#we've been getting a lot more women since i mentioned we didn't have a lot thanks guys <3

[hermitw]

I've been thinking about this reblog of yours for months and I finally figured out how to respond to it.

I went and read No Longer Human by Junji Ito and it was a very upsetting thing to go through. I don't think I can read it again. However, I came out of it thinking that Gege was probably inspired by it.

When Yozo is first introduced, I noticed that Takaba's backstory was very similar. Feeling isolated from others, he decided to become a clown to gain acceptance from others. (Citations in Image Captions)

And later when Yozo was caught "cheating" (it's in quotes because those women are child rapists), I noticed that her face was really similar to the one Higuruma's client made when he felt betrayed by the trial outcome.

There's probably a lot more to say about how themes surrounding CSA and suicide in this work are echoed in JJK, but I'm not able to make the post myself. No Longer Human is too far out of my comfort zone in terms of graphic depiction to delve into it deeper.

But you seem strong enough to handle it, so... Idk maybe run with this some more.

Ohhh this is so interesting! I could definitely read No Longer Human again - tbh I read Junji Ito's version years ago. This year I listened to the audio book and bought a copy - but it's like, a draft in the author's handwriting (bc I thought it would help me study Japanese and if I had an English translation that I'd read it on repeat lmao). But you're real for that - I forget how disturbed people tend to be trying to read through it, I'm sorry that was rough.

I did go back to read the reblog and idk how relevant all that was - I've reread the manga since and felt like, oh I might have been misremembering some things like Uraume - idk if they actually had a freeze response in ch. 219, since they did tell Yorozu to back off though it took a minute - but it's also interesting how their CT deals with ice. Like to have a fight response, they freeze others? It's so interesting but I can't be sure whether it's there at all. (ik that yap II inspired some more coherent posts, like how it influenced Choso's self-image, etc., I linked but didn't tag you back then bc I felt Annoying especially w heavy topics but I can definitely go back and find them if you'd like.)

On a twin peaks note (without spoiling it), I feel like it inspired jjk to some extent - I've been feeling like the last chapter will end the way s2 did. Or at least - with the weird dreamy themes, "we are the dreamer who dreams and who lives inside the dream", etc...

But you're right - Yozo and the others' reactions resemble more jjk characters than I would think to connect. Takaba's jokes are truly a shield... And now I have an excuse to read Junji Ito's version again? Thank u so much (also isn't it funny how September 28 Uzumaki airs and September 30 jjk ends?).

I think gege gets inspired by the most tragic stories, I wonder how much of that is accurate but I can't always be convinced otherwise.... Especially when anime / manga series that he's confirmed as influences often deal with autonomy in ways that I couldn't handle (Evangelion, the night beyond the tricornered window).

By the way - ik we've mentioned elfen lied before, but in the first episode, you know that coffee mug? How it looks like jjk foreshadowing? Even has snail head Mahito - cut off-, the baseball, Panda, the worm (also cut off).... and later the newborn babies that look just like Yuuji...

I swear that elfen lied, Kagewani, and banana fish influenced jjk. It seems so obvious w those, maybe Vampire Princess Miyu as well.

Sorry for getting off topic - I've been looking into why Momotaro keeps coming up in jujutsu kaisen, and in the end it came back full circle to that damn coffee cup. Invest in a baseball team? A zoo? I'm going insane.

All this to say - rereading Junji Ito's version and seeing if I notice similarities between manga panels is so exciting. Gege even made a note that he asked for permission before drawing - I think it was the Uzumaki CT - So we know he's a big fan of Junji Ito. And it seems like there is a rly good chance No Longer Human inspired him as well (though I feel like characters with similar traumas having similar reactions is inevitable to some extent, if they're written in a believable way, it should be clearer when I'm reading both stories in the same format) based on the stories he has officially referenced.

[just-some-guy-joust]

does anybody wanna see the current stats of the genders of the characters submitted im really autistic tonight and i wanna make several pie charts

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for telling my best friend I'm in love with her mother?

I (18m) have been friends with this girl (I'll call her S for this, 18f) forever. I can’t remember a time when we weren't friends. We've always spent a lot of time at each other's houses, though more at hers as her family is wealthy and has a really nice place with an in-ground pool... and also her mom just makes the best snacks lol

Her mom and I have always had a good rapport. She's a funny lady, charismatic, kind, and did I mention the bomb-ass snacks? I had a sort of a puppy love crush on her as a kid, but as we've gotten older the feelings have only gotten stronger. Meanwhile, S has had a crush on me since middle school. She isn't subtle, but she hasn't confessed and I haven't brought it up because I'm not interested and I don't want to hurt her or lose her as a friend. S has caught me checking her mom out a few times, one time even walking in on me in the bathroom while I was trying to lowkey check out her mom in the pool through the window. I don’t think she ever put together what was going on, though.

I never planned on acting on my feelings for her mom, but since her dad took off, I'm pretty sure I've been getting flirty vibes from S's mom? I might be seeing what I want to see instead of what's there, but like... Okay, so, this summer she's been paying me to do some of the housework her husband used to take on. Mowing the lawn and stuff. And S's mom will come out with just a towel on to tell me I missed a spot. To me, that seems flirty.

I never thought I'd have a chance, but now that it seems I might, I kind of wanna go for it? I mean, I'm 18 now, so it's legal, so I don't see why it would be a problem? But I didn't want to shoot my shot while S is entirely in the dark, so I sat her down and explained. We were hanging out around her pool and her mom wasn't home, I figured it was a good time. I started by finally acknowledging her feelings but gently telling her she just wasn't the girl for me. Then I said straight up "I'm in love with your mom."

S just kinda stared at me? Then she just said "dude, what the fuck" and yeah. Yeah, I know, what the fuck, but the heart wants what it wants, right? I said that I was pretty sure her mom had been making moves since S's dad left. I've never heard S laugh the way she did at that, it was kind of scary. She asked if I was serious and then told me I need serious help. I was a bit hurt by that but I know I'm asking a lot so I didn't go off about it. I just said yes I'm serious and wanted her blessing to act on it. She didn't say anything. She just got up and left, and pushed me into the pool as she passed.

