#please talk some sense into me

[amphibious-thing]

Every time I look at d’Eon’s Wikipedia page I’m stunned by how bad it is. Like even ignoring the pronoun issue it’s pretty bad. I want to fix it but also can’t be arsed fighting with people who have more wiki status than me (I have no status).

[miracumess]

so why exactly do some people think nico giving will his ring is out of character? what is out of character about nico giving someone he’s clearly very in love with an item so close to his heart? where in the text does it suggest that nico would absolutely never do something like this? we already know the lengths nico goes for the people he loves, but him giving the love of his life his ring is OOC?

“it’s a family ring” and?? if anything doesn’t it mean he considers will his family? nico loves will. i don’t know what else to tell you. YOU might not like or agree with it but that doesn’t always mean it’s OOC.

[podcast-hemocytoblast]

By the time cars were invented, Jonah Magnus was already well into the body hopping game, which raises the question: has he ever actually learn to drive? Did this man sit through driver’s ed? Or has he just been getting out of legal repercussions for his shit driving by telling the cops everything he knows about their deepest darkest secrets every time he gets pulled over?

[damianbugs]

i spoke about this briefly before, and i think i have my thoughts more collected now to develop on it; i feel like comics which show bruce comforting his child self in flashbacks of the wayne murder in crime alley understand the purpose of batman a lot more than the ones that have him talking to his parents.

if you've been keeping up with recent batman comics, then you'll notice a theme of bruce getting the chance to talk to his younger self. the important part though, is that it is not because of time travel or some detached third party force — it's the young bruce in batman's head.

it's the him hidden behind the black door in his mind when he's fighting his nightmares —

Batman Knight Terrors #2, 2023. written by Joshua Williamson.

— and it's the him tucked away in corner of his mind after being drugged and tortured with his greatest fears.

Detective Comics #1075, 2023. written by Ram V.

after experiencing something traumatic, the one bruce sees suffering from it isn't himself, but the young bruce wayne in the alley. because at the end of the day, every hurt circles back to that night, to that boy, that he can't save no matter how hard he tries — because that boy never left the pool of blood he was sitting in.

i think people often attribute the existence of batman as something created for his parents. to avenge them, or to be the symbol that could have saved their life had he existed before, to stop anyone else from being killed in the same way. there's some truth to that, however, to me, the answer is a little more selfish.

i think it has always been for himself, but not the him now, but the him that is still stuck in that alleyway, waiting over his parents dead bodies. batman is a symbol of hope and reformation and justice, but at its core, batman is what saved bruce wayne.

as a result, the panels above have a very different feel to say, this moment when bruce sees an illusion of his parents in Superman/Batman #56, 2009. written by Michael Green and Mike Johnson.

it's an emotional moment for sure, but it didn't quite speak to me the same way this absolutely phenomenal moment did in Batman: Blind Justice, 1989. written by Sam Hamm.

of course this moment is a lot more cynical in how bruce uses batman to cope with his guilt, while the other moments focus on batman providing young bruce with the hope to continue that he isn't alone — the sentiment of batman being the one to pick him up from the floor and lead him away from the scene in a shared motif.

it reminds me of that one discussion that batman is a victims power fantasy. his own fantasy! because bruce has — in order to have a semblance of control over himself — separated himself from this event that it is a completely different child at the scene of the crime. it's this fact that let's him reach down, hold the boy's hand and tell him everything will be okay.

this bruce wayne is a child, his child, gotham's child, thomas and martha wayne's child, an orphan to protect.

batman was made for children like bruce wayne, to stop them from becoming like him and for them to hold onto when it does — because batman is still trying to fix a problem that has an endless hole. he can never reconcile this trauma and let the boy in the alley leave, because that's not what batman was made for.

batman was made to protect the little boy, and in order to do that, he must remain in that alley.

there's still a bruce wayne who had to grow up, who learned to fight and love and lose again and again, a bruce wayne who becomes batman. a batman who then, tries effortlessly to fix problems and save people, who goes out everynight because if he doesn't, then that boy in the alley is left there for nothing.

then there comes a moment where he falls through the cracks and he's face to face with the child who can't leave and can't grow up and knows nothing but loneliness and grief — and batman gets to tell this child that life becomes more than just this alley.

the child is happy, if even for a moment, that batman is there. that's what batman is for.

