#he’s very complicated and also pretty sad honestly and just. a great character

[purplecatghostposts]

Thinking about how Hoody!Brian had SO many opportunities to kill Alex but hesitated and couldn’t time and time again. He had the guy captured twice and while you could argue that the Operator interrupted him once, he also HAD him at Benedict Hall. He could’ve ended it there, but he couldn’t.

Hoody!Brian could hate him all he wanted, beat him to hell and back, and mock and threaten him, but he never was quite able to pull the trigger. Even at his lowest, even full of hate and contempt for Alex (and some for everyone else alive too), he couldn’t seem to cross that particular line. Which is incredibly interesting to me.

[positivelybeastly]

Does the x-office hate beast?

Cynically: yes.

Less cynically: it's complicated?

Like, here's the thing, right - Beast fans are . . . kinda rare. Sure, there's tons of people who saw the 90s cartoon and really liked him, there are tons of people who saw X-Men 3 and liked him there, there's a whole (almost separate) community of people who are still writing X-Men: First Class fanfic about that version of Hank.

But I'm talking about, will go out and write fanfiction about the character; will draw fanart of him; will actively go out of their way to talk about him on social media. I feel like that's been on the decline for the last . . . fuck, 30 years, probably? Ever since he went from this

to this.

Like, the difference is jarring and immediate, right?

And that lack of a dedicated fanbase made him an easy character to contort to fit stories that certain writers wanted to tell. The X-office doesn't have a ton of people gagging to write Beast, he doesn't headline his own series, he doesn't have a rabid Twitter populace who will fight and scream and shout like Emma Frost or Cyclops.

What do most people think when they see Beast? Like, normal people who don't read comics, who just consume maybe a Marvel movie twice a year, or saw a cartoon when they were a kid.

"Oh, he's cool. SO ANYWAY, MORE OF THAT WOLVERINE."

Beast is not a character with a strong base.

So he's just.

Disposable.

Who cares, throw Beast to Bendis or Ben Percy, I don't care, is what it feels like.

As for WHY he doesn't have that dedicated fanbase, well, I have theories.

A lot of Hank stories are just, sad. They're just so fucking sad and tragic and dark and about finding light where you can.

I often find them very cathartic, like, Hank leads such a troubled and harsh life, and he savours the pleasures where he can get them, and I really love that aspect of his character, that unyielding spirit, but that does not make for a popular character.

His feline era, from 2000 to 2012, is honestly my favourite for him because he is so nuanced and his themes of learning to love your body and control yourself, and his thoughtful, measured, deeply moralistic stories resonate with me and provide me with comfort, the idea that people can be tempted to do bad in the service of good but turn away is beautiful to me.

But that's not really an easily sell? People don't usually want to be sad when they read comic books. They want to be thrilled or horrified or made to laugh. Sad is . . . harder to sell.

Honestly, I also think there's a degree of assuming that he's a snobby asshole because he talks fancy. Like, I legit think that plays into it, and you sometimes see writers fall for the same preconception, they assume that Hank is a snob, and he really isn't, he's a lower-middle class kid from Illinois who grew up on a farm and whose dad was involved in a horrific radiation accident because of poor safety conditions, this is not a person who would be snobby.

It's so funny to me because the guy is from a fictional place in Illinois? It's never specified, which means, if anything, he probably sounds like he's from Chicago! Now, there's probably a degree to which he does speak more formally and has changed his voice, because Hank is extremely protective and conscious of the image he projects, always has been, but snobby? Pfft, nooooo. So yeah, absolutely, you see people assuming that he's a snob because he's smart. Snobby only plays well if you're Emma Frost.

I also have to say, I think there's a degree to which there's an anti-intellectual bias going on. If you look at pretty much all of the major genius characters, they are pretty much ALL unpopular because they are nerds and they are not usually portrayed as being great fighters or tacticians, which is an easy way for a character to become popular - that's why Cyclops is so popular, because he's right all the time and he's a badass, and that's an easy pop. Science solutions are inherently less visceral, harder to write and thus rarer, and do not stick in people's minds.

Moreover, what do you think of when you think of genius superhero? The reputation is of privilege and the image is of boring white guys, they assume it's just - boring. It's only interesting if it's cloaked in sarcastic wit, like House or Sherlock (during The Dark Times), or used in a martial sense, which is why Black Panther is the exception to the 'all the nerds are boring.' Bruce Banner also escapes this trap because he's had his own solo comics for 60 years and he's had a million people write absolutely amazing stories for him.

I also think that his almost complete absence from the Claremont era stories hurts his fandom reputation, because if you're an X-Men fan, you read Claremont, and Hank is not in those stories almost at all. He pops up during the Mesmero arc, during Dark Phoenix, here and there, but he spends 1974 to 1991 in the Avengers, the Defenders, X-Factor, he is so very rarely being written by who most people would consider the definitive X-Men scribe. There's also an element of the stupid X-Men vs. Avengers tribalism working against him thanks to that.

I think Claremont writes a pretty decent Hank when he does turn up, but there's a reason he picked Jean and Scott, and it's interesting that he chose to feature Hank more often than Warren and Bobby, and even then, Warren more than Bobby. I don't know if Hank was really heavily in demand so he just couldn't get him, or if he didn't know what stories to tell with him, but I actually kinda think it was the former, just because Hank always makes an appearance in his post-'91 work, especially his alternate timelines, and he was clearly interested in writing for him in X-Treme X-Men given he set up the Betsy romantic angle early, but then Morrison snatched him up.

Hank also got pushed into the role of the naysayer during the Fraction and Bendis era, which is an instant rock around the neck for your popularity. A lot of the arguments that Hank makes about why he doesn't like what Scott does and how he runs the X-Men and Utopia are not necessarily wrong?

Like, X-Force is just plain morally bad. It is.

You can make the argument that it's necessary, but these two things can exist at the exact same time, which appears to be a concept that people do not grasp! And especially, like . . . the X-Men are not an army. They are a voluntary paramilitary group that is, ostensibly, dedicated to mutant rescue, outreach, and general superheroics.

You are not obliged to stay.

Hank was suffering from legitimate PTSD flashbacks, he was wracked with guilt over the Skrull bioweapon (which, notably, sticks to Hank but does NOT stick to Scott), he was very obviously depressed, recovering from torture - and when he reached out to Bobby to try and explain how he was feeling, draw some comfort, Bobby basically just told him to deal with it!

But this made him SO FUCKING UNPOPULAR. You can go to comics sites that have comments under this issue, under the issue where Hank is having PTSD flashbacks, and they'll be like, THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN, and I'm like???????? The fuck are you saying to me?????? WHY ARE YOU BOOING HIM HE'S RIGHT.

There's also a degree to which I think that, whether the writers have realised it or not, they do not usually put in the work to establish that the X-Men are doing their due diligence to make sure that Hank is okay. They rely a LOT on off-screen things happening to fill in the blanks. A short list of things that we have never seen!

The reaction from the O5 when Hank first turned furry.

The reaction from the Mansion X-Men when Hank turned into a cat.

Anyone going to visit Hank in the infirmary when he was recovering from his fur and claws falling out due to torture.

Anyone expressing concern over the fact that during the whole time travel debacle, Hank was dying and did not tell anyone.

You don't see these moments, and these are fucking important! These make you sympathetic to the character! These are the moments where people look at Beast in pain, suffering because of what's happened to him, going through his emotional arcs, showing strength as he perseveres, THAT is what builds a fanbase and keeps a fanbase engaged with a character - but they just stop happening for Hank. You don't see them. He loses his characterisation moments, they just happen off-panel.

But what do you see? You see a lot of people walk into Hank's lab, they receive words of wisdom and comfort, or a scientific solution for their problems, and then they walk out.

Like, Hank from Avengers vs. X-Men onwards reads as just - psychologically unstable. He does things on impulse, he reacts without talking to people, he does not have strong relationships with anyone, he appears to have broken up with his long time girlfriend (for no specified reason, we still don't know why 9 YEARS LATER), he often appears adrift and lost and unhappy.

And we are TOLD during his intervention that people have talked to him about what's going on, and they were ignored, but, like, I'm sorry, FUCK OFF, SHOW YOUR GODDAMN WORK.

If you want your emotional moments to have any bite, then you need to ESTABLISH things!!! When Ororo says, oh, you're just ignoring everyone, I'm like, FUCKIN' SHOW ME WHEN YOU TALKED TO HIM. Because do you know what I DID see?

I saw Hank being the most comforting and lovely and soft individual in Storm's solo series, being there for her after Logan's death, BASICALLY BECOMING HER SECRETARY BECAUSE SHE WANTS TO FUCK OFF AND BE A THIEF, and then BOOM, suddenly, she's like, you're a fucking loose cannon.

This was, like, a few months apart. Editors? Hello? Does Ororo fucking hate Hank or not? Because Bendis seems to be of the opinion that she does, but Greg Pak does not appear to have gotten the memo! HELLO? EDITORS? There's a big fucking GAP here where a story arc is meant to go???

There's so much of Hank's 2012-onward story that we just AREN'T shown. Like, he and Scott just - patch up their differences over the revolutionary thing OFF-PANEL during Hickman's Avengers. You don't even see the conversation. He agrees to try and work on the M-Pox cure, MOVES TO ATTILAN TO HELP THEM, all because Storm (WHOM, LAST WE SAW, WAS THREATENING TO PUT HIM IN PRISON FOR CRIMES AGAINST NATURE) convinced him to . . . and WE DO NOT SEE THIS CONVERSATION.

Every time someone pulls out the 'oh, this has been an expertly played baton pass of writers depicting Hank's moral downfall,' I just want to fucking pick up shit and fling it in their face, because they could not be more wrong.

Do you know who's read more Beast comics than these fuckers?

Me. It's me.

Believe me, if there was an actual DEPICTION of ANY of these MASSIVE emotional moments in Hank's life, I would LOVE to talk about them and agree. But they do not exist. It's a character being used as a narrative prop to justify writing decisions that otherwise wouldn't make sense (Inhumans vs. X-Men, All-New X-Men), and no-one cares because he was never that popular to begin with.

And it just - frustrates me, because, like, did you know that Hank formed a political advocacy group for mutant rights?

Did you know he was present during sessions of Congress, giving his support to pro-mutant legislation and becoming long time friends with multiple politicians?

But because it's in New Defenders, because it's in Secret Avengers, and no-one READ those issues, they don't care! It doesn't matter to them! Hank has, by and large, within the narrative, done SO MUCH for mutant rights, he has ACTIVELY worked for them within the system SO HARD, but because it isn't done with an optic blast or a big punchy fist in an X-Men book, it doesn't count.

And like, I just . . . the last few appearances before he starts being focused on in X-Force, before the heel turn, he is NOT acting like an asshole!

Laura literally calls him the nerd she can trust and he takes pictures of her and Gabby being cute during a party!

He's helping Banshee recover from his Apocalypse corruption and teaching at Harvard, trying to actively retire from superhero work because he's exhausted!

He's telling Captain Marvel, hey, you're wrong about your precognition bullshit in Civil War II, and he's helping Spider-Man with science problems, and he SAVES THE INHUMAN CIVILISATION SINGLEHANDEDLY!