She wouldn't talk to me except to tell me to go home and it's been weeks now but she won't answer my texts. I think I've just lost the two most important women in my life (don't tell my mom she's third pls.) Am I the asshole here? I know it might be wrong, but I can’t help it if I'm in love with Stacy's mom. :(

What are these acronyms?

[buddiebeginz]

Fandom I'm begging you all to wait and see how the season plays out. Everything right now seems to be pointing towards Buddie and sure I could be wrong but I also think it would be the shows downfall if they didn't make Buddie happen this season and I think Tim and abc know that.

This isn't just about catering to fandom whims this is that since right before s7 they've done so much to put focus on Buddie way more than with any season before. Deliberate choices have been made that if they're not leading to Buddie can't not be seen as queerbaiting. And yes a show with queer characters can still queerbait if they're using a popular queer ship to garner attention and views. Though I don't think that's what's happening here.

The only reason I think more didn't happen with Buddie last season is because the season was short and they got renewed for s8 early. You can tell if you watch from eps 1-6 that they were leading somewhere with Buddie (they had them singing a karaoke love song ffs) but changed gears after getting renewed for s8. At the same time Tim still didn't put more development or focus on b/t so it's not that Buddie happening was shelved (as in it's never happening) it was just paused.

Also I see people spiraling about that pic Ryan posted assuming because he's in a robe and because he put "Don Diaz" on it that it's a reference to Don Juan and this means Eddie is going to be hooking up with a bunch of women. I just don't see that happening. Ryan could have easily just been making a joke or trying to mess with fandom or it could mean nothing. It could be a Godfather reference. Or it could be something like Eddie tries to hook up with a random girl and he just can't do it and then that leads to him talking to the priest. Unfortunately we aren't going to know what that pic really means until the episode airs.

I know we've all been burned by the show (and other shows) before and I get being nervous about what could happen this season. But remember that Buck was supposed to come out in s4 (this has been confirmed by Oliver) and Eddie in s5 (this has been confirmed by the the insider) and presumably that's when Buddie would have happened. Buddie has been in the works for years. The main thing stopping it before was Fox and last season it was just too short to have Buck to come out, Eddie come out, and then Buddie to happen. 10 eps was just not enough time to tell such huge important stories for the show and these characters.

I know Tim and others behind the scenes of the show have made decisions we haven't always loved and maybe it's naive of me to still have trust in them after all this time but it's not just that. I see the signs. If I had seen more effort being put into b/t last season and into promoting them as a couple and especially if I saw that happening this season I'd be a lot more skeptical about the likelihood of Buddie ever happening. But I haven't seen any of that.

This season Tim has talked about how b/t are still together but he doesn't talk about the ship like it's this important thing, he talks about it like T*mmy is just like any other person Buck has dated. Meanwhile Eddie is ALWAYS mentioned when b/t are talked about including by Tim. Networks and showrunners know how to handle these kinds of things. If they wanted to minimize the attention Buddie gets they would have done so. We know this because that's exactly what they did in past seasons while they were with Fox, particularly after Tim left. Instead though since last season they've actually been putting more attention on Buddie, Ryan, and Oliver.

Like I said I get being nervous that something we've all hoped for for a long time might not happen. I know that Buddie and Eddie coming out means more to a lot of us than just some fictional characters and a ship. I know a lot of us see ourselves in them and we also see how important and groundbreaking in a way it will be when they finally go canon. I get why the anxiety around this season is heightened probably more so than any other season before it. We've never been as close to Buddie happening as we are now and that's so exciting but also scary.

But this is why I think we need to take every bts and spoiler etc that we get from the show and people involved in it (including the journalists who review it) with a grain of salt. We just aren't going to know what each episode is about until we watch them. Even when the season starts we need to remember to let the story play out. We might see things we won't like with b/t or Eddie in 801 but there will still be 17 more eps to get through where anything could happen.

We are so lucky that 911 is still on the air with most of the original cast still there and not looking to leave. That all the people that matter Tim, Oliver, and Ryan have all spoken out in support of Buddie happening. I've shipped non canon ships before that just were never going to happen, where showrunners and actors literally made fun of the fans for even shipping it. That's not what's happening with 911. Buddie now is being treated like a legitimate possibility we just have to be patient.

[theacecouple]

I didn't see anything from somerton until about a month ago when he popped up in my recs and I ended up binging his content for about 2 days, but something kept being off and I noticed some of the lies/ignorance, and there was something really dismissive and weird about how he talked about aspecs and women in particular... I stopped watching him cause I watched one of you guys' podcast and realized I also just felt like crap after his videos.

I did end up getting his rwrb video in my recs when it came out cause of the binge and I just remember leaving a comment about the way he talked about aces in it. It was especially upsetting seeing people in the comments who were simply happy he mentioned aspecs at all. He replied to me just saying his cowriter was ace. I don't reply to youtube comments but I just remember wanting to point out that same co-writer he was using as a shield said aces don't face discrimination or conversion therapy, and in that video wrote that aces have to have sex to find out they don't like it. Being something doesn't make you instantly know everything about it, as somerton himself demonstrates with his ignorant comments about gay history.

I'm not really one of his victims since I avoided him as soon as I found him, but I feel bad for all the people he tricked and/or guilted into believing him. I hope some other creators make videos exposing the weird way he manipulated the queer community, cause I think a lot of young folks could use a breakdown of it.

Anyways I just wanted to finish by saying I love you guys' work and learning from you. You helped me understand why certain phrases make me upset, and that and watching your podcast back to back with his videos helped me figure out what I didn't like about Somerton, so you helped protect me from him and not convince myself I was just being Weird as I often do when I get Bad Vibes from someone.

Thank you so much for reaching out <3

It's so fascinating that you stopped watching Somerton after finding us. We've tried to keep things as professional as possible these last 2 years by only citing directly harmful things he's done to us and direct members of our community, and even then it was sparingly and as kind as possible.

