#i think i want to make a mass clown attack too.... maybe

[nightwingmyboi]

So remember how you made a post about Dick killing the clown? I remembered something else.. Which needs some love too but I'm not.. articulate enough. It's Tomasi's Nightwing run, him and Tim went to an island to save the mother of.. something. And Dick killed a man, like electrocuted him and let him drown and we got shots of the dead guy with other drowned corpses, to save a baby. That was. Oof. Horrible villain though I'm glad he's dead.

Yeah, that situation is pretty interesting. I feel like you articulated it just fine...like you said, Dick caused lightning to strike a guy named Creighton Kendall in order to save a baby. 

Nightwing (1996) #146

Nightwing definitely killed that guy, and it was kind of sudden! Now, I would add that Dick only resorted to such measures after Kendal threatened the baby, and that anon is spot on when they say that Kendal was a horrible human being. He committed mass murder, and he had a room full of hundreds of dead babies. So, absolute shitbag. Even Talia tried to shut his operation down. So, Dick isn’t killing some run of the mill criminal here. Still, Dick didn’t really dwell on how he handled the situation, which one maybe might expect considering how he has gone to great lengths to avoid killing in the past?

I had to mull this situation over for a while, because I couldn’t decide whether I thought it was out of character or not. How could someone who is often described like this: 

New Titans (1988) Annual #7

Seemingly forsake his moral code so quickly and easily? Eventually, I feel like I was able to wrap my head around things. I do think that this was ultimately in character for Dick, though perhaps Tomasi should have addressed the impact/aftermath more. I think that the key thing to realize is that, as much as Dick’s morality is often simplified to being Bruce’s no-kill rule copy and pasted, it’s all a bit more complex than that. 

Nightwing (1996) #112

Batman would say that morals are the bottom line, the thing that lasts. I’ve heard him say that no matter what, you can always depend on yourself to respond with predetermined ethical integrity. I know that’s true for him, but I’m not so sure I agree with the principle in general. I think most of us surprise ourselves a lot. 

So, simplifying here, but ultimately, Bruce’s code prioritizes “ethical integrity.” In Gotham’s senseless violence and chaos, Bruce anchors himself through his belief in justice. This is why, for Batman, “morals are the bottom line.” So Batman doesn’t kill. And, even for the Joker, Bruce won’t step across the line. 

Dick isn’t like that. Where Bruce is devoted to justice, to fundamental right and wrong, in a way that can at times make him seem cold, Dick’s loyalty is to people first and foremost. Dick feels an obligation to Bruce for all that he has done for him. Even more than that, Dick wants to make Batman proud. And it is that--it is Dick’s loyalty to Bruce--that motivates Dick to follow Batman’s code. 

Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files

Maybe what matters most is the person we’re hoping to impress. For years and years, I tried to evaluate every move I made through Batman’s eyes. I was morally reliable, predictable. When I finally let go of that, I was lost. 

Dick doesn’t totally buy into Bruce’s ideology, but he has loads of respect for the man. He wants to be deserving of Bruce’s love, and he believes in Bruce enough to trust in Batman’s code and his training. 

Having someone count on you for their physical and emotional safety is intense. It’s another set of expectations you have to live up to. And maybe they’re even more demanding than the ones you set up for yourself. 

But really, in the end, Dick isn’t as focused as Bruce is about doing what is ethically right. He’s primarily concerned with doing the thing that helps protect the people who rely on him. For Dick, friends and family are the most important thing, much more important than his own morality. This is why, whenever his loved ones are in in serious danger or are killed, you’ll see Dick contemplate crossing the line. 

New Teen Titans (1984) #18. When Kory seemingly dies in an explosion, Dick threatens to kill Komand'r

New Teen Titans (1988) #75. The Titans are nearly dead, and Dick snaps.

And by “contemplate,” I mean yell and attack lol. Dick's faith in Bruce’s code can and has been eclipsed by his desire to help people, especially when his friends and family are in serious danger. You’ll also see this pattern in the situation with the Joker. Tim seemingly dies and the Joker has spent the last several years causing hell for Dick’s family, so Dick choses to cross the line Bruce has drawn and beat the Joker to death. 

I feel like Bruce and Dick’s responses here really sum it up. See, when Bruce slips up and nearly kills the Joker (a trend in this family, I know), he thinks about the morality of his action, and regrets that he nearly became part of the evil that killed his parents: 

Batman (1940) #614

But, in contrast, when Dick allows Blockbuster to die, Dick doesn’t initially think about how it was wrong to kill someone. 

Nightwing (1996) #93

He thinks about how he has failed and let Bruce (and even Tarantula) down. Because, while Bruce views his actions in terms of ethics, Dick views his actions in terms of people. This is why Bruce and Dick, despite having very similar priorities, are often in conflict, because, though Dick is loyal to Bruce, the people Dick loves are always going to be more important to him and take priority over a code of ethics. And, though Bruce cares deeply for others, Batman can’t sacrifice his beliefs, not even for his family’s sake. Interesting dichotomy there. 

[thexgrayxlady]

Notes: This is a purely self-indulgent and very lighthearted AU and if I’m the only one who is enjoying themselves with it, that’s all that really matters. TBCH I’m not sure where I’m going with it and I know this isn’t very good or perfectly in character, but I’m having a good time and it’s been a long time since I’ve written anything, so I’m okay with it if I’m just writing a messy little crash into hello.

The Universe Won’t Wait for You

Outside the ruined temple, dark clouds gathered and howling winds carried the metallic tang of summer storms. Heady incense drifted from inside, where the flicker of braziers cast statues of forgotten gods in stark chiaroscuro. Yet, under the wind and crackle of flames, the air hung still and silent, charged with the promise of lightning.

The jungle crept up around the ancient stones. Gnarled vines threatened to drag the crumbling archway back into its depths. Fragments of cracked and chipping mosaics peered through the leaves, their tiles scattered across the floor with the trees’ detritus.

The roof had long since caved in and the once gilt friezes lining the main hall were now washed almost smooth. The faceless figures posed in the uncanny silence, leading the way to the sanctuary.

At the altar, a group of very annoyed people stood over the unconscious leader of a dragon cult and his scattered cards, having narrowly averted the end of the world for the third time in as many months. The timing was inconvenient for everybody involved and it was universally agreed upon that it would have been better if these assholes had waited until next weekend to try and destroy the world.

“So if we beat the megalomaniac of the week, why isn’t the portal going away?” Tea asked, vaguely gesturing to the swirling silvery distortion above the altar.

“I keep telling you nerds it’s not a portal.” Although against his will and his better judgement, the geek squad had grown on Seto Kaiba like E. coli on room temperature meat, he would still sooner saw off his own hands with a rusty spoon than admit it.

“We could always leave it alone,” Bakura said, disdainfully looking over one of the cultist’s discarded scrolls before rerolling it. “His Latin was terrible. It probably won’t do anything.”

“It won’t do anything because it’s a not a portal.” Their group would have it found it infinitely more worrying if he didn’t insist that the latest near apocalypse had a logical explanation. As of late, he’d settled on saying that anything he couldn’t immediately explain wasn’t magic, just science they didn’t understand yet. Everyone might have appreciated this a bit more if not for how often they had to deal with the fallout of his attempts to understand the science. “Watch.”

He picked up one of the scattered cards (rare, but only good for niche dragon decks and he would notadmit that he would have found this clown’s cards useful) and tossed it towards the floating mass. It passed through without incident and collided with the back wall.

“Wheeler could make something more convincing.” He rolled his eyes. This entire escapade had been a nuisance. He still wasn’t sure how he’d been talked into it. The others certainly hadn’t just mentioned that they needed a ride.

“Yeah, these guys tried to take our dragons cards and dragged us out here to show us some crappy holograms,” Joey replied.

“You would believe a bunch of delusional lunatics.”

Yugi paused checking on the cult leader and decided to head this off before it became serious.

“Guys, stop fighting!” he said, his voice quiet and gentle, yet brokering very little argument. When he realized that Kaiba was gearing up for an argument, he added, “You’re wasting time and the sooner we figure this thing out, the sooner we can leave.”

“Whatever,” he said, turning dramatically, letting his coat flare behind him. “I’m going to figure out what’s going on because some of us have jobs to get back to.”

“You’re self-employed!” the blond shot after him.

While he examined a pile of rubble on the far wall for a projector or an off switch, the others looked over the altar and scrolls. He was just about to shift some stones out of the way when lightning split the sky.

The portal flared and spun wildly. Roaring thunder followed close behind and a glowing thing shot from the portal before it collapsed upon itself as if it had never existed.

“Kaiba look out!” Yugi shouted. “That thing’s headed straight for…”

“It’s a hologram,” he shouted back, gesturing dismissively at the thing barreling towards him without actually looking at it. “It’s not like it can hurt…”

The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back, his ears ringing, and struggling for a full breath.

When he regained enough sense to figure out what was going on around him, he realized that his arms were wrapped around something warm and solid. The thing thrummed under his hands, like working on an ungrounded circuit. He came around to a curtain of white and a pair of horribly familiar blue eyes.

The woman shot back, her fingers splayed across his chest, her face contorting in stunned confusion. She started to speak, her voice raspy and quiet, stumbling over words in a language he didn’t understand. Yet even without knowing the words, he got the sentiment.

“What. The. Fuck.”

This couldn’t be real. She couldn’t be real. He must have cracked his head when he hit the ground. She had to be a hallucination or a hologram or…he didn’t know, he couldn’t think clearly enough to figure out what specific kind of nonsense was going on.

Somewhere off in the distance, the nerds said something, but it was like listening under water. And as much as he wanted to shout at them to shut up so he could focus, the words stuck in his throat.

He knew her. From that trip to Egypt. Her name was…

No. No.

This wasn’t happening. The world didn’t work this way. People did not just fall out of holes in the sky. He’d been dragged kicking and screaming into accepting that maybe the supernatural bullshit that followed him around possibly had some merit, but thiswas a step too far.

None of this made any sense. Kis…She was impossible. You couldn’t just fling someone through space and time with badly mangled Latin. It took energy. It took machinery. Complex math, things that went beep, big red buttons that gave the nerds heart attacks when he pushed them.

(But these idiots were trying to summon a dragon, weren’t they?)

This violated so many different laws of physics. There must be another explanation. He just had to keep calm and think of it. His heart hammered against his chest. Every time he almost had a grasp on this, he caught her eyes, and any theory beyond rote denial slipped away.

She couldn’t be real. He’d barely thought of her since that trip. Whatever, whoever, she was, it was the past. It didn’t matter. She didn’t matter. He had to focus on figuring out how the hell some loser cultists managed time travel with some incense and dead lizards, no if they managed time travel some incense and dead lizards, when, despite his disregard for the laws of men and gods, even he was still mostly beholden to thermodynamics.

They probably hadn’t. There had to be something in the incense.

Still, the logical part of his brain told him that even his best holograms didn’t feel this real and there was no logical way they knew what she looked like. Her heartbeat fluttered under his hands. She smelled like prison grime and ozone and petrichor.

So a hallucination then. But everyone else kept talking. He still couldn’t really hear them, but maybe they could see her too. Or that was just another facet of his concussed delusion. But if this was a hallucination, then why couldn’t he understand her? He’d never hallucinated in a language he didn’t understand before.

Not a hologram. Not a hallucination. Where did that leave him? Flat on his back on a cold stone floor with a dead woman straddling his waist and the growing certainty that he would never live this down.

Again, she leaned in, her head tilted to the side. Time slowed as she brought a hand to his face and his heart beat too steady to be truly calm as she studied him. She was so small. He could easily throw her off and get away, but he couldn’t move. He couldn’t even look away as the world shrank down to just the two of them.

She didn’t look quite the same as in the memory. She didn’t seem half so fragile. Her long, pale hair was tangled and her face prematurely lined. Her dress was more a collection of mismatched patches than an actual garment. Bruises and scars bloomed along her arms and collarbone amid patches of thick, almost scaly looking skin.

He wondered if the memory, vision, whatever it was, was accurate. How much of what he knew about her was true? How much had been made up by someone who’d never met her to fit her role in the game? Did it even matter? He was his own person, why should he care about her just because of a supposed connection to the Blue Eyes White Dragon?

Yet despite everything going on, she seemed alert and curious, determined to figure out what exactly just happened, whereas he had to remind himself to keep breathing.

Just before her rough, calloused fingers brushed his jaw, a jolt of static leapt between them. She reeled back, her pupils snapping into narrow slits. Thin, cracking lips curled back over sharp teeth in an inhuman hiss. Her shoulders flexed and he half expected wings to unfurl from her back.

Then she must have caught sight of the others because she shrank back, trembling. A horrible charge built under his hands. He willed himself move just enough to let go.

She scrambled away, breathing in sharp, hissing gasps. Upon reaching the far wall, she shot up a crumbling pillar and crouched as far back on the bottom ledge of a frieze as she could manage and stared down in horror as the first few drops of rain fell through the broken ceiling.

He stared back, the concussed or drugged or shocked daze lifting just enough to drag himself to a sitting position.

She was impossible. But her eyes were electric bright and she’d felt like a damn live wire in his hands. He hadn’t figured out the physics behind this yet, but he understood one thing.

Kisara was very real.

[jenniferstolzer]

Babylon 5 rewatch Episode 2.22: The Fall of Night

Babylon 5 is at the center of not one but three conflicts as John Sheridan agrees to shelter a wounded Narn cruiser. The Centauri don’t like this. Earth doesn’t like this. The Shadows don’t like this. But Sheridan has a strong moral compass and what he doesn’t like is how much the institutions around him are willing to sacrifice in the name of forging some kind of cursory peace.

Things I liked about The Fall of Nighit

1, Lennier and Vir’s friendship. If you ask me Vir, could be friends with literally anyone. He’s such an understanding soul. Lennier is by nature a little judgey. More closed off. So when they sit down next to each other and discover how much they have in common both of them look at each other like “hello what” and automatically agree to meet again. But even this exchange is done almost like spies meeting and I don’t think we stop to think about that very often. These are the attaches of two ambassadors for two of the most powerful races in the galaxy… they could very well be exchanging state secrets instead of expressing solidarity for their equally frustrating jobs.

2,  The Centauri are apparently willing to put their ships on autopilot and black out from g forces if it means when they come to they’ll be in a better firing position. This seems extremely reckless and VERY Centauri. It is the spacebattle equivalent of the hair. Big. Flashy. Not well thought through.

3, In the wake of the mass driver bombing, Sheridan gives Londo an opportunity to speak and Londo is like “NOPE” and jets before he says something that’s going to get him and his whole race in more trouble than they already are. Garibaldi then reads Londo like a literal book, delivering one of my favorite analyses of the character. Everyone thought Londo was a clown, indulging in opulence, going into debt at the casino, drinking himself to a stupor in public, but Garibaldi was his friend and knows that Londo’s not dumb, he’s actually very smart and his mind moves really fast. His error is in his judgment and priorities and he’s currently in waters he did not expect to tread. He’s scared, and he’s going to keep darting in and out of cover until he feels like he has a handle on things or he gets picked off by a hunter, whichever comes first. Also a very classic JMS line “He’s a pain in the butt, but he’s our pain in the butt.” Hunt for that or similar lines in other JMS stuff, he loves that line.

4, The ache of watching McCarthysim at work is very effective. Zach knows the guys he’s ratting on don’t deserve to be ratted on and even says so. “They’re just fooling around” but we can tell by the level of interest and tone of the Nightwatch captian’s voice that they’re gonna get blackballed. Zach can’t deny that they said what they said, but can tell that ratting them out is the wrong thing to do. In the end he relents with a bunch of qualifications but the Nightwatch doesn’t want qualifications. They want names. Thank you for your service.

5, I love that the guy there to ally with the Centauri is from the Ministry of Peace. So poignant. They’ll get peace all right, by paying off the aggressors.  

6, When the Narn ship was coming under threat by the Centauri warship, Sheridan opened a line to Londo just to spit in his face and hang up. It was amazing. Also during this crisis, Sheridan whips out a law book to smack the Nightwatch guy back in his hole. Sinclair would be proud.

7, Watching B5 come under attack is so emotionally stirring. Even on a rewatch, I don’t want to see it hurt.