[bleue-flora]

dreblr…

"If you love and cherish our green boy you are welcome to this garden as a flower, plant or lurking gardener, please make sure not to trample any plants and water them with reblogs, notes, comments, asks, and replies to keep them healthy." (context)

[seithr]

remembered that my shepard/spacer shep has a still alive mom in the alliance according to ME2/3

also remembered that that character (katrine/caia) always has a sister uninvolved in the family's career military history

remembering she had to mourn her elder sister who just Disappeared for two years, and would have spent even longer knowing shepard isn't alive bc their alliance mom probably can't just tell a civillian doctor,

[nashvillethotchicken]

Matter fact. If I was a vampire and I paid an old friend to interview me before he died and he talked to me and my current husband and talked about my DEAD child and ex husband the way Daniel do? Im doing more than making fun of him, I'm knocking him in his bulbous forehead like he's a beluga fuckin whale

[kenobion]

Andrew Garfield for GQ+Saint Laurent

[ride-a-dromedary]

the darkest of nights, in truth, still dazzles.

a halsin fanmix  [listen]

01. Heart of Spring - david arkenstone | 02. Cé Hé Mise Le Ulaingt? / The Two Trees - loreena mckennit | 03. Pussywillows, Cat-tails - gordon lightfoot | 04. Maybe Tomorrow - f&m | 05. Don't Stop Me Now - queen | 06. I Was Born Under a Wand'rin' Star  - bryn terfel  | 07. A Tenuous Bond - derek duke | 08. Closer - nine inch nails | 09.  Into the Darkness - jeremy soule  | 10.  Colorblind - counting crows | 11. Natural Light - ludovico einaudi | 12. Under the Greenwood Tree - royal shakespeare company | 13. The Grove - bear mccreary | 14. Blood Upon the Snow - hozier & bear mccreary | 15. A Quiet Darkness - houses | 16. Spellplague - alderfall | 17. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables - jonathan antoine | 18. Only Everyone Can Judge Me - crywank | 19. Blue Skies - kathryn calder | 20. The Buzzard - old blind dogs | 21. Constant Craving - k.d. lang | 22. The Cave - mumford and sons | 23. Jim Cain - bill callahan | 24. I Won't Back Down - johnny cash | 25. The Ash Grove - laura wright | 26. The Wind - yusuf/cat stevens | 27. To Someone From A Warm Climate (Uiscefhuarithe) - hozier | 28. The Logical Song - supertramp | 29. Tapestry - don mclean | 30. Big Yellow Taxi - joni mitchell | 31. Eat Your Young (Bekon's Choral Version) - hozier | 32. The Flock - david maxxim micic | 33. Changes - david bowie | 34. Ri Na Cruinne - clanaad | 35. The Moments of Happiness - ken page | 36. My Back Pages - the byrds | 37. If This Journey - tom hanford | 38. Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is a Season) - Live - pete seeger

[brookheimer]

Do you think the Logan abuse allegations might go into CSA territory? Unlike a lot of people I’m not 100% convinced roman experienced this, but people are speculating on Twitter that accusations of Logan’s physical and emotional abuse will snowball into CSA territory. If that’s the case I’d certainly imagine Logan was complicit rather than an abuser himself (if anyone probably uncle Mo?), but nevertheless shocking if it does come out

oooh i have a lot of thoughts about this actually!