When we first spoke with him about including Asexual representation in his future Telos endeavors, he assured us that not only was there already an Ace in the writers' room, but that two real, fully-fleshed out Ace characters were already being written. This was encouraging! After all, we had no way of knowing if he was the kind of cis gay man who loathes Aces or doesn't view us as queer. Since this didn't seem to be the case and rep is important, we supported him. We now deeply regret not doing our research on him first.

Even before his video "The Queer Erasure of Asexuality", we started watching a few of his YouTube videos for the first time and some of the subtext was NOT kind to our community. Subtle things that we'd see get repeated by his fans over and over again, like how queer art is bad these days because all the "artists" and the "exciting queers" who "really lived" died in the AIDS crisis. Or the implication that the Interview with the Vampire reboot was *more queer* because the vampires actually had gay sex on screen, despite this being a complete departure from the source material and neglecting the fact that Anne Rice's vampires have always been undeniably queer *and also* sexless. In fact, we didn't say his name, but we did mention some vague "bad takes" we saw about the series in our podcast episodes 75 & 76 The Triumphs and Failures of AMC’s Interview with the Vampire Part 1 and Part 2...At least some of those came from James.

We did not see his rwrb video, because we had long given up on him by that point, but it is not at all surprising to hear that he had bad takes and also hid behind Nick once again to shield himself from any criticism. It was very much his MO, and yet we're also certain we've heard him chastise straight women for using the "I have a gay friend" defense.

It is so good to hear that our podcast has been helpful to you. There are FAR too many Aces who are willing to let bad behavior or ill-informed takes slide just because someone with a decent following noticed us. We deserve so much better.

[kerubimcrepin]

Liveblog - Dofus, livre 1 : Julith [PART 11]

As I've mentioned, Kerubim and Julith have Beef.

As far as she is concerned, whether he was behind her framing (he wasn't) he is one of the people to blame. He defeated her that fateful day, and then she never saw her son again.

I've already went into detail, on the way "killing" her has affected him, (A mixture of horror and duty. Killing a mother and making a child an orphan for the sake of a city. Being grateful for her dying because it made him a father instead. Feeling awful for that thought.) but it is interesting, how he reacted to her turning out to be alive, when he killed her with his own hands.

Seething. Perhaps even coping.

This is chichala, which we had seen. I suppose he uses it to buff himself up before the boss fight. Drinking alcohol before a fight is very much RPG logic.

Sadly, there are no interesting buffs to it in-game:

I think a lot about the way Kerubim, Joris, and Atcham would be characterized in video game logic, by the way. I still have no working theory of how the hell their fighting styles would synergize. Would Joris be their buffer/debuffer? Their glass canon? Both? And do any of them take ranged weapons on missions...?

They probably do. It'd be kinda dumb not to. Personally, I like to imagine that Atcham would be the one using those, most of the time. He has that "skyrim stealth archer" vibe to him. (Though they're all melee users, through and through.)

Despite how smug he is at a couple of moments, he really was struggling during this fight.

My honest reaction whenever Kerubim does this fucking face is just:

This is very much a "deeply mentally ill adoptive father (who inadvertently ruined his child's life by adopting them to atone for his sins + because he was abused as a child) fighting through an army for his child before dying in their arms and saying they're the only good thing he ever had" look for him.

Another reason that one has to support both women's rights and wrongs when talking about Julith, is that, like.,.. what was she playing at, here? There are two possibilities:

That she would destroy whoever has the dragon's soul and set it free, giving her an advantage.

That Kerubim would shield that person.

Either one is good. :)

Either way she was perfectly willing to risk/attempt blowing up a random, innocent person, who was hiding from her.

My personal headcanon is that while Julith is physically stronger than Kerubim, she lost ten years prior because she couldn't stop thinking about The Baby. Where were they taking Joris? Did Bakara leave with him? Is Joris alright? Didn't Jahash give him to this cat man, who was now trying to kill her? What the fuck is going on, who did this, why, why, why?

I imagine seeing him lose for the exact same reason brings her great pleasure.

the nonbinary slay here was insane

Guys I think this might be bad for Joris's long term mental stability.

On a more serious note, I think there should be more content about Joris fucking hating Julith. During the movie? There's too much going on to work out what he feels.

But after? He has all the time in the world to hate her for everything she did.

I do think that he probably grew up and found whoever framed her to take revenge on/to get justice. But hating her, and wanting to clear her name of the crimes she DIDN'T commit so she could have some peace in death, so that people would stop smearing her name, — are two things that can coexist.

Like to slap his bald scaly head, reblog to slap his bald scaly head.

Kerubim never changed his stupid ass baka "George George the Farmer Farmer" name.

Though we've been knew.

BAD. I DON'T LIKE THIS.

AND she recognizes him by the blue eyes. AND, this implies that, for the entirety of the Dofus show, — and the entirety of Wakfu as well, since he, once again, has yellow eyes there, — he had dragon eyes.

Imagine being Simone, waking up at 3am, realizing because you forgot something in Joris and Kerubim's bedroom, sneaking in, and seeing this.

It also raises some questions about adult Joris, because we know he no longer has Grougalorasalar in him. The easiest explanation is that he spent so much time with the dragon, that after their final separation, his eyes couldn't change anymore.

After all, — the changes the dragon made to his height/skin/hair are permanent. It would make sense that, with time, even his eyes would be permanently altered.

I don't think it's a sad thing, by the way. Imagine going your whole life with beautiful brown eyes that look a bit like your adoptive father's. Then imagine suddenly having blue eyes (scary) and that they're your Dead Father's Who You Never Met but whom everyone misses. Like which pair of eyes would you choose? Because I think there IS a right answer to this riddle.

I think Julith has convinced herself that whoever took her and Jahash out wouldn't want loose ends, and that Joris was taken out as well, or something. Maybe that's why he wasn't really on her mind.

Mind you, this is a tinfoil hat headcanon.

This is so beautiful, to me... She was so emotionally stricken by seeing him again as his mother, that his father, who was both fatally wounded and stricken by seeing her perform deeply painful dark rituals on his son after traumatizing him, could land one last hit on her to save said son.

Julith has been a mother for a grand total of a few days to a month, while Kerubim has been for 10 years. Of course, her first concern is getting surprised it's him, and not that she hurt him. Because she couldn't even dream that she'd ever see him again.

