take the same course as natsu?" mareo blinked back into reality and shook his head with a hand up. "no thanks. too common. we're brothers. disassociation." the elder four dropped their heads. they've been born to stubborn but they've never faced it ten times worse than before.

"got it. i'll do the crime club! naoya and i like playing mystery games so it'll be perfect for us and we can ease our way into the classes." mareo said with excitement, causing the others to give up and let the kid have his way before hell breaks loose and he gets lost or shows up to a club.

tuesday; early.

it was dark as the ceo of tabbytun walked into the political building he had opened up, him assuming he was the only one there at this time. his narcissism got to him. of course he was here early! he cared for the people! he had to get to work on everything he wanted and needed fast so they could have a 'slight' advantage!

the tvs and monitors turned on, displaying different kinds of damning evidence against the CEO. "welcome, president." naoya and mareo had said, standing on either side of him and bowing, wearing the anbu black ops mask they had got from the store. "oh. hello. you are not anbu because they're fictional." he replied as mareo kept a straight face best he could behind the mask. "you are correct president. we are not anbu but rather from sun. you have been chosen." "chosen?" he asked as he turned to naoya who only held out a hand and led him to his couch in his office where he saw his workers gathered together in front of it. "what's going on?" the CEO continuously asked as naoya and mareo stood in front of his workers and ripped their masks off.

"oga tsuruske. you are guilty of sexual harassment, embezzlement, murder from 10 years ago, and not paying the hakakuen gang. do you have their money?" mareo asked as oga's eyes shook in fear. "no, i don't have it." oga said with fear as mareo shook his head and sighed. "you will pay in other means then." he said as he moved to kick him in the stomach and watch him fall to the floor. "mareo, be gentle. we have to still hand him over to the okami, remember?" naoya scolded lightly as he turned on the overhead lights for the CEO to get a good look at his surroundings. "he'll be in one piece. maybe? depending on if he can survive an included window fall." mareo said as he grabbed the 20 years senior by his hair and dragged him back onto the couch.

"murder? that wasn't me." oga denied as mareo had a menacing smile. "eh. haruha nana doesn't sound familiar?" mareo heard the gulp perfectly and cackled. "okay people. let's make this quick so your children can be put to bed after their fun day they had today." naoya said as he clapped and everyone nodded their heads. "please, who's like to speak first? mareo is known as steelhead so you're protected. also keep in mind we do have to distribute payment."

"you bastards wouldn't rat on me for money from two kids would you?" oga asked with slight panic as the staff looked away. after all, they were promised about 4 million yen from his legal money. which was; well. everything. "4 million yen each. pretty good price no?" naoya said as he opened the window for fresh air as he noticed some of the staff growing nervous and sweaty.

"k. bye." mareo said as he punched the senior a few times before throwing grabbing the couch with one hand and dragging it with ease, using a small bit of force to kick the couch and the poor man out a closed window, lollipop in his mouth.

the whole office fell silent as they listened to the loud crash and car alarm that followed in what seemed to take forever. next, the screams. everyone went still as mareo watched from the window, spotting a detective who looked up in suspicion. he lifted his head in acknowledgment, tossing the USB of evidence on the floor. "pay will be coming out now. please check your mail when you get home. it will be there in two hours starting now." mareo said as he held the door open for everyone to walk out and return to their homes.

"fucking man. this suit is dirty. now i have to throw it out." mareo said as naoya sighed. he knew mareo too well. "station?" "yeah. they might've found something."

the second the pair arrived at the police station, they saw the detectives on their knees and looking at them with tears in their eyes. "this is fucking weird." naoya said as the other agreed and they slowly backed away. "please! interrogate the suspects for us! we got no information and have a lot of complaints!" one begged as the highschoolers shuddered. the thought.

"why? fuck you naoya! why did you agree!" mareo screeched in the viewing room, hands in the air as the two let out a sigh that held different meanings for each.

