#i'm so tired of seeing the same two ships being mentioned

[torgawl]

there should be something like the bechdel test but instead of assessing if people can talk about women without mentioning men is if people can talk about characters without mentioning ships because so many people would fail miserably

[penguinsfly]

I unfortunately saw something I didn't want to see and that was my last straw. I'm fucking doing this.

Let's establish this first. Alastor is stated in the show to be asexual that is not up to discussion. He is also very heavily implied in the same conversation to be aromatic. 'An Ace in the hole' being used in context of him being with Charlie is also implying his aromanticism.

VIDEO

If that's not enough then here is Viv speaking about his romantic orientation. It's pretty clear despite the fact that afterwards she said it's okay to headcanon whatever (it's not but I will get o that later) that he is written purely as an aro ace character.

On top of that going by Alastor's interaction with Angel from the pilot and the first episode it is clear that he is sex repulsed. Not only that but on the fandom website he is stated to be touch averse with two sources which you can check out on the website.

Hazbin hotel wiki, Alastor page

Now we established that Alastor is canonically Asexual, Aromantic, Sex Repulsed and Touch Averse

As I also am all of the above I'll try to explain everything to the best of my ability as simply as I can.

Aromanticism and Asexuality.

I'm probably targeting the audience that knows those terms but regardless I will explain it anyway.

Aromantic - people that experience little to no romantic attraction towards any gender

Asexual - people that experience little to no sexual attraction towards any gender.

Little to no

Asexuality and aromanticism are spectrums in which people can feel certain attractions towards people but those attractions are less occurring or are defined by personal connection.

Diagram from AVEN website

However some people are at the end of the spectrum, they never felt attraction and that's valid. Alastor was stated to be aroace he wasn't written as demi or as gray he was written as aroace as in the end of the spectrum. His repulsion and not giving shit about romance or sex speaks for itself.

Representation

I do understand that everyone wants to be represented but it's so important to understand that aroace people are one of the most underrepresented queer groups in the media.

And I'm not here to scream about how I want my fav character to be just like me I don't care for it I'm way too confident in my orientation to rely on that however I'm tired of explaining to people what asexuality and aromanticism is just to receive 'are you sure' or 'you'll change your mind' or 'its not real' or the community favourite 'you'll find the right person' no I won't I'm not looking thank you very much (I just smile and nod to be polite and I'm sick of it).

'Harmless' buts like: 'He might be on the spectrum', 'AroAce people can still feel attraction' hurt the final outcome for all the people on the spectrum not only strictly aroaces because it allows people to write one shots with 'Demi Alastor' that falls in love in 2000 words because he is 'demi' (spoiler alert: they don't understand what that label means). It's just a cover, an opening, sneaky way to disregard his orientation, feel good about themselves and move on. Newsflash there is no moving on for aroace people it's our life.

Shipping

Shipping is just harmless fun right? Usually yes but not in this case. In the same way its not okay to ship gay characters with genders they are not attracted to.

It's erasure and since there is much less people identifying on aro/ace spectrums then there is gay or bi people our voices are being silenced. Not to mention that gay people received support from entire LGBTQIA+ community over the years in contrast to aro/ace specs who to this day are told that we are 'not queer enough' or 'not oppressed enough' often by other queer people.

And finally... FINALLY we get cannon Aro/Ace character that is clearly not interested in romance and sex. Character that beats stereotypes of boring and timid aro/ace people and what's the first people do? They ship him. Alastor's storyline provides so many points to be explored like 'what is his backstory', ' what's about his deal', ' how does he fit in in the found family trope' , 'does he care about hotel guests' yet people choose to write about the only thing that he is not interested in. As a heavily repulsed person that used to be horrified about the fact that I'll have to fall in love with somebody at some point before I found out what aro/ace is I find it repulsive and trust me he would too.

But Viv said it's okay!

Its the same point once again. What if Viv said that it's okay to ship gay Angel with woman. She doesn't have authority to say shit like that.

Queerplatonic relationships

I can't tell you not to do it I don't think he would be necessary interested in it but for fuck sake do your research and try to understand what queerplatonic means before you use it as a cover to shamelessly ship him. Respect the fact that he is sex repulsed and touch averse and you're fine.

Why can't you just avoid it?

First of all I shouldn't have to. Alastor's orientation should be respected in the fandom like any other orientation is. Second of all I've tried. I tried to only look up AroAce Alastor tag I've blocked over 80 people on tumblr alone (I just counted) to avoid to see anything that could trigger me and I'm not talking about slightly shippy posts or fanarts I'm talking about full blown disregard towards his orientation. Guess what it didn't work!

Archive of our own where do I start. I've used this website for over a decade and I could probably count days I didn't go there on my fingers. I'm fluent in AO3 I know which tags I should block. I know how to skim thorough the summary and tags to see if I'm interested. I've seen shit I'm a shipper I've been on ao3 for ten years but never had to mentally prepare myself to face queerphobia as I click on the tab.

Just use aro/ace Alastor tag.

I do and let me tell you people can't tag for shit or they just pretend to be clueless at this point. Besides see this?

there is more ff with Alastor/reader (disgusting) than there is Alastor with his canon orientation and to play the devils advocate for arophobic people there is more Angel/Alastor then his stated in the show sexuality. I understand that fandom goes back before the show was aired but Viv confirmed his orientation back then too.

Summary

I could go on and on bout different issues and maybe I will in the future but I'm not wasting anymore of this weekend on it. I'm ready to answer any questions as long as they are respectful.

I'm aware that he is a fictional character, it doesn't affect him in any way whatsoever but it does affect aromantic and asexual people keep it in mind.

If there are any mistakes grammar related I'm not sorry I'm fluent in English (not my first language) but I took 3h nap in between and I'm sleep deprived.

Have a nice day.

[mingis-orangejuice]

Asking the L&Ds boys "What are we?" Part 2: Xavier

Summary: MC and her boy have been in a sort of situation-ship but MC wants to know why they haven't officially called her their girlfriend

a/n: This ended up being much longer than I thought so I'm making it into 4 parts (one for each boy) here's part 2 with Xavier. you can request who you want me to post next if you want

Genres/Warnings: angst, fluff, kinda slow burn

Word count: 1250

Other parts: 1, 3, 4,

After another long day of battling wonderers, you and Xavier head back to the office to change out of your hunter’s uniforms. A whole day of combat makes you very sweaty and you don’t want to be smelly for your date with Xavier. But was it a date? You and Xavier had been going out for dinner almost every night since you found out you both lived in the same apartment complex. But they never really felt like dates, and he’s never really called you his girlfriend. You told yourself It was just more convenient since he couldn’t cook without potentially burning down the apartment and after a long day, you were just too tired to. Was that all it was, just a convenient way to have a meal? But what about all the dirty looks he gives the other male hunters when you get paired with them for assignments, were you just seeing things or was he jealous? But what does he have to be envious of if you’re not truly his?

“Are you ready to go?” a soft voice breaks you from your thoughts. You turn around to see Xavier standing behind you. You’d been waiting outside the changing rooms for him for a few minutes. “Sorry it took so long there was a problem with one of the showers, I had to rinse off in the sink” 

You give Xavier a small smile as you both start to walk down the empty hall “How do you always end up in these situations? Are you cursed or something” you laugh “Don’t stand too close I don't want your curse to rub off on me” you say jokingly as you dramatically step away from him.

Following your joke he dramatically steps towards you and tries to put his arms around you. “But I don’t want to be the only one that's cursed hold me and we’ll be cursed together for the rest of our lives” he pulls you into a big bear hug as you both laugh while you pretend to escape. You both are having too much fun to notice the janitor glancing at you from over his shoulder while he cleans the windows “Ah, young love” he said with a sentimental sigh, quite enough that you two could just barely hear it but enough to make you realize that you’re not the only people in the building as you had initially thought. You can feel your heart race a little at the janitor's words.  Xavier lets go of you and you continue to walk out of the building. 

Trying to break the awkward silence Xavier finally speaks up. “You know, I heard wishing on a star can break a curse, and since we’re both cursed now you have to help me find a wishing star tonight to undo the curse. What do you say?” he asks looking at you expectantly

“Well yeah now since you’ve cursed me I guess I have no choice but to help you break the bad luck with showers curse” You feigned annoyance. “But first we need food! Where were you planning on taking us tonight?”

Xavier smiled, happy that the awkwardness from earlier was gone. “I saw this new pizza place a few blocks away from our apartment, it's like a DIY place they give you the dough and toppings and you get to bake it in the little ovens at your table” Xavier basically had stars in his eyes when he mentioned baking.

“Uh… maybe we order in tonight, you don’t want to have to pay for repairs when you destroy their oven now, do you ?” you look at him with a sarcastic grin.

“I promise I won’t burn down anything this time, plus I’ll have you right there with me, there's no way you’d let me burn our dinner right?” he chuckles and puts out his hand to grab yours. “Let's go, those pizzas aren’t going to DIY themselves”

Later at the pizza place you and Xavier are having fun making tons of fun, and in Xavier’s case, weird pizza combos. You two spent so much time having fun that you almost forgot you promised to go stargazing tonight before you went home. Xavier gets the attention of the waitress so that he can pay the bill. 

The waitress was a sweet old lady who, when she wasn’t busy helping other tables, made it her mission to make sure you guys hand everything you need. “Did you two have a great time?” she asks handing Xavier the check.

