#i would be so much less willing to overlook it if that's the case

[seriousbrat]

A controversial opinion, but I don’t think Severus ever got an invitation to the Slug Club. He’s obviously a prodigy, but Slughorn’s M.O. is to invite the well connected - with the exception of those who are so obviously going to succeed *despite* their lack of connections in the magical world. Hermione is a upper middle class girl with a famous best friend and exceptional talent. Lily was a charming extroverted girl from a decent home who everyone liked. Tom Riddle was a handsome, smooth talking fellow who could inspire loyalty and is willing to say the right things to flatter. If Slughorn can get these kids to meet the right people, then they have the ingredients to climb the ranks, and then they’re beholden to Slughorn for making the initial connection. It’s how the club and nepotism in general works!

But young Snape doesn’t have the ingredients. He bears all the hallmarks of abuse. He’s unlikeable, badly socialised, ill tempered, poorly groomed, and most importantly, he has absolutely no intention of playing the very particular British class game and wears his working class status as a furious badge of honour. It’s why James and Sirius keep bullying him - he refuses to scrape to his social superiors and spits in their eye instead. He’s not the type to buy Slughorn pineapple in return for a leg up.

(This goes beyond the realm of textual interpretation and into pure fanon, but I’ve always liked the idea of this being a source of tension between Snape and Lily, him disdaining her ‘playing the game’, so to speak, and stubbornly refusing to see the difference between her associating with Slug Club members to get on in a world that doesn’t accept her and him associating with his housemates who can offer him a degree of protection and respectability the Light side do not because they’ve never accepted him)

I can see that being the case! The main reason why I think Slughorn might have initially had hopes for Sev is because of this from HBP:

‘But I don’t think I’ve ever known such a natural at Potions!’ said Slughorn, regarding Harry with a fond, if blood- shot, eye. ‘Instinctive, you know – like his mother! I’ve only ever taught a few with this kind of ability, I can tell you that, Sybill – why, even Severus –’

‘You should have seen what he gave me, first lesson, the Draught of Living Death – never had a student produce finer on a first attempt, I don’t think even you, Severus –’

Like he was very clearly aware that Severus was a very talented student, at his own subject no less, because he compares Harry to him as if Snape was exceptional. I can't see Slughorn completely overlooking that kind of raw talent.

As fond of Lily as Slughorn was, I imagine that Sev's friendship with her was a point in his favour too. I definitely don't think Snape was ever a favourite of his, but it's clear that as potions master Slughorn had his eye on Sev as probably his most talented student. He might have thought he could mold him. However I think as Sev got older (and less likable lol), particularly after his split with Lily and growing association with the Dark Arts, Slughorn would have increasingly seen him as less likely to succeed, and possibly given him up as a lost cause.

Also, a lot of this is your own interpretation of Snape (which is totally fine!) but personally I see teen Snape as more ambitious than that. I don't think he was 'spitting in the eye' of the British/Wizarding class system given that he joined a fascist group dedicated to upholding it. While I see him as resentful of it, he definitely was no rebel, and I do see him as trying to get in good with purebloods like Avery and Mulciber and climb the greasy pole by sheer willpower and talent. For me he's definitely a character that's very aware of class and is trying to play the game, but on his own terms. He knows that nothing will ever be handed to him the way it has been his fellow Slytherins, but he prides himself on working that much harder to achieve it. So I agree there's a certain amount of pride there, but it's also mixed with a lot of shame-- at his humble origins, his father, everything he sees as holding him back.

I see the "half-blood prince" nickname as a kind of tongue-in-cheek reference to that, giving importance to Sev's wizarding side but also serving as a reminder of what sets him apart from the rest. He craves recognition and respect, and I think he would have taken exclusion from the Slug Club hard, as another reminder of the unfairness of life. Avery and Mulciber were likely Slug Club members themselves, so I don't think Sev would totally disdain it-- he wants their favour badly, so I don't think he completely refuses to scrape to social superiors either. He probably would take exclusion from the Club pretty hard. I just don't think he'd wear his working-class roots as a badge of honour, personally, since I see him as trying to move beyond them, to cast off everything his father represents and be recognised on his own merits.

[mistymisfit]

So long, Marianne II

Summary: Reader is a spy working undercover in Gotham when she meets Jason Todd, who despite her better judgement she forms a very close friendship with. This story follows their escape from Arkham asylum, their fall out and the times they run into each other as they get older.

Relationship: AK!Jason x Meta!Fem!Reader

Warnings: Graphic descriptions of violence (I'm serious, tho- in canon it's also pretty violent), angst, hurt/no comfort (for now), this series is just my excuse to write angst lol.> copied from first part but this one's more tame i think. + Fluff if you squint.

Word Count: 3k (a bit more but who cares)

Read on AO3

Part 1- Masterlist

See the end for author's notes :)

You spent hours by his side when he was unconscious, door locked from the inside just in case and extra security measures just for him. All this despite knowing you should be safe, technically-- but you still didn't trust the very people who handled your life. At one point you feel bold enough to hold his hand but it doesn't last long since you wouldn't want him to be uncomfortable if he woke up then. It was already hard enough as it was, him being mad at you and all. You stared at him, you couldn't help it since he finally looked peaceful. Your mind wandered, you couldn't believe this was the same boy who kissed you on a random rooftop overlooking the city. "Looks beautiful from up here, you can't even tell all the crime going on down there" you had said that night. He had been waiting for an opening for more nights than he'd be willing to admit. He started to bring you to rooftops and high places more often with that intention, showing you the view and to kiss you; he'd been meaning to do that for longer than that too. Your feet dangled in the air, you were both sitting on the ledge of the building and he watched you smile.

God, he thought, if I keep staring she's gonna think I'm weird. Unable to stop himself from overthinking this any longer he just went for it, the gloved hand on your cheek and his lips on yours moved so fast you didn't even have time to realize what was happening. You thought it was cute how awkward he was about it, so when he pulled after just a few seconds you giggled. Before he separated from you, you put a hand on top of the one that rested on your face and told him "Wait, do it again". Soon the kissing grew into something less than giggles and giddiness and more into needing the other like the air to breathe, and when his hands threatened to trail lower on your back you heard a cough behind you. You remembered how mortified you felt when you saw Batman himself standing behind you. Those days were way past behind you now, he wasn't the same boy as then, he had been through too much since your rooftop kissing days.

It also upset you greatly to think about how betrayed he must feel right now. First his mentor replaces him and now he finds out you've been lying to him, both things he knows thanks to the man who had been torturing him. You were mad at him too at the time, even going as far as taking it out on the new guy a couple times-- and on an eventful night on Nightwing too. You were mean to the new boy wonder, even if he tried being friendly you'd cut him off, huffing and leaving on a good day--and cussing and yelling at him on a bad one. And that night was a bad one, one of the worst, you were supposed to plant a tracker on some Russian mobster's smuggling ship. Which was going well until a few masked vigilantes decided to show up, he blew it up. He ruined your mission and the worst part was you couldn't even blame him for it because you would have done the same if you could. You didn't even take cover, you didn't have time but he pushed you to the floor and covered you with his cape to protect you from the rubble. Quickly getting up he offered you a hand when you were on the floor from the explosion and still a bit in shock but you just grunted and got up on your own. You heard him sigh behind you as you started to focus on healing the bruises and cuts scattered over your body. "You know, you could at least be polite to me, I'm not asking you to be friends", he told you finally fed up with your attitude towards him. "Fuck you" you replied shortly and heard him scoff before saying "I just saved you". He recriminated, as if you owed him anything for that. He could've just let you die and you would have been more grateful. You glared at him and announced loudly that you were leaving, he grabbed your wrist and only got to say the word hey before you interrupted him. "I could make your heart stop right now," you threatened "I should make you drop dead on your feet". "Do it, see how it ends for you, hunted down by Batman", he taunted and you replied "Let him, I should've killed him long ago".

And then Nightwing swooped in to stop the argument from turning physical, he asked-ordered-- Robin to let you go and he listened. You were almost out of earshot when you heard "Just forget it man, the suit doesn't come with the girlfriend", everything stopped. Literally, your emotions got the best of you and you stopped time. Everything froze, you don't how far but blinded by rage you walked back, took one the sticks from his back and tased Nightwing with his own weapon. Time moved again, and the older one fell to the floor. Robin just looked at you in shock, when? how did you do that? His eyes went to his brother, groaning in pain and then back to you, throwing the escrima stick back to its owner, coldly calculated to be just right out of his reach. "the suit doesn't come with the girlfriend" you mocked in a childish tone, completely contradictory to your violent actions at the moment when you pushed your boot to his neck. You thought it was a shame since you actually liked him, you thought he was more reasonable than Batman. Robin tried to stop you, to no avail since you hit him right in the neck with your elbow without looking back. It felt almost like you had eyes on your back. He coughed, getting the air inside his lungs again. And in their confusion you pulled out a gun, aimed at Robin so he had no choice but to stay back.

"Marianne, stop" You looked back at him, standing tall and menacing, the man himself calling you by your supposed real name, the name he wasn't supposed to know. You weren't scared of him, in fact you looked at him and pushed in harder, cutting his airflow like you were taught. You could feel his hands weakly trying to pull you away, somehow whatever humanity was left in you was stuffed away in the furthest corner of your mind. He shoot a batarang that landed on your leg, it hurt yet you didn't flinch as the blood pours down, you double down by pulling the safety trigger off without breaking eye contact. "You wouldn't kill them" He spoke, his voice almost like a growl mean to scare you. You scoffed and told him he didn't know shit about you, he really didn't but what you didn't expect was him stating things you had only told Jason. "You're religious and you pray for your missing sister. Do you think your God would allow this?", the shock made you loosen your grip and the man under your foot managed to free himself and gasped for air. "Honestly, God and you both can go fuck yourselves" you bit back, before taking the weapon out of your skin, finally allowing to heal your wound. You shot it back at him, right in his shoulder, the weak point. "Leave," he ordered "I'll handle her". It was quite impressive how spot on your aim was on your non dominant hand but also unexpected, you were breaking your cover. He let you land a few hits, you knew he was letting you win a bit. But soon the cussing turned into silent sobs, "I hate you" you cried, a fist weakly hitting his armor-covered chest. "How could you?" You sniffed and he patted your back in an effort to comfort you.

Eventually you fell asleep, sitting on a chair with your head resting on the bed in front of you. The first thought he has when he wakes up is how stupid it all was; that he felt so angry at you yet he couldn't help but find your sleeping face adorable. He will wake you up so you can give him some answers but right now he can indulge himself, tucking your hair behind your ear so he can see you better. Feeling your hair now soft and clean and how free of wounds you looked, he marveled at how you seemed healthy again. This wasn't the first time he watched you sleep, there was that time he was injured and he hadn't seen you all night. He thought maybe you stayed home--you did, you only left at night when you had a mission and that night you hadn't. When he got to your building and saw you in your room he waited, you were praying. He didn't know you were religious at all, he never asked either. So he sat in quiet on the emergency stairs, in pain until you finished. Out of respect for your faith, and you, he wouldn't interrupt that.

