#i forgot that yes. this show is actually insane from beginning to end

[thesunoficarus1]

season one of supernatual is so funny to me. sam and dean will literally show up to the crime scene in some fuck ass flannels and dean is in his leather jacket and the cops are like "who the hell are you?" and dean will be like "oh, us? well we are obviously from the us fish and wildlife service who else could we possibly be???" 

meanwhile theyre in the craziest outfits known to mankind with no badge or anything, so the cops will ask for their IDs and they'll hand them the most unconvincing fake id you'll ever see. the thing will be crumpled to no return and look like it was all hand written by a toddler and SOMEHOW THE COPS STILL BELIEVE THEM??

and then, they'll start questioning the victims family like "aw man :( I'm so sad for you :( that must be really hard :( so like what happened? and on a completely separate note, did you see anything? feel a temp drop? did you feel a cold spot? did you see something weird? like a creature mayhaps? like a ghost? did you see a ghost? do you believe in ghosts? please tell me it's a ghost?" like that's a totally normal line of questioning for a random drowning from two members of the us fish and wildlife service.

[bloodplague]

Ticci-Toby in relationships

Simply how I headcanon Toby in romantic and sexual relationships. ^^

Toby is… a walking red flag: Paranoid, m-rderer, possessive, obsessive, clingy, ADHD, bipolar, selfharm, antisocial aka sociopathy, obnoxious, manipulative af, sassy, touchy, incompetent, abandonment issues, uncontrollable due to his bipolar disorder, emotion bursts, mental break downs, schizophrenia, depressed, eating disorder, no social life, no remorse and only rarely empathy, full of himself, selfish, forceful, bloodthirsty, shy in an insane way and way more.

After analyzing Toby for years, gathering canon facts, sheets and tracking down all possible information, I created a whole damn discord server just to write down all the things I analyzed & everything about him in general. So, I can say that this is pretty accurate:

I'll begin with possessive. Toby is incredibly possessive and jealous, trying to be around them as MUCH as possible. He won't give them space nor respect boundaries if it comes to that, completely claiming his partner as his. He might even stalk his partner when he can't be around them or if they need space, fully focusing on them like an insane love-sick raccoon. Toby constantly has his hands on his partner, gives them hickeys or hugs/cuddles them in a possessive way. When it comes to kissing, his cheek won't really bother…. hopefully.

With possessiveness, the paranoia comes as well. He'd immediately think his partner is about to leave him if they either dry text or are really dry with him in general, thinking he's doing something wrong. This will cause him to feel insecure as well as irritated (since he's temperamental). Abandonment is one of his biggest fears anyway, which is why this man needs a LOT of reassurance in a relationship.

The next 2 things are his unhealthy obsession with his partner & his pure clingy-ness. As soon as he begins to love someone, he'll grow so obsessed with them, being all touchy (which is another canon trait) and needy as he constantly craves their attention, to the point where he's being obnoxious.

Even if he's emotional very detached, making fun of his tourettes is a big trigger for him. He simply gets uncomfortable and irritated since literally everyone except a few people make fun of him or comment his tourettes, sometimes even disgusted by the noises his neck or arm makes when he twitches. His irritation will definitely be there and can even cause a rage burst, as his partner is one of the few people he trusts. Even if his humor is dark, he has his limits as well.

In arguments he can quickly become frustrated and blame the other person, thinking he did nothing wrong, unless he's going through an depressive episode. Then he tends to blame himself, terrified he's going to fuck up the relationship.

Due to his C.I.P.A, he can't feel pain, nor can he tell what might hurt and what won't. So, he might accidentally hurt his partner at times by holding their arm or hand too tightly, not aware that he's causing pain. Because of that, Toby is always trying to be as gentle as possible.

Tobias has always been the weird one, always left out and never really recieving love from anyone other than his mother and sister. He's not used to affection, so he'll definitely be very affectionate yet somehow confused as soon as he realises his partner actually accepts him.

Toby used to take the beating his father gave him and his sister in a protective way, which means he has the instinct to protect loved ones. Alone that shows, that he'd be very protective in a relationship, if not even caring… in his own way.

Yes, Toby has many disorders and a tragic past, but people tend to forget that it's canon that Toby forgot his past and doesn't question it. To him, it never happened, and he only gets flashbacks or remembers things when he sees or smells familiar things that remind him again. He might have flashbacks, but they will end and he'll forget about the again.

His ADHD causes a lot of hyperactivity, his bipolar disorder gives him split personalities and constantly makes him go through mania or depression- and his eating disorder causes him to starve himself at times. Alone that is way too much to handle for most people, which is why Toby is convinced he's unlovable and doesn't deserve love.

Suffering under ASPD (Antisocial Personality Disorder) caused sociopathy: little remorse, lack of empathy, committing serious crimes, impulsive behavior, controlling, defensive, possessive, narcissistic behavior at times, not afraid to use people, a good lair, very manipulative, doing a lot to archive what he wants to archive… etc. It's a serious disorder and handling someone who suffers under this disorder can be exhausting at times, just like arguing with them. Yes, sociopaths are capable of loving and bounding, but it's not easy for them and often ends unhealthy, sadly. Even if Toby is a sociopath, he would definitely not be physically abusive. He might manipulate his partner for either his own pleasure or other reasons, but he's not some monster. Toby stated in one of his voice claims: "What kind of man beats women and children? No man!".

Since Toby doesn't really care about other's feelings (as long as he's not fond of them), he will be pretty sassy. Same with his partner. Of course he will be a little more careful and is really fond of them, but he might say sassy things that can quickly cross the line, even if he doesn't realize it.

At times, he might have heavy mental break downs or lets his rage get the best of him, just throwing his hatchets around and yelling, breaking stuff or even hurting himself. Usually it's just the hand-biting, but he can also find other ways to do self-harm. Those random burst of emotions don't happen a lot, but they are very intensive if they actually happen. That's when he needs his partner the most, even if he will be cold and distant, pushing them away until he feels calmer again. Once he's just more relaxed again, he needs a lot of comfort and feels rather depressed, clinging onto his partner once again.

A big red-flag can be his amnesia. He might forget important things, dates or specific moments that had happened, which can be very irritating to most people. The lack of social interactions also do him no good…

More of the rather toxic personality traits are his selfishness, his "forceful" behavior and the fact that he's full of himself. For example: If he's going through a mania episode, he might tend to be hypersexal. Once he's lustful, he "needs what he craves". Even if his partner might say no, he will just keep begging and asking over and over again until he either finally gets what he wants- or fails. Another method would be manipulation, but if that fails too, he'll just be irritated since (as said) he's full of himself and selfish. He would NOT actually force his partner into intimacy tho, since that is a kind of abuse as well, but he will guilt-trip them.

In general, he can be very clingy, is super possessive and will have an unhealthy obsession with his partner- but at the same time, he's a walking red-flag. He just never learned how to love without hurting people…

[so-mordor-itis]

How do you think leon would propose

He wouldn't get down on one knee. Leon doesn't know why he dislikes the gesture so much. Perhaps because it's overused, overdrawn, cliche. Though he knows stating something is cliche is ironic when he remembers what comes out of his mouth half the time. It could possibly be that he wouldn't want you to feel forced to say yes. Half the time in movies, TV shows, and videos of people proposing in public places one gets down on one knee and asks that fateful question and then always get told yes. Yet, when their significant other says no, the one down on one knee is confused as to why their partner would even say no to begin with.

Leon is a bit wary of the idea of marrying someone. Being in a relationship with him is hard enough. With him leaving for weeks, perhaps months on end, phone calls scarce and static-filled. It takes a strong-willed and stubborn person to be with him. He's...also damaged. He locked his heart away in a steel box before he met you, and even then, sometimes he's still horrified at the idea of breaking open the box to be vulnerable. He's better at it as time and your relationship grows, but it would take patience.

He probably doesn't even consider the idea of marrying you until an event causes his mindset to change even just a little. It could've been a dangerous situation, or even something as mundane as holding you close while watching something you both enjoy. It snaps into his mind suddenly: what would married life be like? The thing that keeps him from going insane with anxiety is that nothing might change except the fact you might carry his last name instead of your own. (He actually likes that idea.)

Leon has a habit of keeping things to himself. So when this thought sticks to him like a thorn in his side, he doesn't say anything. Not to his friends, and not even to you. He tries to break that godawful habit, but that's also stuck in him. It's like barbed wire, and he can't cut it loose. He'll keep the thought with him for a few months or maybe even a year.

Until one night, you two are laying in bed, just talking, enjoying each other's presence and voices, when he...not exactly pops the question, but brings it up as casually as he can muster.

"Would you...ever consider marrying me?"

You fall silent, and he's internally panicking. He knows he could've worded that much more properly, but it's been on his chest for so long he forgot how to even ask it.

You finally sit up and look down at him, a serious yet curious glint in your eye. "Would you want to?"

"I'm asking the question, aren't I?"

"Is this why you've been acting weird for the past few months?"

You know him too well. A quirk he hates and loves, but hates a bit more.

"Maybe."

"I know people we know are getting married, Leon, but don't feel guilty that we aren't."

He sighs, and you rub circles into his bicep. "It's not that. Maybe it has influenced me to think about it, but I didn't want to pop the question out of nowhere."

You brush his bangs away from his eyes. "You did say you liked the idea of settling down."

"I still do, but would I even be able to? Would you even want to stick with me for the rest of your life?" He almost says more but feels himself close that box.

Your eyes are now somber, and he wants to immediately take the question back.

"What makes you think I wouldn't?" You ask that with pure love in your tone, and he swears his heart is now a puddle. He's completely gone in your hands.

He smiles a little, and his heart is now pounding. He's more excited than he thought he would be. "Is that a yes, then?"

You give a light-hearted shrug, tapping a finger to your chin. "I don't know. Maybe?" You start to laugh a little. He knows what that means.

Leon pulls you to him, hugging you so tight you let out a little groan. He doesn't want to let go, now that he knows you'll be his forever.

-

Thanks to @mandalhoerian 's post on Leon I got so inspired on how to write this

[glitcheslikeslego]

Show Me Your Moves! (Chapter 9)

AO3 STORY

tw: reader uses a knife at the end

Chapter 9 : Sketch

Sketch is a non-damaging move that allows the user to copy the opponent's move permanently, replacing Sketch. 

You internally cursed Tang out in your head as you spotted an energetic MK painting along with Sandy. 

For a second, you were glad that MK appeared to be back to normal, but then you remembered the madness that was his Artist Clone. You remember that it only took 15 hours for Porty to go on his power trip, and you were pretty sure Artist was earlier than Porty, and that’s why you felt that off feeling as you watched MK take two paint brushes and begin painting even more.

“How long has he been at this?” You whisper-asked Sandy, who whispered back that he’s been painting for about Five hours now. You shuddered. Five hours already? Ten hours or less left to go…

Two hours.

The clone lasted for two hours.

“It needs to be better. It needs to be better.” The Artist Clone muttered to himself as he painted an intricate mural of MK dancing, surrounded by clones playing different instruments.

Despite its beauty, Artist didn’t seem pleased with it.

“I think it’s pretty good, MK.” Sandy said, and you felt fear strike into your very soul when Artist MK turned to the two of you with an insane look on his face.

“Pretty good? Pretty good!? That’s not good enough.” You and Sandy cowered and hugged each other as Artist MK yelled at you two. “You asked me to help paint your boat and that’s what I’m gonna do. I won’t stop until it’s perfect!” 

“I think it’s already perfect, MK.” You decided to stay, and he glared at you, making you even more nervous.

There was a small beat of silence, Artist MK’s eye twitched, then he attacked.

Sandy stood in front of you, hoping his natural strength could hold Artist MK back, but Artist MK’s funky mystic monkey powers easily kicked Sandy’s butt. Startled, you were powered up again, much like how you were back at the Weather Station, instead this time, the waves of the water became harsh, rocking the boat.

This didn’t intimidate the Artist Clone, and he ended up tying you and Sandy up before returning to his painting.

“Hey.” Sandy whispered to you, tied up suspended in the air. “Since when could you do that? The water thing?”

Ah, you forgot he was technically a water demon…

“The water thing? Just now, but apparently I’ve been unlocking these wacky abilities since Red Son took over the Weather Station. Remember when I punched that Bull Clone?” Your boss nodded. “Well, I also was covered in electricity, which totally short circuited the clone.”

Sandy nodded in understanding, and for the next few hours, you sat on the ground uncomfortable as Artist MK constantly painted over the murals he made over and over again, complaining about imperfections all the while.

“Yes, yes, the art is seeping into my pores!” Artist MK dragged a pink coated paintbrush across his face with an insane grin. “Just needs… One. More. Coat.” He turned to you and Sandy slowly, scaring the heck out of the two of you. 

“You missed a spot!”

“Where!?” Artist Clone then disappeared in a puff of dust and hair, and the real MK appeared. 

“Hey, MK. Mystic Monkey business?” Sandy asks knowingly, and MK nods. 

“How many of those clones did you make?” You ask curiously, maybe he’d give you an actual answer as to how many he actually made and not just the main three clones from this episode. 

Instead, he yelled out about Mei and rushed off, and you remembered that he’s better off saving her before she probably gets actually obliterated by that claw machine if he didn’t make it like last time. 

“So… now what?” Sandy wiggled a bit, making him swing side to side. 

“I think I can do something…” You replied. You wiggled around some too before one of your LEGO claw hands popped out of the ropes. You grabbed a knife from your pocket. 

“Since when did you have that!?” Sandy helps out in alarm, and you chuckle. 

“Since you hired me? You have quite a few of these just laying around in the store. I actually feel kind of comfortable walking around if I have an unreasonably sharp object to protect me.” You replied, easily cutting the ropes that Artist MK tied you in before freeing Sandy. 

