#the argument can be made that they are basically people just like humans

[thoseyoulove]

Hello,Can you rank your Armand favorite relationshipw and why ? (I just love reading opinions , nothing serious)

Hi!

Fistly, thank you for the question! I get sometimes sending messages can be uncomfortable and you may not receive the nicest answers, but you don't need to explain yourself. Whether is a fun or serious question, asking my opinion or sharing your own: I LOVE talking about this universe and always welcome it.

Anyway, now to ranking!

P.S. This is long and contain spoilers. These opinions are based on the sequence from The Vampire Lestat to The Vampire Armand and aren't necessarily permanent.

Lesmand / Armandstat

Favorite relationship on the books as a whole for basically three reasons: it's always interesting (even on its smallest moments), they are deeply mirrored so it provides a compelling dynamic and is often intense. They are two sides of the same coin and parallel one another so much in terms of personalities and experiences. From their first interaction, it already seemed that they knew each other their whole lives because they could read one another like an open book. There is this mix of unconscious, but immediate recognition, understanding, curiosity, care, attraction, insecurity, fear, anger and frustration because they're the only ones that fully get each other. It's one thing to know someone for what they share or you observe, but you only fully comprehend somebody when you have a lot in common like they do. Still, that's terrifying because you're completely bare, vulnerable and forced to confront stuff you want to run away from. They have a lot of sharp dialogue and arguments where they throw the hardest truths on the other's face and they know how to push each other's buttons from day one. Yet, the fascination, affection and protection are still there and they always stay somewhat close. And that results in a lot of first class tension: what brings both together also pulls them apart and they're often fighting so many conflicting emotions (as a duo and individuals) because they keep going back and forth. Obviously, they're far from perfect and have both tremendously hurt one another verbally, physically and with Claudia's death (which Armand's is responsible for). But even then, they were never enemies or rivals. I get why people would use such words, but I think they would need to hate or wish bad things for each other to be classified as such and that's never happened. Even if they did something to give that impression, it wasn't genuine and they made themselves suffer in the process too. There was definitely hate for words said and things done, but for the person it was always love. Through the good, the bad, the ugly and the complicated. This dynamic defies definitions and there aren't enough words in any language I know to fully and precisely categorize or desxribe even it. For better or worse, they're on a league of their own and I've never seen anything like it on books, movies or TV shows.

2. Armand x Bianca

I love Bianca. She's been such a great addition and it's a breath of fresh air whenever she appears. It was so satisfying to see them being friends, connecting and Armand having something that was entirely his own without Marius being involved (though considering the pattern of this book, it will probably change). I also enjoy the fact they met and bonded as humans, you know? There's something lovely and unique about it since most pairings had one or both parties already being a vampire on their first encounter. And another sweet thing is that even centuries later Armand still emphasizes how he'll never forget her. They have become really special to me.

3. Armand & Riccardo

Usually relationships where one is a small or Marius is somewhat involved don't work for me, but that's an exception. Riccardo isn't as developed as Armand and part of this (creepy) palazzo where Marius keeps several teenagers/children in, but you do know enough to grow attached to him. Actually, given the situation these boys are in, I ended up caring about the ones who don't even have a name. And despite the proximity Marius has to them, the kids have friendships of their own. Obviously, this isn't the healthiest environment and they all deserved better, but I'm so glad they had each other and a sense of family (specially because some of them don't even remember their own relatives well anymore). That brings me some kind of comfort. There are these moments when Armand gets emotional thinking about how much he loves them all and would die for them and when he almost does and they're all (with Bianca) crying and Armand is surprised by their reactions because they loved him so much... It really moved me So, I adore them.

4. Armandiel

The Devil's Minion chapter is one of my top favorite pieces of The Queen of the Damned. Its best aspect is seeing Armand on his self-discovery journey and how Daniel was just patient and supportive. And that's so important, because a big part of Armand's characterization is how he has no sense of identity. He's gone through so much trauma since early and formative years and always adapted to please others or even make out alive. This made him lose key parts of his memory and every sense of self and he definitely needed that. So, to see Daniel not tell him what to do, but instead let him try new stuff, see what he loved or not, on his own terms and pace and Daniel just going along with him... It was wonderful. The only downsides is that I believe Daniel deserved more individual development and it was rushed. Twelve years deserved more chapters, probably books plural. That said, I bet the show will take its strong points and only elevate their story. And I can't wait because I've already lost my mind with them on season 2 (they have my favorite scene on the show, by the way).

Honorable mentions:

Armand & Benji + Sybelle

Haven't seen a lot of them, but Armand opened his book saying he was full of love and excitedly talking about these children he took in. There's also this moment he asked David if he liked his kids and he just sounded like a proud dad. It was adorable. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more of them.

Armand & his family

There's been very little of them and I doubt there will be more, so I can't talk about their relationship per se, but the chapter they say goodbye is devastating and beautiful. Those recent posts of me losing my mind were because of it. I've never cried so much with art and rarely cried like that even in real life. It was an experience I'd never had before and an emotion I didn't know was humanly possible. I was mentally, emotionally and spiritually touched to the point of exhaustion. It's been the best part of The Vampire Armand, if not of the whole chronicles. And it will stick with me forever.

[headspace-hotel]

My mamaw has the book right now so I won't be able to read it for a little bit but my mom read The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan which is about the Dust Bowl and it puts in perspective all the environmental books I was reading from the 1940's and 1950's and the sense of agitation and intensity in them.

Everyone is like yeah yeah the dust bowl we've all heard of it, but the Dust Bowl was apocalyptic. The USA practically eliminated the bison—we are talking thousands of square miles of land littered with bones, enormous pyramids of skulls—and committed genocide against their caretakers, and then settlers ripped up the prairie grasses (which protected meters of top soil) with plows

And what happened was, half the country became in engulfed in horrific dirt storms that turned the sky black and reduced visibility to a few feet. Even indoor environments were full of deep drifts of dirt. When it rained, it rained mud instead of water. In ENGLAND the snow was RED because of DIRT. People died from pneumonia because they were breathing the dirt into their lungs.

Even before mom started reading this book, I was reading American books about the environment from the mid 20th century, and they are animated with the zeal and terror of people who have realized that human mismanagement could make the USA literally uninhabitable. I realized, "Oh. This is right after the Dust Bowl." cause of how they talk about erosion, and I realized just how formative the Dust Bowl was in terms of environmental policy.

Reading about various wildlife species, I realized also how utterly apocalyptic the conditions of the past were for animals. Deer were almost eliminated from my state. Deer.

Why do we have the Migratory Bird Treaty Act? Because just about every large bird species almost went extinct from uncontrolled commercial hunting. We almost had no swans, no cranes, no egrets, no storks. We lost the passenger pigeons and Carolina parakeets, but we could have lost Basically Everything.

So many of the ill-conceived decisions to introduce species to this continent are easily explained by how apocalyptic this period of time was. Why did we think it was a good idea to introduce Kudzu? Because in the 1950's, erosion sparked a visceral apprehension of CERTAIN DOOM, and logging had made the whole southeast start washing away! Why were so many exotic antelopes introduced to Texas? Because every native large animal was almost wiped out!

From my other readings on the subject (Changes in the Land by William Cronon is a good one) devastating environmental destruction started just about as soon as Europeans started controlling the land, and I am guessing that if you examined the timeline of environmental disaster alongside the migrations west, it would support the argument that settlers started pushing west more and more rapidly because of land degradation and environmental disaster.

I wish this was commoner knowledge, getting to where we are now has been a journey. Environmental history doesn't start in 1970's.

It is not the case that things have steadily gotten worse over time and recently are becoming extremely bad, rather, different parts of the environment have become both better and worse in steps forward and backward, and many seemingly unremarkable things around us were earned by a vicious fight, which we can learn from and continue...

[autolenaphilia]

The anti-kink moral crusade rests on a lot of transmisogynistic assumptions.

Of course it’s no surprise, since it rests on ideas from the moralizing arguments about bdsm made by radfems in the 70s. The only change is that they are being massively hypocritical and inconsistent about which kinks are bad now, as I pointed out before. Now it’s only certain kinks, like consensual non-consent and fauxcest, that are bad because they “fetishize abuse”, and not bdsm as whole, despite that being inarguably true about bdsm.

And that’s purely to broaden the appeal of such arguments, so that even self-described “leatherfags” can moralize about fauxcest. The morals and principles are frankly just “It’s okay if gay men call their boyfriends “daddy”, because I find that hot, but if a trans lesbian couples pretend to be sisters it’s evil.”

And you can’t really appropriate the radfem arguments about kink without taking their transmisogyny onboard, since they stem from the same transmisogynist bio-determinist root ideology. Janice Raymond in The Transsexual Empire explained trans women through a lens of pathological sadomasochism. Years before Blanchard’s autogynephilia concept, radfems have seen transfemininity and kink as the same thing.

The image of the trans woman painted by radfems then and now, is of privileged males appropriating the pain and suffering of real wombyn, and playacting this suffering for their own perverted sexual amusement. And that is the same image painted of trans women with incest and cnc kinks in modern callout posts. They just remove the explicitly terfy language to make it less obvious. Instead of making a mockery of misogyny in general, we are instead accused of mocking the experiences of the survivors of sexual abuse.

And that boils down to the same thing. Survivors of sexual assault are often as a group assumed to be afab. This ties into a specific transmisogynist discourse. It’s one that argues that afab children are more often sexually assaulted, and that trans women are not targeted by sexual violence pre-transition, and comes to the conclusion that this proves that trans women are male socialized and privileged. This is the fairly nasty transmisogynist undercurrent here.

And it’s proven when in discussions about the transmisogyny of callout culture, a common cliché line in response is that “clearly some people’s worst oppression is being told they are freaks for shipping incest.” This treats transfems as ultra-privileged and transmisogyny as not real at all.

Of course in reality, transfems are disproportionate targets of sexual violence even in childhood and pre-transition. And many survivors of childhood abuse have these problematic abuse-fetishizing kinks, and use it to deal with their trauma, including many of the kinky transfems being called out.