So many writers are trying to steer him back onto course. Not just Avengers books, either, X-Men books! There's, like, TWO, THREE writers who want to push evil, asshole Beast, and everyone else is just like, uhhh, nooo? But because the X-office do not care, they keep getting their chance. They don't care about protecting Beast's reputation, or his stories, or his legacy. He's just a character to be thrown wherever he'll fit.

So you get the narrative that he was always evil. He was decaying all along.

No, it's bullshit. It's literally the Scarlet Witch story again, where it just HAPPENS in fits and starts to kick off events and stories, regardless of whether or not it makes sense for past characterisation or continuity.

So, yeah. It's a combination of the X-office not really caring about protecting the image of the character, and certain writers just doing shoddy, shitty jobs of writing emotional checks that their asses weren't willing to cash.

[grapecinnamon]

Welcome Home x K-12 au

I know, I know, there's so many Welcome Home AUs anyway, but why not one more? Why not one more au? Why not one more alternate universe Wally Darling to call your darling? No, but fr I think Welcome Home and K-12 together would work so well. They're both childlike with adult themes that look more innocent than they let on. I haven't done many designs, but I thought about who I want to be who. So let's get into it.

First off, Wally Darling would be Crybaby. The main character of the story. He would be mostly stoic like how he is from the arg, but gets very emotional when he feels sad, giving him the nickname Crybaby among his peers. In the movie, the uniforms include short pink dresses for girls and white shirts with blue pants for the boys, both with a heart in the center with the k-12 logo in the middle. Crybaby dyes her dress lilac. I imagine Wally dyeing his uniform a light, pastel red. I'm not sure whether I want him wearing a dress or pants though.

Barnaby would be Angelita. Crybaby's best friend, the one who Crybaby/Wally can be the most vulnerable with. Barnaby would still be a joke-cracking comic, but he would also have Angelita's tough exterior, where he would convince Wally to stand up for himself more, just like what Angelita does.

Frank would be Celeste. I honestly could not have found a better placement for Frank. Both are deadpan, smart, and snarky, and aren't afraid to tell off a bully. Both are also easy to piss off.

Julie would be Magnolia. Both have a happy demeanor and love having fun and playing games. In the movie, Magnolia is the girl that sits alone before Crybaby makes friends with her via a really complicated secret hand shake, something I feel like her and Wally would do. Crybaby and Magnolia are also really short and the same size, like Wally and Julie, which I think is really cute. idk I just felt like bringing that up.

Poppy would be Fleur. Another really fitting one. Both Poppy and the actress of Fleur are trans women. Fleur is gentle and kind, but is manipulated by the popular clique for a while, believing that she's not good enough, and develops an ed. The movie includes a heart-to-heart where Fleur confides with Crybaby. I imagine having Poppy and Wally do that scene would be really fitting for both of their characters.

Sally would be Kelly. Kelly is the big mean girl that bully's Crybaby, and attacks her for flirting with her boyfriend, and later tries to include her in the clique after seeing her take down the abusive principal. Sally has mean girl energy. Although she would never do the things Kelly does, they're both overdramatic and think they're so great. In the movie, the girls apart of Kelly's clique all look the same, so I like to imagine all of Sally's girls would look like different stars.

Howdy would be the principal's son. Half-way through the movie, the principal is replaced by his son, who is even more unfair and bossy, caring only about money. Again, that's not really Howdy, but Clown did mention that Howdy is pretty bossy at some point. It's not shown much in the arg, but I still believe he would be perfect for the principal's son.

I'm not sure where Eddie would fit. I imagine him being Thomas, the guy who tells Crybaby the principal's forcing meds on certain students in the beginning. But Thomas doesn't get much screen time, and I would love to include Eddie more. I might interchange him and make him multiple one off characters, like Henry, the student who refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I know that in the movie, Crybaby gets an anonymous love letter. In the au, I want Eddie to deliver a love letter to someone (I'm sure you know who) but it goes to Wally instead by accident.

I'm also not sure where Bea, Franny, and Jonesy Joyful (Julie's siblings) would fit. Maybe Franny could be Kelly, but I don't think Franny would be fitting. She seems like she'd be more deadpan than overdramatic like Sally. I've thought about making Jonesy the guy who asks Crybaby/Wally out as a joke... I think that could work but we'll see... As for Bea, I'm stumped

Lilith would be Ronald Dorelaine, the in-universe creator. Lilith in the movie is Crybaby's spirit guide. Crybaby also often begs for Lilith to take her away from the hell she's in... I swear these roles are too perfect. I do wonder if Wally Darling in the arg is aware of Ronald's existance...

Finally, as for Ben, Crybaby's love interest... y/n takes that role in the au. Don't come at me please, but this just feels right. Pretty much everyone does this in the WH aus. Besides... I'm not normal about Wally, so why not. (God I'm so glad Clown hasn't looked at the aus).

I'll create designs for the characters later. I'm hoping I can really flesh this au out as I go.

I also need a name for this au... maybe H-12??? W-12? H makes more sense though.

[selfproclaimedunicorn]

Was tagged by @emilykaldwen, @rainwingmarvel7, & @sshireens, thanks! 💕

Favorite Painter: John William Waterhouse, my beloved. Also very into Edmund Blair Leighton & Fracisco Goya. I'm so, so into medieval romanticism, & the pre-Raphaeites, & there's just something about how Waterhouse is just exclusively painting babes with great hair & long noses that especially speaks to me. Like, his paintings are consistently some of my faves. He also leaned into mythology a lot, so that probably has something to do with it too. Similar case with Leighton of just "his consistent painting of pretty princesses speaks to my soul." Goya is a pure goth answer though, because I am allowed to contain multitudes.

Favorite Poet/Author: I've never been the biggest poetry girly, & I think that's because my brain just, like, can't pick up on the rhythm & meter. Like it is completely indistinguishable from prose when I read it. This is a thing that makes me very sad, believe me. When I make my every few years attempts, though, I do enjoy Poe.

In terms of actual prose/not just stuff that reads like prose in my mind, my favorites are Poe & Salinger. Tbh, I don't do a lot of following authors & just pick up something if the synopsis slapped, & it's super rare for if I enjoyed a story/novel to color if I'm like "this author fucks & I need to read more specifically by them"

Favorite Singer: Florence Welch, my queen. I mean, I listen to a lot of stuff, but Florence Welch is hitting all the correct parts of my brain with 90% accuracy. Special shout out to my fave funky Finnish guy Käärijä, though: I've only had him for a year & I like his music a normal amount 👍🏻

Favorite Band: This is so hard? I used to have such an easy answer (it was Green Day, btw), but it's gotten so complicated in the last 9 years. I think, probably, my favorites at the moment are Beast In Black, Windrose, & The Amazing Devil. They're all scratching the correct itch in my brain (will always have a special place in my heart for Green Day, though. Very intense special interest back in the day)

Favorite Meal & Drink: Oh man, this is another one I have a hard time picking 😅. I pretty much just drink water, tea, & coffee; I guess my favorite drink is tea? Favorite meal is maybe chicken tikka masala? Or grilled cheese & tomato soup? One of those, maybe (at least right now)

Favorite Outfit/Aesthetic/Style: Man, IDK. Life is short, dress how you want. I will find the aesthetic beauty in almost anything because I love fashion. 60s medieval revival fucks, all the goth substyles fuck, cottage core fucks--it all fucks. All I know is that whatever I'm wearing, I'm not wearing jeans. I have not worn jeans for years & I am not going to start back up now. Skirts/dresses/leggings only. Also dramatic sleeves. I love dramatic sleeves.

Favorite Item You Own: The Sasha Bratz Rock Angelz repro. I waited for her for a good year? Two years? However long it took MGA to finally drop my girl. I got one of the last 4 in the city & my hands were shaking the whole time & its honestly a little silly, but sometimes healing the inner child is buying a doll of your favorite character from your favorite line & displaying her on your desk shelf.

Favorite Perfume: I used to be at least kind of into perfume, but I kind of got out of it. I honestly don't wear it a lot (I forget more often than not). You'd think I'd be more into perfume given how into, like, scented candles I am, but oh well I guess 🤷🏻‍♀️

Tagging (if you want, obvi): @vamprlestat, @cerseiwexler, @jotterjots, @loksthegreat, @mercurygray, @godswood-girl, & @toxicjayhoo

[kuno-chan]

Daemon Targaryen Is Not a Good Person

But he's a Great character.

I think this fandom (as so many fandoms nowadays) are getting their wires crossed with "Complicated, Compelling Character" and "Morally Understandable Character."

Daemon is not a good person. He is actually pretty horrible and if you've read Fire and Blood, you know this. You know what is coming and the things he does.

He is a fucking compelling character. A great character. Complicated and you want to follow him. You want to see what he gets up to. Who he cares about. How he treats them, who he loves and who he hates.

Do I think he's a monster? If we're defining a monster as Joffrey Baratheon, then no. I don't think he's actually a monster (yet?) and I'll agree with the show directors on that. If the standard is Joffrey, there are not actually that many characters that are true monsters.

But Daemon is not a good person. I'd say he's not super far from monsterdrom, here, okay.

He enjoys power. He wants the throne. That's the motivation for his entire character (shocker in Game of Thrones) and he's written super well. The show doesn't shy away from who he is and what he wants. They're just saying "He doesn't necessarily enjoy the pain of his direct family members" and, even "I don't like seeing my family members sad and that makes me sad" which like...

That's not a high bar. The bar is in hell, actually.

He loves his family.

He loves his brother.

He loves his niece.

He also wants to be on his brother's throne. He also wants to use his niece to get on that throne. He also terrorized a city in the name of "crime reduction" which was really a flex on power and to be able to make a city fear him. He also bought out a pleasure house to celebrate the death of his nephew meaning he was the primary heir again.

~~SPOILER WARNING FOR FIRE AND BLOOD~~

WARNING

He also hires two guys to kill one of Aegon, son of VIserys, children. One of whom threatens to fucking rape the little girl if the mother does not choose which one of them fucking dies. Then kills the one she did not fucking choose. You cannot morally justify that. You can't. Regardless of WHY he did it and for what retaliation. Even if he did not order those things specifically, he knew who he was hiring.

Time will tell if they include this in the show, but I wouldn't hold my breathe of them not doing so.

END SPOILERS

He's kind of like Show!Stannis Baratheon. You can still like him, but you can't really forget he's burning people alive in the name of conquest. Same with Dany.

The show is bad people doing bad things to other bad people.

Daemon is one of the more interesting bad people. That's all.

And I love his character, mind you. I can understand some of his logic, maybe. Wouldn't say a lot of it is Excusable in a moral sense.

Fandom needs to rectify this weird shame about liking characters who are actually pieces of shit. Fiction is where you get to enjoy following and exploring these pieces of shit because, in real life, you would despise them and everything they are.

Doesn't mean you're laughing and in glee in all the ways and scenes in which they're being shitty, but you absolutely can find someone who is committing horrible acts of humanity compelling as all hell because they as a fictional character are interesting. You can find them thought-provoking. You can find them chilling.

Viserys is also not a good man.

