#i just think he’s just another victim of this fucked up system he was literally BOUGHT into

[voidlessmaze]

preparing myself for the second flock of hawks haters coming in after the anime onlys get to THAT point of the new season

[sneezingfetishftw-fics]

Insufferable (1/7)

My sick!Vox fic is finally up, or at least part 1 is! Decided to break into what I think will be 2 chapters. Featuring an insufferable bastard, plus caretaking from the Vees.

Next chapters: 2 3 4 5 6 7

Wavs: 1 3

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“Why are the lights so fucking bright in here? Are you trying to give me a headache?” Vox was often a bit of an insufferable prick, but today he was far worse than usual. His interview for Voxtech Angelic Security was just an hour away and he’d already managed to insult pretty much everyone in the room. The lights dimmed, he returned to a previous complaint. “And why haven’t you turned the AC colder already? It’s like a sauna in here!”

“The AC is already as cold as it goes, sir.”

“Then fix it! God, what am I even paying you for?” He paused, then pulled out his cell phone. “Hey Val, are you free right now? I got an employee I’d like you to knock some sense into—or rip the limbs off of, whichever you prefer. I could do it myself, but I know how much you enjoy that thing.”The employee shuddered. “Great, thanks! See you soon.”

Vox looked around. “Where is my water bottle? There should be one on the interviewing desk. Is anyone around here doing their goddamn job?” Another employee rushed over with a water bottle. “Finally.” He took a sip and immediately grimaced. “Where did you get this? Normal water doesn’t scrape my throat like that! Disgusting.” He threw the water bottle aside, pausing only to make sure the lid was on first.

He took a deep breath, which immediately triggered a coughing fit, his voice crackling like a broken speaker. His screen went grey and fuzzy, static flaring with each cough. “Who did the last maintenance on the filtration system?” A sheepish woman stepped forward. “Fix it! Actually, no. Get out. You’re fired. The air is so thick in here I can hardly breathe.” She hung her head and wandered off. It wasn’t like she was the first to be fired on a whim, and at least Vox didn’t literally tear people apart. “I’ll take a look at it along with the AC, then, sir,” the employee from earlier offered.

“You’d better. But don’t think that’s enough to save you,” Vox said, standing so close the employee could hardly hear anything over the fan. “Val’s still on his way.” The employee gulped.

Valentino began shivering the moment he stepped in the door, but he ignored that and made a beeline for Vox. “Where’s the victim?” he asked with a grin.

Vox pointed to the man cowering in the corner. “He won’t fix the AC.” Val nodded, still shivering. “He says it’s already as cold as it can go, but I’m boiling here!” Val raised an eyebrow at that. A loud whirring started as Vox’s fans kicked in.

Val put a hand on Vox’s forehead, and jerked it away almost immediately. “Amorcito, you’re incredibly hot!”

“Save it for later, Val,” Vox chuckled.

“No, I mean it’s hard to believe how much you’re overheating. And in a freezing room, no less. I thought my hand was going to burn!” Vox crossed his arms and shook his head. “I mean it, Vox, you’re obviously running a fever!”

“Shut up. I’m fi… hi…” his screen flickered with each hitch. “Hi’tzzzcht! Fine.”

“Sir?” The employee raised a finger tentatively, regaining some boldness now that neither of them was ripping him apart. “One of the lights just broke.”

“Why the fuck are you telling me? Just fix it! Ugh, it’s a wonder anything gets done around here.” He gave a long sniff, trying to stave off the buzzing tickle. “And send a cleaning crew in. It’s way too du… huh… huh… hut’TZZZZSHT! Dusty in here.”

“We just cleaned yesterday…” the employee said weakly, trying not to look at the speaker that had just popped.

“I didn’t ask you when the last cleaning was, I asked you to clean the damn studio! Now get on with it before I change my mind and let Val rip your arms off.”

“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.” The employee practically ran off to begin his tasks as Val gave a toothy grin, looking menacing despite the intense shivering.

“There you go. I’ll be back here for the sound check. And this place better be fucking spotless.”

Vox and Val walked out the door. “I’ll catch you at the penthouse,” Vox said, activating his teleportation powers. He only made it a few feet. “Hhh’dzzzzcht!” The hallway lights flickered.

“How about we walk together?” Val offered, wrapping his arm around Vox. Vox sighed, but it wasn’t like he had a choice. Repeatedly teleporting a few feet at a time sounded even more annoying than walking. While they walked, Val pulled out his phone with his free hand to text Velvette. “Meet at the penthouse ASAP.”

Velvette almost dropped her phone when she saw the pair of them walk through the door. “Walk” was actually a bit of an overstatement. Vox was practically staggering, leaning heavily on Val for support. His screen was dimmed, except for a bright spot in the center where his nose would be, if he had one. His fans were still whirring loudly. His normally immaculate suit was wrinkled, as if he’d crumpled in on himself repeatedly. The man was, quite obviously, a mess.

Velvette stared in silence for a moment. “Wow. He really does look awful, doesn’t he?”

Vox glared. “I’m fine. I’m just taking a quick break before the studio’s ready for my interview. Those morons still have a lot to set up.” The pair stared at him.

“Um, Vox? You sure now is the best time for an interview?” Velvette asked.

“I’m fine,” he insisted, his hypnotic eye swirling so slowly it might as well be a broken Ferris wheel.

“Right,” Velvette said, rolling her eyes as Vox’s screen flickered again. “Totally fine, and definitely not about to sneeze.”

“I’m not going to… hih’tzzzzch!” He opened his mouth to protest more, but no sound came out. Damn it, were his audio drivers glitching too? Or was it just his vocal cords? He smacked the side of his head with a grimace. “The interview has to be today. If I delay it, it’ll look like we’re hiding something.” Thank god that worked. Vox without his voice was… well, he really didn’t want to think about that.

Velvette raised an eyebrow. “You literally just smacked yourself in the head cause you couldn’t talk. You really think you’re in a good state to be giving an interview?”

Vox’s screen brightened for a moment. “I’m fine! It’s fixed now.” His screen dimmed again, then started flickering. “I’m perfectly heal… heh… hhh… healthy! Just let me go to the godda… ehh… ahh… hah’TZZZZSHT! The goddamn interview.” Valentino’s phone instantly shut off. Velvette, seeing this, clutched her phone tightly to her chest.

Val tried turning his phone back on, but it was unresponsive. “You broke my phone, Vox. You broke my fucking phone! What else are you gonna break if you go back in there?”

Vox frowned. Loath as he was to admit illness, it really was in his best interest to minimize property damage. Especially with a live audience.

“I’ll do the interview,” Velvette offered.

Vox gave a laugh that quickly turned into a coughing fit, his screen a sputtering mess of static again. “No offense, Velvette, but I’m pretty sure you’re not familiar with the ins and outs of the system.”

“And I’m pretty sure you’re not recognizing you don’t have a lot of options. Would you rather send Valentino?”

The other two recoiled at the suggestion. “God, no!” Vox replied. “Ugh, I guess if you really want to, go knock yourself out. My notes are on that tah… hhh… ahh… hah… hah’TDZZZCHT! Tablet.” Said tablet was now stuck in bluescreen. “Shit.” He rubbed his aching head, trying to think.

“Are the notes backed up like the rest of your files?” Vox nodded, not even trying to speak this time. “I can pull it up on my phone, then. I’ve got this. Backbone of the Vees, remember? You just stay here and get some rest,” she said, blowing a kiss as she left.

Velvette strutted out the door, taking with her the responsibility that had been keeping Vox together, and it was like a switch had been flipped. Vox immediately plopped himself down on the couch, limbs dangling limply. “Everything huuuurts, Val.”

“I know, Amorcito, that’s why I’m here.” He gently stroked Vox’s arm. “Now, is it really everything? Or can you be a bit more specific so I can actually help you?”

Vox’s mouth moved, but no words. A frown. A throat clearing sound. More mouth movement, still no words. A deeper frown. A self-inflicted smack on the side of the head. Still no words. The fans kicked into high gear as Vox was about to spit steam out of his head.

“Shh, gentle, Voxy. Let’s try not to blow out the power grid again, hm?” Val patted Vox’s screen. “I’ll get you something for your throat.” He searched through the fridge for some Gatorade. Electrolytes had to do something for an electric being, right? In the absence of any speech from Vox, the fans were even more noticeable. Better grab a cold compress from the freezer too, then. He placed the cold pack on Vox’s screen and handed him the bottle. Vox took a sip and shook his head. His voice still failing him, Vox made images appear on the screen. Val blinked, trying to figure out what he was looking at.

“Something wrong with the drink?” A nod. “Tastes bad?” Head shake. Val tried to think what could possibly be wrong with a drink. “Too liquidy?” Vox rolled his eyes. “Wrong color?” A facepalm. “Uh… too cold?” Vigorous nodding, and then a wince and a dizzy expression. “I got it. Just rest here, Vox. I’ll find you something.”

Val returned a few minutes later with a steaming mug of tea. Vox’s screen was dim and pale, the colors washed out. His weak fingers could barely grasp the handle of the mug. “Oh, Voxy, you poor thing,” Val said, his wings wrapping around Vox for support. The steam from the drink got into Vox’s vents and his screen started flickering. Val noticed immediately and set the mug on a nearby table, holding Vox through the buildup.

“Hhh… hhhh… hhh… hhht’dzchhht! Hhhh’zzzzch! Hhh’ZZZZZSHT! Htchh’RRRRGZZZZZZT! Ugh.” The demon clawed at his throat, then paused in realization. “Fucking hell that hurt!” He winced. “Talking hurts.” Still, better to have a functioning voice, he supposed. He gestured to the mug, and Valentino handed it to him. He took a sip, grimaced, and then finished the rest of the mug in one gulp. Val surveyed the room and realized that a few of the TV screens were out. “Let’s get you into bed, hm?” Vox raised an eyebrow. “Not like that! Unless you want to, of course…” he added, licking his lips. Vox shook his head, exhausted. Val led Vox to the bedroom, the TV clinging hard to the moth as he took a few shaky steps. Val paused, then nodded to himself. He hoisted Vox over his shoulder, ignoring the spluttering protests. “Amorcito, you can barely walk. Let me carry you for a bit.”

Vox huffed, and Val felt the static shock. “You could at least have the decency to carry me like your partner instead of, I don’t know, a corpse?”