8, We have arrived! The scene where Kosh reveals himself. I love that G’Kar is hiding in the plants – like he’s not a huge gecko man who people are going to notice. I also love how plaintiff his voice is, thinking if he speaks on Sheridan’s behalf it’ll help him in the political shitshow he’s currently in. I mean he’s issuing this apology for helping a Narn ship and G’Kar is very very very grateful for that. Also B5 blew up a Centauri warship so he’s pretty grateful for that too, I mean come on… I like that B5 has like a standard subway system in the middle of it and that they let the Puppet Friends ride. I miss the puppet friends. I love that the rotational gravity system means there’s a weightless portion in the center of hydroponics and that we used that to our advantage in this story. Also the vorlons in their native form play on the perception of the lesser races. They are light beings, and humans see them as angels. The rest of the races see them as prophets or gods, but none of these perceptions are perfect. We see wings and white robes and think Angel, but Kosh didn’t appear like a rennaissance painting. He’s got a butterfly look to him, too. The face he wears is a facsimile of a human not an exact human. He’s not perfect, we’re just in awe. Love that.

9 And finally a lot has been said about why Londo doesn’t see anything when Kosh appears. He’s been touched by the Shadows, so he can’t be converted by the Vorlons b/c we’re playing a game of Othello today I guess. Maybe because he doesn’t actually believe in his pantheon of gods so he doesn’t have any deities to witness. Maybe he’s lying because what he saw was his own greed and vanity. The general consensus is the first – that he’s incapable of seeing the light because he’s in the dark. For a fresh take on it, let’s look at the Vorlons through this lens. Kosh said before that if he revealed himself everyone would know him… I take this as being a side effect of being Vorlon. Vorlons are a feeling not an image. Like Magenta. Magenta’s not a real color, it exists on the color wheel because something has to connect red and purple on the color spectrum… but the spectrum of visible light is actually a straight line. The wavelengths for red and purple are far from touching, but our brains can perceive when they’re both present, so Magenta occurs. It’s imaginary, but we see it for real with our eyes. That’s Vorlons. Perhaps Londo saw a shapeless light thing in the sky, perhaps that’s what Vorlons really are… or perhaps they have no visible representation at all until they hit our brains. Our eyeballs behold something, but our brains have to construct it out of pieces. When the rest of the galaxy looked at Kosh they used the color wheel to construct him, but Londo was only given the wavelengths. He saw nothing, because nothing was there to see. I really wish there was another Centauri there to be like “I saw the goddess Li welcoming me to her arms!” and Londo’s over there like “I’m the problem” instead of not really answering that question. Maybe it’s answered in season 3, I don’t know. Did Vir see anyone up there? He must have been on break.

What I like Less about 22

1, So here’s where I’m going to talk about Keffer. I know the origin story…. that he was an unwelcome addition to the cast added per network request, but who the hell is he other than that? I think its remarkable how he slips right out of my head the minute he is off camera. We know he’s a pilot, that he was close to Carlos (whose story/death you may recall I was laughing at in a previous episode because its significance ALSO came out of nowhere), and that he made friends with the GROPOS grunts (who we incidentally learned to care about enough in that one episode that we were sad when they died…. Awkward considering Keffer’s contribution to this episode…) Honestly the most interesting thing about him is that he’s got an old-timey fighter pilot scarf he wears and he believes in ghosts and I bet you all forgot about the ghosts. Honestly, the most interesting thing about Keffer is how he’s a lesson in how not to write an interesting character – and no shade on JMS for that, I know he did it on purpose. Significant things happening to a character does not automatically make them a strong character. Keffer experienced loss, came face to face with the shadows, got in fights… a lot of stuff happened to him, but he was almost always the only named character in those scenes. We cared about the GROPOS because they cared about each other and we responded to that. Keffer was there to play cabbage head and ask questions. He’s not tight with any of our main cast who we’ve had tons more time to grow attached to, and dies for plot reasons without leaving an impact with his loss. Heck, you can see the value of interpersonal relationships on character development in action when the show used a shoehorn to try and force some in in context to Carlos a second and a half before he died. We had him drinking at the bar with command staff suddenly, we had him die as a result of a flight mission Sheridan was part of to make Sheridan feel guilty about it. Everyone was standing around going like “No, Not Ramirez” and if you recall on my previous episode writeup I was LAUGHING at how tortured this sudden human connection was. Keffer could have been made interesting. Follow me on this.

My treatment on how to make Keffer interesting:

Let’s say Keffer was introduced as an old friend of one of our characters – Fraknlin let’s say. He was a friend from the Minbari War days that helped him sneak behind enemy lines. Perhaps he was complicit in the covering up and destruction of Franklin’s notes on Minbari anatomy. As a result, the two hang out in medbay sometimes, talking about old times and comparing the current war to the one they fought together. We learn that Keffer has a fire for justice. Hates bullies. Sees the strong as absolute defenders of the weak and that any stronger race picking on a weaker one is a bigger coward than the unvierse can hold. Then when Carlos gets killed by the ghost he starts researching what it could be. Kosh and Delenn tell him to stay out of it. The audience assumes he’s going to uncover something and bring Franklin and other characters into Delenn and Sheridan’s confidence about the shadows through curiosity and honor, but we’re learning through the episodes that the Shadows are IMMENSELY powerful and have no patience for flies. When he breaks off from his squad to go have a looksee at what he suspects led to his personal friend Carlos’s death, we know this is going to kill him. He ignores the warnings of those who have more awareness and dies to bring back evidence of the Shadows to the station. Sheridan recognizes how Keffer’s curiosity and sense of judgment led to recklessness, something Sheridan himself is prone to. He vows not to let Keffer die in vain, but also states that the proof he got has changed everything… and that Sheridan would have done the same. Killing your men in the name of a mission is never the goal but there’s a line everyone crosses when the safety of the universe is at stake and sometimes things are worth dying for. Franklin walks into medbay, casts a look to the counter where Keffer used to sit all those nights, and turns away.

But that’s not what happen. Keffer’s dead now and I don’t miss him. Glad he emailed the Shadows to ISN five nanoseconds before he died.

Babylon 5 is now the last best hope for victory because sometimes peace is another word for surrender and because secrets have a way of getting out. On to season 3!

[hallowed-be-thy-username]

Can we get uhh joker with an girl who's afraid of loud noises like yelling, thunder, ect?

Hello, anon! Thank you for the request, you’re my first one! 💖

I took a guess on what genre you preferred and figured fluff would be a good choice. A bit ooc for our clown but hey, it’s fluff. I hope it’s what you were looking for and that you like it!!

Self-insert, Ledger Joker x fem reader (no other details on appearance, etc for your imagination to complete)

Word count: 1,611

Warnings: noise phobia, shouting/fighting, thunderstorm, flash back about attempted mugging, adult language, graphic threat of violence (it’s still nice, I promise 😂)

Phonophobia

Not again.

The neighbors were at it again. At least once a month, the couple next door would spend the evening screaming at each other. Your old apartment building on the edge of downtown Gotham was far from sound proof, the near paper-thin walls serving as a mere sieve for their harsh words spat at full volume. And what made it even worse was that a storm was brewing in the dark outside.

You’ve had a problem with loud noise since you were young. It’s difficult to explain, but the anxiety it could trigger was sometimes overwhelming. Fireworks, concerts, construction sites, storms, it feels like your ears amplify the sounds even more. It vibrates your skull and closes in on you, weighing heavy and making you feel so small to a point where sometimes you felt like you could barely breathe.

You thought about doing something, saying something, to the people next door to get them to stop but the idea of confronting them only made the anxiety worse and you curled into a little ball on your couch in the small living room.

A rumble from the sky carried the threat of impending thunder to your ears and your chest tightened. Oh no, no, no, no. This has happened a few times before, too many sounds at once and you shut down in a full blown panic attack, your head pounding with each and every vibration.

You really didn’t want to be alone. You were in your late twenties but didn’t really have friends. You’d left home when you were sixteen out of necessity and since then focused on fending for yourself for so many years in this unforgiving city until you’d finally gotten off the street and into this ramshackle apartment. Then six months ago, you met him.

The Joker, terrorist, mass murderer, psychopath, the Clown Prince of Crime, came into your life one night when you were coming home from a late shift at your job as a clerk at the bus station. You preferred night time, it was quieter. You rounded a corner on your usual route back to the apartment building and found yourself at gun point, threatened to give a man in a ski mask whatever he wanted, “or else”. Before you could react, a purple-clad arm wrapped around the man’s chest as his throat was cut in front of your eyes. You knew who he was and you were no stranger to violence in your life but you’d never seen anything like that. Ever since then, he’d taken an interest in you. He used your apartment as a hideout and occasionally gave you small jobs like picking up unmarked packages or driving a car to a random address and leaving it there in exchange for cash. You were in no position to refuse for obvious reasons. You’d even contemplated at one point whether the mugging was staged to get you to trust him or owe him something. The time and place seemed all to convenient. You waited for the day when he’d ask you to repay your debt but it hadn’t come yet.

Whatever you were to him, he was really the only person you knew or cared to talk to. You had been afraid of him at first, of course, but that began to fade a few months ago. Whether or not letting your guard down around him was in poor judgement, you had reached a point where you didn’t care. You hated yourself for it, but an attraction was growing in your belly, nervous fluttering of your heart when he looked at you adding to your frustrations. He really didn’t care about much of anything, free from the stress and worries of life that everyone else was subjected to. You were fascinated by that and your mind eventually spun it around into some sort of crush, to your dismay. It’s not possible, you told yourself. He wouldn’t want you, some regular girl from the streets of Gotham. But why did he keep you around?

Your fingers twitched toward the burner phone he’d given you on the table. He always called you, you’d never called him, if that was even possible. But at the first crack of thunder over the screams of “fuck you, asshole” from next door, you grabbed the device and hit the call button before you could think better of it. Too late, it was ringing.

You shakily brought the receiver to your ear as each ring twisted your stomach into tighter knots. Another crack of thunder.

“Well, well. Hello there, doll,” you heard Joker’s raspy voice croon over the speaker.

Your breath hitched in your throat before you forced yourself to speak, “H-hi, Joker. Um, I, uh wanted to know if you w-were planning on staying here tonight.”

The two or three seconds of silence that followed felt like an eternity before he answered, “Ahh afraid of the storm, are we?”

Stunned and unable to speak, your cheeks burned with embarrassment. You were never able to hide anything from him, even when he couldn’t see your face.

He giggled and said, “Lu-cky for you, I need to, uh, lay low tonight. Ten minutes.”

The line went quiet and you lowered the phone from your ear. Ashamed of what you just did, you wished the earth would swallow you up in that moment but you were stuck here. At least you’d have a distraction.

Right on cue, every sixty seconds, thunder sent your body trembling harder while the apartment next door continued to echo with blame and insults for what felt like the longest ten minutes of your life. You had been resisting, but finally covered your ears with your palms just before Joker’s ghostly face suddenly appeared in the window as another crack of thunder stung your ears. Your eyes widened and you let out a yelp before your face flushed and you hurried to the window to jerk it open. Joker climbed in from the fire escape, his hair wet with rain and greasepaint smeared a bit more than usual. He looked down at your shaking hands and sweat beading on your forehead and asked, “What’s the matter with you, hm? Called me here didn’t ya?”

The sound of shouting and glass breaking from behind the wall made you nearly jump out of your skin as you stared at him and he raised his eyebrows.

“Hmmm, what do we have here? A little phonophobia?” he hummed, leaning toward you.

He was always right. This you definitely couldn’t hide from him. Your breaths with short and huffing as you nodded meekly. He was most definitely the wrong person to seek comfort from but you had no one else to turn to.

He liked his lips and rolled his eyes up at the ceiling for a moment when the man next door screamed obscenities once again.

Suddenly, Joker turned toward the wall and growled at full volume, “Keep doing that and I’ll cut your tongues out nice and slow so the last thing you taste is your own blood filling up your mouth!”

The resulting silence made your ears ring and he slowly turned back toward you, tongue flicking out over his lip. His voice was incredibly loud but as soon as it was over, your breathing began to slow.

“Better?” he asked with a sly little smile.

You swallowed and swiftly nodded before thunder practically shook the building, the storm now looming overhead. Your eyes involuntary squeezed shut and a whimper escaped your mouth as your trembling legs barely held you upright. Joker sighed and slid his water-logged coat from his shoulders along with his gloves, draping them over a chair. He wasn’t supposed to be someone who had much, if any, empathy for other people. Why should he help you?

Maybe he knew what you were going through.

“You need a, uh, distraction, hm?” he asked.

You opened your eyes and looked into his. They weren’t dark and cold as usual but you still couldn’t read what was going on behind them. You never could.

You blinked and he stepped closer to you until you could feel the heat coming off his body. Your heart raced and you couldn’t hear anything anymore as the lump in your throat tightened with anticipation. Your mind raced with irrationalities. Was he finally about to kill you?

Suddenly he grabbed the collar of your shirt and pulled you forward to smash his lips into yours. You took a sharp inhale, the smell of greasepaint and gasoline flooding your nose as you drowned in the sensation of his warm lips against your own. Was this real?

Your eyes fluttered closed and you kissed him back, involuntarily lifting your arms to wrap them around his neck. This was real. He hummed against your mouth as he dropped your shirt collar and took your face in his hands, deepening the kiss. His scars made it that much more intense as he hungrily devoured the taste of you until your lips were practically swollen.

He took your bottom lip into his mouth before releasing it and pulling away for you to catch your breath.

“Dis-tracting enough for ya?” he purred, still holding your face.

Your expression of shock and surprise morphed into a wide smile and you giggled as you nodded your head at him. He smirked back and locked lips with you once more before he staggered to bring both of you toward the couch where he pulled you down to flop on top of him as he chuckled.

Thunder rumbled overhead but you didn’t hear it. You were too busy kissing the Clown Prince.

[purplesurveys]

1268

The last person you kissed treat you right? Nah.

Would you be shocked if the last person you had feelings for texted you? I’m not interested in anyone; haven’t been in a while.

Is this upcoming year going to be a good one for you? Ugh, I dunno...I feel like 2021 was already such a peak. It’s scary to place high expectations for the next year because it’d obviously be a bummer if it ends up sucking. I can only hope it would be even just as halfway decent as this year.

What if you had a baby with the last person you texted? Biological impossibility aside, it would cause such a stir in the office, I presume. It would also be a big mistake, considering I don’t feel anything towards her and so I’m just not sure how large my commitment would be to the new life being formed.

Who knows your biggest secrets? Well most of them are with Gabie, unfortunately. Thankfully she forgets easily so I hope she doesn’t remember most of them anymore.

Do you care if people hate you for no reason? I care in the sense that I would find it laughable.

Are you in a good mood? Um I think I’m just neutral today. I recklessly took three cups of coffee yesterday and I’m still recovering from what feels like the world’s worst hangover, but I also like that it’s the weekend...idk, there are many elements that are either good or bad that make up my mood today, so I think overall I’m just meh hahaha.

Were you single on your last birthday? Yes.

Does it bother you when people respond with one word texts? Not really, unless it’s meant to be a response that warrants more than one word.

Have you ever ran from your own parents? I had plans to run away before, but until now I can’t actually tell if my feelings then were genuine or if it had just been an angsty puberty lashing-out thing.

Are you afraid of clowns? No. Is there someone you are dying to see? Any of my friends.

Do you have any hickeys on you? No, it’s been a while.

You just won $100,000, what’s the first thing you would buy? A new phone because the LCD on mine is B U S T E D as fuck.

Are you currently looking forward to anything? Getting my next paycheck lol. I allotted most of my last salary for other people – three birthdays (Angela’s, my mom’s, my sister’s – why are there so many Virgos?!?! Hahaha) and chipping in to help my dad for an unexpected plumbing issue that came up at home – so nearly none of it was left for me. Fortunately the rest of the month will be far calmer so I don’t intend on touching my next pay lmao. Is your hair long enough to put in a ponytail? Yes. I always want it to be long enough to be tied in a ponytail.

Is love worth fighting for? Yeah, I still believe so. The last time I did, it was just for the wrong person.

Is there anyone you wish you could be spending time with right now? I want to be with Angela, Reena, and Hans so we can watch the entire Memories of 2020 together :( I’ve been watching it by myself so far (I was the only one in our group who bought a copy lol) and it’s just not as big of a blast.