And even if no one involved in the sexual roleplay and fiction being criticized have trauma, the trauma of other non-involved people is not a good argument for its destruction. It’s a reasonable demand to ask for triggering material to be tagged properly so you can avoid it, it’s unreasonable to demand it shouldn’t exist.

Yet transfems are expected to accede to the latter demand. And I think this is because of what May Peterson calls transfeminized debt. It’s how we trans women in feminist circles are expected to be perfect women and perfect feminists to be acknowledged as women at all, instead of as monsters to be destroyed. Of course because nobody is perfect, this leads to every trans woman eventually being thought of as a monster.

We are treated as having to pay off the debt of male socialization/privilege to get basic human rights. And this in practice means conceding every disagreement with TME people, and agreeing to every demand they make of us. Or else we get the hot allostatic load treatment.

And that’s why kinky transfems are expected to fulfil the ridiculous demand from certain puritanical TME people that “I’m not involved in your kink, but I have trauma relating to it, so you can’t do it.” And are treated as evil monsters for not fulfilling it. It’s clearly transfeminized debt and transmisogyny, we are treated as privileged perverted monsters, inherently exempt from sexual violence. And that is used to justify sexual harassment, in the form of callout posts for our sex lives.

[azulhood]

Jazz was, at her core, a pessimist.

Oh sure, she wanted the best outcomes and strived to always see the best in people. But listening to her parents talk about and share crime scene photos of someone who was brutally murdered and who may haunt the place they were headed to while true crime podcasts played instead of road trip tunes as they traveled to whatever graveyard had caught their interest had dulled young Jazz's faith in humanity.

Jazz still had memories of a young her standing in an abandoned insane asylum (or abandoned hospital, or old house, or graveyard, or whatever place they dragged her too) holding a small torch with shaky hands and begging to leave because she was terrified "Can we go? Please? this place is scaring me" only to be told "In a minute Jazzy, we down want the ghost getting away."

They had settled down after Danny was born, choosing to stay in one placed instead of traveling all over the country. She still expected them to unexpectedly announce that they were going on the road again, she had plans in case they did (saying she'd stay behind with the van to take care of Danny was better then both of them getting used as ghost bait) But surprisingly they didn't.

And Jazz was thrilled. Sure, she and Danny were known as the kids of the towns crazy ghosthunters, and sure, she basically had to raise her brother since her parents would rarely leave their lab let alone focus on something not ghost related, and yes, she did have to carefully plan out how to use the family's money so that none of them starved.

But no more sleeping in cheap hotels or their van, no more making friends at playgrounds that she'd never see the next day, no more countless hours spent in places where people died, no more English lessons while on the road. She went to school now, she had friends that she saw more than once, she had a home that wasn't filled with cockroaches and the sounds of a argument from the room next door. She had a semi-normal life.

In this time of normality, she relaxed, she let her guard down. Then Danny died and only came back halfway.

And Jazz was back to being that little girl who was scared of ghosts, only this time she was scared for a ghost.

Danny didn't tell her at first, and even though it hurt she understood, and so while she waited for him to tell her, she planned.

She took job after job, from mowing someone's lawn to working at a checkout. Money had been put aside in bags filled with clothes and a pair of new id that she had gotten from Tucker, ("Just in case our parents get classified as supervillains and we need to flee" She said not giving anyway that she knew of Danny's ghostly problem, Tucker had made the id anyway even if he thought she was joking and did not in fact have a plan should that situation happen) One of their neighbors was willing to let her buy their old car despite her family's driving history. A safe house (more like safe apartment) was bought in the only place that was willing to let a teen buy property, Gotham City.

Danny fought numerous enemies until the only enemy that was left was telling their ghost hunter parents that their son was half dead.

Compared to her, Danny was an optimist, seeing the best in everyone without even having to try like she did. Believing that the best would happen like if he didn't, he would break into a million pieces and not know how to put himself together again.

Even though he was scared Danny believed that their parents wouldn't react badly, Jazz hoped they wouldn't but was prepared if they did.

And finally, after many nights spent wide awake in case her parents tried to rip Danny apart molecule by molecule while she slept, the shoe dropped. Their parents loved them, but their work came first, it always came first. Jazz loved her parents, she truly did, but she loved Danny more. And in the end, that made her choice of driving all the way to Gotham with nothing but their go bags all the more easier.

And that was how Jazz and Danny ended up as the neighbors of one Jason Todd.

[yummymitzy]

Am I overthinking it?

Summary: A petty argument, thats what it was, but neither of them never expected it to end the way it did, especially on the same day they had a hangout planned for just the two of them. Reader wasn’t above fighting and a scene broke out, who would be there to pick up the pieces?

A/N: This took so damn long. was SO close to crashing out oms.

WC: 5,265

Pairings: Nerd! Natasha Romanoff x Stark! Reader

———— ♡ ————

You loved playing football, you practically grew up on it. If you were to tell your younger self that you’d be on a varsity team, she’d probably lose her shit. 

One thing you didn’t think you’d also be doing, was talking to Natasha Romanoff. Hey, not that you were complaining, shes cute as hell. The problem was when you were a kid, you were always trying to enforce yourself with liking guys.

You were gay and you always knew it, but it was something that you found hard to accept as you grew up. But as you can tell now, you’ve accepted it and found yourself a smart and very adorable redhead, you wouldn’t give anything up for her.

————♡————

It was just a random Thursday, you were pulled out with the rest of your team to practice for your upcoming game. You were out on the grassy field with your gear laid upon your shoulder, your helmet was held under your arm as you approached Coach Fury with the rest of your teammates.

It was so damn hot, you honestly thought it was ridiculous to have practice in this heat. Your forehead was beaming, it could basically turn you into a human torch. Your arms and neck had a shear layer of sweat the longer you stood in front of your quite motivational coach. 

From the corner of your eye, you spot Natasha on the bleachers. You assume it had been another one of her free periods considering shes just sitting there with what you think is essays in her lap. You smile softly as you notice her beginning to lift her head up towards the field, where you stood. 

Her face flushes immediately as you both make eye contact, her face glowing a dark crimson as you wink at her. You see her avert her eyes as she tries to focus once more on the papers that are neatly placed on her lap, adjusting her round-shaped glasses as they slipped down her nose. Cute.

You turn your attention back to your coach with a cheeky smile on your face, drowning out all the motivational talk as you had one motivator on your mind, Natasha. But your attention doesn’t stay long on coach Fury for long as your teammate also best friend, Carol, nudges at your side. 

“Y/n.” She called out to you in a hushed whisper, she sounded frantic? You turn your head slightly to get glimpse of her face as you raise an eyebrow curiously, your arms crossing over your gear clad chest while your right hand clutched at the wire guards on the front of your helmet effectively carrying it.

“I’m thirsty as fuck, can you come with me to the station, plus you look like you’re gonna collapse.” She practically whines as she does a one over of you, head to toe. Implying that you looked fucked up,  

“Okay okay, hurry up.” You give in as you walk away from the huddle and jog towards the stations, turning your head in the direction of the bleachers, you lock eyes once more with Natasha. You give her a subtle head nod towards the station, a distinct hint to meet you there.

She breaks out into a grin as she tucks her essays into her folder neatly before stuffing her folder into her bag. The smile is indefinitely planted on her face as she slung the bag over her shoulder and made her way down the high standing bleachers to the water station.

You and Carol finally made it to the station as you refilled your water bottles and gulped them down like you were in a desert. While you two had finished refilling your second bottle, Carol immediately screws on her bottle in a hurry. What was it with Carol always being in a hurry, did she have places to go and people to see?

Carol drops her gear and helmet next you as she looks up at you. “Hey, Y/n/n, mind watching my gear for me? I have to go take a shit.“ You struggled to formulate a reply, your mouth opening and closing as she’s already on her merry way to the bathroom. 

“Well goddamn.” You mumble under your breath, rubbing your face of the sweat that was dripping down your probably sunburnt forehead. Did Carol use water as an excuse to go take a shit? Probably.

You felt a gentle tap on your gear covered shoulder, making you turn around with a wide grin plastered on your face as you held your arms wide open. 

You were already sure who it was, because you knew there wasn’t anybody else you were meeting at the station. Seeing Natasha with her hair down as her glasses were firmly perched on her cute button nose definitely made your smile impossibly wider.

“Hey, Natty. Another one of your free periods, huh?” You give her a small hug, before pulling away. You weren’t sure if she’d allow you to hug her or not with the sweat, which surprised you when she did.

“Yeah, yeah. I already finished up my calculus   homework and wanted to drop by to see you practice.” She lightly stuttered as her voice got quieter, embarrassed. 

You didn’t know how sweeter this girl could be, shes practically killing you with kindness. You raise your hand up to her face as you caress her now rosy cheek.

“You’re so cute.” You looked down into her emerald eyes, they held an undeniable kindness in them that even you knew nobody could ever take from her. “I was thinking, you want to come over tomorrow after school and watch that new Deadpool and Wolverine movie?”

Natasha’s eyes visibly lighten as a smile graces her features, Natasha was really a sight for sore eyes. You were honestly grateful you could be this lucky with her.

————♡————

It was the next morning, you honestly had a gut feeling today wouldn’t be bad. Mainly because you were going to meet up with your favorite nerd. The thought of her just brightens your day more than it should have.

You were at your locker for a quick few minutes chatting with Tony as he was ranting about his bio homework. You weren’t going to deny that you tuned him out a long time ago, opting to look for Natasha.

Weird. The bell had rung and you still couldn’t find her, how is it so hard to find the redhead? You shrug it off, she probably was just near the library chatting with her other friends.  

You, Tony, and Carol file into your first period snickering at some stupid joke. Your smile widens as you spot Natasha in the front of the classroom, in her regular seat. You took your usual seat next her as you lean back into your chair and cross your arms. 

You felt a shiver through your body as you felt eyes on you, turning your head, you sigh in relief. It was just Natasha, you smile soft and send a wink towards her way before turning your head back to the board.

