#tw implied sa

[fic-over-cannon]

Jason Todd will cockblock himself if he thinks you can’t give 100% informed consent.

A few too many drinks at a gala and you’re drunkenly trying to make out with your gorgeous boyfriend. He’ll stop kissing you once he can taste the champagne on your lips, notices the glassy sheen to your eyes. Jason folds your roaming hands back into your lap and makes you promise to be good. He’ll take you home early and get some water into you before tucking you into bed. He’ll go so far as to sleep on the couch, door open to the bedroom so he can hear if you need him.

Jason remembers what Catherine looked like, coming off of a high and not remembering what day it was. The fear in her eyes and the shake in her voice when she asked if anyone else had been in the apartment.

Jason remembers the early days after the pit. When he’d wake up after blacking out in rage and not remember what his body had done. Seeing the blood on his skin and not knowing where it came from.

Jason never wants you to wake up with that same fearful not knowing. So he’ll sleep on the couch and make sure you’re safe. In the morning he’ll cook you breakfast and kiss you silly. But you’re going to have a talk, the two of you, once you’re sober enough to have a real conversation. Establish boundaries and plan consent for if you do want to fool around if one of you is impaired, or how you want to handle it if you don’t. But it’s not tomorrow yet, and Jason’s tired. He can sleep soundly though, knowing that nothing’s going to happen to you.

[bruciemilf]

I know I rave about Jason having a protective streak when it comes to Bruce, but Dick? Dick who wanted murder on his hands since he was 10? Oof.

Super angsty idea, but the Court of Owls abducting the batfamily, except Bruce couldn't slip into the cowl on time.

So it's just the robins and one heavily drugged Bruce Wayne in a room that promises damage.

"Cheeky," Damian tries biting one of them, because of course he does. Dick wouldn't expect less from his little war bird.

Shortly after there's rags over them all. Safe for Jason, who's positively fuming under his helmet, of that, Dick has no doubt. "Batman should've thought you manners. But,"

A collective shiver rips through them all when a gloved hand grabs Bruce's chin, " I'm no better than he is. Starting to feel it, Mr. Wayne?"

Maybe he's faking it. Dick hopes it. But that chilling, hollow numbness fogging Bruce's eyes indicates this is some heavy stuff. That whimper of discomfort sure sounds real.

"He could've joined us. But he wanted the slums instead. He just loves betting on losing dogs. But we're gonna have so much fun with him. And I for one, can't wait for you to watch."

When that sleazy bastard toys with Bruce's belt, Jason kicks the chair Damian's in. "Look away," the order is both quiet and steely and he doesn't think Damian listens over all his struggling.

A snarl fills the oppressive silence of the room. Jason thinks it might’ve been him. But at his right?

Dick is trashing, struggling, pulling, shaking, -- any effort to loosen his restraints. He's shouting behind his gag, growling, with a feral and savage blood-lust dripping off him.

"Aw, don't worry. After I'm done I'll let you have a turn. I know you're ...attached to him."

Dick is violance and rage with skin, and God help the court when he's out of those handcuffs. Batman can take care of himself. But his Tati needs him.

If it's blood they want, he's got the teeth.

I adore aggressive, protective Dick Grayson so much.

[wilsonthemoose]

Grey's Anatomy 10.03 Everybody's Crying Mercy

For Suncaptor's birthday event, for the prompt: Lucifer and Sam

[shakingparadigm]

no one’s talking about that half-naked alien petting till and i am both glad but also haunted by that. please tell me that wasn’t implying what i think it is. till has gone through wayyy too much and i will literally sob if it turns out he’s gone through this too

I had a post drafted about that but I didn't know how to feel about posting it at first. I'm just gonna reiterate it here though.

The entire first verse of ROUND 6 was actually pretty uncomfortable to watch, at least for me. I genuinely thought we were going to delve into that territory, you know. And I wouldn't put it past VIVINOS of all people to do it. The dim lighting, alcohol bottles, the very familiar environment of private rooms and drunk cruelty, it all resembles certain acts and situations that are unfortunately common within the performance industry. ALIEN STAGE obviously emphasizes the horrific aspects of stardom and could be read as a commentary on that kind of culture as a whole (constant performativity, lack of autonomy, performers as objects possessed by those of higher power, literal cutthroat competition, etc.), so exploring the topic of assault isn't unlikely, especially when it's so prevalent in that kind of fame. Still, I was jarred when I first watched the video.