"ms. junsu, did you know junichiro?" mareo asked as the female nodded quickly. "that boy? why yes. he came to the snack shop and asked for advice. it's common for students to do that. my shop is the only one safe enough for them to converse freely. unlike snide's. she listens in on every conversation and even has the audacity to try and hold what she knows over their head! she even got jealous that the ikemen talked to the females in the store or ignored her because they were listening to lesson guides!" mareo's eyes flickered. "natsu."

after several hours more of interrogations, naoya and mareo called it a morning and went home, mareo falling asleep on the stairs the second he sat on it to remove his shoes. "ma-kun." benjiro called as the youngest blinked a bit and noticed his ceiling. he was in his room. "benjiro aniki?" he asked softly as he heard a soft chuckle. "where'd you go so early in the morning? nobody was up in the whole town except you and the few farmers." benjiro asked as the other sat up. he had forgotten he had a correspondence he'd done and interrogations. natsu. quickly scrambling to kick off the covers, mareo fell to the floor and looked up. his vision was fuzzy. did he miss an update? oil? lost his artificial eye? everything was normal. that's when it hit him how exhausted he really was.

"naoya and i wanted to exercise..speaking of which, natsu-nii." he said before dozing off again, another sibling coming to see what the commotion was to laugh. looks like getting to know mareo inside and out day was on hold.

mareo blinked and felt like he gained some energy back. he made his way down without brushing his teeth for his routinely cup of water first thing before he went and did morning preparations.

after he did his simple routine, he sat on the couch in the living room and ate his strawberry milkshake cereal slowly, watching ameiro paradox with a blank face.

“yo, mareo. you okay?” benjiro asked as the other jumped in surprise. he looked up and nodded. “mm. if your lover died and he had you know that part removed, why?” mareo asked as benjiro sat down next to the other in thought. “hm. i’d probably remove it because he cheated on me?” he replied as mareo nodded his head. “okay but why would you shove him in a small place?” he asked as the other only shrugged. the two let the silence from the early morning consume them as the two watched the tv with an eventual game competition.

tuesday; quarter to mid morning // 8 AM

ruka and mareo were alone again as the two ate snacks and mareo revealed his love of kamen rider. “hey have you ever thought of dating a man?” ruka asked as mareo sighed in thought. “i have.” glancing over, ruka smiled. “is that so?” he said in delight as mareo leaned back a bit. “what is it?” he asked cautiously, instantly reading the situation.

“no.” mareo said as the two walked down the hallway. ruka groaned and stepped in sync with the other. “come on! just once. so they’ll believe it!” he begged as mareo turned towards him. “we’re in fucking high school!” mareo said in exasperation. “so?? why does it matter?!” ruka shrieked as the two stopped to face each other. “fine! you only get this one chance so don’t fuck it up if you really wanna impress them.” mareo said as he arrived at the other classroom, feeing a hand snake around his waist. “bye darling, i’ll see you later.” ruka said cheekily as the other smacked his head against the doorframe. this was going to be a long fucking day.

as mareo spaced out in the middle of the lecture, his vision changed as he logged into the college database and made his way to the security cameras. his automatic connection connected him to the camera inside the men’s locker room. wait what? a camera in the changing room? mareo was confused as he looked around and tried to figure out where it was hidden at.

“oh. my stomach! i think i had too much spicy food! i’m going to the nurse real quick!” he said aloud as he snuck his wallet into the jacket pocket. he scampered out and went to hide in a corner, away from being heard. “oi. captain. come pick me up. naoya too. we’re definitely going to need him.” mareo spoke quietly as joe bombarded him with questions. “ahhh, there’s a fucking camera in the changing room!” he yelled loudly, covering his mouth quickly as he heard a few of the classroom windows open to look around for the commotion.

an hour later, mareo was eating lunch in the classroom, reading a book. he hadn’t been down stairs once since this morning and he was dying to see naoya. he needed to tell him.