There's a tragedy in that. She never even had a chance to learn how to be his mother, or who he is as a person, — she was the mother of an infant. Her love for him is far more theoretical than Kerubim's.

It's a love for Joris not as a person, but as a lost opportunity.

So she has no regrets about hurting him, — and she will hurt him as many times as it takes, if that's what it takes to get back her family.

[thefunksp]

And All Those Nights, Down By The River

a travis kelce x gn!reader fic.

w: pretty much just saccharine.

There was always something that tied him to you, or you to him. You never really believed in fate but slowly it became your guiding light somehow. Both of you have been friends for a long time, since you were kids specifically. You practically grew up with the guy, and yet you're still confused and at war with yourself constantly. He's an NFL Player and has dated many women before, it's practically rolling a seven using a six-die and oh did I mention that one of the most famous people and him are allegedly dating?

Yet here you are, at the side of the river. Feelings of peaceful tranquility replace the everyday shattering of it. Vague recollections of memories play like scenes in a movie of you, Travis, Jason and Shawn playing, laughing and unaware of the future ahead of all of you and unaware of your blooming feelings for one of them.

You were abruptly interrupted by said man's footsteps behind you, slowly growing until it reached an end. A shout right after. "Hey ---! Found you! You really don't like people do you?" His voice almost booming as he catches up to you. "Travis, we've been friends for a long long time. I think you already know that."

He chuckles at your remark, god you loved hearing that. "Yeah yeah, I get it. Still I think you'd enjoy being at the party too you know." He smiles and you smile back, stopping as he looks back at you. "This was one of our favorite spots when we were kids right?" He nods. "You know I come by here a lot, something nostalgic always keeps luring me to come back here all the time." His face changes, he was listening. Your heart was beating at an alarming rate as you say each word more emotionally after the other.

"You know Travis, I think that this is the right time to tell you that. That." Travis came closer, almost at arms length. "That what? You're in love with me?" You look at him quickly, his face didn't change like you expected, he didn't chuckle or laugh, he was completely serious. You look down at the rocks as the river's current began ringing in your ears somewhat. "Yeah, I'm in love with you. With you, Travis Kelce."

You expected the hurt, the needles that will pierce your heart and make you bleed, the words that can split a man's body in half. Instead, you were given an arm in your shoulder and a hug. "Yeah, I love you too." The butterflies in your heart were released and it felt ethereal. You hug him back as water pricked your eyes. "I've loved you since we were kids, and i-i just didn't want it to hurt more." He hugged you even harder and chuckled.

"It's ok, you can let it all out." Both of you finally let go after what seemed like forever. "How did you know?" He laughed a bit as he scratched the back of his head. "I mean, it's not really much of a secret to be honest." He shrugged a bit. "And to be honest, I was kinda having feelings for you when we really started to feel more intimate with each other." You nodded with a red flush on your cheeks.

"But." He held your face in his big hands. "I really do think I love you." He pressed his lips to your forehead. The currents of the river became somewhat of an orchestra to all of this, as you laid your hands to his face too.

[wellofhavoc]

MUTUAL U GET IT. GAIL SIMONE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW THAT THEY CAN'T DETRANSFORM IF THEY'RE CRITICALLY INJURED + THEY BLEED LIGHT AND NOT BLOOD.... she has no business writing them it just cements more people's perception of hawk and dove as misogynist x "i can fix him" AND IT GENUINELY PISSES ME OFF SO BAD don't even get me started on whoever had the bright fucking idea to put compassion as one of dove's superpowers and decided that they were war and peace instead of chaos and order

YES

Don't be too hard on Simone though, I'm sure that she didn't eagerly sign up to work with Hawk and Dove as characters. I think that's a large problem with a lot of the less well-known characters in big super teams. It's why we see Hawk flying in a lot of works when he famously cannot do that and has no interest in doing that. Dawn's whole personality of being a sweet good girl that can't look at a shirtless man without getting a case of the vapors definitely was a major rewrite that I can't explain or justify, but it's probably not Gail Simone's fault. We've seen her handle intricate relationships between women and men, so the only thing I can think is that DC said "These are Hawk and Dove, we'd like them to be included" and then she was probably handed a small passage of their powers and personalities. You can't expect every author to read every instance of a character appearance, unfortunate as it may be. I'd rather they just weren't in it, but it does give me some fun ideas about where I would have taken it.

I think it's sad that Barbara doesn't mention knowing either of them, especially since Hank's mom WAS HER PHYSICAL THERAPIST. Also Barbara having to read Hank down because "this team is led by a girl, got it, bub!?!?" when he's ONLY EVER BEEN ON FEMALE LED TEAMS and NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH ANY FEMALE TEAM LEAD (except for that one time he famously was not a good team member but that wasn't because Donna was a girl-) is a big yikes.

The biggest failing of them in those books, in my opinion, is the fact that they're just sort of There. They fill a slot in the Birds of Prey team and don't get any screen time dedicated to their own conflicts. Hank has a weird subplot about being emotionally numb after his revival and being horrified at the idea of coming back to life, but Dawn was also just revived and we don't get to hear her opinions on any of it. Big mess.

[igot-sarang-ggg]

Important News (Jotaro x Reader)

Masterlist

Small Summary: You go to to visit Jotaro since you have some improtant news to share with me and it couldn't wait until he got back (Can't say more cause I don't want to spoil what I wrote lol)

Small mentions: SPOILERS, f!reader, suggestive kisses

"Remind me again why you decided to come here. Don't get me wrong I am excited to see you.. but I was gonna be back home in a few days. And where's Jolyne?" Jotaro asked as I stood at the entrance of his hotel room, "Honey, did you think I would miss the chance of meeting more of your family members? Plus I missed you... you've been gone for three months. I was starting to worry. She's with your mom, Jolyne's on summer vacation so we came here to visit."

Jotaro picked up my belongings and brought them inside. He let out a sigh as he placed them down, "We've talked on the phone countless times Y/n. You didn't need to come all the way here just to visit me." I frowned at him. Was he happy to see me or not? I looked down at my hands not sure what to say to him.

