i know there are only like five of us but i feel like garth stans really don't talk enough about how left out he feels with the titans. dick and wally are Best Friends. donna and roy are on and off again. dick and donna are too much to explain. on average, roy is close with at least one of dick's siblings. dick donna and wally all go on to be in the new teen titans. garth isn't Close with any other titans but the originals
and it's this thing where,,, it's not his Fault yknow? he's not mean or spiteful or creepy or anything that would warrant them not liking him as much. he joins in on their jokes, he risks his life, he shares his feelings, he does everything that he knows friends do. but just the virtue of him being atlantean and them being land dwellers ruins everything. he Can't spend more time with them, he doesn't understand their culture, he will always choose atlantis.
they'll always be his friends but he can never truly be with them or form deeper bonds. he'll always be the last one to know what's going on, the last one they call, a complete shadow and afterthought.
and sure there's a part of him that knows this, that feels bitter and lonely. but he can't even be that mad at them because he does the same thing. the titans are never his first thought, he never calls them first, he doesn't reach out and ask if they're okay, they're always the last ones to know what happened to him. the titans are such a huge part of his life but they're barely in it.
there's just something so inherently lonely about garth that i feel most dc writers don't understand. they just don't get it. they don't get what it's like for this boy who was all alone, never had parents or a family, suddenly being taken in and having to act like he knows how to be a son, a friend, a partner. meeting kids his own age and wanting to bond with them so bad, having to watch as they all get closer to each other and leave him behind, not being able to do anything about it. never being taken seriously, always the last choice... garth man.....
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Not a day goes by that I don't think about how the Boiling Isles' complete lack of LGBTphobia effects how witches perceive sexuality and gender. Like it's not the only factor but I feel like the fear of societal judgement and internalized prejudice is a huge obstacle in discovering your own orientation.
So with that whole part avoided, I'm imagining that in the process in the Demon Realm is??? Much smoother sailing??? Like you might be a little confused at first but there's no shame tied to that confusion. Nobody is pressured into deciding on a label for themselves because labels don't exist. Thinking you're into boys for a while until realizing you're a lesbian is nbd here. Neither is thinking you're a lesbian and then realzing you're bi. Nobody judges you. Nobody cares. I just think it may provide you with a lot of clarity that you simply couldn't get in the Human Realm.
I've always headcanoned that while straight is considered the "default" in the Human Realm, most witches just assume they're bi/pan until they discover otherwise. (And not in a "bi-normativity" way, which is, wow, a terrible word I just made up there. But more in a "idk what gender I'm into yet. Or any at all. So I'll just say everybody for the moment" way.)
But I feel like, even if there's confusion, a good percentage of witches actually somehow figure themselves out relatively early. Like they'll be little kindergarten girls in Amity's library group who have not experienced romantic attraction yet but they already know that if they're ever gonna get married, it's gonna be another girl, cause nobody ever told them they couldn't. Some figure it out as preteens. Some are teens. It's probably one of the chillest aspects of maturing for them.
It's why I'm so interested in Hunter's little bi patch on his jacket and I love thinking about how he brought himself to this conclusion. Just thinking about a sheltered brainwashed kid like Hunter who feels deeply ashamed over so much about himself but his opinion in regards to sexuality has always being like "yeah boy, girl, neither, whatever, I don't care, I'm too busy hitting bad guys with my stick."
So when Luz finally explains to him and the other kids what sexualities even are, with the names and flags and everything, he just says "Bi" then and there, completely unfazed. This is bonkers to me. I think it's the best headcanon ever. He really does not care. Nobody ever told him that he should. But that being said, he sure does love having a little pride flag. Imagine living your whole life loving scrambled eggs. It's just another mundane part of you. But then suddenly you're transported to a world where you're celebrated for loving scrambled eggs. You've got your own little "I <3 scrambled eggs" badge of honor. You don't understand it. But it makes you feel very special and important. I imagine that's how Hunter feels with his little bi pride patch on his sweater.
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A drabble for an anon asking about the prisoners watching their music videos! This is focused on specifically Mikoto’s initial shock at seeing MeMe for the first time, but just know that Double comes with a whole new set of shocks as he truly listens to John for the first time ;-;
Mikoto was no criminal.
He didn’t know how to break into locked rooms, or hack into complex prison security systems. He figured there was no way in hell he’d be able to see these so-called incriminating videos that the Warden was recording, and had resolved himself to an eternity of wondering what they could be. He was shocked when he didn’t need to do a single thing to gain access to them – Es simply adjusted the computer monitor and told him he could hit play when (and if) he wished. Then they left the room.
“A-are you sure?” he called, but they were already gone.
Mikoto blinked at the screen. It showed a stretched version of his apartment couch, near his bathroom wall, broken to reveal sky above. He thought he could spot his tarot cards at the bottom of the frame. Had Milgram broken into his home to film this?
He scoffed, and hit play.
Distorted guitar started up. He flinched as his own face appeared for a moment – looking directly into the camera and making a wild expression he would never have made if someone was recording. His body tensed up more as he heard his own voice start to sing lyrics he’d never spoken before in his life. He wasn’t even a good singer, and here he was sounding like a professional.
There were plenty of ways to accomplish all of this, of course. Software could mimic one’s voice, making him say anything these crazy reality hosts wanted. A team could easily add some digital effects to a stunt double and match his appearance perfectly. Knowing that didn’t make the experience any less unsettling.
He watched himself commit a nasty murder. He watched himself return home bloodied. But it was all ridiculous. How could Milgram even claim that this was him? He’d never raised a hand to anyone in his life. Were the other prisoners’ videos as outlandish as this one?
But then, a switch.
The song shifted to a new melody. He appeared to wake up from his couch, and suddenly Mikoto got the sense that this was him.
He was struck with how familiar this new segment sounded. It simultaneously felt like a favorite song he must have played on loop not too long ago, and one that he’d never heard before. As it played, each new note and lyric felt right on the tip of his tongue.
It ended as quickly as it began. The song returned to the heavy-metal-murder aesthetic it had started with, and once again he felt like he was watching a cheap copy of himself onscreen. He watched another murder, a shower scene (had the warden seen all that? How embarrassing…) and then he turned to his bathroom mirror.
At the same time as his musical counterpart, Mikoto leapt backwards in horror.
His eyes remained glued to the screen. His hand flew up to grab the lower half of his face. It was fake, he told himself. AI and CGI and all that. It was fake. It had to be.
Something deep inside of him said “no. That’s real. That’s me.”
Something else deep inside of him echoed the sentiment.
The video was less than four minutes of music, but by the end he was panting and tugging at his hair as if he’d endured hours of prison torture. He burst out of the room. He sucked in breath after breath. The melodies still played in his mind, lines repeating in his memory as he tried to put as much distance between himself and that little television screen.
He found the others in the common room. They gave him a knowing look, but somehow he knew his experience had been very different from their own. Es approached him.
They studied his expression for a moment. Thankfully, they didn’t ask anything stupid, like “how did it go?” or “what did you think?”
Instead, they just told him, “if you ever want to watch it again, just let me know, I can get it set up for you.”
He would want to see it again. Of course, it would be better, then. He would take a moment to calm down. He’d watch it later and everything would be okay. He’d have a clearer mind. He’d pick out all the little camera tricks they used to make it. He’d be sure it was a fake, and laugh about how ridiculous he was being now.
Of course. Of course.
He nodded to Es, unable to produce any words. Es left him.
The rules in this prison never made any sense, but in this case, he was grateful. He wouldn’t need to figure out any snooping or hacking to get access to the video again. After all, he was no criminal.
… he wasn’t, was he?
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