The way that they handled Till was upsettingly familiar to me. It was slightly easier to bypass when Urak was simply shoving him via telekinesis. But a group of large, drunk aliens violently putting their hands on him, grabbing him by the neck and bending him on the table (it was at this point I began to feel a bit squeamish), it became a little too real? For me at least. And then there's your main point, the assaulting alien that was clothed in the scene before is now naked in the next, save for the open, unbuttoned shirt. And Till is on the ground next to him, his hair carded through and scratched by giant hands. Till is disheveled and sweating. It seems this was the lowest point of his night, seeing as how he dreams up an angelic apparition of Mizi. An escape, a salvation. Someone that could offer him a soft, gentle respite to balm the pain of his abuse. The way he desperately reaches out, shaking and exhausted, it's painful.

I know it's not explicitly shown in the video. It's not implied in posts (although from what I hear, there's traces of something similar in the Anakt Kit book), but you can't deny the thoughts that the imagery brings to mind, especially when said imagery is so vivid and visceral. I won't claim that this is the absolute message the team was trying to convey, nor that this is the correct way to perceive that scene, just that the pieces leading to this interpretation are there. VIVINOS videos are meticulously crafted, and the whole collection deals with disturbing concepts and topics. If they wanted to imply something, they'd know how to do it. Anyway, the first scenes struck a chord in me, to say the least.

[eggbreadboi]

first dark one in a while, sorry

Catton family toy chest

trying for a statement about Farleigh’s place in the family. ended up with a lot of symbolism and implication and maybe less meaningful iconography than i would’ve wanted. acorns are on the Catton family crest right?? i couldn’t find a reference

[femsammy]

Erlkönig, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Translation by iphisesque

[gabrielsbubblegumbitch]

How are the Vees with kids/teens? For example, let's say they have young fans who are really interested in their work, like Velvette's fashion brand etc.

Velvette hates kids. She has this edgy Twitter girl attitude like ugh, shitlings and probably would constantly post about banning children from public spaces, but that would be bad PR. Teenagers she hates due to her school bullying trauma, so she actively makes their lives more miserable with fake, aspirational content. However, she's always willing to take a photo with a fan if it means creating an even stronger parasocial relationship.

Vox has mixed feelings. He likes meeting his young fans because there's something so rewarding in being loved by kids. It's just... They see you as a god almost (like, work with children is so rewarding? When you buy them, they are amazed by everything you do) and that's not a feeling he could resist. But at the same time, children are chaotic and unpredictable and teenagers can be so darn judgmental he'd rather not spend much time with them.

God, I hope that even in Hell Valentino doesn't have any kid fans?? Though he likes children similarly to pets. They can be entertaining for a few hours if they are of the 'fun, non-crying' kind. He's so irresponsible though; you shouldn't give him one. His teenage fans he loves because they mostly think about sex and drugs, which are his two favorite things, so they can party. Though it's not his preferred company because after a few times, it simply got boring; there's only so much entertainment some high schoolers can offer to the grown-ass man. But it's a great pool to recruit from.

[kermit-coded]

so nightwing 1996 huh.

[juliakeyoto]

You ever think about how Edelgard is just objectively right.

Like, cut out all the war stuff, cut out all the war crime debates, let’s cut to the heart of it: nobility and the crest system. Units that are affected by their crest/being a noble/not being a noble/church stuff:

Ingrid (being passed around to get married due to her crest/her being a woman)

Sylvain (automatically assumes people will only love him for his crest, so he acts like a flirt and hates women)

Leonie (is unironically in debt so she could get a higher education)

Dorothea (I made a rant about this earlier, but she was kicked cast away by her noble dad, and had to do unsavory acts for a chance at her own future)

Felix (is an asshole cause his dad basically slapped him in the face when his brother died over his “knightly and noble” views of how Glenn died)

Bernadetta (is abused by her dad to “become the perfect wife)

Lysithia (is literally dying because of her second crest, which she has due to being used as a test dummy to see if it would even work, leading to all her sibling dying)

Edelgard ( same as above, but worse cause she’s being used as a weapon with barely any way out)