"Hey..." I looked up at Jotaro, his expression soften he walked closer and wrapped his arms around me. "I'm really happy to see you Y/n. It's just a bit of bad timing." He pulled away removed his hat and sat down on a couch I followed and sat next to him. "There's a serial Killer on the loose in Morioh who's a stand user. I didn't tell you over the phone cause I didn't want you to worry about it...but, now that you're here I need to stay by my side and not go off on your own. His main target is women, but he's also attacking anyone that's in connection with me or Josuke." I wasn't sure what to say, Jotaro had a habit of hiding important information to not worry me, but I wish he could have told me something, "I know it's a lot to take in."

"Jotaro, I just wanted to visit you and I had some important news that I wanted to tell you in person. I wish you could have told me something over the phone." I looked at him, "And what did you want to say?" Our eyes met, I quickly looked away from his and looked at my hands, "Well, it was supposed to be said over a dinner with you." He chuckled slightly, "Alright, since you're here we can have dinner tonight and you can tell me the news. You've spoken to Josuke over the phone before so it would be nice to meet him in person. Is it okay if I invite him?" I nodded, he put his hat back on and walked over to the landline phone, "I'll call him and let him know you're here. We can all go out for dinner tonight and you can tell us the news."

After he called Josuke Jotaro helped me unpack my belongings, "I..." He spoke breaking the silence, "I missed you Y/n. I'm glad that you're here with me. I'm sorry if it seemed like I wasn't happy to see you." I carefully got off the ground and walked towards him he was sitting on the bed, and I stood in front of him.

He placed his hands on my hips pulling me closer to him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. I missed his touch so much, even his kisses. His kiss was soft so as to not break me. He let out a growl while the kiss started to deepen. His hands were now making their way up my body, "Jo-Jotaro..." I gasped as his kiss traveled down my neck...

*RING* RING*

The landline started ringing, making us both jump from the sudden ring of the phone. Jotaro cleared his throat and walked over to the phone picking it up, "Yes, this is Kujo," I took a glance at him; his face was red he was blushing a lot. I went to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror, I haven't blushed this hard since our first kiss and wedding day.

There was a knock on the door, "Josuke called he made reservations at a restaurant named Trattoria Trussardi. The owner is a stand user but he uses his stand for good." I walked out meeting face-to-face with Jotaro again, and he tipped down his hat. "We should get going then." I grabbed my purse and we headed out of the hotel and to the restaurant.

The car ride was silent I didn't know what to talk about and I'm sure Jotaro didn't know either. Once we arrived we were greeted by what I thought to be Josuke and his friends. Jotaro parked the car got out and opened the door for me, "Josuke is the one with the weird-looking hair. Don't comment on his hair or else he goes into a blind rage." Jotaro whispered as we got closer to the group of high school students.

"So you're Mrs. Y/n Kujo, it's nice to finally meet you." Josuke greeted me and so did his friends, "Likewise. I've heard a lot about you boys from Jotaro. I like your hair Josuke it suits you." I did genuinely like his hair the style was unique, "Oh... um, thanks. We should head inside and eat. The food here is amazing."

During dinner I got to know more about Josuke and his friends, "So you fought alongside Mr. Joestar and Jotaro-san in Egypt!? Wow, that's amazing." I chuckled at Koichi's excitement. Did Jotaro tell them about our trip to Egypt? I'm a bit surprised that he shared that with others. "How long will you be staying here?" Okuyasu asked, I looked at Jotaro he side glanced at me, "A few weeks or days, I'm not quite sure."

After dinner, we said goodbye to the group and headed back to the hotel. Once we entered the hotel room I got in the shower and washed my hair. When I was done Jotaro got in and also washed his hair. He got out of the shower drying his wet hair his a towel, he looked at me and I singled him over. Jotaro sat down on the floor in front of me and I began drying his hair with the hair dryer, "So you never told me what the important news was about."

"I didn't think there would be so many people coming, but now that it's just us, I can tell you." I turned off the dryer, "Well...I-uh." He got off the ground and sat down next to wrapping an arm around me and pulling me closer. I had a lump in my throat why am I so nervous? "I-..."

"I'm pregnant."

I looked at him, he was smiling. "Y/n are you serious?" I nodded, he stood up picking me up, and spun me around, "This great Y/N!" I'm pregnant with my second child, Holly was the first to know and then Suzi Q. I told them not to tell Jotaro until I was able to visit him and tell him myself. "Our second child together." He placed me down and kissed me, "Does anyone else know?"

"Your mom and Suzi Q. Your mom knew as soon as I walked through the door." He chuckled, "I see." He sighed and kissed my cheek. "I'm glad you came here to tell me in person. I really needed to hear some good news." He kissed me, "I love you, Y/n."

"I love you too, Jotaro."

Request for One-shot are open!

[racefortheironthrone]

The 2023 Hellfire Gala stacked its tragedies higher and higher, after the initial party crashing, in parts similar to the Red Wedding. What are your thoughts on the event?

Anonymous asked: What did you think of the Hellfire Gala 2023 one shot and specifically how the new team of X-Men were treated?

I would recommend first listening to Gerry Duggan's interview on the Cerebrocast podcast, because I think he gives some important context for the artistic intent behind the 2023 Hellfire Gala.

Then I'm going to talk about some spoilery/speculative stuff after the cut. You have been warned.

Introduction

So let's start with my overall impression: the Hellfire Gala was really tough to read and I found myself reading in chunks of a few pages at a time and then putting it down, because either I was dreading what was about to happen or needing a minute to process what had just happened.

None of that makes it bad comics, because it's very clearly intended to be tough to read - as a recapitulation of the original Mutant Massacre which originally ended with the X-Men decimated, spread across the world, and faking their own deaths in order to strike back from the shadows, this event is supposed to put our heroes in the absolute worst position possible, "put their backs to the wall" as Duggan put it, to see how they get out of it. And I do think there are both textual and metatextual clues for how they get out of it.