(Slight Spoilers but you guys can guess this, honestly)

Rhanyera will not be a good person.

Barely one main character in this show is going to be on the morally upstanding side of the compass. So, if you need that in your media consumption, this might not be the show for you.

(End)

TLDR:

Daemon has always been a pretty fucking terrible person who is written in a very human way and that makes him a great character. He has/will have character development, but that doesn't change that he's a p shitty person. The books and the show are not shying away from this. You don't have to excuse it. Still fun to watch.

Those things can and should co-exist.

[benbamboozled]

Where are the best comic representations of Jason in your opinion? I’ve read some of the Red Hood and the Outlaws stuff and that’s okay (I really like Roy and Jason interacting) and the Nightwing 2021 annual was great, but I want to read more. I just don’t want to read the versions where writers distill Jason down to “angry, violent, no empathy, doesn’t care about anything or anyone” which I feel like happens a lot.

Whew…okay, this is going to be long. Just a head’s up.

SO…this is kind of a complicated question when it comes to comic characterization, at least for me. Honestly…I don’t really judge things based on “best” with comics but more “my favorite,” because comics characterization is so all over the place and inconsistent that (IMO) “best” just…doesn’t really mean much.

Because of that, this list is going to be some of my Jason Todd faves, with a focus on Red Hood, that I think all or most of your specifications!

(Also note that I am NOT the person to give pre-A Death in the Family Robin!Jay recs. Hopefully someone in the replies or reblogs can help out! I’ve only read the Garzonas arc and part of A Death in the Family.)

(ALSO ALSO NOTE: I have SIGNIFICANT GAPS IN MY CANON KNOWLEDGE because I dropped out of DC comics for like…many years because ALL OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS WERE DEAD. I am FAR from a Jason Todd Exploit Expert. Why was Jason “Wingman”? What was that whole thing with Donna Troy and Kyle Rayner? I DO NOT KNOW. I am WORKING ON FILLING THOSE GAPS but I am also FREQUENTLY TIRED.)

ANYWAY, on with the show!

Let’s start with the classics!

Under the Hood+Batman Annual #25!

Don’t call it a comeback…he’s been here for years!(Technically, via retcon.)

Okay so I’m putting this one first because this is the Jason Todd I fell in love with. FURTHERMORE, I mean, this pretty much sets the stage for all of Jason’s Red Hood appearances.

WHY do I like it?

—Jason is COMPETENT. He GETS SHIT DONE.

—Jason is FUNNY. Like, legitimately funny. Other characters are also funny! Black Mask and Slade are funny! The Joker is funny! It is frequently a funny story!

—Jason is SO SAD. With every part of this arc, I very much get the feeling that Jason is just…desperately trying to live for something and this is the only thing he has. And I, for one, eat that up with a spoon, it gives me LIFE.

Red Hood: Lost Days

A mini by our buddy Judd Winick, filling in the details of Jason’s backstory originally seen in Batman Annual #25.

WHY do I like it?

—We get to see Jason killing baddies! Unapologetically! Like…real bad baddies! Wooo killin baddies!

—More of Competent!Jason! He learns a lot of very useful killin skills and he learns them quick! And he uses them very well.

—Once again, Jason Todd is VERY SAD. Here, we get to see WHY he is so sad in Under the Hood. Have you ever wanted to see every element of a character’s stability in life get slowly but surely worn away by circumstances completely outside of their control? Well, here you go!

Red Hood and the Outlaws: Rebirth+Red Hood: Outlaw

Ah, the Lobdell Years. (Original flavor RHatO not included)

WHY do I like it?

—So, RHATO:Rebirth!Jason Todd is not quite my Jason Todd. He’s more subdued, more of a Stoic Woobie than my preferred Jerkass Woobie version of Jason. HOWEVER, Lobdell’s version really exudes a sort of sense of…doom?…crushing sense of existential hopelessness?…quiet despair?…that hooks my heart. Good old Jason “not everyone wants to be alive” Todd!

Whereas Winick’s version of Jason plays with the fourth wall in a kind of pointed way, RHATO:Rebirth Jason (IMO) feels very…trapped in the narrative. He knows that everything is going to fall to pieces for him—because he can’t have nice things, because he’s Jason Todd, and Jason Todd will never be allowed to keep anything nice—but he’s still going to help his friends, goddamn it.

—It’s nice to see Jason have friends that are his own. I love the “Dark Trinity” of Jay, Artemis, and Bizarro. You really get why they cleave together, and they’re just…cute. I love them.

Okay, now…here are some recs with caveats!

Cheer from Batman Urban Legends #1-6

There’s a new drug called Cheer on the streets of Gotham! Flashbacks and problems abound!

SO.

Cheer.

My caveats are:

1. Jason is annoyingly incompetent.

2. Part of the setup of the story involves Jason acting in a way that I consider OOC (he kills a guy and it’s made out to be a very big personal deal for reasons that I have ranted about previously).

3. Jason gives up guns. Ugh. Boo.

—Okay now OUTSIDE OF THOSE THINGS…

WHY do I like it?

1. We get flashbacks to little kid Jay, Robin!Jay, and Bruce in UtH that I consider to be very meaningful to Jay and Bruce.

2. The plot hook involves a drug called Cheer that makes people hallucinate their happy place, and Jason and Bruce’s hallucinations kind of break my heart into pieces. (I’ve talked, uh, A LOT about them, I have no chill.)

3. I really love the art for the flashbacks, and bb!Jay is REALLY CUTE.

So, yeah, thems my feelings! Jason definitely isn’t portrayed as “angry, violent, no empathy, doesn’t care about anything or anyone” so I’m gonna go ahead and rec it.

Robins mini

The Robins get together on their own and decide whether recruiting child soldiers to fight a never ending war on crime might be…you know…a bad thing.

Okay my caveat is that…some people don’t like it for reasons that I haven’t really explored because I REALLY like it. In the beginning of the story there is some talk of Jason being a ne’er-do-well…buuut it comes from him, so I very easily take it with a grain of salt.

WHY do I like it?

—First of all, I just really love the Robins all getting to hang out together and then work a case together. They should get to do that more often/all the time.

—Jason gets MANY Big Damn Hero moments. And they’re not just Big Damn Hero moments but like…BIG BROTHER Hero Moments, and I love every one. Multiple times he’s watching out for the other Robins and I just…I love it.

—Stephanie Brown is also a Big Damn Hero.

—Bruce Wayne is kind of a woobie and I can’t help but get feelings when he gets feelings about his kids.

Battle for the Cowl

Batman is dead! (For now.) His cowl is like…right there. People may or may not battle for it.

WHEW…okay so…THIS ONE IS VERY CONTROVERSIAL. A lot of people hate it. FOR VERY GOOD REASONS.

It is NOT good. In fact, it is very BAD. It is bad on MULTIPLE LEVELS.

—Characterization for multiple characters is BAD!

—The story is DUMB! It’s not even a BATTLE! Only one person WANTS to be Batman!

Also, Jason is a villain in the story, just straight up.

So…

WHY do I like it? (And WHY would I rec it?)

WELLLLL…two main reasons.

The first is that, in his attempt to make Jason “irredeemable,” Tony S. Daniels (the writer) ended up making him AWESOME.

Do you like watching Jason run around Gotham beating up his whole family? Do you like seeing Jason get to be a proper villain? Do you like Jason being perhaps the only competent person in the whole fucking city? (Okay Tim Drake is also competent but he gets jobbed by my boy.) Do you like seeing Jason go off the rails with absolutely no hinges to be seen? Do you like seeing Jason play dress up with the Bat costume?

I DO! I do like all of those things! And if you, like me, answered YES to most or all of the above, Battle for the Cowl may be relevant to your interests!

Okay so reason number 2 is…

Jason is going through a mental fucking breakdown through the whole story brought on directly by Bruce fucking Wayne. And there’s nothing I love more than hating Bruce Wayne! And, gosh, he is just SO HATEABLE in this story! He’s not even in it, but I guarantee by the end you’ll be like, JFC, JASON is supposed to be the irredeemable one?!

ANYWAY! As a diehard Jason Todd fan, Battle for the Cowl is my filthy guilty pleasure. DO NOT pay money for it! Get the TPB from the library or get it through sneaky means. It is NOT worth paying for but it IS a rollicking good time if you are a person of specific tastes.

Okay, whew! That’s it! Well probably. That’s at least the ones that I can think of right now! Hopefully people will throw more recs your way!

(Sequel list here with all of my faves I didn’t put on this list! :D)

[paperstorm]

I apologise for how long this is. I’m bored as I have a leg injury and I love your Tarlos takes. Your Missing Moments series is Tarlos canon to me. From a writers point of view, if you could bring 1 or 2 characters from both their pasts/present who would you pick and why? Not necessarily for drama, just to explore if it was for episode or longer.

For me, Carlos it would be an ex ( something brief as that all I think he had) I would wanna know what he looked like and what he was like. Maybe a run in at a store and Carlos has to explain to TK. I’d want him to be nothing like TK, as they are unique and special to each other.

For TK, I’d want an old party/ drug friend to visit. We could have some more backstory on TK.

Id love Enzo to show up and I think the Enzo/Owen would be great. I think Owen would have some very complicated feelings of Enzo and TKs relationship but randomly I can’t help but want ex wife number 2 who was into knives. I mean what?

I'm so sorry to just be like ME TOO on this ask because I understand you are asking for my thoughts lmao but I honestly can't top yours!! I would also love both of those things, I'm very curious about Carlos's past. I think it's been made pretty clear in canon he'd never had a serious relationship before and that he didn't do a *lot* of casual hooking up but does that mean he'd never been with anyone? Was he the world's most confident virgin when he shoved TK onto that couch? Or had he had a few bad Grindr dates? A secret high school boyfriend? I wanna know!!

And we also know so little about TK's world before the show, I wanna know all that too. The kind of people he was hanging out with, whether he's still in touch with any of them or cut them all off after rehab, whether he had friends he was sad to leave behind when Owen moved them to Austin. And I really want to see Enzo and Jonah on screen not necessarily because I care about them specifically but just for the sake of consistency, for the sake of the fact that in 3x08 TK was so worried for his brother who he now seems to have forgotten exists 😂

[katnissmellarkkk]

Hit the wasps nest: Gale Hawthorne

This is just word vomit 😅

I honestly don’t dislike Gale at all but I have many a thoughts on the man and it’s difficult to explain the juxtaposition I’m in with him. He’s strong and sturdy and a good person at his core but he is very pushy and too stubborn and immature (which is fine!!! He’s like 18-19 throughout the story, he’s still a teenager, but like, accept the immaturity people!!!) and it’s not the greatest qualities in combination with Katniss’ personality. My hot takes are pretty much this.