“I don't think that’s a good thing.” Sandy said as you freed him, easily landing on his feet. 

You shrug. “Eh, what else do I have?”

He grabbed the knife from you with an unimpressed look on his face. “Those super strong powers you just admitted to having?”

You stared blankly for a second before pointing finger guns at him. “Touché.” 

~~~

<PREV ~ NEXT>

[dangermousie]

Farscape Rewatch: Self-Inflicted Wounds, 2x03 and 2x04

First off, these are some of the best titles. So Good!

Farscape summed up.

Or perhaps this is:

(Though perhaps this one is more applicable to the next episode, Different Destinations, which to me is the bleakest Farscape episode ever.)

SIW is a two-parter I don't like as much as I should, all things considered. Maybe it's too much technobabble, or a bit of an odd pacing (it should have been a one-and-a-half parter, if there is such a thing, not a two parter). This said, Zhaaaaaaaaaaan. *wails* It makes sense from story point (nothing is for free, life for a life) and from behind the scenes point as poor Virginia Hey was getting ill from the make-up, but still...wail! Non-Zhaan stuff out of the way first: I get totally annoyed with the crew in this one when they blame Crichton for what happened. Zhaan gets a pass because she is dying, but I want to smack the rest of them silly. How is this Crichton's fault? How? It's just the Moyans' rotten luck. Pilot was the one who stopped the ship when they saw a wormhole, and they were there for a millisecond only before the pathfinders' ship crashed into them. They wouldn't have time to get out of the way regardless of anything, even Pilot stopping. And yeah, he trusted the aliens. But hey, even without wormholes, John is often too trusting, this is about the last spark of it. And considered abandoning ship but so did they all! But any 'selfishness' is certainly traumatized out of him with this. But then the crew doesn't really believe it's Crichton's fault: if they did, his throat would be ripped out. It's just a convenient target for frustrations. And hello, Crichton? Would take it and ask for more. So this ep ends with Crichton enjoying his favorite game: guilt and self-blame for something not really his fault.  Oh yes. But come on guys, just because he is there and available, doesn't mean you should do it! If you think about it, they subconsciously know, I think, that they can do it to him. Can you imagine the uselessness or the harm if they tried doing a genuinely blame session to D'Argo or Aeryn or Rygel? But Crichton likes to inflict blame and punishment on himself.

Harvey! Beginning of such brilliant, brilliant Harvey scenes! And I loved the brief guy-to-guy discussion between D'Argo and John: what if you try your best and it's not enough? That is something everyone on board Moya is familiar with. And John and Aeryn? Work so in unison. Heck, Aeryn is beginning to develop her own unworthiness issues as her convo with Zhaan shows. (I love the bit where Zhaan highlights similarities between them. She forgot to add 'we love insane men' to the list though). And there was this epic exchange:

That’s the thing that I always forget watching early S1 Crichton, his eyes open in wonder: it took a certain kind of person to get himself in the position to get into a wormhole even if unknowingly. He might be gentle and sweet and scientific when the thing starts, but it takes a certain kind of insanity and reckless bravery to go up in space flying basically an assmbled kit plane that you devised by yourself to test a completely random theory! Much more insane and risk-taking than his Dad who after all followed proper established procedures devised by others when he went. And then there is the scientific crazy curiosity that got him up there in the first, proving that he can be obsessive enough to not care about risk when he is really into it. Jool? God, I'd forgotten how irritating she was when she first joined. I ended up liking her by the end, but seriously, I want to strangle her. Crichton is being amazingly patient with her even when she tries to off him (probably out of obligation/guilt) but argh. I love Chiana's smackdown of her. And Zhaan's. But I like her around because I love seeing nasty things happen to her. Some relief from the darkness of S3: bad things happening to someone you actually don't like. Also, because of her we get exchanges like this:

Despite my snark about her, I confess I like Jool, and she does grow up. Mainly, I think, I am always a bit sympathetic to her even from the start, because I know that if I ended up in an unknown part of the world with lunatics, I'd be a lot more likely to be whiny like Jool and not awesome like John. Talk about a vacation gone wrong!

Chiana is wonderful too: so young, so brave, so scared. Yet so unwilling to abandon Moya. Crying to Zhaan about it. What a difference from season 1, when she was all for getting off at the least sign of trouble and Moya be damned. But they do have a bond, don't they? And I love that despite the implosion of that romance, D’Argo still cares for her, there is no cruelty or gloating in him. This is real and complex.

Other things? I love Stark in these eps. From his subtle manipulation of Rygel (by telling him Pilot likes him) from his snarking (when Rygel says he didn't vote for staying or leaving Moya. Rygel makes me want to choke him in these eps) that yeah, Rygel voted because 'I was your proxy.' Heh. And the bit with Jool, when the snitty bitch is having her little hissy fit and he flips on her because they are all dead, and his love is dead. And he tells her he will show her something that will make her weep forever. Stark can be scary! Oh, and the bits with Zhaan, from his seeing her look at her ravaged face in the mirror, and he is silent behind the door, and crying. 

To her trying to prepare him and his refusal. To the end, when he runs around like a trapped animal trying to get to her. 

To when he helps her cross-over. Ohhhh, my lovely secondary ship. 

I love the bit at the end when Aeryn wants to know why he isn't flipping and he is, in a contained way, and tells her it's because Zhaan was so at peace (and of course, death is what he knows best). But of course, his 'dealing' is temporary and comes and goes, as he admits to her (and see him crazed in DD). Zhaan and Stark are very yin-yang because in SIW he tells her he has a darkness which frightens lovers away but he is amazingly good despite it, and she is, after all, the good peaceful spiritual being who is, at the same time, had serious darkness and overcame madness. They are more similar than it appears at first glance.

I love Zhaan in this ep so much. She is scared yet brave, determined yet frail. And her farewell is lovely. I love how she hits exactly the hidden thing in each of her crewmates (D'Argo's sensitivity, John's innocence). And of course, the ep ends with John and Harvey, dressed in funeral attire. And even Harvey blames John! WTF!!!!!! (But Harvey is, after all, Scorpius blended with John so it’s really John blaming himself.)  And ends with John throwing his bottle at the screen, shattering it.

What a bleak ending. And that blame and self-blame are not fair. John is NOT selfish. He has a few things he would give anything for (AERYN. AERYN. AERYN) but that is true for anyone who is not a saint. Moyans have certainly done a lot of unforgivable things when their wishes were strong. Remember D'Argo, Zhaan and Rygel hacking off Pilot's arm for a chance at the map? Remember Chi and her stealing and thus unleashing the virus that leads to the Gammack Base and everything else etc? (Aeryn is rather exempt because she's been brought up to not want anything). Remember Moya's irrationality about Talyn? Their desires lead to anything from sheer irresponsibility and catastrophes because of recklessness to predetermined badness. John is obsessed with going home and wormholes (though even now, I think he is too damaged for Earth already, and not as much obsessed with them as with Aeryn). But I am sorry, comparing him with the actions above? Are you kidding? Considering giving up the ship that is dying but ultimately not? Wanting to check out wormholes for a second but not even having a chance to before the collision? (It's not like they were parked there for an hour and that's how they got hit). Seriously, the guy has enough self-loathing. He does not need any more. Lay off, the guy is already broken. But how realistic and human all that blame and self-blame are. Next? Different Destinations, and then Eat Me and the joy of two Crichtons: double your character, double your pain. This season is unrelentingly bleak.

[plasmaapologist]

did the lady next to me at the conveyor sushi place think i was insane for more or less only eating avocado rolls? yes. do i care? NO

anyways! its time for a TULA HAUL!

( Video: Tula sits cross-legged on the bed of her hotel, several bags sprawled out around. Mini can be seen sleeping on a pillow behind her. Clearly exhausted but still bright-eyed, she begins pulling books out of the bag. )

"You filmin' Motom?"

"ZZZT!"

"Okay okay, alright, so, I got three books for Calli, but I'm not showing them, because it's a SUPRISE and I know her nosy ass will watch this."

( Tula holds up a bag, presumably holding said books, and tosses it off the side of the bed. Heres to hoping she's on the first floor. )

"Alright, shit I can show this time. Uhm... Oh! Yeah, okay, so I've got abouuut.... five? Pokémon biology books here. Pretty basic shit, but it was nice to be able to get them at a discount. Medical shits expensive. This- okay yeah its this one. This ones technically for kids, but like, look at the drawings!"

( Tula holds up the book to the camera, showing a cutsey, but not inaccurate, drawing of an Eevee skeleton. )

"I've got a human biology book too, just like, for funsies, I guess. And because yall have too many issues. Okay, uhmm... *rustle, rustle* Oh, fuck. I forgot about this. Did you guys see the 12 year old with the Pachirisu? Yeah, they were handing out THEIR FANFIC. The bravery there is insane. Apparently, this ones about Maxie and Archie. Should of saved it for last, because it's clearly the best thing here."

( As the next book is grabbed, you can see Mini roll off the bed in the background. She unceremoniously floats back up and goes back to sleep on the pillow. Must happen a lot when you're so orbular. )

"I don't know if I got anything else interesting. A couple of books on psychic types, a couple of cookbooks; oh Arc, I actually found a book about Plasma. Will be telling you all how accurate it is. Got one about Galactic, too, but I can't really give as thorough of a review there. Uhhh... where was I... OKAY, yeah, right. This is an illustrated guide on Sinnoh's ocean life, and this ones about Hisuian Zorua and Zoroark, and I think - Yeah, this is the last one. This is the same one but with pictures. I found it at the end of the day."

( The bag of books goes on the ground with a thud, and a bag of various non-book items is pulled from behind the camera. )

"This is long as shit so I'm speedrunning the trinkets. Five bookmarks, two magnets, a couple of pamphlets, a necklace, a w- okay wait no you're not allowed to see that one. Uh, a wallet, like, 12 stickers, a pair of socks, a drawing of Mini some kid gave me, and a rock that Sidon insisted would "summon some ladies." Didn't work. That's it, I think? Okay, yeah, that's it. Toodles!"

( Tula reaches up and switches off the camera. Video end. )

[masonsystem]

trying to watch the last mca episode to try and understand the one and only existing kagepro route with a good ending that is actually 'written out' and am trying so hard to not throw up from laughter like ohhhhhh myy god. oh my god. the animation is so janky. the budget is at its wit's end. I FORGOT KONOHA/KUROHA SOMETIMES GETS ON ALL FOURS.... FOR SOME REASON........ also everything is so fast im throwing up. cuz in like. 90 seconds, ayano randomly shows up, HARUKA IS ABLE TO COMMUNICATE.. FROM THE DAZE?, ayano projects the timelines onto mary, and mary swallows up the world. yes.

^WHAT IM ALSO SAYING....... i dont think that ever gets fucking explained??? HOW DID THEY LEAVE THE DAZE???

anyways um. so it seems like at first the power of friendship stalled saeru (so weird to not refer to him as kuroha lol), power of friendship being mekakushi dan minus shintaro and konoha (duh) telling mary to not reset the timeline, even tho their snakes were taken away.... and that should kill them... but WHATEVER i guess. and then the whole ayano shebang happens uh.... let me toss the rest of this ruminating into a read more

ok so the ending is Somewhat Coherent if youre like me, aka already has context for how kagepro and it's routes work in general (which 14(?) year old me who first watched mca didnt possess hence did not understand it at all).

and so it seems like jin did write out a coherent ending, but that the pacing and visual language was so insane that it ended up being incomprehensible. pacing and visual language is likely like that bc a.) jin did not supervise it or b.) jin did not have the visual artistry skills to sufficiently supervise it. same outcome either way. you can tell this was written out by jin bc there are many jin-esque lines like there:

anyways so the ending essentially is..... - shintaro is 'killed' earlier (just enters the daze, basically) (also i dont remember how he dies in this route. whatever lets ignore that) - he reunites w ayano yayyy - meanwhile mekakushi dan tries to stop saeru - mekakushi dan excluding mary gets fatally incapacitated by saeru - but they dont die. but their snakes gets absorbed by mary. but theyre still able to convey The Power Of Friendship to mary thru speech so like... eh whatever 🤷 - this stalls mary from resetting the timeline which allows ayano and shintaro to show up Out Of Nowhere. shintaro's power of Remembering Every Timeline and ayano's power of Projecting The Thoughts Of People Onto Other People combine so they can project the memory of every timeline onto mary. haruka is also able to shit talk on saeru during these 5 seconds somehow too bc uh...... idk? - with mary remembering every timeline, she decides to swallow the whole world (or maybe just the whole room) into the daze, and refuses to reset the world. so now all the dying mekakushi dan + kenjirou + shinaya + saeru are in the daze - with kenjirou in the daze, he is able to see ayaka one last time. this grants kenjirou's wish, and saeru, whose only able to manifest and exist when he is granting a person's wish, then begins to fade away. - begging to not disappear, he asks for anyone else to make a wish. konoha is some astral projection world then wishes to save hiyori. saeru is unable to think of some devious way to make saving a person into some convoluted timeloop, and so hiyori is rescued from the daze, and saeru disappears. - mary gets to see shion again (?!?!?) and they have heart-felt conversation.

and this all happens in like... FOUR MINUTES???? i wish i was exaggerating but no all this shit just happens rly quickly in 4-ish minutes. goddamn. anyways right after this is a cutaway to The Future where everybody is alive.... yeah...... how does ayano and haruka escape the daze? does everyone still have their snakes? if they dont, how did they survive? why did mary decide to conveniently swallow them all into the daze? WHAT HAPPENS TO AZAMI? well that never gets explained. anyways this is the ONE (1!!!!!!) and only "good" route we have that like. actually gets from point a to point b instead of just, randomly existing (looking at you summertime record song route and lost day hour one shot manga). yeahh..... what the hell 🤣😭

[dariaandjanelanefanboy]