He finally knocked on your window after he saw you sitting at your desk, papers scattered all over it. You turned to were the noise came from and when you saw him, you quickly gathered everything on your desk to hide before even letting him in. "Hey, what were you doing?" He asked, holding his side where it hurt, probably a broken rib he thought. "Studying, I have a test tomorrow" you lied, helping him in and guiding him to sit on your bed. "Think I broke a rib" he grunted, lifting his hand so you could help him get his armor off. His eyes went from the bruise on his side to you as you healed him, sight fixed on your focused expression as the pain left. "Feel any better?" you gave him a smile and he just wanted to kiss you senseless right then. "Yeah, thanks" he wanted to spend more time with you, he was trying to find any excuse to stay before you handed back his clothes. "So, uhm, are your parents here?", you shook your head no saying they were out on some business trip. "How long were you at my window?", fuck he got caught, he replied "a while" in a weak and embarrassed tone.

He noticed the jewelry you wore, that you probably left at home to avoid being recognized. The earrings, the watch, and the dainty chain you had. He took the last one in his between his fingers, playing with the pendant and asking you about it. "I'm not really- my mom believed in this more than me" you explained, "but I do it to feel closer to her". He appreciated the vulnerability you were showing then, you had told him that your parents died in a car accident--lie-- and you were adopted. You never really talked about your biological parents until now. He let go of your pendant to hold your hand, you were sitting next to each other in your bed, awfully close to the point his leg was pushed to yours next to it. "I don't wanna talk about it," you started "are going to kiss me like the other night?". You were looking up at him through your lashes, giving him a look he just couldn't say no to. He knew you said that to distract him, but he would be damned if it wasn't working. Your hands worked on taking his utility belt off, and he let you take his weapons from him, he allowed himself to be vulnerable around you to let his guard down. How could he not when you were asking him so nicely to stay for a little longer? Later that night Jason ended up falling asleep with you in his arms after you did, because moving would've meant waking you up and he'd never do that, he stayed for hours like a cat owner watching their pet sleep on their lap. But still woke up to Bruce waiting for him in the alley that your window faced, ready to tell him all about how irresponsible he had been. You were wearing the same jewelry right now, as you sleep but your relationship wasn't the same as it was then. He wondered how much of what you told him that night was true.

He decides he's had enough of going down memory lane and puts a hand on your shoulder, gently but firmly shaking you so you will wake up. It doesn't take much effort since you were already on edge and too nervous when you passed out next to him. Your head quickly jerks up in an almost painful motion that wouldn't surprise him if you got whiplash.

"You're awake" you whisper, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes.

"Hm, thanks" He replies through gritted teeth and you know this is the nicest thing you'd get from him in this situation. "Where are we?"

"A safe house in Chicago, you've been out for a while" You explain, and your eyes follow him sitting up on the bed and yanking the iv off his arm. He's getting ready to leave, you thought. "Are you okay? Do you want me to get rid of that scar for you?"

"Leave it, I don't want you anywhere close to me" He swats off the hand you had close to his face. He turns his back to you, putting on the shoes you left for him. It made you feel pathetic, you've done so much for him knowing he may never forgive you. And yet you were ready to screw yourself even more to help him.

"I'm sorry, I swear I was going to tell you"

"When? You lied to me about everything," He turns to see you over his shoulder when he says that, just to look you in the eye and gauge at your reaction. He had a right to be angry, but you still couldn't help the tears that started to form in your eyes "How can I trust you? I don't even know your name"

Jason was just being mean, he knew you saved him and helped him escape. He was expressing himself with anger since it was easier to acknowledge than what he really felt, scared and sad. Anger he could manage, he could make himself out to be violent and scary. But his own fear, his own sadness and recognizing how lonely he felt finding out the person he trusted the most lied to him, that he could not manage.

"Jason-" Your tone was weak, you didn't want to speak if you knew your voice was going to break mid sentence. But you couldn't let him think those horrible things about you "most of what I told you is true"

"Like what? Bet your parents didn't even die in a car accident, and you don't even have a sister" Jason yells. He nailed it, you didn't know how they died, you just knew they were dead and for your sister... you did have one, but for her safety you shouldn't have been stupid enough to tell him.

"They are dead," You suddenly feel small, like that little girl being violently trained all over again.

"Where's the exit?" He coldly asks, standing up and ready to leave through that door. You knew if he left it'd be the last time you see him, so you had to stop him. Moving faster than him, you put your back on the door and face him.

"I'll tell you everything, just please wait" You beg, holding his gaze and trying to decipher his thoughts to no success, his expression was stone-cold. All you could get from him is knowing how furious he was.

"How much of it was a lie?" He questions again. "Did you even mean it when you said you loved me?"

"Of course I love you!" Now you were starting to get pissed off too. Was he so blind he couldn't tell that? He didn't get it from ruining your mission just to save his life? Was his head that thick that stopping the bleeding from his wound until you were over-using your powers meant nothing?

"Then leave with me" The offer takes you by surprise, and your expression softens. Your brows relax until you're not furrowing them any more, and your lips part in a gasp. What? He was so cold and now he wants you to run away with him "Help me kill him"

"I can't" You turn your face to the side to avoid his eyes, to avoid looking at him if it meant seeing him mad at you again. You were not a spy out of your free will, they had something on you. And with your power you were too much valuable of an asset to be lost. Though you couldn't tell him that, that was the one thing you were willing to keep from him. The only thing you held as dear as him in your heart, sometimes even more so than him.

"Give me a reason" He demands, hovering over you and putting an arm on the door to cage you in.

"I can't tell you" You whisper, unable to look him in the eye.

"Of course," Jason scoffs and takes a step back, he couldn't believe he was foolish enough for one second to believe that you'd say yes "you'll never change"

"You're being mean," You sniff and wipe off the tears from your face as fast as you can. Then you put your hand in one of your pockets, looking for something. You push the credit card to his chest, pushing him in the process. He lets it fall to the ground, not reacting "take it, you have about 48 hours before they notice"

You unlock the door before stepping away from it, pushing him out of your way to reach for the duffle bag on the floor. You throw it at him, now you were angry too. Your patience grew thin, you were as understanding as you could and this is how he pays you, not extending the same courtesy, being selfish. You understood he had been rotting in that Arkham wing for a year but you were there too, he didn't have the monopoly on suffering. All Jason could think about was how he felt, what was done to him, not considering for a second what was done for him. Read, you risking your own neck for him. And now you were tired of it, he wanted to leave you? Then he could be your guest.

"This is for you too, no trackers I made sure of it" He stands quiet as you open the door "Door is right this way"

You lead him to the exit of the apartment, disabling all security measures on your way. He doesn't get the sudden change of attitude, of course he liked it better when you were low energy, just apologizing to him. He knows he must've pushed a button to have irritated you this much. Whatever the reason was for you to stay on this life must clearly be important to you, at least that is what he thinks pissed you off. A reason bigger than your love for him. The love that he kept questioning, yeah he deserved to be kicked out like that. He watched you hesitate to open the front door, and he understood too that when he walked out there was no turning back. "And Jason?" He turns to see you and you whisper your name. The real name your parents gave you for the first time in years. And he remembers it, your voice repeats it over and over again in his head. Cute name, he thought. It belonged to you, not your bosses, not your agency, it was yours and about one of the very few things you owned. And he knew, you finally told him even when you shouldn't have. Even when you were specifically instructed not to do that. But it doesn't matter even if it was the last time you saw him, you wanted him to know. He had to know. Only a few minutes after he leaves you allow yourself to break down, letting the tears fall as much as they please. Because you knew you had to be over it by tomorrow, that you have to leave it behind you forever.

A/N: hi, idk when will I post part 3 but just know it's in the works 🫡🫡.

[dessarious]

Old Scars and New Beginnings Pt105

Beginning   Previous  

Selina looked around the room in amusement. The sheer number of people rivaled a meeting with most of the Justice League. This group, however, was far more diverse. And far less likely to back down to Batman.

"I don't see why we can't just stay here. We'll go home, so anyone who's watching will see. Then Mari can transport us back here." Gina was exceptionally unhappy about leaving. Her idea wasn't a bad one either. Mari was frowning in thought, but Bruce just looked annoyed.

"If it were any other threat, I'd agree with you. But Talia, or whoever she sends, is as likely to attack us here as anywhere else. I can't risk you being caught in the crossfire."

"I can handle myself, and honestly, I have a few words to say to that woman myself after the last time we crossed paths." Bruce looked like his head was about to explode.

"You know Talia?"

"I do, and seeing the way she raised her son after what her father did to her, I'm more than happy to make sure she doesn't get near him again." Now Damian was studying the woman. His cheeks were a bit flushed and Selina wasn't certain if it was embarrassment that she thought he couldn't handle himself, or just because someone he didn't know at all was willing to protect him.

"Marinette, what do you think?" She couldn't tell if Bruce was stalling to get his thoughts in order, or if he thought Mari would back him up. She'd been whispering with Tikki and Kaalki since the argument started.

"I don't see why everyone thinks it has to be one or the other. If Kaalki has a constant food supply, they can simply keep a portal open between the two houses so everyone can come and go as they please. It would be a good option as an escape route if it's needed as well." Gina and Bruce both just stared at her and Selina had to fight back a laugh. They'd been arguing for over an hour and Mari made the entire thing defunct. "I would still feel better if Syd and Trixx stayed at the house so they can shield it though." Syd just shrugged her acceptance. Selina wasn't certain what was going on with that girl, but she was even more closed off than usual. But Chloe and Mari didn't seem worried about it, so she was willing to overlook it for the moment.

"In that case, we're going to need to add more security. Especially to the rooms where the portal is. The last thing we need is Talia finding and using it." The fact that Bruce didn't argue, or even resist changing directions, showed just how much of an impact Mari had on him. Before, he would have dug in and insisted that his plan was best. Especially since Damian's safety was involved. Her flexibility was wearing off on him. Bruce started hashing out security plans with the others, but Mari immediately went back to whispering with the Kwami. The grave looks on the Kwami and the worry on Mari's face made Selina edgy.

"What's wrong, kitten?" Selina kept her voice soft so the others wouldn't pay attention. She didn't want to take the focus away from the planning if she could avoid it. Mari startled a bit and hesitated.

"It's just... Whatever is after Damian is getting closer and..."

"And?"

"I think whoever it is spent time in Paris within the last few years." Well, that was oddly specific.

"What makes you say that?" She kept her tone calm and soothing.

"I said before that they hate the Miraculous, and they do, but..." Selina just waited. "Most of that hatred is for Ladybug specifically." Selina blinked at her for a moment before pulling the girl into a hug. Mari burrowed into her.

"It's not your fault, Kitten. You did the best you could with what you had. Whatever their reason, and given they are almost certainly part of the League, you are not to blame."