Val chuckled. “Have you seen yourself, darling? You practically are a corpse at this point.” Still, he switched to bridal carry.

After what felt like an eternity, dragged out by Vox’s complaining that he was on death’s door, they finally reached the bed. Val laid Vox down and sat next to him. “Now then, does everything still hurt? What can I get you?”Vox’s lips moved silently, then rapidly into what Val assumed to be a string of curse words. Hard to tell without audio. Val sighed. “You really are feeling awful, aren’t you?” Vox nodded. Val stared at Vox for a while until the moth’s singular brain cell finally came up with an idea. He blew a puff of smoke in Vox’s face. Vox flinched, and his screen flickered rapidly. “Hhh… hih… hhhh’dzzzzzzcht! Hih’tzzzzsh! Hah’TZZZZZCHT! TZZZSH! Tzzzsch’TZZZZZST’dzTZZZZZSSHHT! What the fuck, Val?” He rubbed his throat. “Oh. Uh… thanks, I guess? I don’t know. That fucking sucked.”

“If you’d rather not repeat that, then I suggest you get your words out now before you lose your voice again.”

Vox scowled, but he knew it was a valid point. “I just… I’m sore all over. It’s not fair! What did I do to deserve this?” Val raised a finger. “Besides everything that got me into hell.” Val shrugged. “Ugh… my throat hurts, my head hurts, all my muscles ache, there’s this constant buzzing in the back of my head that won’t go away, everythig is blisterigly warmb whatever I try… oh for fugck’s sake, I get congestiod dnow too? Ughhhh…” He groaned and rolled over, faceplanting into the bed.

Val tutted sympathetically. “You never do anything half-assed, do you?” Vox nodded, dragging his screen across the blanket. “Vox, if you’re feeling so warm, why are you still wearing all those clothes?” A pause. Vox wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “There’s no image you need to keep up right now, Vox. Let’s get you comfortable.” Vox sat up and let Val get to work. The crumpled suit was set on a nearby chair. The sweater and shirt were pulled off and tossed to the same chair, Vox dropping his arms instantly the moment he no longer needed to put in the energy to keep them up. The shoes were removed and the pants taken off and folded up with care. As soon as it was done, Vox collapsed face down into the bed again, breathing heavily from the effort.

“You said you’re sore all over, would you like a massage, Amorcito?” A thumbs up. Val got up to find the massage bar. They’d found that using a more solid form helped avoid any accidents… they did NOT need a repeat of the time poor Vox got massage oil stuck in his vents. Val began massaging Vox’s arms, but paused when he felt Vox’s shoulders shudder.

“Hhhh’dzzzzzzchmp!” The sound was muffled into the bed. Vox slowly dragged himself up until he was facing Val. “Hit’chZZZZZZZCHT!” Sparks flew from Vox’s screen and landed on Val’s arm.

“Keep your sparks to yourself, Vox!” he said, wincing at the static shock. “Hmm… that might explain the electronics failures…”

“Sorry, Val.” He said, rubbing his screen. “Wasd’t expectig it to comb that fast.” He gave a long sniff. “Hhhhh’dZZZZZZT!” He pointed at the massage bar. “Can you put that away? I think the scent is too strong right now, my sensors must be acting up.”

Val switched to an unscented massage bar and resumed the massage. A few soft moans from Vox let Val know that his attempts were effective. Eventually the sound dropped off entirely, except for the occasional sneeze, which Val assumed meant the video demon’s voice had given out again. After a while, there was no sound at all except for congested breathing. Val gently turned Vox on his back, revealing closed eyes. Val breathed a sigh of relief. The man was much less exhausting when he was unconscious. Maybe now both of them could get some rest.

[literallyjusttoa]

Friendship is Magic (Post-Toa Version)

About a year ago I made a couple posts about some niche gods I wanted Apollo to become friends with and now I’m back at it! Have some more post-toa relationships for our dear boy. (Warning, this is really long)

Prometheus: Ok, so I actually already said I want Apollo and Prometheus to be friends, but over the last year I have only grown to find this idea to be so interesting. I see the two of them as being so similar, with a strong love and respect for mortals, and a bleeding heart that ostracizes them from their family, who are more easily able to turn a blind eye to any tragedies that occur. But while I think their base personalities and motivations are similar, I think their tactics differ just enough to cause conflict. But the two respect each other so much that they can push and pull at each other enough to find a middle ground. Apollo has always been impressed by Prometheus’ craftiness, and lengths he’s willing to go for his own beliefs. Prometheus has held affection for Apollo for a long time, mainly bc he’s Leto’s son and he pleaded with Zeus to let Prometheus out of his punishment. Recently tho, Prometheus has been relieved to finally see another immortal who is just as against the state of Olympus as he is.

Idk if I’m explaining this right, but like. Apollo’s going to spend a lot of time trying to bring his family around to accepting the flaws of Olympus and the way they treat mortals. And that’s good! And he wants to do that! But when you’ve been a victim of a corrupt system, and then you have to spend a lot of mental energy helping other people realize how much this system hurts people, it can be such a relief to talk with someone who already agrees with you that things are fucked. LIke, “yeah, you don’t have to convince me that you’ve been hurt, I’m not going to challenge you on that at all, or try to justify it, I just believe you, and I agree that things need to change.” That’s what I want these two to be for each other. 

Menoitios: The brother of Prometheus, and Titan of violent rage and rashness. If Prometheus allows Apollo to air out his hurt, Menoitios helps him to work with the violent, and often terrifying responses he’s had to the trauma he’s ignored. Apollo has not been a good person, and he is often horrified by the actions he’s taken in the past. Instead of letting him spiral, Menoitios tells him that he can’t stop these behaviors until he finds the reasons behind them. He also tells Apollo that the emotion that often led to him lashing out and hurting or even killing others, that feral rage that came from being raised up in such a toxic society and being harmed on such a deep level, does not have to be inherently harmful. They work through coping mechanisms, and work on using that rage to make real change. Oftentimes, Apollo and Menoitios can be found sparring, no holds barred. They go until their energy is spent, and then Menoitios carts Apollo over to Prometheus and caringly forces him to talk it out. 

Aporia: Aporia is one of Nyx’s kids! I picked her specifically bc while there are a lot of Nyx’s children that I think would be interesting for Apollo to interact with, Aporia’s domain is especially interesting to me. Aporia is the personification of want, difficulty and powerlessness. These are three things that Apollo has definitely struggled with, and will continue to struggle with as he goes on post-toa. It’s especially hard for him because these three emotions are so heavily looked down upon on Olympus. Gods are not allowed to desperately want, or to struggle, or to be powerless. Apollo has hidden these feelings away for so long, and then he was forced back into them during the trials. It’s jarring, and he hasn’t really found peace with it yet. So when he starts getting visits from a literal representation of the parts of himself he wants to push down the most, he freaks out. But Aporia is not there to make him more powerless, or wanting. Instead, she wants him to embrace these parts of himself, to understand how they make him whole. The two of them struggle to connect, but when they do, their friendship is so impactful. 

Boreas: I have been introduced to this ship and I actually love it oml. With Boreas, Apollo gets the one thing that he really needs after the trials. REST. Boreas pulls Apollo away from Olympus, and lets him get some good rest in his palace. It helps that the two of them have a very peaceful, slow and steady sort of relationship, where there are very little expectations on either side. (Basically, you’re hot, I’m hot, we wanna make out sometimes, let's just do that and be chill about it) Boreas is calm, but can be very stern at times. When he knows what needs to be done, he gets it done. Oftentimes this no-nonsense attitude helps Apollo to start moving too. When Apollo wants to give in, Boreas is the type to be like “You can rest for a while here, and when you get up again, I’ll help you figure out what to do.” And especially post-toa this is really helpful for Apollo. They cute <3.

Euphrosyne: Apollo’s half-sister! She’s the daughter of Zeus and Eurynome. She’s also one of the Kharites (Charities, or Graces) and she’s the goddess of Mirth. I think after Jason, Apollo reached out to some of his half-siblings, honestly just wanting to make sure they’re all doing ok. He and Euphrosyne hit it off quickly, and the two of them really just have fun together. Apollo is a person who feels his emotions so strongly, both sorrow and joy. So while he needs people around him to help him through his tragedies, he also needs someone who can match him at the levels of wonder and delight. These two hype each other up a lot, and while that might be two much for others, it’s what the two of them need to work through the emotions they have. They watch movies and listen to music that they rant about for hours, gush about their closest friends and family, and just sit and bask in it all sometimes. It’s just a lil bubble of joy and comfort. 

Haha psych! Got you! I disguised this as a friends post, but it’s actually my roundabout way of giving Apollo therapy while there’s no god of therapy!! Heehee I’m such a prankster!!

[acewizardinspace]

People don’t think enough about the jedi council’s options in the wrong jedi arc. They can either:

A: Do nothing. Tell the public and the friends and family of the victims, “There is a ton of evidence for this person’s guilt, but she is one of us, we have known her since she as a baby, so we decided she is not guilty, without a trial. Bye.”

B: Hold your own trial. We don’t know exactly what kind of legal system the jedi might have, but there is no way in thousands of years there has never been a jedi accused of a crime. Even if we assume those crimes are handled by the government issuing the accusation, there has to have been a time when that wasn’t an option. For example, the council held a trial to decide the fate of Prosset Dibs, so yeah there must be some type of system in place. But Prosset and Ahsoka are very different because he only attacked another jedi, making it an internal affair. For Ahsoka, think of the implications, either they:

a: Find Ahsoka guilty: What now? Do you imprison her yourself? Do the jedi have cells in the temple for keeping force sensitives? Just keep her in her room with guards on the door? We know the jedi believe in rehabilitation so there would be an attempt to help her away from the dark side (once again, what they did for Prosset). Meanwhile, they have to deal with the public who is probably not happy that she is getting off with what is, in their opinion, a slap on the wrist. Is it the jedi’s job to care what the people want? Maybe, maybe not, but public opinion is at an all-time low because of this fake war set up to make them look bad, and this will have consequences. (Yeah, we know she is not guilty and doesn’t need rehabilitation away form the dark side, but the council doesn’t.)

b: Find her innocent: This will sound like bullshit to the public. “Uh we meditated on it and the force told us she is not guilty.” How mad would you be if this happened? If your friend died in the attack, wouldn’t you be just pissed about this? There is a TON OF EVIDENCE TO HER GUILT and at this point, no counter evidence. (Yeah, Anakin shows up with Barriss eventually, but you cannot make a decision based on something that will happen in the future, something you don’t know about. So, this doesn’t factor into the council’s decision.)