Busoni – Piano Concerto in C Major A mammoth, a sleeping Titan of the concerto repertoire…Busoni’s piano concerto is a rarely performed work that is strenuous for the pianist, the orchestra, and the audience all at once. At an hour and 15 minutes in length, it acts like a sinfonia-concertante, where the piano and orchestra are equally utilized. Actually, while the piano does have important structural aspects to it, the pianist overall is constantly struggling to play over the booming orchestra, to the point where the virtuosity goes unnoticed in comparison. That’s probably a major reason why we rarely see it in concert: it’s a beast to play, but the difficulty isn’t easily highlighted so it’s hard to “show off” to the audience. Written at the beginning of the century, the work isn’t like the shadowy and bleak works of his more mature years, rather it is an over-the-top unapologetic love letter to the grandiose decadence of late 19th century piano concertos. Here it might be adequate to say “Too many notes”. In fact, Alfred Brendel even said this work was “monstrously overwritten”. So why does it have a niche cult following? Why is it still being picked up [a mild resurgence in recent years I’ve noticed]? Despite the pianistic writing at times, the work is well balanced. It follows the structure as seen in the drawing that Busoni had conceptualized here in the video: a grand solemn temple in the middle, two busy vibrant gardens on either side, and then two polished ornate temples bookending the row. In following this structure, we start with a grand movement, opening as if in media res, with a Brahms like theme paired with Lisztian pyrotechnics and Beethoven drama. The next movement is a rushing scherzo that is somehow both heavy and rapid, defying physics it seems. The third movement is a large scale meditation of an operatic theme that is excruciatingly Teutonic with its modulating build up. The following movement is a heart racing tarantella, taking Italian street songs a la Rossini and making them as frantic and animalistic as possible, a build up that makes me think of wild animals stampeding out of a zoo and causing all kinds of havoc. After the insane cadenza and obligatory brass fanfare, we settle down a bit with a choral setting [yes, I forgot to mention this concerto has a choral finale] of a hymn to Allah from an early 19th century play by Adam Oehlenschläger, Aladdin.] The work ends in a stately coda. The constant use of climaxes, the blazing orchestra, the hyperactive pianist, it all comes together as an almost postmodernist parody of the Romantic piano concerto. I like to think of it as the story of a Liszt or Thalberg type showman pianist trying to show off to the audience fighting the conductor/composer who doesn’t have the work written with him in mind. I know I’ve probably been making fun of this work more than praising it, so here is the praise: it brings to mind the wonder of sitting in an audience watching a concert live, being awestruck and marveling at the abilities of the musicians creating magic out of sound before our eyes, both physical and mental achievements. This is a space of magic, of dreams, of adventure and exploration, of naivety that we wish we could return to. Movements: 1. Prologo e Introito: Allegro, dolce e solenne 2. Pezzo giocoso 3. Pezzo serioso 4. All’Italiana: Tarantella: Vivace; In un tempo 5. Cantico: Largamente, “Die Felsensäulen fangen an tief und leise zu ertönen”[”[”Deep and quiet, the pillars of rock begin to sound”]

mikrokosmos: Busoni – Piano Concerto in C Major A mammoth, a sleeping Titan of the concerto repertoire…Busoni’s piano concerto is a rarely performed work that is strenuous for the pianist, the orchestra, and the audience all at once. At an hour and 15 minutes in length, it acts like a sinfonia-concertante, where the piano and…

[werewolvesandaccordions]

Busoni – Piano Concerto in C Major A mammoth, a sleeping Titan of the concerto repertoire…Busoni’s piano concerto is a rarely performed work that is strenuous for the pianist, the orchestra, and the audience all at once. At an hour and 15 minutes in length, it acts like a sinfonia-concertante, where the piano and orchestra are equally utilized. Actually, while the piano does have important structural aspects to it, the pianist overall is constantly struggling to play over the booming orchestra, to the point where the virtuosity goes unnoticed in comparison. That’s probably a major reason why we rarely see it in concert: it’s a beast to play, but the difficulty isn’t easily highlighted so it’s hard to “show off” to the audience. Written at the beginning of the century, the work isn’t like the shadowy and bleak works of his more mature years, rather it is an over-the-top unapologetic love letter to the grandiose decadence of late 19th century piano concertos. Here it might be adequate to say “Too many notes”. In fact, Alfred Brendel even said this work was “monstrously overwritten”. So why does it have a niche cult following? Why is it still being picked up [a mild resurgence in recent years I’ve noticed]? Despite the pianistic writing at times, the work is well balanced. It follows the structure as seen in the drawing that Busoni had conceptualized here in the video: a grand solemn temple in the middle, two busy vibrant gardens on either side, and then two polished ornate temples bookending the row. In following this structure, we start with a grand movement, opening as if in media res, with a Brahms like theme paired with Lisztian pyrotechnics and Beethoven drama. The next movement is a rushing scherzo that is somehow both heavy and rapid, defying physics it seems. The third movement is a large scale meditation of an operatic theme that is excruciatingly Teutonic with its modulating build up. The following movement is a heart racing tarantella, taking Italian street songs a la Rossini and making them as frantic and animalistic as possible, a build up that makes me think of wild animals stampeding out of a zoo and causing all kinds of havoc. After the insane cadenza and obligatory brass fanfare, we settle down a bit with a choral setting [yes, I forgot to mention this concerto has a choral finale] of a hymn to Allah from an early 19th century play by Adam Oehlenschläger, Aladdin.] The work ends in a stately coda. The constant use of climaxes, the blazing orchestra, the hyperactive pianist, it all comes together as an almost postmodernist parody of the Romantic piano concerto. I like to think of it as the story of a Liszt or Thalberg type showman pianist trying to show off to the audience fighting the conductor/composer who doesn’t have the work written with him in mind. I know I’ve probably been making fun of this work more than praising it, so here is the praise: it brings to mind the wonder of sitting in an audience watching a concert live, being awestruck and marveling at the abilities of the musicians creating magic out of sound before our eyes, both physical and mental achievements. This is a space of magic, of dreams, of adventure and exploration, of naivety that we wish we could return to. Movements: 1. Prologo e Introito: Allegro, dolce e solenne 2. Pezzo giocoso 3. Pezzo serioso 4. All’Italiana: Tarantella: Vivace; In un tempo 5. Cantico: Largamente, “Die Felsensäulen fangen an tief und leise zu ertönen”[”[”Deep and quiet, the pillars of rock begin to sound”]

mikrokosmos: Busoni – Piano Concerto in C Major A mammoth, a sleeping Titan of the concerto repertoire…Busoni’s piano concerto is a rarely performed work that is strenuous for the pianist, the orchestra, and the audience all at once. At an hour and 15 minutes in length, it acts like a sinfonia-concertante, where the piano and…

[tinas-art]

Busoni – Piano Concerto in C Major A mammoth, a sleeping Titan of the concerto repertoire…Busoni’s piano concerto is a rarely performed work that is strenuous for the pianist, the orchestra, and the audience all at once. At an hour and 15 minutes in length, it acts like a sinfonia-concertante, where the piano and orchestra are equally utilized. Actually, while the piano does have important structural aspects to it, the pianist overall is constantly struggling to play over the booming orchestra, to the point where the virtuosity goes unnoticed in comparison. That’s probably a major reason why we rarely see it in concert: it’s a beast to play, but the difficulty isn’t easily highlighted so it’s hard to “show off” to the audience. Written at the beginning of the century, the work isn’t like the shadowy and bleak works of his more mature years, rather it is an over-the-top unapologetic love letter to the grandiose decadence of late 19th century piano concertos. Here it might be adequate to say “Too many notes”. In fact, Alfred Brendel even said this work was “monstrously overwritten”. So why does it have a niche cult following? Why is it still being picked up [a mild resurgence in recent years I’ve noticed]? Despite the pianistic writing at times, the work is well balanced. It follows the structure as seen in the drawing that Busoni had conceptualized here in the video: a grand solemn temple in the middle, two busy vibrant gardens on either side, and then two polished ornate temples bookending the row. In following this structure, we start with a grand movement, opening as if in media res, with a Brahms like theme paired with Lisztian pyrotechnics and Beethoven drama. The next movement is a rushing scherzo that is somehow both heavy and rapid, defying physics it seems. The third movement is a large scale meditation of an operatic theme that is excruciatingly Teutonic with its modulating build up. The following movement is a heart racing tarantella, taking Italian street songs a la Rossini and making them as frantic and animalistic as possible, a build up that makes me think of wild animals stampeding out of a zoo and causing all kinds of havoc. After the insane cadenza and obligatory brass fanfare, we settle down a bit with a choral setting [yes, I forgot to mention this concerto has a choral finale] of a hymn to Allah from an early 19th century play by Adam Oehlenschläger, Aladdin.] The work ends in a stately coda. The constant use of climaxes, the blazing orchestra, the hyperactive pianist, it all comes together as an almost postmodernist parody of the Romantic piano concerto. I like to think of it as the story of a Liszt or Thalberg type showman pianist trying to show off to the audience fighting the conductor/composer who doesn’t have the work written with him in mind. I know I’ve probably been making fun of this work more than praising it, so here is the praise: it brings to mind the wonder of sitting in an audience watching a concert live, being awestruck and marveling at the abilities of the musicians creating magic out of sound before our eyes, both physical and mental achievements. This is a space of magic, of dreams, of adventure and exploration, of naivety that we wish we could return to. Movements: 1. Prologo e Introito: Allegro, dolce e solenne 2. Pezzo giocoso 3. Pezzo serioso 4. All’Italiana: Tarantella: Vivace; In un tempo 5. Cantico: Largamente, “Die Felsensäulen fangen an tief und leise zu ertönen”[”[”Deep and quiet, the pillars of rock begin to sound”]

mikrokosmos: Busoni – Piano Concerto in C Major A mammoth, a sleeping Titan of the concerto repertoire…Busoni’s piano concerto is a rarely performed work that is strenuous for the pianist, the orchestra, and the audience all at once. At an hour and 15 minutes in length, it acts like a sinfonia-concertante, where the piano and…

[hushilda]

Busoni – Piano Concerto in C Major A mammoth, a sleeping Titan of the concerto repertoire…Busoni’s piano concerto is a rarely performed work that is strenuous for the pianist, the orchestra, and the audience all at once. At an hour and 15 minutes in length, it acts like a sinfonia-concertante, where the piano and orchestra are equally utilized. Actually, while the piano does have important structural aspects to it, the pianist overall is constantly struggling to play over the booming orchestra, to the point where the virtuosity goes unnoticed in comparison. That’s probably a major reason why we rarely see it in concert: it’s a beast to play, but the difficulty isn’t easily highlighted so it’s hard to “show off” to the audience. Written at the beginning of the century, the work isn’t like the shadowy and bleak works of his more mature years, rather it is an over-the-top unapologetic love letter to the grandiose decadence of late 19th century piano concertos. Here it might be adequate to say “Too many notes”. In fact, Alfred Brendel even said this work was “monstrously overwritten”. So why does it have a niche cult following? Why is it still being picked up [a mild resurgence in recent years I’ve noticed]? Despite the pianistic writing at times, the work is well balanced. It follows the structure as seen in the drawing that Busoni had conceptualized here in the video: a grand solemn temple in the middle, two busy vibrant gardens on either side, and then two polished ornate temples bookending the row. In following this structure, we start with a grand movement, opening as if in media res, with a Brahms like theme paired with Lisztian pyrotechnics and Beethoven drama. The next movement is a rushing scherzo that is somehow both heavy and rapid, defying physics it seems. The third movement is a large scale meditation of an operatic theme that is excruciatingly Teutonic with its modulating build up. The following movement is a heart racing tarantella, taking Italian street songs a la Rossini and making them as frantic and animalistic as possible, a build up that makes me think of wild animals stampeding out of a zoo and causing all kinds of havoc. After the insane cadenza and obligatory brass fanfare, we settle down a bit with a choral setting [yes, I forgot to mention this concerto has a choral finale] of a hymn to Allah from an early 19th century play by Adam Oehlenschläger, Aladdin.] The work ends in a stately coda. The constant use of climaxes, the blazing orchestra, the hyperactive pianist, it all comes together as an almost postmodernist parody of the Romantic piano concerto. I like to think of it as the story of a Liszt or Thalberg type showman pianist trying to show off to the audience fighting the conductor/composer who doesn’t have the work written with him in mind. I know I’ve probably been making fun of this work more than praising it, so here is the praise: it brings to mind the wonder of sitting in an audience watching a concert live, being awestruck and marveling at the abilities of the musicians creating magic out of sound before our eyes, both physical and mental achievements. This is a space of magic, of dreams, of adventure and exploration, of naivety that we wish we could return to. Movements: 1. Prologo e Introito: Allegro, dolce e solenne 2. Pezzo giocoso 3. Pezzo serioso 4. All’Italiana: Tarantella: Vivace; In un tempo 5. Cantico: Largamente, “Die Felsensäulen fangen an tief und leise zu ertönen”[”[”Deep and quiet, the pillars of rock begin to sound”]

mikrokosmos: Busoni – Piano Concerto in C Major A mammoth, a sleeping Titan of the concerto repertoire…Busoni’s piano concerto is a rarely performed work that is strenuous for the pianist, the orchestra, and the audience all at once. At an hour and 15 minutes in length, it acts like a sinfonia-concertante, where the piano and…

[ineedacalicocat]

I totally agree with you. The way they always continuously trying for years to prove that jk is gay is seriously insane. He said his ideal type is iu. His 2019 scandal was there too. The way he was back hugging that tattoo girl...when his boyfriend jimin was on his own vacation with his friends out of the country... enjoying his time playing games with girls in a club..and jimin even went on this trip when jk's birthday was also coming at that time...yes he came Back to celebrate with him but it's a great brother and a great friend behaviour not at all a couply one...bcs your partner never wants to leave you alone on your special day at all to begin with if it's not for any important work...which clearly was not the case. What kind of a relationship was this??? I don't think any couple would be okay with this kind of things. But if you say this to these shippers...they come up with "oh you don't know about the space in a relationship, you don't know how a relationship works" okay then maybe i really don't. But m not okay with my boyfriend going on a trip and playing games and drinking with strangers in a club like that...leaving me alone when my birthday was just days away.. And m also not okay with me being huggy huggy with someone else when my boyfriend was out of the country. This shows how they're not a couple that time too... at least for me. It's always jimin who shows open care towards jk. Jk barely initiates any physical touch with jimin...it's always jimin first. He sometimes ignores jimin like jm doesn't even exist.