"Maybe." It was the best she could hope for. Mari still seemed to think that her friends were going to leave once they really thought through what her being Ladybug meant. Nothing they could say would help, and this would be no different. Bruce raised an eyebrow at her, and Selina just shook her head. Mari didn't need them to make a big deal of this right now. The only other one who had noticed the interaction was Luka. While Selina could understand why the boy made Bruce uneasy, it was obvious he was completely devoted to Marinette. And where her other friends would push and prod her to do what they thought she needed, Luka just supported her. Even now, he just made sure no one else caught on to Mari's distress.

"It is a clue, though. Can you think of anyone you ran across as Ladybug that might feel that way?" Mari didn't respond and Selina regretted asking. It was entirely possible it was just someone who had something happen while they were there and blamed the heroes for it. The last thing she wanted was Mari going through the list of people who she thought had a reason to hate her. "We'll figure it out."

"A lot of people blamed us for how long everything went on. For everything they had to go through."

"You know that wasn't your fault, right? Gabriel was the one who caused all that, and if you hadn't been there to stop him, it would have been worse." The girl just shrugged. "You didn't have a choice. You were put in a terrible position and you did the best you could. All of you did. You don't blame the others for what happened, do you?" She shook her head.

"Other than Adrien, I picked them. I was the one who made the plans. I was the one who couldn't catch him." Selina pulled back and lifted Mari's chin to force eye contact.

"You were and still are a child. You were forced into a responsibility that no one should have expected you to take. You and Adrien both were put into an impossible situation with zero knowledge and zero training. The others, you gave a choice. Perhaps it wasn't wise of you or them, but you all did what you had to do. And you did it well enough that the Kwami decided to give you even more responsibility. I'll say it again. Nothing that happened was your fault."

Mari wanted to argue, Selina could see it. She wasn't certain if the fact that Mari couldn't come up with anything was proof that they were getting through to her, or just proof of how exhausted she was. She just pulled the girl back into a tighter hug.

"I just wish it didn't feel like my mistakes were coming back to haunt me." She sounded so tired.

"Whatever this is, isn't your fault. And if you weren't here to warn us that someone was after Damian, who knows what would have happened? At least now we can prepare."

"I'm sure you would have been fine without me." Selina couldn't help the annoyed sigh that left her.

"Given that they funded a cult for this opportunity, whatever they have planned is big. It's entirely likely we would have walked straight into an ambush." They probably wouldn't have found out who the cult's money backers were without the information Mari gave them. She shuddered to think what going into that confrontation would have been like if they weren't prepared for Talia's tricks. "You don't give yourself enough credit."

"I still don't understand why Damian's mother would send someone who hates him to retrieve him." Selina rolled her eyes at the subject change and debated on how honest she should be. In the end, Mari and the others needed to know how this was likely to play out, so they didn't let their guard down.

"While Talia wants Damian back in the fold, he's a liability if he stays outside the league. The person she sent likely has orders to kill him if he refuses to return." Mari gave her a skeptical look.

"She'd really have her own son killed?"

"She'd do it herself if she was here." Selina wasn't certain what to do with the thoughtful frown on Marinette's face. She'd expected horror or disbelief.

"So even if we catch this person, Damian will still be in danger." Selina just nodded. "That's not acceptable." She said it in such a matter-of-fact tone that Selina didn't know how to respond. She agreed with Mari, but there wasn't much they could do about it. Mari startled her when she stood abruptly and walked over to Damian. The girl didn't say anything, just held out her hand to him, and when he took it, marched him out of the room. Everyone paused for a moment before resuming planning. All Selina could do was shake her head.

"She's blaming herself for things again." Selina jumped as Luka materialized next to her. She hadn't even seen him move.

"It does seem to be her natural state." The boy's expression settled into the closest thing she'd seen to a scowl on him. "Whatever is coming after Damian hates Ladybug, and she thinks it's her fault."

"If it's a native Parisian, that's a very short list. It shouldn't be too hard to research. It will be harder for anyone who came and went since you'll have to rely on travel records and they can be spotty. It's far more likely to be someone not from Paris originally, in my opinion."

"Really? Marinette seems to think a lot of people were upset with Ladybug for how long things went on."

"She what?" The genuine surprise in his tone was unexpected. Apparently, Marinette still wasn't talking about her fears with her friends. One more thing to worry about. "Yes, right after Hawkmoth was defeated, everyone was letting out all the emotions they'd had to repress, and a lot of that was anger. Some of it was even directed at the Heroes. But in the end, everyone knew who was at fault. Granted, I wasn't in Paris, but I didn't get the impression from anyone I talked to back home that there was real animosity towards the heroes. Adrien and Chloe haven't mentioned it either, and Chloe would have."

"What about the police force? Chloe said they actively worked against them." Luka's expression tightened.

"Maybe while the heroes were active, but I doubt those feelings lasted long without a target. Not to mention, from what I remember, it was resentment more than anything else." Luka hesitated. "Other than Gabriel, I can only think of one person who truly hated Ladybug."

"That's great! It gives us someone to look into."

"You already are." He sounded grim, and Selina just raised an eyebrow at him. "Lila Rossi."

"You're kidding." He shook his head. Selina was getting tired of this girl and they hadn't even met her yet. "I suppose it makes sense with the way she disappeared. We know they want the Miraculous, so taking her for information isn't out of the realm of possibility. At the same time, I don't know that Talia would send someone so knew to the League to take out Damian, of all people. It could be a test, though."

The more she thought about it, the more it seemed like something Talia would do. It could be a test of loyalty, or just of training. She wouldn't be counting on Bruce to kill her, so there would be a backup plan. There would be more than just one assassin. Granted, they were already planning on that. But this brought competing factions into play. One more problem to complicate things.

"If it is Lila, and she finds out Mari is here, there's a very good chance she'll come after her. Especially since Mr. Wayne took her in." She didn't like Luka's tone.

"Because he's Damian's father?"

"Because he's famous. Lila always hated that Mari had better connections than her. I can't even image the rage she'll feel at this development."

"Depending on what Talia's done to her, she might not even remember Mari." Luka was shaking his head before she finished.

"If she remembers Ladybug, she remembers Marinette. I met her when I was Viperion with Ladybug and Mari on separate occasions. She hates Mari more."

Beginning   Previous

[ca-suffit]

There is a debate on Twitter, about this photo of Santiago circulating with Eglee on his lap and someone asked artists to draw Loustat in this position.

What was my surprise to discover that 99% of the artists would represent Lestat sitting on Louis'... obviously each artist represents their own visions as they want but I don't know why in my head it seems so incorrect.

I know it's a bit cliché and I have to deconstruct myself from binary thinking but for me Louis is more female coded than Lestat, I have always seen Lestat as a representation of the patriarchy maybe I am wrong maybe I am too binary in my representation of the couple,Lestat = patriarch, Louis = mother and Claudia = the child in identity crisis?

the show itself has directly said / shown that lestat is the patriach, louis is the "housewife" and claudia is "the mistake." it's always worth examining ur own perspective but in this case, it comes directly from canon. there's even a quote somewhere from anne rice about her writing louis from a woman's perspective bcuz louis *was* her at the time she wrote it. so it's even book canon.

seeing lestat on louis' lap feels incorrect bcuz it *is* incorrect. we have had these arguments forever bcuz there's a divide in the fandom of ppl who see what the show is saying and ppl who want to pretend it's not there. they'll usually use arguments to scare ppl to taking their side too, like ur being antiblack if u think louis is feminine (literally not a real thing at all) or something about homophobia idek.

but when ppl make lestat this over the top, sassy, white gay caricature to louis'....blackness, rly? it isn't doing shit except softening lestat's traits that don't need to be softened and overlooking *all* of how louis is a black, gay man himself. it paints lestat in a less harmful and more easily digestible light and leaves louis as a black man stereotype.

ppl have not seen a black, gay man like louis before. lestat is seen as the only "real" gay rep a lot bcuz his whiteness gives him the ability to be more open about things than louis gets. his personality also enjoys that more. he at times "fits" what ppl are used to when they think of "gay man." that's only one version tho. louis expresses so much of his own identity as a gay man all the time, ppl just don't know how to see it. he acts like his own mother so often and has more biting commentary than lestat ever says, but ppl overlook all that bcuz lestat is white and does things more theatrically.

louis wants to be soft and vulnerable and cared for to a degree, but again ppl aren't used to seeing this from a black man. he's also built smaller than lestat. they intentionally had sam bulk up whereas jacob did not to place more emphasis on this too. louis struggles with eating as well, something not necessarily *only* a feminine thing at all but still largely viewed like that by a lot of ppl, especially in the role of a wife.

the reason ppl are more willing to start saying how louis started to act at times in the loumand relationship is "his real self" or whatever is bcuz that *is* what ppl want to believe. that *is* the antiblack male stereotype. ppl think he's hiding this person rather than the fact it's a coping mechanism and survival technique. it's not like u could *never* write a black man like this without it always being antiblack. there's ways to do it without being harmful. what makes the fandom's reaction to louis like this so antiblack is the fact that we've been shown over and over that that *is not* the real louis and yet ppl insist it is. they'll have a thousand headcanon explanations of why everyone else masks for whatever reason, even to excuse outright abuse, but louis doing anything "aggressive" is just.....typical louis. lol ok.

so ya. it feels incorrect bcuz it *is* incorrect. bcuz this is all a dynamic that is backed up so far by fanon only, and fanon that is hugely influenced by antiblackness.

as another comment on the end of this too, I see a lot of "gnc" comments around lestat just for having long hair, but where does anyone ever say this for armand? u see the ways fandom just hands shit to white characters for no reason. "I am she, she is me" is also seen as some kind of gender thing bcuz it's too icky to process that it's a rly colonizer ass line for the white, french guy to be saying. ppl use sexuality and gender to soften lestat all the time and then call u homophobic when u say anything otherwise. it's the same technique used over and over again to avoid criticism, u just pick a different focus each time (misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, etc). it's usually a white person thing but not always. this fandom has a lot of fans of colors saying awful shit and relying on scaring white fans with their identities to make it hold more weight. like "don't make louis feminine" came a lot from a black fan (showmey0urfangs) but what it rly stemmed from was her personal discomfort with mpreg fics lol.

[unearthlytraveller]

Babylon 5 Rewatch: Legacies, S1 Ep17

A few episodes ago, I commented on how I'm used to watching the show in the recommended order rather than the production order. This episode is one of the big problems with production order: an actual continuity error. Granted, that's not obvious from the episode itself, but we see Delenn use something she hasn't been given yet! It's a small thing but it's definitely there.

This is very much an epsiode of two halves. One one side, we have the Neroon plot. John Vickery is always so great as Neroon, even here where he's basically just a random villain of the week. We also get some great Delenn stuff. At a character level, we get to see a Machiavellian side to her that doesn't come out that often. But what I really love is her last scene with Neroon. Mira Furlan had the great ability to just turn a switch and absolutely command the scene. Most of the time in this season, she plays the character as somewhat reserved and low key. But then she just dominates Neroon through sheer force of personality alone. It's great.