Or finally, the option they chose, the only real option available:

C: You send Ahsoka off to receive a fair trial* where she will have an opportunity to defend herself in court and will have an attorney. In their minds, this trial would likely be even more fair than one they hold because they are emotionally compromised here, because, yes, they do know Ahsoka and consider her family! But they have been burned before (Dooku and Krell) and are at this point willing to accept the possibility of betrayal.

People act like the council sent her to die. They didn’t. All they did was vote on whether or not she, someone accused of a crime with tons of evidence supporting that claim, should go to trial. That’s it. Everything else was Palpatine and Barriss. Besides, this way if she is found innocent the public won’t think it was nepotism.

* We, the audience, know this will not be a fair trial, but the council, and literally everyone else, believes it will be. There is literally not a single indication to imply anything else. You can’t blame characters for not knowing something they logically couldn’t know.

So, to the people who think the council fucked up here, I ask an honest question, if you were on the council, had the full ability to sway the vote, and only knew what the council knew, what would you have done? And if it was anything other than expelling Ahsoka from the order, how would you have handled the fallout? The riots, the protesting, the clones from the guard who get killed in the crossfire of your choice?

The council made the only choice they could have made, and Ahsoka got hurt. That doesn’t make them wrong, and it doesn’t make Ahsoka wrong to feel betrayed either.

[swbookerr]

how u charactirize the relationship between garp & ace? i personally think theyre quite complicated cause they love each other to the end of the world but also ace needs the touch of someone who is gentle enough to not break the fragile inside of his shell, which is something garp is just NOT dealing with. its a vicious circle where ace believes its his own fault for being so difficult while garp feels frustrated as he watches his grandson dig deeper into the hole.

this has been a bit of a ramble ... my apologies.

No, please ramble; I love rambles! Rambling together is literally one of my top communication methods!

Right, so, I love Garp. He's such a shithead, but that's exactly what he's supposed to be. I mean, in the grander scheme of things, he's the reformist who can't stomach admitting that the entire system is flawed. Up close, he's a 'tough love, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, this is the way the world works' of guy, but he has to be like that precisely because he's a reformist. If he weren't like that—if he ever elected to wake up and smell the government-sanctioned mass genocide—his entire world would collapse, and he would have to face all the monumental, misguided fuck-ups he's made. If he's not a good man who has always tried his best for the sake of justice (however cruel that justice may be), then he's just a coward whose inaction (and sometimes direct action) has actively hurt his own family, and he can't face that.

Garp's relationships with Luffy and Ace reflect his thinking so clearly, but especially with Ace. Ace is a symbol of everything that goes against the system Garp is upholding, but he's also a victim of that system; it's more convenient for Garp to sequester him away and tell himself everything will be fine than it is to admit that Ace needs more. In my eyes, Garp absolutely loves Ace—in fact, I think his handling of Ace is so poor because of how much he loves him; Garp and Roger were friends, and Ace is his legacy.

Like you say, it's absolutely a viscous cycle between them. Garp, having all these complicated feelings, tries to prepare Ace for the people who will undoubtedly have similar feelings. Ace, a young boy who already feels like he doesn't fit in the world (no thanks to his unconventional upbringing), spirals every time Garp refuses to step up for him. I think a part of Garp hopes he can scare Ace into joining the Marines but, of course, he does the exact opposite.

As for Ace, he definitely loves Garp, and that's why I think Garp really did a number on him. Of course, Ace has Dadan, but she isn't a great parental figure. (Don't get me wrong, I love her and I know she loves Ace, but she's more like that cool, older babysitter that doesn't give it a shit what the kids do, as long as they're not dead.) Garp is the one who's supposed to be looking after Ace, and Ace knows that. He sees the lack of effort and care, and the way Garp can't really look at him. I bet Garp's infrequent comings and goings were harder for Ace to bear than simply being left alone.

This isn't even acknowledging that Garp's treatment of Ace isn't just neglectful, but absolutely callous. Telling a young boy that "only time will tell if he deserves to live" isn't just fatalistic, it's fatal. Ace takes this message to mean, "No actions I can take will have a bearing on the worth of my life," so he's robbed of his hope, of his desire to live; he thinks everything is pre-determined by the people around him, even his identity.

(Yet Ace goes about his life with utter patience and kindness anyway because he knows what it's like to go without them and he's desperate for love. God fucking damn it, Garp. You broke the boy.)

Anyway, I could go on, but I've said enough. Geez, now I'm the one apologising for rambling so much! Sorry! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

PS. I know I said in another ask that my favourite characters were Ace, Luffy, Shanks, Mihawk, and Robin, but... I think Garp is up there, actually. Then again, so are Jinbe and Law and Kuma, so, really, I'm just full of shit.

[kurov1864]

How Milgram characters act when drunk

For legal reasons they are all of drinking age I swear!! Please don't cancel me I just wanna write them a lil silly :(

Not Amane tho

------------

Haruka: Clumsy and emotional drunk. It's like his normal personality, but emphasized by a hundred times. You have to pay extra attention to your words because when he's drunk, he can take any sentence you say and twist it so badly he'll convince himself that you think he's the scum of the earth. He's also quite clumsy, slurring his words, mixing up which hand is which, accidentally smacking your face when trying to hug you. Be patient with him, would you? He's trying his best.

Yuno: Bitter or happy drunk. It depends on her mood honestly. If she's drinking around fun and lively people, she'll be a happy drunk. The life of a party, teasing and flirting around, doing drunk karaoke, basically having an all around good time. If she's not in a good mood though… she'll become a bitter drunk. She'll let her usual sweet and cheerful facade slip and become her natural pessimistic self, muttering about her regrets and whatnot.

Fuuta: Sleepy drunk. He's literally the type to start off strong and rowdy then nod off in the middle of the conversation. His energy would slowly start to ebb during the early night, and he'll be completely knocked out by the time it's 11pm.

Muu: Emotional and sleepy drunk. She'll be crying left right and center about the unfairness of the world, trying to rationalize and convince everyone that she's the victim, all while slurring her words and eventually nodding off.

Shidou: Wistful drunk. He will reminiscence about his family 90% of the time, which would then lead him to tear up slightly. If you manage to get him in the other 10%, he'll talk about the "good ol days" with you, laughing about past experiences and maybe even complain about the new generation together, who apparently think it's acceptable to stay up writing headcanons about characters that don't exist at 3:55am.

Mahiru: Happy and affectionate drunk!! I think that's pretty obvious. She'll be giggling at everything and nothing, all while slinging herself over your body and trying to physically mush you together because she's just so full of love for you!!

Kazui: Impulsive and nostalgic drunk. We know that Kazui has lots of things he wants to act on. Alcohol is a very good way of making him forget about his worries and simply doing what he wants. When he gets tipsy he already would be spilling his life stories out. Good luck trying to get him drunk though, he has a highhhh tolerance.

Mikoto: Another friendly and affectionate drunk. Very warm and approachable, would definitely drag you to a couch just to cuddle. He'll want to talk about his lost passions and interests that he could never pursue because of his workload, telling you his plans for projects he would never pursue.

Kotoko: Talkative drunk. It's just her true personality without all the layers of wariness. She'll discuss with you about the ethics of her "job", the flaws of the legal system, the fucked up way that victims are treated in this society. Very passionate and doesn't have as much self-control as she does when she's sober, so be careful not to piss her off too much lmao

Es: Emotional and affectionate drunk. They WILL cling to you to make up for the amount of affection they have not received during their time as a warden. Please comfort them and tell them they're okay. Please. On an unrelated note, they can also get really passionate just like Kotoko. Just more open to discussion I suppose. Might let a few details about the prisoner's MV slip to you, but they'll never try to purposefully tell their story without consent :D

Jackalope: If he gets fed alcohol he'll die. Good riddance.

[ironinkpen]

god i’m so obsessed w Delloso de la Rue and yeah, I’ll say it: they’re right about everything

I think discussions I’ve seen about Rue’s position of “privilege” often fail to contend with the fact that Rue experiences this world as a kidnapping victim. Rue is not an archfey. They were taken from the mortal world as a young child. From what we’ve seen about how Wanessa is treated like an oddity/fascination, we can guess that Rue was treated much the same. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Rue became a party planner—when you are brought to a world as entertainment, I suspect you grow up terrified of what might happen if you stop being entertaining. 

Rue has existed on the outskirts of the Court of Wonder for years. Forced (whether literally or just by social pressure) to wear a glamor—scared of anyone even touching their HAND for fear of being found out. Do you think Rue has ever danced at the Blooms they’ve spent millennia planning, or was this year the first time?

Claiming Rue is oblivious to the plight of other, lesser fey ignores the fact that Rue is ultimately a worker—not a true aristocrat like the Lords of the Wing. They have a job—they plan the Bloom. Yes, they have political power, but not due to being high-born or playing the political game or all that; they have political power because they’re popular, because they dedicated themself to the happiness of others for millennia, connecting people of different courts together, bringing people love and joy. And I doubt they even realize just how powerful they are, because they spend most of their time away from their court, planning a fucking party.

Everyone calls them the “pride” of a court they barely see. They are assumed to speak for them, even when they are speaking their own mind. Of course they have no loyalty to the Court system. Of course they don’t see the point in anything except love—love they themself have been robbed of, were stolen away from. Rue’s bardic inspiration is a song they remember from the mortal plane. Isn’t it telling that even thousands of years later, their magic—magic, which Andhera and Binx both describe as stemming from love—comes from that faded memory of home?

Yes, it’s a bummer that Rue’s actions caused Hob’s victories to be undermined a bit, but honestly? Why should we really care about the political advancement of the Goblin Court’s aristocracy, who have shown they are exactly the same as the Court of Wonder in their treatment of their subordinates (Hob standing away from the campfire, just as Rue is kept in a tower for months out of the year)? Rue might have hurt Hob by hiding the truth, but that doesn’t mean they’re wrong when they urge him to take care of himself, to abandon his loyalty to a system that won’t reward him for it. That’s not Rue being naive or privileged—that’s Rue being exactly like Hob, a servant of their court who toiled tirelessly for years, sacrificing their own happiness, only to just now realize how pointless it all was.

