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pennyblossom-meta · 2 months

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L Lawliet: a deep dive into the expanded universe pt.01

EDIT (07/04/2024): Added some imgs.

Apologies for being so late to give this a follow up to @maevearcher's meta which can be found here and here. As usual, she’s made excellent points and I'll try to answer the ones which caught my eye.

Since this post ended up gaining a life of its own and becoming a bit too long, I’m splitting it in 2 or 3 parts. The core of the content for part 01 starts after under the button to Read More.

Here we talk about L's humanity.

I'll start with a disclaimer of my own: while I consider the manga as the base for the story, I'm very much open to the expanded DN universe as a complementary study of the characters and their motivations — sometimes even filling in the blanks for some of the background mysteries, such as the dynamics of Wammy's House and how L's successors view him.

To further clarify: by canon I mean the manga and any works by Tsugumi Ohba as the base material. I think @maevearcher and I are more or less in agreement on that, from what she mentioned in her own posts. As she said, the written word is indeed the baseline truth.

The expansion of the DN universe also has its own very special set of problems; for example, in many ways, L:CtW (L: Change the WorLd) commits the sin of overindulgence by throwing in considerations that, arguably, go against canon. Besides the ending where L lives for a final 23 days and Watari dies, the portrayal of Near in the movie (though in the novel he's also walking a fine line between becoming partially and very much OOC) is also a point of contention. I confess that I really wasn't fond of the way they portrayed Misa as a potential crush of L given canon insights on his opinion about Light whether in the role of Kira or as a person (pg.64 of Vol 13: How to Read, henceforth referred to as V13:HTR), but aligning L to become more humane and forgiving was at least interesting.

The same happens with the live action movies, the 2015 series, and the musical. At least the game Spiraling Trap isn't clashing with canon elements — that I could tell. The main plot is separate from the events of DN and the dating sim is a little slice of heaven into L's thoughts and emotions which I dearly love.

However, while L:CtW does indeed overindulge, the novel AN:LABB (Another Note: LA BB Murder Cases) gives us a singular glimpse into L through the eyes of Mello while keeping the events mostly accurate to the main plot, even with its slight deviations. It's certainly an optional perspective to the core of DN, but one that I always found very insightful. In V13:HTR, Obha mentions how he would’ve liked that there were more novels about L and how he solved previous cases, in a similar fashion to how Nisio Isin approaches AN:LABB. Here’s what Ohba says in pg.61 of V13:HTR:

(...) I didn’t think up much for [L’s] past. For him to be in such an influential position, he must have solved an amazing amount of cases, but I have no idea what kind of cases they were or how he solved them. But I would love for NISIOISIN, who wrote the Death Note novel, to write more stories about that (...)

This means that, to some extent, even the original author, Ohba, accepts AN:LABB as close to canon — or rather, as canon as it can get given the creative liberties allowed to a third party writer. To that point, Nisio Isin took L’s capoeira demonstration during the Yotsuba arc and made it a whole thing in the novel, with L taking inspiration from Naomi Misora’s skills. However, given the importance of that event, in the main story, L takes a while to even remember Misora so we can infer that either the stress of the case is getting to him OR learning capoeira and subsequently Misora’s role in it didn’t leave that much of an imprint on him because true canon didn’t really put that much emphasis into it. Either way, it’s an extrapolation that works. The technicalities can be overlooked given how ambiguous the scene is, as there is more than room to deduce a different past.

At the same time, I am an apologist that there are shared characteristics to L throughout the different mediums. My own interpretation of L's character has the manga as a baseline, but the expanded universe has taught me that there are sides to him that might not be so easy to perceive in dialogue bubbles or illustrations alone. Little things like L's addictive personality or the way he represses feelings are visible in the manga but caught beautifully in the novels, for example.

Going from the written word into the screen also represents a loss of the purity achievable only within the narrative in-book, where you can extrapolate and reach your own conclusions without being subject to the bias of sound and movement — though manga aggregates the visual to words and with it an altogether different dimension of meaning. That's one of the many things I enjoy about elements of fiction introduced through books; the stillness of the images and the narrative are more complex. Every time the baseline gets adapted, it loses something or that something shifts to fit into the perception of others. It ceases being pure and its essence is fundamentally shattered. Like the concept of a musical score on paper that gets played by an orchestra, there will never be an adaptation as good as the source material because it breaks the illusion.

While I can certainly extrapolate and accept the loss, I find that the written word from the novels, the tone of a VA's voice and the body movements in a live action still complement the manga well, despite narrative clashes.

About L’s humanity

Recently I've been re-watching the anime and it's incredible how Alessandro Juliani's understanding of the character resulted in such a well-rounded voice for L. I actually prefer the EN version to the JP because of the voice acting. It's superbly brilliant, even if L becomes less listless. He's certainly still aloof, but his aggressiveness is portrayed more vividly; in contrast, L in the manga feels a bit more dangerous and scary to me due to the range of expressions that the anime didn't manage to add in due to time and budget constraints. If anything L tones down how dangerous he can be. He does this on purpose so that he can trick and trip his adversary, as can be seen during his earlier interactions with Light. At times, L makes a mockery of himself, apparently placing himself in the position of a more demure individual while sharply observing the world around him and forming conclusions.

As to @maevearcher ‘s first point:

(...) An image of this lonely autistic genius, locked inside the confines of his ways, waiting for the right person to come along and save him from the banes of his solitary existence…until he meets Light and realises there’s someone out there who he can relate to, for understanding and stuff. I personally don’t buy too much into that.

The depth to which L relates to Light can be overestimated, but not without reason. Theirs is mostly an adversarial relationship with varying deviations throughout the expanded universe, but if we solely consider the manga then we get this comment from Ohba regarding whether L has any friends on pg.64 of V13: HTR:

Nope. And when he says that Light is his first friend that’s a big lie. He never considers him a friend. He probably secretly thinks really negative things about him.

During the Yotsuba arc, L is at a disadvantage. Light has turned the tables, tricked him into what Beyond Birthday could not do and thus gained a solid position into rendering L almost powerless to charge him. To elaborate on the latter point: BB wanted to create the perfect, unsolvable crime to humiliate L, making him lose, and thus “spend the rest of his life trembling in fear of B’s shadow” (pg.163, AA:LABB); L would know who the guilty party was but wouldn’t be able to prove it or bring that person to justice. As such, L would not be able to solve the mystery. At the end of the novel BB fails due to Misora’s quick thinking and that’s that. However, Light has several advantages that BB lacked, starting with his own social position, charm and the impeccable reputation of a model student and the prized son of a police chief who helps solve cases every now and then.

We can argue that, what truly happens in manga canon, is L and Light showing how much they respect each other for their detective skills, forming a sort of strange kinship within the cat and mouse game, especially when Light loses his memories of the Death Note. The game thrills them and they enjoy pushing each other’s buttons. No one else has ever challenged them like this. That being said, the first time they meet up for coffee after the tennis match, L is observing Light like a hawk, keeps testing him for a reaction and seems somewhat irritated at how much Light talks. I would venture a guess that L doesn’t actually like Light that much, even when he loses his memories. He might even find Light a nuisance when he waves the flag of morality — though this is a common problem L is confronted with when dealing with the Task Force, in particular Chief Yagami and Aizawa. This also places him at another gruesome disadvantage, as he’s surrounded by people who openly dislike and criticise his methods. The Task Force is also extremely wary of the way L pursues Light and think he’s being stubborn without proof to substantiate his reasoning. Ironically, it’s Aizawa, one of L’s most critical subordinates, who initiates Light’s downfall years later once he starts to consider L’s suspicions in light of Near and Mello’s tactics.

Both L and Light respect the game, no matter where it takes them. I would further make an educated guess that Light even preyed on L’s vulnerabilities during the Yotsuba arc, predicting how L might fall into depression for failing at the game. Light was more than capable of understanding that L’s competitive and childish side would make him a sore loser, especially given that he had already “lost” the first round of battles just by showing his face. Even if there is a sliver of friendship between both during Light’s months of amnesia, it’s dead and buried the moment he becomes Kira again.

My conclusion here would be that, while what happened with Light was extreme, it was also somewhat similar to Beyond Birthday’s eternal enmity towards L: the challenge, the need to humiliate and take down the greatest detective, one of the most brilliant minds to ever walk the Earth. There are some notable quotes from AA:LABB that reference what it is to be L, surrounded by future challengers and individuals who both look up to L and want to prove they’re better than him:

Pg.69

By simple arithmetic, L's ability in 2002 was the equivalent of five ordinary investigative bureaus, and seven intelligence agencies (and by the time he faced off against Kira, those numbers had leapt upward several more notches). This is easy to think of as a reason to respect and admire someone, but let me say this as clearly as possible: that much ability in one human is extremely dangerous. Modern danger management techniques rely heavily on diffusing the risk, but his very existence was the exact opposite. In other words, if someone was planning to commit a crime, they could greatly increase their chances of getting away with it by simply killing L before they began. That was why L hid his identity Not because he was shy or because he never left the house. To ensure his own safety For a detective of L's ability, self-preservation and the preservation of world peace were one and the same, and it would not be correct to describe his actions as cowardly or self-centered.

Pg. 117

L was the goal of everyone in Wammy's House. Everyone of us wanted to surpass him. To step over him. To step on him. M did, N did, and B did. M as a challenger, N as a successor. B as a criminal.

Pg. 160:

B approached Naomi Misora, calling himself Rue Ryuzaki. Rue Ryuzaki - L.L. For anyone from Wammy's House, there could be no higher goal than identifying yourself with that letter - and Beyond Birthday seized this case as his chance.

One of the biggest problems with these quotes is that they paint a very complicated — and, ultimately, suffocating — picture of what it is like to be L. Ohba himself mentions Watari’s predisposition towards collecting geniuses from all over the world and what Wammy’s House has turned into, under the snippet for Watari’s character (pg.60 V13:HTR):

He’s a guy who cultivates detectives for fun. That’s kind of terrible, isn’t it?

Everyone profits from L. Watari becomes richer than ever. Wammy's House becomes breeding ground for geniuses who end up dreaming of a life where they enjoy constant thrill and challenge. However, in order to do so, the dream cannot be complete until the successor crushes the original; until M, N, B and A defeat L. At least one of L’s successors couldn’t handle the pressure and committed suicide. B, known as Backup, runs away from the orphanage and goes on a murder rampage. Having never met L in person, he deduces several personality quirks that the “original” demonstrates, going as far as exacerbating them in order to be creepy and repulsive. Mello, who boasts of having met L in person and being privy to stories about how he defeated several other detectives (then taking their aliases as a trophy) both fervently admires L and wants to step on him.

Step on him. That’s quite the turn of phrase. It does sound scary, doesn’t it? To be surrounded by people who would take the opportunity to pull you down, no matter how much they admire you. They want to be you, to prove that they’re better than you. It’s game and ego. Life and death. Winner and loser.

And that’s perhaps the most blatant summary in approved canon of what it is like to be L that we’ll ever get. We can, of course, argue that Watari cares about L. He’s not only his handler, but also the one who brought him into Wammy’s House. It’s fairly clear that he nurtured (and even enabled) some of L’s most distressing character traits, though I wouldn’t necessarily say it was with a purely utilitarian agenda. It’s perfectly acceptable to extrapolate how Watari might’ve wanted to keep L, a child of great intellectual genius, happy by allowing him to be challenged and properly educated. In fact, AN:LABB (pg. 145-46) even gives us L’s perspective on the kindness that justice can achieve, which is confirmed within the expanded universe to be similar to Watari’s teachings as L confronts Kujo in L:CtW.