“Yeah it was great, I love the concept it's so fun,” you said with a big smile. Xavier pays and looks up at the waitress “Yeah we’re definitely going to come back here”

“Oh, I’m glad,” The waitress says as she starts to grab your empty plates off the table. “You two are definitely the cutest couple I've seen here in a while, I hope you stay together forever. 

“Um.. we’re…no…” you started to correct the lady but she just kept going.

I heard if you wish on a star by the fountain down the street you’re 100% guaranteed to have that wish come true. Maybe I’ll make a little wish for you two”

You were about to correct the lady again but Xavier cut you off “Thank you that's very kind of you ma’am” Xavier politely bowed as she stacked the last of the dishes and walked away. Xavier puts out his hand to help you out of your chair. “Well let's go find a wishing star to break this curse”

At the fountain, you and Xavier sit quietly for some time just looking up at the sky trying to find a star to wish on. Still feeling a little awkward about what the waitress said, you wanted to say something to make it less awkward but the words that spilled out were anything but. “What are we? 

Xavier, without missing a beat answered “We’re just two people looking up at the stars”

“Just?” you questioned

Before you can say anything more a shooting star passes overhead, Xavier clasps his hands together and starts to wish “ Oh great wishing star please let me and my wonderful girlfriend be together forever, even though she doesn't trust me to use an oven by myself but that just means I get to take her out on more dates. And sometimes it may take her a while to notice things but she’s mine and I want to be with her forever, even though we might be cursed” Xavier finishes his wish and looks to you “What was it you wanted to ask me?

“Uh… nothing … never mind” You looked up to see him staring at you his eyes sparkling like stars a slight blush on his cheeks. This made your heart skip a beat so you looked away quickly and turned your head up to look for more stars.”I hope your wish comes true” you stated bashfully.

Xavier chuckled and also looked up “ Well since we’ll be together forever now, I guess we don’t really need to wish away the curse right ?” 

“Yes, we do! I don’t want to be washing off in the company sinks every day, let’s hurry up and find another wishing star I'll stay here all night if I have to” You say in a joking tone

Xavier places his hand over yours “Well then, I’ll be glad to accompany my girlfriend on her quest to lift our curse.” 

[rubberduckyrye]

Okay in all seriousness. There's something that I REALLY want to talk about as an open discussion with the fandom, but. This is not going to be a very nice thing to hear/talk about.

It's about how Gonta is treated by the fandom.

As a fan of all the V3 characters now, and as someone who has always been a fan of Gonta, and as someone who has many mental disabilities and two diagnosed neurodivergancies... I'm tired of playing nice about it.

You all need to stop being ableist towards Gonta.

I've mentioned in the past that I don't like shitting on personal interpretations. I don't like saying something is or is not canon because narration is just a big web of text that you try to decipher with your own personal biases, experiences, and thoughts. That's why two literary analysts analyzing the same text with the same literary criticism rules can come to wildly different conclusions--why people develop different headcanons from the same canonical information.

But one of the things that challenged my integrity is just how many people view Gonta as this innocent, naive, ignorant, baby boy who can do no harm/never has a complicated/dirty/violent/sexual thought in his life ever.

This incredibly ableist interpretation of the character bothered me for, well, obvious reasons (See: It's fucking ableist, need I say more?) but I never challenged it as harshly as I am now because to be frank, it's not my place to tell people how to HC a character. It still isn't. But I've pretty much given up on my integrity on the subject and have decided to go all in on discussing why this interpretation of Gonta is just. Really bad.

First of all, not to promote my own analyses here or anything, but I think this analysis I did of Gonta explains a LOT in regards to the ableism the cast gives him in canon. I also think that this subtle ableism is why the fandom is so bad with Gonta's characterization in headcanons and fanfic--because they've seen how the cast treats him, and they think it's normal. They don't see the microaggressions, they don't see the subtle ableism in the cast--they just see this big giant idiot who speaks like Tarzan in the English version (which... I don't actually know why people assume Tarzan (Thinking of Disney's version) is stupid. Like as a boy he had to reinvent the spear with no one to guide him on how to do it. He was able to strategize and outsmart "civilized" men in the final showdown. Still I digress) and don't see the literal genius behind his social awkwardness.

There is also another very important point I'm going to make in addition to this, and it's going to be very uncomfortable to Gonta fans who insist he's nothing but a sweet baby who only has pure thoughts. Especially to the fans who insist he "can't be sexual" or think it's weird to ship him with his peers.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but... Gonta blatantly has sexual desire and gets horny right in canon.

This is further clarified here:

It wasn't a matter of Gonta didn't want to touch her because touching someone in their underwear was inappropriate, or being flustered because she was in her underwear which is inappropriate...

It was literally a "weird feeling" that made him unable to approach her or touch her. A "weird feeling" that Miu makes pretty obvious as to what it was--sexual arousal.

He literally was sexually attracted to and felt sexual arousal from looking at Miu in her underwear. He had sexual feelings and thoughts about Miu. Why?

Because Gonta is a young man.

Gonta is a brilliant, talented young man who has normal human thoughts for someone his age--sexual desires, upsetting thoughts, complicated thoughts, ectect. He is not a child, he is not mentally stunted (I've been informed that people have literally said this on Ao3 for the NSFW Gonta fics, please for the love of god stop that)

I think the reason why Gonta fans typically want to keep him as a "pure baby child who can do no wrong" is because treating him like the young adult that he is makes it harder for them to justify Chapter 4. Every time I've seen a Gonta fan that hates Kokichi, it's always followed by the sentiment of "Kokichi manipulated and abused Gonta into killing Miu, so it's all Kokichi's fault." They're afraid of nuance and liking a character with the grey morality of genuinely thinking Mercy Killing the cast is a viable option, because it challenges their own morals about the character they adore.

To those people who read this and are upset: You can and should like Gonta! Gonta is a magnificent character who showcases the subtle way microaggressions can manifest and hurt people, he's a good-hearted person and a literal genius, he cares deeply for his friends and loves everyone with upmost sincerity.

But.

You need to re-evaluate your stance on Gonta if you think he's a stupid, naive fool who Kokichi manipulated. You need to re-evaluate why you think those thoughts, why you think Gonta being shipped with anyone is "Kinda weird" or "has weird consent problems" or "give you the ick." You have to challenge yourself and ask yourself uncomfortable questions in regards to why you treat Gonta like a child when canon has proven otherwise, why you think he cannot have violent or sexual thoughts, why he can't think mercy killing his class is the only way to save them.

This isn't an attack on you--but understand that these specific takes on Gonta? They are ableist in nature. They belittle and dismiss him, they treat him like a child, an idiot who can't think for himself--and you have to come to terms with the fact that Gonta is a far more complex character with complicated thoughts and feelings who is a young adult. Not a child. A young adult.

So again, ask yourself this: Why are you treating this young adult like he's a toddler?

[insanelyadd]

#LetSansRest Day!

Hello everyone and welcome to year two of Let Sans Rest Day! Same as last year it's August 9th.

Before we get into some prompts, a little bit of a mission statement. Last year I said this day was for everyone who's a fan of Sans Undertale or anyone who's tired of every image they see of him being him Suffering. This is still true, but I do want to additionally address something I saw a few different people mention.

I have actually received criticism for daring to suggest that Sans not be tormented to the point of insanity, and that this day where I implore people to make realities where Sans doesn't become a creepypasta insane murderer man from the agony he is subjected to, isn't a stand against ableism like Let Papyrus Say Fuck Day is. *stares in bipolar psychosis and PTSD directly into your eyes* Obviously that's a load of shit, and even though Sans is more popular than Papyrus (I say, as a Papyrus Enjoyer) a lot of the content around Sans is very specifically about him suffering. So simply out of spite for these comments (including someone who saw last year's announcement and directly commented "No <3" on the post) I will be continuing this holiday indefinitely, just like LetPapyrusSayFuck Day. Die mad about it.

Just like how I have ADHD and relate to Papyrus and see the way the fandom treats him as the infantilization of neurodivergency like autism and ADHD, I can look at works in this fandom of Sans that demonize traits of mental illness like trauma, hallucinations, delusions, and mania. And I can say these are both bad actually. Not going to call anyone a bad person for engaging in these things, of course, that would be a bit goofy of me, I'm just saying the imagery used for these things is Very Loaded and a lot of people are mishandling them.

So anyways August 9th is the day we let Sans Undertale out of his Torment Nexus so he can:

Have lemonade at the beach or pool

Go stargazing while camping out in the woods with friends and family

Get smothered in cute baby kittens and puppies

Go to therapy and play with one of those magnetic sculptures all therapists seem to own

Take a nap on an inner-tube on a lazy river

Get to see the leaves change color for the first time

Play basketball with Papyrus

Fall asleep in a basket of freshly dried clothes

Go to a public greenhouse to look at all the different flowers on the surface

Perform stand-up for humans who all love his terrible puns

Please tag the post with #LetSansRest, #Sans, and #undertale as well as any other applicable tags for characters, relationships, etc. This day is primarily for classic Sans but it's not like I can stop you from drawing Fell Sans not being subjected to his own, personal, goth-themed Torment Nexus.

This is meant to be a day for everyone who wants Sans Undertale to go to therapy and feel better. People who want to put him in a hamster cage with plenty of things to prank for enrichment. People who want to win him one of those massive stuffed animals at the county fair.