And honestly, on the more political side, Rue probably saved everyone’s asses by breaking up the marriage between Grabalba and Apollo. Apollo would for sure have used the Goblins’ military might to accelerate his plans of stealing the magic. And then, once that was achieved, do you really think he would have honored his agreements with the Goblin Court? He’s the kind of dishonorable man who tried to murder Hob in secret. You’re telling me he wouldn’t have double crossed them once he got what he wanted? Why would he give a shit about a political marriage? 

Like, for real: why would Apollo want to marry Grabalba? We know the Goblin Court’s status would be MASSIVELY elevated by this union, but what advantage does the Court of Wonder gain from marrying into the Goblin Court? It was all military—another power grab by Wonder. Rue broke it up and probably saved the fey realm in the process. 

And now they could lose someone they really love over it. 

[chaifootsteps]

I've seen fanart of Stella/Striker floating around and the more I think about it the more interesting it could be

so like, at first Striker has contempt for Stella bc she's another noble, she seems like an airhead but they can both agree that Stolas sucks so he takes the contract. money's money

but then Striker finds out about the arranged marriage. how Stella was forced to give birth to Octavia on top of that and even worse, how she was the one putting in the effort in the bedroom to do what their family expected of them (and then Stolas turns around and claims he was the only one trying). how it made her feel victimized all over again. how she had mixed feelings about Via but maintained enough of a relationship with her that Via didn't know she and Stolas weren't getting along for yrs & yrs on end

how Stolas made her feel unattractive and unwanted and just a prop being used by his family. how she maybe realized at some point that he was likely gay and would never want her, but their families married them off so young Stolas may have just buried the truth about his sexuality bc he thought it was the thing to do

how he always saw himself as the sole victim of the scenario despite him having magic and more power than her, and she was forced to bear his heir for the families sake. how she has to play the part of the socialite and her only outlet is venting to her friends about her sucky husband. how despite it all she fears Stolas turning Via against her because Via takes her after him so much in looks she sometimes feels she doesn't exist. how Stolas mocks her for not reading despite his family never caring if she's well-educated or not, how he can't even respect her material possession which she has to cling to bc they're all she has. and she hates who she is around Stolas - that anger at him is what the family has reduced her to and she never got the opportunity to be anything other than that. how she feels she can't self-actualize in any meaningful way bc being 'Stolas' wife' is all society ever allowed her to be, and then it & Stolas turned around and villified her for not being good at it like that ever would be enough for her

and Stella in turn has her eyes opened to how bad it is for imps. how they have to scrape and scratch to survive, how the imp she resented so much for cheating with her husband has in fact been coerced into a monthly deal for sex, exploited just like her, in return for the spellbook that Stella thought Stolas was supposed to be protecting with his life. not only is her husband far worse than she already thought he was, his power comes from marginalizing imps like Striker, who's sharp-egded and wrathful but also 100% hitting the nail on the head when it comes to how little royals do for themselves and how they literally fuck over the poor.

for this ship to ever work I think Stella would have to give up her royal position, but honestly with how little joy she's allowed in her own life I don't think that's a big sacrifice. maybe once she and Striker are done with Stolas, she escapes the royal system entirely and out into Hell and Striker and her get on good terms with IMP, helping elevate the business with her remaining funds. or maybe she and Striker just have a high old time getting revenge on all the Goetias that screwed her over in the process & both of them become ride or die for each other in the process

(don't get me wrong, I'm BlitzStrike over this ship but it definitely has potential. mostly I just want a 'For everyone personally victimized by Stolas' support group/polycule to happen)

And that's as valid and noble a shipping goal as any!

[dumbass-duo-showdown]

Propaganda masterpost for desertduo

They are two idiots thinking eachother's udeas are good and then somehow winning

They are two idiots thinking eachother's udeas are good and then somehow winning

They don’t have a single brain cell between them. They poked the goat to “see what would happen” and ended up getting their bases covered in duped ender dragon eggs.

Particularly in Hermitcraft, they are the most chaotic together. Chaotic in the most stupid of ways. Example: they blew up an intricate machine from one of the most "threatening" people on the server, stopped posting for a while, tried fixing it and failed, and tried apologizing with diamonds (Grian), theme park gifts (Scar), and by calling the victim "handsome" and "smart" and everything they could think of. And THEN, when Doc (the victim) retaliated with very intricate pranks that take a lot of skill and knowledge, they teamed up, went to the perimeter they were banned from as their alter egos as a loophole, and FILLED the ENTIRE PLACE (and it's a ginormous hole down to bedrock, many chunks wide) with CHICKENS. Just. A lot of chickens. Chickens everywhere. Oh my god. And another thing. Grian loves pressing buttons, like ADORES it (that's how the machine broke in the first place) and Scar... well. He gets confused easily and also breaks a lot of machines. So when people in the server build stuff, they have to both Grian-proof it (make sure an overexcited person who loves pressing buttons won't break the system) and Scar-safe it (make sure it's easily understandable and won't be broken like that). But now they also have to GRIAN-AND-SCAR-PROOF their stuff, because i swear, they multiply each other's dumbassery like by 100. And all that is just from the current arc of Hermitcraft season NINE. If we go back to season eight for a second, Grian decided to fake being AFK in all his friends' bases, and when he got to Scar's, Scar built him a ROLLERCOASTER RIDE to the BOAT TOTEM (boatem) HOLE THAT GOES BEYOND BEDROCK. People constantly fell there in the season and it was hell gearing themselves back up. But Scar was sure they were gonna land on the boatem and thought Grian was asleep because of time differences. But he failed and both died either way. And good fucking thing Grian was watching it all happen. Scar was SINGING him a SONG. You could even HEAR HIM COMING UP WITH IT BEFORE THE ACTUAL RIDE. Scar by FAR had the BEST reaction to the AFK experiment. And GODDD they're such idiots together. Unless they're in it for survival (aka the Life series) in which case Grian basically becomes his nanny let's be real. Scar is way too prone to die. He dies literally all the time and someone's gotta have him on a leash.

grian thinks that hes the responsible one in the dynamic but really hes just as much a chaos gremlin as scar is

they enable each other constantly. fellow builders to friends to enemies to friends to enemies to f

they share two braincells with each other and they do not work half the time. The number of things they fucked up is not even countable. One of them will be like "I'll save you!" and then both of them need someone to come and save them. They also are connected at the hip and love to annoy each other and other people so so much. they need help

They are so. so. Pesky british bird who loves explosions and has an attention span of 2 + catboy scammer who likes to lick magic and die badly. They are perfect for each other and their friendship is so precious to me. They are canonically soulmates. Currently theyre camping out on the edge of their enemy's giant hole because they accidentally exploded his machine together while Grian was procrastinating. The situation escalated because Grian likes war and Scar likes chaos so now theyre sitting directly in the path of their enemy's giant TNT-pooping goat mecha. Their plan? Build a buttercup-themed mecha to fight it because buttercups are poisonous to goats

They have caused a lot of chaos and destruction due to their lack of braincells /pos

Scar dragged Grian to the desert on a llama to monopolize on its sand, they blew up their friend’s tunnel bore, and rode a roller coaster together. They just bounce a braincell back and forth basically.

They ping pong a brian cell between each other and the few times it produces a thought the idea is always a bad one

they have two brain cells between them and they are not sure where they left them, they actively search for trouble and act sincerely shocked when it bites them on the ass, very orange cat coded if you ask me

Things only work out for them by pure luck. They both think they have the braincell and will be the one to pull each other through but they are both wrong. Tripping over their own feet and stumbling so hard and yet still coming out on top just because the others fall over harder

They get in a room together and its like all braincells disappear. They blew up their neighbors redstone, they filled his base with thousands of chickens, they die nonstop, they bully the other (in a friendly way) constantly and then do the exact same thing, theyre dunbasses ur honor

Theyre literally, just an echochamber of dumb. They actively lose braincells when around eachother. Grian seems smart and calculated but he can never get anything to work properly and scar is just an absolute hazard to himself and grian tries to keep him safe. They both die in minecraft so much. Grian also just has a habit of pressing every button lever or chest he ever sees. Even if its an obvious trap. He breaks stuff so easily. Grian WILL press the big button on top of the tnt block thats in plain sight. Especially right after scar says "i wonder what that does". Theyre duo can be summed up to trickster dumbass and dumbass with a heart of gold. They literally started a prank war by accidentally blowing up someones redstone. They are the unattended children on every server theyre in.

long live the science bros.

One owed the other a life debt for killing them with a creeper (it was just a prank, bro) and so they spent the season trying to monopolize all of the sand in a desert, and that's jusr scraping the surface of how stupid they are.

[bonefall]

Sorry for sending another ask, but if it's ok to ask, what are things you like and don't like about the canon antagonists?

The canon antagonists hurt me so bad

The best thing I have to say about them, most of the time, is that WC does not pretend that the main characters have a responsibility to redeem them. They're allowed to be threats to oppose, the victims aren't blamed for 'not being nice enough' to them, and self-defense is not demonized.

But. I think that's a complete accident of writer incompetence, because when they DO write a villain they think isn't just a Born Evil Boogeyman, they create Clear Sky and Tom and write the worst abuse apologia I've ever read in my fucking life.

And that's why the majority of the villains in WC are literally born evil, or had "a darkness in them" groomed by a worse influence. Tigerstar, Darktail, Hawkfrost, Brokenstar. Others, like Ashfur and Scourge, don't actually have any thoughts on Clan society and actually just enjoy Killing And Murder to get what they want

In spite of how TPB and all following books perfectly set up a culture that is flawed, violent, xenophobic, and in need of massive change, the narrative blusterously decrees that NO, ALL of these recurring dictators and threats are just Bad Eggs. They make the Good Boys who truly care about their Clans do awful things, because they are so evil and charismatic, and with their deaths, we can happily return to the status quo.

The villains are not allowed to be systemic. Ashfur didn't REALLY care about enforcing the code, he just wanted to hurt his ex. Tigerstar's ideas aren't legitimately popular, without his direct influence his followers really just loved their Clans and were totally mislead. Darktail was not rejected by a sick culture's standards and trying to prove his worth in a twisted way, he was born with a darkness that never could have been changed.