"I have nothing to do with him," L said. "To be completely accurate, I do not even know B. He is simply someone I am aware of. But none of this affects my judgment. Certainly I was interested in this case, and began to investigate it because I knew who the killer was. But that did not alter the way I investigated it, or the manner in which my investigation proceeded. Naomi Misora, I cannot overlook evil. I cannot forgive it. It does not matter if I know the person who commits evil or not. I am only interested in justice." "Only... in justice... " Misora gasped. "Then ... nothing else matters?" "I wouldn't say that, but it is not a priority." “You won't forgive any evil, no matter what the evil is?" "I wouldn't say that, but it is not a priority." "'But..." Like a thirteen-year-old victim. "There are people who justice cannot save." Like a thirteen-year-old criminal. “And there are people who evil can save." "There are. But even so," L said, his tone not changing at all. As if gently admonishing Naomi Misora. “Justice has more power than anything else." "Power? By power ... you mean strength?" "No. I mean kindness." He said it so easily. Misora almost dropped the phone. L The century's greatest detective, L. The detective of justice, L. Who solved every case, no matter how difficult... " ...I misunderstood you, L." "Did you? Well, I'm glad we cleared that up."

I would, once again, venture another educated guess that, while Watari’s primary reasons for starting a program of successors to L was noble, it ultimately backfired on an individual level. Society wise, the letters, as L calls them in L:CtW, are a force for good. They solve crimes, help law forces around the world to keep peace. Some of them even become scientists like Dr Kujo — though she becomes the main antagonist in the spin-off novel. However, the pressure this kind of lifestyle fostered creates a group of individuals who are highly competitive and manipulative. Some, like A, can’t handle it. Even L has his own troubles, being called a reclusive sociopath, possibly by the police forces who treat him as a utility rather than a person. He’s someone they admire and resent, who is tolerated given how effective he is at cracking down cases.

This passage from L:CtW paints a grim picture of the way L suppresses his own feelings as he breaks down for not being able to prevent Maki from being kidnapped (pg. 150-51):

"Light...it hurts. My heart--" It was a hurt that L Lawliet had suppressed, that he had to suppress in order to continue his existence as the peerless Detective L. How had the world's top detective been described in regard to facets of his personality rather than his ability as a detective? He had been called a kinky detective who relished bizarre murders, a human computer capable only of measuring mass murders in terms of cold numbers, a reclusive sociopath. What L thought of such estimations of his personality only L could know. But no one could truly understand L. How L did not and could not forget the faces of thousands of victims. Who could comprehend the man who had lived his life, and had to live confronting all the lives that ended prematurely, the tears of grief-stricken survivors, the devaluing of life as a daily reality. How was it possible to measure the pain of such a man? Was it a strain so heavy that L's back curved under all its weight? Was it an agony so terribly to leave the indelible dark circles around his eyes? Was it a feeling so bitter that every bite he took needed to be coated in sugar? The chronically rounded shoulders, the inevitable dark circles, the eccentric tastes--L suppressed the pain of being a champion of justice, but the evidence of the pain was moulded into his very body.”

Even within the clear disparity from the official canon, this passage slaps. It humanises L further, making the detective become a person and not just a machine who is content with his lifestyle. I know there’s a tendency for those who prefer the manga to see L as someone who is unabashedly himself and perfectly alright with the life he lives. I would argue that the Kira case was not only the most difficult challenge L ever faced, but also a series of moments where he had to be at his best — and at his worst. He had to do everything within his power to solve the case, not only because of his pride but because of what he considers to be his sense of justice. Saying with such confidence ‘I am justice’ is a rather cheesy and childish thing to say out loud, though I read it as both what started as a child’s stubbornness and what L became, as he positioned himself as a barrier to prevent crimes.

L suppresses himself, represses his emotions; he tries to control them, as Fu Takashi says in an interview, he is “dependent on games or battles of the mind”. Perhaps this is a consequence of the foundations of his personality. Despite L’s innate stubbornness, it could be argued that this is as much his fault as it is Watari’s, who didn’t nurture L’s social skills as he should have when he was a child. By not having an outlet outside of his hobby, L is trapped in a prison of his own making. Superficially, L is a “smart guy who hates losing”, but what about the rest? What about the things that make him human, the connections with others? In the same interview, it is mentioned how L feels lonely and needs affection. But what affection can you get when you isolate yourself from the world and keep everyone at arm’s length? He’s not a machine. Even machines become obsolete with time, and need outside help to keep functioning.

As for the latter point, if everyone around L is trying to step on him, humiliate him and surpass him, then it’s only natural that his emotional defences would be up. Aside from Watari, whose loyalty he can count on, he’s alone. L has no one else. And everyone around him will have a dangerous, significant probability to betray him.

Next in part 02: About romance, having someone close and intimate, the meaning of the Monster speech.

Tagging @rinneroraito, @flametrashira and @sharkiethrts who might be interested in this meta.

#death note #l lawliet #death note meta #light yagami #spiraling trap #l lawliet headcanons #l lawliet x reader #watari #mello #mello death note #nate river #mihael keehl #near death note #beyond birthday #another note #l change the world #l death note #l lawliet death note

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singularsoldier · 1 year

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Why Scout and Miss Pauling are a terrible ship

Alrighty, if you’ve been into tf2 for awhile, you’ve definitely seen this pairing pop up. This whole thing is probably gonna sound like I’m beating a dead horse, but I wanna give my full two cents on these two using canon material (comics, game, and Expiration Date). Before I dive in, my stance on these two is 100% never gonna change. Save the counterarguments and keep scrolling

VOICE LINES

In the game, Miss Pauling has a lot of voice lines both towards the individual mercs and to the player themselves. However, how she speaks to Scout vs everyone else is drastically different. Let’s look at Scout’s when given a contract:

Starting off, Miss Pauling is…pretty rude towards him. “Wrap up whatever you’re bragging about” “I’m assuming you’re talking right now. Please stop” and others. It’s evident that she doesn’t want to hear a word out of his mouth. As we all know, Scout talk A LOT, but if she liked him to any degree, she wouldn’t be this mean towards him. If anyone even tries to say “well maybe she’s mean bc she likes him” no. Sorry, not how healthy relationships work. If anything, that further proves my point on why they’re terrible together.

Now, lets look at other lines (I’m too lazy to add everyone):

See the major difference? Miss Pauling isn’t mean, rude, or dismissive. She’s friendly! She’s joking! Lines like these show that Miss Pauling considers Engie (and everyone else) her friends. Scout gets nothing like that.

By the way, Miss Pauling canonically hangs out with the mercs (and Saxton’s assistant Bidwell). When you look at her contract lines with everyone else (including Bidwell), she’s cheerful and having fun. Scout on the other hand? She’s a frustrated dungeon master because Scout wants to make a muscle wizard and won’t stop flexing.

My experience with dungeon masters has been “fuck it, be whoever you want”. I had the dumbest, weirdest characters, and the DMs didn’t care! That’s the fun of d&d (g&g for tf2). Miss Pauling not letting Scout have a buff wizard, and Scout not even trying to follow the rules, shows how incompatible they are. Neither of them are willing to make a compromise especially because of the fact that Scout’s a pretty narcissistic guy. He’s a pathological liar in the comics (which are coming up) to impress people. Who wants to date that?

Onto the congratulations:

Pretty standard, right? Nothing extraordinary or, honestly, anything outside of standard professionalism. Scout gets a quick thanks and the line goes dead.

For anyone else:

The other classes get something Scout doesn’t: enthusiasm. Miss Pauling is beaming in her lines for the other classes. Also, Scout has the least amount of congratulations (only 5) out of everyone. Miss Pauling also says to a few other classes “i owe you one” and “i knew you could do it”. Again, ten times friendlier than how she speaks to Scout. If she liked Scout, she would have similar lines or ones that are even a bit flirtatious. Nope. Nada.

COMICS

If you’ve only played the game, you’re missing out! The comics are great (and unfinished), and they also reveal more of how Miss Pauling engages with Scout. For example:

Immediately stopping him from talking again, and straight up letting him get hanged. If that was my crush, I would, you know, not let go so they don’t die. She has very little regard for Scout outside of “annoying guy I work with”. Hell, she canonically spends more time with virtually every other class (aside from Engie obviously and maybe Medic) than with Scout. Another thing in the comics:

This right here. Scout has been working for Mann Co. for six years (meaning he joined at 21). In six years, Miss Pauling has made zero indication of liking him. What person goes six years without even trying to flirt or even hit on with their crush? Especially when Scout is VERY LOUD about his infatuation. Even the biggest introvert would jump on that free chance.

Oh, another thing! When Scout tries to get some alone time with her (while fighting for their lives) she turns him down. Pauling would rather watch Soldier and Zhanna fight naked while cover in honey than go with Scout (who wouldn’t?) which, when you think about it, caused Scout’s death because he faced the Spy bots alone. Sorry Scout, ass and tiddies are more important than you!

EXPIRATION DATE

The long adored sfm video. While the video pretty much cements Scout’s feelings for Miss Pauling, it also cements her lack thereof. Lets dig in:

First off, we know that Scout only had the bravery to ask her out because he thought he was dying. How does he invite her? By setting off the briefcase alarm!

As Miss Pauling says, it’s “the one button he’s never supposed to touch”. Not only that, but it wasted her only day off of the year. A fact she is visibly pissed about and refers to a couple times. Scout was pretty selfish to do that. Another thing, Pauling repeatedly refers to the “date” as a prom. (“Are you guys having a prom?”) She literally had no idea Scout was asking her out. Why? Lets face it, she would say no or dismiss him yet again. Even Scout knew that, so he faked a literal emergency that forces her to visit. Once again, lying to try and impress her with a date.

So, Scout comes up with an elaborately self centered plan to get Miss Pauling to come to the base, and when she wants to storm out, he desperately tries to save face with dinner. Cue our bread monster fight where Scout confesses that he likes her. And her response? Nothing. Throughout the whole sequence, Miss Pauling doesn’t answer or even respond to a word he says. You’d think if you were in mortal danger, you’d tell your crush “i love you! Now help me kill this bread monster”

At the end, Scout says “so its a date?” To which our beloved Miss Pauling says, “well, no. You did waste my one day off”. Not only that, but Pauling even offers for him to join her on missions, which he instantly says no to. Idk about you, but I’d bury bodies with my crush any day of the week. The fact that Scout was offered multiple chances to even be near Miss Pauling willingly, yet turned them down, is pretty telling of his character.

Scout wants a date, yes, but how he envisions it. Typical candles and pretty lights with a pretty girl. Meaning, what he enjoys and what he sees their romantic life being like. Not shaving off fingerprints or hiding bodies. Things Miss Pauling does literally 24/7. You know, things she likes doing. Its evident in her vacation lines that she wants to go back to work and that she isn’t a fan of vacations. Once again, Scout’s selfishness stops him from getting anywhere near the girl he’s obsessed with.

So, we have: Pauling doesn’t want to hear Scout’s voice, she’s barely cordial with him, she sees Scout as at best a coworker, and she was, indirectly, responsible for his death. (Note: not making this into A Point, its just fucking hilarious).

All in all, these two have no chemistry. Scout has a six year long obsession, and Miss Pauling has a six year long distain for our quirked up white boy. Their whole dynamic is the age old “dumb jackass loser wants pretty girl” and lets face it, we’re sick of that. Scout couldn’t even come up with a reasonable, honest way to see Miss Pauling in person. He selfishly wanted a date (that fits his myopic view of what dating Miss Pauling looks like) and didn’t care how he got it.

I’m not trying to attack anyone with this post. Its a ship analysis, and I hope it at least points out the major flaws between them. Unless Scout changes his entire personality (he won’t), Miss Pauling is never gonna like him.

#long post #i went off here actually #tf2 #team fortress 2 #tf2 scout #miss pauling #not tagging the ship but yeah #ship analysis

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horizon-verizon · 29 days

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I'm still trying to see this complexity that TG has, and that's why TG stans like them?? Alicent changes her opinion and personality every hour, is the complexity of her still having any consideration for Rhaenyra? not have imagined that a war would start? or just have the same crying expression? Please....!! What complexity does Helaena have? supposedly having dragon dreams and not knowing how to interpret them? the girl doesn't say anything in 1S and everyone just thinks she's weird, she doesn't do ANYTHING! Aemond's complexity is that he was bullied and became a presumptuous arrogant who killed his nephew? and I'm not even going to talk about Aegon..... he's an abusive drunk but yes.... he's a complex character

I think that "interesting" for them is actually"potential for high drama, spectacle, and foolishness just because" for some TG stans who say the greens are more interesting. Yes, the green side is actually a complex group AND they rely on fear (amongst themselves and sometimes against the blacks) & strategy...because they have to strategic in order to try to justify some of their actions or wrest the power Rhaenyra's allowed or could accrue at court. To wittle her already-given status as heir to a more passive role. And beyond-court, they wished to convince the realm that Aegon was the rightful king both before and a little after he's crowned. The greens basically had the task to work past the whole "my heir should rule after me" deal that many lords wanted to stay as solid and meaningful as possible by precedent while also arguing on the precedent set by the GC of 101...which was itself a vote based on the adulthood as well as maleness of the candidate chosen. So, again they had to be strategic and shady and underhanded. And that will inevitably give us more drama.