Ashe (his adopted older brother was scapegoated by the church, and when his adopted father looked for Justice he was killed)

Marianne (is literally SUICIDAL because her crest simply has rumors, is harassed by people when they find out)

Caspar (basically has nothing waiting for him at home unless he makes a name out for himself)

Mercedes (has to leave her house due to her dad wanting to make crest babies with her)

Jeritza (went insane or some form of insanity due to the above situation)

Yuri (was used by nobles due to his looks)

Constance (house fell apart since they supported House Hresvelg during the insurrection, so no help came during the Brigid offensive)

Hanneman (his sister was basically made into a baby machine for a cruel, uncaring noble, which lead Hanneman to leave his position)

Mikklan (was cast aside for no crest)

And these are just named characters. How many nameless faces met these same fates? How many died due to some noble scuffle? How many women were used and abused for children? How many died homeless while Nobles counted stacks of gold? When does it end?

And what does the church do? It makes a falling apart, underground “haven” called Abyss. I know any port in a storm, but if the church can afford 5000g a month for teachers that are doing well, they can cough up more money for Abyss. Or is that money better spent on Rhea’s private army, that can execute innocent people like Christophe? Is it better spent on the golden statues of the saints, in the already pristine church that is in the monastery? Is it better spent spreading Rhea’s lies about crests being given from the goddess, leading to people believing they need them to be successful in life? Rhea herself has twisted history and split nations, so she is obviously not corrupt at all. Regardless of her reasons why, her systems and regulations have caused thousands, if not millions to suffer.

So while you’re eating ice cream in Garreg Mach, the church preaches the goddess’s love, while thousands probably die daily due to the system the church supports.

[linktoo]

Watching Alien 9 - how it's perceived and what it wanted to say

Warnings for themes of abuse and implied sexual assault. 

Two things before I start: I watched the subbed version of this, and also there are only 4 episodes if you want to check it out yourself, it’s very short.  

I started watching Alien 9 basically knowing nothing about it. It's an older anime, released back in 2001 so there isn't much internet discussion about it for each episode. But I remember watching it slowly realizing there’s a lot to unpack here. The art direction is beautiful and the dialogue is actually really strong. I went out of my way to look for analysis I could find on the internet because there was a lot that I couldn’t really put into words… but I very quickly came across an ongoing issue.

I guess this is probably a common problem with a lot of media that came out before the internet became the juggernaut that it has become today. The discussion you tend to find doesn’t seem to be very cleaned up or very nuanced - a lot of it is also probably lost to time with discussion forums and personal websites shutting down. But all I saw were really outdated remarks, like “oh kasumi’s the lolicon" and "this is pedo bait”, etc. It was gross and frustrating. So I wanted to talk about it in-depth.  

The anime is initially presented to be a cute slice-of-life anime. Set in a regular school with a sci-fi twist, it gives off a cheery sweet vibe, but even from the very beginning, there was always such an off vibe to it all. With the music fluctuating between cute and off-kilter and discordant. Every shot feels vaguely oppressive, trying to hide something that should be immediately within your line of sight if you were there yourself. You immediately get a sense that something is wrong. 

Not to mention so many silent shots of this looming, grotesque-looking alien pod that looms over the school with weapons. 

Someone commented that the OST for this anime like “a child with anxiety” which is such a great way to describe it! It’s filled with lots of very juvenile, bouncy tunes (like lots of recorders and kazoos and xylophones and horns), even with motifs that sound similar to nursery rhymes like “Mary Had a Little Lamb” but in a minor key. It gives a very jaunty feeling while distinctly feeling off. I think it also has a very soldierly, elementary school vibe to it - like the sound of a bell and young students chanting together in unison like a military cadence. There are instances of kids singing as a choir, giving a religious, holy aspect to certain tracks. It also mixes in synthy, crazy bonker wet sounding and snappy sound samples for the alien feel of it all. It’s erratic. And it’s so cohesive!! I really don’t know much about music composition, but it’s so distinctive to fit the narrative and themes of the show and I love it. Check it out if you’re interested, it’s so funky: [x]

The show focuses on three 12-year-old girls, being tasked with capturing and subduing aliens  with guns, roller skates, and symbiotic aliens that are attached to their heads and feed on their body fluids. Yeah. That’s a bit overwhelming. 