Will this Friday be a good one? I’m not sure yet but I know for a fact I’ll still be relieved since it will be a Friday...

Could you picture yourself getting married and having kids? Yeah but the image gets blurrier as the days go by.

What is your current mood? Dizzy from my coffee overconsumption; annoyed because I have OT work to do today; calm thanks to the cold and cloudy weather.

Did the last person you kissed name start with a J, C, B, I, R, S, Q, L or A? No.

Who last poked you on Facebook? Is that still a feature? I genuinely have no clue but I also don’t know if anyone ever did poke me. I was extremely introverted back then and wouldn’t have been a target for poking.

Is it harder to be rejected or to reject someone else? Be rejected.

What did you fall asleep thinking about last night? I went to bed with the biggest headache in the history of headaches and with a nagging desire to try throwing up from the three cups of coffee I took, so I was actually feeling extremely worried as I was trying to turn in hahaha. I had the worst scenarios in my head.

Who is someone who puts up with you no matter what? Angela. I actually just thanked her for it yesterday, since I was feeling emotional with the one-year mark of my breakup coming up.

Last person to call you? A delivery rider asking for directions to my house, as always.

Ever been told “it’s not you, it’s me?” Yes.

Do you like to take walks? The need comes up rarely.

Were you happy when you woke up today? Not really. I was just nauseous.

When was the last time you cried? Last night. I was in the middle of a weekend work meeting over Zoom and...idk, a bunch of emotions dropped down on me all over a sudden as I was reflecting on the breakup. I could hardly concentrate on the meeting and I’m pretty sure I was on the brink of a panic attack, but thankfully both my cam and mic were turned off. I just let myself cry. I was feeling every emotion at once, I think is what happened.

Can you honestly say you’re okay right now? Yes.

What are you planning on doing after this? I wanna look for another survey to take.

Will tomorrow be better than today? No, because tomorrow will be Monday, and I’m never excited about that.

Is there a girl you would do anything for? Sure.

Is there a boy you would do anything for? Sure.

Who IM'ed you on Facebook last? Reena.

What were you doing at 4 a.m.? I was wrapping up my Rhythm Hive session and also feeling the increasing discomfort of my migraine.

Have you ever liked someone who treated you badly? It was way beyond like.

Are you a jealous person? Hmm, sometimes. I feel envy more often than jealousy, though.

Are you someone who hates to read? Hahaha yeah, unfortunately I’ve turned into such a person. I wonder where my love of reading went. :(

When was the last time you went in the car past midnight? February when I went to a bar with friends and we wrapped up way later than I thought we would.

What was the last thing you ate? That would be breakfast; and earlier my mom prepared fried rice with omelette, eggplant salad with salted egg, luncheon meat, and dried fish.

Who was the last person to text you? Kata.

How is your hair? Funny you brought this up...I was playing with my hair while we were streaming mass awhile ago, and I plucked my first-ever white strand of hair :( Needless to say I’m freaking out and feeling existential about it lmao.

Could things possibly get any better? I definitely read that with Chandler Bing’s voice in my head lol. < Hahaha now I did, too! Anyway, yeah, maybe a little.

How important are looks to you? It’s up there.

Is your hair longer than your shoulders? No, it sits exactly on my shoulders.

Who would you like your next “fling” to be with? I’m not looking for flings.

Were your last two kisses with the same person? Yeah, but those last two kisses were well over a year ago.

Will you be in a relationship in the next couple months? Nope.

Do you have trust issues? Now I do.

Do you have alcohol in your house? Yeah I still have several bottles of soju and beer left in the fridge. My parents also have a couple of bottles of white wine but I would never touch that lol. I believe we also still have that bottle of JD somewhere in the pantry.

You’re locked in a room with the person you last kissed. Any problems? None on my end, only because I stopped caring forever ago.

Have you ever kissed someone who smokes? Yep.

If you were paid 1 million dollars to spend the night in a supposed haunted house, would you? Sure, that might even end up being fun. Do you think you can last in a relationship for five months? I lasted nearly 15 times longer than that, if my mental math is correct.

Did you ever kiss someone with a tattoo? No.

Think back to October, were you with someone? Not anymore, but October 2020 had been a major grieving month.

[uwua3]

hi! first off, congrats on the new blog!! i read that misumi piece and i really enjoyed it hehe,, if it's alright, may i request some domestic fluff with kazunari? mayb looking over old photo albums of each other from when they were kids and laughing and telling stories about what happened in the photos? thank you very much and i hope u have a nice day :D

hi!!! this made me so happy 🥺 thank you so much, i hope to keep this blog running for a long time! also, i saw your reblog of my jealousy hcs and i wanted to say thank you for your sweet comments!!! i go back to it whenever i need motivation, you inspire me to keep writing ♡ thank you! i hope to continue making you proud as a writer :D <3

summary: kazunari had to stop living in the past and make new memories outside of his yearbooks with you

author’s note: this is definitely a much happier piece than my others! this was refreshing to write and i treasure it dearly, it’s definitely much more on the humorous side! no angst today, folks!!! (ok just a little, but it’s barely noticeable!)

this is just a little look into a hoarder named kazunari and his sentimental, nostalgic personality ♡ i, myself, am a marie kondo supporter so i love decluttering! if you are a hoarder like kazunari, honestly go you! you keep those knick knacks that remind you of memories! do whatever makes you the happiest :D

word count: 2,151

music: make you mine – public, tongue tied – grouplove (this song is so Kazunari !!!)

nostalgia.

🌻🎨 miyoshi kazunari

it was that time of year again

kazunari hated spring cleaning with a passion. so what if his art supplies were all over the dorms? he knew where everything was! uh, mostly...

(if you ignore his daily panicked house searches which kept everyone up way too late if he couldn’t locate a very specific paint shade for a big project he definitely procrastinated)

so, it took, so much bribery to get kazunari to even consider cleaning out his entire dorm room

(muku was a very Good Boy and already had his side of the room perfectly dusted and organized)

yes, you had to promise to pose as a model for one of his paintings one day (hopefully, not the type of class you were thinking) (kazunari’s suggestive wink didn’t help)

the thing about kazunari was he was somewhat of a, putting it politely, hoarder

as an extremely sentimental person, it would take the whole mankai company to even force him to throw something away

(“no! it has a special meaning to me! i remember what happened when i got this~” kazunari would whine, holding the useless item between his hands with no intentions to ever look at it again)

so the boys employed you to be kazunari’s rational judgement when cleaning that day

(“please actually make him do something.” sakyo looked like he was on the border of begging; kazunari’s abundance of random knick knacks and shopaholic addiction problem was becoming an issue that affected everyone)

rule #1 of cleaning kazunari’s storage room: don’t open anything because kazunari will become very sentimental and nothing will get gone

so therefore, as a team, you two tackled the rather spotless room. the interior was minimal and modern, just like kazunari liked it with pops of color here and there

(he had one blank white wall and you realized it was the backdrop he used to film all his social media posts [dancing tik toks, fashion #ootds on instagram, daily vlogs on his growing youtube channel])

at first, you were confused where all his stuff went until you opened a closet against his terrible and unconvincing distractions

without time to react, you found yourself buried in tens of books you couldn’t even fathom how it all fit

(“i’ve played way too much tetris.” kazunari would admit later on when asked about his immaculate stacking)

“you’ve got to be kidding me!” you groaned, pushing your head above the surface of book covers that have either never been opened or were way too old to even be functionable

“i’m sorry~ please, forgive me!” kazunari pleaded, immediately pulling you out of his own mess and using all his cuteness to make you roll your eyes fondly at your best friend

you almost started ranting at him about the dangers of taking up too much closet space with useless items before you realized:

wait! stop! he’s trying to get you to forget about throwing these books out! you thought suddenly, crossing your arms as you stared at the pile, trying to figure out how to approach the situation

“you cannot distract me. we are going through this mound and you will be getting rid of something today.” you ordered, seeing his shoulders drop in defeat as he nodded solemnly, but accepting his fate without any arguments. thank god for that

you two bent down and organized all the books into categories. popular photography instruction guides, creative advice columns, and all his past art textbooks kazunari couldn’t sell were put into a seperate group because luckily, they were relevant to his art school

things like old newspapers with funny comics were recycled (you refused to let kazunari read them in fear of invoking some form of nostalgia) (also because he had the whackiest sense of humor ever and would die laughing)

it was going well, until you reached the thickest photo books of them all (you had almost forgotten what you and kazunari’s school mascot was)

but unsurprisingly, kazunari had every single yearbook from each year of his education all the way until his last year in high school piled high to his chest

even he looked somewhat shocked from his mass accumulation from his teen years

“ah! i’m so old now~ look at all this! what else can i do except die?!” kazunari dramatically flopped onto his bed, tired of lifting so much weight. hey! his arms weren’t meant for exercise, he was a painter!

lifting his head to see you were distracted from alphabetically sorting the first section lovingly dubbed, “art shit”, kazunari mischeviously grinned as he leaned down to snatch a random yearbook

flipping to a random page, kazunari smiled as he realized it was the first time he ever met you back in elementary

kazunari sang your name as he sat upwards, having a shit–eating look on his face as he started swinging his legs back and forth

oh no, he was up to something no good, you knew it but humored him anyways

“yes, kazu?” you turned your line of sight to the most horrible picture possible: you with the ugliest haircut in the entire world with kazunari’s black hair taking up the entire photo as you two sheepishly smiled for the camera. it was not a proud moment

okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad, you just couldn’t help but shriek at the sight of your hair

“oh my god! you can’t just jumpscare me like that!” you laughed despite yourself. you knew you had to be serious and focused on decluttering, but one look at your past made you remember all the good times before so–called “adulthood”

“look at your hair!” you cackled, reaching up to playfully yank at his mullet as he yelped and lightly smacked your hand away. rubbing the back of his neck, kazunari huffed childishly and pouted like he was back in his youth

“come on! this was the pinnacle moment i realized, i should not be a hair dresser.” kazunari commented, making you remember how you just let a random 8–year–old boy waddle up to you with safety scissors and advertise his salon business like a professional

(yes, you bought into it right away. your teacher had a heart attack when she saw you with a majority of your hair on the floor and kazunari keeping small talk like an actual hair stylist)

thinking back after the haircut incident, you weren’t allowed to chat with the funny class clown anymore as you were forced to wear a hat every day

(it was either that or go completely bald to fix the job kazunari did to your head)

it wasn’t until you received a very creative and colorful apology letter with tons of sad faces drawn with waxy crayons that you snuck out to play with him on the swings in recess

“i can’t believe we became friends because i wanted free hair cuts for the rest of my life.” you added, staring at the picture with a sense of nostalgia. you kinda got where kazunari was coming from, memories were fun to look at every once and a while

at least, eleven years worth of memories after being inseperable from that moment forward

(maybe, you should’ve held onto it, you thought, not knowing that would be the first of many art pieces you would be gifted by him)

kazunari knew he won. excited, he dropped down to lay on his stomach as you leaned against the bed, watching as he thumbed through the pages with ease, leaning his head on yours comfortably

it was rare to find kazunari quiet, he must’ve been like this all the time when going through his stuff, you thought, at peace for once

lazily smiling, kazunari put his finger against your yearbook pictures as he reminisced on the past. something about everyone ever in your grade, how kazunari knew everyone and had a special memory with each person, no matter how big or small

“—and here, the teacher somehow caught a pic of us swinging wayyy too high for kids our age!” kazunari laughed, breaking your train of thought as you snickered at the absolute joy radiating from both your faces as you two competed to see who could reach the clouds

(kazu won. you fell off right after and had to get picked up from your parents after badly scraping your knee. it took another sorry letter and art of you two holding hands with a heart for your parents to forgive kazunari)

“let’s go back.” you interrupted him, making him sit up confused as you swung your keys out from your back pocket. it didn’t take any convincing for kazunari to nod right away and took the elementary yearbook into his arm

you two only had to exchange a secret look before formulating a plan to sneak out, leaving music on from kazunari’s speakers to act like kazunari was still cleaning

you two giggled amongst yourselves before clambering into your car, speeding off and laughing loudly from your successful getaway. the manager was none the wiser!

during the short car ride, you and kazunari played your favorite mixtape of all time

(“you kept this?!” kazunari yelled, giddily bouncing up and down from excitement when he discovered the mixtape stash)

he slipped the disc in as you two yelled along to childhood favorites with the windows rolled down, letting the entire neighborhood know the best duo were back in town

(seriously, there were so many you stashed away in your glove department. all labeled in sharpie with compelling titles connected to the inside jokes only you two found funny)

arriving at the destination, you two exited the vehicle to see the play pen was abandoned as the teaching staff went home for the day

the sun was setting and it felt like the playground was in another rift of time as you approached it, hearing the weak movement of the swings going back and forth on their own. you sat down, holding onto the chains. you hadn’t been back ever since you graduated. it hadn’t changed at all

kazunari opened the elementary yearbook back to the original page, pulling out his tripod and phone he always had on hand in his backpack as he set it up right across the swing set

“what are you doing?” you inquired, tilting your head as he fumbled around pressing different buttons and filters too complex for you to remember

looking up, kazunari grinned as he set a timer for 10 seconds before sprinting back to the swing next to you

“swing contest right now! i bet i could swing higher than you ever could!” kazunari challenged childishly, quickly kicking his legs for the momentum. you narrowed your eyes, refusing to lose as you two laughed over the sound of his phone taking a burst of photos

you realized what he was doing. he was re–creating your memories together

but you turned to look at him and your heart skipped a beat. you never remembered him looking this, different, in the purple lighting. for a flashing moment, you swore you saw the silhoutte of his black–haired, child self sit next to you before you blinked and saw him. kazunari was the same, just older now

you slowed down your swing by dragging your sneakers against the wood chipped ground. you grabbed both the swings’ chains to hold them together

you didn’t want to live in the past anymore. you wanted to grow up with him, too

“what—” kazunari started, matching your pace before being cut off by your lips against his, the phone going off for one last time

you pulled yourself in close enough just to smile. he smelled the exact same as he did when he discovered cologne for the first time. he never changed

you pulled away first even if he tried leaning forward for more, like he was waiting all these years just for that one moment. like he saw you in the same light, too

“i wanted to do that for years.” you confessed, watching as he took your hand carefully, like he was afraid you were going to leave. for once, he didn’t know what to do, which face to show

“me too...” kazunari agreed, seemingly speechless before straightening his back, like he was about to run away. the hair on your neck stood up, what was he about to do?

“i promise i won’t cut your hair anymore, unless?” kazunari winked dramatically, mimicking the shape of scissors with his fingers as he tried snipping at your hair

he laughed as you shoved him with all your might, hopping off the swing to chase him throughout the school parking lot

now this was a memory kazunari would never throw away, no matter what

(no one thought the two of you escaped until kazunari posted the pics on his instagram, both of you getting a scolding from sakyo this time)

(busted!)

[cityofimagines]

As Long as it’s You - Fred Weasley x Reader

Request: Hi! If your requests are still open I would like to request for Fred Weasley! :D maybe meeting Reader the first time and fred is all like it’s like love at first sight thing? and maybe fred kid makes a fool of himself to her and she's all like 100% swoon and falls in love too? Thank you for your time!!

A/N: Hi love! I hope I did this request justice, it was super fun to write :) Just a reminder for everyone out there, my imagine/headcanon requests are open for TMR characters/cast and harry potter characters! Also as always my ask box is open for you to rant about your faves, your day, ask me any questions, etc!

warnings: none

word count: 1,155

Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes had just officially opened, and to say it was packed inside was an understatement. It was about the only shop left open in Diagon Alley due to You Know Who’s return causing fear and paranoia throughout the wizarding world. 

Fred & George’s bright, optimistic personalities were just what everyone needed right now, so the day it opened, a mass of people all ages flocked inside. You decided to go with your best friend Angelina Johnson to see what all the fuss was about. 

You had heard of Fred and George of course, it was impossible not to have if you went to Hogwarts. They were the designated class (school) clowns and you couldn’t walk down a hallway without hearing their laughter, a scolding from Filch directed at them, or the sound of fireworks popping off. 