To be frank, you were zoned out half the time in class, the only times you weren’t was when you wanted to bug Natasha. Who wouldn’t want to? She looked adorable when she was so concentrated. Her eyebrows creasing as she huffs when she feels frustrated or when she smiles at her A+ paper.

But what really caught your attention now was Bucky Barnes flirting with Natasha. Your blood boiled and your eyes narrowed, your hands in tight fists on the table. The knuckles of your hand a pale white as you try to compose yourself.

Your jaw is so tightly clenched that your teeth threaten to break under the pressure. What made the situation even worse was that Natasha didn’t reject him or his advances to court her. Your heart broke as every muscle in your body relaxed, not in relief but in shock. You watched as she reached up a hand to hold his bicep as he formed another joke. 

Your eyes threatened to well up with tears but you quickly held them back, clenching your jaw once more as your face hardened. You picked at the skin of your nails in frustration, impatiently waiting for the bell. 

As soon as the bell echoed through the room, you walked straight to Tony and Carol, hurriedly  leaving the classroom. Your mind is reeling, she probably just wanted to be nice. But she could have still rejected him. 

You run a hand through your hair and sigh, stressed wouldn’t even be the right word to determine how you’re feeling.

“Y/n. Are you okay, you seem..irritated?” Carol asks concerned while Tony was on your other side placing a comforting hand on your shoulder. You let out a breath, slightly content, you always appreciated that they always knew something was up.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” You reassure, sending a soft smile towards Carols way. She brushed it off, not wanting to push anymore, while Tony on the other hand doesn’t believe you one bit. 

Tony practically praises the lords that Carol doesn’t have the next period with you and him, cause he definitely was going to talk with you. You both stroll into the very lively classroom as you take your seats in the back. 

Tony turns to you immediately after the teacher takes her seat at her desk, instructing the class with just a free day. Tony looked insanely concerned, something he doesn’t happen to be most of the time.

“What actually happened, Y/n? You look like somebody kicked your puppy and then left it there.” Tony’s eyebrows pinched in concern as his eyes flickered over your facial features, trying to determine what’s going on.

“Its just..” You sigh, cracking your fingers as you found comfort in the feeling. You soon finding your composure again, sitting up slightly in your chair as the chatter around you two soon drowns out. “I wasn’t planning to tell you until later on but you know Natasha, the redhead?”

“Yeah, the one with the glasses, she isn’t hard to miss.” He crosses his arms as he leans forward slightly, as he has a slight idea where this is going.

“We’re talking. Been for a while, but just earlier I saw Barnes and Noble hitting on her. But that’s not all either because she never stopped him. I get it that we aren’t an actual label and I shouldn’t be mad but I am.” You let out a breath that you didn’t know you were holding, cause damn that felt good to let out of your chest. 

“Uh..What. Excuse me?” Tony eyes widen as his eyebrows raise up to his hairline, if it was under different circumstances you’d be cracking up. “Like the Bucky Buchanan Barnes that hated people who studied even for a little bit?”

“Yes.” You deadpan, leaning back in your chair as your knees bounces repeatedly. You resort to taking deep breaths and remembered one important thing.

“And I made plans with Natasha yesterday to meet up afterschool and watch the new movie with her today.” You sigh, now wondering if you had over thought it. She probably just didn’t know how to say no.

“Am I overthinking it Tony?” You whisper as you stare down at your lap with a sullen look on your face. Tony had never saw you this stressed, you must have really cared for the girl.

“No, not at all, Y/n/n. Just talk it out with her, maybe it didn’t go the way you thought.” He says in a softer tone, afraid that if he spoke any louder that you’d breakdown. Not that he minded of course, but you were in class.

You hum in response, unable to respond with words because you were too far in your head. Maybe he was right, there was still the chance she’d rejected him. You’d only hope.

You zoned out for however long it was before you blink a few times as you tune in the teacher once more. She wasn’t really talking about anything that you really considered important. Flickering your eyes to the clock, 3 minutes to the bell, did you really just zone out for that long? Damn. 

Glancing to your left to where Tony was seated, you discovered why he was so quiet. There he lied, asleep, it was hilarious to see he was snoring slightly while drool was on the corner of his lips threatening to fall. You roll your eyes as a small smile falls on your face, you assumed he fell asleep right after you zoned out.

————♡————

It was the last period before lunch started, and you were in the “pettiest mood” according to Tony’s gracious words. You couldn’t deny it cause you may have unintentionally gave your peers dirty looks. But it wasn’t really all your fault, you just had a mean face, but everybody was just so used to you being so, cheerful? You honestly didn’t know the right word to describe it.

As the dismissal bell rung, you and Tony silently packed your bags and left the classroom. You both walked shoulder to shoulder down to the admittedly large cafeteria. But on the way there you saw something you really wish you hadn’t saw.

Bucky once again flirting with Natasha, and to your dismay, she was smiling. Not those polite smiles she does when she doesn’t feel like being social anymore, it’s those shy smiles that she always gives you.

Your heart clenches as so does your jaw, you immediately shrug off the feeling as you take a deep breath. How could seeing one thing ruin the rest of your day?

You honestly forgot you weren’t alone, forgetting Tony was right next to you as he immediately saw it. He didn’t even have to look where you were looking at, it was right in front of you both. 

It really was, they were stood there by the lockers in the hallway. You wonder what he said to make Natasha smile like that, or giggle like that. 

You shake your head free of those thoughts as you reach your hand up towards Tony’s arm, pulling him to a walk as you both continue your way down to the cafeteria.

“So are we not just going to talk about that? Y/n/n?” He questions as he stares at your side profile, waiting for your eyes to meet his.

“There really isn’t anything to talk about, Tons.” You mutter, the shock already wearing off as quickly as it came. You shouldn’t have been surprised, Bucky is just some insistent asshole who always wants his dick warmed. You just wished it wasn’t her.

“We both saw the same damn thing, Y/n. There obviously is something to talk about.” 

“What is there to talk about? How Bucky’s being his regular self by acting like a horny fucking dog, because that really isn’t the greatest thing to talk about.” 

“About Natasha!” He exclaims, running a hand through his hair, slicking it back before ruffling it up directly after which causes him to pause in his steps. That action effectively made you turn your whole body to look him in the eye.

“There isn’t anything about her to talk about, I told you everything earlier. It’s just the same shit that happened this morning.” You hiss slightly, before swiftly turning your body towards the direction of the cafeteria as you tugged on his hand once more.

This time Tony decided to stay quiet, not wanting to push you anymore. But now that he had actually saw it himself, he was extremely pissed at both parties, Natasha and Bucky. 

As soon as you both enter through the doors of the cafeteria, you and Tony walked straight to your friend group. But you had different plans, see you were planning to take Tony’s advice and go talk to Natasha at her usual spot, the bleachers.

Once you were sure that Tony was distracted, you made your move and left the cafeteria. You shoved your hands into the pocks of your zip-up, fingers fiddling with the fabric within. You weren’t sure why you were so anxious about talking to her. 

You wear out on the field, nearing the bleachers you and Natasha usually hung out at. Surveying the area, you soon find her perched on the very top with her backpack on her lap as she worked on another paper. 

A soft smile unintentionally broke out on your face, even if this wasn’t the best moment, she still was so gorgeous to you. But it wasn’t there for long as the scene from this morning remained in the front of your mind.

Natasha hadn’t noticed you yet, her back to you as she seemed to be doing her calc paper. Another smile formed on your face as you approach the seat next her and sitting down.

“Hey Natty.” You whisper, your eyes watching her as she jumps slightly, unaware that you’d been right next to her.

“Hey, Y/n/n” She sends a smile to out as she notices you, the sight of her smile almost made you forget today’s earlier events. 

“Professor Carter assigned you more calc homework, I thought you had already finished yours?” You furrow your eyebrows as you gently grasp the paper that laid on her backpack and skimmed through it before gently placing it back down where it originally was.

“Yeah well, Steve had put her in a bad mood and she just gave everybody extra.” She explained quite calmly, you didn’t know how she could always be calm for extra work but she loved calc so you brushed it off.

You laugh in response, your shoulders shaking slightly as you try to imagine Steve saying the stupidest shit to Professor Carter. Steve was academically smart and way too nice for a jock but sometimes he doesn’t know word his sentences right. And you found that hilarious.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence between you and Natasha, you moved your gaze to the football field surrounding you two. Your mood shifted slowly, incredibly anxious as you tapped each of your fingers on your thigh, an action that Natasha took quick notice of. 

“Hey uhm, Natasha?” You whisper, your gaze falling on the colored line of the football field as you trace them with your eyes. 

She hums in response, her eyes flickering to your side profile as her eyebrows pinched together slightly.

“I uhm. Fuck” You didn’t think it was this hard to spit it out, but thing is you didn’t really know what you were going to say. You knew what you were meant to say but how were you supposed to word it?

“How come I didn’t see you this morning? I was waiting for you at my locker until the bell rung and you still never showed.” You ask, surprising yourself with how disappointed you sound. 

“Oh, yeah I was with Bucky, he showed up at the library and asked me for help about his bio homework.” Your jaw instantly tensed at her revelation. Wow, he practically spent the whole fucking day with her while you barely got a minute. 

“Okay, Natasha. Can I be real honest with you?” You breathe out, not wanting to hear more about Bucky. Without waiting for an answer from her, you jump straight to it.

“I understand that you and me are only talking and I shouldn’t feel possessive over you, but I just cant put it behind me that you let Bucky hit on you multiple times in front of me.”

”Y/n..” 

“No please, just let me talk. And you know I wont ever accuse you Natty, but I just feel like you’re leaving me behind. You spent barely a minute with me today and spent all of it with Bucky while he tried courting you.” You pleaded, your jaw tensing and relaxing over and over as you find your next words.

“Y/n.” Natasha said more firmly, putting her backpack down onto the bench next to her as she turns her body to face you.

“And I know that it couldn’t have been your fault but I just wanted to know why you of all people entertained him. Brushing his arm? Giggling at his every sentence and hugging him. You never did this when I first met you, but when it comes to him you did?” You ramble slightly as your voice wavers here and there, your hands playing with the fringe of your ripped jeans as you force your eyes to stay on the field.