I like the villains more for what I think they could be. I think what's actually on the page is less than the dirt I walk on, and I hope Berryheart and Splashtail finally buck the trend that's been ongoing for 20+ years.

[midnighttheroies]

Helluva Boss Theory “Stolas and Blitzo Relationship, How Will It Progress”

i did very smilar post like this awhile ago talking about stolas and blitzo relationship, on where it’s is right now, their history, and what they need to do in order to progress, but i wanted to theorize on how the relationship will progress in the seasons and episodes to come

Brief Rundown

their relationship at the current moment is not healthy for either party involve, blitzo has alot, and i mean ALOT of issues with intimacy and love, he’s afraid to be vulnerable and let himself love someone so he pushes people away and hurts them as a way to protect himself from getting hurt, he literally sabotaged his relationship with verosika, this is his coping mechanism to avoid getting hurt

stolas is different yet has the same issues, he wants intimacy, he wants love, and he wants to be loved, to be saved by his prince charming, but he doesn’t know how to get it, all of his relationships he’s been nothing but a pawn for people to use and play with expect for his daughter, even blitz in the past and now only uses him because he’s useful, stolas doesn’t know how to get love or how to reciprocate it properly without making it seem like it’s just about sex

not to mention their mental states at the current moment, blitz has a lot of trauma with him and he’s not coping with it in a healthy way, he’s destructive with all of his relationships and literally holds so much resentment and self-hatred for himself that he truly believes he only hurts the people he loves in his life and that their better off without him, just look at the pictures in his house, all his faces are crossed off, he doesn’t value himself at all, which is why it was esy in the beginning to have sex with stolas, because it didn’t mean anything, but then they started to catch feelings, and it started to freak blitzo out, because he’s afraid of loving people, he’s afraid to love stolas because he doesn’t want to get attached and hurt

stolas mental state isn’t really any better, for one, he’s been raised as a kid to be useful, or else he’s worthless, his dad only ever cared or shown him attention was when it involved him getting his royal duties done, essentially he was using him for whatever he was useful for, which defiantly put his self-esteem down at such a young age, and his toxic abusive relationship with stella put his mental state even worse, he was abused both mentally and physically, and couldn’t get out due it being an arranged marriage, and that can really fuck up someone’s mental state horribly

stolas was raised to never voice his thoughts or have an opinion, that his voice didn’t matter and that he was only good for whatever he was useful for, he was basically shamed to be himself, he was literally caged, and yes while he is privilege in life, being rich and from loyalty, he truly has nothing, he has nobody by his side expect for his daughter, he’s completely and utterly alone

it wasn’t until the cheating and after the ozzie’s incident is where stolas finally had the courage to stand up to stella and demand a divorce, and you can tell from stella’s face when he caught her hand that he had never, ever tried to stop her from doing that before, typically in abusive relationships, the victim never really fights back out of fear of escalating the situation any further, and this is very true in stolas case, before that moment, he never tried to fight back, he tried to keep things level headed and calm

another reason why abuse victims don’t leave is because they feel trapped, isolated and think that the abuse is normal, and this all true, the marriage was arranged against his will, of course he had no way to get out at the time, he was also isolated due to having no support system and was trapped even more because of octavia, i have no doubt in my mind that stella would’ve used octavia against him had he try to get a divorce sooner, and considering how shitty his childhood was, he probably thought the abuse was normal and that this was what he was supposed to do, stay complacent and take the abuse, never speak out and stay in line

when he had met blitz at the “not divorced party”, it was his fantasy coming true, that his knight in shinning armour was here to save him, when in reality that wasn’t the case, but he let himself believe that it was so he could have something to get him through the day, that was until ozzie’s happened, and everything hit him at once, that his fantasy coming true and blitzo loving him was all just a lie for him to engulf in, that he used him to get in to spy on his friends and for his book

what will happen now?

their are so many directions on where their relationship can go, but i personally believe it will be a very long time before we see their relationship turn into a healthy lovey dovy one, i remember seeing a comment about vivzie and saying how it’s going be a low burn, and i personally think the same as well, if they move too fast in this relationship with how they are right now, it will end badly, they both need to heal and learn about commitment and proper and affective communication if they want to have this relationship

i actually saw someone on twitter pointing out that when in the teaser trailer for season two, when blitzo sends out moxxie on a mission, he seems more agitated then usual and seems to be holding something in his hand, with is a small box, and i personally think this is the asmodeus crystals that have been shown in blitzo’s book

asmodeus crystals can turn demons into human forms and take them into earth, i think not long after the L.A episode, stolas will send him the crystals through mail, in his mind he’s setting blitz free from the deal, wanting to make him happy and not force him to remain in their position, but we know blitz likes him and doesn’t want to let him go, so he’s angry at the crystal because in his mind, he’s stolas rejecting him and proving him right about only being his favourite little imp thing to play with, so he’s hurt

i also think that their will be a moment were they’ll get into a huge, HUGE fight over it, with blitzo accusing him of only using him and stolas losing his patience and telling him that he should be happy cause now he’s not trapped with him anymore, and it this will be their falling out, their “break up”, i do think they will have a breakup in their relationship, cause their’s no way in hell they can progress if they don’t go through something like this

they’ll probably meet up under forced circumstances, talk things over and then finally slowly begin to work on things and on their relationship, i mentioned before that their love confession won’t be a typical i love you, their love confession is not gonna be a magical thing, it’s gonna be a real, gut-wrenching like “HOLY SHIT THIS IS TOO REAL”

let me know what you guys think?

[swanqueensalad]

A very long, sad deep dive on the Snow & Regina dynamic, post-everything, for anon

snow and regina are best friends. it's very weird. nobody really wants to use that phrase around regina lest she fireball them... snow really really wants to use that phrase all the time (this is their whole dynamic lol u don’t need to read the rest of the post)

i would say it happened naturally, but it really didn't. it happened with a lot of hard work, honesty, effort, dedication to being better from both of them, and then once all of that was done it was natural, it was sort of impossible to be any other way.

because snow and regina have known each other a long time. longer than most people in their family, in their town. and despite everything that happened after, all the tragedy and pain that the adults around them orchestrated, they were once two little girls that should have been friends. little snow idolised regina and looked up to her in every way, the beautiful kind hearted girl who saved her from a horse, and the instinctive bond between them was always there. there was a sisterly relationship there from the start, and i think for regina as a lonely girl with an awful family life, snow was sweet, and refreshing company to have, even if she got in the way sometimes (just like a little sister would).

and then of course everything comes crashing down, and it is snow's fault but it also isn't, because at the end of the day she was just a little girl mourning her own mother, who cora knew exactly how to manipulate.

but i think the reason regina never saw it this way was because she too was very young and sheltered and her worldview was totally limited by cora's abuse: when regina was snow's age, nothing she did would ever be excused by 'but i was a child'. at snow's age, she had to mind everything very carefully because to put one foot wrong was to be punished severely, held 100 percent accountable. i truly believe the reason regina never excused snow for her age is because she was never excused for hers, ever, even as a tiny child, and as a victim of such abuse in such a controlled environment it never would have occurred to her that that was wrong, or even abnormal.

(i believe a big part of regina and snow's relationship healing was regina's worldview shifting as she grew and changed and worked on healing herself, because as she reevaluted the things cora taught her, she can see the world and the past events in a whole new light. this is of course, a hard and complex process that regina is still working on, but ultimately she does come to realise snow was a child who meant no wrong, who only wanted to help, regardless of the outcome. which doesn't make it not her fault, necessarily, but it adds layers she could not accept before)

regina was married to king leopold for a long time. this is something i've spoken about before, but it's still something i think isn't so well understood, purely because the show didn't go into it that much (and i believe it didn't because it would have simply been too dark and uncomfortable for primetime abc. the writers knew the situation they had put themselves in and kept a distance). if snow was about 10 when regina and leopold married, and 18 when he died, that is 8 years. the better part of a decade. that is a long, long time, especially for a grieving, growing, traumatised girl like regina trapped in the most awful environment in which literally every powerful adult around her was brutally using her in one way or another, manipulating and preying on different parts of her trauma, grief and vulnerability. (while her brain was still developing and processing everything that had already happened and she had zero support system, zero outlet for any emotions. like, some of y'all do not understand how fucked up regina is.,, like, think about that. or don't if you don't wanna be sad forever)  

and all the while, the little girl who caused it all sees nothing wrong! no difference in their relationship, to her! except now she wants to call her mother. (even stepmother is bad enough from a girl no more than 8 years younger than you) and thinking about this stage of their relationship is agonizing to me. regina is at princess snow's beck and call, and this hurts because despite everything, she still feels some affection for her, that sisterly love did not die clean with daniel. the hatred and the blame and the fury just go along with it now, except she cannot express one bit of it. she has to smile and play dolls with her like everything is fine.

snow truly, for a few years at least, saw nothing wrong, or at least convinced herself nothing was wrong because her worldview as a well loved princess meant she could easily excuse any questionable things she picked up on. and this is something i think she definitely struggles with later, and even way into her healed post everything relationship with regina. (we talk a lot about regina's guilt and internally never feeling able to atone for it all, but god, snow feels so much guilt for everything regina went through. and i think at some point, they are able to talk about it. not in depth. not in detail. but with very few words, they both understand the depth of meaning and of immense shared pain. regina is not sure what she feels about forgiveness, but she knows she loves snow, and that snow has always loved her. she knows that now they are family, and their time together is lovely, and so she has acceptance at least, if not forgiveness).

i think the moment leopold is dead and snow is out on her own, she starts reconsidering everything. in the last few years she has questioned things a little more, but never let herself really go there, because she has never had to, and why would she when it is so painful? but alone, with her father dead and regina behaving so out of character (or is she, snow wonders), she can't help but look back without the rose tinted lens of her childhood. she remembers things. regina's silences and trembles at the breakfast table. the way she was ignored, sidelined, stared at. the dark circles under her eyes. all those times they had been playing, or walking, and regina seemed to be a million miles away, jolted back to earth only by snow's insistence.

more reluctantly, she thinks about her father and the way he treated her. the way he looked at her. the way he spoke to her (or didn't). spoke about her. the things he must have done. this is something snow still doesn't really process for a long time, because snow idolised her father, but eventually she cannot deny he must have hurt her.