If you want to participate please be mindful of some things:

I will be monitoring the tag to reblog things! I have ptsd and would appreciate if ships involving Papyrus or Frisk (and similar) with Sans are avoided. This is simply for my mental health and I greatly appreciate it. <3

Do Not post angst to the #LetSansRest tag. It is meant to be an angst free tag for him.

Don't worry if you can't participate on the exact day! Just like with #LetPapyrusSayFuck Day you can use the tag and post to it any day! :>

Hope you're able to participate and have fun! <3

[cyborgartalchemist2]

Imagine being so fucking aggressive about a ship you make jokes about Magneto and that very groomer scene from X-Men 97 that just... excuse the behavior? Because that doesn't sound very progressive in my opinion. Like yeah... rape culture in relationships just permeats fucking shipping but lets do nothing to argue against it. Lets make jokes that perpetuate the behavior and excuse men taking advantage of women.

To me having Magneto take advantage of a much younger mutant under his tutelage because she's desperate for physical connection and he's the only one she can touch is meant to showcase A) how Gambit contrasts Magneto and B) remind us that Magneto is never above using mutants for his own gains.

If this were reality most people would be calling Magneto a groomer and worse. We know Rogue was still a teen when Mystique took her in. We know that she's been an X-man for a few years. So Magneto was patient enough to wait until she turned 18?

Historically he hasn't done well with his love life. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver's mom left him without telling him he fathered children because she was scared of him! (I'm only going on TAS and 97 here since this is an adaptation.) So where in the high heavens does everyome think he would be good for Rogue?

I don't care about the 'better than Remy' arguments because that's not the point! The point of who you ship Rogue with should be about if it's a relationship that is good for her! Is she their equal? Does she get treated with respect? Magneto looked at the Genosha council and without asking Rogue said "I'll lead but only if this woman I am trying to get back is my queen". LIKE DOES THAT EVEN SOUND MATURE? Magneto shows up, sees Gambit and Rogue being even mildly affectionate and starts pulling asshole moves on Rogue. And the narrative did nothing to make Rogue stand up for herself (which she would have) she should have told Erik "I'm a big girl I can get my own sugar for my coffee." She is shown numerous times to remind everyone she is no one's 'territory'.

Also wish to address the fact that making Rogue x Magneto comes with a 'sex is the only thing that matters!' Flavor that is exactly what so many of us are tired of in shipping. When did shipping stop being about the drama of a couple fighting against a narrative that pushes them apart or about finding love in the most unconventional of places, like alien hunting? And become solely about how nasty they can fuck? Seriously?

AND it's so blandly hetero it's not even funny. Because honestly the ways in which a couple can experience pleasure that don't involve traditional p in v penetration is vast and wild and there are enough types of gear and costumes and the like to facilitate that between Rogue and Gambit. Because that's all the argument has to stand on, is which man can fulfill her sexual needs. WHICH SHE HERSELF REALIZED WASN'T ENOUGH. She kisses Erik and goes "nope they're ain't any sparks there. This isn't going to be fulfilling ever."

Not to mention the fact that I can't genuinely see Magneto offering to die for Rogue. Sorry that grandstanding in Genosha was not the same. It was barely a heroic move... he still didn't save the Morlocks he promised to protect... he still failed. He couldn't save Leech and he couldn't stop the Sentinel either. Because yeah Magneto attempted to save Rogue and Gambit, but he did nothing to save the Morlocks at his side and he also survived without taking out the giant killer robot... but Gambit? Gambit said fuck it, gonna take this motherfucker to hell with me. He stopped Rogue from facing the sentinel so he could. And he actually stopped it. All on his own. Because that's what an x-man would do. Sure Magneto protectdd two people but sacrificed the morlocks yet again...

AND ON THE SUBJECT OF ROGUE x GAMBIT

Has Gambit always been great with Rogue? No, but that was the 90s and now look at how he handles shit? Comics writing has grown. It was a lot more heternormative and still had lots of rape culture hold overs in it.

Look at the episode when Cody shows up. He uses Rogue's connection to him from the past and then puts her in a situation that almost takes away her humanity. Her powers, which was what lured her into this trap in the first place, saved her from a man taking advantage of her. And the one time Gambit (in TAS) takes advantage of her, Morph in her form, told him to come and get some from her first. (So while he should have paused and woke Rogue up before kissing her, he had what he thought was an invitation.)

Gambit takes Rogue's decision to rule Genosha with Magneto incredibly well. He doesn't get mad, he doesn't call Rogue names, he doesn't do anyhting to hurt Rogue the way she is hurting him. He accepts it like a gentleman. Unlike Magneto who pursued Rogue's affections in unhealthy ways.

So uh... yeah that's my fucking rant.

[dangerousduckcloud]

Flowerbeds make up for a nice eternal rest

Read it also on AO3

“Couldn’t sleep.” You replied, putting the well-loved copy of the book back in the shelf. “What about you?” “Yeah, same.” He sat down on the couch, legs spread and elbows resting on his knees. “Hard to do so when you learn your whole life is a lie… Just ink on paper.”

I've been updating daily, however I've noticed the quality is not quite good sometimes (today, for example), so I'll be taking longer to update, maybe once a week/2 weeks or so, I'm sorry for this, but I wish to write something of good quality

Chapter 6 < > Chapter 8

taglist: @kurai-hono-blog

Fingers ghosting over the spines of the books, you're surprised to see so many titles familiar to you, from Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park, all the way to Jane Austen books, some of them more worn than the others, a small smile creeping up your face at the thought of knowing just who read these books so many times.

A new question —added to the many that’ve appeared since you accepted you’re in some other reality— popped on your mind, if so many things in their world are similar to yours; people, social functions, historical events, what was so different that led yours not having superheroes and vigilantes? There’s no Gotham, no Metropolis, no Star City, nothing.

Did this mean they simply do not exist, or they just didn’t want to make themselves known? Here, everything started with Superman. If he existed in your reality, what made him not want to help people? Had he been captured by the government instead of the Kents? Had his ship landed someplace else? Are there other planets out there?

So many questions, so many possibilities, not a single answer.

The book authors are the same as your world; Tolkien, Crichton, Austen… Not just a coincidence in people here writing books with the same title, so it begs the question of a point you mentioned last night.

Does this mean there's another version of yourself in this world? Is there a different version of them in yours?

“You alright?”

It didn’t matter how many times you would hear that voice, it will always send shivers down your body, making your heart skip a beat. Turning around towards the voice, the early morning light deluged him in a pink-golden light, water droplets falling to the floor, he was only dressed in black pants and a tight black shirt that didn’t seem comfortable, his muscly arms threatening to rip it apart.

His unnaturally vibrant green eyes were more focused on the book you were holding —Little Women— rather than your face.

“Couldn’t sleep.” You replied, putting the well-loved copy of the book back in the shelf. “What about you?”

“Yeah, same.” He sat down on the couch, legs spread and elbows resting on his knees. “Hard to do so when you learn your whole life is a lie… Just ink on paper.”

“I don’t think it is.” With long strides, you sat down next to him, an ample space left between you two. “The fact that you’re here with me discussing about this mess should mean that you’re more than just a puppet created to entertain. You’re a human being, with feelings, thoughts, ideas… Who knows, maybe someone from your world came to mine and wrote your life story.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, of course. If you were simply the mere product of a writer, how could I be here, when I’m not?” This whole time he’d been looking at the floor, lost in his mind, finally turning to look you in the eyes. “I’m as lost in this as you are, but the one thing I’m certain, is that you’re real, Jason. As real as the moon and the stars.”

It was immensely evident something continued plaguing his mind, his eyebrows drawn and eyes unfocused, you knew how lost he must feel like, having felt the same just the night before, but whatever conclusion he came to, his face searched yours once again, a tired, tight smile on his face.

----

Breakfast had been a chaotic affair, having to explain to the rest of the family present in the house what endured after you woke up in the cave, Tim and Cass having long gone to sleep after they were sure you were safe.

“So, we’re not real?”

“You are, just not in my world. At least not like this.” Your meal had long gotten cold, being bombarded with questions that left you no time to take a bite. “There are no vigilantes there. Also, I’m sorry, Tim.”

“What for?”

“I thought you were delusional.”

Everyone in the table laughed, with Tim throwing you a harmless glower, even Alfred coughing to hide his smile.

“This is intriguing.”

You nodded at Cass’ response, at last grabbing your fork to eat your cold scrambled eggs, attempting not to make faces at the taste.

“So…” Tim spoke once again after refiling his cup of coffee for the third time. “Everything that we’ve suffered, is all just because someone wrote it?”

All eyes were laid on you, your face pale and mouth dry suddenly.

You couldn’t say no, because you still didn’t know how this worked, and you didn’t think you’ll ever find out, was your world shaping theirs, or was it theirs shaping the stories you were shown?

But you also didn’t want to say yes, because that would mean…

Unconsciously, your eyes wandered over to Jason, eyes locking for a second, his neutral demeanor changing into a raised eyebrow.

“Why did I die?”

“I… I don’t know.”

Cass raised a brow as well, her words clipped. “You’re lying.”

It was way better when you still thought they were just crazy, with no interrogations to interrupt your breakfast.