“You’re being uptight, Y/n. We’re just friends.”

“Uptight?” You whisper as one of your eyebrows raised, your eyes immediately drifting towards her. “I’m being uptight?”

“Yes! You’re being so insecure! He’s just trying to be nice to me while you’re here just being a possessive ass bitch who won’t let me make a new friend!” 

Your eyes widen as your eyebrows shoot up towards your hairline, you hadn’t expected that she’d react like this. Usually she’d always reassure you and you’d always believe her, this was just a new side of her.

Before you even get a chance to follow up a reply, she beat you to it. Breaking your heart even more. “And honestly if I knew you’d be so insecure about me and him then I’d never would have said yes to you.”

Your heart shattered. The tears in your eyes welling up faster than a raging river as you try biting your tongue once more to hold them back. 

“Call me insecure but I’m not wrong. I saw with my two fucking eyes you feeling his arms up in first period and then once again when lunch started.” 

You snapped, sitting up straighter while your hands clenched into fists. Your whole body tensing up with each second that passes as a scowl starts to form on your face, the patience in your being starting to wear less and less.

But Natasha didn’t seem to be done, as she takes a deep breath, her eyes swirling in a deep anger which takes you by surprise. “We’re done, whatever the hell this is between us is done. If you’re gonna be insecure about a harmless guy, then we wont be good.”

Your whole body relaxes in shock, your nose twitches as you feel the tears form rapidly. You bite slightly at the inside of your lip, as you shot up from your seat. Not sparing Natasha a glance as you walked off, you didn’t want her seeing the hot tears trailing down your face.

————♡————

It’s been two weeks since that argument with Natasha, it took you a few days to process before you told Tony. He was furious, looked like he would’ve blown up if he hadn’t took a deep breath. He didn’t stay mad for long, at least in front of you.

Right before you and Tony enter your guy’s first period, he takes a hold of your wrist and effectively holds you back to whisper to you. 

“Are you sure you’re okay, we could just skip.” His eyes searching yours, you weren’t sure what for.

“It’s fine, who do you take me for?” You tease lightly, bumping shoulder with him playfully as you brush past him, and walk into the pretty empty class. 

You and Tony decided to come early so you could switch to the seat next to him and Carol. You two weren’t sure where Carol had went earlier that morning but you both she’d arrive soon.

As you both waltz in, your eyes are laser focused on the seat next to Tony’s, afraid that if they were anywhere else, they’d fall onto Natasha. They still did. 

Your gaze fell onto Natasha, your eyebrows raising slightly in surprise as she had already been looking you. Her eyes had a deep sadness swirling within them, she looked like an abandoned puppy. Before she points at the chair next to her with her eyes, pleading you to sit next to her.

You turned your gaze away from her as you approached the seat next Tony and sat yourself on it. Unbeknownst to you, once you turned your head, tears started welling in Natasha’s eyes as she let out a soft sight before sitting up straight and waiting for the lesson to start.

For the past two weeks, Natasha felt like she had ran five marathons in hell. She spent those days constantly thinking about the argument, deeply regretting her hurtful words. She hadn’t really meant it, but it felt so good to not filter herself anymore. 

By the time the second week hit, she attempted to go up to you but her plan backfired as Tony noticed her from the corner of his eye, him leading you somewhere else saying he wanted to look for Sam.  

Natasha got more and more desperate to talk to you but each time Tony always intercepted her. She was irritated but she knew she couldn’t be, if somebody had broken her sister’s heart, she would’ve done the same thing.

Tony may have been younger than you but he was always so protective of you, he was basically like a barricade to get to you. He always admired you when he had no one else to look up to, you inspired him to be his own person.

Speaking of Tony, you and him were currently at your lockers “why would you be at your lockers during lunch? “ anybody would ask. All because Tony challenged Steve to whoever did the most squats.

It didn’t really end out well for Tony because he had ripped open a gigantic hole in his jeans specifically on his ass. His ass was really popping, seriously. What was even more hilarious was that beneath the beloved jeans he wore, was black boxers with pink hearts and Peppers face all over it. 

That scene led you both to where you stood now at your lockers after Tony had gotten changed into your extra pair of sweats, he was lucky they were oversized or they would have looked hideous on him. 

As you and Tony were having a good laugh about the situation, you stood up straight, your right shoulder starting to burn with how long you were leaning on the lockers next to you. 

But as you did that, you got shoved back into the locker. Your once burning shoulder now starting explode in pain as you popped your neck trying to see who shoved you, clearly offended. 

Your fists clenched tightly as you see Bucky stood ahead of you and Tony, a wide smirk played on his face. Your scowl grew as you stood up once again from the locker, now slowly approaching Bucky. 

“What the fuck was that for, Barnes.” You growl as you finally stood face to face with him, you were honestly glad you gained more height in the family. 

“What? I can’t pass through these halls?” He snickered as he moves his face closer to yours to taunt you.

“No. Not when your fat ass practically crushes everybody once you get within a five meter radius with them.” You hiss, looking him up and down as you clench your fists. 

He laughs sarcastically before his arms and fist tense up, instantly swinging at you with a hard form. Your eyes widen in surprise before you duck his arm and stood behind him. 

You wondered if you should really engage with the fight but you didn’t dwell on it too much. You swiftly kicked the back of his knee as he falls forward almost immediately, you take a hold of his hair as you punch him repeatedly in his face.

The incident with Natasha flares up in your mind as your swings grew harder, soon enough you grab him by his collar and dragged him up to his feet. “Cmon! You fucking hunk of shit! You wanted to be so scary and hit me so cmon! Get your goddamn hits in.”

You laugh out as you grab his collar once more and turning around, pulling him over your back as you slam him onto the floor in front of you. You mentally thank yourself for all the football practice you’ve done. 

“Get your ass up you big ass bitch, you wanted to be messy? So keep that same energy.” You yell out, as you raise your hands up like you were a training dummy. But you knew all too well that the slam had made him lose his adrenaline, the thought making you laugh. 

 You felt slender hands encase your waist as your chest heaves, catching your breath. Your head instantly loons down at the hands in surprise, before turning around to look at the owner of the hands.

It was Natasha, her face contorted into what you think is worry, her eyebrows were furrowed as her eyes scanned each feature on your face, looking for injuries. Her lips were slightly pouted as she saw a slight bruise forming on your temple, from when he was fighting to take your hand of his hair. 

Her fingers lightly traced the bruise before she snapped back into reality, forgetting the situation you’re both in. 

“What’re you doing here?” You ask, your tone was even but still soft, not wanting to scare the Russian girl away.

“To see if you’re okay. Look I’m-“ Natasha begins to speak as her hands fell down to her sides, her face fallen. But she gets interrupted by Tony stepping by your side.

“Woah there buckaroo, if you’re here to cause more damage then we could really get it on, because I’m not about that.” He says, stretching out a hand towards Natasha before you hesitantly pull it down, giving Tony a look before he gets the memo and nods, gesturing he won’t be too far as he walks away.  

You look back at Natasha are your eyebrows raise, a gesture to continue. “Look, I’m sorry, Y/n. I never meant anything I said. I just thought he really wanted to be my friend but I guess you saw it coming before me and I should have gotten the memo. You aren’t possessive nor are you insecure, I just wasn’t managing my time correctly.” She breathes out as she squeezes her eyes shut, afraid of what comes next. 

Your eyebrows pinch together as tears prick in the corner of your eyes. Soon enough you start smiling softly at how scared Natasha is right now, she’s still so damn cute even if shes in a hoodie and not her regular outfits. You liked her either way. 

“Mhmm.” You hum, wanting to tease her a bit as you made yourself sound slightly mad. You see her eyes shoot up to yours in a panic before she calms down, her eyes seeing the love and care swirling within your irises. 

“I forgive you, Natty. Just don’t get used to talking like that, or you won’t see any more of me. Got it?” You smile softly, your right hand raising to her cheek and caressing it softly as your gaze never left hers.

“Yeah, Yeah I do. I missed you, Y/n/n” She stuttered slightly as her cheeks flushed in embarrassment, her body leaning forward as she traps you in a hug.

“I missed you too.” You smile down at her, using the hand on her cheek to brush the hair out of her face before you lean in to give her a sweet kiss, her hands tightening around your neck as she deepens the kiss. You were deeply into her, and there was definitely no denying that.

“You still want to watch that movie with me?”

[ew-selfish-art]

Dp x Dc AU: That one episode of teen titans where they all dress up as Robin + Tim being a gremlin about his legacy + Danny look alike/twin AU.

So there is that episode of Teen Titans where Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven all dress as Robin (Dick) while he's out and it's admitted that the outfit makes them feel cool. Imagine a young Tim hearing that story mentioned in passing by Dick while trying to manage what becomes Young Just-us. And then when Damain becomes Robin?? Gremlin mode activated.

Tim hosts regular 'Robin' Parties, where the idea is that you come in Robin colors, get a mask at the door and everyone gets to basically hang out in civilian clothes without the identity crises for those just getting started. "age appropriate" drinks, games, and good music are all staples. The parties become more frequent once Damian becomes Robin and he pointedly doesn't attend Tim's parties which... Neither of them are really happy about. Family is complicated, but finally, after a few years of cooling off, it's decided that Robin will actually host this years Robin party.

Meaning Tim shows up in casual clothes (MIT sweatshirt) and a mask, and Damian is actually dressed as Robin when the party is starting to get into the swing of things. The point of it is to make sure all the young heroes get to come and start to befriend each other, so there are a few people who show up and have to actually say that they're *insert alias* and this is met with basically "Dope, nice to meet you Robin" etc.

Insert Danny Twin AU (Or just look-alike fuckery) (for either brother but my brain is on Tim Twin au mode).

Danny decides to show up as his human self, grabs a mask at the door before coming in, and is slowly integrating himself into a conversation when someone grabs his arm- "Hey Red your brother is fighting with a newbie about meat products again-"

And Danny doesn't have a brother but my god has he heard this fight too many times with Sam and Tucker- He's going in and he's defusing this situation because he cannot handle the thought of this argument taking over his new friend group. He deals with it enough, okay?