and then there's that episode of season 1 where we get the dialogue 'she thinks i ruined her life' 'did you?' 'yes'. i think bandit snow, processing these things, dealing with a lot of new feelings of anger and pain, started putting two and two together. (but i don't think she fully confronts the real, most awful truth until years later, because she can't.)

i think ultimately the thing that hurts the most about all they went through when they were basically at war was that deep down, they still cared for each other. 'love never left the room' and all that. hatred and pain and fury existed too, overwhelmingly, overpoweringly so, but ultimately they grew up together. (it's just one of them grew up having to 'raise' the other). they still had  memories tined with warmth of horse riding together, walking together.

and so when they do start to heal, (as i believe snow always fiercely hoped they would, deep down), it's not so much that they have to create a relationship but to rebuild and unearth one that was already there, one that never should have been torn down like it was. of course it's tentative at first, but snow never once stopped having hope that one day regina would change and they would find their way back into each others lives. and once the trust is back, the feeling of family, of working together for the same goal and being willing to risk everything protecting each other because of circumstance...

once that's there, it's the other things that re emerge more softly and slowly.

the coffee at granny's. first, a little awkward, a little quiet without emma and david and henry to fill the gaps in conversation. but gradually, they realise they have a lot to talk about, a lot of shared opinions in ways that matter and vastly differing opinions in ways that don't, but are fun to debate.

the parenting advice. the stories regina has to share about henry as a little boy, the grandson whose first ten years snow only ever saw as a school teacher. the way regina helps her learn to care for neal. the passing on to him of henry's saved onesies and blankets.

the silly jokes that gradually start to form between them, against all odds.

the teaming up against david and emma when they suggest something particularly dumb.

the cooking together! snow is hopeless but enthusiastic, regina is skillful and finds it calming, so it becomes a thing.

the clinking wine glasses at family dinners.

the extreme competition on board game nights.

the hugs at the end of the day, which go from being stiff and quick and awkward with pain and memories caught up in every brush of the fingers, to warm and natural as anything.

the way snow is able to sit down with regina when she is caught up in her own thoughts and issues, and give her rational advice from a far more positive and balanced place than regina's brain allows her. the way she is able to hold regina's hand and support her. (it feels like making up for past tragedies. not nearly enough, but it's something.)

the way regina, equally, is able to keep snow grounded and bring her down to earth when she's panicking, the way she can simply and efficiently allow her to talk through her worries and daily struggles, give her space to ramble and talk and be, but also to give her to the point, no nonsense, blunt advice that snow needs and rarely gets anywhere else.

the way that somehow, strangely, against all odds, snow beings mothering regina a little, in a weird turnaround of events that feels more right and more balancing than anything else. the way she holds her hand, looks out for her, checks in with her, gives that kind of advice and reflection. because now it's regina who needs it, and snow who can provide it. because somehow, seamlessly, regina also became her daughter in law, and her relationship with emma is something that brings snow a deep sense of peace, gratitude, warmth. (now regina is truly family in the beautiful way she always was meant to be. now she knows regina and emma will both be cared for, loved, as they deserve. she knows someone will look after regina, someone will ground emma. they will laugh and cry and build a home and life together, a life not too dissimilar from the one with daniel that snow inadvertently stole from regina a long time ago)

i think they do speak about things that have transpired between them, sometimes, when it comes up and one or both of them feel they have to vocalise something. it's never in front of others, even david and emma. some things are entirely between the two of them, and nobody else will understand, or needs to.

they speak softly, respectfully, giving each other space and quiet validation. sometimes they cry, or get angry, but it's never really at each other and they both understand this now. sometimes they cry for the girls they were and what was taken from them both. sometimes one or both of them feels or thinks something they cannot speak or say to the other, and they both respect that.

i think they have both apologised. sincerely. and i think they don't need to go into any detail, really. they both just know.

but they are equals now, entirely. no more titles, no more real power dynamics, despite any maternal/caretaking instincts that snow might feel. they are the equals they were always supposed to be, and the people with the friendship the girls they once were would have wanted.

and they can laugh together. this is the thing that warms my heart most. just thinking of snow and regina laughing together, simply, over some very silly joke that isn't even that funny.

[sneezingfetishftw-wavs]

I made a wav of chapter 1 of my Vox sickfic! This doesn't include the narration: fic linked here or you can keep reading for the fic copied under the cut. I added a slight robot voice effect to the sneezes and coughs, plus there's the sound of Vox's fans (which is the real sound of my laptop fan lmao) - let me know if you'd like to hear a version without these effects.

If there's enough interest I might do more chapters. The main limitation is I don't sneeze a lot even with inducing - these sneezes are compiled from like 5 different sessions smh. (So if a wav where I don't actually include the sneezes, or I reuse sneeze audio I've used before, is of interest to you then definitely let me know cause doing the voices is fun)

“Why are the lights so fucking bright in here? Are you trying to give me a headache?” Vox was often a bit of an insufferable prick, but today he was far worse than usual. His interview for Voxtech Angelic Security was just an hour away and he’d already managed to insult pretty much everyone in the room. The lights dimmed, he returned to a previous complaint. “And why haven’t you turned the AC colder already? It’s like a sauna in here!”

“The AC is already as cold as it goes, sir.”

“Then fix it! God, what am I even paying you for?” He paused, then pulled out his cell phone. “Hey Val, are you free right now? I got an employee I’d like you to knock some sense into—or rip the limbs off of, whichever you prefer. I could do it myself, but I know how much you enjoy that thing.”The employee shuddered. “Great, thanks! See you soon.”

Vox looked around. “Where is my water bottle? There should be one on the interviewing desk. Is anyone around here doing their goddamn job?” Another employee rushed over with a water bottle. “Finally.” He took a sip and immediately grimaced. “Where did you get this? Normal water doesn’t scrape my throat like that! Disgusting.” He threw the water bottle aside, pausing only to make sure the lid was on first.

He took a deep breath, which immediately triggered a coughing fit, his voice crackling like a broken speaker. His screen went grey and fuzzy, static flaring with each cough. “Who did the last maintenance on the filtration system?” A sheepish woman stepped forward. “Fix it! Actually, no. Get out. You’re fired. The air is so thick in here I can hardly breathe.” She hung her head and wandered off. It wasn’t like she was the first to be fired on a whim, and at least Vox didn’t literally tear people apart. “I’ll take a look at it along with the AC, then, sir,” the employee from earlier offered.

“You’d better. But don’t think that’s enough to save you,” Vox said, standing so close the employee could hardly hear anything over the fan. “Val’s still on his way.” The employee gulped.

Valentino began shivering the moment he stepped in the door, but he ignored that and made a beeline for Vox. “Where’s the victim?” he asked with a grin.

Vox pointed to the man cowering in the corner. “He won’t fix the AC.” Val nodded, still shivering. “He says it’s already as cold as it can go, but I’m boiling here!” Val raised an eyebrow at that. A loud whirring started as Vox’s fans kicked in.

Val put a hand on Vox’s forehead, and jerked it away almost immediately. “Amorcito, you’re incredibly hot!”

“Save it for later, Val,” Vox chuckled.

“No, I mean it’s hard to believe how much you’re overheating. And in a freezing room, no less. I thought my hand was going to burn!” Vox crossed his arms and shook his head. “I mean it, Vox, you’re obviously running a fever!”

“Shut up. I’m fi… hi…” his screen flickered with each hitch. “Hi’tzzzcht! Fine.”

“Sir?” The employee raised a finger tentatively, regaining some boldness now that neither of them was ripping him apart. “One of the lights just broke.”

“Why the fuck are you telling me? Just fix it! Ugh, it’s a wonder anything gets done around here.” He gave a long sniff, trying to stave off the buzzing tickle. “And send a cleaning crew in. It’s way too du… huh… huh… hut’TZZZZSHT! Dusty in here.”

“We just cleaned yesterday…” the employee said weakly, trying not to look at the speaker that had just popped.

“I didn’t ask you when the last cleaning was, I asked you to clean the damn studio! Now get on with it before I change my mind and let Val rip your arms off.”

“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.” The employee practically ran off to begin his tasks as Val gave a toothy grin, looking menacing despite the intense shivering.

“There you go. I’ll be back here for the sound check. And this place better be fucking spotless.”

Vox and Val walked out the door. “I’ll catch you at the penthouse,” Vox said, activating his teleportation powers. He only made it a few feet. “Hhh’dzzzzcht!” The hallway lights flickered.

“How about we walk together?” Val offered, wrapping his arm around Vox. Vox sighed, but it wasn’t like he had a choice. Repeatedly teleporting a few feet at a time sounded even more annoying than walking. While they walked, Val pulled out his phone with his free hand to text Velvette. “Meet at the penthouse ASAP.”

Velvette almost dropped her phone when she saw the pair of them walk through the door. “Walk” was actually a bit of an overstatement. Vox was practically staggering, leaning heavily on Val for support. His screen was dimmed, except for a bright spot in the center where his nose would be, if he had one. His fans were still whirring loudly. His normally immaculate suit was wrinkled, as if he’d crumpled in on himself repeatedly. The man was, quite obviously, a mess.

Velvette stared in silence for a moment. “Wow. He really does look awful, doesn’t he?”

Vox glared. “I’m fine. I’m just taking a quick break before the studio’s ready for my interview. Those morons still have a lot to set up.” The pair stared at him.

“Um, Vox? You sure now is the best time for an interview?” Velvette asked.

“I’m fine,” he insisted, his hypnotic eye swirling so slowly it might as well be a broken Ferris wheel.

“Right,” Velvette said, rolling her eyes as Vox’s screen flickered again. “Totally fine, and definitely not about to sneeze.”

“I’m not going to… hih’tzzzzch!” He opened his mouth to protest more, but no sound came out. Damn it, were his audio drivers glitching too? Or was it just his vocal cords? He smacked the side of his head with a grimace. “The interview has to be today. If I delay it, it’ll look like we’re hiding something.” Thank god that worked. Vox without his voice was… well, he really didn’t want to think about that.

Velvette raised an eyebrow. “You literally just smacked yourself in the head cause you couldn’t talk. You really think you’re in a good state to be giving an interview?”