personally, i'm with you -- i'm in the minority of people who don't think roman CSA is as good as canon, primarily because i don't think it needs to be in order for him to make sense. i think it's definitely possible and would certainly fit with his character, but a lot of people frame CSA as, like, The Explainer to roman roy which i just find kind of silly and cheap. people act like that's the only possible way he could turn out the way he has, and not only is that just blatantly untrue, it's also a pretty strange, diminishing narrative -- the way people talk about it really sounds like they're saying Well If You Have Sexual Dysfunction You Only Make Sense If Someone Molested You As A Child, which is just... not quite how things work. obviously, it's a reason someone might have those issues, but it certainly isn't the only one. i can write another post later on why i think rome makes sense outside of CSA if people want, but rn i'll just focus specifically on why i'm not convinced that CSA will become explicitly relevant to roman's character, especially not in relation to logan (and why i personally kinda hope that isn't the direction they take)

more under the cut!

for one thing just personally really doubt succession would make anything that explicit, that clear cut. like, i really don't think there's going to be a scene confirming or denying whether roman experienced CSA. and, as you said, i don't think logan was the abuser himself but i could see him covering it up for mo. maybe. i don't know. i don't know! it feels a little weird to me, honestly, just knowing logan's obsession with having power over his kids, his disgust at roman's grossness, and his blatant homophobia, it feels somewhat hard for me to conceptualize him not giving a shit about a colleague of his assaulting his son. i don't think he'd care for the right reasons, but i think he'd view it as either a) an attack on him and a disturbing power play -- you think you can take my kids out from under me? you think you can fucking control them? you?], b) absolutely fucking disgusting like the most sicko-ness of sickos -- not only are you attracted to m*n you're attracted to my weak little fuck of a son? what the fuck's wrong with you? are you not a man?, or c) both. like, idk. i just find it really hard to imagine that's something he would take lying down -- not out of protectiveness for roman but out of personal offense or pure disgust. i don't think he'd out it to the world or anything, he has his company to protect, but i think mo or whoever would definitely be cut out and shushed with hush money or something. which is still complicit, sure, but it isn't like i think logan would have actively turned a blind eye, which seems to be the prevailing opinion. it just... it doesn't fit from what we know of logan.

also, CSA is like.... it's inarguably bad. like, obviously. but succession thrives in realms of nuance. logan is abusive and horrible but you understand him. if you try to, you really can understand him. it doesn't excuse or justify anything, but he has a very human mindset that stops him from being, like, straight-up Evil. every succession character is a human before anything else, no one's a caricature (except maybe for s4 greg, but i'm withholding judgment there for now). succession fails if any character's deeds outweigh their humanity. no one is hitler. everyone thinks they're doing the best that they possibly can, including logan. that's why brian cox says logan's issue is he loves his kids too much -- he gets shit on for saying that, because i mean it does sound batshit, but i do get what he's saying. logan does not like his kids but he does love them. the reason he's so awful to them is because he loves them -- not in the sense that 'love is abuse' or whatever i'm about to get angry asks yelling ab, but because the only reason logan can't just let them go off and be disappointments is because he loves them. his abuse is not out of pure malevolence. it's because he wants them to become people they fundamentally aren't. that's what it comes down to. it's not just Evil Dad Hates Kids. logan wants so desperately for his children to become real people, people he can like and respect and trust and rely on, but they aren't those people, and that's something he's been entirely incapable of accepting. his abuse is an attempt to mold and to change and to fix, not just to punish. that's why the "i love you, but you are not serious people" was such an important line -- in some senses, it kind of was the end of logan's arc. it made a lot of sense for him to die there. where else could he go? he finally admitted what he'd known deep down all along: his children will never be the people he wants or needs them to be. no amount of pressure or competition or carrot-dangling will change that. he loves them, but they are not serious people.