Funny. Ironic.

We already know that the greens were not that successful with the convincing part even with Rhaenyra at Dragonstone and their long success at isolating her, bc it is only Alicent's move to hide Viserys' body, imprison courtiers and servants, hurry to search for Aegon that enables the greens to take the throne at the end AND Rhaenyra still was able to have many more supporters fighting before and after her death for her and her sons' claims.

Which if this is why you like the greens and not bc you think Aegon deserves the throne or ay sort of leadership [bc we see how unwilling and determined he was to not allow his grandfather to actually try to rule him in canon for the very paradigm that develops from Otto-Alicent's style & aims, they created their own monster], valid. I admit, they make the perfect antagonists & foils to the blacks and they do what they are supposed to do.

People, not just TGs, have cited Alicent's past affecting how she views her own and Rhaenyra's motherhood, that chain of abuse. I'm fine with this, this is true. As for Aegon, I wrote a whole master post for what I think is his "deal" HERE, which is long but you can really sum it up as him trying to prove how great of a leader and man he is in lieu of the all the years he's been on the side and Rhaenyra was Viserys' heir. Yeah his life and misery and nastiness is in part bc Alicent wishes to prepare him to become king and "peacefully" reestablish the order of patriarchal feudal primogeniture/order so she'd not have to confront her own suffering and still materially benefit from it in "exchange". This sentence in itself reflects more on Alicent's complexity than Aegon's.

Aemond? Show!him, as presented, is interesting in that he's going to show a sort of vulnerability from his inflexible role as his side's militant "guard" and his worth being drawn mostly from that. He is there to be the support to Aegon's claim. hamliet describes what I am saying well. "Love is a transaction for the Hightowers". He seeks to "prove" himself and tries to make the glory of a warrior replace real love, but it can never so he's a ball of terror.

And love is a transaction, conditional and more so than on the black side because the greens really rely on putting their children's bodies to some sort of use, from Alicent to Otto to Aegon himself and there is no recourse or sign of deep bonds where each understands the other, comforts each other, reaffirms their emotions etc., or tries to make them happy just for the sake of it formed between any green member. (prob should have made this part part of the 1st paragraph but idk how to):

Helaena's body is made into a breeding machine for Aegon's claim for Otto

Aegon is a tool for Otto's desire to move the crown how he wants and is thus not really asked to be a great leader so much as it there & take his orders/suggestions

Alicent was a Helaena for Otto

Alicent uses her kids to stick it to Rhaenyra (show & book) or else ignores them bc of the troubled context from how they existed even as she genuinely loves them

Daeron--if the show will show that dynamic b/t Daeron and Ormund--is suggested to be more of a tool for his way into high prestige behind Alicent and Aegon's own rise, which is why Daeron's sent to Oldtown in the first place, away from his own family for years...yes I know about fosterage, but I'm speaking to the effects this has on the actual bonds b/t these family member s being reduced to transactions towards their goal towards power

So this troubling, repression, and denial of love is itself intoxicating, and thrilling to people who even don't have to be part of any team. I don't blame them.

This issue for me is then:

Alicent could have been a lot more coherent without the inherent benevolent sexism of her becoming Rhaenyra's only friend and underdeveloped writing that makes her a lot less rational, deliberate, & mentally vulnerable to manipulation than she was in the book....all of which undermines her "complexity" bc she becomes less active as a character much sooner than she does in the book

people say all this ethically justifies the greens' actions, determine that their moral examinations of psycho-social conditions yield the correct and only conclusions to then just reveal that they just want their thoughts to be the general thought in contrary to the evidence in text, or hide behind their real biases and need for validation of those biases through the greens

Don't get me wrong, the black side aren't angels and do heinous actions...but it is simply true that they do not create the conditions for the war to begin and are also reacting to the usurpation.

Moreover, the blacks are pretty open when they can be to be about their actions and Rhaenyra is also already the heir. But the show didn't explore her life as a mother, what her relationship to womanhood as a mother AND heir looks like without Daemon there, or her kids' development after episode 5:

Rhaenyra being reduced to her body (advertisement of "Realm's Delight"; affairs and talk of them)

her kids' understanding, more of this from episode 6 and how exactly they interacted with Alicent's sons...how does Aegon enlist them and their frustrations against Aemond and from their perspective; court interactions, including those with Viserys and Harwin or any of the Strongs; education

Rhaenyra's perceived lack of ability that really just comes from her society evaluating her gender

[book] how she forms bonds with women around her, her relationship with Daemon and their journey towards each other, her relationship with the other Velaryons (Corlys and Laenor)

Daemon as a father -> how he "settles" but not really -> how he navigates/learns to raise another life form(s) & instill pride in their heritage and family after years of his beef with Viserys and losses and his resentments he tried to allay or "make up for" through social advancement and by becoming a warrior/has moved for mainly his own validation [idk how to say this concisely]

how he met and developed whatever relationship he had w/Laena...Corlys and Rhaenys' reactions to that (yes, bring Daemon & Laena back from Essos sooner)

The blacks comparatively do not have to be as underhanded and sneaky, and yet you will also have green stans argue that they are entitled, malicious, terrible threats to a perceived order (a projection--the greens are more that bc they are going against the king's word and what I said above about heirs and precedents).

This and majorly bc of how much opportunity we lost from the writing of this show focusing on developing the greens is also why they appear as "boring" or uninteresting while overbearing, scheming, manipulative agents of destruction at the same time to some people, even though they have more than their fair share of drama and angst from the very hierarchies they are perceived to totally benefit from.

#asoiaf asks to me #fandom critical #green stans #hotd fandom #alicent stans #alicent hightower #alicent's characterization #hotd characterization #the greens #the greens' characterizations #hotd writing #hotd wrongs #hotd critical #the blacks' characterizations #rhaenyra's characterization #rhaenyra targaryen #daemon targaryen #daemon's characterization

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elendsessor · 13 days

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fuck it heat headcanons i’ll make goofy ass headcanons all day long

-bipolar or at least has anger management issues

-yes he’s into vore just doesn’t know what it is

-i again enforce the chubby headcanon you cannot convince me otherwise

-agni runs on all fours

-better yet, agni is a weird bear and exhibits several bear like tendencies. all atma avatars are creatures.

-serph regularly spars with him for fun. you can also consider it a love language if you really want to.

-absolutely knows serph isn’t complete leader material. at one point he likely was but after the whole ground zero mass cannibalism incident and subsequent beating the shit out of harley q session, yeah kinda became obvious. still supportive of serph’s leadership tho because it’s not like anything about how the embryon operates changed except for the eating people part. serph was never a talker so the events of the first game are almost a normal tuesday for him. almost.

-i don’t really go here but a friend of mine brought up how he would be a bottom and. yeah. yeah he would.

-definitely overprotective of the whole tribe and by that i mean the members that matter if you weren’t embryon before chances are he’s gonna use you as fodder oops

-cielo is a little brother figure of sorts that will just never stop teasing him. heat acts like he hates it and he kinda does but can’t bring himself to actually hurt cielo in order to get him to stop.

-given how emotional heat gets, gale probably goes to him often to ask about feelings and at least try to comprehend them. post awakening he still does talk things out.

-tbh he would be at least an amateur cook

-another hc inspired by the manga anthology but the non “romantic” interactions between him and sera are canon they would be like that he’s a big bro ok

-sera does practice doing different hair styles with him. cielo guides her along. heat sorta just tolerates it but it’s a fun group activity he’s forced into.

-got put on a leash at some point and chewed it off don’t ask

-doesn’t know how to properly use a gun. agni forever altered how he views combat and that somehow led to him forgetting gun safety. probably ate his or something.

-you could pet him and he wouldn’t bite your arm off. only threaten to.

#shantien rambles #so close to doing that massive rant post i’m trying to hold myself back from going off on 2 this is how i’m coping #dds #digital devil saga #megaten #headcanon hell

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thatswhatsushesaid · 6 months

Note

I’m so glad you like Shi Wudu because I do too and it’s rare to find people who don’t hate him in the fandom. Like how can you hate him! He did it all for his brother! It was all for SQX! Was it ethical? Hell no but he’s so compelling as a character! I have /so/ many extremely complicated feelings about Shi Wudu that I could talk for hours about but all I will say is that “I decide my fate and not the heavens” is so metal and I think that there’s so much to say about just that line it makes me go feral. His relationship with Pei Ming also makes me go feral because the amount of trust (love?) that SW must have had in PM to trust him, at his lowest, with the most important thing to him (SQX’s life). Especially considering the fact that SQX has been antagonizing PM and been openly hostile towards him, for what we can only assume is centuries, and yet SW was certain that PM would put all that aside for his sake (and he did!)

Also I am now curious about the JGY stan to SW stan pipeline because it seems like we both experienced it and we can’t possibly be the only ones so now I’m wondering if there are people who like one but not the other and why.

(Also I saw your tags about beefleaf and you managed to capture my feelings about them perfectly. Like no I don’t want to read fluffy modern AUs I want to read fics where they both love each other but it’s not enough, they never choose each other and they’re both miserable and fucked up about it)

(Sorry this is so long!)

yo never apologize for sending long messages with your thoughts/feelings on these characters, i am SO HERE for reading them!! i hadn’t considered the presence of a jgy-to-swd stan pipeline, mostly because when i’ve checked the character tag, i’ve mostly seen comparisons to nmj and nhs. which dgmw, i absolutely believe that nmj loved nhs and wanted to protect him! but we know exactly what nmj would have done to save nhs from an unspeakably awful fate in canon, because that’s already something that is completely within his power to change. and he doesn’t do it.

also absolutely i believe swd loved pei ming—like i don’t think there’s enough in the source material to support a romantic or reciprocated romantic ship there, but that absolutely won’t stop me from doing it anyway, and in canon, it says so much that pei ming is who shi wudu tells shi qingxuan to go to after he dies.

😭😭😭 waaaahhhhh i love shi wudu, he’s insane, he’s a war criminal, he ruined poor he xuan’s whole life and afterlife, and he did it all for love of his little bother!!

#asks answered #shi wudu

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warlordgab · 1 year

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Analysis of shipping: One Piece anti-romance arguments

Years before Oda was asked to write Strong World, years before the Summit War saga, even years before many of us joined the fandom, a significant portion of fans shared an anti-romance sentiment.

This perspective was so widespread that it seemed as if the One Piece community in general was convinced no pairing would ever become canon. Sure, there were some exceptions:

Some people dispalyed indifference toward the anti-romance trend, but also towards the emotional narrative of the story. So, they would likely support shallow premises anyway

Others shipped characters by relying on inter-series comparisons that no longer hold up nowadays. (it didn't take long for perceptive individuals to find out how unlikely those "theories" truly were)

Some of these people were editors on other wiki sites, that pointed out how filler provided shipping fuel for stuff that never gets actual development in the manga. And yet, the same editors also promoted a non-existent "sexual tension" as many shallow shippers would, but I digress.

Still, since that era, a lot of arguments had been made for this position regarding romantic love; some were forgotten, and some stuck but in pretty unexpected ways.

So, here we’re going to consider those arguments, how bad they aged, and what possibly led to the anti-romance idea losing its initially strong foothold in the fandom.