Vox’s screen brightened for a moment. “I’m fine! It’s fixed now.” His screen dimmed again, then started flickering. “I’m perfectly heal… heh… hhh… healthy! Just let me go to the godda… ehh… ahh… hah’TZZZZSHT! The goddamn interview.” Valentino’s phone instantly shut off. Velvette, seeing this, clutched her phone tightly to her chest.

Val tried turning his phone back on, but it was unresponsive. “You broke my phone, Vox. You broke my fucking phone! What else are you gonna break if you go back in there?”

Vox frowned. Loath as he was to admit illness, it really was in his best interest to minimize property damage. Especially with a live audience.

“I’ll do the interview,” Velvette offered.

Vox gave a laugh that quickly turned into a coughing fit, his screen a sputtering mess of static again. “No offense, Velvette, but I’m pretty sure you’re not familiar with the ins and outs of the system.”

“And I’m pretty sure you’re not recognizing you don’t have a lot of options. Would you rather send Valentino?”

The other two recoiled at the suggestion. “God, no!” Vox replied. “Ugh, I guess if you really want to, go knock yourself out. My notes are on that tah… hhh… ahh… hah… hah’TDZZZCHT! Tablet.” Said tablet was now stuck in bluescreen. “Shit.” He rubbed his aching head, trying to think.

“Are the notes backed up like the rest of your files?” Vox nodded, not even trying to speak this time. “I can pull it up on my phone, then. I’ve got this. Backbone of the Vees, remember? You just stay here and get some rest,” she said, blowing a kiss as she left.

Velvette strutted out the door, taking with her the responsibility that had been keeping Vox together, and it was like a switch had been flipped. Vox immediately plopped himself down on the couch, limbs dangling limply. “Everything huuuurts, Val.”

“I know, Amorcito, that’s why I’m here.” He gently stroked Vox’s arm. “Now, is it really everything? Or can you be a bit more specific so I can actually help you?”

Vox’s mouth moved, but no words. A frown. A throat clearing sound. More mouth movement, still no words. A deeper frown. A self-inflicted smack on the side of the head. Still no words. The fans kicked into high gear as Vox was about to spit steam out of his head.

“Shh, gentle, Voxy. Let’s try not to blow out the power grid again, hm?” Val patted Vox’s screen. “I’ll get you something for your throat.” He searched through the fridge for some Gatorade. Electrolytes had to do something for an electric being, right? In the absence of any speech from Vox, the fans were even more noticeable. Better grab a cold compress from the freezer too, then. He placed the cold pack on Vox’s screen and handed him the bottle. Vox took a sip and shook his head. His voice still failing him, Vox made images appear on the screen. Val blinked, trying to figure out what he was looking at.

“Something wrong with the drink?” A nod. “Tastes bad?” Head shake. Val tried to think what could possibly be wrong with a drink. “Too liquidy?” Vox rolled his eyes. “Wrong color?” A facepalm. “Uh… too cold?” Vigorous nodding, and then a wince and a dizzy expression. “I got it. Just rest here, Vox. I’ll find you something.”

Val returned a few minutes later with a steaming mug of tea. Vox’s screen was dim and pale, the colors washed out. His weak fingers could barely grasp the handle of the mug. “Oh, Voxy, you poor thing,” Val said, his wings wrapping around Vox for support. The steam from the drink got into Vox’s vents and his screen started flickering. Val noticed immediately and set the mug on a nearby table, holding Vox through the buildup.

“Hhh… hhhh… hhh… hhht’dzchhht! Hhhh’zzzzch! Hhh’ZZZZZSHT! Htchh’RRRRGZZZZZZT! Ugh.” The demon clawed at his throat, then paused in realization. “Fucking hell that hurt!” He winced. “Talking hurts.” Still, better to have a functioning voice, he supposed. He gestured to the mug, and Valentino handed it to him. He took a sip, grimaced, and then finished the rest of the mug in one gulp. Val surveyed the room and realized that a few of the TV screens were out. “Let’s get you into bed, hm?” Vox raised an eyebrow. “Not like that! Unless you want to, of course…” he added, licking his lips. Vox shook his head, exhausted. Val led Vox to the bedroom, the TV clinging hard to the moth as he took a few shaky steps. Val paused, then nodded to himself. He hoisted Vox over his shoulder, ignoring the spluttering protests. “Amorcito, you can barely walk. Let me carry you for a bit.”

Vox huffed, and Val felt the static shock. “You could at least have the decency to carry me like your partner instead of, I don’t know, a corpse?”

Val chuckled. “Have you seen yourself, darling? You practically are a corpse at this point.” Still, he switched to bridal carry.

After what felt like an eternity, dragged out by Vox’s complaining that he was on death’s door, they finally reached the bed. Val laid Vox down and sat next to him. “Now then, does everything still hurt? What can I get you?”Vox’s lips moved silently, then rapidly into what Val assumed to be a string of curse words. Hard to tell without audio. Val sighed. “You really are feeling awful, aren’t you?” Vox nodded. Val stared at Vox for a while until the moth’s singular brain cell finally came up with an idea. He blew a puff of smoke in Vox’s face. Vox flinched, and his screen flickered rapidly. “Hhh… hih… hhhh’dzzzzzzcht! Hih’tzzzzsh! Hah’TZZZZZCHT! TZZZSH! Tzzzsch’TZZZZZST’dzTZZZZZSSHHT! What the fuck, Val?” He rubbed his throat. “Oh. Uh… thanks, I guess? I don’t know. That fucking sucked.”

“If you’d rather not repeat that, then I suggest you get your words out now before you lose your voice again.”

Vox scowled, but he knew it was a valid point. “I just… I’m sore all over. It’s not fair! What did I do to deserve this?” Val raised a finger. “Besides everything that got me into hell.” Val shrugged. “Ugh… my throat hurts, my head hurts, all my muscles ache, there’s this constant buzzing in the back of my head that won’t go away, everythig is blisterigly warmb whatever I try… oh for fugck’s sake, I get congestiod dnow too? Ughhhh…” He groaned and rolled over, faceplanting into the bed.

Val tutted sympathetically. “You never do anything half-assed, do you?” Vox nodded, dragging his screen across the blanket. “Vox, if you’re feeling so warm, why are you still wearing all those clothes?” A pause. Vox wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “There’s no image you need to keep up right now, Vox. Let’s get you comfortable.” Vox sat up and let Val get to work. The crumpled suit was set on a nearby chair. The sweater and shirt were pulled off and tossed to the same chair, Vox dropping his arms instantly the moment he no longer needed to put in the energy to keep them up. The shoes were removed and the pants taken off and folded up with care. As soon as it was done, Vox collapsed face down into the bed again, breathing heavily from the effort.

“You said you’re sore all over, would you like a massage, Amorcito?” A thumbs up. Val got up to find the massage bar. They’d found that using a more solid form helped avoid any accidents… they did NOT need a repeat of the time poor Vox got massage oil stuck in his vents. Val began massaging Vox’s arms, but paused when he felt Vox’s shoulders shudder.

“Hhhh’dzzzzzzchmp!” The sound was muffled into the bed. Vox slowly dragged himself up until he was facing Val. “Hit’chZZZZZZZCHT!” Sparks flew from Vox’s screen and landed on Val’s arm.

“Keep your sparks to yourself, Vox!” he said, wincing at the static shock. “Hmm… that might explain the electronics failures…”

“Sorry, Val.” He said, rubbing his screen. “Wasd’t expectig it to comb that fast.” He gave a long sniff. “Hhhhh’dZZZZZZT!” He pointed at the massage bar. “Can you put that away? I think the scent is too strong right now, my sensors must be acting up.”

Val switched to an unscented massage bar and resumed the massage. A few soft moans from Vox let Val know that his attempts were effective. Eventually the sound dropped off entirely, except for the occasional sneeze, which Val assumed meant the video demon’s voice had given out again. After a while, there was no sound at all except for congested breathing. Val gently turned Vox on his back, revealing closed eyes. Val breathed a sigh of relief. The man was much less exhausting when he was unconscious. Maybe now both of them could get some rest.

[wuxianxkexing]

So I have a theory about sex pollen. There's all of these fan fictions about sex pollen and I never thought much of it until I became a fan of Mu Qing. When it comes to fucking or dying I'm pretty sure Mu Qing would rather die than break his cultivation path, just because he's a stubborn brat like that. Plus while I love him I respect his decision to keep his virginity because he really hates to lose. So how could Mu Qing be saved from deadly sex pollen?

Well we know in the real world that any time our bodies are infected with viruses or bacteria that our immune system tries to kill it or get rid of it. Fever, throwing up, feeling dizzy, etc... are all signs of our immune system fighting it. Sex pollen makes you feverish and gives you the almost unresistable urge to mate. Now why would a pollen have this effect on our body? And why is the only known cure to have sex?

Now we could look to the animal kingdom. There are in fact certain species that will go into heat and die if they don't mate. Perhaps the sex pollen reactivates long dormant genes in the human genome, but I do not believe this to be the case because as far as I'm aware only females can die from going into heat without mating. The fact that both males and females can be killed by sex pollen rules this theory out.

Another theory could be that the sperm/vaginal discharge is a cure but I don't think this is the answer. It doesn't seem to matter who you have sex with, you don't have to have sex with the opposite gender and you possess at least one of the two naturally in your own body. It's not like you have to seek out a certain type of person either. Literally anyone will do, unlike with blood donations or fecal transplants were someone has to be specifically selected for the donation based off of criteria.

It also probably isn't the mix of chemicals your brain releases when you have sex either, or else you could masturbate it away but you can't.

However everything in nature/the Supernatural exists for a reason. What is the purpose of a sex pollen ever coming into creation in the first place? Why is it not sexually transmissible? This question is what lead me to my theory. It was created to throw your spiritual energy out of balance and make the host weaker to drain their spiritual power more easily. The pollen itself is very aggressive and fast acting, it will weaken your spiritual power and demons can take your spiritual power like stealing candy from a baby. We don't really know where or how these sex pollen creatures come from so what if after absorbing all of the spiritual power from their victim they just grow from their corpse? That would make sense from a natural perspective since some fungi do the same thing to ants. They'll sprout from the body of their victim and release spores that the wind will carry away so the babies can grow and carry out the rest of their life cycle elsewhere. This would explain the motivation behind attacking humans in the first place. Humans probably have the most spiritual power out of any living creature and they need that spiritual power to procreate.