Robin (like, the real one) looks at him curiously while Danny is talking down the other hero Robin (insert here), and the whole room notices when Robin doesn't take the opportunity to dismiss or belittle his older brother (Lmao because its danny). Damian cannot place his unease about Drake (again, Danny, who is not hiding his identity beyond a mask), and simply decides that this isn't worth the effort.

The party moves on but now instead of everyone calling themselves Robin, Danny is distinctly being called Red. It confuses him a bit, he didn't even know Red Robin was going to be at this party (he hasn't met the guy and doesn't know the lore), but he rolls with it because he's made fast friends with Robin (Bart), Robin (Cassie) and Robin (JON). The kid was full little bro energy and it made Danny laugh, he was so surprised when the real Robin joined them and fell into easy conversation with Robin (Jon).

Danny is playing games with a few others when someone goes to grab a broom to clean up- Turns out Red Robin and his boyfriend Kon had been making out in the closet for most of the party- and the whole room looks at Danny like he's tried to trick them. Tim is at first uneasy that so many people mistook him, but once he's in front of his dupe, puzzle pieces start to move around in his head.

"And who are you again, Robin?" Tim asks carefully, though he suspects he has his answer.

"Uh, Phantom, but you know, a lot of people were calling me Red tonight and I didn't get why until just now." Danny laughs nervously.

"Yeah I bet- Find me monday and we can see about a geneology test."

"That leaves us the whole weekend, to do what exactly? Fuck with people by pulling a parent trap style swap?"

"Nature vs. nuture and all but I don't know how you could be anything but my brother with a question like that." Tim grins and they get to scheming.

[hellenhighwater]

Hi Hell, I wanted to get your thoughts on something. My friend who has been vegetarian for close to 30 years is thinking about becoming vegan. His main reason is that the pain and suffering of an animal in the large majority of the animal product industry is not worth the enjoyment he gets from cheese, milk, etc. He hypothesizes that most people are not vegan due to lack of education about the industry’s methods, and because eating meat is so normalized. I mostly agree, but something about what he’s saying makes me feel bad. Maybe because I don’t see myself ever becoming vegan, due to how much I love certain foods, but I like to think of myself as an empathetic and moral person. So I think I just feel quite selfish.

He is a very analytical and logical thinker, and says he wants to find more anti-vegan arguments before deciding for sure, but can’t seem to find many. What do you (and your followers) think? I was thinking you aren’t vegan, but I don’t actually know.

This is very much not my lane, but if you want my two cents then for me it comes down to a few things.

One: there is a basic mass of food that any human needs to consume in order to stay alive. That can be plants, it can be animals, it can be animal byproducts. For the a significant proportion of commercially produced food, there is a negative impact. It's hard to quantify; in some cases it is certainly direct, quality of life issues for animals. In other cases it's more broad environmental impact from commercial farming, or quality of life for the human laborers involved in harvesting etc. It's hard to come up with any objective measurement for harm when comparing individual animal suffering vs human quality of life vs large scale environmental issues. There's plenty of information out there on some of the vegan diet staples and how increases in farming things like quinoa have enormously detrimental effects on their native communities, if that's something your friend is not already aware.

Two: There is a degree of this that is just...unavoidable. Things eating other things is the way living creatures survive, and on a systematic level there's not a ton we individually can do to change things--and on a practical level, there's only so much you can afford to spend on food, and organic, cruelty free stuff is more expensive. There is a level of privilege in being able to choose to spend your money in that way that is not always an option for everyone.

I'm not vegan. I'm not vegetarian. I care deeply about animals, and I'm aware of what commercial husbandry looks like--it's pretty terrible. I still eat meat. I try to do so as ethically as I reasonably can.

I don't have an issue with eating other animals. It's a part of nature. To me, I see the obligation more to do our best to try to get meat (or byproducts) that have been raised as well as we can manage. Free range eggs are pretty easy to come by, if you live in the country. Same with locally made cheeses and butters, even farm fresh milk--some places have self-serve milking that allows cows to roam in pastures and then be milked at will. Price and availability will vary by where you are, but it's more and more common; as more and more people start to care about how the people and animals involved in making our food are treated, better options become more available.

It also should be noted that the animals involved in farming are almost universally completely domesticated. There's no alternative for these animals and their progeny except for life in human care. These breeds require human aid for their own health and safety, because we have been breeding them for (in many cases) thousands of years to rely on us and to develop traits that will not aid them in the wild. If everyone decided, tomorrow, to become vegan, then these animals would need to remain in human care for however many thousands of generations it would take to breed them back to the ability to survive without us, or we would have to sterilize them en mass and terminate these breeds through lack of reproduction. It is not an option to just release these farm animals into the wild. Domesticated animals require human care. Some of them, like pigeons, have gone feral when we abandoned them, but they are not like their wild cousins, and it shows.

Because of the selective breeding involved in domestion, most of these animals are producing byproducts--eggs, milk, honey, wool, etc--in quantities that they do not need. While some species have been bred to do that to their own detriment, most heritage breeds are fully capable of producing more than they need of these things, and there can be true symbiosis between these animals and their human caretakers. Some of these things they need to have removed for their own health. It's an ancient bargain--we keep them safe, and warm, and healthy, and protected, and they give us that which they have in abundance. The problem isn't the animal product, it's how it's produced commercially.

So yeah--veganism is one option, but it is, in my opinion, a narrow scope at an issue that is far more nuanced. I think it's equally ethical to aim for a diet that focuses on local, ethical farming practices--for growing crops, for caring for meat animals, for beekeeping, for chickens and sheep and whatever else we need. We've spent longer than any of us will live making these animals part of our world--discarding them and what they can give us is not going to benefit them. We just have to learn how to treat them respectfully.

[lizardsfromspace]

The queen of dubious Hollywood plagiarism cases is Sophia Stewart. She's the woman who The Matrix and The Terminator were stolen from, if you've heard that legend; she won a billion dollars and her victory over the studios was so big it was only ever reported by...the college paper of Salt Lake Community College. In truth she didn't win the case, she won the right to not have it dismissed, which it eventually was when she failed to show up.

Like, she wasn't claiming The Matrix and The Terminator were stolen from her work as a whole; she claimed they were stolen from the same story, even though the only real similarity they have is "robots destroyed the Earth and there's human rebels". How can this be? Well the story was unpublished in the 80s. But you can buy it now! ...but that version's from after she made her case, so who knows if it looks like the original. The Amazon reviews include a lot of glowing ones from people without avatars, and a lot of one star ones from people who seem to exist saying that it's more or less a plot outline and the majority of the book is just legal documents

But you don't have to dig into that bc she claims she sent it to a contest for story ideas run by the Wachowskis. In 1986. When they were not only not filmmakers, but a teenager and in college respectively. That's ten years before they made their first feature film, and she claims they were running a contest for story ideas in a national magazine she cannot name, even though she obsessively documents every other aspect of the plagiarism case. You literally don't have to look up any other facet of her argument: this one basic fact making no sense chronologically, and being the only element she can't produce, lets you dismiss the rest. The Wachowskis simply were not running national filmmaking competitions when they were in college

And yet! It spreads. It still spreads. When the fourth Matrix movie came out there were "Actually, the Wachowskis stole The Matrix from an African-American woman" reminders everywhere. It spreads on TikTok, Twitter, and even Tumblr. All from people who haven't actually tried looking up her story, and who are going off a Utah community college paper's misinterpretation that her slightly delaying losing her case was somehow her winning billions. It sounds good, and that's all that matters

[painfullyprickedandticked]

a common debate within the fandom is the annual question of “is striker a supremacist?”

particularly, whenever one makes an analysis on striker, there’s always one comment mentioning “he is a supremacist.” however, there have been, recently, arguments that he is not a supremacist but rather just believes himself to be superior.

let’s look into both sides of this debate and draw our own conclusions.

the argument on why he isn’t:

BLITZØ is the one who refers to striker as a supremacist and blitzø isn’t particularly good at perceiving people. he tends to resort to insults instead (like when he called fizz a “peppy fuck doll” and verosika a “drunken whore”).

if someone’s views contrast with how blitzo sees the world, he immediately resorts to throwing an insult and that’s his perception of the person up until they shake the viewpoint. we’ve seen this with clown boy and we’ve seen him relent with verosika. basically, there’s some bias on blitzo’s end towards cowboy snake dude.

a supremacist is someone who believes a certain type of person is better than another. striker doesn’t believe imps are superior to other hell species, he thinks HE is superior to other hell species. therefore he’s not a supremacist, he has a superiority complex. those are two different things.

“what is a superiority complex?”

 examples of evidence proving striker does have a superiority complex include:

he wrote a song dedicated to his own victory in harvest moon festival, with lyrics literally declaring “i’m so much better than you.” he’s always been self-centered, having an overexaggerated self-worth. 

a lot of his anger towards moxxie can be taken as self projections, and same with fizz.

the reason striker mentions to blitzø that the two of them are superior to most of their kind was a manipulation tactic to throw blitzø off of his case when he was caught trying to shoot stolas

it amazes me how many people miss this context when its so clear as day. its also apparent that hybrid imps can sniff out other hybrids, akin to how in real life, if youre mixed race, you can often have a gut feeling that someone might also be mixed.

another point someone made: blitzø doesn’t know about striker’s past. we know striker implied it in western energy, but blitzø himself doesn’t know. if he understood what happened to him, then maybe he’d gain more of an understanding of striker as a person instead of this “evil supremacist” facade he sees.

“"Look. Not every ring is some fancy ass city, with some fancy ass mansion, that only fancy ass royals get to live in. Some of us have hard lives to live. And some of us have everything we care about taken away by fuckers like you."”