You had always had an eye on one of these certain red haired twins, but you could never build up the courage to talk to him. Somehow you and Fred Weasley had never crossed paths, so you never really formally met him. Now that they were done at Hogwarts, you figured you had missed your chance. Going to their joke shop today was slightly bittersweet; you were excited to get your mind off the impending war, but also disappointed thinking about your missed opportunity to go for the boy you’ve had an eye on for the past few years. That’s if you even saw him of course- you assumed he would be busy making sure everything was running smoothy on the first day of their business being open. 

You and Angelina walked through the doors and were greeted with bright orange and red hues, shelves upon shelves of random practical joke objects, the sound of people laughing and yelling, and charming crooked stairs with magical catchphrases written on them. It was like walking into a different world compared to the dreary nature of the rest of the street.

“This...is crazy.” You marveled, looking up to the ceiling to take it all in. 

“Crazy in the best way possible.” Angelina continued. “C’mon let’s go!” She grabbed your arm and the next thing you knew you were flying up the stairs and had landed in front of a display filled with pink heart shaped bottles of a love potion. 

“Hey, maybe you could sneak one of these to Fred.” Angelina joked while picking one up. 

You rolled your eyes. “As if he could be dumb enough to fall for one of his own pranks. And even if he was, there’s no way. I don’t even think he knows who I am.” 

“Exactly! That’s just all the more reason to use it.” Angelina coaxed, waving it in your face. You just plucked it out of her hand and threw it back in the pile. 

“Come on.” You said smiling and you both headed up to the next level. 

You continued looking around at all of the different types of candy and snacks that surrounded you. Angelina had made her way to the other side of the store. You picked up a box of puking pastilles and were about to run and show them to your best friend when it was suddenly knocked out of your hand. 

“It’s not even that bad Freddie, it will go away in an hour- oh! So sorry about that!” A familiar voice said after you got knocked into a shelf. You picked up the box and dusted it off quickly. You looked up and immediately your eyes widened. 

“Oh- um...it’s not problem.” You stuttered out quickly. The culprit of the action had turned out to be George Weasley, not quite your crush but over the years you had learned that the two of them were attached at the hip. If George was there, so was his older twin. 

“Sorry for bumping into you just now.” He leaned in closer and whispered, “my brother here got a little upset from a prank gone wrong. I thought it was clever but he certainly didn’t.” He said with a smirk.

“Oh I bet it’s not that bad...” You trailed off, unsure of how to attack this conversation. You wanted Fred to come over to you, and maybe this conversation with George was your ticket. You couldn’t mess it up. 

“No I’d say it’s pretty bad.” George laughed. “Fred get over here!” You felt your heartbeat quicken. You heard a groan before a second Weasley twin slowly walked over with his head down; long hair covering his face. “Let’s see it then.” George said. 

Fred slowly lifted his head up to reveal a face full of large red boils all over his skin. It took everything in you not to laugh. You recalled just a moment ago when you said to Angelina how he could never be thick enough to fall for one of his own pranks, and here he was a few minutes later; doing just that. Maybe you should’ve gone for that love potion after all. 

“Oh my...” You began. “That looks...”

“Horrifying? Awful? Disgusting?” Fred said with his eyes still closed. 

“No. I think it’s quite funny actually.” You said sweetly. Fred finally opened his eyes to look at you. They widened once you both made eye contact. 

“Oh...Oh my gosh...(y/n), George didn’t tell me you were here. Hi.” He said. He knew your name?

“Yeah! Um, Angelina and I came together.” You said.

“This is just great.” He mumbled under his breath. “Well, wow um...you look really nice.” He said, scratching the back of his neck. 

George let out a chuckle. “Good luck brother.” He said with a wink. You were confused. 

“Oh, thank you.” You paused. “This is all incredible. You should be really proud of yourselves.” 

“That’s really sweet (y/n).” He paused this time. “I...Well I know this is kind of horrid timing but I feel like it’s now or never.” He took a deep breath. “I guess I just wanted to let you know that I’ve fancied you for ages. I think you’re really beautiful and adorable and I’ve wanted to get to know you for a while but I’ve been nervous.” He confessed. 

Your jaw must have dropped to the floor. After a few seconds and a shake of your head, you came to your senses. “Fred...I’ve felt the same way about you for years.” You whispered. 

“Really?!”

“Of course.” You nodded sincerely.

“Oh wow...well...that couldn’t have worked out better!” He said, returning to his usual joking demeanor. You smiled uncontrollably. He wasn’t wrong. 

You reached up on your tiptoes to give him a light kiss on the cheek, on a spot that wasn’t taken over by a red bump. You saw his cheeks heat up red as you pulled away. 

“The boils will go away soon, promise.” He said putting a hand on your waist. You moved into him closer. 

“With or without, I’m good as long as it’s you.”

[incarnateirony]

The way I see it is this: the threshold for het couple canon and queer couple canon should be the same. Wanting more than a handhold or whatever is *fine*, but whatever standard het romance is held to (the bare minimum to "count") should be the same for queer couples. We say all the time, "if one of them was a girl it would already be canon." Not bc of *potential* kissing, but bc it would be seen that way bc of what's already there. But you've said most of this already, so basically I agree lol!

Yup! That’s just it. If Detty or any other non-kissing couples can be taken as canon, so can queer ones, if the text is thoroughly framing it in every method equally. That’s how it works, actually! Applying a different standard *is* homophobic. And a few years ago, Destiel fandom actually knew this and pointed it out but somehow in this weird version of political extremization that we have around here, the pendulum has flipped around and knocked the octavarium on the ass from the other side.

Because people think that means you’re telling them to settle– of course it isn’t! Or making them “feel bad” for wanting more– nope! Now, will we make you feel bad if you make up a goal post where nothing counts until [your explicit marker]? Yeah, probably, cuz yeah, that’s problematic. Does it make them feel small? Tough shit tbh. For the last year or so I’ve dealt with people taking warped and extremized viewpoints to try to bulldoze over me and when I finally said “ENOUGH” and slapped back with a brick wall of history and perspective, they all cried it’s mEaN. No, you guys just don’t know what to do when your placebo activism turns out to not have substance versus the actual issues at hand, and yeah, you feel small and yeah, you feel bad. 

Especially when you realize misdirected and empty gay rage got you nowhere except a hand full of very old very directed old gay rage in counter, and you really can’t cry victim after stomping on the work of activists ahead of you. If you spent years stomping on people and they finally stomp back, and you try to cry to someone as the victim, that’s literally playschool bully behavior. Grow up. When the nerd you’ve been trying to pick on for getting you to reconsider your ways turns out to have been schooled in 6 forms of martial arts and launches your ass to the nurse’s office when you come for round 14 of trying to give him a black eye, all your complaining is about being embarrassed that the nerd kicked your ass after trying to patiently deal with you this whole time. Again, playschool bullshit. Again, grow up.

This isn’t you (not Nonnie-you, just the Royal You, that know who You are) arguing with homophobes or antis anymore. Antis have even cracked in waves. Shipping-fandom-cosplaying-as-activism has completely lost the plot on what their activism lines mean but, a trained routine in thinking it was unvanquishable, have turned it against the wrong things, in the wrong way, and their own people and content. There’s now a few YEARS of “activists” flaying people for, while not 100% happy with the level of content, supporting the queer authors and content and lifting it up – warping it into lines of “settling” to attack them, to diminish them, to make THEM feel small and their own podium – now warped beyond recognition from its original position like a goddamn tea party – big and righteous; and when finally someone clobbers them with a big fat dose of reality of how far they’ve mutilated the dialogue in the name of ship warring, they complain about feeling small. And I’m sorry, fucking no. Not a soul is here to make you feel bad for wanting more. They’re here to make you feel bad for queerphobic deletion and goalpost jockeying. 

As I’ve had to say like a repeating song chorus: You can do both: want and hope and push for more, while *not* deleting the queer text and efforts at hand. Complex thought processes are less appealing to many people than linear pile driving, but it’s generally how the universe functions. And when it comes down to realizing they’re setting unlevel goalposts for the levels they *want* to push it to, suddenly yeah, there’s a rug pull, and they have a choice to pull left or right. If they double down, that’s their choice. But I don’t have to humor that choice or give it platform.

But one thing I hold 0% patience for is people saying they’re here for the rep fight while simultaneously pretending there isn’t a rep fight and trying to villainize core elements like incrementalization or struggling queer authors, many of which beg for public understanding.

We could be having nuanced conversation about the values of different forms of representation; we could be having nuanced conversation about how to effectively organize to help these queer authors into better situations. We could be talking about the show’s evolutionary path, or even culture’s social evolution path and how this show will age with public perception over the years. We could be comparing it to stages of LGBT history.

But we’re not. We’re having conversations where people, abandoning their former angle of discussion, are now screaming “pics or it didn’t happen”, are now tossing up goalposts they themselves used to call homophobic only a few years ago, are now rewiring the dictionary or entire AV medium study (sometimes while claiming themselves an authority while literal cinema literacy sources and decades of studies or even just flat-ass LGBT history say they’re wrong) because they want to feel righteous for demanding more without any actual organized effort or support. They want so desperately for the remaining upset to pass as activism. So badly to flatten even other LGBT community members for trying to hold up the queer canon, because it wasn’t the canon they wanted. And once they realize someone cast Reflectga and their own bullshit methods mow them down, this time with amplified substance of the actual world beyond, they cry foul, that *they*, not the people they’ve been trying to mow over, are being cruelly bullied, just because someone said – no, enough, you’re acting like clowns, I’m fucking over biting the bullet to listen to you on it, you are well past the pale folks.

Miss me with it, fandom. If I have to explain any further than this why one of these is activism and one of these is not, then you’re already beyond hope in the field anyway. I’m not here for your petty ship war nonsense. The representation clearly isn’t for you little fucking tumblr goblins so willing to shred it for not performing to and for you how and when you want regardless of circumstance, much less if you’re even in the damn demographic being represented to goddamn begin with. No, a cis lesbian doesn’t get to tell a trans person how their rep should look. A trans man actually can’t tell a cis gay man how his should look either because their paths are fucking different. 

No, a bunch of women should not be bulldozing over and deleting shit and say it’s For The Gay Men while the vast majority of LGBT men in this fandom hide away in recesses because they’re tired of being bulldozed over if they don’t comply with the shitty fandom dialogue. Or the few that do that warp into it and abandon their original points just from sheer peer pressure – often younger ones, often outside of the demographic. They certainly shouldn’t be trying to flame a middle aged male queer & all other liberal and socially conscious rights rights media representation-commenting activist for writing within his limits about middle aged queer male content. That isn’t how this. Mother. Fucking. Works. I shouldn’t HAVE to have little cluster hoards of LGBT men I adopt that hide in DM or outside of fandom space entirely and poke their nose out with peeps of cautious gratitude and fish around to see how supportive I *really* am – it *shouldn’t* have surprised one of my newly made best friends that I understood the problematic nature of penetration culture and heteronormative ideas of MLM in this fandom. Or to cautiously click my recs because they’re worried about getting fucking ass stomped for daring to speak up on their own representation. It shouldn’t BE like that.

You wanna support queer creators? Y’all missed that boat because you were too busy being headass to organize and actually petition the network. No, screaming at execs until they delete social media and put a black mark on the idea, @’ing accounts with spam until you’re put on a mute list and negatively impact marketing algorithms, that’s not petitioning. Building portfolios and presentations delivered sensibly are. A few did. Good for those people. Fuck everyone else. Virtue signaling nonsense. No wonder they’re so enamored with shitty mass marketing as a goal.

“WELL IT SHOULDN’T BE THAT WAY!”

Yeah well welcome to being a grown up. It is, whether you like it or not. It’s hard out here. America shouldn’t have a giant orange cheeto racist for its president either and yet here we fucking are. Life isn’t fair. So figure out how to actually put feet on the ground and change it instead of yodeling online like a bunch of idiots at the people trying to help you. Bobo sure as fuck did a long fucking time ago and never stopped. Maybe you should catch up. Cuz even at “slow and steady wins the race” he’s gone miles ahead of you while you’ve been distracted anally grooming like a cat or some shit.

Imagine how (not) far queer rights would get if every incremental step we took, even if it wasn’t far enough – TV or real life – we just let everyone scream and take away entirely because it wasn’t the kind you wanted. It’s regressive garbage. It doesn’t actually do you any benefit. It doesn’t do the community any benefit. It doesn’t do queer creators any benefit. It doesn’t do queer cinema history any benefit. Nobody but homophobes and other agenda’ed asshats benefit. Which is why they trained you to think like this to begin with. Stop.

[smokeybrand]

Master Class

The BlueStacks thing worked and i have access to my FGO account again! Man, it’s been a year apparently. I thought it was less than that. It’s weird returning to this game after so long. Everything is so different. I had to re-acclimate to my account. I rolled into the end of that Battle of New York event so i missed that. Might partake in the rerun. I got a ton of the 15 missions to finish but I'm definitely putting those off for about a week because of leveling. I missed out on Abby and that f*cking sucks I wanted SO badly to try and roll my adorable Old One. Maybe next time. As a way of just re-familiarize myself, i wanted to run through the available Classes we have now. There’s quite a few and i need to catch up!

Saber

Saber is my favorite Class. I mean, off course it is. The majority of my favorite Servants are in this class. Artoria Alter, Gozen, Nero, Lakshmibai, Gawain, and obviously, Modred. Modred is love. As a Class, Sabers make for great vanguards, man. They often deal a sh*t ton of damage and take a good amount before they crap out. That said, they get eaten up by Archers, man. It feels like that Affinity advantage hits a little harder on my swords-wielders. Favorite Saber: Mordred

Archer

Archers and i have a love hate relationship. They’re dope, don’t get me wrong, but they never seem like they’re properly strong. They feel like Archers to me, if you can understand that weirdness. Like, they’ll take you out but it’ll definitely cost a lot more effort than a strong Saber. Still, the characters are dope and the animation to their Noble Phantasms are almost always epically cinematic like Atalante’s Phoebus Catastrophe or EMIYA’s Unlimited Blade Works. Favorite Archer: Gilgamesh

Lancer

Lancers are my second favorite Class, mostly because of Cu. Cu gets bad rap most of the time. Dude is hilarious. Also Diarmuid. They did dude dirty in Zero. I enjoy Lacers mostly because of how well balanced they feel. They dish a good amount of damage while maintaining a decent amount of defense. They’re not as hardbody as Sabers and, indeed, get absolutely rag-dolled by them, but they stand their own against the other Classes fairly well. Favorite Lancer: Karna

Rider

Riders are a quandary to me. So many of them are throw away characters, weak as sh*t, but then you get absolute powerhouses out of nowhere. Francis Drake, Iskander, Quetzalcoatl, Ivan the Terrible, and Ozymandias will ruin your whole ass day if they’re spec’d right but the rest of the entire available Servant int this class are negligible. Even so, they hold a special place in my heart because my darling Medusa is a Rider. Also, Swimsuit Mordred is Rider so this Class got that going for it, too. I do adore all things Mo. Favorite Rider: Medusa

Caster

I hate Casters. They feel so goddamn weak, all of the time. If you’re not firing off a Noble Phantasm, they’re whack and, even when you do that, there is a real good chance it’s a support spell or some sh*t. I don’t need to debuff anything, f*cking do some damage, clown! This entire class is like utility because there is no way they are relevant in a real battle. Favorite Caster: Swimsuit Nero

Assassin

Ah, the Assassins. These motherf*ckers area whole ass frustration. Don’t misunderstand, i like them, they’re physical powerhouses, but can a cat get an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm at least once? All of these thing are focused on single unite attacks and threat can make for some dangerous play, man. Ludicrously OP play, but you have the same chance of dying as your opponent running these sneaky bastards. Favorite Assassin: Semiramis

Berserker

Berserkers area waste, man. All of that power, all of that ludicrous violent potential, and they’re always at an Affinity disadvantage due to the Madness curse. It f*cking blows because these beasts are real f*cking weapons of mass destruction, you know? I never use Berserkers for that exact point, unless going up against a swath of other Berserkers. That’s the only viable time you can use them efficiently and that sh*t almost never happens in game. Favorite Berserker: Ibaraki Douji

Ruler

Rulers are as useless as Caster but, somehow, disappointingly, moreso. They at least got a dope aesthetic, though. They also take half damage from literally every other Class. That’s cool, i guess. Favorite Ruler: Amakusa Shiro

Avenger

I love Avengers, man. Love em! These things are always dope. Great power. Great defense. Dope aesthetic. These things get it rough from Moon Cancers but everyone else is at their mercy, especially if you leveled them correctly. I have a few Avengers, personally, and one is literally the second card i maxed out fully. I’ll let you guess who it it is. Hint - She’s a Medusaface. Space Ishtar, Alter Jeanne, and Demon Nobu are also worthy of mention. Favorite Avenger: Gorgon

Moon Cancer

Moon Cancers are just an excuse to shove in more Sakurafaces in the form of BBs and i am here for it. The more Sakura i can get, the happier i am. I love Sakura. I don’t care for Moon Cancers as a whole Class, though. Also, i don’t have any anyway. F*ck em! Favorite Moon Cancer: Summer BB

Alter Ego

Alter Egos are so confusing to me. Like, why are they a thing? Why are they just not Alters or whatever? There is a legitimate reason, i know they are separate version that gained sentience and not just a different facet of the same character or whatever the explanation was, but even so, sh*t i contrived nonsense and i kind of love it. Nasu is absolutely known for it’s convolution and Alter Ego are no different. They’re the most TYPE-Moon sh*t ever, after Saberfaces. Favorite Alter Ego: Sesshoin Kiara

Foreigner

Foreigners are a blessing, aren’t they? Motherf*ckers are wonky as f*ck and just Some of the dopest Servant in all of Fate lore originate in this Class. F*cking Voyager, Yang Gufei, XX, Katsushika Hokusai, and two versions of my darling Abby Williams. And i don’t have any of them. F*ck my life, bro. Just, f*ck it all up, man. Favorite Foreigner: Abby Williams

That is all the available classes in Fate/Grand Order right now and, i think, all of them in the Fate franchise as whole. I’m sure there are some weirdly loose ones like Gunner or Faker. Once upon a time, the only wonky class was Avenger but now we got all these new ones, and just call them Extra Classes. It’s ridiculous. It’s all very much Nasu and i am having the best time revisiting my favorite franchise from the Nasuverse! Speaking of Extra, for the record, my favorite Servant in the Beast Class is Tiamat. You can’t Summon her, so it felt like a cheat to put her on the actual list but i do enjoy me some ancient Sumerian Dragon-Mother.