The anti-romance idea through time

Firts, let us consider that one of the most important elements that helped the anti-romance idea to grow was how Oda talked about the subject. When the mangaka was asked about if someone from strawhats (except Sanji) was in love, he replied in a SBS they were all "in love with adventure."

While that was a pretty creative answer, it seems some readers weren't satisfied with Oda’s reply. But, it wasn’t like fans couldn’t agree that the statement was technically a correct.

Not to mention that fans back then didn’t have the Hancock character westerners simp so hard for. Instead, they had Alvida as the first woman calling dibs on Luffy...

... But, this was easy to dismiss given how they never became allies or friends.

Still, that doesn’t mean the anti-romance idea didn’t have its weak spots. In fact, Oda gave us an interesting “insight” on one scene, that LuNa fans loved, in the SBS Volume 32:

This was long before Summit War saga. It's interesting how the only girl that managed to make Luffy a “little horny" was Nami.

It’s true that the Oda’s answer would later change to what basically amounts to “bad influence,” when he was confroted with the fact Hancock’s beauty couldn’t get the same response from Luffy. But, the fact, still remains that it was Luffy’s response, unless people want to argue Luffy’s companions have a greater influence on his libido than Hancock’s beauty ever could. Doesn’t sound so good when you think about it, does it?

Of course, a lot of perceptive readers and even some anti-shippers know that being as “horny” as a “healthy boy” is not something inherently romantic. So, even if this moment left a crack on the anti-romance argument by displaying Luffy’s “healthy” reponse to Nami’s sex appeal, that still wasn’t enough to debunk it.

Needless to say, some anti-shippers may claim being “horny” is a must for a relationship to grow, but that myopic perspective completely disregards how emotional connections can develop by sharing meaningful moments instead of lusting after a potential partner.

Moving on, Oda’s vagueness back then just encouraged readers to keep discussing the subject of potential romance by relying on the manga material they had so far. Still, the anti-romance crowd would shortly get another argument, when Oda stated the following:

“One Piece is basically a shonen manga, manga for boys, so romance isn’t depcited“

Ironically, this is where the another crack in the anti-romance idea starts to show. As many chapters later, we got something subtle about Usopp and Kaya at the end of the Ennies Lobby arc.

But, the fact the story focused more on its plot, themes, and other characters, probably made it easier for everyone to miss how this relationship could contradict the 'no romance depcited' argument.

Later, the fandom got introduced to Boa Hancock. While Alvida’s interest in Luffy got scratched as “not romantic enough,” Hancock’s infatuation for the hero couldn’t be ignored due to how over-the-top it was. But, it still wasn’t enough, why?

Because the relationship between Luffy and Hancock never develops into something deep or truly impactful, as Hancock’s crush remains as one-sided as it can get.

Luffy’s rejection to Hancock’s proposal just made it a lot easier for the anti-romance argument to stay strong despite the few cracks it had at that time.

Specially, when you factor context. Luffy’s reply was framed as a negative response to Hancock’s promotion of herself as a potential wife. Add Luffy’s personality to this setup, and no matter how you try to put it, he sunk that ship before it had a chance to sail.

Debunking the “no romance” myth?

So far, we’ve seen things that could a best put a dent on the anti-romance argument. But, what actually destroyed this myth?

We have to flashforward to the Dressrosa arc. Two pairings with tragic backstories were introduced: Kyros and Scarlett & Señor Pink and Russian

Kyros' relationship Scarlett story serves as part of the compelling drama of his background. And we can tell how Pink’s relationship with Russian made his character and current state and struggle emotionally impactful.

This obviously destroyed the argument of “no romance in One Piece” and contradicts Oda’s own “romance isn’t depcited”

It became easy to see that romantic love was not only playing a part in the story, but it was doing so in a way that didn’t negatively impact the author’s work. Instead, Oda used romantic love to enhance both character and story.

And this wasn’t going to be the last time, as One Piece Film: Gold gaves us something we’re about to consider in the following section, as Tesoro and Stella were depicted as lovers.

However, the greatest blow to this argument was delivered by something that not many people saw coming: SanPu's tragic love story

We already know that Pudding’s initial affection was just an act to fool Sanji and carry out Big Mom’s plot against the Vinsmoke family. But, as soon as she has her first genuine moment with Sanji, she develops actual feelings for him as the chef shattered the image she had of her own self for years.

Needless to say, due to their respective crews being enemies, this relationship couldn’t become official, as Pudding gives Sanji a pretty romantic farewell... before removing it from his memory.

Here, romantic love plays a important role in the emotional narrative of the final scenes.

I could mention Kinemon and O-Tsuru, as well as Oden and Toki, but I think that would be overkill at this point.

Still, while the “no romance” myth got destroyed, the anti-shippers didn’t give up, those who saw how this approach became ineffective in promoting anti-romance just made their arguments undergo a microevolution. And this is where we get to the final stage:

“They’re in love... with adventure”

Given that the statment of “romance isn’t depcited” became completely useless, one would think that’s the end. But, instead of trying to encompass the entirety of One Piece, the idea came back to its origin.

All strawhats are “in love with adventure,” so accordig to self-aware anti-shippers, there will be no romantic relationships between members of the strawhat crew, because adventure is their only “love.” But, as the philosopher George Santayana once said:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”

And even the old version of this argument started to shows some cracks at the Zou arc:

Nami was both happy and eager to receive Luffy and the rest, and as pointed out by perceptive readers, she could've ran to someone else, like Zoro, something some westerners in high positions clearly wanted, but I digress.

Instead, she went straight to Luffy and only then she let out how she felt about their current predicament with Sanji...

...people try to downplay it by saying the moment was all about the chef. But, the thing is, not only she could’ve ran to someone else's arms, she ran straight to Luffy, but also poured her heart out only when she was with him.

This scene was truly remarkable as it was not only impactful, but also consistent with previous developments between Luffy and Nami as seen in Oda's works.

As we already already analyzed multiple times in this blog, this matches the trend of Nami seeking (and finding) hope, comfort, and strength in Luffy.

While this isn't something explicitly romantic, this consistent bonding could likely lead to a potential growth and an eventual relationship upgrade if the author keeps working on it.

After Dressrosa damaged the credibility of their arguments, and the possibility of more development from characters so important to the story, anti-shippers had seen better days. But, that wasn’t the only thing that left another crack on the last anti-romance argument.

Let’s talk about One Piece Film: Gold

At this point, a lot of LuNa fans, and many people who read my post already how Oda changed the climax of One Piece Film: Gold, and his work speaks for itself...

...as explained in the special Volume 777, Tesoro was in a romantic relationship with a slave: Stella. Their romance ended up in tragedy when he failed to save her from getting bought by a noble.

If we see the climax of the movie, as well as Oda’s draft of the scene, we can see that the intent was for Luffy’s situation with Tesoro holding Nami in his grasp to mirror Tesoro’s own tragedy back when he lost Stella. And thus Oda drew a parallel between Luffy/Nami, and a romantic pair: Tesoro/Stella.

However, many people would find such things too subtle or simply insufficient. But, even if we ignore emotional narrative and trends, the real weak spot in this “no romance in the crew” argument, is the basis itself: “They’re in love with adventure”

This isn’t only a clever response, and a way to avoid the subjet. It is a reminder of what One Piece is at its very core.

You probably don’t hear this one pretty often, but One Piece story is “romance.” In fact, here are some definitions that show how that statement is far more accurate than more people would imagine:

Romance:

“A mysterious or fascinating quality or appeal, as of something adventurous, heroic, or strangely beautiful”

“A long fictitious tale of heroes and extraordinary or mysterious events, usually set in a distant time or place”

“A narrative in verse or prose, written in a vernacular language in the Middle Ages, dealing with strange and exciting adventures of chivalrous heroes”

– thefreedictionary.com, 2016

“A prose narrative treating imaginary characters involved in events remote in time or place and usually heroic, adventurous, or mysterious”

– Merriam Webster, 2016

Romantic:

“Marked by the imaginative or emotional appeal of what is heroic, adventurous, remote, mysterious, or idealized”

“Having an inclination for romance: responsive to the appeal of what is idealized, heroic, or adventurous”

– Merriam Webster, 2016

Remember what’s the title of the first chapter of the manga? “Romance Dawn.”

The claim of the strawhats being in love with adventure fits the definition of “romance” in the framework of the series. But, does this concept exclude romantic love?

No, this narrative style can easily include romantic love if the author wishes to. In fact, as far as we seen, One Piece featured this kind of relationships multple times in the story.

So, trying to uphold this anti-romance phylosophy is ultimately pointless as the only argument left is not enough anymore, and the story already debunks most, if not all of the arguments.

Shippers take the anti-romance approach?

While anti-shippers don’t have a solid ground to stand on, some of their arguments are still used nowadays. Ironically, they’re used by shippers in an attempt to discredit rival pairings

This why the “no romance in the crew” lives on. More often than not, shallow shippers don’t even try to quote the author, instead they repeat what they hear or read in YouTube or Reddit.

This applies to many newcomers that lack the time and patience to stomach a long-running series, as well as people who let their bias for certain characters dicatate their view on the story, something akin to the mindset that feeds the endless squabble of Zoro Vs. Sanji.

Still. the point is that the anti-romance arguments are now the greatest assets for pretty loud individuals to wage shipping wars out of ignorance and hate.

However, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t any active anti-shippers using these arguments. It’s just that LuNa seem to be their favorite target

But, that leads to the question: Why LuNa? Why are pairings like LuHan, SaNa or ZoNa seemingly getting ignored by anti-shippers for the most part?

Well, you guys probably realize I haven’t mentioned Sanji at all in the “Debunking” section. That’s wasn’t something incidental

By the time, the community rebuffed the idea of romantic love in the series, Sanji with all his corny flirting and pervy gags never made a dent in the anti-romance arguments because most people knew back then that being horny is not something romantic. Even when Hancock appeared, fans knew a well-written pairing could only happen if the feelings between the characters become mutual.

So, what makes Luna the favorite target of these people? What makes the pairing stand out to anti-shippers?

Is it because their consistent bonding is the perfect setup for a relationship upgrade? Is it because their moments are far more meaningful and impactful from a narrative standpoint? Or is it because the alternatives to LuNa lack the potential to grow? I’m not sure about it

Still, those who had seen all of this, know better. At this point, anti-romance arguments mean little to nothing in the story. And Oda will keep writing characters and human relationships regardless of what fans do or say.

So, instead of going around making noise about how “there shouldn’t be a romantic relationship in the crew” or trying to start senseless war between fandoms, we should enjoy the ride and see what Oda has in store for us in the final saga.

#one piece #Analysis of shipping #analysis #anti-romance #eiichiro oda #anti-shippers #ルナミ #sanpu

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slytherheign · 2 years

Text

WORTH THE PAIN | tasm!peter parker

PART 4/5 OF WORTH: THE SERIES.

PAIRING: tasm!peter parker x fem!reader

WORD COUNT: 4.7k

SUMMARY: trusts are broken and tensions rise as everyone’s secrets start to reveal themselves.

WARNINGS: sexual assault, character death, manipulation, stalking, cursing, violence, and canon-typical injuries. let me know if i missed any warnings. [⚠︎︎RATING: 17+]

AUTHOR’S NOTE: please remember that this is fan fiction and so some characters here will not act exactly the same way as their original material. this is my own twist and take of those characters.

DESTINATION: Angst Avenue | GO TO SERIES MASTERLIST or GO BACK TO THE STATION.

"Peter, please calm down,” Charlene pleaded with worry evident in her tone.

To say that the apartment was a mess would be an understatement.

Peter spent the last 15 minutes frantically trying to find his missing phone while Charlene tried to calm him down. Carlos merely stared at the mess, completely frozen. It was the first time the couple had seen Peter like this. And him crawling around the place with his spider-like abilities made the situation more intense.

“Oh, for the love of Go–PETER!” she bellowed. Peter stopped for a moment, glancing at her before going back to making a mess. Charlene had enough; she knew Peter was not in his right state of mind, and panicking would not help them make any progress on the case. She slightly nudged Carlos for help, but her partner was glued to his place, still shocked by the sudden change in Peter’s behavior.