yeah actually the old jikookers at the end of or middle of 2018 started saying this and many of them left the fandom at that time some of them stopped shipping them in 2019 but because of the content from bighit some of that forgot about these things and contuniued shipping again. Jikookers dont talk about this cause deep down they also know that they are not boyfriends or anything of sort. Jungkook even that time in 2019 would draw thing that girl drew. He drew a moon with starts it was literally what that girl drew. She also wore jungkooks tshirt and got red roses from him. She would post it. But now you cant even find her insta. When that thing happened. That drama with armies literally treating her just because she is jungkkooks girlfriend. Like really??? i dont get this pls they want them to be gay so bad they want them to fuck their own member so bad like this is fetish to me what the actual fuck??? I mean korean fans or some int fans doent want them to have girlfriends okay they are also problem but shippers are a different cause lite what the actual fuck? He literally wrote my time after that when you hear that song you can actually feel things. I even felt sad. In 2019 I actually at some point stopped shipping but didnt say what i actual thought because fandom and shippers lost it. They lost heir minds. You cant even talk about some stuff here. They go defense mode. For the first time jungkook sang something with feelings. Usually i dont like his voice i mean he is teh ost stable but he lacks emotions contrast to the jimin. Where jimin usually sings with his heart like you can feel everything. But jungkook? meh? Im not talkin about his vocal range or technic. He is maybe better on that part. But he just sings very breathy sometimes and there is nothing to add more. he just sings you know what i mean? You dont get any butterflies. But some songs he sings sometimes with emotions but its rare.

[lucy-sky]

The Break of Dawn (Leo Barnes x f!Reader)

You work in a small diner not far from the bus station and try to get over a tragic event that happened to you three years ago. Leo Barnes is one of the steady customers, and at some point you realize there's mutual attraction between the two of you. There's no time for romance though - only one night left before the annual Purge, and Leo has an important job to keep Senator Roan safe as it's the only chance to finally put an end to the Purge.

Words: 3 656

Warnings: Sexual content (not super detailed, I would rate this story as Mature rather than Explicit, but still they f*ck), a bit of angst (trigger warning: loss), but Leo is a caring and protective guy who’s ready to hold you

A/N: My first time writing Leo Barnes or any Frank Grillo character, so please don't be mean :))

Taglist: @sweetfictionalworld, @skvatnavle​, @lunamoon-87​

“There he is.”

Stella pokes you with her elbow.

“What?”

“Your tough guy. He’s here,” she nods to the corner of the diner and you don’t even need to follow her gesture to know that Leo Barnes is sitting there, his usual spot. He’s a bit early today, and it’s understandable - you too find it harder to sleep well as the Purge is getting closer.

“He’s not my tough guy, Stells,” you roll your eyes.

“Oh yeah? Tell it to someone else,” she snorts. “So far I’m just wondering how long you’re gonna keep ignoring that sexual tension…”

“Stella, please.”

“What? Honestly, I don’t know why he’s being such a gentleman… But just FYI, y/n… You know it’s not the 19th century and you actually can make the first move?”

“Even if I wanted to, it’s not the right time,” you shrug. “You know he’s doing an important job. He’s got plenty of stuff to think about and it’s definitely not romance.”

“Who’s talking about romance, sis?” Stella laughs. “You’re both so goddamn tense, you need to blow off some steam. No, seriously. You need to get laid. He needs to get laid. It’s just way too obvious!”

“Oh dear god, just please shut up…” you groan.

“Fine,” she gives you a wicked smirk. “If you don’t want him, then I’m bringing his order.”

You chuckle at this.

“Don’t you dare.”

  To be completely honest, you can’t deny that Stella is partly right. There is something between you and this grumpy silent man in the corner. But what exactly? You can’t really put it into words, it’s not just the attraction, or sexual tension as Stella says. You do find him handsome though, you admit that. A couple of times when he was wearing a t-shirt, you caught yourself staring at his muscular arms. Yes, guilty. And still… There’s more than that. You’d call it some sort of mutual understanding.

Leo Barnes works for Senator Roan. In the past, he used to be a cop, now he is the head of security for her. You learnt that one night when he was here, having his usual late dinner. The TV was on, evening news, something about the election of course. And suddenly you noticed him there, standing behind Roan’s back with another guy in a formal dark suit. You blinked, stared at the screen, then looked back at him. He caught your glance.

“Is that… you?” you blurted, realizing too late that you said it out loud. But he smiled, and in his smile there was no anger or annoyance.

“Apparently so,” he replied with a soft chuckle and ran his fingers through his dark hair. “How do I look?”

You started talking ever since then. Barnes usually came to the diner twice - in the morning he just had a mug of black coffee, and in the evening he ordered something to eat. Mornings were often crowded as many people passed the diner before heading to work in the city, so you were busy. But the evenings were mostly quiet. 

You often stayed at work late, covering Stella who had to run to her kids or another date. You didn’t mind that since work was always your way to escape. Nobody was waiting for you at home anyways. Somehow, Leo Barnes started to keep you company. He wasn’t much of a talker and you were never into heartfelt conversations with the clients here, but something just clicked. Especially after you learnt about his job and it became clear that your views on the Purge are the same.

Many people hate The Purge, as well as many people support it. Some people hate it because they’re scared for their loved ones, their business (small shop owners who don’t have enough money to afford the Purge insurance often suffer), or they hate it just because they’re against violence in general. And the others… They have more personal reasons. You’re one of them. And somehow, even if you don’t know for sure, you just feel like Leo Barnes has personal reasons as well. He never really told you, and you don’t dare to ask because you know well enough how the memories can hurt. You didn’t tell him either. But still, you don’t know how exactly it worked, you just looked at each other and saw it. It’s like an unspoken secret between the two of you. The details don’t matter anyway. Your stories are in the past and you can’t change it, but what you can change is the future. If Senator Charlene Roan wins the election - the Purge will finally end. You can help with your vote, and Leo… Leo is determined to do anything to help her survive this year. Just this year, and hopefully no one would ever have to survive this nightmare again. You both want it more than anything else.

  “Hey.”

You smile at Leo as you place a mug of coffee and a plate on the table in front of him.

“Hey…” he looks confused when he sees the food. Nothing really special: eggs, bacon, some beans and a toast. “What’s that? I... only asked for the usual…”

“Just thought you might need some extra fuel,” you shug. “Only one night left before the Purge, so… you must have a lot of work to do.”

“Yeah, you’re right… I actually do,” he gives you a tired smile. “Thank you.”

“Welcome,” you nod and turn to leave, but Leo suddenly touches your arm and you freeze.

“Y/n?”

“Yeah?” you face him again.

“Do you work tomorrow?”

“Yes… Why are you asking?..” you give him a puzzled look.

“Well uh… To be honest I’d be happier if you took a day off… You know, just to make sure you’re safe…”

You feel the heat on your cheeks. Does… does he worry about you?.. The realization makes your heart shrink for a second. Apparently he’s not just someone who understands, he’s someone who cares. You already forgot what it feels like when someone really cares. Well, of course there are your parents, but they’re far away… And Leo, he’s right here.

“It’s okay,” you say, trying not to look too baffled. “Tomorrow we’re closing the diner earlier, right after lunchtime, so I’ll be home long before the Purge begins. There’s no need to worry, really.”

“Good,” Barnes nods. “I just… don’t think I’ll be able to come over and check on you tomorrow, so I just…” he stutters as if trying to figure out something to say. 

“I just want you to be careful, okay?” he finally utters, and to your surprise his hand reaches yours, squeezing it lightly. “Just be careful, yeah?”

“Yeah, I... Of course I will,” you try to smile reassuringly. “I promise.”

  *

There’s about five minutes left before closing hour when Leo appears. As usual, you’re still here, helping Mary, the chief and the owner’s wife with all the cleaning up after the working day. While she’s in the kitchen, you wipe the tables, TV-set is murmuring something in the corner. The election, the purge… Always the same.

“You’re closed?” he asks, meeting your gaze. “Sorry, I… Didn’t realize it’s that late already…”

“We’re about to close, but it’s fine, come in!” you assure smiling at him maybe a bit more brightly than you wanted to show. “We’ll get you something to eat, right, Mary?” 

“Sure thing,” she replies from the kitchen door. You weren’t the only one who saw Barnes on TV. Since then, he became an always welcome guest as the diner owners supported Roan as well. Otherwise, to be honest you don’t think you could possibly be able to work for them.

You put a plate with food in front Leo as he takes a seat at the counter. While he’s eating silently, you wipe the coffee mugs and place them carefully on the shelf. The TV keeps talking. Something about the bloomimg economy and international murder tourists who keep coming to the US to take part in the annual Purge. You glance at the screen, see their gut-wrenchingly excited faces.

“Jesus Christ,” you mutter under your breath and shake your head. “Fucking insane.”

“True,” you nearly jump at his words, as you didn’t realize Leo heard you. “I knew people who killed someone on Purge night for… different reasons. But those who kill just because they enjoy it, for fun or sport or whatever you call it - those are the most dangerous.”

“They’re just psychopaths. People like that should be kept in mental hospitals or something. But they just walk around as if nothing’s wrong with them. And the new founding fathers keep telling them how proud they are of them…”

“Roan’s gonna make it stop,” Mary joins the conversation. “This lady’s got some balls, am I right, sir?”

“Yes ma’am,” Barnes chuckles. “She absolutely got them.”

  You leave the diner together with Leo. Mary chose to stay inside, waiting for her husband to come pick her up in a few minutes. The night is a bit chilly; you’re shivering, not sure if it’s the cold or the fact that you’re alone with him for the first time.

“Where’s your car?” he asks.

“Oh um… It’s in the service actually. So I’m going to the bus station right over there,” you point. Barnes frowns.

“What about tomorrow?”

“Stella promised to give me a ride home. Leo… I’ll be okay. It’s not the first Purge night in my life, you know.”

“Right,” he clears his throat. “Anyway, since I’m here I can drive you home.”

“You… sure it’s okay?” your voice betrays you a little. “I mean you must be tired…”

“I’m okay,” he assures, then nods at his car. “Come on. I insist.”

“Okay,” you hear yourself saying.

  *

You’re mostly silent on the way. You feel a bit tense, but also kinda… weirdly excited to be in this car, next to him. Damn. Is Stella right, and you’re actually into him? Definitely so. But after all these years you almost completely forgot how it feels - to be into someone or how the relationships work. As if you’re a teenager again. Leo Barnes is the first man who actually made you think of something close to romantic longing since… That night.

“It’s here?” he asks as you reach your house. You nod, and he pulls over. You wait for him to say something, to tell you goodnight maybe, but he doesn’t. Without the sound of the car engine, the silence between you becomes even more awkward. You open your mouth to say goodbye to him, but instead different words suddenly come out.

“Leo, I…” 

He looks at you intently. You stare down at your knees.

“Yeah?”

“I just… The fact that you worry about me - it’s very nice of you, really. And… I just wanted you to know that I worry about you too. I worry about you a lot actually…”

“Y/n…” his voice is quiet as he brings his hand to your face, gently urging you to look up at him. His eyes look darker than usual in the dim light of the street lamp nearby. You think if it’s possible to drown in someone’s eyes you’d already be gone.

“I’ll be fine, okay?” he says softly. “It’s gonna be a tough night for sure, but I’ll be fine, I have to be fine. You gotta trust me on this. You trust me?”

“Yes,” you barely whisper, unable to take your eyes from his, and when the tension becomes almost unbearable, his lips finally crush on yours.

You both expected and didn’t expect it, didn’t dare to admit even to yourself how much you really wanted it. Your breath hitches somewhere in your throat as you kiss him back eagerly, forgetting about everything and everyone for this moment that lasts so long and so painfully short at once. You’re both panting as your lips part, foreheads pressed together. 

“I… I think I should go,” you mumble as a rush of panic suddenly overwhelms you.

“Yeah… Yeah…” he nods. “You should get some rest.”

“You too.”

You squeeze his hand for a second. Gosh, you didn’t even realize your hand was on his all this time. 

“Good night,” you finally murmur, bracing yourself to get out of the car. You feel like something else needs to be said, but can’t really figure out what.

  *

You enter the house and just lean against the door, heart hammering wildly inside your chest. You close your eyes and try to catch your breath. What the hell just happened? And why are you reacting like that? There’s nothing wrong about this kiss. You’re two single adults… Well, probably single. Leo doesn’t wear a ring, so… Damn it, you really got out of practice when it comes to relationships.

A knock on the door made your eyes snap open. As if in a daze, you slowly turn and reach the door handle, already knowing who you’re going to see.

Leo doesn’t say anything. And you can’t read the expression in his eyes, or you simply don’t have time for it, because the next moment he steps inside, his hands cup your cheeks and he kisses you with such longing and desperation it nearly kicks the breath out of your lungs. You don’t know what you’re doing any more, but your fingers are already in his dark hair, scratching the nape of his neck while his lips and tongue keep attacking your mouth. It feels like shockwaves running through your body, and for the first time in years you feel just so alive. All this time your feelings, passions and emotions were asleep, everything around you seemed pale and lifeless as if someone turned down the contrast, but something changed. Not right now, not in the snap of a finger, of course; it happened gradually. Something kept changing deep within you since the very first time your eyes met, and now - you’re finally ready to feel something. To let him in.

You don't think about it though. Or about anything else, to be honest. All you can focus on is what his lips are doing to you, how hot his breath is and how weirdly nice his stubble feels against your skin. Leo’s coat falls on the floor. His big hands seize your waist as he lifts you up, causing you to grip onto his broad shoulders. Pressing you against the nearest wall, he nuzzles into the crook of your neck, the kisses are sloppy, open-mouthed, and you can't suppress a soft moan. He's big and strong, you feel small underneath him, but you like it. 