He didn’t actually commit a crime with those bombs because he was tricked by Coin and used and abused but like, also welcome to the club, bro??? Leaders used and abused Kat Kat and Peeta and Haymitch and Finnick long before Gale so like, you’re finally at their level I guess? He spent a lot of Mockingjay acting like he understood what it was like to fight in a Hunger Games and he just didn’t, until he got to the end and you know what??? That’s called character arc and it wasn’t a bad one? So here’s my hot take: he wasn’t screwed over by Suzanne, he didn’t get a bad ending, he just didn’t get the girl? Like he ain’t a war criminal but it’s 1000000 valid that Katniss would never wanna see his face again???? I wouldn’t??? Association would be too strong for me, even if rational I’m aware it’s not his fault. So his ending isn’t bad, but if you read between the lines of all the books, Katniss very clearly loved Peeta in a way she never felt for Gale. Gale or no Gale, she was very confused about her feelings for Peeta, and she would have been even without any love triangle business. Gale got my on nerves more because he just like added to her confusion, but then also it’s understandable probably because I was a teen when I read the books initially and it definitely resonated with the boys I knew at school who made everything “what about me!!!” So anyways I have a juxtaposition with my feelings for him because like he’s got a good heart at his core but he’s also pretty irritating at other points and both antis and lovers of Mr. Haw Haw ignore that I feel???

My other hot takes for him : he doesn’t love Prim like his own sister???? That’s the weirdest headcanon-taken-as-canon I’ve ever heard? If that’s your headcanon, then okay great!!! But that’s not canon and I’ve seen several people say that like it’s totally there in the books and it’s not?? Gale protected Katniss’ family because they were hers, not because they were part of his. I mean I’m sure he cared to some degree for them, he’s a good person like I keep reiterating, but not like they were his own??? When he killed Prim, I’m sure he was sad because he cared for the kid, but his dialogue to Katniss makes it seem like his biggest thought process revolved around losing her because of his inadvertent involvement with the bombs. Okay and ummm another hot take, people should get to dislike him if they wanna. Too much politeness in terms of Gale, like if you like him then cool! But like the fear of saying you dislike him or you think he’s bad (as a character, not a war criminal) isn’t right, like I dislike 100000 characters and I ain’t afraid to say it. Anyways that’s all I can think of for now.

Oh wait one more : the book was written clearly with a bias towards Peeta, it was obvious that’s who she was gonna end up with so like??? Gale didn’t get a bad ending for the character he was, he was just never the one, he was never gonna get Katniss, even just looking at the plot layout this is clear. Peeta and Katniss go into the games together, fake a romance to survive, develop feelings and backtrack, go home winners and enemies of the Capitol, feelings are sore and complicated, Galers takes it into his own hands to add himself to the mix, Katniss feels caught between the two, Gale almost dies and she picks him in theory but never in practice I’m sorry, Katniss and Peeta are called back into the games where she decides to save Peeta and die for him, she gets closer and closer to Peeta, she realizes her feelings on the beach, they get separated and a rebellion starts, he’s in the Capitol, she’s in Thirteen with Gale, Gale and her spend a lot more time together but their friendship ain’t what it used to be, she frets about Peeta until she has to be sedated, Gale volunteers to rescue Peeta because he cares for Katniss’ wellbeing, Peeta though has been brainwashed and tries to murder Katniss (he really should have apologized, like is it that hard to make an “I’m sorry” card with all your free time between frosting cakes, Peeta?????), Katniss gives up Peeta and starts having more of a thing with Gale, then Peeta is brought along on her team and she’s stuck being in proximity to both of them but she focuses much heavier on Peeta’s presence (in negative ways mostly but still), she comes to a crossroads and instead of leaving Peeta to die she chooses to risk her life by kissing his wildin out self to save him, she then says bye bye to Peeta and goes with Gale into the Capitol Circle to kill Snow but gets separated from him and then watches her sister die, only to find out later on that Gale created the bombs that were used to kill Prim, then she has a nervous breakdown and a trial and then gets tossed off in Twelve like a garbage bag at the end of a McDonald’s shift, and then Peeta returns and sparks her back to life… in all of that plot summary, it was pretty obvious who had a bigger part in the overall story…. This shouldn’t be controversial to say.

[veliseraptor]

Hi i just started reading wheel of time .whos your favorite characters and why?

this is a complicated question mostly because the answer is like "most of them, honestly, it's a shorter list of characters I don't at least find interesting to examine in a terrarium"

but if I had to pick, like, five characters that are especially important to me...let's see.

Rand al'Thor. How do I talk about Rand al'Thor? Rand is one of those characters where I run into people who hate him all the time and it always makes me :( because like. yes! he is a mess! he is "whiny" and "emotional" and "coping badly" and that's what makes him so great

(I mean. don't talk to me about my feelings on characters being described as "whiny" but I can tell you I never like it but usually like them)

he's like...people talk about the idea of how fucked up it would be to actually be the Chosen One, and how it would fuck you up, and here Rand al'Thor is doing that all over! and also the fact that while initially he's definitely the Reluctant Hero archetype, once he confirms to himself that this is his life now, he commits. like, Rand isn't avoiding his responsibilities. Rand is in fact taking on too many responsibilities, probably.

he's a traumatized mess and it keeps getting worse and the only future options he has are to (a) fail and die or (b) win and die. it sucks and honestly he's handling it pretty well all things considered, except when he isn't. but I think he deserves to handle it badly.

Min Farshaw. At this point I'm about 80% sure that my Min thing is at least in large part predicated on the fact that I latched onto her as a youth for...reasons that probably had a not insignificant amount to do with her short hair, but it stands. And I do love things about her still in her own right! I feel like sometimes she gets a bad rap as being the Rand's girlfriend who doesn't have her own plotline outside of Rand and while there is some fairness to that I also...well, for one thing Rand and Min's relationship is my favorite of the three women with Rand individually.

But Min herself! She's level-headed, most of the time, she's smart, she's compassionate and she's also stubborn and protective, good with knives, loves horses. I feel like...one of the reasons I like Min, and this is very contrary to a lot of my other faves, is because she feels so settled in herself. She knows who she is and she knows what she wants and she'll do it.

Tuon Athaem Kore Paendrag. The complicity in atrocities is what makes her so spicy!

I feel like the older I get the more I appreciate Tuon. I recognize that she is full of problems and not a very good person but she's so interesting to me, in her simultaneous innocence and cynicism, the way she is so curious about the world and also so sure she knows how it works. She's proud (bordering on arrogant) and ambitious and determined, the closest thing she has to a friend is her bodyguard who also I'm pretty sure she technically owns (I'd have to check that, but), she's very sure of her own correctness but also, I think, willing to reassess.

And one of the things I love about her in Knife of Dreams in particular, which I just reread, is the way that she is...yeah, simultaneously very young and playful and also absolutely ruthless and deeply mistrustful. Tuon is in a lot of ways a cipher that we barely got to know and that makes me sad because I find her fascinating.

Moridin(/Ishamael). Look, give me an overly intellectual villain who theorized himself into turning to the dark side because the end is inevitable and I'm there. I mean, I have written fic about this fellow and his mess of an...everything, specifically what it has to do with things around futility and nihilism and the conviction that if the world is really doomed to end over and over and over then why not just...end it forever?

he's completely insane and also absolutely knows what he's doing and I just. nobody's doing it like him. the fact that all the other Forsaken don't know what to do with this guy either just makes him even better.

Nynaeve al'Meara. I feel like I started out on my first read not...disliking Nynaeve, ever, but not appreciating her the way she deserves, and she's swung around to become one of my favorites. She's such a bundle of tangled contradictions! and while she may be sort of infuriating and have a lot of very deliberate-feeling lack of self-awareness, she's also...despite everything about her mannerisms, Nynaeve is someone who cares about people.

She's not a friendly, patient, nice healer, but she is a healer who will fix you whatever it takes, because she can't bear to watch people suffer and die. Her insistence that stilling/gentling must be curable, the way she treats Rand even as almost everyone else, particularly from his childhood, gives up on him or falls away, the fierce protective streak she has for all the Two Rivers folk from the beginning...

Nynaeve has a huge heart and an enormous amount of grit and I love her very much.

I was debating for that last one on going with Aviendha or Elayne or Nynaeve because all of them really and truly are near and dear to my heart, and also debating going with one of them over Monsieur Fatalistic Villain up there who has less page space than everybody else, but...look, I've got a type and if nothing else that one chapter in...Towers of Midnight maybe? would get me.

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Biweekly Media Roundup

- Trigun (Anime) - The current trend in the fandom is to draw Knives as a McDonalds worker to “Make his desire to kill all of humanity reasonable as a customer service employee” which. Hilarious, I love people.

- Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Video Game) - Obviously I’ve been having a blast with this, I love exploring the sky islands and caves, the Zonai and new monster designs are awesome, and the memes of messing with the Koroks and creating batshit machines have been wonderful. My main complaint so far is how they handle the NPCs memory of Link, I’d be fine with the main ones remembering him and the rest having a Tony Hawk-esque knowledge of Link without realizing he was in front of them, but it’s kind of sad to run into NPCs that Link definitely helped in the first game only to have them forget him - Like the people of Tarry Town and Hateno village. Ganon’s design is incredible though, amazing job there.

- Monster High (Cartoon) - Finished up the Monster High TV series and while it’s definitely aimed at a pretty young age group, I thought it was cute enough. I like a lot of the new designs with their differing heights and body types, I like how the characters hang out with multiple friend groups and seem to generally get a along with the whole class, and I like the LGBTQA+ and Autism representation being handled well in a show aimed towards children. 

- SSS Class Revival Hunter (Webcomic) - I was really craving more S-Class adjacent content and was led to pick up the next few series since I could get through the chapters in a couple days. This one was okay? I liked the time travel by death mechanic and the brain roommate force ghost, but the series lost quite a bit of momentum in the recent arc with it’s protagonist purposely dying of starvation to learn fighting techniques so that two groups of people could go back to happily murdering each other which. hmm. yeah I’m not feeling it homie, I basically disagree with all of your philosophies here. I might pick it back up after a few months of updates as I do appreciate the larger cast of largely unsexualized women, but ehhh It might just not be for me.

- When the Third Wheel Strikes Back (Webcomic) - I picked this up for the same reason as the previous series, and while there's very few chapters out I am enjoying it as an opener. As tropey as it is the world does at least seem interesting with several mysteries and complicated intrapersonal relationships mixing with political ones, which is fun. I also like the protagonist is a confessional Priest as that’s a pretty fun way to have him hear interesting lore and meet oddballs, so that’s cool. Honestly I’m biased because I always appreciate the “love triangle but the axis is not who you think” dynamic., but I’m looking forward to updates.

- Trash of the Count’s Family (Webcomic) - Reread this as it’s the Holy Trinity series I’m least familiar with. I do still like it quite a bit, and Cale in particular is a fun protagonist, but so far the rest of the characters are cute but a bit flat. Obviously that could change as the story goes on, and it’s possible they are more fleshed out in the novel, but for now I’ll still rank this as the least interesting of the trifecta, if not still an enjoyable series on it’s own. There’s also some great fanfic out there if you’re looking for wholesome found family stuff.

- The Locked Tomb Series (Books) - Harrow is really going through it huh. I miss Gideon.

- Crazy Ex Girlfriend (TV) - As I mentioned before, this series is turning out to be way better than I thought it would be, and honestly that it has any right to be considering it aired on the CW. I’ve been listening to the songs on loop, I love all the different styles, the rhythms, and the humor. 