that's why Logan CSA Committer/Allower feels really hard to imagine, both from a character standpoint and from a succession one in general — making logan an official CSA Allower would make it really, really hard for him to maintain the same kind of humanity and nuance he has as a character, which is rooted in the fact that logan doesn't hate his kids or want them to suffer. he wants them to become the peak of masculinist capitalism and none of them are capable of it. so if anything, he'd be furious at anyone who assaulted his kids because it would push them further from that ideal -- it would make them Wrong. if a boy were to be forced into sexual submission at a young age by an older man, they'd never be able to become that capitalistic ideal of masculinity; they're already fundamentally wrong. logan's anger would be directed both at the boy (roman) and at the man who forced it on him. but, to me, it seems like much of logan's anger with roman stems from his genuine lack of understanding as to how the fuck roman ended up like this -- how could a son of his end up like this? it's a personal failing for logan, one that he can't puzzle out. what did he do so wrong for roman to become the antithesis of literally everything logan stands for? i feel like if roman were a CSA victim and logan knew, he would probably... i don't know, try less to fix him. it's fucking awful, but i kind of feel like logan would find roman to be Tainted already and want to just shove him somewhere he doesn't have to look at him. but we see time and time again logan genuinely trying to squeeze the wrongness out of roman -- that's where his abuse of rome stems from, not so much molding him into the Right person as it is unmolding him out of being Wrong (bc only then can he do his ken/shiv tactics to mold him into being an heir) -- and try to understand in his misguided, cruel, offensive way what exactly is wrong with roman. i think if he knew, he wouldn't bother. he wouldn't ask, like "are you scared of pussy, son?" and "are you a sicko?" and call him gay slurs and all of that, because i think that would be too close to the truth he can't bear to acknowledge. just like how he pretends he had never and would never hit roman, even though he has, multiple times, both as a child and an adult. he wouldn't directly address something that brings shame to him, and having his son be the victim of CSA would indeed bring him a great deal of shame (not guilt, but shame). so, like, while it's true that logan's relationship with roman could be founded primarily in CSA-driven misdirected anger and victim blaming, i just again don't think that's necessary for their relationship to make sense, and that the nuances of their relationship almost make me feel like that's not the case either.

i also just personally think roman would maybe be more interesting were he not a CSA victim -- if it's confirmed that he is, everyone will be like Whelp Roman Solved! like, that would be all that's needed to explain him (or at least that's how people would act). and that would be such a fucking shame, man. i just think that there are a decent number of people in the world who have dysfunction not dissimilar to roman's who also aren't CSA victims and really, really struggle to figure out what exactly made them this way, especially when the entire world is acting like the only possible cause is CSA. and there are portrayals of CSA on television and in media. but... i can't think of anyone else like roman. i think him not having CSA and his dysfunction stemming instead from less obvious, more subtle-ly debilitating power dynamics and narratives of masculinity/sex would just be much more interesting, as even if succession handled his CSA with care, the majority of people would just see it as well, case closed, finally we understand roman. as if he isn't already perfectly understandable without it. maybe i'm just really biased as someone who thankfully did not experience CSA but seemingly inexplicably ended up quite similar to roman in a lot of ways, as someone who actually gets to feel a little more normal for once because of roman's abnormality. i just think there's a lot more to sex and sexual dysfunction than media often presents, because many storylines and characters are just very easy cause and effect relationships (CSA --> sexual dysfunction, rape --> hypersexuality, etc etc etc) when in reality there are so many ways that even tiny things could build up over time and end up manifesting in really detrimental ways. you can have a bad relationship with sex before ever having it, because sex is about soooo much more than the actual act of sex. and succession is about life and mirroring it, not creating easily understandable characters and narratively satisfying conclusions. so, yeah, i guess i don't know if succession will go down the CSA route, because that just feels... a little easy to me, maybe, when it doesn't need to be. not saying CSA is a bad plot point or anything, but that it is something depicted (and unfortunately often sensationalized) on television a lot, whereas characters with inexplicable sexual hangups are not.

i definitely hope this season delves further into roman's sexual dysfunction, but i'm kind of hoping it doesn't just explain it all away as Well He Was A Victim Of CSA, bc i think a) roman makes sense without it, b) the logistics of it happening relating to logan feel murky and confusing, c) succession isn't the type of show to outright Explain Things (and thank god), and d) there are a lot of people, i think, who have issues with sex they don't understand or that they don't 'deserve' to have, and i've never seen another character in any media that's depicted like that, although i have seen explorations into CSA.

sorry this was so long, but as i said, many fucking thoughts!!