And to think that all it took was a name for Peter to behave like this.

“Peter, please,” she tried once again. “We can’t draw conclusions immediately. I know you’re really worried about her right now, but we have to be smart about all of this.”

Carlos seemed to be back on track. “She’s right. Come on, Parker. Let’s talk about what you know first, and then we’ll worry about your phone later, okay?”

Peter stopped all at once, drawing a long, shaky sigh. They were right. He had to calm down. He turned around, facing the couple, only to see them staring at what was once their living room. Confused, he followed their line of vision only to see the chaotic result of his trance earlier.

Every single cabinet door was open, with the stuff inside disorganized. The center table, its centerpiece, and the books Charlene kept under it were also not spared. And the couch… well… the pillows were out of their pillowcases, which were now on the floor along with the cushions. To keep things short, the room was not looking good.

“Shit–sorry,” he apologized, feeling embarrassed. How could he let himself act like that?

“We’ll fix it later,” Charlene reassured him. Peter looked at her like she had grown a second head. “Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she smiled, a hint of sadness in her voice that did not go unnoticed by her husband. Carlos knew damn well why Charlene was so kind and understanding to Peter, and it made him feel a little sad for his wife. “So, what do you know?” she asked Peter.

“Y/N works at a marketing company, and she once mentioned her HR manager was named ‘Mitch.’ If I’m correct, Mitch is Mitchell Gargan, who just happens to work at Greta Marketing Co.”

“That makes sense. But again, he’s innocent until proven guilty. We need proof that it’s really him. Besides, there’s also his twin… Mac Gargan. MG could be him,” Carlos added.

“Where’s Mitch now?” Charlene asked.

“I don’t know,” Peter’s shoulders slumped. He was beginning to think that maybe he wasn’t much help to them. He desperately wanted to help more, but even his knowledge was limited. And because the case was extremely personal to him, he wasn’t exactly the best person to lead the team. He was left with one last option now: to let Charlene and Carlos lead the entire thing.

“Then let’s start with who we know. Mac Gargan. You said he was hired by Jonah Jameson, right?” Carlos asked.

He nodded. “A private investigator hired to inspect me. But I have no idea where he is now.”

“That may be true,” Charlene started to think of another way, “but we know where Jameson is.”

“There we go. A starting point,” Carlos agreed. “Let’s start planning.”

DAYS LATER.

“I still have no idea how we got past the guards so fast,” Carlos mumbled. The three were walking down the hallways inside the Daily Bugle building.

“We’re in New York. People don’t really care about you as long as you look decent. Plus, the fake IDs helped a lot, too,” Charlene retorted. The married pair wore security guard outfits, their fake IDs stapled on the chest pockets.

“Remember the plan,” Peter reminded them. He was wearing his usual outfit with glasses and his camera. He didn’t need to wear a disguise. He had worked here before as a photographer, and some people still recognized him enough to let him in. He brought a fake ID, too—an edited and updated one to make it seem that the company decided to hire him again.

The plan was simple. Carlos would look out from the first floor, round the halls, and check the people who got in and out from the entrance. They had memorized Mac’s face before leaving the apartment, and Carlos was in charge of checking if that particular face entered or left the building. Charlene would accompany Peter to the 7th floor, but she would stay outside Jameson’s office, looking out for whoever or whatever hindered their plan. Lastly, Peter would enter Jameson’s office, ask him where Mac Gargan was, and leave once it was answered. He hoped there would not be a need for interrogation or threats but only a simple answer to their simple question.

However, Peter and the word ‘simple’ never had a good relationship. Jameson did not care that Peter was in the room. In fact, he mindlessly believed Peter’s story and didn’t even get suspicious that the company decided to hire him back. But as soon as Peter asked the question, Jameson was quick to reach towards the telephone and call security, only for Peter to grab it first and cut the wires with the scissors he found atop his desk.

“Do you know where Mac Gargan is?” he repeated.

Silence.

Jameson suddenly stood up and decided to run out of his office, yelling for security to get Peter out of the building. Unfortunately for him, Charlene was waiting on the other side and caught him before he could even get past the door. She pushed the man back inside the room; this time, she stayed inside the room and decided to join Peter in handling him.

Once Jameson knew that he had no chance against the tough woman, he stopped resisting and faced Peter—only to see that it was now the Spider-Man in front of him. Unbeknownst to them, when Charlene was struggling to get Jameson back inside the room, Peter took the opportunity to put the Spider-Man suit on. If being Peter was not intimidating enough for him to answer, then he was sure that being Spider-Man would do just the job. He wasn’t scared that Jameson knew his identity now because the information he had on Jameson relating to Scorpion would threaten him enough not to speak about his real identity to the media.

“You’re Spider-Ma—” Jameson could not believe that the answer to the mystery he had been trying to solve for years was right in front of him. It made sense to him now. The reason Peter had so many interesting shots of Spider-Man was because they were one.

“Look, I’m not gonna repeat this again,” Peter started slowly, “where the fuck is Mac Gargan?”

Jameson was scrambling through his mind on ideas how to escape the man in front of him. It was evident that he was feeling uneasy. It seemed that the mere thought of Spider-Man knowing that he had something to do with Scorpion was intimidating him.

“I have no idea who Mac Gargan is,” he tried to play dumb, but Peter had enough of his bullshit.

“C’mon, man,” he scoffed. “We all know that’s bullshit. Remember when you hired him to investigate me before?”

Silence.

“Alright. Let’s change the question, then. Where the fuck is Scorpion?” he was staring daggers at the man. If looks could kill, Jameson would already be buried 6 feet underground right at the moment.

“What do you want?”

“For you to let us know where Scorpion is. It’s really that simple.”

“I don’t know,” he stepped backwards as soon as he saw Peter grabbing the scissors again.

“You don’t know?” Peter mocked him, walking towards him at a slow but threatening pace. “Really?”

Carlos, on the other hand, realized that he was not making progress just walking down the halls and looking at people’s faces. He decided to go against the plan and went straight to the room where they monitored the cameras in and out of the building. Thank God that he did though, because as soon as he entered the room, he saw a glimpse of his wife and Peter in his suit at Jameson’s room interrogating the man. He had to do something and act on this fast, but the problem was two guards were monitoring the cameras. Thankfully, one was sleeping, and the other was distracted by playing Candy Crush on his cell phone. It wasn’t hard for him to convince them to leave the room.

“Hey, man! Why don’t you all rest for a bit? I think I saw a couch there outside. I’ll go watch over these,” Carlos suggested happily.

“Are you sure? Wait—I haven’t seen you before,” one guard stopped in his tracks.

“Oh! I forgot to introduce myself,” he replied. “I’m new here, sorry–I just noticed you getting bored and your friend here sleeping and thought you might want some rest, you know? I’m Carl, by the way,” he smiled.

“Well, Carl,” the guard tapped his shoulder, “we’ll accept that offer. I’m Chip,” Chip nudged his friend to wake him up, “Dale, let’s go.”

Carlos smiled while the two left the room, muttering ‘thanks’ on their way out. As soon as they left, he wasted no time and manipulated the footage. This was all he could do for now, deleting and manipulating all footage of the three of them being suspicious. He prayed Peter and his wife would be done the moment Chip and Dale returned.

Jameson still managed to stand his ground despite being terrified of him, but Peter knew he would soon break. “So?” he taunted, playing with the scissors by spinning them around his finger.

They soon played a staring game that neither wanted to lose. That was until Peter threw the scissors just inches above his head, and Jameson finally broke. “Wa-wait! Fine! Mac is in my basement. He’s staying at my house. I-in the b-basement,” Jameson had his two hands up in surrender.

“I have a feeling that’s not the only thing you know,” Peter pushed. Jameson stared at him—almost begging. But Peter had no intentions of backing down. He flicked his hands, webbing the door handle and the windows shut. If it wasn’t clear to Jonah before that there won’t be any chance of escaping the circumstance, it was clear as air to him now. “Okay! Okay! I’ll tell you everything when w-we get t-there,” he bargained.

“Lead the way,” said Charlene as she cleaned up the webs Peter had so graciously put on almost everything. Meanwhile, Peter took the opportunity to put away the suit and dress as an employee yet again. On the other hand, Carlos was still monitoring the cameras, observing their every move. As soon as he saw the three exit the building, he made sure to corrupt the footage before leaving and following the other three.

Jameson was a fucking maniac. He had to be—because no sane person would keep a lab underneath their house. Oh, and to make things even worse, a large glass cylinder cell stood in the middle—and alas, Scorpion was inside it.

Peter observed the passed-out entity before immediately turning to Jameson. “Explain. Now,” he demanded.

“MacDonald Gargan,” Jameson pointed at Scorpion. “When he failed to find out how you obtained those Spider-Man pictures years ago, I decided to hire him as a subject of an experiment. I wasn’t alone. With the help of Dr. Farley Stillwell, the goal was to give him the beneficial traits of a certain animal—a scorpion. We were aiming to create someone powerful enough to be capable of defeating Spider-Man. Defeating you.

“But the mutagenic treatment was too much for him; it began to affect his mind. The entire process was barely tested. We should’ve known it would happen.”

“How long ago was this experiment?” asked Charlene.

“3 years ago. Right after he failed to do the initial job we hired him for.”

“If this was years ago, why is he only attacking now?”

“Stillwell and I spent the majority of time developing the mutagenic treatment. We had no means to test it, so we just went with our guts to continue developing and developing until we thought it was perfectly done. And then, not until weeks ago, I remembered this guy right here,” he glanced at Mac. “I remembered this man and how eager he was to prove himself to anyone. So I decided to call him up and hire him for a new job. And because he had failed me before, he was so eager to prove himself to me and accepted instantly.

“For a while, everything was going well. We believed it worked. And it did work—only it made him insane. Stillwell and I tried to contain him, but we failed. The next thing we knew, he was on the news attacking a neighborhood. So Stillwell and I created this cell—one that’s strong enough to contain him—and with the help of some trusted friends, we were able to lure him inside. But we lost people in the process.”

“You mentioned ‘trusted friends’, who are they?” Carlos asked. Jameson was skeptical to answer. These ‘trusted friends’ were highly important and powerful people who could kill him at any moment if he decided to reveal their identity. But at the same time, he knew that these three people were no different. They may not come in many numbers, but he knew that Spider-Man and his two friends could also kill him. He had no other choice.

He sighed exasperatedly. “They’re really powerful people. Some people are from the government, the military, the media, the news, and the police. It’s a secret group that wants to kill Spider-Man. They cover up the mess that Stillwell and I make.”

Carlos and Charlene eyed each other. If what Jameson said was true, some of their colleagues at the station were a part of this secret group too.

“You haven’t talked about his suit. Can we remove it? Maybe make him weaker by removing it?” Peter asked this time.

“No,” Jameson shook his head. “He’s stuck in the suit. You can’t remove it, he can’t remove it, we can’t remove it. Mac and his suit are permanently bonded.”

“How long has he been contained here?”

“He’s been in here since his first attack.”

Now, everyone was confused.

“If he's been here since the first attack, and the first attack was back in the neighborhood, then who did I fight on that street?” asked Peter.

“Why can’t the city cameras see him? He always disappears,” asked Carlos.

“What happened to Dr. Stillwell? Where is he now?” asked Charlene.

“Dead,” a hoarse voice spoke from the cell. In an instant, Carlos and Charlene’s guns were raised and pointed at him. “Stillwell is dead. I killed him when they contained me here,” Mac smirked.

Peter, being the one who fought Scorpion on that street, was the only one in the room who realized that his voice was different from the Scorpion he had fought before.

Mitch was starting to make you uncomfortable.

When you started your day and decided it was time to visit the Greta Marketing Co. building in the country, he started to ramble and admitted that work would not begin until next week.

You were not aware of that.

He then went on to say that the reason he had you leave New York a week early was to get you used to the country and the new environment. He even showed you a list of activities to do for a week with him before starting work next week.

That alone was already suspicious. But you still gave him a chance. Maybe he meant well, you thought.

Only he didn’t. Little did you know, everything would turn even worse. And spending a couple of days more with him would prove it.