- The S Classes That I Raised (Webcomic) - Still having a great time.

Listening to: A bunch of Crazy Ex Girlfriend songs, including I’m a Good Person, After Everything You Made Me Do, Nothing Is Ever Anyone’s Fault, and The End of the Movie, The Herse Song by Rusty Cage, Hey I Don’t Work Here by Tom Cardy, Jet Lag by Simple Plan, All Things End by Hozier, Lent by Autoheart, The Sound of Silence cover by Disturbed, and Holy Water by Michael Ray.

[sonicunleash]

🦊 and 🫡 for the sonic ask game :D

🦊 Favorite Spinoff game?

Oh without question satbk. It remains my favorite game sonic writing to date and giving sonic a cool sword to swing around in a fantasy setting was just a genius idea. I miss when Sonic games were unafraid enough to just "wouldnt this kinda absurd idea be really cool?" and go through with it instead of watering it down to appeal to everyone. But if I had to pick a less obvious spinoff game.... hmmm... Team Sonic Racing honestly. The stage design, music, and gameplay is so much fun and really does a great job making the team mechanic work, making playing with friends a blast. Plus the creativity element in customizing all the cars parts, paint jobs, and adding vinyls is so so much fun. Sonic & Mario at the London 2012 olympics is also another personal fav i grew up with that i miss. Dressing up miis in custom outfits (including character costumes) that changed their stats and messing with the stage music, and playing london party.... i miss all that. i didnt get to play the newest mario & sonic much, but from what i could tell, none of that stuff really carried on to future games and it makes me sad. i miss making freaks like this:

🫡 Coldest Sonic take?

I've already done this one but theres always more cold sonic takes to be a hater about. This one is not a very common sonic take ive seen but a cold one nonetheless-- I hate so much when people try to say Shadow actually had a "complicated" (aka rocky/negative) relationship with Maria in a poor attempt to make things "deeper" (as if Shadow and Maria's story isnt already pretty deep and sad?). I saw a post talking about Shadow blaming Maria some for sacrificing herself and leaving him and that is just such a blatant misread of his character I HATE IT!!!! He would NEVER blame her for being fucking Shot By G.U.N. are you insane??? He wholeheartedly and rightfully blames G.U.N. for that, and in the beginning, humanity as a whole, its literally a huge foundation of his starting character, and beyond that, before he would ever blame Maria he would blame HIMSELF.

[jestlingnest]

Okay let’s go. Feel free to answer for as many or as few as you’d like

Romeo

Xara

Petra

Aiden

Cassie

Jack

Ivor

Stella

Lulu

Oh boy this is a lot of guys. Putting them under a readmore haha.

XARA

Favorite thing about her

How she's allowed to be angry. A lot of depictions of grief in media don't include anger. It isn't pretty, it doesn't fit the whole "poor, sad, grieving person" vibe. So her being allowed to show her grief through anger is really important to me. She shouldn't have to bottle it up because "ohhh getting angry isn't the right way! talk about your feelings!". No. She gets to be angry. She gets to grieve.

Least favorite thing about them

Not enough screentime? Idk

Favorite line

Replacing with scene because lines are difficult. Her introduction. I thought it was great, especially because I knew nothing about her.

brOTP

Her, Fred, and Romeo. They were friends they cared about each other so much. But that's just a memory now.

OTP

shrug

nOTP

shrug. i dont really go looking for any ships with most characters.

Random headcanon

I don't know 😭 I haven't thought of any Xara headcanons before

Unpopular opinion

Again, I don't really interact with the fandom enough to know what the unpopular opinion is. I guess that I don't think Romeo should go find her. At least not for a very long time. She just escaped from prison. She needs time. A lot of time. And I think seeing Romeo again would end... badly.

Favorite picture of them

PETRA

Favorite thing about her

How excited she got about meeting Jack

Least favorite thing about her

She needs to learn to talk about what's bothering her instead of avoiding it until it becomes worse. This doesn't really annoy me too much because. It's just a character flaw, it's part of who she is. But it's also something she needs to fix. Communicate!!

Favorite line

I'm so bad at remembering lines. It isn't a line from her but I like how it says that her favorite food is swords.

brOTP

Honestly her and the entire New Order. Their friendship is really important to me. Especially her, Jesse, and Lukas.

OTP

Jesse and Petra. Literally the first time I played I asked "is she asking us on a date" when she invited us to go to the Nether, and half expected them to kiss when they were falling towards each other in the episode 1 credits.

nOTP

shrug. i dont really get involved in shipping enough to have a ship I dislike aside from shipping her with any of the older cast.

Random headcanon

I spent awhile thinking of something and got nothing- I may come back to this later.

Unpopular opinion

See what I said about Xara and not knowing enough opinions to know what's unpopular

Favorite picture of her

I'll come back to this later. Images are hard to find.

AIDEN

Favorite thing about him

When he falls over in episode 1 he just lays there. I thought it was funny. He doesn't get back up. Even though the lava is slowly moving towards him.

Least favorite thing about him

annoying little bitch, that's what he is.

Favorite line

I'm changing this to scene again. The Sky City fight. What else.

brOTP, OTP

Him and Cassie (platonic or romantic). I don't have any strong feelings about it but Clover likes it and I think it's neat.

nOTP

This is complicated because I don't ship him and Lukas, but I do think Aiden had feelings for him and that was one of the many reasons why he was so angry and jealous about Jesse and their friends.

I don't want them to ever be in a relationship though.

Random headcanon

He sewed all the blazerod patches (and the ocelot patch on his own jacket before that) onto each jacket because he's stubborn and didn't want to paint it and kept stabbing his fingers with the needles. And refused to cry about it because he wanted to be tough.

Unpopular opinion

I think an unpopular opinion is liking him at all. I like him.

Favorite picture of him

CASSIE

Favorite thing about her

I like her design

Least favorite thing about her

WERE YOU JUST GONNA LEAVE YOUR DOZENS OF OTHER CATS FOR DEAD??? CASSIE!!! Also why was she so mean to Lukas before she even attempted to frame him? Rude!

Favorite line

"Winslow, you know I love you but you make me very tired sometimes."

brOTP

I really, really like the headcanon that her and Romeo are siblings. Yes, it's not canon at all, but I still like it! Clover and I have so many ideas for it.

OTP

Same as what I put for Aiden. However since Aiden wants to be a better person and Cassie does not... she will make him worse.

nOTP

shrug

Random headcanon

This only applies to the "her and Romeo are siblings" headcanon, but she learned about redstone from Xara. She was her brother's cool friend, she looked up to her.

Unpopular opinion

shrug

Favorite picture of her

pictures are hard to find

JACK

Favorite thing about them

I like a lot of things about him. I'm having a hard time narrowing it down though.

Least favorite thing about them

I genuinely have no idea. I'll have to replay season 2 to really pick apart his character.

Favorite line

I'm changing this to favorite scene again- and that scene is when he saw Sammy's inventory. It felt like an actual punch to the gut. I didn't start crying until after I had finished the episode and left voice call, but ouch. He had never stopped grieving and going back there was like opening the wound again. That scene hurts, man.

brOTP

Him, Sammy, and Vos OTP

Jack/Nurm, what else?

nOTP

shrug

Random headcanon

As much as Jack loves to tell stories of his adventures, you can't get him to talk about exactly what happened in the Underwater Temple or what happened when he was Romeo's champion.

Unpopular opinion

I think picking him to be the champion works a lot, even if it feels like it was meant to be Petra (like with Nurm getting brought to Sunshine Institute and the parallels between Romeo and Petra). It really adds to the trauma conga line he went through in the short span of a day or two as well :(

Favorite picture of them

I don't have a lot of pictures of him but this one is funny. Romeo is going to crash. This ain't about him.

IVOR

Favorite thing about them

He's funny. I like watching in real time him getting dragged into the found family. He has no choice.

Least favorite thing about them

It took me awhile to warm up to him thanks to the whole Witherstorm incident.

Favorite line

Anything he says. His voice actor is great.

brOTP

Him and Jesse. OTP

Harper and Ivor, 100%

nOTP

Soren and Ivor are EXES they should NOT get back together I think that would go badly.

Random headcanon

The reason why he looked so neutral and unfazed about everything after he reunited with Jesse during the Sky City fight is because he was fighting to hide his reaction of being happy and relieved that Jesse was alive.

Unpopular opinion

I don't know. I curate my content very strictly I hardly ever see opinions I dislike. Or ones that I remember.

Favorite picture of them

STELLA

Favorite thing about them

Oh you hate me? Enemies to lovers then?

Least favorite thing about them

I wanted to punch her when I first met her. She was awful.

Favorite line

I don't remember season 2 well enough to pick one :(

brOTP, OTP, nOTP

I haven't gotten invested enough in her character yet, I gotta do that before I find ships

Random headcanon

The earpiece mic thing she has is fake and plastic. She doesn't even know what it is she just thought it looked cool. There is no electricity in minecraft.

Unpopular opinion

I don't know!! Favorite picture of them

The one doodle Clover did, the "enemies to lovers?" one

I'm answering for Lukas in Azzie's ask because this is long enough!

[midnightmeteora]

2024-MEDIA THREAD-JANUARY

Heyyy, I going to make monthly posts about the media I see throughout the year, just for the fun of it. I want to just vibe around here and blog my opinions on the things I like. Most of the entries are written in the moment. So they may not accurately reflect my thoughts later on. I'm doing this outta fun so don't take me too seriously if you decide to engage :P

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#1.-Horimiya: Piece

I watched the og show with my GF and WE LOVED IT. It's not a complicated romance anime. But that simplicity is so effective. It was a really cozy anime with good chapters dedicated to just teenage love and it's soo good at it. It excels in character so it makes sense to make a companion piece for it dedicated to just the characters… Sadly it didn't grabbed quite the same until the end :/ I think my main issue is just the kinds of stories they chose, many are funny and enjoyable, but the weakest ones are the ones that have little payoff. EP10 for example was kinda dissapointing for me because the payoff didn't resolved the main conflict. Also I really disliked the teacher character, He gets a ton of screentime on the later half and is such a bore. Overall, is fine if you watch it along side the og or after the og but the main show is WAY better.

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#2.-ORAS' national dex

Not really a piece of media per se, but it was a big project that I started last year around february/march and that I left for a while. This is my first National dex completion and I'm honestly quite proud of it. Will admit, I used PKHex and PKSM to transfer mons from my ds and gba save files to fill the entries I needed. But I grabbed them from my own save files + I had help from my Bestie (I also inserted event mons like the mythicals but like, how else was I supposed to get them gdfñsglk). This was quite straightfoward to do since blissey bases streamline grinding SO MUCH. I love ORAS so much and i'm glad this was the game where I got the full nat dex (not a living one but I ain't doing that yet hell nahhh).

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#3.-Given (TV Anime)

Damn great! It was a really short and sweet show. I'm queer myself. But I haven't gotten too deep into queer media yet, so I'm really glad that this was a really nice anime showing MLM in a rather good light. It's very simple but the characters are so loveable and fun to watch. The music side of it takes a while to fully go nuts, but it has a really warm focus and as someone who also loves music. This was inspiring even dslgkj. I'd love to see a second season sometime.