I’ll quote someone I discussed this topic with, though I won’t tag or name because I don’t want people to go after them. I’m not here to start discourse—I’m here to explore viewpoints. Here's their take:

“His anger and pain is so genuine and so real, you hear it in Ed’s performance, i don’t get how ppl look at the disgust in his voice and his face whenever things get personal (his speech to Stolas and his reaction to Fizz saying he’s no better than any royal) and take it as he’s putting on an act and lying about it.” […] “Extremist is a better word for him imo than supremacist and he def has some self-racism/hatred going on for sure hence how he put downs imps he feels are lower than him but upholds those he feels meets his standards, if that makes sense yk? It’s about what he sees as weak or embarrassing for his own kind. It’s not actually about wanting any class to be superior, it’s about him and what he thinks.”

it’s important to note, no matter how you view the angle of coding characters who aren’t human – giving them racial coding and all – there is an allegory within the series. imps are the lowest on the hierarchy, and the goetias are merely only a step below the deadly sins and lucifer (+ charlie and lilith). so if we put imps into the minority role, that implies imp hybrids are, well, mixed race.

we notice this in an example of how stella treats imps, even including striker himself.

[attempted script format here. didnt work, lol]

he doesn’t like working for her. he puts up with her because that’s his meal ticket. it’s payment. there isn’t a moral high ground he stands on, but there is a ground where he’s below her and he knows it – he’s exhausted. he’s tired. resorts to a slur because that’s how much she exasperates him. because she’s a privileged royal lady, and he’s at the bottom of the caste system. he cant pick or choose, unlike with IMP and their jobs.

it’s a lot more nuanced than a lot of people are willing to take on simply because some don’t like striker and dismiss everything surrounding his character that isn’t those specific lines talking about superiority or blitzo’s supremacist comment. 

as i finish writing up this section, i wanna make it clear i also like blitzo and stolas and i’m not justifying striker’s treatment of anyone. i’m not being an apologist, but i’m examining this particular case “he’s not a supremacist” because, yknow, you gotta look at the other side sometimes when it is presented in a calm manner and not just straight up character bashing or disrespect to the creator bc “omg my ship didn’t happen” or “whaaaat? the villain was always a villain and NOT a love interest? how dare that BITCH” [these takes exist and my brain melts each time…]

okay, i think im done with this side. ill make the rest pretty concise and cite someone else here who's detailed things for the other side of the argument. thanks to TVM for letting me quote you. im tired to write up the other side because my fucking google doc with these notes got erased. i hate it here!!!!!!!

why striker at least has some Certain Ideals (sigh)

"Blue Bloods"

"Disgusting, rich, pompous goetia"

"Some of us have everything we care about taken away by fuckers like you."

"You don't get to talk over me. . . all you ever do is try to talk over us."

"Once I split your neck open and let you choke on your own blue blood, you won't be worth any more than the tomb stone you'll be buried under."

So . . . first, he doesn't actually say a lot that's solely about royals, and ALL of the quotes above are about how royals look down on people like him, NOT about any inherent flaws that they have. They're about class, not race, unless you count "blue blood" as race. I don't. It's tied directly to money. "Disgusting" comes up in reference to Blitz's relationship with Stolas, but the words "rich" and "pompous" follow immediately. Striker hates royals because he hates that society places them above him.

Imps

"Pathetic."

"You little things aint worth the cleanup."

"Oh I remember how easy you are to choke the life out of, little one."

"Blitz, come on. You know the two of us are superior to most of our kind."

"I still think it's embarrassing. You're wasting a lot of potential relying on a weak little . . ."

"Vermin"

I think that this is where Striker's worldview comes into clearer focus. He thinks that Moxxie and Millie (and by extension MOST imps) are inferior to him. The word "vermin" is particularly telling. There's something visceral about his disgust for "lesser" imps.

I think Striker worries that they reflect who he really is. I think he truly believes that imps are inferior to higher class demons, and he fears that if he doesn't prove himself to be special (through violent dominance), he's vermin himself.

Notice how in the image below, his edge over Moxxie is all about size and physical strength- the things he implies throughout the episode make him the superior being. Look at that wide smile. He loves the feeling of being superior.

Relationships between imps and royals

"You are so above sucking on a disgusting rich pompous goetia . . ."

"kill the unkillable . . . starting with the one that treats you like a plaything."

"Blitzy"

"You two are both embarrassments to our kind for meddlin' with blue bloods to begin with. But at least loud mouth here has the sense to only fuck his rich bitch, instead of being a little purse dog."

"This worthless little pet reeks of his over bloated master. I'll at least enjoy getting rid of him."

Striker clearly sees these relationships as imps lowering themselves. It doesn't seem to occur to him even for a moment that these relationships might involve genuine care because he sees all interactions between social classes as being about power and "who wins."

all sourced from here.

conclusion?

I don’t know how to finish off this post. I was trying to give both sides a microphone and at this point, every time I make a post on Striker, I have to make it clear that I hate the woobification of him from a loud majority who only do so because they’ve got a weird hate boner for Stolas. Y’all might not have seen it, but I have on Twitter. I have seen it from here. I have seen it in fucking AO3 with straight up disrespectful cross tagging of character bashing and actual flanderization (see here on why striker is not canonically ruined), along with straight up kill-fics and thinly veiled disrespect to the creators.

But lately I’m also hating the boring, simplistic take of “he’s just a supremacist” and not analyzing him more than that. He’s such an interesting, complex character in a show of complex characters, and nobody bothers to examine him! They just either dismiss him as revolutionary or a supremacist! They never go into his grey areas or “hey, why is he like THAT?” - no, it’s just the boring same old takes.

This guy has so many layers. He’s a minority within a minority. He’s turned off by sex jokes yet has such rizz. He has an adrenaline rush from fighting. He is self centered yet also emotional. Yes, he’s a dick and a murderer. No, he’s not just a rat bastard and no he didn’t threaten to kill Octavia - he simply brought her up to throw Stolas off. It was more so "shame your kid won't see you again", not "oh im gonna kill your baby girl after i show her your decapitated head". Yes, his layers and tragic backstory yet unyielding thirst for killing when he sets eyes on a target make him interesting. It’s called being a villain enjoyer but no one seems to like a villain for being a villain anymore in his case. They either gotta justify him or they gotta woobify him, or they have to demonize him. I’ve seen people make the worst comparisons and it baffles me.

I just wanna enjoy this rat bastard in peace but then stupidity resurfaces in my head and it’s inescapable at times. Tiring. </3

This isn’t the conclusion you probably wanted if you read this far. Sorry. But I'm at a loss of what else to say atp. I wanna find more normal fans of Striker who aren’t just insane people who woobify him to bash Stolas. And I'm also tired of people who actively bash him trying to weigh in on my stuff. Like... is there any normal enjoyer of him besides @eldritchcreatureofwords ?

Anyway, live laugh love Edward Bosco, bye.

[genericpuff]

completely off topic but regarding something that i saw pop up in my FB feed and i need to rant about

please do not fall for this shit

nintendo is NOT anti-AI.

it's really easy for them to say they're not going to use generative AI to create their games, because this statement has nothing to do with the very real issues with AI art such as the blatant theft of artists' work, environmental impact, replacement of humans in the industry, and just flat out unethical shit that AI has been designed around

it has EVERYTHING to do with their intellectual property rights, which Nintendo is NOTORIOUS for protecting with an iron fist even at their own expense. and i'm not talking the usual sensible argument shit like "ofc Nintendo wants to protect their IP's, they're a business!" i'm talking about the fact that this is the same company that just recently did a major takedown of the vast majority of Nintendo-licensed games on Vimm's Lair which aren't even being sold legitimately anywhere anymore-

i have so many fucking bones to pick with the flaccid bootlicking anti-piracy arguments out there but basically it comes down to this:

Nintendo is not a small indie company. They are literally one of the biggest, richest, most powerful gaming companies on the planet, rivalling Disney in just how many major franchises they own and profit off of. Many of their games are cultural classics, not just through the sentimentality and nostalgia of our childhoods, but also for all the innovations they made through games like Super Mario Bros, Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and many others that we, within the world of gaming, owe a lot to and should be able to access and play. It's not a matter of "wanting these games for free", it's a matter of wanting to be able to access these games, period, and Nintendo is deadset on making it as difficult as possible, even when it doesn't necessarily profit from them (need I remind you that many of the games that were taken down from Vimm's Lair are NOT available through their shitty, poorly-ported emulation subscription service - plus that subscription service can be altered and/or removed at any time, regardless of what you paid for, just like the Wii Virtual Console was, meaning you do not own any of the games you're paying to play on there.)

This isn't about being "cheap" or "not wanting to pay for games". This is about media preservation and the virtue of actually owning the things we pay for. If these games were resold at official outlets for reduced prices or made more accessible through e-shops that don't close down in between console generations or drip feed the odd legacy title every few months or release crappy ports on their outdated af tech for only a few months at a time for three times the price of their original value, people would gladly pay. It's the fact that people are having to put up with all of the hoops that Nintendo has put in place to prevent them from even handing them money to play their favorite titles that even drives them to piracy to begin with, and Nintendo will gladly shut those sites down to protect their IP even when it's an IP they're no longer profiting from and aren't making active efforts to sell.

Like, I would gladly hand over a reasonable amount of money (i.e. not the cost of a brand new triple A title in 2024 which is like $80-$100 here in Canada) for Diddy Kong Racing on the Switch, but ofc it's not on the fucking online play store and even if it was, I'd have to deal with paying an overpriced subscription fee for a port of the game that would undoubtedly run WORSE than it does on my PC, and that subscription service can be taken down at any time. But Nintendo wants me to not pirate the game that's not available on their shitty subscription service because... just don't do it, pretty please??

Nintendo is not anti-AI. They would gladly use AI in place of manual labor to scour the internet and dish out DMCA's to every emulation site, archived ROM hub, fan game, and artist alley creator if they could... oh wait, they already are.

Do not fall for the virtues of anti-AI when it comes to companies like Nintendo. They are not anti-AI. They're anti-ownership. They're anti-preservation.