You can’t even remember clearly how you finally reached the bedroom, frantically helping each other to get rid of the clothes. When you tumble down and he hovers over you, the skin to skin contact is overwhelming. He brushes your hair away from your flushed face, kisses you with sudden tenderness. The look in his hazel eyes is warm yet still full of passion as you cup his cheek and he presses his lips to your palm. An affectionate gesture that makes your heart skip a beat, but you both are too impatient to be soft right now. So he leans in, kissing you harder this time, grunting against your mouth when you pull him closer, craving as much of him as possible. You can feel him twitching against your lower belly as you wrap your legs around him, eager to get more pressure. He’s not even inside you yet, but it already feels so good you can’t help bucking your hips, earning a low groan from him at the friction. His lips trail along your jawline, down to the side of your neck, where he kisses and nibbles, and you just know there’s gonna be marks tomorrow, but damn, you can’t care less.

When he finally enters you and starts moving, you’re almost delirious. Clinging to him, you gasp and whisper his name into his skin, feel the muscles on his back tense as he thrusts deeper. The wave of bliss hits you so hard your vision turns blurry and for a few seconds it feels like you’re not there.

  *

Reality comes back to you slowly, with all the dark and troubled thoughts you can’t escape. Leo is lying next to you with his eyes closed, breathing evenly, so you think he must be asleep. Good for him. Carefully, you slip out of the bed to get a glass of water. It doesn’t help you to get rid of the lump in your throat though. Back to the bedroom, you sit on the edge of the bed and let out a deep sigh, trying to fight back tears. Too many emotions for one night.

“Y/n.”

Leo’s voice doesn’t even seem sleepy. You can feel him shifting in bed to reach you, the warmth of his calloused hand stroking your back soothingly.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, uh…” You shake your head, bringing your hand to rub your eyes. “I’m good. It’s just… It’s been a while since I… You know…”

“I know. It’s been a while for me as well.”

“I lost my boyfriend three years ago,” you blurt out, surprising yourself that you said it out loud. “During the Purge night. He um… He was a medical student. We lived in an apartment building and we heard someone crying for help. I wanted to stop him but he just couldn’t ignore someone who needed help, you know. He got shot accidentally, right into his head. There was no chance to save him.”

Leo’s hand gently squeezes your shoulder.

“Sorry, I… Don’t even know why I’m telling you this. I’ve never talked about him since the funeral…”

“It’s okay,” he moves closer, pressing a kiss against your shoulder blade.

“I was so angry at first, you know,” now that you start talking you seemingly cannot stop. “I wished I could find and kill them. But then I thought he wouldn’t want me to become a murderer...”

He presses his forehead against the back of your head for a moment. “I know how you feel, y/n.”

You finally turn to meet his gaze. 

“I lost my son. I know what this anger feels like. Two years ago all I was thinking about on the Purge night was revenge. I was determined, almost obsessed.”

“Did… you do it?”

“No. I was close to it. Very close. But… One wise person made me realize that it wouldn’t help. Violence only brings more violence.”

“It has to be stopped,” you whisper.

“Yes,” he nods. “That’s why I left the police. Cops have to stay away from the Purge. I couldn’t any more. At least now I know I'm doing the right thing.”

“Right… Just… I’m just scared of losing you too,” you say very quietly, but he hears you anyway. His strong arms wrap around your body, pulling you closer, enclosing into his warmth. Making you feel safe.

“Hey, hey...” He whispers into your hair as he nuzzles into the top of your head. “It’s not gonna happen, you hear me? Everything’s gonna be alright. I promise.”

  *

You have no doubt your colleagues noticed who drove you to work this morning. But today no one is in the mood for comments, not even Stella. Even though the work goes on as usual, there’s still this tension in the air before the Purge night. 

Through the window you can see a bunch of guys gathered around the car with an open trunk full of baseball bats and other stuff you can’t discern. The owner proudly shows off his stuff, other guys laugh, they look pretty chill and relaxed, and your stomach nearly twists at the sight. 

  *

All night you could barely sleep a wink. A knock on the door drags you out of troubled slumber. At first you’re not even sure if you really heard it or it was in your dream. But the sounds repeat and you jump off the bed and without even caring to slip something over the huge t-shirt you sleep in. Barefoot, you rush to the door, open it with shaky hands.

He looks so exhausted it seems like he can barely stand. The collar of his shirt that used to be white is now stained with blood. And yet… He’s smiling.

“Leo!..” you gasp, stepping towards him and bringing your hand to his stubbly cheek. “Oh my god, are you… Everything okay?..”

“I’m great,” he breathes out huskily, and his smile slowly turns into a wide grin. “We did it, baby.”

You don’t even try to hold back tears as you fall into his arms, bury your face into his chest. He smells a bit like sweat and blood, but you absolutely don’t care. “I’m so glad you’re here,” you mumble into his ruined shirt. “I’m here,” he whispers back, stroking your hair. Then you realize the two of you are still standing at the porch.

“Alright,” you say, drawing back a little. “Let’s get you in, you need some rest… And you’re probably hungry too… And you definitely need a shower…”

“Wait, y/n. Let’s just… Stay here for a bit? I think we both need to catch a breath,” he chuckles crookedly, reaching out to wipe a tear from your cheek. You smile back.

“Okay.”

  Sitting on the porch with your head on Leo’s shoulder, his arm wrapped around your frame, you watch the sky becoming lighter and lighter as the dawn breaks. You can hear the sounds of sirens in the distance. The city’s slowly getting back to life, waking up after another nightmare. 

You both know it’s not the end, the war isn’t won yet, but at least you won this very important battle. And for the first time in what seems like ages you have a good feeling about the future.

*

Thanks for reading! 

Hugs, Lucy

[fandomlit]

secretive (shane madej x reader)

requested by anon “Could you do a Shane Madej x reader where he thinks the reader is cheating on him with Ryan. Like they whisper things to eachother and stop when Shane enters the room, they text all the time and hang out without Shane a lot. He ends up snapping at the reader about it but it turns out they were actually planning a suprise for him.”

summary shane madej has never been an insecure guy. but when it comes to you, that side can come out to play.

gif cred belongs to @ryanbergara​

shane was rarely insecure. he had learned to become proud of who he is, lanky limbs and all. but of course, there was the occasional slip up--especially when it came to you.

when shane first met you, he was smitten. your dorky personality, stunning beauty, and unrelenting kindness drew him into you instantly, and he chased that feeling to the ends of the earth. and now, almost a year and a half into your relationship, he could honestly say that he has never been happier.

but of course, those pesky insecurities come out to play sometimes.

shane had volunteered to do coffee run that morning before filming unsolved. when he came back to the office where he had left you both, he saw you two sitting unbearably close at the desk, talking and smiling and ignoring everyone else in the room setting up for the shoot.

trying his best to brush it off, he entered the office and gave you both a smile. “caffeine time?”

you leaned away from ryan, clapping excitedly. “caffeine time!”

he gave a wide grin at your cheeriness and grabby hands, handing you the order he had memorized on your first date. 

you stood up from the desk and giggled, “you can have your seat back. i gotta get back to work.”

“alright, have fun,” shane smiled. you gave him a quick kiss before skipping off to your workplace. after shane settled in his seat with his coffee, he said to ryan as casually as he could, “what were the whispers about?”

ryan gave him an entirely unconvincing confused look. “what whispers?”

“between you and y/n,” shane explained, motioning to the door you had just exited through.

“i don’t know what you’re talking about,” ryan said, shaking his head at shane. before shane could press any further, you came back into the office.

“sorry,” you giggled. “forgot my phone.” you snatched off of the small table and then pointed to ryan with a serious expression. “text me, bergara.” and then you left, just as quickly as you had come.

ryan looked up from his prepared manila folder to the camera crew, not daring to glance at the unintentionally glaring shane, and spoke, “are we ready to roll?”

..

“who are you texting?” shane teased when he entered the living room to see you curled up, smiling at your phone.

“just ryan,” you shrugged. that didn’t sit right with shane.

“you two seem awfully close lately,” shane tried to comment nonchalantly. but if he implicated that anything was wrong in his tone, you didn’t notice. you just giggled as your phone buzzed with another text. shane took a sip of his tea with a frown.

after a while of smiling at your phone, you moved over to cuddle with shane as he watched a show on netflix.

you placed a kiss on his cheek as you draped yourself over him. “i love you.”

that did lighten his heart a bit. “i love you, too.”

..

ryan and shane got lunch together many days of the week. then he would come back to the office, pay you a visit in yours, and get back to work. but today, ryan had a different idea in mind.

“why don’t we eat with y/n today?” the shorter man proposed. that unsettled shane a bit. supernatural beings were nothing to him, but a guy taking invested interest in his girl friend as of late? that rattled him.

shane excused, “she’s usually busy during our lunch.. but we can check.” he shrugged. “no harm in that.” and though his thoughts betrayed his words, he led the way to your office.

you were on the phone when shane peeked in. you waved him in as you spoke, “it’s alright, lea.” you tapped your pencil against your desk as the boys filtered in. “yeah, just send it and we can edit and complete. it’s no problem. just relax and enjoy a day off, girl. of course. see you.” you hung up and gave the boys a smile.

“what was that about?” shane asked, coming closer to your desk to give you a quick kiss.

“was that the girl who hasn’t shown up for the past few days?” ryan asked, taking the seat across from your desk.

“yes,” you groaned. “im trying to be patient with her, she’s using some sick days so i can’t really get on her, but did she have to take off in the middle of this project?” you let out a huff.

shane was slightly bothered that ryan knew more about this than he did. but instead, he asked, “would it comfort you at all if we had lunch with you today? or is this girl taking up your schedule?”

you grasped his hand in yours. “please have lunch with me.” you reached out your hand to ryan, who laughed as he took it. you squeezed both of their hands, though shane’s lips were now tightly pursed. “this morning has been insane.”

“we got you,” ryan nodded with a grin that you returned sweetly. when you looked up at shane, he quickly changed his expression into a grin. he felt his jealousy rising second by second during the entire lunch.

..

shane had just walked into the breakroom to see you and ryan laughing as you poured yourself a cup of tea. “that’s actually not a bad idea, bergara. where’d you come up with that one?”

“i’ve got so much in this noggin, you don’t even know, l/n,” ryan responded easily, making you laugh again. shane still hadn’t been noticed, but he felt as if his heart was beating so loud that he surely would be.

“but yeah, shane stays late every thursday,” you continued, “so if you came over right after work, we should be able to get it all done and shane wouldn’t even know!”

“im a genius,” ryan praised.

“that you are,” you agreed, holding your cup out. he clinked his water bottle against it and you both turned to the door. shane was long gone.

..

you had stayed a little bit late that day, and so shane was stuck pacing your shared apartment as he awaited your arrival home, thinking of what to say.

his blood boiled as he thought of the implications of the past couple of weeks. you and ryan were definitely planning something. and with how close you two were lately, it was probably something that shane, your boyfriend, would not care for at all. and if his thoughts were right, then had this happened before? is he only noticing this now? he couldn’t even begin with what he needed to say to you.

you were the most important thing to him. from the moment he met you, he knew he had to be with you. and now that you could be cheating on him with his best friend? his heart was pumping and aching in his chest, and he didn’t know whether to be angry or sad.

when you opened the door, his head immediately shot up. “hey,” you smiled. after you closed the door behind you and took in his frantic state, you asked, “something wrong?”

“we gotta talk,” was all he could manage as he shook his head.

you furrowed your brow as you slipped off your jacket and dropped your bag. “okay..?” you stepped toward him. “what about?”

but your innocence just seemed to frustrate him. “i know about you and ryan.” you stopped in your tracks, but he didn’t dare glance at your reaction to his words. he was worried about what he’d find there. “i heard you guys talking in the breakroom earlier about meeting up when im not home, and how you two always text lately, and you’re always.. touching and..” he took a breath. “i know, y/n.” he finally looked up at you to see your face frozen in what seemed to be shock and concern. you stepped closer to him.

“shane, what?” he stood his ground, arms crossed as you moved in front of him. “shane, no.. no, i love you so much, i would never cheat on you.” you placed your hands on his arms and looked him dead in his eyes. but his expression remained stone.

“why should i believe that?” he spoke lowly.

he wished he hadn’t seen your heart break in your eyes. “shane, ryan and i are your best friends, we wouldn’t dare do that to you. we..” you let out a sigh through your nose and removed your hands from his arms to fish your phone out of your pocket. you unlocked it and handed it to him, revealing the texts between you and ryan.

scrolling up, he found:

boogara, 12:38pm okay, this might be a stupid question..

y/n, 12:42pm i love it already, do tell

boogara, 12:44pm alright do you think it would be at all possible to get balloons custom made as characters from the hotdaga?

y/n, 12:45pm OHMYGOD I LOVE IT WE ABSOLUTELY CAN IM LOOKING INTO IT RN

boogara, 12:46pm shane better appreciate this idea as much as you do when his birthday comes around

y/n, 12:48pm ryan, that man will celebrate harder than he’s ever celebrated before

boogara, 12:49pm he better

shane didn’t know what to make of that as he handed his phone back to you.

“we were planning a surprise party for your birthday,” you sighed, tucking your phone back into your pocket. “that’s why we’re so.. secretive.” you twiddled with your hands nervously. “but i guess not anymore.” shane didn’t know what to say. you looked up to him sadly. “you thought i was cheating on you..?”

shane’s heart burned with guilt. softly, he spoke, “i did, yeah.” your frown deepened. “but not because i don’t trust you,” he explained, taking your hand in his. you looked to your hands instead of his desperate eyes for a moment. “but because i just..” you looked up at him, and the words spilled out, “i don’t know, im just always in awe that i get to be with you and... i guess i got scared that maybe you thought i wasn’t good enough for you, because god knows im not.”

“shane,” you said softly, placing a hand on his cheek. “you’re perfect for me. ryan is definitely one of my best friends, but he doesn’t hold a candle to the love i have for you.” he offered you a short smile. “i only have eyes for you, dork.”

“im sorry,” he whispered. you pulled him in for a tight hug.

“i am, too,” you sighed, resting your head on his shoulder. “will you still act surprised for your birthday..? ryan’s pretty proud of himself.”

“i’d do anything for that little guy,” he sighed, pulling away from you to gaze at your sweet smile. “let’s go watch drunk history.”