The Prelude

Just to start with everything that takes place before things start to go to hell: as previewed, it is revealed that Kamala Khan is both a mutant and an Inhuman, as she is restored to life by the Five. Following up from some of her increasingly cryptic comments in Immortal X-Men, the FCBD Uncanny Avengers one-shot, and Rogue & Gambit, Destiny is trying to GTFO to avoid the Massacre but Mystique wants to stay and help Rogue, which causes a fight and ultimately leads to Mystique's seeming death (although we never see the body).

After Professor X expositions a bit of Ms. Marvel's new status quo, we get an interesting scene between Ms. Marvel and Rasputin IV in which we learn that in Rasputin's future, Kamala is a figure of legend as both a mutant and Inhuman and something of a hero of Rasputin's (following the theme of Rasputin as fangirl). What I find a bit strange is that the Sins of Sinister timeline took place before Kamala's death and resurrection - so how is it that Rasputin knows about her as a mutant? Also, I'm a bit confused when it comes to the mention of the "breeding pits," because I don't remember those being mentioned in the SoS timeline and instead the chimeras seemed more purpose-built rather than mass produced.

To weaken resistance to their plans, ORCHIS sets off their distraction attacks at the Treehouse, D.C, and the Brooklyn Bridge, which cause Cyclops, the Avengers, and Rogue to leave right before everything goes down. (This is a better explanation for "why didn't the other heroes help" than we've gotten in a while - ORCHIS has worked out contingency plans, and those plans are setting up Uncanny Avengers.)

The X-Men Vote

Here we get to the first big gut-punch moment of the event: the new X-Men team is voted on and revealed, and it's a lineup that a lot of people were really excited about: it's the most diverse X-Men team since HOXPOX (half poc, half women of color, and the first elected human X-Men), and it features a good mix of well-known characters like Jubilee and Juggernat as well as more niche fan-favorites like Frenzy and Prodigy.

Then Nimrod drops in from terminal velocity and wipes out almost everyone on the team, and for some fans it felt like a very charged slap in the face, given the rise of far-right violence against minority communities and how that's evoked by these dead mutants of color. Leaving aside that I think it's a very deliberate invocation of that by the creatives, I can understand why people are upset by these deaths (and indeed, the deaths of Bobby, Jean Grey, Mystique, Lourdes, et al.). A lot of characters that we all care about died in gruesome, painful fashions - and I think it's ok for people to feel bad about that.

However, I'm not as devastated as I could be, because I know these characters aren't really dead for good - and I don't mean that in the "no one stays in comic books" long-term sense. Part of this has to do with how I interpret the ultimate fate of the Five and the population of Krakoa, but also part of it has to do with the fact that I've seen solicits and previews for forthcoming Fall of X books, so I know that some of the characters we see dead are appearing soon in major roles - Iceman's got a solo book, Jean Grey's got a solo book, Juggernaut's on the cover of a forthcoming issue of X-Men, etc.

I am willing to bet dollars to donuts that the X-Office did not go through the rigamore of an X-Men election and putting together a team lineup to not use there characters in Fall of X. But it's meant to be a surprise when they suddenly turn up to save the day.

Two minor points involving a status quo to people's powers: when ORCHIS attacks, it is revealed that Magik's powers have been interfered with by Dr. Stasis' nanite infection (as part of ORCHIS' focus on cutting X-Men off from teleportation), and Iceman gets jabbed with what seems like a similar device by Nimrod (which helps to explain why part of his storyline for his upcoming book seems to be him having trouble with his powers).

Forced Surrender and Survival

It's at this point that Dr. Stasis and Karima make a dramatic tango entrance and reveal their masterstroke: they reveal the killswitch that Stasis and MODOK have built into Krakoan medicines, and use that to force Xavier into surrendering and mind-controlling mutantdom into leaving Earth.

Even though Duggan et al. have been foreshadowing this for some time - we've known Stasis had been fucking with the meds generally since the first Gala, we've known about the killswitch for a couple issues of X-Men, etc. - the twist that it would be used not just to blacken Krakoa's reputation but to blackmail Xavier into using his telepathy against Krakoa is a very good one. By taking millions of human lives hostage, ORCHIS is essentially forcing Xavier to undergo a real-life trolley problem experiment, counting on his very empathy and humanitarianism to win them the day.

(My one critique is that it's not really explained why Xavier couldn't use his mutant powers to mind-control Stasis and MODOK and prevent them from activating the kill-switch in the same way that Jean Grey does a bit later. I think the storytelling reason is that they don't want to repeat the Jean Grey/Moira beat, but it is awkward and ungainly that Xavier is uncharacteristically passive compared to later in the story and it's not explained why.)

This then kicks off a series of dominos:

Jean dies, and Scott is taken away in another dubious ambulance - we know from solicits that Jean is doing some sort of rebirth/time-travel stuff in her miniseries, so that makes sense, and Cyclops is apparently going to be a prisoner of ORCHIS. This also has the effect of reserving the spotlight entirely for Synch and Talon as the new leaders of the X-Men, as Jean and Scott are not going to be active drivers of the plot.

In a very good plotline, Jean chooses Firestar as a retroactive undercover agent within ORCHIS, playing on Firestar's reputation as someone with a rocky relationship with mutantkind - but without any clear way of proving her true loyalties to surviving mutants.

This is a key moment that has really important context for what comes next: as the mind-controlled mutants walk into the gates, Mother Righteous does something to alter their destination and traps Krakoa's Atlantic island in one of her magical lanterns. This is very important, because among those who go through the gates are the Five - and depending on what you think happens to them, that really affects what you think of the death of the X-Men lineup or the broader Fall of X scenario. (Notably, as this happens, Destiny turns to the camera to tell Mystique and us the reader that this is the only way for mutantkind to survive, which is an important bit of signposting to reassure the audience that the writers are playing fair rather than doing a screwjob.)

Those mutants who are going to be the main characters in Fall of X, whether it's Kurt in Uncanny Spider-Man, Emma et al. in Immortal X-Men, Synch and Talon et al. in X-Men, the whacky Limbo crew in Dark X-Men, and so forth, are distinguished from the rest of mutantkind by their red triangle defense that Gerry Duggan borrowed from Al Ewing. (I like linking the Red Triangle to the letters of the word resist, that's an instantly iconic bit of worldbuidling there.) Interestingly, some of the characters who you would have thought would get the red triangle training - like Ilyana and the crew from Realm of X - stil go through the portals and others it's left ambiguous.