“nishikawa mareo and kimura naoya. come with us to the station.” everyone heard from the megaphone, causing them to look around. “mareo? why are the police looking for you?” some of the students asked as his face dropped. it was the one and only joe. he’d embarrass them like that and only them. he had taken the title as their investigation papa.

grabbing his bag and running out, mareo tried not to think too much of the stares.

once he made it outside, grabbed the megaphone and smashed it, rubbing his face in annoyance as he saw naoya kick someone out the way as he made his way over and the two walked to the cop car, not caring anymore.

the two got in the car and waited for it to drive away from the school gates before mareo spoke. “go to the college captain. we need to go to the locker room.” “the locker room? why?” naoya asked as the two synced and saw the same things. naoya was shocked. mareo connected to this instantly? it was just turned on.

"come on now, don't hold out on me. what do you two see?" joe asked as naoya and mareo's faces said it all. "someone was watching them change. but, where exactly is the fucking camera? no. mareo this is only one screen, i see another one. "what?" joe breathed as he stepped on the gas even more and sped to the college. "ryuusuke-san. maybe he can help us." mareo said as naoya nodded. "naoya. hit me." naoya punched mareo instantly, shortcutting him to his recording mode as mareo recorded what they were seeing and then sent it to hakaku before sending a small stream of them on the way to the college.

by the time the trio had made it to the college, ryuusuke was waiting by the entrance. "ryuusuke-san. i have a question." mareo said as he walked up to the older who only had an unamused brow raised. "if it's pertaining to the footage of the locker room then yes. there's multiple cameras in there but this is the main one that gives view to every little thing in there. my question is, why is someone committing an act like 3 years ago?" this was definitely before naoya and mareo were adopted. they would've known with the extensive database each of them had.

"3 years ago? what happened 3 years ago?" naoya asked as they walked to the judo training area. "same craft. different motive and people." ryuusuke said as he opened the door to only scrunch up his nose from the scent of sweat and manliness. "after you." he said as the high school boys pushed their way through and entered the locker room, naoya opening up his arm to look for the pinpoint of the main camera whilst mareo connected to it, appearing on naoya's screen. "ryuusuke-san. please take twelve steps to the back and make a right. check in the corner of the cardboard boxes and avoid any handprints. it's a small camera. i'd say go pro size." hakaku made his way over and found the camera instantly, amazed at the duo.

joe had put on gloves and grabbed the camera, storing it in an evidence bag next to a broken piece of plastic he found. "oi. captain. open up the locker on the side where my back is. try..19." joe opened up 19 and didn't see anything inside. he made his way over to the next locker and opened it up. and again. and again. and finally he found it after opening up every locker on the wall. "this is tiny." joe said as naoya examined it. "spy. like the ones in the glasses i wear at home." joe 'ahhed' in understanding before becoming confused again. "wait how are we going to get the data off of this camera?" he questioned as naoya took the camera and plugged it into his arm. "i can pull the data off. mareo is the only full robot here but we need him to hold the camera stream so i'll do what i can." hakaku finally spoke after staying silent and examining every curious little thing. "naoya is only half robot?" mareo nodded and spoke cautiously as to not break concentration on searching the camera logs with his other eye. "yeah. he was chosen as half because they were trying to see which one would be better. but it worked out on both ends. we still have longevity."

“well you two, imma have to take a few days to fully break down the exit sign. i can probably figure out the source of it from the cpu chip frame and the wiring.” hakaku said as he took the sign down and examined the outside again. the teens nodded and both fell to the ground in pain, shorting out. “are you two okay?” joe asked as he grabbed hold of naoya and ryuusuke of mareo. “w-we’re shorting o-o-o-o-out! corrupted files!” mareo said as the two yelled in pain and tried to turn off their systems. “naoya has whole body effects too? isn’t he part?” joe asked as he received a printed explanation. “that’s why..” "that's not the point! help me!" ryuusuke said as joe and him dragged the two out the locker room.