[suzukiblu]

do you have any kryptonians hcs that you think would be fun to see incorporated in more fics out there? like cultural stuff & biology

Ones I've seen before and really like:

Kryptonians purr

Kryptonians are built physically harder/denser/heavier than humans and don't have much "give" in their bodies

Kryptonians can tell that humans aren't the same thing as them, but humans can't QUITE tell that Kryptonians aren't the same thing as them; there is just the tiiiiiniest bit of uncanny valley there when they aren't deliberately trying to pass for humans, though

Kryptonians immediately just "recognize" other Kryptonians as being Kryptonian ( though maybe this one is at least IMPLIED in canon, though I've never been totally clear on that one--but like, a stronger version of it, if that makes sense?? )

Ones I've been slooowly forming myself for personal use:

Kryptonians have different voices and different hearing, in the sense that a Kryptonian has more tones/nuance in their voice and can HEAR more tones/nuance in a voice, and a lot of other species' voices sound flat or toneless to them because they lack those additional tones

"chiming" as a way for children to get their parent/caretaker's attention; basically a specific musical little sound that they make

Kryptonians typically only being physically expressive or emotive with close family members/friends, and vocal communication frequently being more emotive/descriptive for them than physical is

Kryptonians come in just sliiiightly brighter colors than humans do--eyes, hair, skin, etc

it takes a long time and extended time together to "learn" someone's heartbeat

food is generally served on specific complementing dishware, in terms of color/shape/specific meal

most clothes involve multiple layers, mainly a fitted undersuit that covers as much skin as possible, and then an overrobe or two that hide(s) the shape of their bodies as much as possible; specific cuts of drapery are a big thing in their fashion

wearing house crests is a Big Deal all the time and involves certain rites of passage/ages/etc

diet being fairly simple and minimalistic; they have rice but not really bread, eat more fish than red meat, and cuisine tends to concentrate on very subtle and natural flavors; there's not typically a lot of different things on their plate and they don’t generally use chemical preservatives in daily life

to a Kryptonian it'd be a LOT more normal that Kon and Match got made in test tubes than it'd be that Jon and Chris got made via natural births, and there would absolutely be a "is cloning worse or is just leaving your kid's DNA up to chance worse??" kind of argument going on there, culturally speaking

( also I could go on for a fucking MINUTE how Jon being a successful and healthy hybrid who is also apparently fertile enough to have at least one descendent alive and well in the thirty-first century is an insane and weird thing that makes very little sense that I DESPERATELY wish came up in more of the fics/canon that I see involving or mentioning him; seriously, Kryptonian DNA is so complicated that Bizarro syndrome is a regular thing in clones produced from it even by people who SPECIALIZE in cloning, but the kid who just got whatever random genes won the random race is the one who came out perfectly stable and healthy and has ZERO health issues/concerns? like, EVER?? hOW, canon. HOW. )

I will actually live and die on the hill of "Lex is more genetically compatible with Kryptonian DNA than Lois is" because fuck a) biological determinism and b) loving couples DO frequently have to deal with genetic incompatibility and that's just much more interesting to me narratively, and also I love the weird little not-quite-tragedy of that concept, both in how Lex refuses to be an ally to someone he actually is so naturally “compatible” with and in how Lois would have genetic compatibility issues with someone she loved so much and was loved BY so much

ONE DAY I will write the fic where Jon is actually NOT a healthy hybrid and has a ton of health issues from birth and can't even use any Kryptonian powers without having a freaking asthma attack or HEART attack, resigns himself to it just being an unavoidable Kryptonian-human hybrid thing and that he'll never live up to his dad or grow up to be "Superman"--and then one day an oblivious newborn bb clone Kon shows up out of the blue in perfect health with EXTRA superpowers and very publicly declaring that HE'S gonna be Superman someday, and everyone in the Kent family has to just deal with that and how they all feel about it. ONE DAY.

[iifishizzleii]

no because the real f!american y/n isn’t a southern sweetheart. she isn’t a small, pretty thing with a viper’s tongue who has a soft spot for the 141.

she’s a military brat who despises politicians, hates america but is the only one in the task force allowed to hate america, shits on british foods, and is as big as the rest of the men because she fucking hates working out but she refuses to have her bench press PR be beaten by a guy that asks for a ‘cuppa’ after a mission. she grew up with both sisters and brothers, and knows how to cook/clean not because she loves it but because it’s a basic human necessity.

she’s got a temper, but she can control it because she’s a grown ass woman. she’s kind of awkward and quiet at first being the only woman on a previously all-male military team, in a career dominated by men. but, they’re respectful if not awkward as well, unsure of how a woman would fit into their space, and they realize how dirty their previous habits are when they notice how tidied she is. she doesn’t clean up after them nor does she take care of them, but she does inspire better hygiene habits in the men that keep them from smelling less like greasy mud slabs.

she wears the same uniform as the men, and her hair hasn’t grown past her shoulders in years because it’s a hassle to constantly braid/tie into a bun to be kept up during missions. her call sign would be inspired by something stupid or ridiculous she did, because that’s how most callsigns are made. probably something like ‘buck tooth’ because she called soap a ‘buck toothed buick-built bitch’ during an argument of whether american sweet tea was better than britains (she won through sheer creative insults).

she’s not the picture beauty most people visualize because war dirties everyone, and being a woman doesn’t stop her knees from falling in the dirt. she’s not the brains of the team either, but she isn’t the breath of fresh air that brings humanity to the team either. she’s funny when she wants to be, creative in the moment but can’t solve a math problem for her life, vulnerable only because she knows it’s out of trust for her team, not weakness. she gets into arguments, sometimes adds toxicity to an already broiling argument, and starts fights that get physical. and there’s no apologies, just days of silence until she’s suddenly talking to the men again (those days of silence are hell on the new recruits).

for me, f!american y/n is what a lot of other countries know americans to be like meshed together— kind, a little arrogant, dumb but not stupid, strong through sheer will, and america’s #1 hater until someone else who isn’t tries to hate on them. <3

[caputvulpinum]

I remember you being something of a scholar on christian theology. I have a question if you don't mind. My tumblr is full of people clowning on american conservative catholics that are angry that the pope basically fired that bishop in Texas, and the tumblr posters saying "lol u disagree with the pope that makes you disagree w/ god's word" or "that makes u a protestant" etc etc.

And while I do enjoy dunking on the trad caths, I think I heard at some point that the pope isn't always talking with his authority as god's most special boy on earth. That most of the time he is just being a human and therefore could be wrong/make errors. Not that I care about the jerk bishop losing his job, but I'm curious, how do we know when the pope is or is not talking with the authority of God backing him up? Does he have to say a special phrase at the start and end of the speech, or hold both hands up above his head, or something?

Okay so what you're referring to here is actually the concept known as papal infallibility, which is one of my favorite pieces of Catholic canon for one very simple reason:

You learn about it as being essentially the Pope is God's most special boy on Earth and what he says is always directly spoken to him from God and therefore is infallible. And if you are like me when you first hear about this concept, you will immediately get trapped in shower arguments for the rest of your life fantasizing about calling the Pope homophobic and arguing for the Catholic church to please stop being so goddamned homophobic all the time.

This is when you learn that papal infallibility is much more fallible than it is made out to be, and this is basically the source of the issue with Strickland, Torres, and any other Bishop that Francyman has decided to give the boot. See, papal infallibility isn't merely a divine play-pretend godmode button, it's a complex and intricate place within theological debate and Vatican hierarchical bureaucratic structure.

Without going into too much of a in-depth explanation, another way to think of papal infallibility is that it's essentially the Holy Roman Catholic version of the President of the United States declaring an executive order that bypasses the Senate. Infallibility is used for similar reasons--it's got a semi-strict set of rules attached to its usage, which means that the Pope is not constantly infallible, but rather that the Pope as God's chosen elect on Earth therefore commands His greatest attention, which allows the Pope direct intercession and communication with God on paths that the Church as a body should walk.

There are usually supposed to be bureaucratic machinations for dethrocking or deposing a bishop, much of which is directly connected to confirming and providing direct evidence for certain crimes that the Holy See would consider too serious to allow him to continue serving in his position. But the Pope is the divinely elected God-Emperor Best Favorite of Oily Josh and his Daddio Self, so generally speaking when it comes to the Pope, there's always the option baked in for him to say "Fuck you I'm the Pope and you're going to do what I say without precedent".

This is the core of the issue for the current Strickland debacle--there might not be hard-and-fast written rules stating that Strickland can be removed from office through traditional means, but Francis doesn't approve of what he's preaching and using his office for since it's causing the minorest of itty-bitty issues with his principled stance of being The Pope That Liberals Might Vaguely Not Hate As Much. So he's functionally exercising a form of papal infallibility by skipping over procedures and etiquette to tell Strickland "Fuck you I'm the Pope and you're going to do what I say without precedent", and Strickland is going "But I thought you would only do that to bishops who belong to brown countries :(", and here we are.

[dragonlands]

There's so much negativity around Izzy's death so I wanted to address some of the points I keep seeing thrown around.

"Izzy's death was pointless"

No, he just had his big speech about how basically they can kill him but they cannot kill the movement. That is a clear paraller to a lot of real life protestors of unjustice. He died protecting the community, he died so the community could go on.

"Izzy's death made his healing pointless"

No it didn't. Healing is always good, feeling happiness and belonging are ALWAYS worth it. We never know how long we've got, doesn't mean we gotta stop trying to be better or happier. His healing was still real. It still mattered.

"Izzy's character arc was left unfinished, it's bad writing"

Oh my god. If you open any writing guide about how to write impactful deaths, and the first thing that comes up is to leave some part of their arc unfinished. And his arc did go through quite a beautiful line, sure there could've been more but his story didn't end like, mid arc. As a writer, of course you want to make the audience sad when a character dies. It's good storytelling. Good stories are supposed to make us feel.

"Izzy died on the arms of his abuser"

Where the hell did this idea come from? Ed and Izzy have been in a toxic codependent relationship way before this show started. You could argue that Izzy was Ed's abuser, but that is not the argument I want to make here. Yes, we saw Ed driven to madness shoot Izzy on screen, but we know Izzy's the one that forced him to be Blackbeart when he didn't want it anymore. There's turmoil all around them. But the final moment is them finally meeting as people, not as components of Blackbeard.