Mitch has changed. He was not the same person you knew. Or maybe you never knew him all along.

It started with weird glances.

The plan was to take a week-long tour to see the famous tourist spots in the country. You must admit, it was pretty exciting. There was so much fun in discovering cultures and getting enlightened by their traditions. Mitch glanced at you every once in a while, but you let it go. You thought that he was just checking up on you.

Which turned to staring.

He was definitely not just checking up on you. You realized that when you noticed it took him at least 4 minutes to get his eyes away from you. You knew because you felt it every time. He was also eyeing you up and down and checking you out.

Which then turned to forcing you into holding hands with him.

He would try to hold your hand and intertwine his fingers with yours. Of course, every time, you would reject it, but that never stopped him as he still kept on trying it every moment you two were in a room—which was every fucking moment because he simply would not leave you alone.

And now, stalking.

You were able to convince him to take the third day off by yourself. At first, he was hesitant to let you wander off alone, but you eventually got him to let you go. You went to the Greta Marketing building once and for all, to ask some questions about your new position and inquire about the adjustments you need to make to get settled. However, along the way, you started to sense that someone was following you. When you turned around, you were able to get a glimpse of someone with a white shirt and khaki pants behind a utility pole texting or pretending to text someone on their phone. You decided to let it go for a while; you didn’t want to immediately point fingers. What if that man was just a normal guy going to work and stopping to rest on a pole to text his family or friend? Besides, he was gone after you crossed a road.

You were fucking pissed when you left the building—you couldn’t believe what you just discovered. Suddenly, you found Mitch running towards you as soon as you stepped out of the exit. He was breathing heavily but you couldn’t care less. “What happened to you?” you asked.

“I just ran,” he answered.

“Why?”

“I-uh–well-uh, it’s not important,” he shook his head. “Did you go in there? Who did you speak to? What did they tell you?”

You debated on whether to tell him the truth or lie. You decided to lie, just as he did to you.

He lied. He fucking lied. That’s why you were pissed the moment you left the building. There was a branch of Greta Marketing in Japan—that part was true—but they did not need you. You were made aware of that the moment you went there and asked for your position.

“I just spoke with the receptionist. The person I was hoping to talk to wasn’t there, so I didn’t get to know anything,” you lied. Mitch let out a breath of relief he tried to hide with a yawn. He thought you didn’t notice, but you certainly did.

And that wasn’t the only thing you noticed. You observed his outfit. He was wearing a white shirt with khaki pants.

“Let’s go back to our apartment?” he offered his hand.

You were disgusted, but you hid it with a smile. You had a plan. “Sure.”

You immediately went straight to the bathroom after entering your apartment. He joked about how you were so desperate for a pee, and you faked a laugh, saying it was because you were holding it in for quite some time.

You didn’t pee. What you actually did was open your phone and try to book the soonest flight back to New York. You were hoping there was a flight today so you could leave as early as possible, but luck was unfortunately not on your side as you discovered that the last flight from New York to Japan and vice versa was actually yesterday. So you instead booked the next one. It was tomorrow. You flushed the toilet before leaving the bathroom.

And the waiting game began—only one more day.

“Do you know someone named Mitchell Gargan?” asked Peter.

Mac Gargan chuckled hoarsely. “My twin brother.”

“What do you know about him?”

“Everything.”

“Go ahead then,” Peter dared.

“Mitch and I used to be inseparable. We played the same games as children, watched the same cartoons, went to the same school and stuff, even fell in love with the same girl once—you know, the usual twin things. We were partners in crime. We protected each other, we cared for each other, and we lifted each other up. But everything changed when our mother died, and we were left to live with our father. We were still in school at that time, Mitch wanted to be a scientist and I wanted to be a detective or an investigator.

“We were always at the top of the class but he has always been the smarter one. That’s why he always excelled in his subjects. He was forced to stop it, though, because our father wasn’t very into the idea of science. He didn’t believe in any of the science shit and did not want to support Mitch in his dream of becoming a scientist, so he didn’t have any choice but to pursue a business-related course. He started changing after that. He rarely talked to me and started being reclusive. He always preferred to be alone and would only get out of his bedroom when it was time to eat. Our father didn’t care. He never fucking cared about our well-being.

“When our father died, Mitch started talking to me again, but he was not the same. I started my investigation and discovered that he had a made-up lab in a secluded area where he was mixing chemicals and experimenting on animals. It turned out that he still continued living his scientist dreams despite not getting education for it. I let it slide. I thought that he was just doing that to compensate for the dream he would never accomplish.

“Everything got worse when we graduated. He was jealous and angry because I graduated my dream course and he didn’t. To be fair, it was understandable that he felt that way. His way of coping was downing countless bottles of alcohol. One time when he had been drinking too much, he let it slip that he fantasized about stalking women, trapping them, and doing things to them—the worst part was he imagined that they would eventually end up dead. From the way he spoke about assault and murder in such a calm way, I didn’t recognize my twin brother anymore.

“I planned on informing the authorities about his fantasy, but I had no proof that he said it, and he then threatened me when he found out that I knew. He had a knife in my throat, threatening me that if I ever told someone he would do much more than that. That was the moment when I outsmarted him. You see, I learned my lesson that night when he was drunk, so I always wore a hidden camera just to catch him the next time we would talk. And guess what? I recorded the entire conversation of him threatening me. He was sentenced to prison, and we never talked again.”

“Is he still in jail?” Peter asked. He thought that if this Mitch was still in prison, maybe the Mitch that was with you in Japan wasn’t the same as Mitchell Gargan. It was a possibility that even Peter himself found it hard to believe in.

“No,” Mac coldly admitted.

“And how are you sure?” Carlos interrogated.

“Because the son of a bitch once paid me a visit. I thought he was going to break me out of here but no. He wanted something else.”

Peter held his hand up, causing everyone in the room to look at him. By this moment, Peter immediately knew the next words Mac would say, so he needed to act fast. He pulled Charlene and Carlos into a corner, instructing them to leave the city and get to you as soon as possible. Once the couple had left, Peter turned back to the creature behind the glass.

“What did he want?” he asked, although he already knew the answer.

“The formula.”

Mac then glanced at Jameson with a knowing look.

“He got it. And with his science background shit, I assume he was able to modify it to make him turn from human to Scorpion and from Scorpion to being human again.”

You should’ve known to run the moment he planned this entire trip and kept it a secret from you.

The moment you stepped out of the bathroom, you knew you weren’t safe anymore. Your choices were limited, and time was running out fast.

Only a day had passed, but it was excruciatingly long because Mitch started to get touchy. He was adamant about invading your privacy to the point that it was hard to pack your bags without him noticing. And every time you asked for space, he would turn the tables figuratively and make it seem that you were being impolite and ungrateful for his efforts.

So now here you were, at your shared apartment, having that same argument over again. Only this time he actually apologized. Like sincerely apologized.

Or so you thought.

He stepped towards you, asking for a hug, which you did not want to give him at first, but he proposed a deal that if you gave him one last hug, he would be gone in your life forever. And for some reason, you agreed to do it.

Your mind has once again failed to stop your ever-kind heart as you proved to be a fool of his calculated offenses.

He was hugging you too tight, you couldn’t even breathe anymore. While his left arm was suffocating you in a hug, his other hand started to roam your body before it settled on your clothed ass and squeezed it. You froze entirely while his hand continued to feel your body until it stopped at your crotch, and he started rubbing it with his fingers.

You managed to push him away, and with all your might, you grabbed your bag under your bed and headed towards the door. You successfully passed the bedroom door, hoping to get to the main entrance as fast as possible, but you were stopped when a hand threw your whole body away from the door. You had never seen Mitch this angry and powerful before.

Mitch was not the type of person who worked out. He was lean, tall, and he wore glasses. His hair was always a ruffled mess, and he talked in such a slow and soft cadence.

You should’ve been wiser not to let yourself be deceived by appearances.

You stood up with shaking knees and a trembling body, hoping to get through the door, but you were interrupted once more when he caught your throat with his hand. You soon found yourself getting lifted up by the throat every passing second. Your eyes were closed as you tried kicking him and scratching his arm, but he was unbelievably strong. You opened your eyes to look at what was once your friend, but you were met with the sight of him turning into the monster you saw on television.

You gathered every last bit of strength you had as you screamed as loud as you could, forcing him to release his hold of you and cover his ears.

And you did the only thing you’ve known to do for years—whether from your problems, from threats, or from love…

You ran.

TASM!PETER PARKER TAGLIST: @mymilkducts @i-am-woman-strong @lauraneedstochill @jeanettexkillian @ms-mandalore @enaraism @alessandralol @sad-darksoul @sincericida @mentallystablepotato @mich0731 @writingstoraes @logolepsic-insomniac @k0miiki @dreamsarecloserwithyou @jumilzzz @primroseparker @preciousbabypeter @myheartonthemove @rebecca-johnson-28 @silkholland @ellievickstar @okkulta @geekygamerchick @starqwerty20 @the-quiet-observer

THANKS FOR PATIENTLY WAITING FOR THIS PART! SEE YOU SOON FOR THE FINALE :)

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skayafair · 4 months

Text

John and Agency

I'm gonna be feral about Malevolent about John, of course, who am I kidding here for some time (we're SO BACK, yaaaay a hyperfixation!) so buckle up.

Another recurring big theme I've noticed that got some developement after part 40 is John's agency.

The thing he has to struggle with for the most part of the story is that he's utterly powerless. A former god reduced to a mere voice inside a man's head an the sight of his eyes. An arm and a foot give some leverage but it's still less than a human even, let alone any supernatural being. And while John is ok with being human - he wants to, after all, - he's not even remotely okay with being less than.

He rarely talks about it, but it shows so painfully in the mines, when he managed to cut the monster's tentacle from Arthur's head. Arthur wasn't doing anything, he was too overwhelmed, and it was completely John's doing. He managed not only do something influential on his own accord, but also be helfpul and basically save them both. Just how happy he sounded about it sells everything one needs to know about how he feels most the time. And Arthur dares to call him a parasite and a passenger who just sits back and does nothing, ugh. Not blaming Arthur here, he was in another Situation, but. I'm JUDGING anyway >:( And later, when he stitched Arthur up - John was so frustrated at how little he was capable of and how much effort it took to do this.

Another time his frustration shows is when he's talking to Kayne.

John HATES Kayne with passion and doesn't hide this. That's a remarkable thing, actually, considering that he's also a very cautious person and is afraid of Kayne, feeling just how powerful this being is. John doesn't deal with fear well. Whenever he encounters something frightening, his first response is a freeze one. And Kayne scares the shit out of him. Yet, every time John refers to him, it's with very audible animosity. John knows full well how dangerous Kayne is and doesn't give a damn.

If he could, he'd have obliterated Kayne. But that's the thing - he's p o w e r l e s s. So many times John tried to threaten him in anger with "I'll- I'll- !" - only to fall silent, because, well, he can't do anything. Couldn't have, really, even if he still had full King's power. But this stark contrast with Kayne emphasises just how little John is actually capable of in his current state.

And in part 40 it was reinforced again. Only this time after his little developement.

I LOVE this new ability to manifest. YAY FINALLY! I had a Hellsalem's Lot a.k.a. Kekkai Sensen AU when he could do exactly that, so it made me laugh to actually see this in canon.

It should help. Now John can do more. We don't know how much more - is his manifestation only a vision or he can influence the material world as well? Can he manipulate people's minds the way Yellow could? (John would hate this.) In any case, this is still... something. Something real, something of his own. A way to show the word he actually exists, and not only as a voice inside Arthur's mind. All John's issues with this considered, it a great thing.

So, now he technically isn't powerless anymore. He has power. It's better, right? Right?

Well there's a catch.

John won't ever be happy to be more present if it's on Arthur's expense, and that's exactly the cost his new abilities come with.

So while technically he has more power now, it's a "last resort" kind of thing. He can't use it much because killing Arthur is not even in the realm of the things he wants.

Still... I think it should have been euphoric - even if only for a short moment - to gain it. To feel more capable. To have more power. It's not an insane amount, after all, and in John's case is a perfectly reasonable desire - more like a need.