"move out the way! move! we're heading to the main infirmary!" joe shouted as the two were being rolled on tables. "it hurts!" naoya screamed as everyone cleared out the way and watched the two going through convulsions.

natsu heard yelling and whispering. he made it to his friends and the unwanted group of girls. "did you hear? two kids were in the locker room and both of them had a heart attack. two detectives who were with them are rushing them to the main infirmary." kishibe said as natsu's brows furrowed. "i'm going to the vending machine." natsu said as he quickly walked away.

as the two detectives bust open the door to the infirmary, the nurse got up quickly in shock and yelled for her partner to come help. "grab the defibrillator!" she yelled as joe and ryuusuke moved immediately, grabbing the defibrillators and attaching the pads to their chests.

joe heard the commotion outside and glanced to see some of the students trying to watch what was happening. "ryuusuke, take care of them!" joe shouted as he shut the blinds and slipped out, yelling. ryuusuke grabbed both boys' hands, yelling for them to keep their eyes open. the nurses set the shock to full volume and shocked them. "come on, stay with us!" the head nurse shouted as the two calmed down and their heartbeats returned to normal, ryuusuke dropped to the ground and so did joe after returning from the outside.

"we'll have to keep their medical records in case something like this happens." joe and ryuusuke exchanged glances and shook their heads. "no can do. police jurisdiction." ryuusuke spoke as joe left to take a call.

ryuusuke and joe waited for the two to wake up before looking at them with concern. "mareo, we signed you up for an arts program. naoya, medical. you two are the only ones in a fight club and also apart of the mystery solving club. mareo, some of your classes are with your brother. like in 10 minutes." naoya and mareo quickly looked at each other. "classes?!"

naoya and mareo sprinted to their classes, tossing bread and juice between the two to make it in time.

breathing heavily, mareo sat in a seat and pulled out a notebook, drawing in it. he heard the chair next to him being pulled out and he paid no mind to it. then, he felt the collar of his shirt being lifted.

allowing himself to be dragged out and seeing the faces of the students who were surprised, he leaned back to see blonde hair dragging him.

"are you okay? did you go into cardiac arrest?" natsu asked as mareo shook his head. he didn't need to concern him. not with everything happening. natsu's heart calmed down a little. he couldn't fully believe him.

"natsu-nii. do you have food? i'm hungry.." mareo said as natsu got up quickly and left in silence.

natsu opened up the link and saw two faces.

it was mareo's face.

he came back with bread and milk for the boy, whose hair covered his face. "here. eat up." natsu said quietly as the other took one of the breads and ate. placing a hand on top of the other's head, natsu keptsilent even as class started, his head not moving and the younger unable to move.

in the midst of class, someone came in and screamed. "there's been another murder!" mareo got up quickly and ran out, taking the back route he and naoya had discovered.

he met with naoya and looked around. they saw the body and quickly put their masks and hats on before sliding next to the body just before the crime stand board was put up. placing two fingers on the neck of the victim, naoya looked at mareo with a soft shake. "died about 10 minutes ago. his blood is still pouring out, killer is still out there." mareo smiled. "no she's not. we'll get her later." he replied as he looked at the wallet of the victim.

naoya and mareo took off their gloves and went around the campus, examining everything again and made it to the staff room. "naoya, how many times has the name rina appeared on your side?" mareo asked as naoya glanced up and held up a small piece of a napkin with lipstick on it. "make this one seven."

"any lovers per say?" "nope, all potential suitors."

[trust-and-jump]

REGARDING MY REVERSE ROBINS TIM: WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH HIM?

Tim: "Why not?"

Okay, my Tim is still learning

Adding to this post (and exactly "Tim was the little psycho just like many young children that you hate are") , I'd like to say that Tim being a very cynical and cold person before he re-joins the Bats and Birds is not just a result of him being dunked in a Lazarus Pit or Ra's al Ghul's attention. It's in the other circumstances: he didn't exactly mature, he didn't learn fully to feel what many other people start to feel long before 14 years. And while he, in fact, did suffer, died and all, it doesn't help, you know? It doesn't actually teach you emotions, but it did make him think that: so I'm mature now, I've seen some shit, it makes me a better judge, I know better and all that.

like. If I got separated from my family before I started to feel for real, before I started to care about people, I would be like him. Only he's deadlier and has dangerous skills, because Batman growing little crime fighters (criminals) in his luxurious garden is something you should be scared of.

so. you would ask: "how can he be the known League Assasin and actually Ra's Herald/Harbinger and not to be mature? how can he be ROBIN/SHRIKE person and not to be mature? you just confuse emotional maturity with following your standards!"