[cinna-bunnie]

thinking about older women

[ganondoodle]

got visually spoiled on the literally last thing i was still actively missing and working towards in totk but i dont think im gonna like it anyway ...

if it is what i think it is, and what it looks like to be, its just yet another nail in the coffin (or however you say that) as to why the lore sucks in this game even tho it had such good setup and so much potential

[andysdrafts]

it's 11:22 pm, and I'm truly itching to reach out to my ex yet again (I'm not God's strongest soldier 😔)

harsh reminders are def not working either-

I need to be put down

[randomwriteronline]

Pohatu's dreams are messy.

Anybody's would be, if they had been alive and conscious for nearly one hundred thousand years without ever losing their memory.

In his nightmares he hears the howls of many Av-Matoran as the storm descends upon them far too fast for him to drag them away in in time, and he feels Hydraxon's hand yank him from the shoulder where it hurts most to set him back on his feet because training isn't done yet, it never is, not for a failure like him; he sees his siblings, and that's enough to make him squirm.

In his dreams, most often, he sees the Makuta.

He sees their laboratories, their viruses, their experiments - he used to run from one to the other all the timeto look at them work, because he had no duty nor destiny left to his name, and their tireless tinkering was so mesmerizing, and he was allowed to loiter around them so long as he did nothing except what he was told, which usually meant not touching anything.

But sometimes, sometimes they would let him help: they would let him fetch them components, or give his two widgets worth of an opinion, or they would explain to him the creation process to find the errors in their thinking.

In his dreams he conjures Rahi coming from the vats that would perplex even Mutran. You and horns, he would grumble - he used to grumble - what is it with you and horns?

Who knows what it is, with Pohatu and horns. He just likes them, or so it would seem.

He still remembers when the Vako were created. He likes the Vako: they are fast, and strong, and they have a big horn right in the middle of their heads. It's a shame they can't be tamed, really.

He still remembers it because it was a gift, in a sense. The Makuta that created them (who were they? He can't figure it out: their name, their mask, their appearance were washed away a long time ago, and all he remembers are the long claws, like those of all Makuta, capable of such terrible harm and yet so careful and precise) had called him to see the very first one, and had told him he'd been the inspiration for such a beast. The surprise had caused something warm and good and pleasant to spread through him, a sensation akin to a joyful, beautiful, prideful embarrassment.

He's forgotten a lot of Makuta with time. A lot of them have died, after all - maybe it's for the best, since the living ones have grown so cold towards him.

He doesn't even remember the Makuta who found him heaving loud sobs as he laid pitifully in a tunnel outside of Karda Nui and trying to bend his body to produce tears so that some of his shame could at least leave him. He remembers she'd been a female, because in his dreams her role is often filled by Gorast: he remembers her voice as she'd called him little Toa whilst towering above him in a way no other being ever had; he remembers her eyes going wide and her posture growing stiff as he'd introduce himself with a full title that sounded as hollow and useless as he appeared, spoken softly as he confessed to her his lack of worth: I am Toa Pohatu Mata and I have failed.

He remembers then her claws on his body - cradling him with a graceless clumsiness typical of someone who has never held anything too kindly (and this, too, is something she had in common with Gorast) that was still sweeter than the closest thing that could have been called a caress from Hydraxon's hand. He'd been so awed by the tentative tenderness he'd been offered despite his failure that he had barely registered their journey.