But how painful and devastating it should have been to be reminded by Kayne that he's actually still just as powerless as he was before? That this new ability doesn't change much? Kayne knows where to hit and does it every time.

Like, we know John is more capable now, and it's really great! But that moment when he had to shut up because there was nothing to say to Kayne's "you what?" has hit me like a truck :''') That was painful, like a "know your place", and John couldn't bite back. He was already drowning in guilt and this just made things worse. I don't want to imagine how he's feeling after all this :''')

#malevolent podcast #malevolent spoilers #john malevolent #john doe malevolent

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bylertruther · 10 months

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That comment was so true, I was just thinking the same way. Old bylers were more open to criticizing the show's bad aspects and writing choices instead od trying to bend the whole thing to come up with excuses and explanations. Nowadays when you criticize a writing choice or something done by the Duffers you automatically get accused as if you've just committed a crime because how dare you think the Duffers aren't perfect genius writers that put everything intentionally without any mistake.

yeah! nowadays, in this corner, criticism is seen as a bad thing that you would never do to something you enjoy, and it's like... huh? it's okay to not enjoy something 100%. the duffers and co are not infallible and people don't have to like every decision they've ever made. that shouldn't even be something that someone on the internet has to say—existing as a human being in the world should've taught everyone that back when they were a baby.

even beyond that, as others have mentioned in other conversations, you can understand someone else's viewpoint just fine and still not feel as though there's enough relevant evidence to back it up, and feel hesitant because of how the duffers have consistently handled other plots.

like, personally... i struggle to be one of those #believers, because of how present the show's racism is in my mind. also, season three and season four are right there, alongside the show's misogyny and classism, too. and don't forget the little inconsistencies and anachronisms either! there's A Lot that i don't like and that i feel could've been corrected or reworked more effectively had they had a more diverse writing room or consulted others during the writing process. i like the general direction of the show, but there are a lot of details or ways they went about it where i'm like ://// man..

and.... controversial perhaps... but i feel that behavior is especially rampant in the byIer fandom and it manifests as the fanon that we can't seem to shake off.

mike does pay acute attention to will in some ways, but he's not the obvious lovesick, clingy, forever doting, golden retriever bf that people make him out to be [shout out to s2 mike tho he was built different 💔]. that fanon!mike is fans overcompensating for canon mike's behavior and presentation, which honestly has not been that fucking great as of late, purposely because he can't balance having both will and el in his life, among other mike-specific reasons, and because the duffers changed the way they wrote him post-s2. he does care about and love will, but not like many fans suggest, at least not yet.

but if you say that around here, you're seen as a freak weirdo mike hater talking about some ooc mike even though the show is right there and i could point to the 9384038049 times that mike forgot about will, brushed him off, was mean to him, or explicitly chose someone else over him. purposely! of his own volition!

and it also shows in how they babygirlified him, even though mike doesn't act like or look like that at all in the show, nor has he ever been described that way by anyone, whether in-universe or by the people that bring him to life.

And Don't Even Get Me Started On Will. Zon't.........

they had to recreate these new characters with mike and will's names and faces, because they didn't like what was on the screen. simple as that. but will they ever admit it? lmao.

as a fan of the show, and a fan of these characters and the stories they're representing, it's really weird to witness. there has been a distinct shift in the way in-fandom bylers talk about byler and the show and it started post-s2 when things started happening that they felt they had to correct. if they want to engage with the material in a way that best suits their tastes, fine. whatever. literally everyone does that. but to insist that the things that they say that go directly against canon or don't even exist within it .... are canon? and that everyone else using direct lines from the text are the ones projecting or twisting it or otherwise not appreciating the material? i have to laugh.

it's the same with other serious criticisms. if they can't create something to justify it, then they just brush you off as a hater because that's easier than acknowledging that maybe their precious bloated ensemble show isn't entirely perfect.

#asks #everything has flaws and is not meant to be liked by everyone on planet earth and pointing any of that out isn't Bad or Hateful #i kno this was mostly general but i catered my response more towards My wheelhouse bc well. points at my url <3 #i love when ppl criticize things bc i think a willingness to interact with smth and dissect it in this context often comes out of love #and the frustration you feel bc it COULD have been better and you WANTED it to be better and so you look for where it went wrong to #better understand or make peace with it. like a lot of sw fans don't like a lot of the sw content tht gets shat out by disney but they stil #love the world n engage with it bc of tht love. the love of what it Could be and what was. etc etc etc

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tiredstressedemotionalmess · 1 year

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me thinks, just maybe, you should totally share your fab four characters hcs (specifically ones ab their appearances) 😇 also i just rlly love headcanons

GDJGHJGDJHD THIS IS SO FUNNY I LITERALLY HAVE LIKE. WRITTEN IN MY NOTES APP ALL MY MAIN APPEARANCE HEADCANONS AND STUFF AND I WAS GONNA SEND YOU SCREENSHOTS EARLIER BUT I TOTALLY FORGOT GHGHDHGD so anyways im just gonna copy/paste my word vomit (plus added commentary as i reread this) here lmao

(also just a quick little thing, i have far too many hcs for these fucks, some of which contradict each other bc it kind of depends on what setting/story im thinking about these characters in. things like gender and pronouns change a lot too, so im not even gonna try and catalog all that shit. just know they are all Gay and Trans and only party has "consistent" pronouns bc they always use they/them, but i might add others in if im feeling spicy. the lack of canon material is absolutely wonderful for my creativity, so this is just like. a collection of the things that remain the same across the majority of my mental images of them lol)

Jet Star: no surprise here, his hair is very textured! so many curls!! i see the curls as a bit looser, not super tight or packed together but still like, well defined yknow? i envision him with fairly dark skin as well and, playing into the whole star/space association i have w/ him, i feel like he absolutely loves body glitter and, like, sparkly eyeshadows and shit (he doesn't wear it *all* the time but he'll put it on for a party or something and then just let it rub off over time. needless to say, there is glitter fucking all over his room). also, he fucking LOVES jewelry! just wears SO many bracelets and necklaces and shit (more bracelets than necklaces but there's still a lot of both). this was more of a ttid specific thing, but i think ive gotten so used to imaging him with a huge fucking scar on/around his neck, that its sort of bled into my regular interpretations of him so that's there as well! also, he wears an eyepatch PURELY as an aesthetic thing bc he thinks it makes him look cool and it switches eyes constantly but he denies that fact whenever people point it out! (that is until he actually *does* get his eye fucked up. some exterminator noticed how the patch's location would change, thought it would be funny to give it a permanet placement).

Party Poison: SO MANY FUCKING TATTOOS I'VE WRITTEN A POST ABT THIS AND I COULD HONESTLY WRITE A WHOLE FIC ABT IT I JUST- THEM. INK. COLORS. FUCK. love the idea of them with long hair, too. they usually keep it shaggy and just a *tad* bit longer than shoulder length, but i feel like they'd only cut it when they're in jusssst the right mood so it'll tend to grow out for months, get really long and start to reach their mid back, and then they'll get annoyed and finally chop a shit ton off when they're bored at like 4 am. also, this has nothing to do with appearances but they get fucking terrible and frequent migraines, purely because i get terrible and frequent migraines my only hobby is projecting my problems onto these gay fucks :D (also could so write a fic abt that and how it effected them it the city/their conflicting feelings about taking pills to help with the pain once they get out to the zones... hmmm...) the fucker also has sharp as hell teeth! canine especially! idk why they just do. kobra does to (snake siblings go brrr) but party's are noticed more often because they tend to talk a lot more/loudly and smile wider than kobra so people notice it on them more. im also a big fucking fan of android party so sometimes they are robot to me :) if they aren't robot, then they usually have some type of prosthetic limb in my brain (usually an arm idk why and idk if that's gonna be in ttid but yknow. we ball). they also really like lipstick, and they've got a large collection of practically every color imaginable

The Kobra Kid: okay so like i said before, sharp teeth! snake boy's got fangs!! he's also got heterochromia (ooo city trauma from being Different time!! there was definetly talk of surgeries to "correct" his eyes when he was younger and it was becoming more noticeable, but party always fought the adults on it, said he was too young, it would be too expensive, shit like that. worst came to worst, they'd get into some trouble to distract from the issue for a bit). anyways, i think the kid's naturally blonde, but not *that* blonde, yknow? like he gets out to the desert an the sun makes it a bit lighter and he falls in love with the idea of it being fucking BLONDE blonde, so he totally steals party's leftover bleach and just fried the absolute shit out of it. also, fuck it, i only thought of this just now but im incorporating it into everything ever; he dyes a streak in the front the same red as poison. (i like the idea that joys close to each other will dye their hair the others favorite color or the color that they have their hair as. and they're brothers!!! he loves his sibling!!!! he gets a re streak fuck you i can do what i want :]) uhhh other kobra things, oh! the world is a bright, bright place, and my man wears sunglasses constantly, even indoors, to Cope (again. projecting.) and yeah maybe he wears them too so he's harder to read/looks more badass, but really its just bc it fucking bright out man. OH AND PIERCINGS FUCK I FORGOT ABOUT THE PIERCINGS HE'S GOT SO MANY MOSTLY IN THE EARS BUT EYEBROW AND SEPTUM TOO AND OF FUCKING *COURSE* MY MAN HAS SNAKEBITES FUCK (one again might be projecting here but i love piercings and he'd look cool with them so he has them) also just thought of this but his nose is Fucked Up omg he gets punched in the face so much

Fun Ghoul: Scar :] he makes the most animated facial expressions too, and he's got these big fucking bright green eyes, and all that combines with the scar kind of freaks people out and he fucking LOVES it! he laughs at literally everything, too, especially when he's feeling nervous or super energetic. his adrenaline gets pumping and he's just cackling like a hyena. anyways, his hair is so fucking dark like *inky* black, and he's never heard of a shower a day in his life so my guy is greasy as all FUCK. his hair is just so fucking shiny and stringy and jet absolutely yells at him constantly trying to get him to WASH HIS FUCKING HAIR. it's longer than poison's, but not by a lot, and he ties it back a lot especially when he's working on projects and shit. he's cut it if he didn't hate it so much when it's short. his skin tone's also like a medium dark-ish, and i think he has a few tattoos but not nearly as many as party (his are all like super meaningful and related to like, late crew members or phoenix witch/religious things or mementos of super important moments in his life. (part of him hopes that, if the battery ever does get him and they steal his mind and memories away, the ink in his skin will help him remember who he truly is). he's got a lot of burn scars too (bombs and shit)!! not most aren't super severe, but they're visible in a lot of spots. he thinks it looks cool. fucker not only paints his nails, but he paints everyone else's too whether or not they're aware of it at them time (he gets bored and does it while they're sleeping lmao. party loves it, kobra's indifferent, jet pretends to get pissed off bc it makes ghoul laugh but really he thinks its sweet). also a fan of him with prosthetic limbs but i haven't really thought about that all too much yet.

#asks #killjoy headcanons #danger days headcanons #my headcanons #party poison #fun ghoul #kobra kid #jet star #so yeah! that's generally them!#so yeah! that's generally them! i think about them far too much and i could probably write a whole book about them- OH WAIT #lmao #i think gerard should hire me tho tbh i could write a comics run about them and it'd be so so so good please mx way just give me a chance-

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pali-makto · 1 year

Text

seer.

chapter 2.

warnings: reader uses she/her pronouns. reader is a healer. a lot of repetition. lowercase intended. no use of y/n. the reader has a family that is already named. mo’at is probably ooc. all canon characters will probably be ooc. dialogue heavy.

summary: secrets are revealed and training begins.

word count: 2.4k

the young healer ran to her family’s tent to tell her parents the news and dried the residue of her tears. she entered the tent to be met with a boyish voice screaming.