I'll answer: he can. if the last time I wanted to kill a person (and it didn't even matter which person, even a family member, even my mother, or my sister; I had no borders at all and the only thing between me and some horrific crimes was just me not wanting to risk a punishment or literal laziness; still, I did many unnecessary but bad things, just like many teens did) I was older than him when he died, and the same age when he started in the League... he can.

He didn't break the borders. He just didn't ever get them.

and it's important, for me. he didn't even process his parents' deaths (well, considering he died soon after his father did...). Even though he feels he misses them a lot, it just didn't have any impact on how he sees relationships and family. At all.

LOOK.

Again: don't get me wrong, both me and my Tim did feel emotions, had empathy (and it's INFURIATING to think now about how I just KNEW how feels beating someone up or what some person was thinking about when did something, but NOT knowing why someone would worry about me (didn't know WHAT worry means, WHAT is it, "WHY all the people surrounding me FEEL something I can't even UNDERSTAND, WHY the other people, even all my age, are so different, WHAT am I missing, AM I just smarter, AM I just the only one who has the right to do something that is not socially accepted? Are they just consumed by society standards? What, really, should stop me from killing someone, or r*ping someone, or something else, except the fact that I just don't always want to do something and therefore it's not worth the risk? Is there anything I can't do when I really want to? Why is stealing bad? Why do people feel compassion? Why am I wrong if I don't feel the same things other do?"), why does the worry become anger, or that love and consern for someone exist outside of weird conversations some people have - I don't mean romantically, because these days I still don't feel like romantical things exist yet) and all. Got angry when saw group of teens torturing a kitten. Felt proud of some accomplishments. Embarrassed when something didn't go right in public. Playing with other kids. Feeling joy, and fear, and (no sadness. just the feeling something's missing. maybe just sadness transforming to something else too quickly to be recognised), pityness, wanting to avenge, and other things.

Not emotionless, obviously.

Just not feeling anything that actually matters when it comes to your relationships with people. When you keep people around you just because you're used to them being there, talking to you, because they're the part of your surroundings. Not feeling anything about them for real. Not even missing them the way you're supposed to, when far away for long (only missing places or actions or company or missing that you don't have to build new relationships). But knowing that if you want to change this status quo it's way too easy to do it. Because everyone once thought it, even if they don't remember it: it's so damn easy to do wrong, WHY keep people worry about doing it if it's so easy to do it?

It IS childish, in a bad way. (And any person can regress to this, under the right circumstances). And while I snapped out of it when I turned, I don't know, 16 or 17 maybe, (this was looong overdue, but I'm glad, because I was old enough to actually realise how my mind, my view, my feelings had changed), like so many others did,... some people--- didn't.

And my Tim didn't, too.

So by the time he's lucid again and not shocked or overwhelmed, after waking up, reanimated, talking to Ra's, being in the League, it's just a question of "Why not?"

It's not like he has some special kind of bond with Gotham. Why not to accept getting some new skills, why not to accept some new knowledge, why not to accept some interesting work while (and HERE al Ghul's whisperings are) helping the organization lead by a cool, charismatic person who is ancient enough to see what world should be and how to achieve that? It's not like Tim cares about the world, though (most of people don't). It's just one of the points why he should accept all of this. So he does.

And it's not even a tough choice. Not even driven by anger or something.

Just freedom.