And Yuri Otani, the main character, gets so much shit for hating it. She was forced into it, in a very isolating method of basically the entire classroom ganging up to all vote for her to join (no one wanted to join themselves). The other two, Kumi and Kasumi, are very competent in their own way, which makes Yuri’s inability to capture these very understandably disturbing, pulsating creatures look foolish in comparison.

She cries. Yuri cries a lot. She’s already had a very overwhelming fear with anything that pertains to aliens and left to her own devices she collapses, faints, shudders, wails, and shuts down throughout the entire show. 

And understandably so, it’s creepy and gross and absolutely horrid! It doesn’t get any better!! But everyone around her acts like fighting these aliens are completely normal. Her peers are passive about her distress. Her one kind classmate friend tells her it’s not that bad because of the emergency perks. The adults around her tell her to just stick it out. The other two peers in the alien fighter club frankly have their own concerns and it’s more than just a bit of a liability that Yuri can barely defend herself at all. 

Yuri in turn struggles with depression every moment she isn’t fighting aliens. She can't get out of bed in the morning. She zones out, at home and at work. It’s very resonant with me, because that kind of depression is debilitating and takes over so much of your life - you’re seen as lazy when really, you quite literally can’t function unless someone firmly and continuously forces you to do something. It’s upsetting to watch. 

There are invasive, sexual overtones to this story. A lot of people have likened it to an allegory of puberty where your body is rapidly changing and just in general everything feels very confusing and upsetting. Being taken advantage of because you aren’t experienced. The danger that these adults put these children in and tell them just to figure it out or basically die trying, is very reminiscent of a lot of real societal pressure for kids to grow up with very little emotional support. To “toughen” them up, because one day they have to face this big scary world alone. It’s uncomfortable and it gets worse as the story progresses. 

I don’t want to get into it too much, but there is an allegorical gang rape scene that occurs to Yuri in episode 2. The Hunt club advisor already recognized that she was struggling with alien capturing and was instructed to feed the aliens alone, without the help of the other two members to keep her safe. There, three boys who willingly attached aliens to their head and have had this odd fixation on Yuri for several days, find her all alone. It’s violent. Their drills are overtly phallic themed. I can’t get over the haunting statement of her friend calling her “miss popular” just a few hours beforehand. Their attention was NEVER wanted and that framing is so unsettling to me, like the way people say women who were sexually assaulted were “asking for it”. It’s one of the most disturbing parts of the whole show.

It’s repulsive what they do to her. And her pain is destructive not to herself, but everyone around her. 

And how she immediately collapses when she sees the one person that has always been the closest thing to emotional support throughout the entire show. 

There are very human moments in the show, when there are people that show signs of affection that they didn’t have to do, but did it because they cared about her and it makes all the difference.

Yuri’s one friend Miyu always waits to walk home with her. The alien capturing duties are very isolating from the rest of the school, and forces Yuri to stay very late after everybody leaves. But Miyu waits long hours, and at the end of the day, excitedly meets up with her. She invites Yuri to go shopping with her. It’s very obvious she looks forward to the time they spend together.

(E.g. Miyu reading the shopping manual, passing a note to Yuri in class, the way she runs up to meet Yuri when she’s free. It’s so sweet.)

You can even see the beams almost being prison bars that Yuri is momentarily free from. She’s the reason why Yuri gets enough courage and resolve to try her best again with alien fighting and bonding with the others of her own accord. It shows a lot about Yuri’s desire to do well with the insane tasks and responsibilities her adults give her, even when no one else notices. 

The other two members of the alien capturing club are Kumi and Kasumi.

And though they help Yuri out, it’s definitely a little of a drag for them. Kumi in particular has this deep rooted anger when Yuri begs for help. Her own situation at home reminds her that she is constantly relied on; to be the good sport, to be the mature one in every situation and make all the decisions for everyone. 

“I don’t feel like being nice. Not anymore.

[...]

You know something? I was the class leader from grade one onward. Being class leader sucks. All you do is look after other people and you even have to be responsible for what they do. I always got stuck doing all the crappy jobs. That's why I have this position now. So nobody can say to me ‘YOU be the leader.’ Back off and take care of your own problems.” - Kumi

You can even see her wardrobe tends to be clothes that make her more mature than she actually is, especially her black turtleneck. But she’s just a kid, too.