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#4.-Kung Fu Sion (rewatch)

Still one of my favorite movies, I managed to catch up more details and jokes this time so it was a nice chill rewatch lol. I kinda wanna get into more Kung Fu movies after watching Ip-Man last year.

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#5.-Given Movie (2020)

It was really soft and a great followup of the show. I will admit, I'd like it more if it wasn't for the apartment scene being a bit too creepy. It's not the worst but it was very uncomfortable for me. Regardless it was a nice conclusion to one of the unresolved plot threads from the anime. The last part of the movie was so damn sweet man ngl.

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#6.-Persona 3: Spring of birth

Last stop before Reload comes out, I'm quite excited for P3R since the leaked proof of concept. I've already replayed the main game with FES (minus the answer but whatevs). And the movies are going to be my last P3 recap. So for the first one I gotta say, I'm let down. It wasn't horrible. But it felt like an average anime recap movie to me. Its pacing was too fast and I'm quite let down by this decision. Akihiko and Junpei get very shafted in terms of screentime which is sad, because their character flaws are stablished in this part of the story. For this quarter of the main game (which is easily the weakest of the game imo), it would've benefited a ton from a more character focused story. Fuuka got a pretty nice arc compared to the game, but everyone else lacked screentime. The animation and overall style is sick, but I do wished it wasn't so "on model" for most of the runtime and action scenes, it feels a bit rigid at times. Overall, is just a fairly standard recap of the first quarter of P3. 1 down, 3 more to go.

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#7.-Persona 3: Midsummer Knight's dream

WAY BETTER THAN THE FIRST MOVIE. It feels less like a recap, and more like an actual adaptation. It still has a fast pacing, but it isn't as distracting now that the plot always moves foward, with substancial scenes and character moments for almost everyone. I really like how Ken and Shinji were done here, it has a way more personal focus imo. Ken shines way more here than in the og game, his backstory is so well adapted in this film. Shinji is excellent too, they really use every moment he's on screen to show you more of his character and I love it. This whole movie has excellent storytelling and it's a great adaptation of the Ken/Shinji storyline. The only sour spot that distracts me is Makoto, I kinda get what they are trying to do with him. But it doesn't land for me, I wish we saw more of his inner thoughts and monologue, instead of relying so much on his dialogue. Because he lowkey stands with strega on not ending the dark hour (WHICH IS A VERY BOLD MOVE AND I LIKE IT). But he doesn't express said feelings in a compelling or interesting way. I don't mind quiet MC's. But I'm not digging this Makoto thus far tbh. Maybe movie 3 and 4 will change my mind. Also, the animation is a bit better now! It breaks model more often and it feels way more dynamic and fun to look at in action scenes. It isn't perfect, but it's a great improvement!

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#8.-Persona 3: Falling down

MAN THIS WAS SOO GOOOD, So far this is my favorite P3 movie, it was so thematically rich and substancial. Everyone had their moment to shine and the overarching theme of letting go and the fear of attachment was CHEF KISS. Makoto is great in this movie, while I still hold the opinion that he was very flawed in the last two movies, in this one he steals the spotlight. We now see his inner thoughts and feelings. Tying most of the cast resolves to his own struggles is soo good. He essentially becomes THE antithesis of P3, and it's a great way to develop him, we get a good a idea of him as a character while still keeping his quiet and reserved personality. Junpei gets the love he deserves, and just like the game, he has one of the best arcs in this story. I still feel that he was robbed of more because of the first two movies, but in this one he gets the entire spotlight and it's great. My only complain is that Akihiko and Ken do get sidelined a bit, and their resolve isn't as satisfactory as everyone else, since they start the movie already moving on from the aftermath of the last movie. Which can take you out of it because there's no real payoff for their feelings other than that one pawlonia mall scene but I still find it quite underwhelming. One more to go!

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#9.-Lupin the third: The bloodspray of Goemon Ishikawa

I really want to get into more adaptations of Arsene Lupin. And Lupin the Third sounds really promising. I've already seen Castle of Cagliostro a good amount over the past 3 years and I really like the vibes of this franchise. I saw this movie bc one of my friends really liked the animation in one scene and as a Standalone story is neat. But I did felt that I lacked some kind of context and apparently I did. Since this is a whole series apparently. Will return to this one eventually once I have the proper context, regardless it was a fun 50 minute watch.

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#10.-Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness

Ok so I played this game mostly because I want to get a Ribbon master Scizor. It was either getting thru this game once so I can get the Scyther, or playing Colosseum in japanese so I can get Scizor with the E-reader functionality. So not much of a choice but anyways. I mention this because admitedtly, I kinda speedran the game so I was able to transfer my pokemon to my Emerald save file. So I skipped a ton of extra content. Hell most of the time I fainted the Shadow Pokemon because it was easier and I barely change my team. Regardless, I'm still rather dissapointed with this game. I played a bit of colosseum last year and it was ok. It had a neat premise and concepts that I wanted to see more if. I didn't finished it mostly because my emulator config was garbo, but I didn't hated it. It was a very slow paced game with tons of issues like the long battle animations and clunky purification mechanics. But it was an interesting game that I would've completed if I had the means to do so at the time. XD however left me dissapointed because of the premise and story. It was quite dull for me and nothing grabbed my interest. Colosseum wasn't peak fiction or anything. But its premise felt more interesting to me. A rogue pokemon trainer that captures shadow pokemon from evil trainers? Quite the sick concept ngl. XD has a child protag that is sent to do the work of everyone else. It's such a silly thing to critize the narrative of this game solely on the premise. But at the very least colosseum had a better narrative premise that made me interested in watching how the story unfolds. XD feels like your usual Pokemon narrrative, but if it was only focused on the "evil team" Subplot and nothing else, it just doesn't work for me. And because it was so centered on battling dull grunts over and over again, I was very bored throughout the whole game. I could probably have a better opinion after a replay, but as of now I'm dissapointed.

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#11.-Black Rock Shooter OVA (rewatch)

Small rewatch with my gf. I still really live the cozy vibes and the simple, yet effective story. I vastly prefer the 2012 anime (may rewatch soon who knows), but I respect this little OVA a lot. I lovee the animation and I relate a ton with the story. Let's go lesbians.

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12.-Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Disney)

My GF LOVES Percy Jackson, so this was a must watch for both. As an introduction to this series. Is pretty good imo, I might not get everything yet (since it's a slightly abridged retelling of the books according to my GF). But this was a pretty good first season. I really like the main conflict and drama of this first part and I hope it delivers a banger season 2.

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#13.-Persona 3: Winter of Rebirth

F u c k The best P3 movie by far. I literally have no complaints, that was a perfect adaptation of the last story arc of the game. I'm amazed tbh, it was so damn good. These movies got better as they went along. And i'm so glad they didn't stuck with just re-telling the original game like the first movie did. This movie is P3 as a whole, and it embodies the game perfectly. Not much to say dude, it's peak. As of writing Reload has just came out, and sadly I won't be able to get the game on release, but damn am I reallyy looking foward to that first playthrough. Hopefully I will be able to blog it in this year's thread >:3

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If you reached this far thanks, hope u have a good day :]

[suzaeuphysolos]

could you rank every britannian royal based on how loud you'd scream (in excitement (can be internal excitement)) if you saw them in a promo or something 🥺

Hi! I’m sorry if I forget anyone, I still haven’t watched Akito The Exiled or read any of the mangas so I’m just going off of the prominent ones I remember!

1. Euphemia !!!!

It feels like it’s been so long since I’ve seen anything with Euphemia in it. It makes me so sad because she is just so forgotten about. She is my third favorite character after Nina and Suzaku, but I can’t really describe how much she means to me. It just makes me so sad to see her forgotten about. Not just by the fandom, but by the creators too. I would die for some new official Euphy content.

2. Nunnally

She’s such a sweet girl and I love her so much. She gets official art in promotions much more often that Euphemia, but she also gets overshadowed by the more popular characters.

3. Marianne

I like Marianne. Not really in a way that I defend her, more in just a way I think she’s really interesting. Also really hot. Really, really hot. I would really like to know more about her life. Also, I love art of her as Marianne The Flash. Besides, there’s not much official content of her and I always like seeing stuff that’s different.

4. Cornelia

There’s a good amount of official content of her, so it’s not like I’d be too excited. I like Cornelia, she’s alright. I’ll be honest though, I use her as my scapegoat when defending Nina 😭 haha. I like her and her character, and she’s very pretty! I kinda wish her character arc would have been more fleshed out, but I did notice the change and thought it was noble. I also adore her relationship with Euphemia, so if I saw any new official content of them TOGETHER (and preferably NOT in the form of a body pillow where they’re laying naked on top of each other, or where there holding hands and gazing into each other’s eyes in a questionable way *cough cough, Code Geass official art designers-) I would be so happy.

5. Schneizel

Scheneizel is a character I have a complicated relationship with. He is an incredible villain, probably one of my favs in the series. But given his direct manipulation of Nina, I’ve always had a tiny grudge against him. But it’s one of those things I’m often able to joke about a lot. I LOVE joking about Schneizel. I don’t know why, but he is just SO funny to me. A new official art or content would be great for me to make clever comments on.

6. Clovis

I don’t really have much to say about Clovis. He kind of was barely there. But I really would like to see more of his relationship with his siblings because it’s clear that they loved each other a lot. I wouldn’t be too excited if he showed up in a promo art.

7. Lelouch.

I’m not really gonna give my opinion on Lelouch. I love the guy. It’s just that he by far has the most official content so my reaction to a new official art is mostly just a straight face because it’s like. Oh look! It’s Lelouch. Again. Lmaoooo.

8. Charles

I think Charles is a great character and all but I don’t really care about him that much. And is honestly rather see a new official art or content for like any other character than him. He’s kinda ugly too, so 😭

[slutzandcuckz]

Title: Not So Not Together

Rated M 18+ ((MINORS (MEANING ANYONE UNDER THE AGE OF 18 🙃) ARE NOT WELCOME TO READ OR INTERACT WITH THIS POST. MINOR AND AGELESS BLOGS WILL BE BLOCKED))

PUT YOUR AGE IN YOUR BIO RN

Content Warning: all characters are 18+, katsuki bakugo x reader (gender neutral language used, AFAB reader), angst, exes au, recently broken up, soft bakugo, these bitches in love ❤️‍🩹, crying, kissing, dry humping, ass play (to reader), baby used as a pet name (to reader), sad times 😞

Estimated Word Count < 3200 * I edit my writing too often to commit to a static number 🥴

“I’m coming over.”

Fuck.

“Ok—”

The call ends abruptly. He’s always the one to hang up first, leaving you to reflect on your poor decisions with three mocking beeps ringing in your ear. You don’t have to pick up when he calls. Some days are easier than others, especially when you have things to do or people to see. But it’s late on a Thursday night, and you can’t go to sleep. Why don’t you put forth a better effort to go no-contact? Why can’t you block his number, or unfollow his socials? At the very least you could delete his pictures. But you don’t because you’re weak. And pathetic. And in love.

The phone feels heavy in your hand, like it’s bearing the weight of all your inadequacies. Your arm drops limp in defeat, and your body follows shortly after. All you can bear to do is lie on your back and stare at the ceiling fan.