“There… There was a poll.” Avoiding everyone’s faces, you spoke to the table, voice as small as possible, however, with them being the detectives they were, they still could make out your words, if the gasps were any indication.

“A poll?” Jason reiterated, outraged. When you looked up, green eyes filled with hate was the only thing you could focus on. “A poll to decide my fate? A fucking poll?”

“I—Jason, they—”

“They what? Why would they do something like this!?” His eyes were glowing, hands closing into fists. “I was fifteen! Why would you do this? Who the fuck would think of killing a teenager!?”

“Wh—Me!?” You stood up, chair dragging behind you. “Jason, I wasn’t even born when that happened! And—and from what I read; they didn’t even think they’d do it.”

“Oh, and that’s supposed to make me feel better?”

Tears were prickling your eyes, mouth left hanging open. He had every right to be angry, everyone would, however the hate directed to you was unwarranted. The rest of them were looking at you, faces unreadable, except Dick’s, his eyes red, but whether it was for the current situation or remembering Jason’s murder, you didn’t know, maybe it was both.

It was clear none would come to your rescue, too disgruntled and sorrowful on Jason’s behalf.

“What do you mean you weren’t even born?” Tim asked, his investigative soul winning against his feelings. Or maybe this was his way to deal with the pain. “You’re Jason’s age, you were fourteen.”

Sniffing, you cleared your tears with the sleeves of your shirt. “I don’t know how time works here. That happened in the… The eighties, I think. I was born in the 2000’s.”

“This doesn’t make any sense.” He mumbled. “The years…” And without another word, he left the kitchen, quickly followed by Jason, although taking another path.

“Jason, wait.”

But your words fell on deaf ears. You hadn’t known Jason for a day, and he already hated you.

“I’m sorry.” Apologizing for everything you’d done and everything you didn’t, you walked out the kitchen as well, not a clear destination in mind.

[crooked-wasteland]

I just saw your essay on the codependency of FizzOzzie and it cleared up a lot of things I've been thinking about this ship and to be honest, I myself thought it was the most healthiest ship in the whole show even better than the trash that Stoliz is but well... (btw, I was trying to scroll through tumblr to find it but can you just link it for me so I coud read it again)?

It also brings me to an idea of the possibility brung up in two fics each with different ideas:

#1 if Hazbin's events every leak in Helluva's since they're the same universe, there's a possibility that Lucifer would want to have precautionary heirs for the defense of Hell and outright force Ozzie and any other relationships with lowerclass apart since it's "not compatible with angelic DNA" or some thing, so Ozzie could in fact leave Fizz because of his status

#2 Ozzie getting tired of Fizz... Ozzie is the sin of Lust after all and Lust can be ever-changing and capricious in its nature as a sin. Ozzie’s character, embodying Lust, might lead to a fluctuating commitment level, influencing his interactions and relationships. In biblical lore, he did end up causing a lot of sinful things like fucking a human named Sarah or so I remember?

Again this is the same guy who humiliated Blitzø in Ozzie, S2 just rewrote him completely (btw, in my rewrite I'mma change him to be more evil and instead give the whole "lovey-dovey Sin" idea to Satan who is female and thinks Asmodeu's "fake-love" is like a slap in the fact to her idea of realistic and true romance)

I'd just feel like Fizz would be better off with Blitzø tbh or Striker or all in a threesome... the possibilities are endless, and why is the show making love seem too fairytale and unrealistic?! Like Blitzø shouldn't have to fuck Stolas just because he was his arranged playmate for just one day??? The show did the childhood friends trope dirty and would be better if Stoliz was a thing until mid-teens broke up for [insert reason] and reconnect but honestly, Stolas should've had his own seperate season/arc dedicared to himself if HB was an anthology show

Also the fact that Asmodeus couldn't just burn the contract, one-shot the lawyer and go on a rampage to save Fizz is just beyond me... the Sins are supposed to be these scary demon lords so why aren't they, hm?

Sorry for rambling and what do you think or want to add?

Absolutely here you go.

The consistent failure of Vivziepop is to commit to a mature story. She describes her own protagonists as "Deeply flawed but understandably traumatized people who just need love to fix them" while the villains of her shows are "irredeemable" (and women, but that's a tangent).

I mentioned before that trying to use the excuse of the setting being Hell and playing that out to the logical conclusion would end up exactly like Good Omens. The whole moral of said show being that imperfect humanity is worth saving, that life is worthy and beautiful for its own sake of existence. That is why the story of Good Omens uses the Bible, angels, and demons to tell it's story, to make that point.

Why is Helluva Boss/Hazbin Hotel set in Hell? What is being said by the plot, themes and story? So far we have that demons are better people than the Angels in Hazbin. That sacrifice is the only virtue worthy of redemption and thus reinforces backwards Christian ideals of penance.

Personally, I would have made Hell less absurd. Less a place of debauchery and chaos and more a mere continuation of life. We see in the Hazbin Pilot a character falls from the sky and says "I'm alive?" Before being hot by Travis' car. The point being that people just transition from one life to the next and in that they keep living life the way they always have.

My personal criticisms of the series' use of Hell is that it established this idea that people only behave if they have a god to fear. Once in Hell, there is no salvation, so why bother. It's like a Christian asking an atheist why they wouldn't commit murder if they don't believe in God. The answer is that people like order and security. People dying would seek to maintain their status quo from life. A lack of salvation wouldn't change that for them.

And frankly, I wouldn't have redemption be a thing. This story and its messages are actively devalued by the act of redeeming sinners when the Angels are just the same as them. By having Hell just be a warped continuation of life on Earth, it makes the message more universal: Life is Hell. Life is suffering in a way Hell can never hope to be. Physical anguish and torment for all eternity can never amount to the pain of the fleeting and the terror of change and uncertainty.

I would have made it impossible to be redeemed because the fact is, regardless what you believe happens after death, what we know we have is life. We fear death so much we have created salvation throughout history, the wish to keep living forever in some way. But, especially for young people, life is harder now than ever before. It's more terrifying and uncertain and cruel and uncaring.

So if life is Hell, how do you be happy?

That would have been my thesis for the show. The message underneath is all about finding happiness in the absence of salvation. Even the idea that maybe salvation is something we should reject to really feel what it means to be alive. Giving up on our deaths and seeking our own fulfillment, and in that finding community, love, and hope. To see true humanity as something selfish and kind at the same time.

That's how I would have taken the concept.

[elysianavenue]

Not Alone

Spike Spiegel x Reader (no pronouns)

Warnings: injury, lots of mentions of blood, reader has trouble asking for help.

Summary: Before you met Spike, you had gotten used to dealing with things on your own. When you get hurt, Spike tries to get you to realize that you're not alone anymore.

Word Count: 1008

Maybe he just didn't know you as well as he thought he did. It was funny, almost. After 3 whole years of being with you, he still couldn't tell when you were hurt. Maybe it wasn't him. Maybe you were just too damn good at hiding it, after years and years of being alone.

To you, it had just become a habit. To deal with injuries on your own, constantly feeling as if you'd be a burden to anyone who'd be so kind as to offer the tiniest amount of help. That just wasn't you. You couldn't do that to people when you were fully capable of patching yourself up.

So when a target worth quite the amount of woolongs manages to get the better of you, you didn't give the burning pain on the left side of your waist a second thought. There were more important things going on, after all.

Luckily, you had your partner in crime with you. Spike had taken down the guy, and the two of you were very eager to retrieve your reward, the injury on your side already being forgotten. That is until you and Spike made it back to the Bebop.

The pain, which started off as a burning pain, then a throbbing pain, was now both of those and before you knew it, you were limping from the pain.

The thought of burdening Spike made you uneasy, so as best you could, you pushed through the pain and walked towards your room, ignoring the comments from Spike and Jet, both of which were asking where you were going.

"I'm tired, I'm going to lie down for a bit." Was all you said before disappearing.

Spike lied back on his yellow couch, arms resting under his head as he tried to push back the nagging thoughts that were telling him something was wrong with you. You'd tell him if something was wrong...Wouldn't you?

"Something happen?" Jet asked, his attention back to the tall man on the couch.

"We had a little bit of trouble with the guy, but I don't think anything more than that happened," Spike shrugged, lighting the cigarette he put between his teeth.

"You don't think?" Jet deadpanned.

Spike sighed and sat up, now wondering if maybe something more had happened. The guy was holding a knife...No, you would've said something. Or would you?

Deciding enough was enough, Spike stood up, dropping his cigarette and ignoring Jet's remarks that the ship wasn't his personal ash tray. He didn't care. He had to make sure you were okay.

Meanwhile, you stood in front of your mirror with your shirt off, blinking back the tears from the pain. It was a nasty wound. It was a deep cut and the amount of blood made you sick to your stomach.

Your shaky hands were busy cleaning the cut while your teeth were sunk into your bottom lip, trying to hold back the cries that so desperately wanted to escape.

A knock on your door made you yelp and before you could get a single word out, none other than Spike Spiegel let himself in.

"I just wanted to know if you were...," He trailed off, his eyes widening at your current state. Not to mention, the amount of blood.

"Shit, Y/n." He ran over to you. You turned away from him, almost as if that could stop him. You didn't want him to see you like this.

"I'm fine, Spike. It's just a scratch," You said frantically. Definitely not fine, and most definitely not just a scratch.