And to her, Yuri is another pathetic whiny colleague asking for her help. Again. And she’s tired.

Kasumi's own narrative definitely is its own disturbing, isolated situation. She’s seen to be the least upset out of the three of them in the whole series, always with a level head and a smile on her face. She’s a prodigy, and seemingly enjoys what she does. She loves everything - sports, playing music, scoring high on tests. But you can see how it feels rather empty, how she’s put herself in this situation to constantly affirm to all the adults in her life that she is well adjusted and super talented. I get the feeling she was not given the love and attention really needed as a child, and did everything she could to get some form of acknowledgement. Notably, her big brother who is noticeably absent the entire time. For… disturbingly what was implicated to be because of incest and grooming. She never quite recovers from the yellowknife alien taking advantage of her unhealthy dependency on him, as they weren’t able to save her before it symbiotically fused with her.

It's not until the traumatic incident Yuri goes through that it’s revealed that the three of them are emotionally bound and feel Yuri’s distress as if it's their own. It’s startling, like they realize that they all experienced that same terror individually, but Yuri’s is much more paralyzing. And understanding that distress, they become particularly protective about her. They only have each other that can ever fully understand what they’re going through at the moment. A classmate couldn’t ever really see that, and Kumi and Kasumi become the people in Yuri’s life that truly empathize with the situation.

and with all of them, Yuri SHINES.

Every time there is a kindness that someone extends to her, her eyes light up. She goes quiet and says, “I think I can stick this out, I think I can keep fighting for a little while longer” and god honestly it makes me feel so weepy. Being shown even one ounce of love, one little action that says “I want you to be here with me,” it gives so much weight to her as a person, someone that keeps her being like. I don’t know! Just a little kid!! Doing random kid stuff!!! It’s genuinely healing and the things they do to coax her out of her shell just a little bit brings levity of the show and moments that she can feel safe again.

You also really get to see as she’s encouraged to get over her fears on a much lower level of danger (swimming in an ocean, running through a “haunted” shrine) with her friends. Even when she’s heavily reminded of her traumatic experiences, she can always run away, back to her friends' arms. 

Notice I didn’t point out her advisor leading the alien capturing duties, because she obviously has no real care towards these kids. It’s honestly a little insidious, because every adult Yuri comes in contact with is female, and have this like, motherly/teacher tone that can SOUND nice and polite, but it’s cold. It’s distant. The three go through harrowing experiences and all the advisor can focus on is her job, and what it means for her. Just that it’s just a nuisance to her. 

“This is strange. I didn’t ask for this. I wonder if it got here by attaching itself to a spaceship. I haven’t even finished checking everyone’s summer homework. This is the last thing I needed!”

Obviously, that doesn’t even begin to talk about how she and the other adults are not transparent at all and have hidden intentions for the girls.

And I want to get into that as a narrative with the discussion online, because holy FUCK. 

It’s time to talk about the obvious Neon Genesis Evangelion (NGE) inspiration that touches the show, from the stark compositions and beautiful animation and notably, how the main character is struggling with depression and the overwhelming responsibility that’s piled onto him. It’s honestly such an interesting comparison to me especially since the two main characters are in starkly different (yet overwhelming) situations. While Shinji is a 16-year-old boy, Yuri is a 12-year-old girl and their societal expectations based on each identity sets them apart. 

Everyone really loves to compare Shinji and Yuri, even going so far as to say “Alien 9 is basically just NGE.” God. That’s a bit reductive of a comparison. You can see the way they talk about both of them, how useless and crybaby and whiny they both are perceived to be by this audience. 

They call Yuri “bitchy”, they call her “useless crybaby”, they call her stupid and moronic, but most importantly, they say she has 0 character development throughout the entire show. I want to take a second to process that, because trauma does NOT equal character development. 

And finally, I want to talk about one of the most casually unsettling parts of the show for me, personally:

Yuri’s teacher notices that she’s distracted and detached. She can’t focus on school. And her assumption?

That she’s thinking about summer vacation. And then, in the very next scene, Yuri asks to quit the alien capturing duties because she can’t take it anymore - and the teacher says THIS.