[duhragonball]

The 10 Best Episodes of Dragon Ball and DBZ

Back in October I wrote up a list of the ten worst episodes of Dragon Ball, and I always meant to go back and do a ten best list to go with it.    Well it’s the last Sunday of the year and I got nothing better to do, so I’m gonna knock that out today.

Honestly, I’m not sure which one of these was tougher to do.    The main reason I made a worst list was because I noticed a small handful of episodes I just didn’t like, and I realized that even with a show I like this much, there had to be at least ten stinkers, so I liked the challenge of picking them out.   On the other hand, picking the ten best episodes is like finding really good pieces of hay in an awesome haystack.    And I’m a horse, so I’m already super-into hay.   This analogy is getting tortured, so I’ll just move on.

Honorable Mention: Dragon Ball Z Episode 125.

I think the fandom has unanimously agreed that this is the all-time best episode of Dragon Ball, but it didn’t feel right putting it in my list.    I don’t know if that’s because I sincerely believe it’s the 11th best episode, or because I just don’t want a predictable choice taking up space on my list.    That’s how Dragon Ball rolls sometimes.   Past a point, you can’t tell if you’re liking something ironically, or just plain liking it.  

Without question, this is the all-time best filler episode.   We all know the tale: Goku and Piccolo are busy training for the upcoming Androids battle, but Chi-Chi is sick of them not helping around the house, so she wants them to take driver’s ed so they can drive her to the grocery once in a while.    Well, mostly Goku, but Piccolo somehow gets roped into it too.    Honestly, I don’t think he really needed to go through with this.  He pouts like Chi-Chi made him do this somehow, but she was clearly only interested in getting Goku licensed up.    I think he just sort of invited himself into this situation because he wanted to feel like part of the family.   

Anyway, the boys dress up in stupid/awesome civilian clothes, and somehow manage to be great at driving and terrible at driving at the same time.   It’s a very zen kind of show.   Also there’s a smidgen of Vegebul goodness, and Icarus shows up for no apparent reason, so there’s something for everyone.   

10. Dragon Ball Z Episode 120

This the one where Future Trunks kills Mecha Frieza.   There’s no shortage of fans who think reviving Frieza in the 2010′s was worth it, but for my money, nothing they do with the character can possibly top his (first) death scene.  

Leading up to this episode, everyone just assumed that Goku killed Frieza on Namek, but he survived, got rebuilt as a cyborg, and invaded Earth for revenge.  The implication is that Goku will have to fight an even stronger version of his greatest foe, except he’s nowhere to be found, and no one else stands a chance of holding the line until Goku can arrive.  

But then the story ups the ante again by having a totally new character show up, turn Super Saiyan, and shrug off Frieza’s attacks like they’re nothing.   When he finally attacks Frieza, he whips out a cool-looking ki blast, and that turns out to just be a feint.    No, his real attack is a simple swing of an ordinary sword, which cuts Frieza in half like he’s made out of butter.

Meanwhile, all the major characters are standing on the sidelines wondering what the hell is going on here.    There’s a Super Saiyan besides Goku?   Aren’t all the Saiyans extinct?   Where did this new guy come from, and how did he even know to be here?

It’s a brilliant episode, because it serves as a coda to the menace of Frieza that loomed large over the previous 119 episodes of Z, and it also serves as a prelude to the next 75 episodes, which promises a crisis far beyond anything that’s come before.   But it also works as a stand-alone story.    Frieza’s body tells the story of why he wants revenge on the Super Saiyan, and when Trunks reveals that there’s more than one Super Saiyan, he completely self-destructs.   He goes from the tyrant of the universe to just another corpse in a matter of minutes.   It’s amazing to watch. 

9. Dragon Ball Episode 67

Strictly speaking, Goku’s assault on the Red Ribbon Army base is three episodes, so maybe it’s gauche to include one and not the others, but this one is the climax of the Red Ribbon’s downfall, so I think it stands out.   

By this point, Goku’s already entered the RRA headquarters, and is just having his way with the place.    Episode 66 was full of guys trying to shoot him, but he just kicks all their asses and moves on.    Staff Officer Black has finally realized what they should have accepted from the beginning: that Goku is too strong for them to defeat by force.    But Commander Red can’t quite bring himself to give up the fight.   Maybe it’s because so much of his identity is tied into the Red Ribbon’s supposed invincibility, or he just can’t fathom how a small boy can do all these things.   

I think what really hurts his pride is when his soldiers start deserting en masse.   Before, he could keep them in line because of the Red Ribbon’s fearsome reputation, but that’s over now, whether he believes it or not.    When Colonel Violet loots his treasure vault, not even bothering to disable the security cameras, he has to know that it’s all over. 

Then we find out that he only wanted the Dragon Balls so that he could make a wish to become taller, and Black is horrified.    He wasted all those lives and resources for something as petty and selfish as that?    What makes this episode so great is how the world around them is crashing down, and they’re arguing over a plan that’ll never happen anyway.  And Red absolutely doesn’t get why Black would think his wish was stupid.   He’s like “Um, you need to check your tall privilege?”   And Black shoots him in the face because he’s just done. 

But this episode’s not done, because once Red is out of the picture, Black sort of loses it and tries to fight Goku for possession of the Dragon Balls.   It’s really amazing character development, because Black was the calm, collected center of the Red Ribbon Army, but then he just flips out, forgetting all the lessons his comrades learned the hard way.    The lure of the Dragon Balls is just too seductive for him to give up.  

Also, Colonel Violet is super cute.

8. Dragon Ball Z Episode 135

A few episodes before this one, Vegeta debuted his own Super Saiyan transformation, and kicked the shit out of Android 19.  It was a big deal, because up to that point, Goku and Trunks were the only Super Saiyans, implying that jerks like Vegeta couldn’t do it.    It was also a big deal because it was assumed up to that point that the androids might just be unbeatable, and Vegeta clobbered one of them in a single episode.   

But that episode didn’t make the list, because this one is far more important.    Here, Vegeta tries to press his luck by challenging the even stronger Android 18, even though everyone else tries to tell him this is a terrible idea.   What follows is one of the coolest fights in the series, and the best classic Dragon Ball battle to feature a woman.   For a while it looks pretty even, but then 18 reveals she was hustling Vegeta the whole time, and defeats him with no trouble at all.

Why is this such a big moment?   For one thing, it’s the next step in deconstructing the Super Saiyan Legend.   Vegeta had already proven that you don’t have to be a good person to turn into a Super Saiyan, and that it’s not just a once-in-a-millennium thing.   Here, he proves that Super Saiyans aren’t as invincible as he liked to believe.   We’d already seen Goku lose to Android 19, but he was sick at the time.   Trunks was no match for he androids in his own timeline, but those battles had happened off-screen.   This is a much more visceral demonstration.   You’ve got the Saiyan Prince, in perfect health, fresh as a daisy, comfortably transformed, and it doesn’t do him a damn bit of good.  18 breaks his arm like it’s not even hard.

For Vegeta, this was a big deal, because it finally cemented the fact that there is no finish line.    From his first appearance, he seemed convinced that he could become the supreme being in his universe, simply by killing Frieza, becoming immortal, or transforming into a Super Saiyan.   Here, he thinks he’s finally pulled it off, only to lose even more decisively than ever before.

7. Dragon Ball Episode 99

I debated whether to go with this one or Episode 101, where Tien finally beats Goku to win the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, but I think this episode deserves the nod.    The Goku/Tien championship bout spanned several episodes, but this is the one where Tien finally decides that he’d rather win the title than avenge Tao Pai Pai.   

Let me back up a bit here.    Goku (seemingly) killed Tao in a prior episode, and Tao was the brother of the Crane Hermit, Tien’s master.    So going into this fight, Tien was planning to defeat Goku, win the championship, and then kill Goku in front of the live audience, just to get that extra bit of revenge.    But once the fight actually got rolling, Tien began to develop a begrudging respect for Goku’s talent, and then this episode happens, where Tien starts winning, and Goku accuses him of cheating.    Tien doesn’t know what he’s talking about at first, until he realizes that the Crane Hermit is using Chiaotzu’s psychic powers to paralyze Goku at key moments.  

Once he figures it out, he tells them to stop, since he wants to prove his own superiority, but Crane just wants Goku to die, title or no title.   He orders Tien to stop clowning and kill Goku at once, but Tien refuses, and turns his back on the life of an assassin.   Chiaotzu does the same, since he was enjoying the match before all the interference started.    Crane flips out, but Roshi Kamehameha’s him out of the stadium, allowing Tien and Goku to finally fight without any outside interference.  

Tien’s first order of business is to let Goku have a bunch of free shots, in order to make up for all the hits Tien got in while Chiaotzu was cheating.   Then he grows four arms, because he still wants to kick Goku’s ass, even if he doesn’t hate him anymore. 

Tien’s reform isn’t unique in the series, but I think his particular transformation is very neatly accomplished, inside this one episode, during a single epic battle.    Like so many other characters, he figures out that revenge, power, and bloodlust are hollow pursuits compared to the thrill of pushing your own limits through the sacred art of gonzo anime violence.   Being a bad guy isn’t just morally shameful, it’s downright boring.   Piccolo and Vegeta would eventually learn the same lesson, but it never gets spelled out quite as eloquently as it does in this episode.   Also, Launch tries to kill Chiaotzu with a giant cartoon mallet.  

6. Dragon Ball Episode 147

On the other hand, you’ve got this episode from the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, where Piccolo doesn’t learn a damned thing, except how to take an epic beating.

This episode is just wall-to-wall nuts.    Piccolo blows up the entire city where the tournament is being held, and that’s just for openers.    Tien uses his Ki-ko-ho to make a foxhole for the others to hide in, and Launch kicks Kami into it when he doesn’t jump in right away.   

Piccolo’s city-busting blast was intended to finish off Goku, but it doesn’t even scratch the lovable bastard, and it just gives Goku and opening to pound the ever-loving crap out of Big Green.    Goku just goes sickhouse on him, in one of the most satisfying and well-animated sequences in the whole series.   And to add insult to injury, he continues to play by the tournament rules.   Once he has Piccolo laid out where the ring used to be, he asks for a ten count.  

And that turns out to be a huge mistake, as Piccolo has enough juice left to zap him with a mouth blast at the last second.   The attack leaves a baseball-sized hole in Goku’s pec, and Piccolo just starts stomping on the wound.   Worse, he’s still strong enough that no one else can come to Goku’s rescue.   

And then, just when Goku looks to be finished, he gets back up anyway, still looking to win this battle.    Is he overconfident or just stupid?   Neither actually, as he has the whole fight under control, as the next episode reveals.  

5. Dragon Ball Z Episode 281

Oh mannnn, this episode ruuuules.   One of my pet peeves with this fandom is people crapping on the Buu Saga, simply for coming at the tail end of this franchise.   It’s bullshit, just like how Star Wars purists act like Empire Strikes Back is the best movie ever made and Return of the Jedi is a cinematic bowel movement.   They’re both good, you just lost interest before the series ended. 

The Buu arc isn’t my favorite, but it’s balls-to-the-wall awesome, and when I was making this list I had a hard time picking a favorite episode from the Kid Buu fight.    It’s just such a beautiful battle, packed with story and character development.    I can’t blame viewers for getting burnt out on Dragon Ball if they watched the preceding 433 episodes first, but to say these episodes are bad is just flat-out wrong.

Anyway, I went with 281, which features the tail end of Goku’s solo effort against Kid Buu.   Vegeta steps into give Goku a pep talk, and Goku admits that he can’t gather enough power to blow Buu away.   To do that, he’ll need a full minute to charge his ki, and Vegeta offers to buy him that minute, even though he’s weaker than Goku and doesn’t stand a chance against Buu by himself.   

What follows is a solid ten minutes of Vegeta getting clobbered, but he keeps getting back up and forcing himself to find new ways to play for time.    He doesn’t try to beat Buu, because he knows he can’t.  Instead, he keeps him busy, and psyches him out so he won’t bother Goku while he charges up.   

What makes this work is that it’s the counterpoint to Episode 133, seen earlier on this list.  Then, Vegeta thought his Super Saiyan form made him a guaranteed winner.   Now, he’s using Super Saiyan 2 in a desperate bid to just hold the line until an even stronger fighter can make his own last-ditch effort to win.    Vegeta’s fighting for a chance at victory, and it’s a slim chance at that.   One of my favorite things about this episode is how tragic it is.   By Episode 282, it becomes clear that Goku’s plan was never going to work, so Vegeta’s efforts were in vain.    But he doesn’t seem to mind much, because at least he got to throw down against Kid Buu and see exactly how long he could hold out.  

4. Dragon Ball Z Episode 184

This is the one where Gohan finally snaps and turns into a Super Saiyan 2, but when you put it like that, it seems so pedestrian.  

From his first appearance in Episode 1 of DBZ, Gohan was shown to have hidden potential, which was gradually brought out over the course of the series.   By the time the Cell Games rolled around, it was sort of implied that he had finally realized that full potential.   Goku trained him to be a Super Saiyan like himself, and how much higher could he possibly get than that?  

But Goku’s secret plan was for Gohan to fight Cell, and if he got in a pinch, Gohan would then tap into the same hidden potential he used to turn the tables on the Saiyans and Frieza.   Goku’s theory was that if he trained Gohan to be a Super Saiyan, then any power boost Gohan experienced during the fight would rachet him up to an even higher level never seen before.  

This suited Cell just fine, so he pooped out an army of mini-Cells to torture the Z-Fighters until Gohan’s rage pushed him into this higher level.   And that’s what this episode is all about, except it doesn’t really work.    The Cell Juniors clobber the heroes from pillar to post, but Gohan doesn’t change, and he doesn’t know how to make himself change.   Then Android 16 has an idea to talk him through it, and he convinces Mr. Satan to toss his severed head over to Gohan to he can make his speech.   Cell stomps on 16′s head in an impulsive act of cruelty, and then then “Unmei no Hi - Tmasahii Vs. Tamashii” starts playing.   

This is a huge moment in the series, not only because of the advent of Super Saiyan 2 and the turning of the tide in the Cell Games, but also because it marks the fufillment of the promise of Gohan’s character.   We all knew he would become something great, and now it finally comes into focus.  