The cure for it is sex but only because sex is the fastest way to transmit spiritual power. Your body will naturally do whatever it takes to try to fight off invaders, and in this case your body knows that it is in so much trouble that it needs more spiritual power or else it's game over. There are two possibilities here. Either the other person's spiritual power keeps you alive long enough for your own spiritual power to recover after being so badly depleted so you don't die or the other person's spiritual power will help your own spiritual power fight off the sex pollen that it wasn't strong enough to handle on its own or maybe both?

So how could Mu Qing beat this without having sex? Well in the modern world I think a blood transfusion would work (though the amount of blood needed would have to be found out). You are literally putting someone else's spiritual power inside the effected body so it can use the spiritual power immediately. But Mu Qing isn't in the modern world. However a strong and skilled cultivator might be able to do this. Cut a deep wound on their hand and the hand of the effected. While holding hands the cultivator could send every bit of spiritual power they have to spare into the other person. This should in theory give the victim the boost that they need in order to fight off the sex pollen because the skin barrier has been removed and similar to sex the spiritual power is able to immediately go to work since it's inside the body. We have skin to keep things out of our body that aren't supposed to be there so I do not believe that basic touch alone would be enough, especially not for the average person. The spiritual power would decrease too much trying to fight its way inside to help. I do think that you could probably kiss your way out of it too, but because sex pollen causes the body to crave sex because it wants to get rid of the sex pollen ASAP it would be a risky move for Mu Qing because he might end up accidentally having sex and ruining his cultivation. So for Mu Qing the blood route is pretty much the only way to go.

[evilwickedme]

I'm only just getting into the comics and haven't read much yet, but is Pit Madness an actual thing in canon or just widespread fanon? Bc yeah, I don't like it either but there's so much of it I assumed it was rooted in the text

I've never seen it in a Jason comic, although I don't exactly have an encyclopedic knowledge of his appearances (reminder that I'm doing my best, but I've only been reading DC comics for less than a year). I understand that it's mentioned in comics related to Ra's Al Ghul, but the Pit is used rarely both in and out of text and is one of those things that works however the writer wants it to work.

I can tell you that in the comics I've read that are pre-N52 Jason is extremely angry, but he's also calm and calculated about it, and in n52 comics that I've read he's extremely angry, but mostly reads as impulsive, not sadistic. I haven't gotten to post rebirth Jason comics yet except for a few panels here and there and the Robins: Being Robin comic which was pretty bad in general don't read it, but my impression is they haven't stopped trying to retcon him into "the angry robin" (which, uh, fuck that) but have leaned more into his emotional side as a core aspect of him in recent years, which I in general approve of. Either way, I have never seen a mention of pit rage, only of him being thrown in the Pit to heal his medically impossible walking coma (but this is comics and he gets healed by green goo, so let's not take medical accuracy too seriously).

I understand the appeal of pit madness in two ways: the first is that it makes for an easy motivator. You throw him in the pit, he gets Angry™, and you can use that to tell a pretty interesting story (Red Robin Hood likens it to an addiction, for example, which I found really interesting actually).

But the second is the one I suspect is more common. I think people are uncomfortable with liking a character who is genuinely unremorseful about killing. It directly negates their values. On the one hand, it's super badass when Jason throws that duffel bag of heads onto the table of drug lords in the beginning of under the red hood - on the other hand, gross, right? This is why so many pit rage stories focus on him "getting better". Whether that means being literally magically healed from the pit's effects or if that means learning that killing is wrong, actually, the pit's influence, by the end of the fic, is gone, and the batfam forgives him for all the murder because it wasn't REALLY Jason, it was the Pit!

But like... No it isn't? Like there is zero evidence of the Pit ever influencing any of Jason's actions. Like, if anything, one of my favorite things about UTRH as a story is the fact that Jason is calm, calculated, AND IN THE RIGHT. Not that Batman is necessarily wrong - I mean, I think his particular reasoning is stupid, it's not a fucking slippery slope for most of us, but I also think that murder is, you know, wrong. But Jason is also right - he came back to life to find that nothing had changed in the batfam and Gotham, or if it had, it had changed for the worse! The Joker has done nothing but become more and more threatening as a villain and Bruce has done nothing to amend his methods of dealing with the Joker at all.

Jason's solution is simple, elegant - kill the Joker, he can no longer hurt anyone else. And in a system like Gotham's where corruption makes both rehabilitation and straight up locking someone away for good impossibilities, the genuinely most logical solution is to kill the Joker. Not necessarily the most moral from your or my point of view. But one that makes sense when you look at it through Jason's eyes as a deeply traumatized victim.

I think that if the Pit really had influenced Jason, the best way to use it as a narrative device is as another source of trauma - something that I have seen extremely occasionally in fics. Not as something that influenced his actions, necessarily, but maybe as something that was forced upon him, a kind of loss of bodily autonomy.

But at the end of the day, most of the time the point of pit madness in Jason Todd/batfam fic is to excuse extreme abusive behavior and make it all okay in the end, and I think it's because so many of the people writing him don't understand why and how he uses extreme violence in the ways he does and who feel extremely uncomfortable being fans of someone who genuinely believes that some people deserve to die.

[hakasims]

The Ultimate And Entirely Correct Ranking Of Every Single Luca Marinelli Character

What? Another one of those? How many rankings can this bitch produce? A lot, trust me. This one is less shallow than the previous one which was about appearances, but unlike all my older posts where I tried to do something analytical, this list doesn’t even pretend to be intellectual or based on anything other than my own personal feelings about the characters Luca has played.

21. Fabrizio (Nina)

When we’re judging characters based on their own merit rather than any other factors, I think the exam rules apply: If you don’t show up, you get a zero. Fabrizio didn’t show up. He’s a nothing character and there’s nothing to say about him.

20. Andrea (La grande bellezza)

With a whole minute of total screen time, Andrea gets a zero, too. He’s not dead last only because I can actually describe him using adjectives.

19. Diabolik (Diabolik)

Congrats to this charisma-free robot on once again being shittier than Saint Joseph.

18. Saint Joseph (Maria di Nazaret)

He is shitty and useless but at least he’s sorta kind? Can’t even say this much about Diabolik.

17. Guido Caselli (Tutti i santi giorni)

Here’s my hottest take: Guido is creepy, pathetic, blindly dedicated to his shitty girlfriend because he likes her lyrics (literally, there’s no other reason) and he’s a doormat and a half. I know you all love him and please don’t stop on my account but you should probably know this movie is bad and its main characters are also bad.

16. Valerio (Slam - Tutto per una ragazza)

He’s a shitty human being and he’s completely useless and worthless. He annoys me less that Guido because he’s fun to watch.

15. Loris (Il mondo fino in fondo)

A homophobic dumb bitch who believes his god-given duty is to wipe his shitty little bro’s ass. Also he’s bland and his attempts at asserting his toxic masculinity are pathetic.

14. Lui (Ricordi?)

We get it, his dad was bad and his childhood was super fucking hard. He’s still whiny and depressing as hell, not to mention he’s a college professor who fucks his students.

13. Martin Eden (Martin Eden)

God, what a pompous ass with his shitty libertarian politics and the air of self-importance thicker than the drug-fueled haze in which he spends the last 15 minutes of that movie.

12. Mattia Balossino (La solitudine dei numeri primi)

He didn’t deserve the shit that befell him, and he basically did nothing wrong (he was a little kid seeking validation, ok?) but he’s also not as interesting as the rest of the guys.

11. Milton (Una questione privata)

My dumb bisexual son, feeling helpless at the cruelty and meaninglessness of war. I can’t help but love him, but I mostly sigh and feel sorry for him.

10. Ettore (Lasciati andare)

Yes, he’s a petty criminal, but he’s clearly a victim of an abusive parent and a flawed education system. If he had been given a chance, he’d have grown up into a good member of society, but even as he is, he’s sweet and harmless and way less homophobic than the supposedly educated Loris. Ettore deserved better.

9. Roberta (L’ultimo terrestre)

Speaking of the one who deserved better, I can’t even think about that movie and its treatment of this kind and sweet soul. Fuck literally everyone who isn’t her.

8. Gabriele (Waves)

The purest, sweetest boy. He deserves his little boat and a hot boat daddy.

7. Mickey Miranda (Die Pfeiler der Macht)

Skanky bitch who lives for drama. If this list was based on the morals and deeds of the characters, Mickey would definitely crack the bottom 3. However, I appreciate an entertaining son of a bitch who is solely responsible for bringing life to an otherwise dull, soul-sucking movie.

6. Nicky/Nicolo di Genova (The Old Guard)

Yep, not even in top 5. Still, I’m not saying he isn’t good or anything. It’s just that most of his character’s goodness is implied rather than explored on screen, and there are five boys who got more than that.

5. Paolo (Il padre d’Italia)

Here we have a soft, vulnerable boy who deserves happiness. Placing Paolo was a little difficult because even though he’s not a very challenging character, he makes up for his straightforward goodness with quite interesting, very internalized flaws while avoiding being a clichéd self-hating gay. Also he’s just a good sweet boy whomst I love. Is that a crime?

4. Fabrizio de André (Fabrizio de André - Principe libero)

He edges out Paolo because he’s a little more complicated and does more stuff in his much longer movie. He is talented, rebellious, vulnerable and flawed, and I just think he’s neat.

3. Fabio Cannizzaro (Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot)

Is he as complex or complicated as some of the guys he edged out? No, not at all. But is he endlessly entertaining and literally the best part of this terrible, terrible movie? Absolutely. Also, can I just say, king of style? Excellent mix of menace and patheticness. I love him and so do you.

2. Cesare (Non essere cattivo)

He manages to combine immense, almost paradoxical likeabilty with fun as well as sadness. It is wild to me that he and Vittorio are both equal protagonists (with Vittorio even taking up more space) when Cesare is so much more developed, with rich inner life and very real and human flaws. Cesare is infinitely watchable and manages to thread the needle of being tragic but not pitiful.

1. Primo Nizzuto (Trust)

Who is suprised? Literally nobody didn’t see this coming. Primo is the best: the most complex, the most interesting, the best-written, the best-dressed, the hottest, the smartest, the most cunning and ruthless. He is literally the superlative character. The day he doesn’t top a list of best characters is the day I’ve been kidnapped and replaced by an impostor.