The hypocrisy and apathy in these two scenes. The way adults pretend they care but also assume every sign of distress means you're just lazy. It’s heartwrenching. Which one is it? Stop relaxing, or don’t be so uptight? It’s maddening to me. To change the narrative to suit your own assumptions about this child because really, Yuri doesn’t have a choice in the matter. And she continues to collapse under the weight of these responsibilities, and continue to be locked into something that she is completely incapable of handling. 

Yuri is so overwhelmed all she can do is shut down and cry and everyone just tells her to get over it like one day she'll snap and do her job no problem like she's not going through the most harrowing shit no one should ever go through ever in their lives. And she ends up screwing up more and more because they keep withdrawing all support to "toughen her up". They NEVER take her seriously, they never let her breathe because she's just a little crybaby girl who doesn't know what's best for her and it just keeps getting worse.

And that’s what is so haunting to me, to see such a common response from the audience watching this same show, to sound exactly like these adults. To take away from the show that Yuri is useless and bratty and should have snapped and fought back at one point, like a main protagonist in a hero’s journey converting their trauma into a badass version of themselves or something. I don’t know, there’s something to be said about how these tone deaf reviews were written and discussed by cis men, while one of the few blog posts I actually liked about Alien 9 was posted in 2021 by two women. There’s a bit of a whiplash to how people received this show on the internet based on who was watching and when.

Anyway, there’s still way more to unpack in terms of the other characters in the show, but I’ll leave it here. Alien 9 in all of its flaws and open-ended questions deserves to be engaged head on. It has its flaws and due to cancellation and budget cuts, was forced to leave on a cliffhanger on its fourth and final episode. A lot was left open. 

But it had a very particular set tone from the beginning, and there was a lot of deliberate intention behind their creative decisions. I’m tired of seeing people say “it’s sooo weird” and “they didn’t know what they were doing” for discussion. It’s definitely a show I keep thinking about on and off again.

[netherworm]

Suffering from Cazador and Astarion thoughts. Bloody version HERE

[pinkeoni]

It always stuck out to me that Will the lego stuck up Will’s nose was a specific guy. So specific that he had a name.

So there was a man literally stuck inside of Will’s head. And this guy was a construction guy, or someone who builds things. Kind of like—

But it’s alright, because Jonathan was able to help get the man out of Will.

[justbreakonme]

It has to be perfect.

He drags himself up, forcing his trembling hands together as if in prayer.

It has to be perfect.

He straightens his back, even as it makes every whip mark shift and crack, reopening the wounds that had just started to scab over.

It has to be perfect.

This was his last hope, and he was throwing every ounce of strength he had left into it.

It has to be perfect.

He looked up and out, over the sea of potential buyers, and forced a smile.

It has to be perfect.

If he wasn’t bought today, he was never going to be. So he needed to be anything that would get him a second glance.

A tool, a trinket, a bargain, a bitch.

His performance has to be perfect. It didn’t have to last. It just had to be enough for him to escape.

[ask-elliotgang]

So Elliot, did you have any other significant others before Joule?

ELLIOT: . . .

ELLIOT: "Yeah I'm fine with it. I mean I had a few relationships while I was still in school but they didn't work out. It's not like that info will cause drama or anything so it's fine."

ISABELLE: "Yeah. T-that's why I asked."

Elliot looks towards Isabelle with a head tilt. Looking genuinely confused by her tone.

It seems he doesn't remember.

[family-oddity]

[calf-cover]

Thousand and One More to Join

Today is the Day.

Deep in ancient times, the king of the Alagadda suffered an unenviable fate. Stricken by illness, he can't ward off death breathing down his neck, and only his devoted Court Jester dares to grieve for him. However, a mysterious stranger in exotic clothes intends to turn the course of history in a completely inexpressible direction.

The sophisticated, vicious and atrocious secrets that they will release can turn into a seething hell for all the participants of this play.

WARNING! The folloving story raises extremely dark and disturbing topics, including dehumanization, violence, the use of torture and executions, sexual abuse, sadism, trauma and severe physical and mental disorders. There is no mercy nor for children, nor for old people, nor for animals. Highly undesirable for viewing by persons under the age of at least 16+. Please refrain from reading if raised topics is unbearable for you. Stay safe.