“tsmuke, you’re back. i missed you so much!” her brother exclaimed, the young na’vi hugging her. “i missed you so much too, tsmukan. how were you today?, taronyutsyip, did you enjoy yourself with sempu today?” “yes! we had the greatest time ever! sempu and i rode a pa’li today and we saw a bunch of animals.” the na’vi boy told his sister, excitedly, waving his hands around. “i am very glad to hear that, taronyutsyip! go on and play. i have to tell sa’nu and sempu something, okay? i’ll join you later.” the tsakarem said, hugging her brother tightly. “okay!” the little boy exclaimed, running to his corner with his toys.

“oel ngati kameie, sa’nu and sempu, i have great news to share!” the tsakarem addresed. “oh, ‘itetsyip, you are here early.” her mother said, voice skeptical. her mother, a skilled healer and gatherer, also one of the minds behind many of the raids tsyeyk suli had organized to grab materials from the tawtute, her mother gave rather significant input in many of the raids that had been done.

“what are these news you have for us ‘ite?” her father asks, a warrior skilled with hunting on the pa’li. once from a high standing family in the clan until he met her mother.

“well, you know that i am studying under the tsahik to be a healer, and she asked me to be tsakarem, i agreed.” the young na’vi told, slight fear in her voice. the young girl kept secrets from her parents, deeming them embarrassing or outright wrong to tell.

“WHAT” her parents exclaimed. “‘itetsyip, being tsakarem is a big responsibility, you are going to have to devote yourself to training. no more out of the blue treks through the forests, no more hanging out with friends. this is a big responsibility, tanhi. are you sure you are ready for that kind of responsibility?” her mother questioned.

“your mother is right, paskalin. this is a kind of responsibility that bears weight, you may be the future tsahik of the clan.” her father commented. “i know what i am going to do, and i thought you guys would be proud of me. you always said serving the clan would be an honor, what changed?” the tsakarem asked.

“serving the clan is a honor, nothing is a match for it. maite, this is different, the clan will talk about you, judge you. i do not want that for you. you are too kind, you are kind hearted. you do not have the heart to make decisions the tsahik may have to make.” her father argued. “i do not care what others think, sempu. i am sure in time i will be able to serve the people and will be able to make the decisions you talk of.”

the tsakarem didn’t know how to react. she accepted her mother’s hug like no other, hugging her mother tighter than ever. she didn’t realize tears streaming down her cheeks. “what are you crying for, oeyä tanhi?” her mother asked, drying the tears from her cheeks. “why- how could someone do or say that over someone’s daughter being chosen?” the young girl inquired. “parents always want the best for their children, ‘itetsyip.” her mother simply said. “tsmuke, why are you crying?” her little brother inquired, always so in tune with the family. “i just remembered something very sad, taronyutsyip. i will tell you later.” the tsakarem responded. “there’s a few hours until the meal is done, why don’t you two go on a walk.” her father suggested.

“‘itetsyip, we are telling you this for your own good. i know you are not easily convinced, so let me tell you a story.” her mother interjected, trying to ease and convince. her mother grabbed her hands lovingly and began to speak.

“when i was younger, i was training to become a healer just like you and the tsahik had to choose three girls to train. she chose her daughters and me, i was extremely honored when chosen but then people started to talk and they were ruthless. they were saying that i didn't deserve to be trained by the tsahik herself, that their daughters would have been better fit for the position than me. i let their words get to me. i was hurt for a long time, but i continued my training. my heart was broken and rotten, but your sempul was there to comfort me and put my heart back together like his life and all of eywa’eveng depended on it. oeyä tanhi, i am not telling you this to scare you but to warn you and prepare you for what may come your way.” her mother said, hugging her.

***

she knew that trick, her parents always use it for them to leave so they could talk alone. “come on, tsmukan.” she grabbed her brother's hand to get him out of the tent. “no! wait!” the little boy exclaimed. he grabbed a wooden pa’li toy their father made, his favorite. when the two young na’vi left, their parents started talking. “we must talk to the tsahik, ma rämun. what if she gets hurt, then she will be inconsolable and we won’t know what to do. she will never have the heart to face the clan after being hurt.” the mother said, fretfully.

“mawey, yawne, mawey. we will figure out what to do in time, ma meyki. our daughter is strong, the tsahik chose her for a reason, we must have faith.” rämun comforted. “i’m still going to talk to the tsahik, we must know why, especially why she didn’t ask us first. when a na’vi, especially one of age, gets asked or picked to fill one of those positions, their parents know, ma rämun.” “trust me, we will deal with it in due time, yawne.” the warrior says comforting his wife

while their parents were talking, the tsakarem decided to go and visit mo’at. the young healer walked with her brother in hand to the tsahik’s tent for her to find it empty. the young girl was taken aback as the matriarch was always there. out of nowhere a voice said. “‘evenge, what are you doing here? i thought you would be with your parents, not here walking around.” the matriarch voiced. “my parents needed to talk alone and they told me to bring my brother along, greet the tsahik, taronyutsyip.” the young girl urged. “oel ngati kameie, tsahik.” the little boy timidly said, bringing two fingers from his forehead toward the matriarch. “what is your name, ‘eveng?” the high priestess inquired. “rayfe, tsahik.” the little boy uttered.

“i will be here early, karyu. do not worry.” the young girl responded.

suddenly, their parents bursted into the tent. “oel ngati kameie, tsahik.” the parents said, simultaneously. “what is the meaning of this?” the high priestess inquired, her tone demanding to be answered. “i want to know why you have asked my daughter to be tsakarem.'' meyki asserted. “your daughter has skills i have never witnessed before. she is a seer, she is going to be my successor, meyki. whether you like it or not.” mo’at declared.

“you experience äie, tanhi?” rämun asked. “tell them ‘evenge.” the matriarch urged. “i have experienced visions for as long as i can remember. when i go to sleep i can foresee something that is going to happen or that has happened. i foresaw the birth of rayfe and in turn i saw my birth. my latest vision was what happened to the suli as they are now living with the metkayina.” the tsakarem described.

“what else have you foresaw?” meyki asked, curious as to what her beloved daughter had seen. the tsakarem was taken aback but answered anyway. “i have seen the war with the skypeople, the past toruk maktos and i saw the destruction of kelutral.” the healer answered. “thank you for choosing her, tsahik.” meyki addressed the matriarch, a thankful look on her face. “hum.” the tsahik declared, wanting to be alone. “‘evenge, remember tomorrow, training begins.” the high priestess reminded.

***

the young healer rushed her way to the matriarch’s tent amidst the chaos of the early morning as everyone was starting to do their chores. when the healer arrived at the tent and entered, the high priestess was already grinding herbs. “i thought you would be here before me, do not make promises you can not make true ‘evenge.” the matriarch chastised. “ngaytxoa, tsahik.” the girl said, taking the reprimand, and remembering for later. “sit down ‘evenge, we have a long day ahead of us.” mo’at declared. the two healers spent the whole morning making salves and talking about what the young healer had learned. “‘evenge, if i am going to train you, i believe it would be for the best if you called me by my name.” the matriarch suggested. the young na’vi was taken aback. “karyu, i don’t think it would be respectful for me to call you by your name.” the matriarch was taken aback but she accepted it anyway, it looked like she had made the right choice in picking a tsakarem. “well, let’s continue. knowing which plants are poisonous is very helpful, though obvious advice to give, it can never be overstated.” the high priestess advised. the tsakarem listened intently. “tomorrow, we are going to the tree of souls as strengthening your bond with eywa is as important as knowing plants like the back of your hand.” the matriarch said with a slight smile on her face. the high priestess continued. “though, i do not think that will be a problem for you.” the matriarch remarked. the tsahik in training was speechless, she didn’t know what to say or how to take what the tsahik had said. the young healer’s thoughts were interrupted by someone entering the tent, none other than the olo’eyktan himself, tarsem. though the tsakarem could not call him that she knew who he was. “oel ngati kameie, tsahik.” he said, bringing two fingers from his forehead toward the matriarch. the high priestess nodded in acknowledgement. the clan leader looked in curiosity to the young healer as the other times he had seeked out the matriarch she was alone.

“‘itetsyip, wake up, your training starts today, and the tsahik does not appreciate lateness.” “sa’nu, give me one second.” “kehe tanhi, you must eat, change your loincloth and cover up, even brush your hair.” “mawey, sa’nu, give me a second.” the young healer getting up from her mat, stretching. the healer realizes this is the dawn of a new beginning in her life. choosing a leafed top with flowers on one side that her mother made for her.

“don’t you think maybe you should change your hair, tanhi, we could start braiding your hair to protect it from what you may use and for it not to get in your eyes.” her mother suggested. “i don’t like my hair in braids and you always told me to embrace my hair as it is. curly and always messy, why do you ask, sa’nu?” the young na’vi queries. “well as you are now tsakarem, i thought changing your hair and making new necklaces and loincloths would be a good idea.” meyki responds. “yes! i love making new necklaces and we almost never have the opportunity to make celebratory clothing.” the young girl exclaimed. “go on, the tsahik must be waiting for you and she doesn't like to wait.” her mother ushered. “kiyevame, sa’nu.” “kiyevame, oeyä tanhi.”

“oel ngati kameie, olo’eyktan.” the tsakarem greeted. “she is the new tsakarem, i am training her to be my successor.” mo’at informed. “i thought multiple na’vi could be tsakarem, not just one.” tarsem observed. “i have no need for multiple tsakarems, after all we are talking about the person that is going to lead the clan in the future. she has talent like no other, she is a seer.” the young healer widened her eyes. was mo’at just going to tell the whole clan how she was a seer of destinies and tragedies, that might be a fine way to be remembered by the clan, the girl thought. “you experience äie, zeykoyu?” he questioned. the young girl nodded, not waiting to explain herself. “leave us, she has much to learn and someone questioning her is not going to help.” the matriarch remarked. “that is not why i am here, tsahik.” the clan leader said, though being at the same level as the high priestess he still treated her with respect, tsyeyk suli made the right choice in choosing his successor. “ziärä and i are going to mate within the next fortnight and i thought as i am olo’eyktan then i should tell the tsahik, who is all knowing in the matters of eywa.” the man reasoned. “congratulations, olo’eyktan.” the tsakarem said, trying to break the silence in the tent. “irayo, tsakarem.” he responded. “though you did the right thing, you interrupted the time when i am teaching the future tsahik of this clan.” mo’at remarked. the young leader left immediately so as to not anger the matriarch any more. “as i was saying, i think strengthening your bond with eywa should not be difficult for you as you were blessed with a gift from her.” mo’at said. “i don’t know if it will be as easy as you say even though i was blessed with a gift from the great mother, i do not believe it will be as easy as strengthening my bond with her.” the healer truthfully answered.

“don’t be doubtful ‘evenge, if you are then people will start questioning your ability. being sure and secure in yourself is as useful as your ability to heal and see.” the matriarch advised. the tsakarem took the advice to heart as what the tsahik was saying reminded her of her mother.

the young girl knew people talked but not to that extent. questioning someone’s ability is outright rude, she thinks. then again, you can’t stop a person from talking or doing something they’re not supposed to.

work bank:

tsmuke - sister

tsmukan - brother

taronyutsyip - little hunter

sempu - daddy (affectionate form of)

sa’nu - mum, mommy (affectionate form of)

‘itetsyip - little daughter (term of endearment)

tawtute - skyperson, human

‘ite - daughter

pa’li - direhorse

tanhi - star, bioluminescent freckle

paskalin - sweet berry (term of endearment)

maite - my daughter

sempul - father

eywa’eveng - pandora

oeyä tanhi - my star

mawey - calm

yawne - beloved

äie - vision (spititual)

kelutral - hometree

hum - leave, depart

karyu - teacher

kehe - no

kiyevame - see you soon

irayo - thank you, thanks

a/n: the second part of seer!! i hope you guys enjoy! and as always i am open to taking constructive criticism. also here are the names of the tsakarem’s family:

rämun te meknu ruwe’itan - sempu

meyki te monä zina’ite - sa’nu

rayfe te meknu rämun’itan - taronyutsyip

#seer.#miranda writes #avatar (2009)#avatar the way of water #avatar fanfiction #avatar fan fic #atwow imagines #neteyam x reader #neteyam sully x reader #loak x reader #jake sully x reader #moat avatar

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