On the other side, we have the Alisa Beldon plot. I'd say the episode would be better if that was completely excised, except we can't because it ends up resolving the Neroon plot. On one level, that's good writing; the two parallel subplots end up connected in a surprising but logical way. But on the other hand, it means I can't just hit fast forward every time Beldon is on screen. It's not good.

Some other thoughts:

"You talk like a Minbari, Commander." - I'm sure this quote is completely natural and has no deeper meaning.

For Eyes, I saw someone else comment on how strong it showed the Sinclair and Ivanova friendship. This episode does the same thing, with Sinclair willing to give Ivanova carte blanche in the Beldon plot.

Good to see Na'Toth again. Only one more appearance before the character gets recast by a much less talented performer.

As usual, season 1 Minbari society talks about only the Warrior and Religious castes. This is definitely an example of them overlooking other castes, and not a case where the world building would later change. Definitely.

Finally, for the CCG card I chose this Aftermath, just because of the screenshot. It has a powerful effect, but is quite hard to play.

[im-a-king-baby]

Hiii i loved ELYN so much.

I was hoping for any other tidbits/stories/scenes about Simon carrying the frog in the sock. i just wondered if it was like his comfort object or like the orange sweater etc. .That was one of my favorite scenes when Wille finds it

And/or “i wanted to wake up with you” i dont think i will ever forget that line.

💜 thank youuuu

Okay so I'm sorry this is so very late. Life has been a Lot 😅 hopefully folks are still interested in my ramblings!

<3 <S <3

"I wanted to wake up with you."

Fun fact: I almost cut this line. It was originally in the first draft where Simon never made the late-night-call that led everyone to Bjarstad and I was worried that after I'd made that change this line would put people off Simon, because at this point (in theory) Simon knows that Wilhelm had to get up because of what Simon did during the night so it's a bit unfair to Wilhelm. But then I figured Simon's in withdrawal, he's going to be resentful and frustrated and just because intellectually he knows it's his fault that doesn't mean he's not still having those feelings.

As far as the wanting goes, Simon is just dragging himself through life at the moment. He had this whole spiral of failing to sleep, eventually managed it by basically promising himself a future where he'd wake up and things would still be like they were when they went to bed, just the two of them avoiding the world. Plus withdrawal emotions, plus Candace showing up, the bubble is fully burst and this line is Simon tired and resentful and having to face it.

In case you're interested in how things change in editing, this is the first draft version of this moment (in this version Candace showed up basically the moment the queen left which would have been one hell of a coincidence).

“People always leave before I wake up. Maybe they think I’ll be less fun sober, probably they’re right.” “I wasn’t trying to leave you.” “Okay.” It’s the same tone of voice, accepting but not believing. “Are you going back to Stockholm with her?” He pushes himself off the wall, crossing into the kitchen and opening cupboards at random. It’s Friday morning. Wilhelm is due on TV at six PM. He’s supposed to be attending multiple prep meetings, seeing a stylish and a make-up artist before that. Minou is no doubt already at full panic stations. “I can stay if you want me to.” He stands up as Simon emerges from a cupboard with a half full bottle of vodka. “I can help you look for a lawyer. Or we could go for a walk.” Simon unscrews the bottle. “If you want to go, you can go.” The roar of an engine surges outside. Simon is closer to the window, and Wilhelm sees the moment his face shuts down, the inevitability of it, a moment before he sees Candace emerge from a sleek white car. “I want to be here for you. If you’ll let me,” Wilhelm says, picking at a conversation that’s already died as Simon braces his shoulders like a solider going into battle and tilts the bottle up to take three long swallows. Candace raps three times on the door. “Simme! Open this door right the fuck now.” Simon looks at Wilhelm over the bottle. “I wanted to wake up with you.”

x🐸🐸🐸x THE FROG x🐸🐸🐸x

After six hours of meetings a car comes to drive him to the hotel. Rachel tells him to order whatever he likes from room service and to be in the lobby for seven thirty the next morning and then he’s letting himself into a luxury hotel room. There’s a lounge, a bedroom, a bathroom with a full size bath and a separate shower with six different heads.

He takes the frog out of his bag and places it on the bedside table overlooking the pillow then pulls out his phone. He’d messaged Wilhelm when he arrived (Landed! Hopefully someone comes to pick me up!) and now he sees Wilhelm has texted three times since.

Good luck! La doesnt know whats hit it! Everything okay? I’m awake, no plans today whenever you want to call

Simon texts back: Sorry! Dumped straight into meetings all day. I’m kind of exhausted, can we do tomorrow?

Wilhelm: Of course! Jet lags a bitch. Sleep well, I love you xxx

Simon picks up the menu off the side but his stomach is still protesting the bagel it thinks it had in the middle of the night and he kicks off his trainers and his jeans and crawls into the mega bed.

After a moment, he reaches over and picks up the frog again, runs his thumb across the nose, and settles back down with it’s weight firm in his palm as he types: Love you toox

x🐸x

Candace tells him they’re going to Sweden in the same matter-of-fact voice she uses to tell him anything. The label won’t approve a third single. We have to crowdfund plane tickets. We can’t afford to keep the whole band, who can you live without? I’ve booked us a week in Stockholm and put word out to local news sites and venues, we’ll be taking the buses up there after Paris.

Simon reaches for his backpack on instinct, touches the front pocket where Wilhelm’s frog has been nestled since they left L.A. “Should I… I should call Wilhelm, right? Let him know?”

Candace glances at him over her iPad. “Sure,” she says. “Let me know if you need me to put him on the List.”

Simon leaves the meeting, twisting his phone over and over between his hands. They’re going to Sweden. For the first time since he flew out and it’s - he glances at his phone again - it’s September.

Fuck, it’s September. It’s September 2024, somehow. It’s been over a year since he left Sweden, since he last saw Wilhelm. He scrolls through the contacts on his phone but Wilhelm isn’t in there, of course Wilhelm isn’t in there, Simon got this phone back in L.A. and he hadn’t had time to transfer anything across. That had been last Christmas. Ten months ago and god, where had that time gone?

He could ask Candace to get Wilhelm’s number. That’s what she does, she sorts things. Wilhelm doesn’t answer the phone to unknown numbers. Obviously. But Simon could write a text or something. Hi, this is Simon. I know you said there was no way we could make it work because I was so busy all the time but I’m going to be in Sweden and I’ll still be busy all the time and you’re probably off in the army somewhere but -

It sounds stupid. It is stupid. There is no ‘but’, they don’t work and that has always been abundantly clear.

He unzips his backpack and the frog is there in it’s tiny golden crown, glitter still clinging to the paint because glitter is a bitch that can never be removed.

There’s a scratch across it’s nose, deep enough that Simon’s nail can catch against it. Hi Wilhelm, this is Simon, I know we haven’t talked for a while but I need to give you your frog back because you trusted me to keep one thing safe and I couldn’t even -

He scrolls back up his contacts to Guitar, Kevan and types: drinks?

His suitcase is at the edge of the room, surrounded by a scattering of costume pieces and toiletries. He digs through chains and glitter to find a pair of probably-clean socks and tucks the frog inside, where it’ll be safe.

His phone buzzes: party in 267

He just needs something to calm his nerves, to settle his stomach.

He’ll ask Candace to get the number tomorrow. Or, there’s a show tomorrow, next time he has a free minute.

He tucks the bundle down into the case and heads out of the room.

x🐸x

His case is still on the floor of his bedroom half full from tour. Technically he’s been back in L.A. for two months but unpacking was one of those ‘I’ll do it later’ things that has now somehow come full circle. He tugs out clothes, nudging them into the ever growing laundry for the cleaners to pick up once he’s gone.

His hand finds something solid and he pulls it out. Socks, with something inside, and his throat catches as he remembers September, Sweden. Everyone talking to him in Swedish, fans screaming 'jag älskar dig!' like it wasn’t… like…

Candace promised the next tour could skip it. And if he’s not going to Sweden, he can’t give the frog back, so there’s no point having it. He doesn’t need it.

He folds the socks around it a little tighter, stands up to push it into the back of his sock drawer, underneath everything else. It’ll be safer there.

Two days later the taxi is honking it’s horn outside as he runs back into the room, upends the whole drawer on the floor and grabs the wrapped bundle, shoving it into his pocket on his way out the door.

x🐸x

There’s a fresh bruise forming on his collarbone, a faded one on the side of his neck, a man whose name he doesn’t know snoring face down on the cheap polyester pillows.

He runs his thumb back and forth across the nose of the tiny frog statue, lets his head thump back against the wall to stare up at the ceiling and count down the hours until dawn.

[iwanthermidnightz]

I don’t know if you want to post this long explanation and train of thought, but thought it might be worth sending my thoughts.

I’m on gaylor twitter as much as I’m on Tumblr these days, and I watched the rise of the term LSK. Where it came from was after Taylor seemed to make it clear that Karlie betrayed her (post-folklore and through the release of ITTG and Closure, her explanation of MTR at long pond, and during the confirmation of Karlie’s first pregnancy,) kaylor as a fandom essentially died. 99% of people believed they broke up, and it was ugly. Kaylor was already on life support after the masters thing, but this period essentially killed it. Even those who were willing to consider they were still together stopped posting about it because there was no point and we got a lot of hate. It was seen as embarrassing to still believe they were together. Why would anyone want to participate in something that brings no joy? A few like you and 9wift stuck around, but I know that even you took a step back for a while.

But starting around early 2022, a few people started admitting out loud that there were a lot of clues that maybe they were together. Because the evidence for them having broken up was so strong, still very few people would entertain the idea that they never actually broke up. But it started to become clear enough that there was something going on. And eventually enough accounts on twitter who made good points (and do so in a funny, joyful way, unlike the toxicity of tumblr at the time) it became relatively popular, and more and more people became convinced. These people needed a term to separate themselves from “kaylors” who believed they never broke up, at the time were very small in numbers, and had a very bad reputation because of some personalities, particularly on tumblr. They chose Late Stage as their term. It probably was already a term used in other fandoms, but I’m not sure. In the past, we used to describe swiftgron in terms if versions (1.0, 2.0, etc) so I look at LSK as similar to this. They see LSK as a sort of kaylor 2.0. A post-breakup reconciliation.