"A scratch? Are we looking at the same thing?" He replied, possibly just as frantic. It was odd to see him react in such a way. Normally Spike didn't lose his cool over situations like this.

"Okay, yeah, it's bad. But I can handle it, trust me, I've dealt with worse," You kept trying to push him away.

At those words, I've dealt with worse, Spike realized he didn't know you as well as he thought. What could you have possibly gone through alone?

"I have no doubt you can handle this, but you're not alone, so please let me help you with this," He held onto your shoulders while he crouched down to your height so he could look in your eyes.

You were at a loss for words as he spoke. You're not alone. It's true, you weren't alone, but you couldn't shake the feeling that you were burdening him.

"I don't want you to go out of your way for something like this," You gave one last futile attempt to deal with it alone.

He gave you a look. One that said "are you kidding me?" It made you want to hide in the corner like a little kid.

"Let me tell you something, Y/n. I'd go out of my way to help you with a goddamn paper cut, cause guess what, sweetheart? I kinda love you or something, all right? The last thing I want is for you to feel like you have to hide things like this from me because you're worried I'm going out of my way," He didn't look away from your eyes the entire time.

He loves you. You couldn't help the blush that appeared on your cheeks as you repeated his words in your head.

"So how 'bout it? Will you let me take care of you?" He asked, flashing you a comforting smirk. You sighed, unable to turn him down, even showing a small smile. "I suppose."

So he took care of your wound, apologizing every time you winced in pain, cleaned up the blood, and handed you a clean shirt to change into. Once you were fixed up, he pressed a kiss to your forehead and ushered you to the bed.

It was foreign to you, being taken care of like this. But you told yourself that if you were able to get used to dealing with things alone, then you could manage to get used to Spike helping you out once in a while.

A/n: just a lil something i thought was cute since ive been multitasking with anime and rewatching cowboy bebop at the same time im watching one piece and black clover teehee. very overstimulated. anywaysssss.

[zeroducks-2]

Zero you mentioned hating on people who get prissy about people shipping characters they dont actively ship and it sparked a LONG burning question of mine concerning bias shipping culture in Batfam fandom. Fans who attack and complain and make a big show of hating on ‘batcest’ ships ARE SO DUCKING HYPOCRITICAL OH MY LORD. I don’t understand why it’s considered okay to ship Dick x Barbara or Barbara x Bruce, or Steph x Tim. But seen as a cardinal sin to ship Jason x Dick, or Jason x Tim or Bruce x Dick??? Especially when the only argument antishippers make is ‘that’s gross their brothers/father and son and that’s incest 😤’. I’m sorry? Did you not just post nsfw Dickbabs content? Did DC not make Steph and Tim romantic love interests? Is that not incest too? Considering the fandom classifies all of them as family, and in a lot of fan spaces and fanfics, are they not interacting and being written as a family unit? I see SO many people blog about Bruce seeing Babs as his first daughter, or being making weird headcanons on Bruce and Steph’s relationship and donning it ‘tired uncle!Bruce and weird niece!steph core’. Like you obviously see them connected to Bruce through familial ties, and yet you’re okay with them dating Dick and Tim who are legally adopted by Bruce and who are also known as his sons? The irony. The hypocrisy. The ducking mockery of it all. Personally, I don’t think the issue that antishipper have is the ‘incest’ part but rather the ‘gay’ part of it all. Game of Thrones taught me that the general public actually don’t care about fictional incest between characters as long as it’s not between two male characters. Because lord forbid the’s a couple of queers in media.

I have been talking about this many times and I have no qualms talking about it some more:

✨ IT'S NOT INCEST, YALL JUST HOMOPHOBIC ✨

The whole idea around "batcest" makes no sense. These are people who did not grow up together, aren't related and never even lived under the same roof. Incest is not a spectrum, incest means sexual intercourse with a relative within the prohibited degree of consanguinity, consanguinity means BLOOD RELATIONSHIP, and these people DO NOT HAVE IT.

But even then, they are a bunch of hypocrites because I have not ever seen anyone batting an eye over Dickbabs or Timsteph (or Jaybabs, or Timbabs - yeah depending on the time period or the media, poor Babs has been passed around a lot). Their relationship is the exact same as the boys' when it comes to shared experiences. Steph has even been a Robin. But nobody cares because 1, DC is not pushing the "family rhetoric" with the girls all that much since they treat them as lower importance characters (when they're there at all), and 2, it's not queer relationships.

And this is ultimately what makes me go insane about queer kids parroting anti bullshit. Censorship is the weapon used by bigots to criminalize, punish and ultimately erase queer people from existence, it takes to study queer history for five minutes to understand this. You can see it happening in every fandom space where every type of queer ship gets put through some sort of moral sieve, and they WILL find reasons why it's unethical to ship it. Did you know that now shipping Dick/Wally is problematic because "Wally has a wife" ? So basically they're turning the very reason why fandom was born (exploring something different from the standardized heteronormative/amatonormative way of doing everything when it comes to narrative) into something pRoBLeMaTiC.

And these little fucking idiots keep spouting queerphobic nonsense while feeling morally righteous, not understanding that they are playing the game of the same people who if they could would shoot them in the street for being anything but straight and cis. And I'm not even taking into consideration the amount of harassment that comes from antis who think bullying and suibaiting someone over the perceived honor of fictional characters is okay.

BTW it's working. Just to name one, tumblr is not even doing its little rainbow capitalism number this year, because it's not a good look to be queer friendly anymore. Antis are helping the people who want us dead get to a spot where being anything but "normal" is illegal. When it happens, and if we keep going the way that we are now it will happen, it's going to be their fault too.

[penaconys-hound]

Obligatory RP Blog intro post

(Warning: Contains Spoilers for the end of 2.1 and 2.2 and was initially created before 2.2)

———

Making a drink is a sensory skill. In dreams, creating fizzy concoctions requires adding a bit of your mood. Heavier if you're troubled, a touch sweeter if you're in high spirits... It's not just about mixing beverages. It's about mixing the experiences of life.

Gallagher's the name, I'm one of the local "Hounds" around here. Step into Penacony, the Land of Dreams, Nameless one.

Tired? Just find a place to sit and rest for a while. Let’s have a talk and I’ll mix something up for you.

But a few words of advice…

Don’t get lost in dreams, and not everything’s as it seems.

Guidelines, Key, Tags and Notes from the mod:

Guidelines:

-Fellow RP Blogs are allowed, uh hiii Star Rail RP community

-This is my first RP Blog after like a year or so (previous ones just died) so I may be rusty so apologies for that -Using tonetags would be appreciated, not required but appreciated, especially if you say something that could come off as rude but you don’t mean it in that tone, the mod can’t read tone through text.

-SFW only please, Suggestive themes are allowed with a warning however

-Gore’s on the table though, but only if the meme gets involved, or you somehow get a good reason for it, I don’t think Gallagher would just maul you out of nowhere- However since this takes place in the dreamscape blood will be described as water and that’s all that’s gonna spill out-

-Shipping is allowed, I’ll allow any ship unless it’s pr*ship or with Sunday, with the former it’s obvious on why I wouldn’t, gross. You’ll get hit on the offense side of Gallagher’s Ultimate if you try that.

But on Galladay it’s simply cause I’m just not super comfortable with Gallagher x Sunday-

But yeah, as long as you’re follow the shipping rules the sky’s the limit, especially since I see Gallagher as bi

-Mod uses the CDT Timezone and is in education, but otherwise doesn’t have a life, and also has adhd with rapid changing hyperfixations so answer times can range from a minute to over a week

-Anything related to, but not limited to, racism, homophobia/transphobia, sexism, ableism, etc. Is not allowed here.

I’m serious if you come into the askbox with that you’ll get the “Dog” after you:

-Anons are welcome, you can even have a custom tag if you use a sign off and show up enough

-Magic Anons are allowed however only one can be active at a time and they have a 2-5 ask cooldown depending on what the effects where

-You can technically also ask the Meme on this blog, but don’t expect it to say anything other then *STABS YOU STABS YOU STABS YOU STABS YO

Key:

“ “ (Just plain text): Dialogue

“ “ (Same as above but in bold)/“ “ (Purple bold text): (what’s used is dependent on what’s exactly being said) Dialogue where Gallagher puts on his Reaper Robe

(The text for that was originally red however I changed it to purple for two reasons: Reason one being in the lore Acheron uses Red text sometimes and I think it’d be weird if I interacted with an Acheron and she also used red text,

and I changed it to purple specifically cause it matches Sleepie)

“* *” (Asterisks around text): Action/Movement

“// //“ (Two slashes around text): OOC/Mod talking

Tags:

#🥃bartenders rambles : In character posts/asks

#🐺barred fangs : In character posts/asks when Gallagher is playing the role of “The Reaper/Death”

#🌀don’t fear the reaper. : Fanart reblog tag

#👁️ The Dog. : Mentions/Discussion of the Memory Zone Meme “Something Unto Death”/“Sleepie”

#🐾mods yapping : Posts from the mod/OOC posts, not counting OOC moments in the tags of ask posts

#💫care for a drink under the stars? : Interaction reblogs/RPs, whatever with fellow Honkai: Star Rail RP blogs, can be in or out of character

#🪶hounds prey : Interactions with Sunday and/or Robin/Mentions of Sunday and/or Robin

#🧹the bellboy : (there was no mop emoji) Interactions with Misha/Mentions of Misha

(Tags may be added for specific characters and art RBs if I decide to do that, but for now that’s the tags)

Anon Tags:

#🍸 anon

#🥂 anon

#🍀 anon

Side Notes:

-If you’re wondering on the Mod’s pronouns if you didn’t read the bio, the Mod uses Any/All pronouns (like he/she/they/it etc. Idrc-)

-This will include headcanons, if it wasn’t obvious from the “I see Gally as Bi” comment

-It could possibly get OOC at times while I’m in character, I made the blog before 2.2, but I’m trying to stick to the character as well as I can, and if 2.2 changes his character again I’ll attempt to pull something to fit with that

-Mod will refer to himself ether as “The Mod” or “Mod Werewolf”

Other Blogs the Mod Runs if you’d like to check those out:

(disclaimer they’re not all gonna be for the same fandom in the future)

@the-coolest-character-in-hsr (Hanu from Honkai: Star Rail)

@trash-president-real (Trash President (OC) Honkai: Star Rail)

Anyways hope you enjoy the blog, and avoid getting stabbed by the meme

[classystrangerpeach]

I saw this video and I couldn't agree more of what they said.