But this episode also gets high marks for how all the other characters are handled.   Goku’s “foolproof” plan collapses, and he’s forced to apologize while they all get beaten down; Android 16 sacrifices himself after already losing his body; Mr. Satan does what little he can, proving that he’s more than just a gloryhound; and Cell seems to have second thoughts once he finally gets a glimpse at Gohan’s hidden power.  

3. Dragon Ball Z Episode 94

Maybe it would make more sense to pick the episode where Goku turns Super Saiyan for the first time, but I think the false-finish that precedes it deserves the spot.   I’ll try to explain.  

There’s really three things going on in this one.   First, Goku’s trying to assemble a Spirit Bomb powerful enough to kill Frieza.   In the previous episode, Frieza finally noticed what he was up to, and he decided to kill Goku before he could use the bomb.    But the bomb still isn’t big enough, so Goku needs more time.  

Second, Piccolo has jumped in to keep Frieza busy long enough for Goku to get the time he needs.   Much of this episode is Frieza beating up on a defenseless Piccolo, and then Krillin and Gohan jump in too.   It’s just awesome seeing all these guys throw everything they can into this effort.  

Third, there’s a filler subplot featuring the dead Z-Fighters on King Kai’s planet fighting the dead Ginyu Force members.   It’s goofy, and kind of inconsequential, but it’s fun.   I just like seeing the whole gang getting to worth together in the same episode.  

So when Goku finally deploys the Spirit Bomb and Frieza finds himself overwhelmed, it really feels like a team effort.  King Kai reports that Frieza’s been beaten, and this inspires Yamcha and the others to put the Ginyus away for keeps.   On Namek, only Krillin and Gohan are left standing after the Spirit Bomb explodes, and they wonder if Goku and Piccolo could have survived.  

I won’t sugar-coat it, a lot of DBZ episodes go pretty light on plot points.   So when you get one like this, with so many things going on all at once, and so many characters joining in, and so much suspense and drama, it really clicks.  This would have been a brilliant finale to the Frieza Saga, and the icing on the cake is that it’s all for naught.   Frieza’s fine in the next episode, which is all-the-more frustrating because of how satisfying this episode was.   

2. Dragon Ball Z Episode 179

Huh, I got a lot of Androids/Cell episodes on this list.   It’s almost like the Androids/Cell arc is the best one and it rules over all.   Nah, that can’t be it.  

This is the high-water mark of the Goku/Cell fight, which the whole series had been building to since Cell was first introduced some thirty-odd episodes earlier.   Here’s the new big-bad final boss, the next Frieza, essentially, so naturally it’s going to be up to Goku to put him down in a 19-episode brawl.  Only that’s not what happens.     Goku goes into the Cell Games admitting that he’s no match for Cell, but he wants to fight the guy anyway.   No one understands what he’s planning, but he seems pretty upbeat for a guy who expects to lose.  

The fight itself only goes four episodes.   The first is a feeling-out process, the second is mostly Cell showboating, but in this third episode, they really go at it.  The animation is beautifully handled by Keisuke Masunaga.   He’d supervised a handful of episodes before this, but this one is the first action-heavy episode, truly serving as a demonstration of what he could do.  

Plotwise, there isn’t a whole lot to say.   The battle goes pretty evenly here, and the main appeal is that all the other characters are still trying to figure out what Goku’s strategy is.   He said he couldn’t win, and yet he’s hanging in there with Cell, so what’s the deal?   You might think Goku’s aiming to win on a technicality, using Cell’s own rules against him, except Cell enjoys the fight so much that he blows up his own ring to prevent any chance of an out-of-bounds finish.    From here, the Cell Games can only end by surrender or death.  

So then Goku goes up into the air and tries a Kamehameha, similar to the one Cell used earlier in the battle.   Cell thinks it’s a bluff, since he knows he can dodge it, and from that steep an angle, Goku would just end up hitting the Earth and destroying it.    But Goku doesn’t blink, and just when Cell isn’t sure what’s going to happen, Goku teleports right in front of him and unloads the Kamehameha into his face at pointblank range.    

It’s another false finish.   Cell survives, but he has to grow back his head and arms first.    But for a moment, it looks like this was Goku’s big plan.  He knew he couldn’t outpower Cell, so he out-finessed him by using the Instant Transmission to get past his guard.   And you know, if the ring hadn’t been destroyed, maybe this would have worked.   Goku could have tossed Cell’s decaptitated body out of bounds and Cell would have regenerated to find himself outside the ring.   I always wonder what he would have done in that scenario.    I mean, Cell’s kind of a sore loser, but he seems to respect clever ploys, and the tournament was his idea.  

Anyway, Cell rules, this episode is wall-to-wall action, and the Warp Kamehameha is the best move in Budokai 2.  

1. Dragon Ball Z Episode 31

Personally, I find the Saiyans Saga to be slightly overrated, but dammit, this episode has just about everything.    I’d go so far as to say that when people praise the Saiyans Saga, they’re really only thinking back to this one episode, or maybe five of the best episodes that include this one. 

Here’s the deal: Vegeta has invaded Earth and all of the Z-Fighters are dead or badly hurt.  Only Goku is left to stop this guy, and he’s armed with the Kai-o-ken technique, a power multiplier as effective as it is risky.    King Kai warned Goku never to go beyond a double Kai-o-ken, because anything more than that could cripple his own body.   But he tried that in the previous episode, and Vegeta laughed it off.  So in this episode, Goku reluctantly goes for a Kai-o-ken times three.   

And for a few glorious minutes, Vegeta gets completely wrecked.  Goku just picks him apart with hit after hit after hit.    It’s enough to humble Vegeta and it’s enough to draw blood, but it doesn’t actually put the guy down.   Instead, Vegeta becomes so outraged that he flips out and tries to destroy the entire planet with his finisher, the Galick Gun.    This leaves no choice for Goku to keep using the Kai-o-ken times three, and he’s gotta fire a Kamehameha to block Vegeta’s shot.  

And when that turns out to be too weak to push back Vegeta’s attack, Goku is forced to turn it up even higher and use a four times Kai-o-ken.    So now we’re beyond anything King Kai had imagined when he taught him the technique.   It works, and Goku manages to shoot Vegeta into space, but his body is terribly banged up from the effort.  

Which is a real shame, because Vegeta manages to save himself from being blasted into space, and he’s still got enough juice to pull his own trump card: turning into a giant ape!   Saiyans need a full moon to do this, and Piccolo helpfully destroyed the moon before Vegteta’s arrival, but that doesn’t matter, because Vegeta can make his own artificial moonlight with a special ki technique!   So the episode ends with an exhausted Goku staring at a hundred-foot tall Vegeta-ape.  

And hopefully I’ve made my point.   You’ve got three big BIG moments in the series here.    Goku’s Kai-o-ken X3 offensive against Vegeta was what made their rivalry.  Before that, Vegeta never came close to sweating Goku, and afterward, every time Vegeta thought back on their battle, this was the part he remembered.   The Galick Gun/Kamehameha beam struggle was an iconic moment all by itself, and it’s the standard by which all other beam struggles are judged.   And then you’ve got Vegeta using the fake moon trick and turning into a giant ape, setting the stage for the final leg of the battle.    Any one of these things would earn a spot on this list, but DBZ #31 has all three.   It’s gotta take the top spot.   It’s just gotta. 

There’s a lot of really great episodes I didn’t cover.   I’m a big fan of the Pikkon episodes, and the one where 16 fights Cell is a personal fave, and the Vegito episodes are awesome too.   But there’s only so much room at the top.     I bet I could have a completely different list in a couple years’ time.   In conclusion, Dragon Ball fucking rules.

[smolstrawberrychara]

October Klance Prompts - 13/10 - Scary Movie

Never underestimate my power to turn an ordinary prompt into fluff

Scary Movie - horror actor Lance rushes home when his baby girl is ill ♥️

“Cut!”

Lance did not miss the way his co-star groaned at the call, rolling her eyes as she slumped off to get some water. Nyma always was a bit of a diva. But this time Lance agreed, throwing his head to the ceiling and stamping his foot. 

“Lance!” The director jogged over form his chair as tech milled around trying to re-put together the set. “What’s going on?”

“Argh Coran, I’m sorry, let’s just go again.” And before he could answer Lance already took position forcing his shoulders loose. This was an important scene. Killer clown facing off with the heroine for the last time. And Lance kept messing it up. 

But instead of calling ‘action’, Coran moved again, sidling up to Lance and placing a firm hand to his back. “Is something going on?” 

Lance sighed. “It’s nothing.”

It wasn’t nothing. Lance just needed to get this scene over and done with as quickly as possible and was frustrated that he couldn’t get any of his lines right, let alone not trip over the set. Killer clowns did not trip. 

Coran didn’t move. Instead he smoothed his hand over Lance’s back until he reached his shoulder and gave a tight squeeze. 

“You’re my top actor. You’re never off form. So when you struggle like this, don’t think that I can’t see you! Now tell me, what’s wrong?”

Lance sighed again. A longer one this time that seemed to deflate his body as he rolled his head forward.

“Keith called during the break. Sammie’s ill and he’s been called into work early so I’ve gotta go home and look after her which would have been fine but then I keep messing up this scene and it’s taking too long and Keith’s gotta go in like 10 minutes!”

What had started off as a simple simple statement had rocketed into stress and Lance was left huffing up at the clock. He was supposed to be home by now. 

“Ahh,” Coran noised almost in a hum, voice a smooth calmness he never seemed to lose. It was something that made him such a great director to work with. “So your daughters ill.”

Lance nodded. The image of his poor girl curled up on the sofa with a small frown on her face instead of reaping havoc like usual made his stomach hurt.

“How old is she?”

“Three next month.” Lance said easily. He could still remember the day the foster home called him to tell them the news they’d be getting a daughter. Lance had been nervous at the prospect of a baby, an older kid might have meant less broken nights. But when he held Sammie in his arms for the first time, he couldn’t bare the thought of putting her down - even Keith struggled to get a cuddle in that first day. And now she was old enough to go to nursery. And couldn’t leave her daddy Keith alone. Lance wasn’t jealous. But it was definitely because of the hair. Papa Lance didn’t have long hair and Sammie had a penchant for plaiting - a skill Lance taught her by the way!

“You should go.” 

Lance stopped his thoughts. He blinked at Coran, but the man just slapped him on the back again, hard enough to make Lance stumble. 

“You should go.” He repeated, before taking on a wistful glow “I remember when my niece was that age. Couldn’t bear to part with her, much to the annoyance of her father. So I understand. There’s more to life than the workplace. Go be with your daughter, we’ll reshoot tomorrow. Sound good?”

Lance couldn’t believe his luck. 

“Sounds great! Thank you so much Coran!”

The man simply smiled as Lance bounded off, rushing about the set to grab his things. 

“Let me know how young Sammie’s doing!” Coran called, still in place. 

“I will!” Lance yelled back over his shoulder, already out the door. If he hit all green lights he could be home in fifteen minutes. Keith would only be a few minutes late to work and Sammie could be sipping Lance’s classic homemade from the tin soup in no time!

As soon as he parked the car, Lance ran up the steps to the house, scrambling with his keys in his haste to burst through. “I’m home!” He called, slamming the door behind him and angling his head up the stairs.

“Hey- OH MY GOD!” 

Keith had rounded the corner from the kitchen, when he came to an abrupt halt, throwing his hands into the air and taking on the face of a startled rabbit. His phone clattered to the floor as his body froze, eyes wider than dinner plates. 

“What?” Lance yelped, whipping around to check there wasn’t a knife-wielding ghost behind him. Keith never got scared. Which meant mortal danger was imminent.

“What’s going on!? Are we okay!?”

Lance had expected Keith to switch into police mode then. Make a bunch of commands and kick ass. But instead, the man gave a sigh of relief slumping against the wall. 

“Oh thank god.” Keith breathed, hand clutched to his chest. Lance gave him a curious look.

From further inside, there was a ringing voice, curious too. “Daddy?” 

Sammie waddled out the kitchen, frowning at her dad. Then she noticed the phone and lost interest, crouching down to grab it. Sammie liked phones. She also liked sugary sweets. And her permanent sticky fingers were like cyanide to the screen. Keith immediately sprang back up in alarm. Lance was about to laugh but his worry was aimed right at Lance. 

“You’re still in costume.” He hissed. 

Lance was thrown. He looked down at his wrists to find mucky lace cuffs flouncing around his hands. Striking red polka dot sleeves led on from them, covered in rips and splatters of something darker. With an air of apprehension, Lance reached up to wipe his cheek. It was damp. And when he brought his hand back down, thick white paint covered his fingers.

“Oh crap!” Lance announced suddenly, “sorry Sammie!” 

And then he bolted for the bathroom.

Lance scrubbed hard at his face with a flannel, bringing away layer upon layer of paint. The make-up team always did a thorough job, and despite having a mini heart attack every time he looked in the mirror at work Lance found the never-failing standard impressive. The large blue circles around his eyes never faltered and the dripping black triangles down his cheeks were always in the exact same spot. Now they were grey swirls as Lance desperately tried to remove it with soap and cold water. He’d spilt he last of his make-up remover down the sink in his haste and now mumbled angrily to himself as he rubbed his skin raw. Water dropped from his chin and he had to tie the clown suit around his waste like overalls to stop it getting ruined. God, how did he manage the drive over here without causing mass hysteria!? No wonder so many people had let him go at the turnings. He was a living nightmare.

There was a knock at the door. “Can I come in?” Keith called, a little thud indicating he’d let his head fall against the door sympathetically. 

“Is Sammie with you?”

“No. I gave her some medicine and put her to bed.”

“Okay then.”

The door creaked open and Keith snuck in, smiling through the mirror.

“You could have told me you were busy. I would have phoned somebody else.”

Lance shrugged, throwing the cloth under the tap again. “Thought I’d finish earlier.”

He slapped the thing against his cheek, swiping at the white marks. Keith tutted, moving around to grab the flannel. 

“Can I?”

“If you want.”

Keith nodded to the bath and Lance sighed, flopping onto the side of it. Keith reapplied the soap, folding the towel into fours and putting it under warm water. Then he kneeled down, reaching up to gently slide the cloth down Lance’s cheek. 

“Better?”

“Better,” Lance breathed, letting his eyes slip shut. Keith’s touch was a lot nicer than the cheese grater Lance was treating his face with before. It was kind of like being in a spa. Or the early days of their relationship when Lance got ill and Keith would gently dab his forehead with a wet cloth, snuggling in close despite the risk of catching a cold. Lance relaxed into the bath, slowly leaning into Keith’s touch and humming to himself. 

“Don’t you need to go to work?”

“Shiro’s covering.” Keith said easily. “Said I’ve got a killer clown to deal with.”

Lance snorted. “Maybe a clown sure.”

“You’re not a clown.”

“Think I am.” Lance said with a sigh. Keith moved the cloth away and Lance let his eyes fall open. “I ran all the way here without even thinking about changing. We have a two year old!? I could have killed her with the fright!”

Keith laughed softly. “I don’t think she saw.”

“She better not have.”

It was quiet a moment, just the buzz of the extractor fan above them.

“But why did you run?” Keith asked finally, placing the cloth on his knees. “I could have called someone else to babysit. Hell, I could have just told Captain Kolivan I couldn’t come in.”

“But I wanted to,” Lance said, feeling the words right down to his chest. “When you said Sammie was ill I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Even if you didn’t have work I’d still have wanted to be here. I was a mess on set. I kept tripping on the door I was breaking down and messing up my lines! It was so embarrassing! I don’t even know why! You were here! You had it under control! Me, on the other hand, I rush around looking like bloody murder!”

Lance huffed at the end of his speech. Keith had his head ducked, hiding small hiccups of laughter to himself. Lance would be mad if it wasn’t so infectious. 

“I’m a mess.” Lance said eventually. Keith shook his head. 

“You just care. And that’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

The man got to his feet, dumping the flannel in the sink and settling next to Lance on the tub. 

“It’ll get easier.” He said, knocking their shoulders together, “but Sammie’s still so young. And we’re still so new to this. We’re gonna make mistakes. But I think it’s okay when they’re because we care.”