As is the case with all other subgroups, there are various beliefs about how and when LSK happened, and some of them even go back and forth about maybe they never actually totally broke up. But even those still call themselves LSKs as a way to distinguish themselves as a new generation (who look at things differently.) One of the most obvious ways they look at things differently is they are less concerned with josh. They see him as Karlie’s gay bestie rather than calling him names and thinking he is the devil, both Karlie and Taylor hate him and he’s blackmailing them and he’s a war criminal. All that became canon on tumblr over the years (and also among the meaner parts of Gaylor twitter, much of which was born on tumblr and The Lchat and migrated to twitter.) Most LSKs don’t like josh as a person, but they don’t believe Karlie hates him. This allows them to approach kaylor with fun and joy rather than being miserable all the time like a lot of the old tumblr kaylors. I think a fair amount of this is that there is some separation at this stage from the trump presidency and some of the most controversial kushner stuff and they are young and often not Americans, so it is easier for them to not know or overlook this part of things. Also over time as joshlie continue to be married and have children and look happy together, it becomes harder to see disdain. Another part of this is that they don’t know the lore. There are some advantages to this. While they might not understand all the stuff we understand and sometimes they say incredibly dumb things, they also aren’t weighed down with the baggage that we have that is so hard to let go off. And they can look at things from different perspectives, which also can be hard for those of us who made decisions on how we feel about things years ago, and therefore developed biases that can cloud our thinking. Again, there are pros and cons and neither perspective is necessarily better. But I tend to lean toward a way for people to enjoy their experience in this fandom rather than giving in to misery and anger. I don’t understand why anyone would want to spend a lot of time on something that made them unhappy. I would simply find another hobby. So the fun of LSK on twitter is one of the reasons it gained traction and a lot of the obvious clues that have been thrown at us, especially over the last year, were caught and popularized. That’s not to say they don’t still get hate from gaylors (and swifties of course) who can’t see it, but there are enough LSKs now who support each other to cancel out some of that negativity.

Wow. Thank you for explaining it like that. This is mostly a very accurate account of things. I don’t think that term (lsk) is accurate for us in these parts but it’s interesting to hear how it came about. Personally, I think the twitter gaylors are cute, but theres a gap in beliefs in some cases for sure.

First, I think a lot of us here never felt from the songs that Karlie actually betrayed Taylor. That’s where a lot of the disconnect is. Songs deserve nuance and the situation is of course delicate. It’s obvious there have been some real hardships and tests and breaks as normal relationships have, but nothing absolutely permanent. Who knows the period of time when this all truly takes place. She may have put it out on folklore, but that doesn’t mean it was recent events. I think she dug deep/went back time for a lot of those songs. MTR for example screams Scott. I wont get into song analysis but if one wanted to apply it to Karlie sure, they could. I can see why others would come to the conclusion that they were done forever. But it’s never that simple. Maybe the point was to kill kaylor if you get what I’m trying to say.

The series of events that happened during this time were intense. There were splits in the fandom, weird, crazy and toxic rumors going around etc. To be honest, I’ve pushed a lot of this period of time back in my conscious because it was traumatic to say the least. The amount of hate and toxicity here completely changed the way I and others went about posting for sure. The threats, the hate, the gaslighting, the daily harassment… getting blamed for certain things I had nothing to do with. Yeah. I stepped back for a while and was terrified to say what I wanted. A few people caught on. Even saying this gives me anxiety. If it weren’t for few close mutuals it would have been much harder.

But still there was evidence even through quarantine that things were fact not over between them. And you’re right, it was not popular to say so at the time. It was kind of like walking around with a letter A or K on your chest… the Hester Prynne’s of the fandom if you will. So a lot of us took our thoughts underground, but were still around. There’s some delicate things I still rather not talk about, except for privately.

I think whatever people want to call themselves is fine… and that most of us have the same idea in mind as to how things may turn out. I get there’s varying opinions and thats fine too. There are bigger things to worry about as long as it’s respectful.

And tbh, my opinions on certain things have changed. Or at least how I’m willing to talk about it i.e. jk. I really don’t want to talk about him. Personally, ignoring him/making stupid silly comments about situations has done wonders for me. That does’t mean I like the dude. But to hold that much animosity continuously isn’t good for ones mental health. I don’t want to keep reliving one of the worst periods in history.

That said, we’ve all been through a lot. Like you mentioned, theres a lot of baggage. But for me, taking a different approach and making an effort to be both positive and realistic at the same time has really helped. It’s not being naive. It’s choosing what’s best for you. I don’t want to be that person spewing negativity all the time. I refuse to. I’m so thankful for the people here who choose to see the light through dark times. Sending an extra hug to everyone around 🤍

[problemswithbooks]

Do you think Cat was being genuine when she told Violet that Xaden is incapable of love? Maybe her gift let her see Xaden’s truest feelings? I think that was such an interesting part of the fight, and it seems to be overlooked by most of the fandom.

It's likely the author didn't mean it to be genuine, and only having it be Cat being an asshole. That or from Cat's PoV she does believe it, but that's because Xaden never loved her because she's a bitch.

The thing is, I always had an issue with how RY wrote Cat and Xaden's past relationship. I've come to realize that while a lot of men enjoy the trope of a virgin love interest, so they have no sexual competition, a lot of woman enjoy the idea of a man whose never loved anyone he was involved with before, so they never have romantic competition.

And, honestly, if that's what RY wants, fine, but I think she over did it quite a bit. It was really gross to me that Xaden said he was fine watching Violet kill Cat and stopped her only because it'd make Violet sad. I know Yarros has said Xaden's not the hero, but it makes Violet look stupid to not be concerned that he's so willing to watch her kill a woman who he spent nine months with and possibly knew as a child during the rebellion. He doesn't have to love her, but it's crazy that he doesn't even seem to like her at all. To me it's a huge red flag that he's so okay with his ex being killed. Sure, he loves Violet now, but if they broke up and he moved on would he be similarly alright with her being chocked to death?

As far as my own headcanon, I say she did see his lack of care through her ability. I don't think she said what she did to warn or out of concern for Violet. I still think she was trying to get under her skin. But her knowing that Xaden never even cared anything for her despite months in a relationship and possibly at least meeting years before as young teens makes her actions make a lot of sense.

You could argue that she should be able to read him currently and see his love for Violet but I counter that he has really good shields, where he didn't before. So, unlike in the past, when Xaden was still homing the technique, she can't tell he loves Violet. If that's the case, it feels way easier to get him back--just be sexy and competent and he might decide she's a better choice.

Or if you want to be a bit less charitable to Xaden, you could argue how he feels about Violet doesn't look like love to Cat's Gift. In many ways you could say Xaden is not in love with Violet--he's obsessed with her. He does not love her, he needs her. He has said he'd let the world burn to keep safe--pretty much damn everyone, including all the Marked Ones who love him, just for her. And that's what he does in a way at the end of IF by turning Venin. It's love, sure, but it's a pretty over the top version of it.

So, in a way you could see Cat as correct--Xaden can't love anyone, at least not in a healthy way.

[breakfastassociation]

Scooby Doo Mystery Inc, an Introspective.

Daphne - The Spy

She's already been established as being the most physically inclined, a great beauty, and handilly going behind enemy lines (ie getting kidnapped); all traits of a femme fatale. in my canon, daphne really operates as the gang's Body (Wo)Man. In a crime ring she would be The Muscle. I really like the idea that Daphne is classically trained at a young age in all sports; her family may not have be as weslthy as Shaggys but theyve def made some money being world class athletes. This idea also lends itself to the idea that daph was the most well travelled before meeting Mystery Inc, her family always loved to bring her to their competitions, shes been to every Wimbledon cup, etc. While daph is well cultured and great at meeting new people, i do not think she would describe herself as an extrovert altho u cant deny shes warm and welcoming (as much as anyone in the gang is! theyre really a great group of kids). Growing up with a lot of sisters, Daphne is the one most acclimated to team work (maybe they did a lot of team sports growing up?). The reason this doesnt automatically translate to out of this world people skills is because her ability to work with others is strongly rooted in being familiar with her team. She grew up with her sisters and has been friends with Mystery Inc for a long time too; shes built up a repartee with her group and really relies on her understanding of them and their understanding of her to be as efficient as she is. In this way, she and Scooby really hold the group together. Definitely a Actions Speak Louder Than Words type which is why people who dont know her well are so willing to overlook her as a vapid prettygirl; ie when daph spots a clue shes more likely to "wow look at that!" and point rather than "hey velma that glowing orb looks really similar to the one the ghost is always haulin around" Daph and Kim Possible would be truly the unstoppable duo.

disguises, stealth, and sleight of hand ??

polyglot, also designated translator

well connected (but cant network). her sisters got their fingers in all the pies and the Blake Sisters were Daphne's first Mystery Inc :) i do not buy into Daphne having a sister complex #speakingmytruth

very well travelled, met fred on a layover?

literally james bond, ya feel?

tldr; woman of the world, woman of the world, teamplayer

Fred - The Mechanic

Breaking off of the 'Traps Guy' prototype that Mystery Incorporated set up for us; Fred has always been the one at the steering wheel. Everyone loves a Himbo Fred moment but i know hes capable of great specialization just like velma daph shaggy and scoob are. Hes not an air head hes just thinking about a V8 engine vs a Turbo ykno? I do want to lean into the idea that Fred works with his hands and works with contraptions (velma is the gizmo girl tho) and works with CARS and is knowledgeable about them! very, Mona Lisa from My Cousin Vinny/Rosalie from Twilight (ie gets under their car + is hot) but because i want all these kids to be multi faceted, id like to explore the other half of cars which is Travelling. in this day in age, seeing the world is so marketable which is why i can see fred being the one with biggest internet influence. More so than that, fred keeps the team on the move, books accomodations, plans the roadtrips, has the biggest thirst to see the world (maybe thats one of the things that first pulls him and daph together, shes already seen so much of it before they met) Out of the group, i think Fred has the closest relationship with his parents (i think this was shown in some of the tv shows? If not, this is my canon) Fred, despite loving to work with cold hard metal, is maybe the most deeply feeling of Mystery Inc. he really jumps on cases after meeting the people who are most severely impacted by them. This would also explain why hes so inclined to 'himbo moments', he doesnt mind making the less rational choice if it means he can help his fellow man. He and scooby are def the most socially inclined; fred bc he really cares about People (thats why hes a traveller, meeting new people is one of the fun parts!)