forever tags <3 @bombardia @simonsbluee @ari-shipping-stuff @cheshirecat107 @iknowyouthinkimbulletproof

[thatiranianphantom]

You calling season 5 of Riverdale "that joyless, trauma porn filled garbage dump of a season that fundamentally killed this show" is so true. RV has never been a masterpiece by any means, but the clear tone of madness and ridiculous story lines at least were entertaining, the dynamics were pretty much established so those dynamics trying to dealt with the mess was interesting and to some degree watchable. I mean, this is why the show did realistically well on both streaming and ratings until mid season 4, and season 5 just fully destroy it to the point of not return. Season 5 was useless in every narratively stand point, the time jump was fundamentally made so they don’t have to address the issues from last season, it was a "new beginning" in the worst ways. Those arrogant writers forgot the portion of people that watch the show regularly but are not in any means part of the fandom of a loyal fan base. The have been writing for themselves and not for the audience that doesn’t participate in fandom disclosure because they arrogantly thought it was enough to sustain it. Now you have regular viewers completely lost with the events of RD and with not desire to catch up.

Season 5 was useless because it didn’t move the story foward, it did nothing for theses characters and the *little* progress they do managed to obtain got taken back on the season finale. The show did not resolve any of the conflicts presented, the "big mystery" of the season was prolonged until BH resolved it in one episode (that’s why they couldn’t give them any scenes until the very end) and Betty’s dilemma with TBK is still a thing? A thing that should’ve ended on season 5. The "adults" disclosure was an excuse to give us cheap porn that no one asked for (except the writers that droll over KJ’s abs and don’t give that man an actual story line, ever). And as you say the season was joyless, and just down in tone. And that’s because the dynamics between the characters (particularly the core four/choni) gave the show some fun in absurdity but they decided to ruin those relationships…for BA? That unexplored, dry couple. And that’s because deep down they don’t have any more ideas so they are relying on ship drama to keep the show afloat. And you are right about most BAs on Twitter not even watching the show – they truly don’t, they only watch scenes on Twitter so they don’t know the context and most people on there that also "ships them" only do for their mutuals and follows, they were just dumb to believe they were a big enough group to keep RD views and they can barely reach 300k now. Those are beyond cancelled numbers, it’s actually embarrassing.

Sweet verbose anon, how I love your messages. I could go on for hours, days about how much of a failure in every way s5 was. And I know, I know that people (read: BAs, as well as Zumpie and her ilk) are going to say "well you only hated it because of the Bughead fakeouts!"

And yes, that was a part of it. But there was also the complete lack of attention to the friendships, the big bads being introduced with absolutely no payoff, no emotional stakes to anything, the trauma on top of trauma they never planned on dealing with, the long, plotless stretches wherein you could watch episode 4 and then nothing happened in the next thirteen episodes that could not be summarized in a few sentences, the absolute misery of all the characters, the complete lack of any fun crazy that makes Riverdale what it is, the filler plotlines for absolutely no purpose, the insane amounts of time-filling musical numbers, the continued reliance on tying Veronica's plotline to a man, the gaslighting that was the last two episodes, among many more things.

Season five was one of the worst seasons of television I've ever seen, even leaving Bughead completely out of it. They deserve every single drop in ratings they get, and honestly, they're not even doing well on Netflix. I don't know about y'all, but I don't see it in Canada's Top 10. And their continued disdain for the fandom? I feel no sympathy for Riverdale or anyone involved.

[stxleslyds]

Who do you think should be a love interest for Red Hood/Jason Todd?

Oh, Anon, you sent me a very difficult question. I have been wanting to talk about my thoughts on love interests or ships when it comes to Jason but I always end up getting scared and don’t do it. But because you sent me this ask and I want to give you an answer, I will actually speak (write) my mind.

I like ships, I enjoy romances within stories, the name of my blog is based on one of my favourite ships from a tv show that I liked. I have also reblogged content that is about another ship that I like from an animated show but when it comes to the DC comics characters that I like (Dick Grayson and Jason Todd) I actually dislike romances and the idea of love interests, a lot. In Jason’s case, I actually hate the idea of him having love interests.

And that’s because of several reasons, but I believe they can all be enclosed into one thing, Jason doesn’t seem to be into romantic relationships or established romantic relationships. Every time they put him in one of those things start to make less sense, I will explain it more in detail because I will be going through every single relationship that was, hinted at, teased or official for Jason in the last eleven years. (Yup, I have found every single relationship that Jason has had forced and/or out of place).

This is, of course, what I think, you are allowed to think otherwise.

JASON TODD AND LOVE INTERESTS.

New 52.

Essence, Jason’s first kiss and some other things.

Essence was, as per New 52 onwards, the first person that Jason had a relationship with. (RHatO vol.1 #7). They met back in the All-Castle and with her, he said that he felt, for the first time after being resurrected “alive”. Yeah, it is a little bit weird, let’s suppose that Jason was 17 when he first met her, and when I say “other things” I do mean it, the panels are never explicit but there is enough information given and shown that tells us that Jason shared a lot of firsts with her.

But here is my first complaint, Lobdell didn’t need to tell us all that, in fact, he could just have told us that they were friends back in the All-Castle because when Essence is introduced in the story, Jason already thinks that she betrayed him and the All-Castle and he repeats several times that he either: wants to kill her or should have killed her in the past already. (RHatO vol.1 #7)

So, the first person that Jason had a love and/or sexual relationship with is now an enemy through betrayal, or so he thinks. After some back and forth and some other truths getting revealed, everything gets solved, Jason and Essence suddenly don’t interact much with each other.

We get another peek at their current relationship when she shows up in Roy’s hospital bed to help him recover from his injuries. There Jason says that she was his first kiss and that even though they have chosen different paths and they have tried to kill each other a few times they are still there for each other.

Wow, what a lovely message Lobdell, two people who have tried to kill each other and have an overall nasty/manipulative relationship, are still there for each other, which is what truly matters. Give me a break Lobdell, what is this? I understand this book is old by now but this narrative is not cute or special. They barely trust each other and they have been more than willing to kill each other but they are still on good terms, yay! Shut up.

Isabel, the flight attendant that may be a little too pushy at times.

Us and Jason met Isabel, the flight attendant when Jason is travelling along with Roy (RHatO vol.1 #2). Her introduction is very sexualised and Jason and her flirt a lot, he “checks her out” but he is also thinking that Isabel is better off not crossing paths with him anymore, but apparently that isn’t what she thinks because she leaves her number along with Jason’s drink. He is very surprised about that fact.

Jason had been struggling with the idea of calling Isabel because he didn’t want to mix his vigilante life with his normal life, that’s why when he calls her, he hangs up as soon as she answers the call. (RHatO vol.1 #7).

But that insecurity is thrown out of the window (apparently) because he does go on a date with Isabel even though he is doing everything possible to hide his double life (RHatO vol.1 #10). Isabel seems to be having an amazing time and as they reach Jason’s hotel, he offers to call her a cab, which means “date is over I want to go home”, but Isabel has other ideas she starts pushing him and saying maybe I don’t want to leave just yet and Jason is a little uncomfortable but Isabel just kisses him. Yeah, non-consensual kissing happens and this is the first (but not last) time it happens. The kiss is interrupted by someone else and the whole thing ends up with that someone (Orc), Kory, Roy and Jason talking.

Jason was so ready to make Isabel go at the end of their date earlier that he barely notices her when Kory and the others show up. She is literally on the floor asking what is going on and Jason doesn’t notice her until after they are teleported to a spaceship. Jason was so out of it that he didn’t notice her up until Roy pointed her out. How insane is that? What are you trying to say, Lobdell, Jason is an asshole? Or was Jason so uncomfortable on that date that he forgot that the date was still going on?

After they all realise that they are all stuck in space in the middle of an intergalactic war Isabel and Jason talk. Isabel lets Jason know that she thought that their date was boring and bad because Jason was trying to hide his real life, she also asks Jason why a vigilante asked a flight attendant on a date and he deflects that question like a pro. (RHatO vol.1 #11-12). You see, I think that Jason decided to go on a date with her because he thought that’s what he wanted or to prove himself that he could have something “normal”.

When they finally go back to earth Jason kinda acts like a jerk towards Isabel at the beginning but at the end of the issue, we see that Isabel invited Jason to stay the night at her apartment in Gotham, happy times happen and while Jason is in the shower Isabel gets attacked by Joker. The Joker made it seem like Isabel overdosed while Jason was in the other room which destabilised Jason a lot. He calls the cops and she is taken to the hospital after Jason leaves the apartment. (RHatO vol.1 #14-15) The last time we see her she is in the hospital recovering.

A long time passes by and we only see Isabel again when RHatO changes writers for a few issues, the author of Isabel’s comeback is Tynion. We see Isabel entering her home after a date, when she goes inside, she notices some weird robots and those things were put there by Jason who wanted to invite her to a private resort as a date. (RHatO vol.1 #28). Isabel decides to go and when Jason gets too wound up and is ready to kiss her, she tells him that he needs to slow down because a long time has passed since they last saw each other and she is quite mad that because they went on one date and she ended up on space for days and then got attacked in her own home. Jason is a bit taken aback by what she says but he doesn’t get to say much because a fight breaks out. Talk about signs… maybe they shouldn’t get together at all, you know what I mean?

After the fight was over, Isabel told Jason that she can’t do this (their “relationship”) any more, but that if the fight ever ended that he could go back looking for her. So, she “breaks up” with him but still kisses him before leaving. If you are leaving someone because you don’t feel like things are going right why on earth will you kiss them goodbye? It’s not like they were on a five-year-long relationship, they only went on two dates! Maybe this is not that big of a deal but come on…

Kory, this one wasn’t a “real” relationship but the idea of it was forced.

Although Kory appears in the first issue of RHatO we didn’t know then how Jason and Kory had met. That story is told later on and it begins with Jason appearing on the shores of an island where Kory’s ship was stuck. He is in and out of consciousness but we do see Kory taking care of him as he recovers, we also see that Kory has a little bit of heart eyes for the mysterious man, but that was because Jason looks like Dick Grayson (someone who she had dated and actually remembered even though she said she didn’t).

After Jason finally wakes up, he goes to her and she gives him clothing that used to belong to Dick, Jason knows those clothes are Dick’s but when he asks Kory who they are from she says that she doesn’t know (she was lying). After Jason gets dressed, he decides to tell Kory who he is and his story, so he tells Kory “Hey, there is something you need to know about me” and Kory kisses him. Ah yes, more non-consensual kissing, how wonderful! Jason is taken aback and Kory tells him that her people assimilate the knowledge that way, Jason doesn’t make a big deal out of it but I will. Lobdell, you knew that Kory didn’t have amnesia, and you know that Kory has been on earth for quite a long time, there was no need for that kiss. As the reader, I know that that’s how Tamareans learn stuff but I also think that Kory shouldn’t kiss people just to know new stuff! It baffles me that they are still doing this, it was silly then and it's silly now, stop the non-consensual kissing and then excusing it because of fictional alien traditions or whatever, just stop.

But I didn’t put Kory on this list for the kissing, I put her here because even though it was never explicitly shown that Jason and Kory had any type of interaction, there were some hints about it, like that time that Roy asked Jason if he was mad because he had slept with “his girl” to chich Jason answered something along the lines of “she is not my girl and she can sleep with whoever she wants”. (RHatO vol.1 #2)

But that’s not all because Lobdell gave us yet another moment in which Kory kisses Jason without his consent and Jason is written once again alarmed, this time even Roy is present and he is a little bit mad because his girlfriend is kissing someone else in front of him. At that point, Jason and Roy both knew that Kory wasn’t new to this planet and that she had been in a relationship with Dick Grayson previously. Because of all that, Lobdell passing yet another non-consensual kiss as Kory trying to tell Jason that he wasn’t alone in his fight doesn’t sit right with me, it’s even worse when you reach the end of the issue and Kory leaves both Jason and Roy on their own. (RHatO vol.1 #32) Yikes, Lobdell, yikes. (This is no hate to Kory or the other women on this run, this is pure hate towards Lobdell, please don’t get me wrong, he is the one being nasty).

Rose just appeared so Lobdell could tell us that she and Jason slept together.

Poor Rose, so many female characters being dragged into this mess by Lobdell, she really didn’t deserve this. She appeared in the last two issues of this run, two! Only for Lobdell to set up the idea that she and Jason had some fun nights in the past, honestly, who let this man write women?

Their interaction went like this: “Hey Rose, love that mask” “Yeah, I’d considered a heart tattoo that said ‘Jason’ with an axe hacking it in two” “I’m flattered, but I think you made the right choice” after Jason said that last part, he continued with this, “You want to explain what you’re doing here trying to kill us? I remember the last time I saw you; you had a big, satisfied smile on your face”. (RHatO vol.1 #39)

Really, Lobdell? She appears in the last two issues; you have them have that conversation and then in the last issue they are the only ones left (after the outlaws disband, RHatO vol.1 #40) but we never see her again, Rose isn’t mentioned in Red Hood/Arsenal or RHatO Rebirth, she isn’t mentioned any other time. Lobdell just thought that Jason didn’t look like he had fucked enough in the past so he decided to let the reader know that he had had some action. I hate him.

Barbara, this pains me, poor Babs, she didn’t deserve that.