With psychic assistance from Emma Frost, much of the cast of Fall of X manages to escape to New York City, although Lourdes is killed in the process of teleporting them to safety- once again returning to her original origin and death in Classic X-Men. Emma finds out that mutants have been locked out of the gates to keep them from escaping and to keep them divided at the cost of her nose, but for some mysterious reason Kate suddenly can pass through them and winds up in Jerusalem. Note the emphasis on surviving characters being scattered and divided - so that they can reunite in Rise of X.

The Genocide that Didn't Happen

And here we arrive at the denoument: having held his shot for some reason, Xavier tells Rogue to smash Moira and flee the Gala, only for him to find out that he has been made the unwitting and unwilling agent of mutant genocide - fulfilling Magneto's prophecy, Xavier's completely understandable attempt to save millions of hostages seemingly led to the deaths of all 250,000 mutants on Krakoa. We end with a complete existential destruction of Charles Xavier, as he is left alone and bereft on Krakoa's Pacific island.

(Interesting that ORCHIS' plan seems to have left the home island at home, so that Krakoa itself is still alive and where we left it.) I say seemingly, because Xavier only thinks that the Krakoan people are dead. As we have seen, Mother Righteous has her own agenda and altered the gates - we know that some mutants who went through the gates ended up in Vanaheim, and others ended up on the Atlantic island in Righteous' pocket dimension...including the Five. And as long as the Five live, so too does Krakoa. I again will bet dollars to donuts that we will see mutants who died at the Gala brought back to life by the Five at a dramatic moment to take their places in Fall of X and Rise of X (because comics never stopping cuts both ways).

So what we have is something that feels like a genocide in terms of its emotional impact on the reader and the psychological impact on Charles Xavier, and that certainly hearkens back to Hickman's recontextualizing of mutant genesis with the dramatic focus on Xavier and the helmet (he's even kneeling in water again), and the population of Krakoa falling to one...but that isn't actually a genocide. The overall purpose is clear: just as one is supposed to put one's toys back in the box for the next writing team, it's also important not to play so rough with your toys that you end up breaking them.

At the same time, I have to admit I feel kind of a way about playing the symbolism of genocide in a comic fakeout sort of way. I know that it's going to result in a triumphant moment and it follows on from HOXPOX using resurrection to promote the idea of reversing genocide as a liberatory act of science-fiction, but I think it's fair to say that it left me a little raw and I feel like the X-room is going to have to do some aftercare to soothe their audience.

[jakowskis]

@buffetpallascat doing a good ol' days reply because i had enough thoughts on this to warrant some meta, in my typical rambling fashion. hope you don't regret engaging by the time im done dfhkdsf

for starters, you're very welcome, i'm glad you enjoy the post :D

as for your question - i meant moreso that it was typical of the fandom, although it was also very much influenced by societal trends of the time, too. fandom's always had a rocky history with women, especially women who supposedly 'get in the way of "slash" couples', but the way fandom misogyny is performed has changed; i see more willful erasure of female characters these days than flat out blatant misogyny. in tw fan content from the 00s, i've seen gwen hatefully AND casually called some pretty horrible things that i rarely see fictional or real women called nowadays, simply because standards have changed. hell, one of the comms i linked, the twgenre finders one, there was several entries requesting fic where gwen experiences, like, bodily harm? not in a whump-y way, they actually wanted to recreationally read fic about her getting physically injured and suffering, out of some bizarre sense of malice towards her. simply because she 'gets in the way of janto'. and i can't even fathom that existing nowadays. pretty much everyone outside of weird little 12 year olds knows that's not acceptable. not to mention it's just weird.

interestingly i've also noticed a lottttt of change in how the fandom... reacted to and treated janto as a couple back in the day, versus now. people in 2006 were not normal about gay people. we know fandom's history with fetishizing gay men, and it was even worse in 2006 with an exceptionally rare canon gay couple being received by a jarringly hetero-but-'slash'-obsessed fanbase.

i mean, i don't wanna generalize. i saw a poll recently about how fandom is not mainly composed of straight women, contrary to popular belief, at least anymore, and i guess the question is, was it ever? i have seen a lot of the people involved in fandom in the 00s identify themselves as straight, but was that partially because of the culture of that era? have any of those people since come out as some type of queer? maybe, for some of them, that was them exploring their queerness in a safe environment, when the culture around being gay in real life was a lot different.... the same way modern fandom culture continues to be for those of us who aren't in accepting homes. if they were 20smth year olds in the 2010s/2020s, rather than the 2000s, would they still identify as straight?

not sure. but i've made a habit of going on the profiles of old lj accounts, and i'll sometimes wind up going through the journals and the personal posts of authors i respect, etc etc. a significant amount of mid 00s fic writers were straight women in their 30s - 40s, many married, some with kids. very different demographic to modern fandom. very different climate they lived in vs the one we're in.

(although, bonus note, i also once found a thread of bisexuals in 2006 praising torchwood's depiction of bisexuality, and that made me exceptionally happy. but also maybe a little sad, because torchwood's my personal fav bi rep, too, in 2023, and the fact that we've had nothing better in seventeen years is a bit of a bummer. but i digress.)

anyway, this is all to say, i've seen some insanely fetishy shit about jack and ianto that rubbed me exceptionally wrong. that gross dehumanizing, severely homophobic place where it's like... ahh, ok, so you don't see them as people, you see them as sexy dolls you can mash together. but, ofc, that's how i view it as a bisexual person in 2023 who's been on tumblr far too long. they didn't see any problem with it. they might've even seen it as progressive. how can you be homophobic when you're obsessed with the little gay people on ur screen? but it's the opposite end of the 'homophobes reducing gay ppl down to what they do in their beds' trope, and it comes across as dated and icky now.