automotives, maintains the car (velma helped him set up his sound system) and loves a good car chase

also into planes, trains, and ships but cars are his first love

inventions

explosives

physics, hes a car guy but bikes are fascinating

social media savvy (hes so chipper and always dressed to the 9s courtesy of daph, IG eats him up). Maybe he started the Mystery Inc blog as a way to keep his family updated about what hes doing (the first People he loved was def his family) he gossips about celebrities with velma and daph

loves travelling (in his car) and posts to his gram (see above), his experience with hotels/motels/hostels/etc lets him talk extensively about hospitality with shaggy + scooby

tldr; auto shops, social butterfly, humanitarian

Shaggy - The Doctor

Hear me out!!!! Norville Rogers is known to be: Concerned about his bodily safety and RICH! Tell me which profession that is besides Doctor and ill rework this whole thing. i think this really works for shaggy, hes by no means materialistic but mans has grown up with the silver spoon and can really appreciate luxurious creature comforts like quality bed linens. Like. that plain green t shirt is Hermés dont get it twisted. this also works bc as the groups highroller, we now know how this op is funded (aside from being paid for their detective work:freds blog but like..we really didnt see that often. id like them to be able to do this as a fulltime hobby if they so choose) Aside from this, we know some of Shaggys other great loves are Food and Not Being Physically in Danger. I wouldnt be surprised if one of his parents or older relatives made their money in medicine, allowing shaggy to grow up in that scape. omg id love if this doctor relative was a mentor to shaggy but also a bit of a hypochondriac; maybe shaggys scaredy cat tendencies have roots in his relative's anxieties. I think Shaggys fear comes from a good place, he just wants him and his friends to be healthy happy and whole. In line with medicine, Shaggy is the one who pushes the team to take care of themselves and take much needed time to recuperate from the stress of solving mysteries. As an only child, he can be seen as a foil to Daphne. She has a lot of sisters and did a lot of team sports and became very comfortable working with others. Shaggy was an only child whos only friend was his dog and they prefer to stay in their circles of safety. But both shaggy and daphne have about the same level of social skills lol i think also, bc shaggy grew up without a lot of friends, he is the most conscious of his friendships with the gang. like, he really doesnt take them for granted bc for a long time he did not have any friends at all

selfcare

Mystery Inc's checkbook (when appropriate)

appreciation for the finer things

healthcare

medicine, biology. daphne's go to gym buddy (shaggy really knows kinesiology)

chemistry aka alchemy, imagine the happy medium between Scoobie's love of cuisine and fred's love of ..bombs

tldr; self care KING, truly looks out for *his* people. medic

Velma - The Professor

Velma velma velma. im kind of dropping the ball with her. i want to develop this a lil further bc i think im leaning too hard on the crutch that is Velma Is The Bookworm. Altho i do think Velma is more interested in the Humanities Vs STEM fields, id say her genius reputation is cultivated from how well rounded her knowledge base is. In terms of academics, Velma is the jack of all trades ( opposite to daphne who is JoaT for athletics). Because of this (and because shes great at all things she puts her mind to) shes is also left with the helm of 'resident hacker'. As im typing this, truly the girls of the gang have very broad interests while the boys are very specialized. Anyways, id say the key to Velma is that shes very good at making more from the sum of the parts. She does not shy away from the grunt work of academia, she knows some Important Things will not be intuitive to her but she will run flashcards on them until theyre reflexive bc she knows having that info on hand will be important at some point. Her ability to take the factoids of life and put them together also makes her the teams True detective, not fred. It just makes more sense imo that Velma is the one to push the team to find and close cases. Obviously everyone in Mystery Incorporated has strong convictions on Right and Wrong but i think Velma sees the beauty and satisfaction of solving puzzles.

Edit on 1 mar: may think of switching role of Gizmo from Velma to Daphne since canonically, Daph is always with her cellie. But instead of making her the vapid airhead glued to her phone shes j really into tech (think felicity from Arrow)

Loves trivia

history, talks a lot about international cuisine with daph + scoob

software > hardware, talks gadgets with daph + fred

She and fred share a thirst to see and explore new things

statistician and mathematics aficionado

forensic sciences

law

very up to date with popular culture, from the anthropologic perspective. watches the most reality tv, tv in general, and movies; its interesting, documentaries are informative, and she likes to keep it on as white noise while researching

business, finance, and economics. thats how she knows all the business bad guys on sight (during the reveal), she also handles the group finances with shaggy

tldr; lifelong academic, the most hardworking, curious

Scooby - The Chef

Scooby! The team mascot! Firstly, scoob is Shaggys *best* friend. It makes sense to me that their interests overlap so much. Scooby has always been known to be a big eater (he *is* a great dane...) but my mans is CULTURED. He eats a lot but its never slop. Given Shaggys keen awareness of health and wellness, im not surprised that scooby has combo-ed that influence with his own love of the culinary arts. Shaggy and scooby have definitely known each other the longest; so how ever old the gang were when they met, in my canon Shaggy and Scooby were the first to become friends and it shows. But obviously theyre all friends, and to the group id say scooby is the hearth (not heart) of the operation as any great relationship starts with a plate of good food. Quiet moments of deep inner contemplation will often happen at Scoobys side and scooby, consciously or not, really provides a place for everyone to be themselves in the same way having to dice 5 onions is meditative. We've seen that scooby is a golden hearted goof ball, i think this could be sourced from a highly admirable sense of humility (ironic since hes the only non human of the group?) Great danes are known to be fierce protectors, and even tho (like shaggy) scoob is a scaredy cat, when push comes to shove he is really protective. Thats why hes so cautious! He really doesnt like seeing his friends in risky situations! My hot take is that *Scooby* is the people person/social butterfly of the group! This whole cast is a band of mis fits, having a dog makes Mystery Inc much more approachable to outsiders. Scooby, being a dog, is great at warming hearts to him and loves to be at the center of attention. In regards to mystery solving, hes also invaluable as a clue finder since his senses are so highly developed.

super sniffer, works the most directly with velma on cases

cooking (bonds with shaggy + daphne over but for dif reasons)

people person, gets along real well with daphne's sisters (everyone loves dogs)

very much looks after the gang and motherhens them, hates seeing them walk into danger

zoology (obvious i know)

tldr; iron chef, spokesman of mystery inc

General Notes

Shaggy and Daphne are the two in the gang who are really Of The Body (shaggys understanding of its inner workings, Daphne being the peak form of a human specimen), while Fred and Velma are Of The Mind (Fred who works with calculations inventions etc and Velma who is a lifelong all rounder academic)

Another dichotomy is that Daphne and Fred are the pragmatic pair while Shaggy and Velma are the theoretic pair

But in general i think a lot of the team has a lot of interests that overlap which keeps them tightly bonded

[thedawningofthehour]

If Draxum had raised Gale then it would be a normal separate AU, which wouldn't hurt me as much since at least no one would be actively trying to keep the brothers apart (EW Shredder doesn't count because he's brainwashing his turtle too). What's more, in most separate AU's Draxum wants them to meet. And now I absolutely want to know what your version of that AU would be.

Because that's the part that bleeds me, for me, turtles are a package deal, you either get them all or you get none. I don't care if Draxum is trying to conquer the world as long as all the turtles are together and I think I just explained why my AU exists.

My whole basis for doth was literally a separated AU but with all the angst of having developed that brotherly bond and having it snatched away. With every other separated au, even ones where they were originally together and kidnapped/lost as older children, (like Leo and Mikey in EW, and there is one fic where Draxum kidnaps Donnie at a young age whose name I can't remember now) the bond still isn't what it is in the show. And it's ironic mentioning slushie's au, since that was one of the stories that inspired doth. I basically looked at that and went "I can make that more emotionally wretching." I wanted MAXIMUM angst, and this was how I decided it was best to deliver it.

An actual doth separated au, hmm. Well, first of all we have to overlook the fact that Donnie named himself here, realistically Draxum would have named him something else, (probably after some heroic Yokai or maybe his father or something) but for simplicity's sake I'll continue to call him Galois. A lot of it really depends on how Gale ended up with Draxum and what went down when the turtles were separated. Splinter could see that there were four turtles, did he think Donnie died in the blaze? I could see him becoming even more depressed if that was the case, trudging along to care for his remaining sons but always feeling the gap where his fourth kid should be. (he might have even resented April a bit, feeling like she was taking the spot his 'real' daughter/fourth son should have occupied) He probably wouldn't have told the boys about Donnie-until he was confronted with evidence that he survived the lab explosion, and then honestly it's a 50/50 shot whether he'd go murder a goat right then and there or jump straight to denial, because there's no way he could have just left his child with that nutjob for thirteen years.

If he saw Draxum take Donnie for himself, there's no way he'd leave that alone. He'd make sure his other boys were safe, but he would go at Draxum with everything he had to try and rescue his son. Maybe that's the situation he'd go back to Big Mama for, knowing she could keep his other kids safe and help him get his last baby back. Draxum would probably have to go into hiding.

On Draxum's side-I mean, like in doth, he'd go from 'warring warrior scientist' to "I love my son and if anything happened to him I'd kill everyone in the world and then myself" in about three seconds flat. Gale would do exactly one (1) cute thing and he'd be a goner.

Logistically, Gale's upbringing would be pretty much identical to the backstory Draxum fed him in doth. He would have been very hesitant to take Gale out in public, homeschooling him and, after realizing how intelligent he really was and giving up on the whole 'warrior and protector of humanity' thing, training him to take over as his scientific successor. They'd have a very close relationship, Draxum would probably be a little more affectionate, and Galois a little less.

I also don't know if he'd be the only one by the time the show rolls around. The ooze used to create the turtles was destroyed and Draxum didn't back up his notes apparently, so the formula was lost. He could have theoretically used Gale's blood to try and reverse-engineer the ooze, (something he does actually try in slushie's au) but it would be a question of if he was willing to use his son like a lab subject. He's very uncomfortable with the notion, he wants to maintain a separation between Galois and the crimes against humanity he regularly commits in the lab, and even something like taking his blood for a mutagen experiment feels like the first step down a slippery slope that Draxum is terrified of going down. But this Draxum would also still be on the 'army of elite warriors' things, plus he's enjoying this whole dad thing. He kind of wants more kids.

When he does realize that the other turtles survived, oh yeah he'd tell Galois everything and try to convince them to 'come home' to him. I don't think he could ever bring himself to harm them, knowing they're his son's brothers. Draxum and Gale would probably try doing what the fam is doing in doth, reverse-kidnapping his brothers and trying to make the case that Lou kidnapped them first and Draxum is their real father.

I still kind of wish I had set this story up just from Gale's pov after waking up from the brainwashing, treating his memories like they were real and having the truth slowly revealed through interactions with Leo and the fam. Most of the story would be missing then and the ending wouldn't really make sense, but that would have been SO COOL.

[misc-obeyme]

I can admit some of their outfits look a little interesting, but I may be the only one who loves this event 🤣 They kind of remind me of musketeers, mostly Mammon and Beel are who I can remember off the top of my head.

I'm a sucker for masks too (Mammon looks mysterious to me, my bias is showing) but I JUST HAD A PHASE WHEN I WAS YOUNGER WHERE I WAS OBSESSED WITH THE MUSKETEERS IN DIFFERENT MEDIA AJSJDJ

- ✨ anon

omg I totally had a musketeers phase too! I read the Dumas books and everything. They do kinda have that musketeer style happening, huh?

Anyway, I'm sure you're not alone! I just have a problem with the blacked out eyes specifically lol. I would be okay with the masks if it wasn't for that! The masks themselves look fine! Interesting, even!

But I have to say they went way too overboard on some of these outfits. I like the general concept, just not the execution. And unfortunately, that seems to be the case for most of the outfits they make, to be honest.

This game has a tendency to make all the outfits look absolutely gaudy for some reason. I don't know if they're just trying too hard to make each one unique or what. But my favorites tend to be the ones that are less extravagant - the yukata and yokai outfits or the bunny boy outfits, for instance. Then there are some that have the potential to be great, like the white suit outfits, but they just go overboard with things like the little hats and weird fabric flares and bizarre boots. If they'd just cut back a tiny bit, all of these outfits would probably look really nice!