After that, it's a mess. He was so tired. He thinks he might have been laying somewhere, on his side, curled up pathetically, buzzing in and out of sleep. There were voices talking about him, of course, he knows: the whole Brotherhood must have congregated when their sister had dragged him to their door like that.

He remembers arguments on what to do with him, who should keep him, if he should be assigned to a group, to a team, to a fortress, if leaving him anywhere out in the vast terrible world where so many things could have so easily overwhelmed and killed him when he was so valuable to the survival of the Great Spirit would have been a good idea to begin with.

He remembers a voice saying something loudly, and silence. Then steps in his direction, and then...

Miserix looks strange in his dreams.

Miserix had asked him about his siblings, where they were. Pohatu had answered with the truth: I don't know. They abandoned me.

Miserix had thought over it, and decided that it was too dangerous to leave a Toa Mata - possibly the last of them - to fend for himself, alone in the universe; so, the Brotherhood of Makuta welcomed him.

Miserix was nice, despite it all.

It's a shame he didn't follow the Plan.

The Makuta had all been nice to him at first, despite it all.

He'd never been this small before. Hydraxon was tall enough, and his siblings were taller than him as well, but until then he'd been sorrounded by Matoran that barely reached his hip; now he had to twist his neck to look the beings around him in the eyes, and they had to hunch their back to look into his. And there was their awkwardness, too - they had no clue what to do with him, especially at first, when he was barely anything more than a sad sack of depressed rocks sitting in the corners of their labs.

They had little to talk with him about, little for him to keep busy with. But it was very nice, when they did acknowledge him, when they did allow him in their lairs, when they had him test the Rahi to see how they reacted.

They were polite, as he was to them, and he liked their company, and - it seemed - they did not mind his.

He is a fast learner: he knew what to do and what not to do in no time, and what to expect too. For example, you can laugh at Chirox and Mutran's spats but only very quietly, and you can touch anything in Antroz's lab so long as you do not lift any of it from where it sits; you need to steer clear of Tridax because he hates visitors, and if you absolutely have to go to Kojol or Gorast you need to send a message at least half a day earlier so neither will accidentally try to vivisect you for spooking them; neither Vamprah nor Krika will say a word to you but they will know if you leave anything a single centimeter out of place, and so will Icarax - though he will tell you as much, asking if you're looking for a fight, and if you're not careful he will land a punch; Bitil usually has at least one time clone at the ready to keep you out of his face at all times, Miserix is never in the mood for fooling around, and Spiriah is very, very fun to bother without suffering repercussions.

And Teridax...

Teridax is kind.

(Pohatu believes in few things strongly: he believes his siblings don't care for him, he believes he loves the Matoran more than himself, and he believes Teridax is kind.)

(He believes Teridax is kind, because Teridax speaks to him kindly: because Teridax always saw value in him and alway told him as much, always reassured him of his usefulness and worth even when he had no unity nor duty nor destiny; because Teridax was always kind.)

(Few beings are born truly, irrevocably, incontestably evil, and despite his reputation Teridax is not one of them. But it has always been in his nature to plan, to consider his options and scheme for contingencies, and a Toa as powerful as a Mata is always better as an assured ally than a distant acquaintance. He just hadn't realized how starved Pohatu had been for attention of that kind, how desperately he craved it: sooner than he could train himself to stop flinching by reflex upon seeing him so suddenly he had the Toa shyly, eagerly trotting after him, anxious to be helpful, to be useful, to be told that he was more than a waste of space, that he had a purpose and a meaning and a reason to be cared about. Teridax gave him everything he needed, everything - at the cost of everything else.)

In his dreams, memories of kindness are muddled. Certainly, he knows, all the Makuta must have been kind and gentle to him; certainly, he knows, they must have all treated him well. But in his dreams the Mask of Shadows is the only one that presses its forehead against his Kakama so very gently.

Teridax visits him often in his dreams when he's had a nightmare, or when he's too worried, as though sensing his distress.