It’s best to not think about how the past four months have been absolute hell—coping with a break up that neither of you really wanted. Your relationship just ended so abruptly. Not in the sense that you didn’t see it coming, but rather in a way that one day you two were together and then the next day you weren’t.

Neither of you have done a great job with setting boundaries. He calls or visits at least once every other week since you broke up, usually just to talk, or share news, or even to fuck. And as much as you know it’s not good for either of you to continue with this “not so not together-ship”, it’s better than not having each other at all.

“God, this sucks,” you think out loud, body shifting to lean on your side. “This sucks so hard.” Mr. Snuffles stares blankly at you from across the bed— a weathered and patched stuffed rabbit given to you on your 11th birthday. Out of all the judgement you’ve faced from family and friends, his is the worst. He knows you better than anyone. Knows what you should do, when you should do it, and who you should do it with. He’s your voice of reason, and despite not having a mouth, he’s quite loud. And it seems with each missed opportunity to cut Katsuki completely out of your life, Mr. Snuffles’ judgment grows louder and louder. It’s the eyes honestly.

“Don’t look at me like that,” you croak, ashamed that a stuffed animal knows better than you. “I know what I'm doing.”

Three firm knocks reverberate throughout your apartment, and it’s like how a forest grows still in the presence of a predator. The ticking of your clock, the blades of your fan, even your own heartbeat grows quiet.

He’s here.

You’ve seen him a billion times and you’ll see him a billion times more maybe; there’s no need to feel anxious…maybe a little sad. Definitely super guilty. But also really happy? Because you love him and love being around him and love spending time with him. Why is this so fucking complicated? You thought love was supposed to heal all wounds…Or maybe that was time.

Just as his fist readies to bang on your door again, your pretty little head emerges from the other side, surveying his person with interest. His arm lowers, milkshakes in either hand, eyes lidded with tiredness. There are a few awkward moments of staring before he speaks, growing tired from holding the milkshakes (and the unbearable silence).

“You gonna let me in?”

His words seem to snap you from your stupor, a sheepish smile stretching your pretty lips: two-toned and lightly glazed with chapstick, top lip sculpted perfectly in Cupid’s image. He misses waking up to those messy love letters your lips spoke into his skin. He wants to kiss you right now. He thinks you would let him if he asked.

You step backwards and open the door to let him in. He walks in with confidence, like he’s been here a billion times before, and he has even since the break-up. He makes his way to your couch where he sits and sets your milkshake down on the coffee table.

“I got your favorite.”

Goddamn him. You can never reject an Oreo milkshake. It only takes a second for you to join him on the couch, an unorthodox amount of space between two people who are supposedly no longer in a relationship anymore—you could fit four maybe five fingers between that space? The close proximity is suffocating and desired all at once. He grabs your remote, turns the television on, then proceeds to lay his arm across the back of the couch directly behind your head. You both sip from your milkshakes for a while, idly watching the cartoon that flashes across the television screen, neither too bothered by the lack of conversation, or so it seems. It feels like how it used to… but not at the same time. You clear the phlegm from your throat that always accumulates when you nurse a milkshake, before turning to him and speaking.

“So what brings you here tonight?”

Obviously to fuck, or at least, that’s the conclusion you come to. It’s 2:30 in the morning, what other reason would he come?

He continues to face straight ahead, but his gaze shifts to his peripheral, noting the weary look on your face. He sits there for a bit, setting his milkshake down and letting the question smolder in the air. He’s grown a bit anxious from the question if the tapping near your head is any indication. Maybe a minute or three passes before he finally gives in, body sinking into the couch with a heavy sigh.

“Imischew,” he mumbles, body folding in to make himself small.

“You mis chewed?” You repeat confused. “Did an Oreo chunk go down the wrong pipe? Do you need some water?”

“No,” he groans, shifting uncomfortably. He follows up with the same undecipherable mumble, but it’s evident you’re not catching on, on account of the perplexed look on your face. “I don’t think I’m understanding, Suki.” Fuck, he loves it when you call him that.

He takes a deep breath to quell the feelings of frustration and anxiety bubbling in his chest. It’s not your fault, he thinks. He’s a mumbler and you’re borderline hard of hearing.

“I miss you,” he enunciates, finally working up the courage to look you straight in the eyes. He sighs dejectedly. “…I miss you.”

Oh...oh. Despite the time you’ve spent together since the break up, neither of you have uttered anything so… sentimental.

It’s silent again. Your lack of response is making him reeeeally fucking anxious.

Fuck, he thinks. This was a bad idea.

He suddenly shoots up, humiliated and ashamed.

“I’m sorry,” he grumbles, “I shouldn’t have come.”

He just about makes it past the couch before you quickly set your milkshake down and dive forward to clasp his wrist, body draped over the arm of the couch.

“No,” you yelp, frightened by his attempted departure. A stale silence follows your outburst. It seems to drag on for far longer than either of you anticipate, both bodies unmoving as if frozen in time. And then you finally speak, voice trembling and small. “Please… I miss you too.”

He turns towards you, the television light highlighting the bubbling in your eyes, reflecting the sullen visage of his own features. God, even when you’re crying you look like an angel.

“Come sit?” You request with a sad smile.

How could he ever say no to you?

He heaves a deep tired sigh and nods, maneuvering his body around the couch with your hand still tightly wrapped around his wrist.

There’s distance between you now; about as far as your arm can stretch, but you refuse to let him go (in every sense and meaning). It’s quiet again, and not the comfortable silence you found yourselves sitting in when things were fine between you both. It’s awkward and stifling.

He’s so tense. His leg is bouncing and his muscles are flexing. You're not doing much better. The grip you hold around his wrist is tight. You can feel his pulse racing in your fingertips. You take a deep breath and make an effort to release the tension from your body, hand reaching lower to caress his palm and intertwine your fingers together. He observes your hands noting how large his is compared to yours, the curves and valleys your fingers form, the heat that emits from your palms. It makes his belly flutter.

“Can I hug you, Suki?”

Of course you can. You are always welcome in his arms (except when you’re not).

He pulls you towards his chest and wraps himself around you, enveloping you in his furnacy hold. Your legs wrap around his hips and you tuck your face safely between his shoulder and his neck. This feels like home more than any house ever could. Maybe that’s why you two find yourselves together so often. You miss sharing a space together. You miss spending time together. You miss him. And even with him pressed firmly against your body, breathing life into your clumsy aching heart, do you even really have him? You’re not together anymore. And that makes you so sad.

His shoulder grows wetter by the second. With each sniffle and sob that greets his ears his heart clenches tighter and tighter. His precious angel, so soft and so sweet. How could anyone bear witness to such sorrowful cries? How had things ended so wrong?

“I miss you, Suki,” you whimper. “ I miss you so much.”

He attempts to blink away his own tears. The racking of your body vibrates him to his core. He pulls you closer, as if to mold your bodies into one. He wishes he could make things not hurt anymore.

“We can’t do this anymore, Suki. I-It hurts too much.”

“I know,” he whispers. “I’m sorry.” He shushes your sobs and cradles your head, rocking your bodies to the rhythm of an unsung lullaby. “It’ll be okay,” he chants, trying to convince himself of that as much as he’s trying to convince you.

You both rock for a while, tears slowly simmering, holds growing looser. You lift from his shoulder and just stare at his face. You failed to notice his own sniffles and chokes. His face is streaked with tears. It’s quiet for a moment, and then another, and another, before a wolfish grin adorns his face in an attempt to make this moment a bit lighthearted. You smile in return. He’s just as good at making you smile as he is at making you cry.

Giggling, you knock your foreheads together, and cradle the back of his head. His hands find solace at the small of your back, thumbs digging beneath your shirt and rubbing patterns into your skin. The angle is a bit awkward, but you both just stare into each other’s eyes, wondering what the other is thinking. If you both knew what the other was thinking, maybe you wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with. So many misunderstandings and unaddressed resentment. So many missed opportunities to make things better, and you both fell short on that end. So many things were just…unresolved and unspoken.

But despite all of that, one thing is clear…

“Can I kiss you?”

You still love each other.

He responds by cradling the back of your head and guiding your lips to his own. The kiss is closed and puckered, both sets of lips sitting on the other, unsure of how to proceed, but muscle memory takes over and you fall into a familiar routine, mouths opening and tongues tangling together.

God, he loves this so much: the texture of your lips, the taste of your mouth, the dexterity of your tongue—he dreams about this—about kissing you. It’s all he ever wants to do.

“F-fuck,” he moans, gravely voice resonating in the air. His hands travel back to your hips to encourage the steady grinding you’ve unconsciously started. The motion is smooth, like how a gentle ocean wave licks upon a shore. He follows your lead, grinding up to meet you halfway. The friction is perfect.

His eyes are glazed over and hooded in arousal, unwavering and unable to look away. Your eyebrows are knitted together, and your mouth is ajar and panting. Your head bobs back and forth, unable to hold steady from the pleasure building in your body. It’s mesmerizing.

“Fuck,” he whispers. “Rub that pussy on me, baby.”

Your stomach clenches. Despite his reserved disposition, he is a vocal person, especially when it counts.

“Suki,” you whimper, attempting to quell the fluttering of your eyes. You just want to look at his beautiful face, but you can’t, motor functions completely consumed by need.

“What is it, baby?” God, his voice is heaven.

“I wanna feel you.”

“You don’t feel me,” he goads, one hand coming to cradle your head as it bobs back. “You don’t feel how hard I am for you?” You clench again.

You do feel him, all seven and a half inches, hard and steely like an iron rod, nestled neatly between your soaked folds. Even through the layers of clothing that obstruct you from his skin, you can still feel him. “No,” you drawl. “I wanna feel you inside.”

“Yeah? You wanna feel me, baby?” He pulls your hips harder against his own, reveling in the wetness pooling over his shaft. “You wanna clench that wet pussy around my dick?” He pulls your head towards his face, swollen lips wisping across your own. “You wanna ride me and milk the cum from my balls?”

“Please,” you whimper, falling into his chest. “Please, please, please—”

At this rate you’re going to cum. Your clit is hard and pulsing, easily sliding across his shaft and pubic bone. With each roll of your hips, electricity shoots through every nerve ending in your body. You’ve soiled through your shorts and his sweats, sobbing the fabrics so thin you might as well be naked.

The hand at your hip sinks beneath your panties to grab a handful of your ass. He squeezes hard, unable to restrain the molten need surging through his veins.

“You’re close,” he states. He’s close too. His tip is leaking and sticky, balls drawn close to his body in preparation to release his load.

“No,” you shoot up and whimper. “Want you inside!” You’re nearly crying, and yet your hips make no effort to stop.

He shushes you and kisses your lips. You’re so cute when you get like this. The fingers gripping your ass travels further between your cheeks, pass your asshole, and down to your fluttering pussy. He gathers the wetness spilling from your hole, and lathers himself in your slick. He continues to pepper kisses on your lips and cheeks, heart and loins clenching from the desperation in your eyes.