I'm sick and tired of dickbabs. It's being shoehorned everywhere, I can't read Nightwing's solo without Babs showing up every single issue, Tom Taylor turned his solo into a Dickbabs shipping book.

Batgirls is supposed to be about Stephanie and Cassandra's book but Babs took their spotlight and forced her relationship with Dick in it too.

DC vs Vampires is supposed to be about DC universe as a whole fighting against vampires but they centered it around Dickbabs in the end.

and now in the Titans series and even in Starfire's tales of the titans solo issue Babs shows up even though she's never been a titan character???? And Babs has to take up space, why?? Why can't I read a book solely about Starfire, why do they have to share her book with Babs, don't we have enough Barbara Gordon in the comics especially in Nightwing solo.

Starfire and the Titans never needed to be monitored by Barbara, they never needed her help to accomplish their own missions since 1980 but ever since DC and Tom Taylor started pushing dickbabs , she now keeps showing up in Titans and every single other book where dick shows up, she's now attached to dick's team 24/7, is this to keep closer with dick as much as possible?????

Babs is now in charge of Dick's team??? She's now the tech support of the Titans ?? What about Cyborg??? Why does Cyborg seem useless in the Titans book. Why is it that he no longer does most of the computer/tech stuff for the team. You're gonna sideline Cyborg who is the actual Titan tech support and the actual information broker of the group over a non titan character like Babs???

Seriously. Babs has become the female version of Batman, where writers are too obsessed with her and keep shoehorning her in other characters books and stories. You don't see writers forcing Starfire and her relationship with Dick in Batfamily books so why force Barbara and Dickbabs in Titans books.

Look I know dickbabs is currently in a relationship right now because writers keep forcing the two but Babs doesn't always have to follow dick wherever he goes and she doesn't always have to show up in books where he shows up. It should not be a requirement. Let Dick be on his own with other people for once.

You can be in a relationship with someone but still do your own thing with other people at the same time. Like in real life does your partner always follow you wherever you go 24/7? no right?! Because everyday we wake up and go to work , your partner has their own job and own workplace too seperate from yours so why should Babs always be around Dick as if she have doesn't have a life or a job of her own, can't she do anything without Dick nowadays????

I don't like how her character has become reliant on Dick, it's like she can't exist without being around him or mentioning him. Everything she does revolves around dick. She even left her own life in gotham so she could stay with Dick in Bludhaven every single issue, and even when she goes back to Gotham temporarily like in Batgirls she still finds a way to bring up her relationship with dick like that time in Batgirls where she has to mention she is wearing Dick's underwear??????

Set them free of this relationship for once DC smh

[notmaplemable]

Opinion on DragonSlayer?

Ah, Dragonslayer. Definitely has one of the better ship names in the RWBY fandom. Also I'm just going to you DS from now on because I'm tired.

Values and personality wise, I think they work well together. With Yang pushing Jaune out of his comfort zone, and being there for him when he falls down. And Jaune being there for Yang when she's feeling vulnerable and needs some support. They both have a way of keeping each other going in tough times. They're both very family oriented. Plus they can probably bond over being an older sibling, and maybe having some parental troubles depending on how you write the Arcs.

And yeah, the comparisons between Jaune and Taiyang are obvious.

Though personally I break DS down into two eras. Beacon era DS and post Beacon DS.

During their time at Beacon, I don't really see them getting together. I can absolutely see Jaune having a thing for Yang. You could even convince me that Yang has feelings for him as well, but I still don't really think she would. And even if she did I don't see her really perusing that relationship.

Mostly because I don't really think Yang would be perusing a romantic relationship during their first year at Beacon. She's looking for Raven. Trying to balance getting a bit a freedom and still taking care of Ruby while still giving her enough space to grow on her own a little bit. Not to mention just making sure Ruby doesn't get herself hurt. While also making sure Blake doesn't run off and do anything crazy again.

You don't have much time for relationships when your the team mom.

And if she was going to get into a romantic relationship, it would be with someone like Sun, Blake, Ren, or Pyrrha. Simply because Jaune hasn't really had a chance to show off the traits that would make them work well together to her, and she wouldn't value those traits as much as she would later on. She would just views Jaune as Ruby's friend and the guy who threw up on her boots.

But that doesn't mean that it can't happen, but you would need to force them together often and in ways where Jaune could show those positive traits of his. I've read fics that have done that. Or you could do an AU where they're partners, childhood friends, etc.

Now post fall DS is where it's at.

They've both had opportunities to mature over V4 and 5. Yang would certainly appreciate Jaune keeping Ruby safe when she couldn't. And I think would start to see more of Jaune's good traits, while certainly relating to a few of his problems in those volumes. Certainly the anger and charging in problems.

So I think that spark would be lit there, probably soon after they deal with all the Haven stuff. With some awkward flirting before they get to Argus. Once Jaune gets a little bit of closure with Pyrrha, then I'd think they would have a talk and try to figure something out there. With Saphron listening in of course.

So yeah.

DS has a lot to like about it. Jaune and Yang work well together and are both very family focused. While also having a good few areas of contrast to not make it feel like it's two versions of the same character dating. It just needs a little time to mature to really reach to peak of it's potential.

7/10 at Beacon.

9/10 after Beacon.

[spicysix]

📖 robin's russian dictionary - send me this emoji + a word, song, prompt or scenario + a character or ship and i'll write you a ficlet!

I'd love to see what you'd do with eddie munson and soulmate au

ok this is like A BILLION YEARS LATE. i'm so sorry LSKDLAKSDSAK but it's finally here! thank you so much for the request and hope you'll like this 💖

word count: 2.9k

warnings: gn reader, college!AU, no backstories mentionings so you can imagine it whenever you'd like. other than that, all fluff, no warnings

author's note: title from 'Ready To Start' by Arcade Fire. scene inspired by Tara and Darcy's meeting in Heartstopper. not proofread, sorry if there's any mistakes!

soulmate prompt: identifying marks (first words said to each other)

Eddie hasn’t always hated his soulmark.

When little, he didn’t understand, of course. Didn’t understand why his dad would glare angrily at the two words, or why his mom would gaze at them sadly. It didn’t help that they weren’t soulmates, had never found their other halves and lived frustrated by it.

As he grew older and figured himself out, understood which clothes he felt comfortable wearing, which songs he liked listening to, which haircut fit him better — then he learned to dislike the soulmark.

As he grew older and people would call him that on the streets, tell him he’d be just like his father, words spat out in pure despise, as he learned to hate his dad and want nothing more than to be nothing like him — then he learned to hate the soulmark.

First of all, he liked metal, okay. He was a metalhead, his style was completely different from what they’d call him. He hated that all boys who didn’t wear polo shirts, all girls who didn’t twirl on long skirts — they were all tossed into the same little box. How choosing not to conform to the norm meant they’d all be tossed aside.

And he was nothing like his dad.

So, yeah, Eddie hasn’t always hated his soulmark, the faded words on his wrist waiting to be spoken out loud by that special someone to shine as gold as the sun. But, as he grew older, he learned to hate that “Hey punk” with all of his being.

*

You haven’t always resented your soulmark.

When little, you didn’t understand, of course. Didn’t understand why your parents shared a weird look when you showed the word to them for the first time. It didn’t help that they were soulmates themselves, and the look they’d give to their own golden soulmarks was much different and fond.

As you grew up and noticed how many times people said that, how many times you’d grow hopeful only to be turned down again, how many times you heard the word until it stopped sounding like a word at all — then you learned to resent the soulmark.

So, yeah, you haven’t always resented your soulmark, the faded word on your wrist waiting to be spoken out loud by that special someone to shine as gold as the sun. But, as you grew older, you learned to resent that “Sorry” with all of your being.

*

The first time Eddie sees you is in Introduction To Music Theory with professor Marsh, his first of many Tuesdays learning all the theory he doesn’t have — not when he learned to play guitar with nothing but his ears, his nights watching bands at The Hideout and an everlasting hyperfocus. Professor March introduces you as his PA. You have a huge cup of coffee in hands and you don’t spare a single word to the class, only nods and sits somewhere in the back. Not really approachable, Eddie thinks. You don’t see him.