He likes to dream of his laboratory, so safe and welcoming, of his kraata crawling in his hands curiously, of his claws so carefully shifting him in the right place.

Once he dreamed of being a kraata, curled on his father's lap.

It was one of the best dreams he's ever had.

It was so immediately, terribly obvious that Pohatu had a favorite among the Makuta. (So terribly obvious and terribly disquieting, as his dependency on Teridax grew.) Bitil sneers about it still - about the leash tight around that neck of Stone, about his brother being the only one who gets to have a pet. Pohatu never understood the joke he and the rest of the Brotherhood seem to share about him, and has grown to hate it. He has grown to hate -- no, that's a word reserved for his siblings; he has grown to resent the other Makuta.

It's not a stable feeling, it ebbs and flows, depends on the day; but they are not shy about their acquired distaste for him as they regard him distantly, coldly.

In turn, he is not shy about not appreciating their disgust either.

If they had not deserted him all of a sudden, if they had not found his company so bothersome, perhaps this wouldn't have happened.

(Pohatu is a frail thing, so easy to win, so easy to lose: Teridax knows this, and in his wisdom isolated him. So the only love he can gain, the only one that matters, is the one Teridax rewards his obedience with; and in his blind and deaf servitude he is ecstatic.)

Sometimes he dreams of Matoran.

It's much less common, as those can quickly become paralyzing night terrors in little to no time - though the Island of Mata Nui has been calming his fears so far, since it's much easier to beat back a Rahi than it is evading an energy storm.

He's started dreaming of Takua often, in truth.

It was a pleasant surprise, despite the Nui-Jaga and the momentary blindness. He was convinced he'd never see any of the Av-Matoran again, and here is Karda Nui's local troublemaker, all mismatched colors and no memories and still the same exact wanderlust putting his little feet to work trudging miles upon miles. At least the island is big and the Wahi well connected enough for him to go from one place to another without putting himself in too much danger.

It's a shame he doesn't remember him. Takua once asked him for kicking lessons and made a proper fool of himself at the first attempt, but it was good fun. They could have laughed about it again.

He might be the one thing he truly could have missed from Karda Nui. He's glad to see him enjoy himself.

Lewa has started dreaming of him too, he's confided in him, because Pohatu is easy to talk to and everybody confides in him. Gali as well, and Onua mentioned it in passing - even Tahu answered him positively when he asked. Kopaka says nothing if he can help it, of course, but the long sleep must have made him sloppy enough to cave in after only the slightest insistent pestering.

This sort of thing reeks of destiny.

It's not like Mata Nui hasn't had all the time to get on his nerves - for his siblings, for his chosen Toa, for the undeserved zealous idolatry he demands of the Matoran without ever looking at them.

He and the Turaga must have something in store for his little Light brother, he's certain. Something that will drag him to his death.

His muscles seize when he sees the Avohki bathe Jaller in light.

Ah... Of course.

Of course.

His nightmares become bright when Takanuva bursts to smithereens within them, torn apart by his own glow, screaming in fear.

He whispers for Teridax to help him as his heartlight flickers erratically, and when he shuts his eyes he breathes deeply, deeply, until what he sees is Takua and Jaller and Akhmou playing with the docile, gentle kraata on the floor of the Makuta's laboratory, as Teridax soothes the Toa in a kind embrace, like a parent soothes a child: see?, his voice rumbles so gently. Nothing to worry about. Nothing to worry about.

[soldier-poet-king]

I need to be weirder. I need to hang out/talk with more intensely weird and deeply genuine people, and more frequently

[welcometogrouchland]

I support the "Batman was unfairly biased to Stephanie for XYZ reasons" crowd so strongly bc DC claims that Bruce is a master planner who is able to understand anyone's psychology but he didn't realize that literally every single one of Steph's problems as a teenager would've been solved by her joining a shitty punk band. If he couldn't figure that much out then he didn't understand her for a minute