In the current event, I wouldn't mind Barb's outfit nearly as much if they just got rid of the hat. I don't know why they insist on including hats so frequently. They look so silly. I'll never get over Dia's fedora from that one outfit... I can't remember which one it was, but honestly if they had just left that off, it would have been nice.

Don't get me started on the pirate outfits.

So to me, this is just another in a long line of too-much outfits and that's just this game's style. I'm willing to overlook so much when it comes to outfits, but the blacked out eyes cross the line for me, I'm afraid!

I would love to see an actual musketeer event, though! I think that'd be so cool! They're all dueling with fancy swords and defending their king and traipsing around a palace! Well, okay, I realize my vision of musketeering is likely not historically accurate. And how would they incorporate all the Catholic? Well, it's about aesthetics anyway so let's not worry about it lol.

Also the event story itself is fine for me so far, but we also don't know how it ends. I mean, of course the white wolf wants MC, it's charmed by them just as much as every other living thing in the Devildom.

Whoops sorry, ✨ anon I think I got a bit off topic! Anyway, while I'm sure you're not entirely alone, even if you were, you are free to enjoy the event and outfits as much as you like! I'm happy that you're happy and that these outfits are able to remind you of a fun time in your life when you fell in love with something!

I think that's great, blacked out eyes or not! 💕

[etherealnoir]

Found Ep. 7 Thoughts

Spoiler Warning!

So this wasn't my favorite episode. While I did like the show bringing attention to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (sort of...it would've been nice for them to add an info card or something at the end of the episode, but ok), the episode itself left a lot to be desired.

TL;DR: The highlight of this episode was learning more about Hugh's abandonment triggers, because I feel like it added a ton of context to his behavior in the past and in this episode. Everything else was a chop. I feel like they spent too much time on some things (Trent), not enough on others (Lacey), and overlooked a lot of things as well (Gabi being held accountable).

I wrote a lot, but please feel free to skip to whatever part you care the most about lol

1. The Story

It felt weirdly disjointed and all over the place. The natal doctor being the culprit at the end, despite there being NO previous indicators, kind of annoyed me. It was lazy to have it be this random man we barely saw, with a motivation we learned about in the last 5 minutes. They could've EASILY introduced that he worked with many indigenous/marginalized people early in the episode and also mentioned that he lost his own child.

It would've made more sense if he was a part of a ring of people taking babies of color and putting them up for adoption--because that's a thing that actually happens. I feel like they were originally going to have the culprit be the neighbor whose brother lost his baby and blamed it on Aida. As sort of like an eye-for-an-eye thing. But then they realized it'd probably look bad if a bunch of Non-Indigenous people demonized an Indigenous woman like that, so they changed it at the last minute.

2. Lacey

Lacey is always severely underutilized, but this time it felt just sadly egregious. They emphasized that Lacey was uncomfortable with being in the area because of the kidnapping, but...that was about it. It would've been a good opportunity to show a flashback of Lacey and Gabi together as children, or even a great chance to show Gabi and Lacey connecting over their shared experience in adulthood. Better yet, it would've been the perfect time to explore how the kidnapping has affected Lacey in adulthood, because it's clear it presents as a fear more intense than Gabi's.

Also her randomly kicking in the door and rushing into the house was odd, no matter how much they said in-show that it was ooc. Sometimes it feels like scenes are cut out that would add clarity to the scenes they leave in.

3. Trent x Gabi

As much as I love them together, I get really REALLY tired of watching Gabi use Trent and his network without any repercussions or hard pushback. I know that Gabi agreed to work closely with the police to make sure the people who committed the crimes face punishment, but I can only suspend disbelief BUT SO MUCH. Like what do you mean Gabi and Dhan can threaten a potential suspect into confessing? What do you mean they can just find things about people in less than a day, whenever they ask for it? WHY are they able to break rules with impunity, when doing so would absolutely cause the case to get thrown out in court????

As much as I know that Trent cares about Gabi and is willing to risk his job for her, I'm failing to understand why. What has she done for him that has made him want to give up his job for her? Because, from what we've seen so far, she hasn't really...done...much? We know they slept together at least once, that he has feelings for her, and that she relies on him a lot. But I feel like this show is constantly telling us that Gabi is worth sacrifice without illustrating why.

If this show is going to improve, they REALLY need to stop trying to make us believe that Gabi can do whatever she wants because reasons. It's starting to feel very Mary Sue-ish, and I don't want that to happen to her.

I at least hope that she takes accountability for taking the thumbdrive.

4. Hughbert "Sir" Evans

The one thing I did like about this episode is that we learned a lot about who Hugh is, and what his triggers are. If they choose to stay consistent anyway. Because they said in one episode that one of his triggers was mess/dirt, and then it was never brought up again lol.

In this episode, we learned that Hugh has abandonment issues. I believe that Hugh suffered from Parental Neglect as a child, which ties into this quest he had to "save" Gabi from her own perceived neglect. Hugh illustrates all the traits of someone who grew up not feeling heard or paid attention to: forcing Gabi to debate with him, him lecturing at her when she's eating, him having a meltdown when she ignores him or walks away. He threw a temper tantrum when he suspected that someone else might be taking attention away from him, because he finds comfort in knowing that it's always just him and Gabi in that house, and that she's consciously aware that he's there.

Obviously his traumatic past doesn't excuse the shit he's done. But it does add a ton of context.

These are a lot of thoughts, sorry lol This episode just bugged me. I feel like the writers room doesn't have their shit together. Maybe in S2 (if they get one), they'll find a rhythm that works. They need to. Because I shouldn't be able to tell a better story than these people who were PAID to do so.

[mylittleredgirl]

i just had a thought about why the internet is, for me personally, eroding my capacity to disagree with people.

i recently had a longterm mutual post a few things about how much they personally hate a character i love, and while that's cool and i support it and whatever, my instant emotional response was something i would translate as "i shouldn't have to see this."

without fully realizing it, i'm sitting there evaluating our whole association based on their totally non-rude, from-their-own-perspective opinion about one of many different interests we have in common.

i grew up in a small town (where i now live again). my schools growing up ranged from a one-room-schoolhouse with 1-3 kids per grade up to 60 kids per grade in high school. to have any friends or social interaction at all, i had to ferret out things in common with kids who hated most of what i liked (and hated most things i am, but that's another story). if someone watched the same tv show as i did, even if they hated my favorite character, i would be over the moon. i didn't stay in touch with most of those people when i moved away, but i valued those friends while i had them, and ignoring things i didn't like about people and still hanging out when we had nothing in common is a pretty useful skill to have.

but the internet is the opposite of that school. some of it is that people are essentially or literally faceless, and there are no real consequences for vanishing from their follower list, but i think there's something about how there are effectively infinite people to interact with.

on any given topic, there will be someone on the world wide web who completely agrees with me. if that person changes their mind, there will be someone else. obviously i will put in some effort to overlook differences when it comes to people who i already have personal relationships with, but the big big sea of the internet makes acquaintances replaceable.

and in the real world, most of our human interactions are acquaintances. (i'm american, so i call them "friends" as soon as i learn their last names and have one single positive interaction with them, but you know what i mean.) most friendships start as casual acquaintances, and end up that way again if you don't put effort into nurturing them.

and like, sure, i could ask this blogger "can you tag your dislike of this fictional character so i never have to see it," and that's great for tumblr, but it's kind of a weird thing that we have that ability. it's weird that i would have the desire to curate an illusion that everyone i interact with completely agrees with me on such a granular level, about anything that's emotionally important to me, because seeing evidence that they don't upsets me.

i wonder what that's doing to me on a broader level. i think i'm less willing to put effort into forging and maintaining three-dimensional friendships when they involve compromise (like, i don't like going to movies, but that's my coworker's main hobby and she invites me. and i always say thank you but no, because i don't like going to movies, but if i went, it would help build a friendship with a nice person, and we could still be friends who go to the movies whenever we stop working at the same place). i have a harder time overlooking differences of opinion than i used to and am more likely to avoid people and let friendships die rather than negotiate a way through those differences. i have less tolerance all around for awkward conversations.

and i don't always feel the immediate consequences of any of that, because in the short term, i can replace some of those in-person social interactions with the zillion people on the internet who agree with me about things like television characters, for as long as they do agree with me.

(i want to add, in case anyone for some reason takes this as public-facing advice: you should unfollow and block blogs that upset you, because literally everyone's life on here is better for it. tumblr fandom is a hobby space that hopefully is not the only center of your life, and it should be fun and non-stressful! i am in no way encouraging personal growth through reading anti tags. you should definitely not practice having challenging conversations by arguing about a stranger's opinion on their own post. especially if you reblog that person's post from me.)

it's just a new awareness for me personally about how what's normal and good on here might be affecting my personal relationships off tumblr, and how i should probably suck it up and go to the movies.

[eyecicles]

Since Breaking Bad is now a topic in the fandom I wanted to ask how similar Light and Walter are in your opinion?

That question doesn’t have an easy answer. So let’s compare them:

Similarities:

-- They were both meant to be relatively good people in the beginning (yes, I know some people disagree, but this is specifically about what their creators said about them), but then something happened that made them the worst versions they can be of themselves. Neither of them were flawless at any point, but let's not forget that people aren't just doomed to be either all good or all bad. It's all about the decisions we make (+ random stuff that happens to us). That's exactly what I like about DN and BB, by the way—you can see that if things went a little differently, both protagonists could have turned out alright.

-- At the beginning, they do horrible stuff for—seemingly—noble reasons. I know, I know: they also greatly enjoy being on top, making people do what they want them to do, and taking down powerful, smart people. But I don't think they knew how much they would like that right from the beginning. The desires to change the world or financially secure one's family aren't fake, just because they are also power-hungry.

-- They also both think (know, in Walter's case) they're going to die soon. It's often overlooked that Light wrote so many names in the Death Note before Ryuk showed up, because he thought Ryuk was going to take his soul. He wanted to make a difference in the world before that happened. So they're both driven by a sense of urgency. Cancer and Ryuk aren't the same thing, of course, but honestly? Ryuk as a metaphor for a terminal illness could be quite interesting.

-- Both are extremely smart and they know it. They aren't just book smart, either, but know how to plan ahead, creatively work around obstacles, and accurately predict their enemies next moves. They're sly and resourceful.

-- They look down on other people for being less smart, less controlled or less proactive. And while Light is the one with the outright sexist thoughts, I think Walter's treatment of Skyler is partly sexist as well. He doesn't respect her autonomy, dismisses her concerns and ideas unless things get dire, confines her, and, of course, assaults her at one point. While he treats other people worse, you can't help but notice that what he puts her through resonates with many women in unhappy relationships. In any case: they're both quite arrogant and don't care much about other people's perspectives.

-- Their partners in crime (Misa and Jesse) are less brainy than them (sorry), more impulsive and emotional, and regularly get them into precarious situations.

-- Both have a member of their family on a task force meant to hunt them down. And both use that fact for themselves. Ah! They also see them die right in front of their eyes and are partly to blame for that.