[lemonhemlock]

I saw lots of anons sharing your thoughts with you so I will add mine point of view to this discussion. The whole "Making Aegon the main bad in greens side to be Daemon mirror when it could have been Aemond from the start" I understand all the parallels between Aegon and Rhaenyra both in books and in the show, but what is really beyond me is that people are still mad that show is not the same as books. They called it whitewashing, giving Greens more agenda and not showing that Blacks are on the right side of conflict 🤦‍♀️ like if one watches the show only to point out that it differs from book where the narrators are unreliable because they didn't witness all of things happening during the Dance, then this conversation makes no sense. Like, apart from certain battles (between Aemond and Daemon, between Tessarion, Vermithor and …, between Aegon, Aemond and Rhaenys) + some characters deaths like Jace, Joffrey, Rhaenyra, Aegon, Aemond, Daemon, Alicent, Tyland Lannister, Rhaenys and Corlys we cannot say that book contains the facts and show is lying. Book is filled with speculations and needs to be treated as such. Not like some true source of knowledge from the showrunners decided to not take into account. To quote Littlefinger "None of you were there to see what happened." Another thing is that after season 1 ended, all that everyone do is talk about whitewashing. Okay, Aegon was made worse than in the books, but again, some people are mad because Alicent is not a villain and then say that she should have been like in the books and 5 minutes later they say it's good that Aegon is worse than in the books because no one will root for Greens now. Aegon was there for short time in season 1. I don't want to jump into conclusions and predict his whole story in show when I have only few scenes to see him. What will happen for sure is that Sunfyre will kill Rhaenyra and Aegon will be a ruler for a short while and then he will be poisoned. Maybe they gave him such short time in season 1 and he wasn't much into spotlight as Aemond because simply he will live longer than Aemond and after Aemond dies we will get plenty of scenes with Aegon? As for the part whether will make him hide in the Red Keep when Aemond fights (aka is regent) - no he won't be hiding, he will be basically barbequed so he will be lying in his bed with maesters surrounding him trying to heal his burned body. That's the reason Aemond is regent, because Aegon state is that bad he cannot leave his bedchamber. Aegon clone of Joffrey? Coward? Like when? When he is smart, escapes King's Landing before Blacks arrive and goes to Dragonstone and waits for Rhaenyra? He is much smarter than Joffrey. Aegon power hungry? I would say applause starved and being a King provided him what his family did not. And why are you all so mad that show didn't let us know that both Aegon and Rhaenyra are not suited to rule? Like, maybe wait a bit until she takes King's Landing and then you will see? Part 1

I understand all the parallels between Aegon and Rhaenyra both in books and in the show, but what is really beyond me is that people are still mad that show is not the same as books. They called it whitewashing, giving Greens more agenda and not showing that Blacks are on the right side of conflict 🤦‍♀️

the problem is not "things are different from the books", the problem is that aegon is the only character from the cast that received the worst interpretation possible from the books (from unreliable source mushroom, nonetheless), whereas every other character has been softened up. the changes are not random, they were specifically designed to make certain characters look good - like daemyra not fridging gay character laenor and rhaenyra not being involved in vaemond's murder. so far aegon did not get one single change that made him "look better" in comparison to his book counterpart

Maybe they gave him such short time in season 1 and he wasn't much into spotlight as Aemond because simply he will live longer than Aemond and after Aemond dies we will get plenty of scenes with Aegon?

my issue is not really with his short screen time, it's with his ridiculous past times. take away the rape and the child fighting pits, leave him as an irresponsible debauched drunk and we're fine. i wasn't expecting him to be a paragon of morality or responsibility, but more on par with rhaenyra at the same age

Aegon clone of Joffrey?

lots of people make the joffrey comparison. i disagree, as stated in my previous posts

And why are you all so mad that show didn't let us know that both Aegon and Rhaenyra are not suited to rule? Like, maybe wait a bit until she takes King's Landing and then you will see?

bc it's ridiculous to make them unbalanced to this level. rhaenyra literally gets "divinely ordained" framing and aegon gets rape and a hobby only the most deranged psychos partake in. there is nowhere near this level of discrepancy in the text