No, Lobdell wasn’t the one who wrote this mess, it was everyone who wrote Batman Eternal. I mean, what was this group of men thinking? Where they playing darts and they had all the batboys’ pictures up on the wall and in whichever the dart got stuck, Barbara will get stuck too? Is that what happened? How often do they play this game, can they stop?

I don’t remember having read Batman Eternal and quite honestly, I didn’t want to put myself through that after I made myself read New 52 RHatO twice because I had forgotten to take notes of what had happened in each issue (I hate myself). So, I will only talk about the absurdity that was Batman Eternal #19 and #28.

All of the “relationships” that Lobdell came up with, were forced or out of place or both but this one takes the cake. It’s so simple and short, but oh, so annoying!

The phrase “You will never be Dick Grayson” coming out from Barbara’s mouth and it being directed at Jason should tell you just how many levels of wrong we are working herewith. Their whole interaction in this book seems to come from that phrase, how on earth do you build up a romance from that? Am I going crazy? Am I missing something? Come on, be honest with me.

Jason being the one who makes Barbara shake off mind control because he told her that he “only remembers what’s important, like the day he met Batgirl”, I am sorry but what? I really don’t have the words, he had even said before that he thought Babs liked him because she looked nervous, what is this writing? Since when does Jason care about Barbara? They met once when Jason was Robin and she was significantly older, what are these writers on, crack? (Batman Eternal #19)

But that’s not the worst thing, later in the book, they switch roles and Jason is apparently no longer interested in Barbara but she is all like “maybe you should stay this time, Jason. Help the family. Save Gotham” and Jason says “Gotham’s never been enough for me Barb” and I am not kidding, she tells him “What if there was more…?” That was hilarious, my gods, they must have been high when they wrote that because that is just too wild for me.

And Jason, the absolute beast that he is, says, “No. Because Barb, it’s like you said… I’ll never be Dick Grayson” (Batman Eternal #28). Jason, you dramatic little shit, what is going on? Why did the writers put us through all that just to end up being like “Babs is thirsty for Jason but he has already moved on”, what was the point of these interactions?

Yeah, that’s all I can say about that, let’s just move on to the mess that was Rebirth.

Rebirth.

Artemis, a new player enters the game.

While we did meet her in the first issue Jason isn’t seen being flirty with her up until they are in a bar and Jason is really drunk, he tells her that she has beautiful green eyes and Artemis is like, “if you are hitting on me, I will punch you in the head” (RHatO vol.2 #8), Lobdell back at it again with that mix between flirting and violence that I hate so much, lovely. But I guess this meant that Artemis was setting boundaries.

Boundaries and kinda thrown out of the window when later in the book we have something like looked like the start of a kiss that didn’t really happen because they were interrupted (RHatO vol.2 #11). Jason also acts a little too cheeky in two instances in another issue, one of them was a bit funny the other one no so much because Artemis was talking about how she had let only three people into her heart and one of them was now dead and she might have been losing another one, at that moment all Jason has to offer is “about that third person… does his name rhyme with Rason Rodd?”, which was a bit out of tune of him. (RHatO vol.2 #13).

The big surprise though is that out of the blue we have an issue called ‘Date Night’ where Jason and Artemis seem to go out on a date! What? We are moving on so fast! (Spoiler Alert: Jason thought it was a date, Artemis only wanted to talk about how weird Bizarro was acting at the time). One of the things that really caught my attention was how differently she was characterized in the issue and that within the story Jason hadn’t realised that Artemis wasn’t really acting like herself either. It could have been a cute date if not for the fact that Artemis wasn’t acting like herself because she wasn’t “really” on a date with Jason. Also, Lobdell does love to hint at Jason’s sex life, before they went on the date Bizarro said “use it (the teleporting door) all night if you need” and Jason responded, “I don’t think we will be needing it all night. I mean, if we do that’s okay, but I’m not, like, expecting anything”, it was kinda funny but yeah, come on! (RHatO vol.2 #19).

From that issue, we jump to the great finale (or not) of this “epic” “love” “story”, the so awaited kiss between Jason and Artemis, oh yeah baby! A couple of issues with flirting, a date that wasn’t a date but maybe if Bizarro wasn’t going insane at the time (who knows?). This kiss obviously comes with the separation of this team of outlaws, Jason is left alone on earth while Artemis and Bizarro are swallowed by a portal of sorts. Jason finally gets the kiss that he so desired, but at what cost? (RHatO vol.2 #25). Brutal issue for Jason, it was also like a special edition because it was bigger and that makes me laugh because all Jason did in that issue was suffer, how unlucky can this guy get?

We don’t see Artemis for a while but when she does come back, she is being controlled by something and it’s making her want to kill Jason, so to shake whatever was controlling her, Jason kissed her and hoped for the best (it worked). See, Lobdell can change! Before it was women forcing Jason into a kiss, now it’s the other way around! Yay! (RHatO vol.2 #41).

After all that we see Jason and Artemis spending some time together, it looks very friendly, they even have a very nice moment when Artemis hugs Jason as he lets himself grieve the loss of Roy. Jason also seems aware (this time) that Artemis is acting a little off and he gets her to talk about how much she missed her axe. It feels like they are taking it slow, they are figuring themselves out after so long, they probably won't kiss and make things complicated, right? Yeah, no, they do kiss, but they each pretend that it was like kissing a sibling. In the end, Jason does say that he lied and that he knows that she lied to him and that was okay with him, my only critique with this is: Why did they have to kiss? They could have waited instead of kissing and then lying about their feelings, what is this, Wattpad? (RHatO vol.2 #42)

Their relationship comes to a halt and we end up seeing them together (in a messy bed, twice) at the end of Lobdell’s run. But even though those two had their fun and Jason almost told Artemis that he loved her, things weren’t really meant to end with them as a couple because at the very end of the issue Artemis says her final goodbye to Jason. She says, “This is it. The end of us. I’m not being mean. I’m genuinely happy for you Jason. You have grown so much since you started the outlaws. But you don’t need us anymore. You don’t need me. Tell me I’m wrong” to which Jason responds, “I can’t. But if I ever needed anyone, it would have been you, Princess”. (RHatO vol.2 #50).

All in all, this was the best-developed relationship that Jason had, but so much about this, one could have easily been transformed into a friendship between the two. You will see better what I mean after I talk about Isabel’s presence in this run. Maybe it is just me, but a solid friendship between these two could have been spectacular, mostly because of what had happened in that one annual that had Dick as a guest.

In that issue Jason was very jealous of Artemis having the most obvious heart eyes for Dick, she was very flirty with him and he was a real gentleman with her. When she offered to take him back to his trailer at the circus he said yes and there, as they were walking towards his trailer, Lobdell wrote the best piece of dialogue in his ten years writing Jason. Dick asked, “So, are you and Jason… together?” to which Artemis responded, “Me? And Jason? Anyone and Jason?”. How is Lobdell so blind to his actual interesting takes on Jason Todd. Aromantic Jason was right there Lobdell, but you had to push your shitty version of “romance” every step of the way! (I am fine with Jason having a fantastic sexual life but listen, Jason being aromantic was still possible).

Essence, first Jason accused her of betraying him but now *Uno reverse card*

Do you guys remember that Essence and Jason’s last interaction in New 52? Jason said that even though they were always fighting or willing to kill each other they also will always be there for one another? Well, when Essence comes back in Rebirth she plans on killing Jason because apparently this time around he was going to betray her. Their very first interaction in this run (RHatO vol.2 #35), consists of Essence saying, “I don’t know if I should kiss you or kill you” to which Jason responds, “why do you have to choose?”. Lovely, Lobdell is back at it again with his shitty version of quirky “romance”, if he is trying to write them as sarcastic, he needs to do a better job at it because it’s not a good look, and not everyone has read his New 52 run so introducing these two in this book this way is kinda not good. But then again, maybe that’s just me.

As a fight ensues after they said those things, we are shown panels of Jason and Essence when they were together in the All-Castle, they would be cute panels if not for the fact that they are currently fighting to the death. It is an insane contrast, and Lobdell also has Jason think “I was the first human trained by the All-Castle. She was the only heir to a throne she never wanted. It was never going to work out between us.” But the thing is that it did work out between each other until Jason left the All-Castle, when they met each other again they had both been fed lies about the other and neither of them seems to want to look for clues to make sure that those rumours of betrayal were true. One will think that now, one of you might not feel so confident when they think the other will betray them again, you went through this already losers! But I don’t blame Jason or Essence for their stupidity, I blame Lobdell.

The fight lasts a few pages but it will end with Essence stabbing Jason with her ‘Blood Blade’ (not to be confused with the All-Blades, those are Jason’s), but here is the thing the Blood Blade comes with a curse if you draw blood from someone innocent your soul will be trapped inside the blade. This is what happened to Essence because Jason was innocent of what she was accusing him, just like she was innocent in New 52 when Jason accused her of betraying him and the All-Castle. Boring.

Now here is the thing, Essence might be dumb or she didn’t know how the Blood Blade worked because later on in the book, the blood blade is teleported by Essence (she was still inside of the blade) to the front door of Isabel’s home. The very next time that we see Isabel she is unconsciously sharing a body with Essence after touching the blade. She possessed her because at that time she still believed that Jason wanted to “destroy the world” (RHatO vol.2 #45). It wasn’t long until she realised that she was wrong and then teamed up with Jason once again. (RHatO vol.2 #46).

Lobdell, why must you recycle stories all the time and make women look stupid? Why would she still believe that Jason was up to no good after she got trapped in the blade? But my point here is that this is supposed to be Jason’s first love and their relationship consists of, flirting, remembering the good times, and almost killing each other every time they see each other because *betrayal*, it’s so tiring and annoying. Do better.

Isabel, aw, shit, here we go again!

Lobdell really had ladies ready to appear in Jason’s life when another had just left. This is one of my major problems with the way Lobdell writes all of Jason’s relationships. It would be lovely if DC and Lobdell just outright said that Jason is only interested in having sexual relationships that aren’t meant to last a long time. Because the way they had him involving himself with women seemed a little sketchy, in #25 Artemis finally kissed him and he seemed pretty happy about it, but then she was gone and now that Isabel appears in Jason’s life again, he acts as if Artemis didn’t exist.

Isabel shows up at the Iceberg Lounge after Jason made public his comeback and his management of the place. One would think that given how things ended up in New 52, Isabel would like to take things slow, after all, she had told him that he could go back to her if he stopped living his double life, but no, she talked to him for a few seconds and then proceeded to kiss him out of the blue. Lobdell’s favourite type of kissing makes a comeback, how nice, I didn’t miss it at all!

I want to be honest with you, maybe I am being too harsh, maybe these are all “surprise” kisses but in a way, it still doesn’t feel right, this is not the first time that someone kisses Jason when he doesn’t expect it (Isabel has done it multiple times already), but he is written as if he didn’t care, and that is not good. Men can feel pressured into kissing someone or can feel like they are being harassed. Lobdell and everyone on this creative team seem to think that being kissed by someone you haven’t seen in very long out of the blue is romantic or cute or sexy or whatever but it has repeated itself so much that I only find it uncomfortable and annoying to read and see. (RHatO vol.2 #33). Maybe it was just me because in that issue where Isabel goes to the Lounge they get attacked and she is not at all bothered by it, this time around, Jason even tells her that her safety is his first priority which is quite funny because the first time they were in a date Jason forgot she was present and only realised that she had been teleported alongside the outlaws to a space ship when Roy pointed it out, but I guess Jason is a different man now. I guess he wants to cultivate a relationship with her now.

And he might because your boy asked Isabel on a date in Paris. They just happened to both be around Paris at that time but here is where Jason says something that makes me speculate as to why he is actually dating, he thinks this, “Isabel Ardila. A flight attendant. Maybe the only normal person I’ve ever allowed in my life. Don’t ask me why.”

Well, Chonky, I won’t be asking you anything, I will actually give you the answers as to why you are letting Isabel into your life. You do it because you equate dating to normalcy, but I am here to tell you that it's fine if you don’t want to date and form romantic bonds, it's not something normal, it's just something some people do. If you like going out with her because of the sex or whatever then that’s fine too, but if you have to question why you are doing something, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it at all.

Jason looks a bit uncomfortable, and we also see that he is feeling sad and lonely because he misses Roy. He even thinks, “sometimes, she even makes me feel normal”. All of this normal talk really speaks to me about Jason trying to have friends outside the job but he doesn’t know how to approach that so he dates women because it makes him feel normal. I can relate to that feeling in a way, and I just think that Jason is confusing friendly love with romantic love, I don’t even know if he knows of the existence of platonic love. A reader that understands those feelings can see that maybe Jason is struggling to feel normal when he realises that he doesn’t love the same way as others. The thing is, I don’t really think that is what Lobdell intended to do, he just wanted to push two of his agendas, Jason has an active sexual/love life and Roy Harper was Jason Todd’s best friend and the only one who is allowed to suffer his death is Jason. In fact, back at the time, Jason was actually one of the few people (or maybe the only person) allowed to mourn Roy.

When the date is over and Jason’s walking Isabel to her hotel, they have a chat where it’s revealed that Isabel thinks that Jason isn’t still living that double life, she actually thinks that Jason is only working as the owner of the Casino, Jason doesn’t correct her. And then there is this very weird line that Isabel says, “The airline picks up my tab. This way you know I don’t love you for your money”, Jason is very taken aback when he heats Isabel say that she loves him so he manages to say “did you just…?” but Isabel stops him with a kiss and a simple “nope”. Jason moves on and goes to work because he is still doing the vigilante gig, the double life, that Isabel thinks doesn’t exist anymore. (RHatO vol.2 #34).