-- They are seen as too nice and upright to ever do crimes of that calibre throughout most of the stories.

-- Pride plays an important role for both. Their enormous egos aren't apparent to the people around them, but you can still see it even when they put on an act.

-- Thinking about it, they also went through something similar regarding their first murders. It was more deliberate in Walter's case, but also not actively malicious but a form of self-defence. How they became murderers against their will certainly was part of what made them go down a dark path.

-- And although they become practically monsters, both are still willing to risk losing for the sake of someone they love (Sayu in Light's case, mostly Jesse in Walter's case).

-- Fun aliases: "Kira" and "Heisenberg"

-- Both like khaki pants...

Differences:

-- Breaking Bad has no supernatural elements. It feels less grand, but more personal. Kira attempts to dominate the entire world, while Heisenberg is a more local problem.

-- Light is popular; he has conventionally good looks, is athletic, and people expect a lot from him. Walter is more seen as a pushover, little more than an, albeit very smart, high school teacher.

-- This is why Light is very confident right at the beginning, while Walter feels completely out of his element. He also makes more obvious mistakes than Light. (I have to mention here yet again that a lot of what people commonly see as a mistake on Light's part was actually deliberate, like letting the entire world know that Kira exists or letting L know that he has connections to the police).

-- Walter comes to fully embrace his crimesona, while Light fights to change the world's perspective of Kira as a just God. Heisenberg is meant to be an intimidating drug lord—Kira is meant to be justice.

-- You know, Misa and Jesse have kinda similar roles, but their dynamics with Light and Walter respectively are almost opposite. Light is forced to work with Misa, has to act as her romantic partner and sees her as easily replaceable, while she practically worships him. But Walter approaches Jesse, has to regularly persuade him into helping him, and they're at the beginning openly hostile towards each other. And it's debatable what Walter thinks of Jesse in the end, but he regularly saves and protects him, even after he no longer "needs" him. (Not all that relevant, but I just realised that Mikami and Saul are polar opposites.)

-- Light pretty much ignores that Ryuk tells him he's the one who will kill him in the end, while Walter is quick to accept his eventual-too-early death. Light doesn't even take the Shinigami Eyes deal, because he wants to live as long as possible, while Walter wants to die at several points. He's in general much more miserable than Light.

-- Their endings are also pretty different. Walter roughly knew what was going to happen, attempted to make some amends, and did one last kinda noble thing before he died. Light died humiliated after his plan went completely wrong. Anime!Light's death is more similar to Walter's. At least they both got to be completely honest about who they are + their motivations right before they die.

-- There's also one important element in Breaking Bad that Death Note lacks: Walter constantly tries to save his relationships with his family, both before and after they knew what he's doing. Light manages to keep being Kira a secret from his family forever. Light isn't as conflicted, and certainly never has to fight for his family's affection.

-- Light being a young guy and Walter being in his 50s gives them pretty different outlooks from the get-go. It wouldn't surprise me if a teenaged Walter was a bit more like Light. But yeah, Light has his entire life ahead of him and wants to take on the entire world, while Walter wants to do something exciting, something that makes him feel alive before he dies.

-- Breaking Bad also doesn't have someone like L: the one true antagonist who plays a part in the protagonist's downfall even after his death. It gives Death Note a specific atmosphere. Walter doesn't have a nemesis that matches and contrasts him in equal parts, because his story is more about his family and knocking criminals down to take their place. Hank and Gus sometimes fulfil a similar role, but they're still not comparable to L (or Near).

[thefloatingstone]

As far as "grit" in precure goes... aesthetically speaking the original and splash star have that. In terms of story, I'd say heartcatch (the one everyone loves) is that. A lot of people like hugtto for its dark mature story, and go princess for its combat. Hirogaru is the most shounen in plot and main character, and broke a lot of conventions in terms of the cures.

My underrated favourite, though, is healin' good. It is, I think, a very important show, especially in the context of having come out in 2020. It can seem very episodic, and very mid on the surface- and it is at times- but its one of the few precure series that REALLY clicks together its themes and story in the last act, especially with the villains. Cure grace really goes from standard heroine to one of the best cures.

And the mascot characters actually get to shine especially when it comes to hitting home the themes (health and healing- in all forms on all scales and their interconnectedness) it really refuses to compromise on its lessons or insert unecessary conflict, and incidentally creates very positively subversive episodes of typical plots.

I think it ends with one of the most important and powerful lessons that even a lot of adults weren't yet willing to learn. It really utilizes the conventions of its genre to say something unexpected of it... like, utena or evangelion... but less ambiguous, completely optiministic, and for 5 year old girls. Not perfect, in a lot of ways not even all that great, but important.

Sorry, I saw precure in that ask and went a bit crazy... i don't know if you'd actually like it but it is a season with a lot of overlooked depth, it really was healing in a lot of ways.

I will say trying to watch precure series all at once can be tedious, cause they have a lot of filler to fill out the year, but its rare theres an episode its safe to fully skip for one small thing or another. So if you do ever get back to the series I recommend only a few episodes at a time.

Hey anon!

Honestly that all sounds great! I will admit, an unfair bias I have towards PreCure is I wish their monster of the day designs were either a little more threatening or a little more interesting. However I fully admit this is a little hypocritical considering Sailor Moon's monster of the day enemies include a sexy elephant vacuum, a shoe, and a literal beach ball

I did a quick scan of Healin' Good's wiki page, and it seems it's the first PreCure series to have a woman as a main director, and as a result, she apparently also wanted a bigger focus on the girls' day to day life and their personal feelings which she felt previous series didn't focus on as much.

I don't feel a person's gender will dictate how good they can tell a story, I always point to the fact that Ikuhara has to constantly state in interviews that he is a straight man because people like to assume things because he directed Sailor Moon, created Utena etc etc. But I do think having a series in a large franchise which has only had men as directors would be enough of a shift if a conscious effort is made to write the young female characters with care, and it does seem as if this was the case, so it might be worth checking out if I feel like I want a more straight forward magical girl show.

I do find it hilarious the wiki says "at 45 episodes, this is the shortest PreCure series" kdjfhsdkjfhskjdh

[deliciouskeys]

001 for Butchlander and 002 for Homie, because I love to be obvious!

Tackling them out of order.

002 | Homelander

* How I feel about this character: 

I want to mush him and squeeze him and torture him and pet him and never let him out.

Oh and he’s a very interesting character and a joy to write. Somewhat as a result of the writer’s room, and somewhat as a result of Antony Starr’s acting.

* All the people I ship romantically with this character: 

I’m a whore, I will read him having sex with just about anyone, and I could make a case for him getting romantic with many characters on the show. Top romantic (heh loaded word) ships are Butchlander, Homewell, Maevlander, Starlander.

* My non-romantic OTP for this character: 

I honestly don’t know what this question means because all my ships are horny ones. But I wish we got more Black Noir being a father figure to him (I wish Noir had more to do in general before they decided to give him some background just before killing him off).

* My unpopular opinion about this character: 

Hmmmm. I’m a little afraid that if Kripke writes him a “redemption arc” in the show they’ll botch it with some incoherent drivel à la s3e8 so I’d almost rather they just didn’t.

* One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

I have more than one.

I’d rather see him depowered and live than die at the end, somehow.

I would have liked to see more of him trying to parent Ryan with Becca around.

I kind of wish he hadn’t killed Stillwell but mostly because I thought she was a cool character.

I wish he hadn’t taken over Vought because that decreases the chance we’ll ever see him operate outside of it.

* my OTP:

Billy Butcher reprogramming HL with tough, but genuine, love. And sex, definitely lots of sex. [refer to section below for much more word vomit about them]

* my cross over ship:

Heh, I think Makima from Chainsaw Man has a nice parallel to the Homewell dynamic. I’d read Batman x HL, I feel like Batman could deal with his bullshit effectively.

* a headcanon fact:

Homelander prefers his sexual partner be strong and wield soft power over him.

============================

001 | Butchlander

* when I started shipping it if I did:

Because I was watching the show very rapidly, I didn’t start shipping it outright until S1E8, but if I had a week between each episode it probably would have materialized no later than E6.

* my thoughts:

Scorchingly, achingly hot. The show canon is stingy with their onscreen time together, but each scene they meet in is glorious. One of the reasons I’m willing to overlook the inconsistent writing in s3 is that they are ramping up the butchlander element in the show. I love that they have ended up sharing a child while both being utterly unequipped to parent. I don’t remember any other enemyslash pairing setting that up and it’s so damn fun.

* What makes me happy about them:

I like to imagine scenarios where their respective traumas and defects (I don’t think they’re “the same”, kripke) fit together in such a complementary way that they end up accidentally helping each other become a little more emotionally functional.

* What makes me sad about them:

One of them lost his wife because of the other and that is a hard wound to heal.

* things done in fanfic that annoys me:

I don’t like when Billy cries too much. I don’t like when writers go all out with Butcher’s cockney but it sounds like Dick van Dyke (easy to criticize, hard to adhere to this rule). I’m more tolerant of different HL characterizations because I think canon has shown us more variety from him in different scenarios, but I tend to enjoy it less when he’s written as a sadist monster with nary an indication of any other emotions.

* things I look for in fanfic:

Generally prefer Bottom the Homelander [not because he has a better ass, but] because the fic is more likely to characterize both of them in ways I find more IC. Generally like when they at least start out antagonistic and hating each other if it’s a multichapter. Love when there’s an element of coparenting Ryan involved. Love when it’s an E rated fuckfest because [I’m here for the porn canon won’t give us, and] they are both presented as characters with energetic libidos.

* Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: 

Honestly? I feel like they’re both likely to end up alone, because I feel bad for whoever ends up with them if they’re not a strong person. Billy with Maeve, as alluded to in the Maevlander post seems fine endgame to me. Butchie is a big fat nope for me, not only because of Annie but because it gives me incest vibes since he sees him as a younger brother. Billy with some strong woman like Rainer probably works. Homelander… needs someone who can spank him if he gets out line. If Victoria Neuman can become that person remains TBD.

* My happily ever after for them:

Haha, I’ll take almost any iteration where they end up together and parent Ryan. I’m intrigued by Billy getting upgraded with Compound V and how they’d keep from becoming a terrible powercouple of supe cunts. I’m intrigued by HL getting depowered and Billy having to rehab him into being a functional human being out of that mental wreckage. I’m intrigued by them staying as human x supe, with both of them having a weird love hate relationship with being involved with a “race” they generally looked down on.

* who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Billy is the big spoon. I will only entertain the thought of HL being the big spoon if it’s written in Russian for reasons I can’t quite fathom and must have something to do with early childhood traumas 😂

* what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

They are pretty different people in terms of pastimes in canon. I named enjoying the outdoors in another meme. I’d like to think they’d also both enjoy having (or aspiring toward having) a normal family life, raising a child as if they’re normal, well-adjusted adult men, doing normal domestic things. Emphasis on the as if.