The second time Eddie sees you is at the cafeteria nearest to the Music Building. It’s the very next day, Wednesday, and there you are buying a huge cup of coffee to handle the day. Still looking tired, and still looking a little grumpy. You don’t see him.

The third time Eddie sees you is later that week, Saturday, at his first official college party. It’s a welcome party of sorts, and Chrissy had befriended a few frat idiots who thought they had a chance with her — her, a raging homosexual — and invited her and whoever else she wanted to bring to their party. She invited Eddie, and Eddie wanted to know the local scene, so he goes. You are there, a few friends by your side, as you sway to the rhythm of the music playing, and you don’t look tired or grumpy. You have a huge smile on your face, and you throw your head back to laugh at something a dude by your side says, and the cup in your hand has a mix of vodka and some weird juice instead of coffee. You look beautiful. You don’t see him.

The fourth time Eddie sees you is next Monday. You see him then.

*

The first time you see him, a Tuesday, is in Introduction To Music Theory with professor Marsh, where you are the PA — out of obligation only, because you hate the man. Doesn’t help that you hadn’t rested all summer, having to work your ass off to pay the goddamn tuition that is still way too expensive even with your scholarship. The coffee you had bought isn’t doing the miracle you need to look alive. But he stood out, 8 AM in the late summer wearing a cropped Metallica tee and a heavy leather jacket on top. He has long, voluminous hair, curly in a cloud of frizz, and that is what you stare at for the whole class. Aside from the introduction made by professor Marsh, he doesn’t see you.

The second time you see him, the very next day on Wednesday, he is a few people behind you in line at the cafeteria closest to the Music Building. The wall behind the counter is a floor-to-ceiling mirror, and you notice that head of curls entering through the doors instantly after requesting your double espresso. He is reading something on a paper, head down. He doesn’t see you.

The third time you see him, that weekend on Saturday, is at a random frat party. You brother wants to join the frat, and so he dragged you — and you dragged your friends. It isn’t all bad. Especially not after you see him sharing a joint with a pretty blonde in the backyard. They are talking and he has a soft smile on his lips the whole time, black eyeliner and a different Metallica cropped tee, and the moon is out and bright and it shines in his eyes. He looks beautiful. He doesn’t see you.

The fourth time you see him is next Monday. He sees you then.

Third week of the semester, campus still bright and charged with all the energy from a brand new class and its cheerful freshmen. You’ve only been here for a year, but you miss the excitement of being new to College life, and so you bask in it as you walk past the groups of freshmen joyfully sharing their experiences.

The hallways of the Music building are filled with posters of people trying to find companions to form a band, or bands looking for new members; contests and competitions and shows and concerts. It’s all so very refreshing. Aside from that, though, it’s fairly empty of people. You like to go to the Music Room and practice at late nights, the last hour or two before the room is closed by the janitors.

You see, as you turn at the right hallway, that the light on the Music Room is on, so you figure you’ll have company. You don’t mind, not everyone goes there to practice on an instrument, and even if they do, you could easily practice together — you like to get to know new musicians from time to time.

But as you turn and walk through the door, you are almost tackled by whoever is leaving the room. You feel pain rushing through your shoulder and notice nothing but the little metal pointy pins on the person’s jeans vest that had almost pierced through your skin.

“Hey, punk!” you complain, taking account of the black combat boots and tight skinny jeans as well, fitting the whole menacing look.

You almost miss as the person says quietly, at the same time as you basically yell at them: “Sorry.”

Nobody told you how painful it was. You forget easily about the sting on your shoulder as your wrist starts to burn. In the very back of your mind, you find it funny how the huge romanticization of soulmarks made everyone market the first encounter as something warm and delicate. It isn’t, you notice. It burns like hell, and you want to rip your skin off.

In the whole fuss that happened — them stumbling into you, you stumbling into the room, them turning around to apologize, and the two of you thrown completely off your heads because of your soulmate encounter — they made a big mistake.

They stepped back in shock, and kicked the door weight that held the door open. Still a little hazed, you failed to notice that happening, and the click of the door closing and locking is what brings you back to reality.

“Shit!” you complain, looking through their shoulder to the now locked door. “Shit, shit, shit, shit!” you circle around yourself and hide your face under your hands. You want to scream.

“I know I’m no Jude Law, but am I that ugly?” you hear them joking, and only then do you actually look at their face.

It is him.

You feel your eyes widening and cheeks burning, because it is him and you’ve noticed him ever since you first saw him, you’ve been noticing him around all week, and he’s your soulmate.

His word is burned into your wrist. You words are burned into his.

“No! No, you’re not bad at all,” you say before your think, and the blush on his ears is adorable. “Is just- the door is faulty, if it closes it locks and only opens from the outside. And now we’re stuck here, probably for a couple of hours until the janitors come close the building, or maybe until the morning.”

He looks behind him to the door as you speak, taking in the information.

“Until morning?” he asks as he turns back to look at you, clearly alarmed.

“I can’t guarantee that the janitor will go through the hallway,” you point at the door. “Let’s hope he does.”

“Shit, shit, shit indeed,” he mutters and you bite back a smile.

Your wrist is still burning. Sorry. His probably is too. Hey, punk!

“Sorry for calling you a punk. Just felt the little pins and went with it,” you point again, now at the spiky pins on his jacket and he looks down to assess them. His ears are still pink.

“Oh. It’s… okay.”

He looks at you again, deeply into your eyes and you notice how big they are. So brown. Round. Like a little cow’s, very doe. You could get lost in them.

You do.

“Sorry, what?” you question after you notice he had asked you something as you stared at him.

He smirks, “I asked your name. I’m Eddie.”

Eddie. Eddie, your soulmate.

You give him your name too and his smirk turns to something softer, less teasing.

“Nice to finally meet you,” he says your name and there’s a chill that runs down your spine.

“Yeah,” you answer. “Been a couple of decades in the waiting.”

He chuckles and looks around.

The Music Room is wide and prepared to be used by the Music students. The walls are thick and covered in soundproof foam. It has a few chairs, a table near the door and the only instrument that stays there is a piano. That’s your instrument.

You look at Eddie then and sees that he’s holding a guitar case.

He notices you looking. He heads to the table and opens the case on top of it. It’s a beautiful B. C. Rich Warlock, and you come closer to see it better.

“Isn’t she amazing?” he asks and you nod. “The love of my life, really.” You both chuckle. “I reckon you play piano since you’re empty handed?”

You answer positively and he asks about it. So you tell him how your interest on pianos arose with your father, how you took classes all through school, how it felt like your fingers were made to play the keys. How the world dissipated when you played, how you felt like you could do it for hours, how you’d pour your entire soul out through music.

“That’s how I feel too,” he says, running his finger through the guitar strings. “We should jam it out!” He looks at you with those big brown eyes glimmering and you can’t say no.

It’s hard to find a song that matches both your musical tastes, but you’re able to settle on Bowie’s Space Oddity after a little back and forth. While you’re settling into the piano and Eddie is dragging one of the chairs to sit closer to you, you ask him about his own interest in guitar.

He tells you how he’s grown up to his mother playing acoustics, and how it was something that he cherished between him and her. The good memories about her that playing brought up. How, after she passed away and he went to live with her brother, Uncle Wayne, he taught Eddie how to play so he could still remember her and the music they loved together.

Looking at it from an outsider’s point of view, it might seem weird how you both so easily talked about yourselves to literal strangers. And, maybe it was the lingering burn in your wrist, but it felt right. Opening up to him made sense in a way that tingled your belly, and listening to him being vulnerable in return made your heart flutter.

Maybe fate knew what it was doing, after all.

It took you both a while to settle into the right tempo for the song, because you’re into the slow pace and Eddie’s as electric as his guitar. But, just as naturally as everything else so far, you fit into the same rhythm at a point, and the music you make together sounds like the most beautiful one your ears have ever heard. You smile your way through eight minutes and you can’t look at him without losing your cadence but somehow you feel that he’s just as radiant as you. The song builds, and your heartbeat accelerates with it, and it’s like a weight that’s been over your shoulder for so long suddenly drops.

When you finish playing, you’re both panting as if you just played an entire concert.

You look at him and the way his eyes shimmer just for you feels like a promise, and you want to take it, and you want to keep it.

You both get up from your seats at the same time and are instantly drawn to each other. Your wrist isn’t burning, not anymore, it’s just a tingling feeling and for the first time you acknowledge it.

You bring your arm up and you look at it. Sorry. It’s golden, and it’s beautiful, and you suddenly want to cry. You peek at Eddie and he’s also beaming at your soulmark. He also raises his arm, pushes his sleeve up and there it is. Hey punk. It’s golden, and it’s beautiful.

“This is funny. I used to hate it,” he whispers, and you’re standing so close together that you hear it just fine.

“So did I,” you trace your soulmark with the tip of your finger, and in an instant Eddie’s finger is tracing it with you. His touch is delicate through the roughness of the calluses and you want to feel it forever.

“I don’t hate it anymore. This is also funny, but it changed instantly. It’s like I never hated it in the first place.”

You look up at him again, and he’s already looking at you. You’re both smiling, and you can’t shake the feeling that this should be terrifying but it just isn’t. You get it, you understand what he’s saying. It does feel instant, immediate, and it should unsettle you. But it doesn’t. It just feels like a breath of fresh air. Meant to be.

You’re interrupted when the door opens.