Lance hummed. Then he leaned down to rest his head on Keith’s shoulder. He always did have a knack of saying the right thing when he needed to. And it made Lance’s tummy warm.

“How is she?” 

“Good. Says her stomach still hurts, but no vomiting since lunchtime.”

“Lovely.”

They sat quietly a moment. 

“You wanna go watch the first killer clown film and fall asleep on the sofa?” Keith asked.

“It’s only my favourite lullaby.”

Keith laughed softly, squeezing Lance into his side before leaving to get the film ready. Lance splashed his face with water. He did feel like a mess. But somehow, Keith made him feel like it was okay.

A few hours later, Lance woke up with a warm weight on his chest. The couple had fallen asleep tangled up on the sofa - Lance against the cushions, Keith against Lance. Two mugs lay abandoned on the floor, corner of the blanket trailing in one and the remote lying face down on top of the other. The TV still glowed in the background. Lance clutched Keith close and tried to manoeuvre around to grab the remote. Keith gave a pathetic noise of protest. 

“Just switching off the TV.” Lance whispered, ducking down to kiss his head before he froze. In front of the rolling credits was a shape blocking out the little white letters leaving the screen.

“Papa?” 

Sammie turned around where she sat directly in front of the TV, tiny fist rubbing her eye. Lance’s stomach fell through the floor.

“Yes honey?” He asked, voice becoming high in his apprehension. 

“I really liked that film.”

Lance had more problems on his hand than he thought.

[him-e]

Did you watch the joker movie? thoughts?

Yes I did last week!

(spoilers below) 

It’s a great movie, but it’s depressing, gutting. definitely not an easy watch and at times made me deeply uncomfortable because it hits very close to home in many ways. It’s about feeling invisible and unable to experience things like the rest of the world does, let alone fit in; with the struggle to perform normalcy every day while not being in control of your body and mind 100%. Arthur’s uncontrollable laughter response when he’s in distress was more than a trademark or a plot device to connect his pre-Joker self to his villain self, he’s deeply ashamed of it and suffers for not being able to contain it, because it’s twice as humiliating: for himself, and for the people who inevitably think he’s laughing at them and hate him for that (see the scene with the mother & child on the bus)—it isolates him, makes him pitiful at best and a target of vitriolic, barbaric hatred at worst. He’s invisible all the time except when his laughter erupts and makes him visible in the worst possible way—like in the scene in the subway. 

Something I found interesting was Arthur’s relative lack of guilt/remorse after his first kill (which begins as an act of self defense, but then he deliberately stalks and murders in cold blood the third guy who attacked him). He feels liberated, empowered, intoxicated, but he doesn’t necessarily stop feeling empathy after that. He isn’t irreparably corrupted by this act; rather, interestingly, begins to make himself whole. It’s where he starts believing he can finally become a functional human being, and where his elaborate romantic fantasy with the girl next door begins. I know that part is controversial, but I think it’s less of a *Nice Guy becomes fixated on girl and when he realizes she won’t fuck him goes apeshit*, and more of a fantasy of being accepted and understood intellectually and intimately by a kindred soul—note how he fantasies about her coming to his debut as a comedian, laughing at his jokes, comforting him when his mother is in the hospital, and also voicing his own hatred towards the rich white uptown boys who look down on him every day and contribute to his misery (the only cutting edge in an otherwise completely tame, almost childish self delusion).

It’s a hatred that clashes with his fantasy of fitting in, becoming a functioning part of a deeply ill patriarchal society. Arthur is obsessed with powerful father figures. First he romanticizes Robert De Niro’s character (in a super sad daydream where De Niro/Murray and everyone else praise him for being what he is, rather than violently mocking him as they would in real life), then, when he’s already halfway towards the Joker, he finds his mother’s letters and goes on a hail mary to try to make Thomas Wayne admit that he’s his father. Which he isn’t. (probably.) The whole secret parentage red herring is Arthur’s fantasy of being accepted and loved by these patriarchal, capitalist monsters getting torn apart, layer by layer, and finally annihilated. (he kills all his parental figures—his mother, whom he was in a not-so-vaguely Oedipal relationship with, who was mentally ill as well but also abused him and emotionally and physically stunted him; he kills her because he hates her for what he did to him and because he hates that she, just like him, spent her entire life in a romantic fantasy as a coping mechanism to avoid reality—he kills Murray, and then he ideally kills Wayne too, through a proxy with a clown mask. He does very deliberately, as his adult self, the one he chose to be and painted his face accordingly. And then when all the monstrous mommies and daddies are dead he’s finally free, and so are the people, free to go in the streets and set the system on fire; it’s the dawn of a new era where children kill their fathers and the poor get the upper hand against the rich and the “natural” order is destroyed—or restored, maybe)

The anti-capitalist theme imo is what makes the difference between THIS and your average “Nice GuyTM is unjustly and repeatedly mistreated until he finally snaps” villain origin story, and why I think it’s extremely reductive and myopic to condemn this film for “making a mass murder sympathetic” or whatever the discourse is at again. It’s probably the most explicitly political superhero movie I’ve seen, and not in your usual toothless mcu-style way. Arthur (like his mother before him)is a mentally ill person who was failed by society as a whole in unforgivable ways more than he was failed by individuals. In a world where Thomas Wayne can go on tv and call poor people “clowns” for not being productive, successful adults, Arthur’s best chance at receiving treatment was a condescending, uninspired therapist forced to work with minimal resources (herself another victim of capitalism). And yet, he made that work for him, until the entire therapy project was shut down and even those crumbs were taken away from him, leaving him alone and exposed, with no access to meds and not a single soul to talk to. It’s society’s selfishness, blind greed, middle-class hypocrisy, hatred of poor and disabled people—in short, all those lovely american values—that created the Joker, not mental illness. And not just the Joker, but the riots in the streets, the rebellion against uptown Gotham. 

tl;dr; I know people are upset that Joker makes you want to empathize with a murderer—well maybe for once they fucking should, lol.

[thedailyimagines]

Imagine getting into a relationship with Barbara Gordon.

Anon requested: “Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) x Male Reader, where the reader is the son of joker and is arch enemy of batgirl, but eventually they end up falling in love and they get into a secret relationship due to their allegiances but later they are found out and they’re relationships spread throughout Gotham and swear to each other to protect one another and come public with their relationship.”

.

This work contains swearing and some pretty heavy violence near the end. Also it is long.

When you see the red WARNING, it’s a sign that the violence is about to start. Skip ahead if you need to.

~~~~~~~~

Being the son of the clown prince of crime sucked. He was, to put it extremely lightly, an asshole. So you made it your job to undermine everything he did. Currently, you had your own gang and were getting ready to rob Gotham’s biggest bank.

With a loud crash, you burst through the doors of the bank with your crew, taking out the security guards posted in the room. In moments you had everyone gathered in the middle of the room.

“Alright everybody, listen up! We’re not here to hurt anybody, just to lighten the bank’s vault! So stay still and quiet, and nobody gets hurt!” Leaving two of your men to watch the hostages, you directed the rest to start emptying out the vault. Soon everything was ready to go.

“Oi, the boss said shut up! So either make the kid stop, or I shut them up myself!” You turned to see one of your henchmen, Pete, yelling at a woman and her child. The woman was trying to calm her child down to no avail.

“Pete, dear, could you come here for a minute?” The henchman looked confused, but did as you said. You took him out of sight of the hostages to where the rest of your men were emptying the last of the vault’s contents.

“What’s up boss?” You smiled sweetly at the goon.

“You know how I feel about threatening children.” Pete’s eyes widened, realizing now you had heard his threat.

“W-wait boss, please—!”

BANG. Pete fell over dead, and you put your gun back in it’s holster. Turning to the other men, you addressed them like you hadn’t just shot one of their coworkers.

“Let Pete here be an example. Don’t break my rules.” The henchmen all nodded. You rolled your eyes when they didn’t start moving. “That doesn’t mean you stop working! Grab everything and let’s get moving!”

<—>

How was it you had the worst luck? First you had to find some new henchmen (stupid Pete), then your getaway driver decided to bail—forcing your crew to steal a car—and now you had to find another window repairman. You should get a discount for the amount of times you called.

“You know, if you asked I’d give you a key to the front door. Or the roof. You don’t have to come crashing through every window.” Batgirl raised her fists, prepared to fight you if necessary.

“You’re going to Arkham clown-boy.” You placed one of your hands over your chest, feigning hurt.

“Ouch. Clown-boy. Listen, I can take being called lots of things, but that’s where I draw the line. I don’t think I can be your nemesis anymore. We’re through now.” Batgirl threw a punch but you dodged it.

“This isn’t a joke. Now are you going to come quietly or do I have to knock you out and drag you back?” You shrugged and gave her a smile.

“Oh come on, lighten up a little Batgirl! It’s not like anyone died!”

“Really? What about the goon in the clown mask?”

“Oh yeah. Forgot about him. He threatened to kill a kid cause they were crying. I don’t like people who do that.” She scoffed and threw another punch, this one connecting with your shoulder when you tried to move out of the way.

“Yet you work with your father.” You caught Batgirl’s fist and pulled her closer to you, tapping her on the nose before releasing her hand.

“Correction: I work against him. I’m currently in the process of blowing his current cash flow to pieces. Make it a little harder to buy bombs and other fun stuff.” She backed away from you and frowned.

“So you can what? Own them for yourself?” You shook your head and crossed your arms behind your back.

“Nope. I really don’t care about gang fighting and all that crap. But I’d rather not have a lunatic running the streets, you know?”

“You’re insane.”

“Technically, yes. But you know me Batgirl. When I ever committed mass murder or something like that?” Before she could answer, a knock came from the door leading out of your ‘office’.

“Boss? Is everything alright in there?” Henchmen. Always interrupting the important things. You rolled your eyes and answered.

“Everything is fine. What do you want?” There was a pause, and the goon replied with a nervous voice.

“Joker’s on the phone. Says he needs to have words with you.” Gah. Couldn’t the clown call at a later time? Preferably never?

“Ugh. Fine. I’ll pick it up in here. Go back to doing whatever it was you were doing.” The henchman confirmed this and left. Batgirl waited til the footsteps had gone before she spoke.

“Some secretary.” You raised your hands up in an ‘I guess’ gesture and walked over to the phone on your makeshift desk.

“What can I say? He’s good eye candy. Only for looking though, wouldn’t want to make you jealous.” She scoffed again, and you picked up the phone.

“Doug Dimmadome, owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome.” The voice on the other end screeched, causing you to hold the phone away from your ear. When you held it back, it was less loud but still as annoying.

“—And listen here you sarcastic little shit—” You interrupted the Joker before he could speak any more.

“I’m sorry, but it’s ‘Dr. Sarcastic little shit’. I have a doctorate in sarcasm.”

“You ruined everything! I had the perfect plan to drive Gotham mad laid out, and you ruined it!” You tapped your chin and turned towards the window, your back towards Batgirl.

“Oh yeah, I heard about that.” Your voice took on a mocking tone now. “Did the big bad Batman swoop in and disarm your little gas attack?” The Joker snarled and uttered several more expletives.

“When I get my hands on you, you’ll wish you were never born!” You chuckled into the receiver.

“Too late for that. Good talk, go take a walk off of Wayne Tower.” You hung up the phone and turned to face Batgirl once again, only to find she was gone. Huh. Maybe she got bored of waiting for you?

<—>

Finally, a night off. The bar was a little crowded but it was better than a cold warehouse full of people who probably shared one brain cell between all of them.

“Excuse me, is it okay if I sit here? Everywhere else is full.” You glanced up at the red haired woman in front of you and gave her a smile.

“Yeah! Let me just move my bag.” Once the seat was clear, you pushed it out so she could sit down. The redhead did so with a grateful smile.

“Thanks. My feet were killing me. Name’s Barbara by the way, what’s yours?”

“My name’s y/n. Nice to meet you Barbara.” Barbara tilted her head, trying to get a good look at you. For a moment you thought she recognized you from the news, but brushed that thought aside. You looked pretty different when you weren’t covered in face paint and your usual getup.

“Do you come here often? I don’t think I’ve seen your face before.”

“Nah, only when I’m not busy. Unfortunately those moments are few and far between. You?” Barbara waved down a bartender and ordered a drink.

“Usually I meet my dad here, but he’s working late tonight.” You nodded and took a sip of your own drink.

“Sounds nice. My dad would kill me if I suggested we have dinner together.” Or at the very least, put you in the hospital for a couple of months. That was assuming you would actually talk to him.

“Not a nice guy, huh?”

“That’s underestimating it, but yeah.” The two of you talked for a long time, and at the end of the night exchanged phone numbers. You probably wouldn’t call her, but it was nice to imagine.

<—>

“What the hell did you do to her?!?!” You were glaring in pure anger at your goons, all of whom were staring at you with wide eyes and pale faces.

“She snuck in boss! So we shot her—” Your hand shot out and grabbed the closest thug, the one who had shot Batgirl.

“Are you fucking idiots?!?! She works with Batman! We don’t need him breathing down our necks!” You shoved the man to the ground, running a hand through your y/h/c hair.

“Boss—”

“Shut up. I’ll deal with this myself. I swear if any of you do anything stupid while I’m gone, I’ll make the rest of your short lives hell. Is. That. Clear?” Your henchmen nodded, and you walked over to Batgirl. Picking her up bridal style, you carried her to one of the throwaway cars and loaded her into the passenger seat.

You were halfway to the hospital before you realized you couldn’t take her there. They would have to unmask her and that would most likely ruin her and any of her family’s lives. At the very least the GCPD would throw her in a jail cell.

...What was under the mask? Lots of Gotham’s thugs and lowlifes assumed the Batman was a robot or something, but what about Batgirl? You parked the car and looked at the unconscious superheroine. Surely a look couldn’t hurt?

The mask slid off easier than you expected. Your eyes widened as you saw the face of Batgirl—but you had seen her before.

“Barbara?” She groaned and opened her eyes. The first thing Barbara saw was you, your face painted and clothes covered in blood. Then she saw her mask in your hands.

“You bastard!” You raised your hands to stop her from murdering you right there and then.

“Wait Barbara, listen to me!” Barbara froze at the sound of her name.

“How the hell do you know my name?”

“Do I really look that different with face paint on?” Dropping the mask in her lap, you grabbed a towel from the backseat and scrubbed your face with it, until you were sure all the paint was gone. “Now do you recognize me?”

“You! You’re the guy from the bar!” Her surprise turned back to rage. “We’re you just spying on me? Trying to get information about me?”

“No! I didn’t know it was you, I just...I was curious. I wanted to see under your mask.” Barbara put her fist down, wincing at the pain in her side. She almost forgot, she had been shot. Her future really was in y/n’s hands now.

“So what are you going to do now?” You shrugged and drummed your fingers on the steering wheel.

“I’m not turning you in or anything. And you’re still bleeding. Do you have a place where I can drop you off, or...?” Barbara let out a sigh of relief, knowing you wouldn’t blab about her secret identity.

“I can contact Batman and he can pick me up. I just need to be dropped off somewhere.” You nodded and let her make the call, then dropped her off where she directed.

<—>

Five months.

Five months was all it took to start a relationship with Barbara Gordon. It was a rocky start, but it was easy when nobody knew your alter ego.

And it was almost a year after that, the night before your anniversary, when you received a call from the Commissioner that she was in the hospital.

A gunshot wound. The Joker has gone to her apartment and shot her. Tortured her father. All just to get back at the Batman.

You took a trip to the hospital to see Barbara, the sight of her hooked up to machines filling you with rage. When you left you drove straight to Arkham. You still had a few connections there and soon you were waiting in one of the various abandoned sub levels.

The door to the room you were in banged open and two Arkham guards dragged the Joker into the room. They threw him to the ground and looked to you for instructions.

“Leave. Call the Batman if you want. I don’t care. He stays.” The guards looked to one another, then nodded. When they left you turned to face the Joker.

“You know, I never thought you were so stupid. You may be crazy, but stupid was never really on the list. Yet you went after the commissioner’s daughter and the commissioner.”

“So what? It’s not like you had a personal stake in this.” You regarded your father with a cold expression, from his arms being restrained by a straight-jacket and to his face covered with bruises.

“You paralyzed a girl from the waist down, humiliated and tortured her father, and for what?” You grabbed his chin and leaned in close to the green haired madman. “Just so you could have the attention of the one person who you want to break? News flash asshole; He won’t pay attention to you beyond kicking your ass.” The Joker jerked his face away and gave you his signature grin.

“So what now? You drop me in Gotham Harbor? Feed me to Harley’s mongrels? Ooo, I know! Hand me over to some of Arkham’s nastiest to have a little one on one with me!” You turned away and grabbed something from the bag you brought with you.

“You might wanna close your eyes.” The Joker frowned now.

WARNING: VIOLENCE AHEAD

“What? Why—!” With a loud CRACK, the baseball bat you held connected with the side of Joker’s face. Over and over you rained blows down on him, not letting up until the bat finally broke from the stress.

You weren’t done yet. Going back to your bag you pulled out several metal spikes, their points barely sharpened. Ever-so-slowly you pinned the Joker to the floor, relishing in his grunts of pain. Once he was pinned down you pulled out your knife, a gift from (ironically) Harley for your birthday.

You carved into his skin, making sure each cut would scar permanently. But you left his face alone. You wanted people to see just who this was. That the Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime, wasn’t invulnerable.

By the time you let up, the Joker was a bruised, bloody mess. He would live. His injuries would take weeks, probably months to heal. And even then he would still be in pain for the rest of his life.

VIOLENCE HAS ENDED

The Batman found you not long after. You were sitting on a crate messing with your phone. The Joker laid nearby, beaten beyond a bloody pulp and unconscious, but still breathing.

“Why did you do this?” The Batman was shocked, but didn’t show it. He almost didn’t believe anyone was capable of doing this to their father, even if he was the Joker.

“You can’t tell me he didn’t deserve it.” You put your phone away and looked up at the Batman, his face unreadable beneath the cowl.

“Why?” Sighing, you ran a hand through your hair. You really weren’t getting out of answering his question, were you?

“He hurt my girlfriend.” Batman frowned a little more.

“Who—” You cut him off before he could finish the question.

“Barbara. She and I have been dating for about a year now. He fucking shot her. This is the least I could have done to him.” Shock silenced the bat, but soon he spoke.

“...You should go see her.” You raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“Not going to arrest me?” He shook his head.

“She needs you now. We’ll talk later.” You took a moment, then stood up and headed for the exit. The Batman was right.

And you needed to see how Barbara was doing.