"Izzy's death was unnecessarily awful"

His death was sad, yes, but it was quite beautiful as far as deaths go. He was surrounded by family who cared for him. He was loved, and accepted as he is. He knew his legacy will be carried on.

"They killed off the only character that showed us healing is never too late"

Did we watch the same show? That begins with then unhappy 40+ year old Stede deciding it's finally time to reach for his dreams? Where we see Blackbeard slowly gaining back his humanity? Where Black Pete starts off as toxically masculine dude but ends up in a soft gay marriage? Where most of the crew wanted to mutiny but then they realized being soft is good, actually. Jim's whole purpose in life being revenge but them learning to let that go and instead concentrate on love and fun and family. And so on. Izzy's arc is beautiful, but he's not the only person healing who thought it was too late already.

"Izzy's death was bury your gays trope"

No, what, no. In a pirate show where everyobody is queer some queer people will die. Bury your gays is about only having one or few queer characters and killing them off while the straights get their happily ever afters. This is so far from that.

Also, I want people to be aware of the phenomenon, where creators of diverse shows are subjected to more critism than those of non diverse shows. If this intrests you, Sarah Z on Youtube made a great video on it called Double standards and diverse media. Our flag means death has given us so much, queer love story with a happily ever after, finding community, nonbinary character. And the creators have always been so kind to fans, so let's show them tht kindness back. Because critizicing this one aspect can easily turn to seeming like the whole story is just unwanted. That stories like Ed and Stede's aren't worth telling. And I'm so aftraid that will happen, when just now for the first time in years we are finally getting queer stories.

Also, I understand people are sad. I am sad too - Izzy was an amazing character and his death was sad but that's just. Good writing. You can grieve, but trying to turn it into a moral or dramaturgy issue is just not a good look. And attacking the creators of this wonderful show is just horrible.

Remember - this fandom is a safe space ship 🏴‍☠️🏳️‍🌈

[bluegiragi]

hello! i'm gira, i go by she/her, and i've been making fanart for the cod fandom for about four months now :) the majority of that time's been spent on the soapbox saga, which is sort of just what i call the very plot-ridden porn comic featuring ghost, soap and konig. and recently i've been working on the monster 141 au!

i'm here to address the reasoning behind how i assigned certain monsters to certain characters, particularly the POC characters as well as accusations of racism regarding me neglecting gaz in all my art :) whoever you are, if you're reading this in good faith, i thank you! i earnestly never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable from my work.

The Monster AU

i won't post the blog who brought this issue up mainly because, (realistically speaking) i think people might go after them and spam them with hate so I'm paraphrasing here. but basically..."how come all the POC in the Monster AU are assigned animal-associated monsters? Comparisons to animals can be incredibly demeaning when it comes to minorities".

I completely agree! But earnestly, I think my desire to assign every character a 'monster' that was relevant to their culture overshadowed the part of my brain that would've raised red flags about this sort of thing. There's the argument here that I could've assigned these characters cooler monsters such as Price who is a dragon, and Ghost who is a wraith, but I wanted to be respectful of all the minorities in the COD cast by giving them creatures that reflected their culture and personality.

ALEJANDRO - NAGUAL

In the Monster AU, Alejandro is a nagual, which is considered a guardian spirit in Mesoamerican culture. Typically, it's said that the nagual is the shapeshifted form that powerful men can transform into in order to do evil (although that doesn't apply in this case, Ale's a heroic lad), and can come in the forms of a jaguar, deer, dog or bird. I chose a jaguar, since it seemed to be the most common form of nagual depiction in the resources I was looking at. The 'panther mode' isn't pre-established as part of nagual mythology, but since most panthers are just black jaguars, i thought the association wouldn't be unreasonable.

I chose Alejandro to be a nagual because it's so in character for him to be protective of his home. The idea of him being a literal guardian spirit for all he considers his just made sense to me :)

--

RODOLFO (RUDY) - CADEJOS

In this AU, Rudy is the vessel for two cadejos, which are legendary dog spirits popular in the mythology of Central America, parts of South America and Mexico. Historically, they've been known as psychopomps (guides to help humans into the afterlife following their death) but modern interpretation has shifted to depict them as the good guardian dog and the evil attacking dog respectively.

A lot of the minute information about the cadejos tends to differ depending on the source. Like whether they're actually two separate dogs, or they're the same dog just in different 'modes', or how big they are. My personal depiction of them has them sized as normal dogs (although their spirit nature means they can move into small spaces pretty easily by just becoming immaterial temporarily) and as separate spirits that have been passed down through Rudy's family generationally.

I chose the cadejo for Rudy because although I wanted to include him in the Monster AU, i still liked keeping him as a character who was a bit more 'human' than Alejandro. I think Ale needs Rudy to hold him back sometimes, and having the two cadejo definitely helps with that. Sort of like how cheetahs in zoos have therapy dogs growing up because they're so anxious all the time! I think it also does a good job of showing Rudy's two sides as well, like he's a softie who just wants to protect those he loves, but he's capable of a lot of violence too.

--

VALERIA - GORGON

Valeria is a gorgon which, admittedly, is not part of Mexican mythology. However, I was put in a bit of a bind here, since my research didn't really reveal to me a monster in Mexican culture that I thought would suit Valeria's vibe (manipulative, elulsive) and I just felt like a gorgon would be perfect for her. Medusa's myth has her being continuously demeaned by the men in her life and is a symbol of female empowerment, which I thought was a great reflection of the implied reason that Valeria left the army was due to internal sexism. There's also the perfect parallel of how anyone who sees El Sin Nombre's face dies, and Medusa's whole 'turn you to stone' thing.

I thought i could compromise by making Valeria a gorgon but her hair would be Mexican black kingsnakes but...turns out they're actually not that dangerous. Some people even keep them as pets! So I decided to keep the visual, but make her a pit viper, a subfamily of vipers found in the Americas as well as Eurasia.

--

HORANGI - HAETAE

Horangi is a haetae (해태) which is a beast in Korean mythology that typically comes in the form of a horned lion or dog. It's prevalent in a lot of cultures in East Asia actually, although it goes under different names depending on the region - kaichi for Japan, xiezhi for China. I made Horangi a tiger variant on the creature because...well...'horangi' means 'tiger' in korean. It just made sense to me to put that little twist on it.

Typically, haetae are seen as spirits of judgement, that decide on innocent and guilty parties in disputes and punish the latter. It's also considered a guardian against fire (hence the fire immunity and cloud manipulation powers I gave him).

GAZ - HARPY

Gaz is a harpy which, I won't lie, was purely inspired by the fact that he seems to keep falling out of helicopters. But it's also because...yeah, I did neglect Gaz in the soapbox saga. But I think I neglected...everyone in the soapbox saga who weren't directly involved in the main ship. I sort of just tunnel visioned on the main three, so my exclusion of characters isn't just limited to Gaz, it was included Price, Laswell, Alejandro, Rudy, Graves etc.

I just want to make clear that my treatment of Gaz in particular isn't reflective of any inner preference against him. And to make good on that, me assigning Gaz wings of all things was to help me spend more time on him in the Monster AU! I think the contrast between Gaz being an upstart harpy, and Price being a one-winged dragon has a lot of potential as a mentor/protege relationship (and perhaps even something more) and it's why I assigned this monster to him. I really wanted to establish a connection upfront, but just making Gaz another dragon felt cheap - the harpy thing felt a little more in turn with his character :)

--

I really hope this cleared up any remaining frustrations with my designs for the Monster AU. I hope you can see that I never meant anything demeaning by assigning these monsters to their respective characters - in fact, I earnestly tried to go out of my way and be respectful to their backgrounds.

In any case, if you have any more questions I'd be happy to answer them - I'd just ask you to please ask politely :)

[shipping-isnt-morality]

I don’t feel like I have anything to say to Zionists anymore except “this is what it sounds like to defend genocide.”

I just - can you hear yourself? I know many of you have studied fascism and the rise of genocidal attitudes. Do you think you’re immune? Do you think being Jewish, or educated, or the descendant of genocide survivors makes you immune? You know better.

My god, if the 20th century can teach us one thing, let it be that humans are great at justifying genocide to themselves and each other when motivated to. No education can inoculate against it. Every excuse had been used before. Every feeling of righteous justification for slaughter has already been invoked.

It is undeniable that there are tens of thousands of dead. So many thousands upon tens upon hundreds of thousands of children dead maimed orphaned traumatized by bombs that Israel dropped, shells that Israel fired, targets chosen by software Israel made.

This is undeniable; I can see it with my own eyes. You can say, this is the reality of war, and I will say: this is the reality of your choices. How Israel wages “war” is a choice. How they go about statecraft is a choice. We cannot and should never accept their justifications that some action of the enemy necessitated this response; they still chose the response.

There was a euphemism in some death camps in Poland: “dirty work”. It was often literally true - there’s horrific stories about the smell and texture of industrial amounts of human ash - but also figuratively; the work of mass executions is more often seen as a necessary evil for the accomplishment of a greater good. It’s rarely celebrated or acknowledged openly for what it is at the time. All of this is very normal in genocide.

I look at my timeline in the past months, at the choices Israel has made for its “greater good”, I have listened to the justifications. What I see is Israelis making the same old tired weak excuses for their own dirty work.

And all I have to say anymore is: this is what it sounds like when you defend genocide. You have not invented a new thought in all of it. “They’re not a real group, they’re monsters, we don’t want to kill them but we have to, we just want them to leave before they kill us all and they’ll try to exterminate us the second we stop killing them” - save it.

Do some fucking reading on other genocides - the Armenian one is particularly relevant - and read arguments from genocide deniers and you will quickly see it is all the same shit. Check out Facebook posts from Myanmar during the genocide and it’s basically indistinguishable from tweets from Zionists today. It’s the same shit, over and over and over again.

Literally billions of people with eyes can see what Israel is doing and call it what it is, because it’s been done before, and all the defensive answers and excuses have been done before too.

This is what it looks like when people defend genocide. Always just like this.