After his fingers are completely soaked and pruned, he transfers your slick to your asshole. His fingers rub and prod at the puckered opening, his breath shuddering at the faraway look in your eyes. That’ll do it. That will definitely take you over the edge. Your hips frenzy and your holes pucker. His length twitches and bobs.

A deafening moment of silence, like how static builds in the air before lightning strikes, and then a wail, guttural and bone chilling. Your body convulses and twitches and seizes like you’re possessed. You see nothing but black. And he sees nothing but you. It’s almost spiritual how his body follows after you. Like a current travels through you body into his own, your pleasure igniting every nerve ending that lies dormant beneath his skin. The last image he sees before his eyes roll to the back of his head, is that of the only person in his life he wishes he worked a little bit harder to keep.

🎶Doofenshmirts Evil Incorporated🎶

Phineas and Ferb is on. All of a sudden, your surroundings are there. Beneath, behind you, and all around you. You feel sticky and gross, and can barely keep your eyes open for more than a second. Katsuki’s head is laid across the back of the couch, mouth open and muscles twitching involuntarily. You smile at how goofy he looks.

“Suki.” Your voice is barely above a whisper. He doesn’t respond. You try again, a little louder. “Suki.”

He manages a small hum.

“We should get up and shower.”

He doesn’t respond again for another minute or two , probably fighting off the sleep that comes with such an explosive orgasm.

“Okay.”

You follow his lead when he moves to get up, lifting off of him and waiting at his side for him to collect himself. You look up at him as he looks down at you and you give a small smile before leading him to the bathroom by his hand.

The shower feels nice. You take turns under the water and gently bathe each other of the sweat and cum you’ve collected. This moment feels nostalgic, like it’s a distant memory, and not playing out in real-time. It feels like how it used to be…when you two were together. Intimate. Warm. Fuzzy.

After a while you two just end up holding each other, soaking in the water and the love and comfort this moment offers you. It makes you want to cry how perfect this is.

After you’re clean and dry, you offer him some clothes he hadn’t bothered to take with him when you two broke up. You change in separate rooms.

After it’s all said and done, you escort him to the front door. He’s hurt that you’re kicking him out, but he thinks he understands. You both do a pissy job at setting boundaries, and this is your attempt at establishing one. He gets it.

You both stare at each other for a good long while. You fight the urge to drag him back to your bedroom, but you stand firm on your decision.

“I’ll call you,” he sighs. And he will. He always wants to talk to you.

You take a shuddering breath and nod, weakly smiling up at him.

“Okay.”

He wants to kiss you, but thinks maybe he shouldn’t. He nods, turns towards the door and leaves, shutting the door quietly behind him.

You’re rooted to your spot, soaking in the gravity of your situation.

You and Katsuki are not together anymore.

The light from your screen seems brighter than the sun. Your fingers move in trepidation, hovering and cycling over icons and back buttons, but you finally make it to the anticipated contact.

Suki ❤️❤️❤️

Send message…

Add to emergency contact…

Block this caller….

You take another deep breath. Mr. Snuffles is right.

DO NOT REPOST, MODIFY OR PLAGIARIZE MY CONTENT

DO NOT SHARE MY CONTENT ON TIK TOK

[phoenixyfriend]

Time Travel ft. Leia and Vader

(Helped by @atagotiak)

I was reading a bunch of different time travel fics, and my brain slotted in that one "Vader hands over the Empire to Leia and is now her most devoted sycophant" dynamic and mixed it with the "Luke and Vader time-travel and Vader does the right thing but only because it would make Luke sad if he didn't."

I landed on "Leia time travels to prequels era, but her least favorite family member has also traveled with her, though it takes him a few months to find her because he has less resources without the entire Imperial Navy, but he's still a scary Sith in all black with a breathing mask and intimidating cape."

"Tiny angry lady who wants to force democracy and her giant Sith father whom she hates but has resigned herself to pointing at threats like a tank who inexplicably loves her" is a delightful dynamic.

The first few months included a lot of concern about "why do you know so much about Sith if you're not trained or looking to be one" and then Vader shows up and calls her 'daughter' and she insults him and it's like "Oh. That explains it."

Council Member: We have a Sith in the Temple. Vader: Former Sith. Leia: Listen. He is your best chance against Sidious. Also, do you want Dooku dead? Vader can make him dead. Council Member: Your father i-- Leia, scrunching up her face: Don't call him that.

Like Leia is deep in conversation when the Temple starts panicking because Vader just. Showed up? He snuck in, somehow? So Palpatine wouldn't catch him on video entering through the front door? And people try to keep her away from the trouble, because there's an entire array of Jedi Masters to deal with this Surprise Sith, except she can sense exactly which Sith it is and once she shouts "oh you have got to be kidding me!" she just starts running and, well, it's Leia. Nobody can stop her.

(Leia does have less combat training, at least less force-assisted combat training, than the Jedi. But then the Jedi don’t want to hurt here here. She's not fighting her way down, either, she's just running really fast and all the best fighters already left. They had a head start. So Leia's mostly running past random padawans and the like.)

She shoves her way to the front of the group of Masters who. Well, they're certainly ready to attack. But Vader is just standing there. Doing nothing. Still intimidating as fuck but he's not doing anything.

And then Leia bursts onto the scene like "You motherfucker."

She hits her head on a clipboard and whines because UGH he's a walking WMD and they could REALLY use him against Palpatine but also. She hates him so much.

She tries to hand him off to the Jedi council but he insists that he will only take orders from Leia herself.

Jedi: Wait, what. Leia, completely ignoring them: Did you follow me here? Vader, through the mechanical wheezing: I have no loyalty to my master and no empire to serve. You are all that I have left. Leia: Me? Me? I'm all that you have left? You committed a genocide that killed all the family I had except for the twin brother you later mutilated! Jedi: Wait what Vader, going to one knee: I pledge my loyalty and blade to you and only you, daughter. Leia, ready to explode: I. I just. Jedi, some of whom really want to say things but are slowly realizing that they just accidentally acquired a Sith Lord by proxy: What. Leia: I hate you so much but I can't even get rid of you, you're too useful. Vader: I live to serve. Leia: Yeah. Got that. Fuck. Someone get him a full medical rundown, I don't know the last time that mess of a life support system was updated. Jedi, agitated again: WHAT Leia: Listen, I don't like him, but I'm not stupid enough to throw away the second most dangerous person in the universe when I can point him at the most dangerous person in the universe. Especially not if he's going to listen to me. Jedi: But... he's a Sith. Leia: Please trust me when I say this: you might be able to take him down eventually, but he will take dozens of you down with him, and right now he's... honestly, I'm pretty sure he's more depressed than malicious. Jedi: You hate him. I can feel it. Leia: Yes, but I can be professional about it. Vader: They have not yet d-- Leia: Nope! No talking! Not until I've had a chance to process this mess!

There is a whole lot of Leia snapping at Vader to stop it whenever he starts giving off vibes like he wants to take the most violent shortcut possible.

She is not the gentle hand that Luke would be.

Leia isn't a Jedi or working for them but she's wormed her way into being an ally. They don't 100% trust her, especially not with Vader just showing up and declaring her family but like

How do you say no to a WMD walking into your house and saying "I will fight the monster you cower from at night."

There's a lot of Leia snapping off an admonishment that sounds just a little too odd and then when questioned she just says "He knows what he did."

tbh I'm not sure how long it takes for them to tell anyone that Anakin is Vader. They might hold it off in hopes that Anakin can just retire to be Mr. Amidala after the war is over.

Well, Leia hopes. Vader just lets Leia make that call and then glowers at his younger self every time they're in the same room.

I do feel like Leia tells Obi-Wan the truth first

Imagine. Imagine a Vader who’s past still isn’t known. But has gotten somewhat comfortable around the Jedi (not really but the bar for what counts and comfortable for him is low). And Obi-Wan habitually banters with darksiders, right? If Vader’s guard is down for a moment and he, without thinking, references an inside joke...

Might be the most fun in terms of ways to tell Obi-Wan "We're time travelers and Vader is what happens if you let Palpatine drive Anakin off the edge"

If Vader has decided to pledge himself to her orders after destroying her planet, then fine. She can work with that. She's not going to be happy about it, but she can make it work.

The Jedi Temple hates having Vader anywhere nearby but he is actually very good at hiding himself from people, including Palpatine And for all that Leia seems perpetually irritated with her apparent bodyguard, he does seem to listen to her.

Jedi council: We still haven't figured out how to handle Dooku Leia: Do you know his location? Jedi council: Yes. Leia: [sigh] Leia: Vader, deal with it. Alive if possible.

(Leia does need to clarify an acceptable level of violence against the people protecting Dooku.) (She needs to clarify... many things.)

Leia always says "Vader" and one time a poor fool just asks why she doesn't call him dad and she snarls out "He is not the man that raised me, and I am glad for it."

Someone less foolish later prods more compassionately and she lets them know she was adopted and didn't properly meet Vader except in passing until she was nineteen.

"And then he tortured you." "And then he tortured me, yes." "Damn." "Didn't even find out we were related until a few years later when he chopped my brother's arm off." "You... wow." "I know."

At least one exchange that is L: You mean when you tortured me? A: He did what. V: I was not aware of our relation at that time. L: Not the point! I am fully aware of your interrogation methods and I refuse to let you be the one to acquire the evidence for-- A: Wait no go back he tortured you? L: Move on, please, we already have. A: That means I'm... oh Force, I'm going to torture my own daughter what in the actual fu-- L: We're moving on.

(“I end up torturing my own daughter” If Leia’s feeling especially spiteful I can see her saying “you mutilate your own son too”)

Concept: Leia is very free with traumatizing details of her past re:Vader and Anakin thinks that it sucks but doesn’t think much of it bc Sith. And then some time later he finds out...

(I love characters who use the traumatizing details of their past to shut down conversations.)

It's such a wonderfully horrifying concept for him to try to awkwardly comfort this girl he kind of knows because having a Sith for a dad sounds like it would suck and Leia seems nice, even if she's kind of weird and uncomfortable around Anakin, but he saw her flinch around a few other tall people wearing black robes the way she stiffens around Vader so maybe it's just that!

It is not.

Vader does get a significant amount of medical treatment. Including a bunch of "holy shit, that's a lot of drugs" and similar. There is so much lightning damage.

hnnng I'm just really in love with the image of Tiny Tiny Leia sitting behind a desk for some fancy negotiation, the picture of professionalism, while Vader just stands behind her shoulder, looming, glaring expressionless death at whoever came to speak with his baby girl.

Not that he would call her that, because she'd just hate him more and he's really not sure how to fix that problem, other than doing whatever she asks with no complaints and hoping she appreciates it.

Vader: [looks at children wandering by, has complicated emotions] Leia, tired of his shit: What now? Vader: I killed them, once. Leia, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath: And you're not going to do that again. No killing children. Vader: I know that. Leia: Great. I am... regretting asking. I am so very much regretting asking.

I do really like the idea of someone asking Leia once if she wants Jedi training and she says, no, actually, she's fully aware of the fact that she's angry little ball of hate sometimes, especially towards her bio father, and she'd like to refrain from putting herself in a position where she knows enough about the Force to Fall. She wouldn't Fall. But it does make people shut up.