You try to recall the janitor’s name, but your brain’s feeling fuzzy and surrounded by nothing but Eddie, Eddie, Eddie. Your soulmate.

“Got locked in?” the janitor asks once you and Eddie turn to face him. He’s got an eyebrow raised and a smirk on his lips and a knowing look in his eyes. “By accident or…”

“Accident. I’m a freshman, didn’t know about the door,” Eddie says. He takes the lead and walks back to the table, puts his guitar back on its case and closes it. Heads to the door and holds it open. The janitor is still smirking. “Thank you.”

“Don’t worry. Saw the light under the door and thought it was weird. Good that I came to check in, or you would’ve been stuck here all night.”

Wouldn’t have been that bad, you think. But you just smile as you gather your purse and walks until you’re standing beside Eddie. The janitor steps back and waits by the corridor for you two to leave so he can finally do his job and lock the building.

You look at your soulmate. He’s already looking at you.

“Are you ready?” Eddie asks, keeping the door open for you. His eyes are burning into yours and there’s a ghost of a smile on his lips. He looks hopeful. The hand not holding the door twitches and you wonder if he wants to offer it for you to hold. You’d accept it.

You know his question is about more than just leaving the room where you’ve been trapped for a while. It’s about meetings, and golden soulmarks, and fate, and new beginnings. It’s about the love of your life, the life you’ll live together, and if you’re willing to give that a chance.

You don’t have to think about it too much.

“Yes. I’m ready,” you answer and his smile widens. You reach out first, and his hand is warm when your fingers intertwine. You know it’s the first time of many that you’ll hold his hand.

You’re looking forward to the future.

[celaenaeiln]

Batgirl/Nightwing Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson is literally the worst. Even worse that there are people who ship both Oracle/Nightwing and Batgirl/Nightwing when like their personalities are completely different, it feels like people are willing to ship them together just because they are Dick and Babs.

Honestly I feel like it’s unfair to talk about Batgirl/Nightwing because I feel like the majority of people agree that Oracle/Nightwing is better but I wouldn’t say I like it much either. There are some good panels between them but honestly it always felt more friendly like the thing that always irked me about them is that there will we or won’t we is so tiring, especially when you have so many other couples who have valid reasons for being star crossed, their arguments and fears always felt juvenile and annoying and then when they are together there is something that just feels off in their dialogue or tone of the ways things are written for both characters. There’s also this thing that shippers do where they make both characters finding a home in each other or being each others safety net which doesn’t really feel true to their characters because their are so many other characters that played a bigger role in Dick’s and Barbara’s life compared to what role Dick and Barbara had in each others lives (this is why I also hate the retcon that they were childhood friends because they weren’t! They didn’t grow up together!) And I don’t care about the age gap, like people can meet as adults and develop feelings for each other but like it makes no sense to me what they would see in each other that makes those feelings go from friendship to romance other then it just does. Like all the skills they can do other characters can also do and a lot of their character traits that they have other characters have as well, like what makes these two characters look at each other and desire the other. That chemistry and desire has always been lacking for me when they are together. Like it feels like just two Barbie dolls being smashed together with writing telling me I have to like them together meanwhile I’m just scratching my head.

You talked a lot about Dick but honestly there are many things that he has done that makes me wonder why Babs would want him.

It’s sad because Dick and Babs are such cool characters but when they are together I’m so bored!!!! Barbara deserves an interesting love interest and a love interest that can be just as complicated and messy as she!

"it feels like just two Barbie dolls being smashed together with writing telling me I have to like them together meanwhile I’m just scratching my head."

OMG LITERALLY I'VE SAID THE EXACT THING ALMOST WORD FOR WORD IN ANOTHER POST.

Honestly everything you said is so true.

There's physically no possible way to like both Oracle and Batgirl and still respect the Dick and Barbara. I'm not a big fan of Oracle/Nightwing either but I like them much, much more than Batgirl/Nighwing.

The safety net thing is the biggest crutch for Dickbabs. DC is trying to push them as if they'll always catch each other but that's only true in the physical sense like literally grab the other out of mid-air. Emotionally the wishy-washy behavior is tiring and emotionally draining and neither of them come out of it happy.

It makes me mad when DC has Dick claim that Barbara is Dick's best friend

Wally's stewing moodily on Dick's couch when he heard. He'll probably be like "I made you best man at my wedding and you calling her your best friend?"

The Flash (1987) Issue #142

Dick'll be like "W

Wally...I swear-"

Wally: "I made you best man! TWICE!!"

Not to mention, Dick and Barbara before the retcon didn't even know each other's superhero identities! I think it might've been the Legends of the Dark Knight comic but Dick's hanging out with his friends when he runs away to the bathroom with Congresswoman Gordon enters the place because "Robin and Dick Grayson can't be seen in the same place!" Barbara also says something in her point of view when they're fighting crime.

EXACTLY!! They do their best work separately. But together their personalities are an awful combo and it really makes me mad.

Yeah, I know I'm biased towards Dick but the reason I took Dick's side is because while Dick may have done things to Barbara, the majority of the transgressions are against him in their relationship. I don't know DC writers constantly nerf him when they're together or why they write Barbara so awful in a relationship when she's fine otherwise. The only thing I know that was wrong from her perspective is during that Devin Grayson scene. But that's just one of the worst writings of his character that I've seen (post).

Barbara deserves someone like Jason Bard

Batgirl (2016) Issue #42

Someone she can save and whose skillset won't be overlapping. Someone she can be strong with and will let themselves be commanded without it weakening them. Someone she doesn't have to feel like she's fighting the world over to call hers.

Jason Bard was perfect, sweet, good-looking, and smart for her. He even described him as complicated as a trait she loves about him.

Barbara definitely needs someone who isn't Dick and Dick needs someone who isn't Barbara so that way both their skills and personalities can shine.

[mysteriouslybluepirate]

Izzy Ship Alignment for S2

Spoilers for if you want to avoid s2 Izzy talk. (minor spoilers for the S2 teaser, and the interview Con did last December) PLEASE disagree with my rankings. I would love to know how y'all feel about this.

I saw someone online reference the tiny interview Con had last December about Izzy's direction this season. Where it's referenced that Izzy understands himself emotionally, and is a romantic in a unrequited love.

I thought the obvious, 'Oh, Izzy/Ed, Izzy recovers from that'. BUT someone on TikTok mentioned how funny it would be if it were an unexpected character he ends up with.

SO I made this outcome chart:

The vertical columns: How it would affect the story. In a Chaotic way, a neutral way, or a 'lawful' way where I feel that it benefits the world/story around Izzy.

Horizontal columns: How bat shit I would go. Evil = I will never emotionally recover, THE DRAMA. Neutral I'm having a lovely time, and enjoying the ride. Good= YES! CHARACTER GROWTH!!!!

This is not me ranking ships, but the general vibe they bring to the plot we can see from the trailer. EXPLANATIONS DOWN BELOW.

Lawful Good: Single, but happy: This is where I predict s2 will end off. It's smart. Izzy is out of an emotional relationship where he's under his boss. He's finally free. He can be happy and single, or go into S3 looking for someone.

Neutral Good: ButtHands: It wouldn't change much in the story, but overall I'd think it's fun. Purely for the confusion of it all. They don't like each other...and yet.

Chaotic Good: Blackhands: It would change a lot in the story, and I wouldn't recover. Especially if it's just an unemotional one-off that leaves Izzy devastated. I don't think it would work...but the character growth???? Unmatched.

Lawful Neutral: Ouizzy, I love it, it's really fun, and it wouldn't change all that much in the story. It wouldn't force Izzy to change too much, besides maybe being kinder. Frenchie gets another bodyguard, and the banter would be fun.

Ture Neutral: Jizzy. They are almost the same person but Jim is supported by someone in their lives. I don't personally see it, but I do see that these two would get on together. Mild changes to the story, and I'd be satisfied with it.

Chaotic Neutral: SteddyHands: COULD YOU IMAGINE. A mainstream tv show with a poly couple as leads? And it's messy as fuck? It would take another season to set up, likely introducing Stizzy this season, and ending it off in the middle in S3. But it would have major consequences in the story, and I wouldn't be well after.

Lawful Evil: Rizzy: Izzy is able to be his tired, overworked, and violent self with someone who gets that at some level. It moves the plot forward while also being a badass scary couple.

Neutral Evil: RETROACTIVE CALICOHANDS WOULD HURT. Ngl, finding out Izzy sent someone he kind of cared about would affect Izzy's story, but not the overall plot. I wouldn't recover, Izzy would have a big regret arch, and I'd write fix it's.

Chaotic Evil: Just Stizzy. A freshly 'single' Izzy leaves Ed, and goes to find Stede, but oh no. Stede genuinely wants to get better and be loyal to his crew. Izzy finds himself falling infatuated with his boss' ex. Stede still loves Ed and is going to find Ed. But Izzy just has to chew on his lip as he falls for his Captain AGAIN. Stede needs to figure out that you can love people in different ways. We get a messy love triangle and STEDE is in the center. I WANT THIS. I won't get it. BUT WHAT IF.

[I forgot Lucius/Izzy, but to me, it sits right at the True Neutral or Chaotic Neutral. It wouldn't change too much in the overall plot. It shows huge growth for both people. The only reason it would be Chaotic is how Izzy would be perceived by the crew]