~~~~~~~~

I don’t own the above gifs, all credits go to the owners.

[megashadowdragon]

If jaune has grimm in him it will activate due to a strong desire to destroy/kill

dustypotion . tumblr . com/post/190591003007/also-not-to-continue-to-clown-but-penny-with-the#notes

also, not to continue to clown but

penny, with the maiden powers, didn’t react to the silver eyes. that means cinder’s weakness in volume 3 was absolutely to do with the METHOD of receiving the powers; the grimm beetle bonded with her and caused her to become part grimm before she got even got the grimm arm.

also, this further proves that people don’t respond to the brightness of the silver eyes, since no one but cinder did, which begs the question -

why is jaune arc the only other human to have ever reacted to the silver eye power?

and why did he shield his eyes in the exact same way cinder did this volume?

hawkeyedflame . tumblr . com/post/152581160728/on-rubys-elusive-character-development-or-why

“ jaune is a foil To Ruby. She’s a prodigy who quickly became a deadly warrior at a young age and is welcomed into Beacon two years early as a result while Jaune is a hard worker who progresses slowly and had to lie his way into Beacon because of his nonexistent combat background. Ruby is a strategist specialized on pre-defined team attacks and wields a self-made weapon capable of long range combat. Jaune is a tactician specialized in creating new team attacks according to his analysis on the battlefield and wields a family heirloom only capable of close range combat. Ruby has a rather broken family but they fully support her decision to become a huntress while Jaune’s family is large and united but they don’t support his choices nor have any faith on him. Ruby is a tomboy who dominates the battlefield but doesn’t enjoy dancing whereas Jaune tends to act girly and is initially terrible at fighting but also a great dancer. The more you look into them as a pair, the more contrasts that can be spotted in the details.”

jaune has a more “feminine way of dealing with emotions” while ruby has the more masculine way of dealing with emotions

aminoapps . com/c/rwby/page/blog/why-its-good-for-jaunes-semblance-to-be-a-support-type/xpp7_XQ4s2u6RGX2zboa6JwM2XMekWGZd68

“Joan of Arc is known for breaking gender stereotypes about what it meant to be a woman. And if you think about it in a lot of ways Jaune doesn’t fit into the stereotypical “man box.” We are don’t “men don’t cry.” He wears his emotions on his sleeve. While in the real world men (and in the world of RWBY BOTH men and women ARGUABLY) are told to be strong. And that many people superficially equate physical strength with heroism (Raven?) it is fitting that Jaune’s semblance doesn’t so much doesn’t so much empower himself, as it empowers others. (as well as himself but its more effective on others in the team since they are more skilled than him) The so called “Feminine” strength.” P.S. Hmm as a follow-up to my The Importance Of Foils Part 2 post. I think that Ruby, despite being a girl, fits into the “man box” better than anyone else including it’s UNHEALTHY WAYS OF DEALING WITH EMOTIONS. The only difference is on remnant, it’s not because a man doesn’t cry. But because “a hero doesn’t cry.”

ruby first activated her silver eyes leading to her to learn about them when she saw pyrrha jaunes partner impaled by cinder and burnt to ash failing to save pyrrha  her awakening being in reaction to her death while jaune activated his semblance and realized what it was when he saw rubys partner weiss  impaled by cinder and  was able to save her  life awakening his semblance to do so allowing him to learn what his semblance was ( which is a good example this is an example of them being foils  and how its been shown and effected their storys )

it would fit for jaune to have powers related to the god of darkness given that  ruby has powers related to the god of light (silver eyes)

Silver-Eyed Warriors have powers that are fueled by strong desires to preserve life.

According to Maria, the key to using the power of one's silver eyes is to focus on the relationship the wielder has with their loved ones and protecting them. This is consistent with the reactive uses of Ruby's eyes in the past

so it would fit for jaunes god of darkness powers to be fueled by a desire to take life if the key is to focus on the people  he hates and wants to destroy 

and while rubys powers relate to her eyes having her emit energy from her eyes ( which fits with how the god of light in his dragon form had silver eyes ) 

jaunes power to relate to his body like either his body transforming to a state like salems  or abit more like having grimm bone plating  except for jaune it will be like armor a grimm knight

megashadowdragon . tumblr . com/post/190688307462/jaune-will-be-able-to-steal-someones-magic-for-his/embed

(possibly gaining the ability  to take  the magic from those he kills which would allow him to get his hands on the maidens powers ( jaunes inspiration joan of arc

magic was the god of darknessś gift to the world and god of darkness made the grimm so it fits that cinder uses her grimm arm to take the maidens power into her so if jaune ends up having some grimm in him he will be able to steal the maidens power and gain magic for himself  ( imagine if jaune ends up taking the fall maidens powers away from her and gaining it for himself making  it reminds me of what cinder once said its not about overpowering your enemies its about taking away what power they have  imagine cinders reaction )

jaune arcs inspiration is joan of arc archive . joan-of-arc . org/joanofarc_letter_july_17_1429 . html

joan of arc was canonized by the church as the holy maiden

and joan of arc  often referred to herself as la Pucelle, which roughly translates as the Maiden

en . wikipedia . org/wiki/Name_of_Joan_of_Arc

and the four people with magic that the show talked about this season is  called the four maidens and  joan of arc was a woman took a role that many at the time believed could only be filled by a man as a military leader ( joan of arc broke the  ¨rules ¨ (the social norm)  in a sense   ,  and jaune arc would be breaking the only women can be maidens rules  

darkness consuming light ( this reminds me of an old suggestion about jaune devouring the auras/souls of people he kills and getting a power boost from that   and there is a theory that grimm grow not just due to age but due to killing people and eating them that either eating humans causes them to grow or that when they eat the body they also eat the soul to grow         ) 

dustypotion . tumblr . com/post/190253061317/so-yknow-how-grimm-eat-only-humans-and-fanus

First of all, I completely forgot that Grimm actually DO eat people, since we’ve never really seen a Grimm do it in the show. I re-watched the WOR about them and noted that scientists don’t really know why Grimm feed, and their hypothesis is that they simply choose to. That’s backed only by the fact Grimm can last long amounts of time without eating things, which shows they don’t need it to survive, and the actual insides of Grimm can’t really be studied since they evaporate, sometimes instantly if hit with enough force.

We assume Grimm like Alpha Beowolves, Ursa Majors, Giant Nevermores and Megoliaths simply grow without sustenance for a long time, simply gaining mass and more spikes as time goes on. But maybe, just maybe, feeding on the corpses of those left after village attacks might also be what helps them become giant Grimm. Megoliaths, since they’re known to avoid settlements, might bide their time by going through already destroyed villages and picking through the rubble for food there.

NOW, we have to discuss, since I’m assuming this is based on Jaune being a descendent of Salem and hypothetically having that “essence of destruction” per the theory, whether Jaune has enough hidden “Grimm physiology” in order for this to work. This also raises some questions about Salem; is she aware she could commit cannibalism to gain strength? Does she simply not, because either her magic is enough or she’s not that deranged? Has she done it? I’m gonna guess she hasn’t done it, since her being a motherfucking cannibal takes away lots of sympathy points already (but I guess if she wanted to commit genocide, which was totally a thing, this is by all accounts not as bad). Does she ever get urges to eat people, since the Grimm do it regularly for “enjoyment”?

Jaune, unlike Salem, looks entirely human. But if we’re to believe him flinching at the Silver Eyes and his rather destructive outbursts are a symptom of having some sort of Grimm physiology, that means that there is a case that if Jaune were to accidentally consume blood involuntarily, most likely through getting covered in blood and not reacting fast enough, he could gain a power boost. But how would that manifest? How would that power him up? It couldn’t possibly be through his aura or semblance. Physical strength, maybe? Possibly even adopting a more Grimm look? Him getting an even worse, or uncontrollable temper?

A lot to think about. Thanks for launching me into an essay on this because, although there’s a good chance RWBY won’t do this, it is intensely fucked up but people have also experimented with souls, experimented with Grimm, we’ve watched people die on screen and honestly, Brunswick was a thing, so maybe it’s not too fucked up for the show itself.

Also, something I’m gonna quickly add onto this; blood, particularly in the music of the show, is mentioned quite a lot despite the fact that RWBY isn’t all that gory.

“Bloody evolution” (This Will Be The Day + All Things Must Die)

“And the skies rain blood” (I May Fall)

“It’s your blood that’s red like roses” (Red Like Roses pt.2)

“Those children you mislead, you’ll watch them all bleed” (Divide)

“Maybe it’s red like roses, maybe it’s the pool of blood” (When It Falls)

“The blood’s going to stain, but it won’t be mine” (I’m The One)

“Primal, bloodshed, that’s all that’s left to do” (From Shadows)

“This is where I lay waste, and you go home bleeding” (Ignite)

“Blood for blood, it’s time to die” (One Thing)

“A mystery of blood and bone” (Lusus Naturae - this one’s interesting, because out of all people who aren’t Salem, Dr. Merlot has studied grimm more successfully more than any other; the fact he mentions blood when Grimm don’t have any might be telling)

So, it would make sense that maybe Grimm consuming people - and hence their blood - might be important.

(I  cant help but imagine grimmified jaune with the grimmbone plating shaped like actual  full body armor a grimm knight )

( the next part is something I am not serious about but just thought I would say it 

so if thats true what if when jaune  ( who is of humanity 2.0 mostly ) kills someone he does in fact absorb the soul to gain a power boost  having an ability that salem doesnt have and may be because his semblance has his own aura make contact with anothers)

( also I cant help but think of how jaune and cinder are foils and cinder tried to take ravens magic away what if jaune ends up taking the spring maidens power away raven

plus jaunes inspiration is joan of arc  who hated bandits and raven destroyed xion village which jaune used to go to with his family alot so he would have had friends there

and I have noticed that team jnprs first team fight was against a deathstalker grim and they shot its pincer off and ruby cut tyrian ( scorpion faunus tail)  and team rwbys first team fight was a nevermore  ( raven ) grimm where ruby cut off its head  so what if raven gets her head cut off by jaune absorbing her magic/soul 

(  joan of arc had a  hatred for bandits and ravens tribed destroyed a village where jaune used to visit with his family so he likely had friends there and ren would hate bandits because they attack villages causing the grimm to come and his own village got destroyed by grimm

@spoonoftar

@thehtg-therealone

[morallygreyprompts]

How did you get the confidence to post things online? I have always had a really hard time sharing what I've written with anyone, and I thought that making a tumblr where no one knows who I am would help. I nearly had a panic attack when I thought about just writing something to post. I'm just wondering if you've ever had anxiety about posting and what you did to help. Thanks

How indeed... I talk a lot on this, so to answer that basic question, my answer is this: I get anxious all the time, writing is something somehow weirdly... personal. It’s okay to be nervous. What do I do? If I am genuinely happy with what I’ve written, but I’m nervous about posting. I read it over- just once more to be sure, and then I hit that post button before I can stop myself.

Well, I guess I’ve always been a perfectionist and self-conscious with the things I do. As far as I’m concerned barely anything I do is good enough, my work simply to be perfect and outstanding and revolutionary- hell, why’d you think it’s taking me four years to write an (admittedly 160K) fanfic? But in a way, writing is the exception. Let me explain, maybe it’ll inspire you a little.

Writers are lucky. We’re different from artists, and musicians and chefs. Hell, we can be writing a deadly serious post about a hostage situation, write ‘and then a clown came out of nowhere and yanked his trousers down‘, delete the sentence, and not a living soul would know about it. We can make little errors without anyone ever knowing, we can make plot holes and fix them and delete entire chapters but people only ever see the finished result. I think sometimes people forget that. The process doesn’t matter to the reader, they don’t need to know a damned thing. 

That helps me- I can work with what I have, and no one needs to see it until I’m happy with it. It’s only then that you decide when others get to see it, and sometimes a little optimism goes a long way. I expected to write 3 or 4 posts, forget about this blog and disappear into the abyss, but people liked it, they liked my stuff, and honestly, I have never felt a greater feeling. Sappy, maybe, but dammit, it’s true. 

I’m proud of my work, and yeah, I’d say writing is my talent. But it doesn't matter how good you are, it doesn’t dull that incredible feeling when there, right in front of you, you just made a world, a scene, a whole story. You did that and other people are going to read it and enjoy it. For me, after a while, that feeling of things needing to be perfect? It just faded. You can make mistakes, and that doesn’t make your stuff bad or worthless. It just takes a while for that message to sink in I think. Writing is tough, anyone will tell you that. I’m self-conscious about my stuff, still am, and the occasional hater does hit me pretty hard. But you get back on the saddle, tell yourself you can do it, that that one person doesn’t matter- and they don’t. Writing is just something I have to do, I couldn’t have gotten through the last few years without it. I started off writing Sonic the Hedgehog Fanfic. Looking back, I wanna curl up and cry at its quality, but hey, it got me started and it got me over the fear of the first online publication while I still thought I was mint. So I got off topic but bear with me, this is important. You’ve never posted anything before? First off, write for yourself. Write what you want to read, not for the faceless audience on the other side of your screen. Post the paragraph you’re most proud of. Three sentences, something as simple as a few lines of dialogue. It might only get two likes in a month depending on how many people find it. Commenting on other writer’s work might help speed the process along though and it’ll help them too.

But hey, posting wasn’t so bad, was it? Then you can write a little more if you feel more confident. Just don’t get caught up on the numbers. Your writing is pretty much a whisper in a music concert if you’re just starting out, it’ll take time for people to find you, and two notes doesn’t mean you’re bad, and that’s the important thing to remember.

I think I’m finished with my pep talk, and self-conscious me is insisting it’s a mass of incoherent nonsense, but I am going to tell that person to shut up and post this anyway. I’ve covered what I need to, I think. The biggest lesson to take away is, by all means, start small, but just do it. Imagine what the worst that could happen is, how likely that is to happen. Then think realistically about the best thing that could happen. I hope somewhere amongst my rambles, you find something that will help you bite the bullet and just try.

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” Richard Bach

“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.” Margaret Atwood