Isabel and Jason’s relationship has always looked forced to me, in rebirth, it was even weirder because Jason had just kissed Artemis and when she was gone, Jason kind of acted as if it didn’t matter that much to him and moved on easily with Isabel, but now Jason is acting kind of sketchy too because he is hiding his double life and the last time he did that Isabel ended up in a lot of trouble. I really don’t know if Lobdell remembers his own shitty writing but he should remember this stuff.

We move on too, and now Isabel has come to visit Jason at one of the events that the Iceberg Lounge has got going on, once again Jason is acting a bit strange because he was having trouble at the time with the idea of his biological father actually trying to contact him before he was killed and he was also having trouble because he was in Gotham after his adoptive father beat the living shit out of him and “banned” him from stepping foot in Gotham again. Jason seems to open up a little to Isabel but just as he starts doing so, she tells him she has to leave. Jason looks hurt for just one panel and then he moves on with his (double) life. (RHatO vol.2 #35). This is the issue where Jason also comes across Essence and traps her in her own blade.

Because everything falls apart in what was one of the best arcs written by Lobdell, Jason sends Dog (Jason’s dog) to Isabel, so Dog can be safe. (RHatO vol.2 #36).

We see Isabel after some very long time, and she is described as “The on-again/off-again girlfriend of Jason Todd. Currently off-again”, at this point in time Artemis was back to being herself and Jason had kissed her and all that. I am just saying, Jason obviously isn’t comfortable in a established romantic relationship. Lobdell dances around that idea a lot, every time with all these women.

This is the issue where Isabel finds the Blood Blade outside her home. (RHatO vol.2 #43).

As you can see, I have problems with Lobdell not handling the relationships very well, there is no concrete information being told to the reader or the characters within the story about how Jason wants to date, we never know if the women in the story know that Jason has been dating/flirting with other women. I am not saying that is bad but it would have been nice if Lobdell just used his words to tell us what he is doing.

I feel like saying that Jason is the kind of man that looks for sexual relationships without commitment isn’t something that will break the world in two. All the “romance” is incredibly forced, just say that he isn’t into romantic relationships my dude… unless Lobdell really thinks that the “romances” that he came up with are actually well written.

Anyway, Jason didn’t know that Essence who he has been fighting against and then alongside was actually Isabel, so, when Isabel and Essence get separated for a moment Jason is surprised. After Isabel tells him that they are in the middle of a battle so she is going to let Essence control her body again, Jason tells her that he “loves her”. (RHatO vol.2 #49). Does he love her for doing that or does he love her because he likes her? Hmm, that’s a good question, it is never actually answered in comics because we don’t really get to see Isabel or Essence after that happens and in the following issue (Lobdell’s last) Jason and Artemis seem to have been having a very fun night and they also kiss, Jason had even kissed with Artemis before he told Isabel that he loved her.

As you can see, its all very messy, Lobdell really said “Jason can’t be directly or indirectly single but I won’t really explain what is going on to the readers or to the characters within the story”, and that speaks volumes about how bad Lobdell’s writing is. This man simply cannot remember the things that he writes, he literally had Artemis say that she didn’t think she could see Jason dating anyone and then she wants to date him and Jason had already been dating people before that statement was made! It was all so messy! It makes all these side-romantic plots pointless; Jason was lonely because he constantly lost his friends, then give him friends! Friends are nice DC, stop making it about romances when you can just give your characters solid friendships.

Barbara, this time the pain is brought to us by Geoff Johns

I put Three Jokers as part of rebirth because I still don’t know if that garbage of a book is supposed to function within actual canon or not but it came out while Rebirth was going on so that’s why it’s here.

Now, the whole book was bad, we can all agree on that but Johns’ handling of Jason and Barbra’s “relationship” made me sick. This is another thing that writers love to do to Jason, write him as the kind of man that cannot take rejection and continues to be pushy about his feelings. Please, DC, don’t ever let Johns write another comic for you, it’s embarrassing at this point.

But in this book Jason wasn’t the only one acting weird, Barbara also did some weird stuff. In this run, Barbara thought of Jason as an unhinged criminal that needs to be locked up but Jason had heart eyes for Barbara every time they saw each other, their whole dynamic was wonky and weird. They even fought before and after Jason killed one of the Jokers.

But that’s not the real problem, the problem was that Johns decided to make Jason get tortured by the remaining Jokers while naked, this man was found naked, injured and mentally unwell by Batman and Batgirl after Jason and Batman had a fight, Barbara decided to take Jason to her home so he could recover.

Jason has just come out of the shower, he was clearly mentally and physically exhausted, and also very vulnerable. When Barbara came into the room Johns had them have a conversation while Barbara was fully clothed and Jason was just in a towel, and he was talking about how lonely and not cared for he felt, he was opening himself up to Barbara and apparently, Barbara (Johns) thought that the best she could do was kiss him, you know, to offer support.

Honestly, what the hell do male comic writers smoke when they write? You don’t show support to someone that has clear feelings for you with a kiss, to then pull away and say that “we committed a mistake”, we? Girl, come on, you made a mistake and a huge one! But one will think that Jason realised that Barbara did make a mistake when she kissed him and he also accepted the fact that she didn’t feel the same way as he did… well, not really, Jason is actually written as the kinda guy that doesn’t take well rejection and the kind of guy that keeps pushing for something between him and the other person to happen.

This man asked Barbara three times if she could give him an opportunity after the first rejection and he kept getting rejected! But that is not all because we all know that at the end of the book Jason left a letter (that thankfully Barbara will never see) in Barbara’s door when he asked again to give him a chance and that he would change who he was for her, he would actually stop being the Red Hood for her! Was Johns on crack? He had to be! The levels of wrong that are being messed around with here are out of the charts! Jason Todd, who has different values and morals than Barbara Gordon would stop being Red Hood just to get a date? Boy, don’t be dumb! Do male writers think that we are going to swoon over this kind of writing, do they expect me to applaud? I won’t!

This “relationship” was forced and incredibly out of place and out of character for everyone and it pissed me off even if it doesn’t affect canon because the writing is bad and the narrative is worse! If you love someone you shouldn’t change everything about yourself to be with them AND if someone says no or rejects your advances then the only thing you should do is back down!

This shouldn’t have to be said!

Future State

Rose, if you know me then you know that this is just a big no for me.

In the Future State: Red Hood story we are shown in the first panel of the first page that Jason is sharing a bed with someone else. We get to know pretty early that someone is Rose. The setting for their relationship is awful, both of them are working for the magistrate, they hunt “masks” otherwise known as heroes or vigilantes.

Jason hates his job and is known for bringing his “masks” alive, Rose on the other hand seems to have adapted easily while working with the magistrate and she is known for bringing the “masks” dead.

First red flag, why are two people who have such different ideals in a relationship together? Let me remind you that the Magistrate is not a good corporation or idea for Gotham, they are basically domestic terrorists and Jason is bringing them people that are like him (he is there undercover). Jason is going against everything that he is in order to infiltrate the Magistrate, Rose seems to be having fun. She brings the subject between them without care and seems to not really understand that Jason doesn’t like the work that they are both doing and that he doesn’t want to talk about it as if it were a normal thing that every couple does.

The second red flag in just a couple of pages is Williamson having Rose say “This is why we make sense. Daddy issues”, wow, are we really doing that, Williamson sat there and said Rose and Jason can make a good couple because both of them have unresolved problems with their parental figures, how wonderful. To me shared trauma isn’t a deal-breaker but sure, if you want to make one of your characters revolve her relationship with her partner around trauma, then that’s on you.

Jason also had a big problem with Rose attacking people who are hiding from the Magistrate because they are actually giving food to the “masks” and to people who don’t have to eat. Rose doesn’t seem to care and that makes the relationship a bit tense. So far, there are not many positives for this couple.

Things only get tenser, people are going around wearing those red pill looking helmets that Jason used to wear in Batman and Robin (2009), the funny looking ones, and those people are just normal people that are stealing food so they can eat or take them somewhere else. Jason is following one of those people and telling them that he doesn’t want to hurt them, just talk but Rose shows up and kills them. Jason is angry and Rose goes on a rant about how being a “mask” is against the law so she had a right to kill him.

Together they figure out that those people were being controlled so they go looking for whoever was behind those helmets.

They are tense and Jason is very cold with her even when she tries to lighten up the mood, but shit gets worse when they both receive an alert to go hunt another mask: Jason Todd.

Rose wants the money. Aw, nothing says healthy relationship more than murder.

The apparent reason why the Magistrate put a target on Jason was that he had the helmet that he took from that boy, when he realises this he puts it on and hopes that Rose finds him through that, so she can help him if he gets in trouble.

Jason gets mind-controlled through the helmet and is forced to fight rose, they fight for a while and then Rose breaks the helmet. Jason says “knew you would find me” and Rose responds “you are lucky I have a crush on you”, ok, is Jason okay with Rose wanting to kill him a few minutes ago when the alert on him came out? That’s not a big deal for them? Ok.

Jason seems to be in love with Rose even though they think differently and they are written with as much chemistry as a history book, he cares for her and does everything to save her when they get attacked by the Magistrate.

When they escape the initial attack, Rose grabs Jason and tells the Magistrate’s drones that he will take the bounty for Jason but that she will deliver him alive. Jason is surprised and angry but then the drones just leave. And we are left with Jason and Rose on a rooftop alone after Rose seemingly tried to betray Jason.

Do you know what Jason does next? He tells Rose that they should go on a holiday. He cares and keeps wanting to protect her from the Magistrate. Are you kidding me? This is so messed up; I want to remind you that these were the only two issues for this story. This is all the information we had for a long while and it is disgusting. DC really let this thing be published!

Rose betrays him twice; he is willing to harm him on some level and he still wants to be with her? Am I understanding that correctly? Later on, he keeps wanting to protect her from the Magistrate after he has evidence that they are hyper corrupt.

The point I want to make is that Jason and Rose shouldn’t have been introduced to us in this book as a couple or as people who have been sleeping with each other for a long time. I don’t know why this needs to be said but having a couple where one of them can think of killing their partner is absolutely awful. And then they make it worse by having the “victim” act like it doesn’t matter and that they should work on protecting the person that wanted to betray them.

I understand that there is a Future State: Gotham run going on with a Jason story in it written by Williamson but I don’t want to go near it. Future State: Red Hood made me uncomfortable and it made me cry out of frustration. How did this story get a pass by the editor? It’s disgusting, and it’s that because of this absolutely forced “relationship” that Williamson wanted to put in.

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My point with all of these “couples/love interests reviews” is that writers need to be more conscious about what they write and about how some readers might perceive some messages.

Non-consensual kissing, harassment and all those things shouldn’t be part of the dynamic of two people that you are trying to put together. If there is some non-consensual kissing you can simply put a panel where the person apologises for their actions, but not even that is shown in these cases.

Comic writers need to be more aware of the way they write relationships. Yes, these are fictional worlds, people and situations but you are still playing with real-life interactions. Making some things appear in comics as normal things that you do to your crush/partner or whatever has an impact on people and writers need to become aware of this.

Lobdell was dying to let us know that Jason had a very active love/sexual life, great, but you need to show healthy relationships or make things clear about the relationships that Jason had. So many interactions that Jason had with women were overlapped with each other and the reader doesn’t know how to take it, is Jason a player or is he into open relationships, to me, it didn’t look like that but hey, maybe the writer would let us know? No, he won’t, because all he wanted to do was make Jason “date” more women.

Here is the thing, I have always felt like Jason was Aromantic, he likes having sex and having fun, but established romantic relationships aren’t his thing. It is what feels right (to me) with this character. And that’s (in part) because of all these messed up relationships that he was forced into. The two times that Jason seems to “be in love” are in Three Jokers and Future State: Red Hood, those two books are horrendous when it comes to Jason and love interests, in one of them Jason acts like the kind of man that cannot and will not take well a rejection and in in the other Jason acts as if he were blind to the abusive actions his partner does to him.

None of those two concepts are healthy or nice. Writers need to do better about that, they just have to.

So, to answer your question, I don’t think Jason Todd needs a love interest. Not as the main plot or subplot, maybe as a vague mention but nothing else, because comic writers suck at writing healthy and well-developed relationships. And because I really see Jason as the kind of person that wouldn’t involve himself in a romantic relationship with anyone.

I know this answer is more a rant than an answer but this subject is one that I have thought about a lot and it really made me nervous to bring it up. To everyone who thinks differently about these relationships, I understand and keep doing you, these are all just my thoughts and they are not worth more than yours.

Anon, thank you for the ask, sorry for making you wait so long and I hope that you have a wonderful rest of the week!