i mean, i consume a lot of older media, i know how to turn off my 21st century sensibilities and remind myself things used to be different, but it's honestly an impressive difference. there's some fantastic fics from that era of the fandom, in fact most of my favorite fics are from that era, but i often get quite a bit of culture shock reading things. particularly, i'm always impressed by people in the 2000s, an extremely biphobic era, applying their impressive period-typical 'bisexuals aren't real' beliefs to The Bisexual Show. torchwood's rep's not perfect (again, a product of its era), but i've seen a fantastic amount of gay!ianto and straight!owen, because bisexual men don't exist, obviously, and jack's not bisexual, he's the amazing slutty space man, except he's mostly gay because all that matters is janto. and i don't even really see explorations of gwen or tosh's bisexuality at all, because, again, women who?

i found a comm a while back, i didn't include it on my list because it wasn't torchwood-exclusive and didn't have much content in the tw tag, but it was a lgbtfest, and contained fics about the team and their relationships with their bisexuality, and it was really intriguing to me to see queerness as understood by regular people in 2007/2008, y'know, not by gay writers or activists or films. i have no way of knowing if any of them were speaking from any personal place, but it was just interesting, because none of the fics i read in that comm had that same brand of tone-deaf sex-focused homophobia to them, they were progressive for the time, but it was still apparent to me that they were written by people with a mid to late 00s understanding of being gay, and i do think it's interesting, that substantial difference.

got a bit off topic, but now that i mentioned the initial fandom being overwhelmingly composed of women, i can also add that i think internalized misogyny factored hugely into the fandom's disdain for gwen. the 'strong female' trope doesn't just annoy straight men, it also annoys a lot of women (though not consciously) - not because they're opposed to well-written women, but because society tells us certain things that'd be admirable and complex and sympathetic out of a male hero are unacceptable out of a female one. it's the double standard. jack does some awful shit, but i rarely see him criticized. i've straight up seen fans go "jack's kind of a bastard, but it's ok because he's hot", which is fine in jest, i've joked about shit like that with characters, but it's not so cute when those same people turn around and condemn gwen for her actions. hell, or owen. i've literally seen someone say they'd like owen more if he was more conventionally attractive. like, ok, you're clearly just here for the janto eye candy. you haven't brought any substantial critical thinking skills. pls take ur shallow ass and leave. but back to gwen - she was held to a standard none of the other characters are held to. they picked on her for the stupidest shit. and her worse sin, the infidelity, it's bad, sure, but i've seen countless male characters who cheat on their partners who are beloved by their fandoms. it's just fucking gross. i fucking hate hypocrites.

dude, yknow what?? i've even seen fucking tosh bashing. WHO THE FUCK HATES TOSH????

ok im done. sorry for my babbling. but yeah, i think it's a fascinating thing. i love how humans change and develop with the times and how we can map the changes and how they affect media, and it's fun to observe in fandom because it's there, too, but no one's looking so i get to feel like a little scientist fdskjfds. ok i will cease with the excessive babbling now

[tobiasdrake]

We won the fight and yet I'm salty about it. At least we have a ship now. Probably.

That asshole scorched us with maelstrom dragon fire. I don't even know where he got the dragon. That was insane. But it's done. Good work, team. We really came together there.

I think there's a lesson in all of this. Try to live your life in such a way that legendary super-warriors don't mystically cross the boundary of life and death to assassinate you for the way you treat women.

Oh, it's good to be back in non-cursed reality. ...well, less-cursed reality. Did the air in there smell like burnt shellfish to anyone else or was that just me?

Yeah. I'm so happy we were able to set you free. I've been wanting to do that since I first heard your legend. For me, this is my "Garl finally gets to see the Sleeper" moment. ^_^

...

So. This is a pretty awkward segue but. We did our good deed for the day, and it's time to get back to our crime in progress. We need your ship. This is still a hijacking.

Yeah, this is why we let Garl do the talking. He's better at making semantic choices than I am.

Back to Brisk with the smell of victory on the wind. Victory and burnt shellfish. This ship's been marinating in ionized Storm Dimension for hundreds of years, with no one to take care of it but walking corpses slowly rotting all over its planks. It needs a thorough cleaning.

And fruit. Lots of fruit. I didn't come all this way to be done in by scurvy.

Hydralion. Hydralion... Hydralion... Fuck, I know that name. Did Teaks mention the Hydralion when she was telling us about the Vespertine?

I should have asked her to retell me the story when we got to the Sea of Nightmares. Got a refresher.

I hope so too, Teaks. Someone needs to fuel your boundless curiosity. It's your best asset.

Oh shit, we get to keep Hortence.

I wasn't gonna push. Because. Y'know. Pushing is exactly what Captain Thunderdouche did that started this whole mess. If she wants to go her own way and seek a fulfilling new path in her unlife, that's her prerogative.

But I'm more than happy to hear she wants to stick around. She is welcome to stay on our ship for as long as she finds satisfaction in it.

Joke's on her. We've been discussing getting a boat and setting sail for freedom since we were children. For us, the Vespertine isn't a means to an end; It's a childhood fantasy finally come true.

Captain Cliche manipulated us into doing what we already wanted to do to begin with.

Of course, Hortence and Serai's conversation is full of cryptic teasing because, despite having come clean about having a secret identity, Serai still hasn't told us who her other identity actually is. We know her name and that she makes portals.

And that she doesn't want anyone to know about her portal-making persona for some reason, as if people more worldly than us might recognize and be alarmed by it.

Oh yeah, this pirate crew is also a band.

Hortence, you're going to get along great with these people. I'm happy for you.

Finally, we can take these people to their new home. Where they will probably be no safer from the Dweller of Strife than they were in Brisk, but will have the illusion of security created by leaving behind the geographic location where the calamity last occurred.

Man, I wish all of my crimes had this happy of an ending.

[nancydrewwouldnever]

I am the anon who mentioned this isn't PR, wouldn't be good PR , Backgrid, how the fandom wondered why Chris doesn't have the same career as his peers, and wasted potential. I'm going to get into observations I've made since coming to the fandom in 2020 after watching Snowpiercer.

I feel further validated by the latest events.

What we're seeing is the Chris before Marvel PR cleaned him up. He was always a fuckboi pre Marvel. He hasn't changed or evolved. He surrounds himself with yes people who never challenge him or encourage him to level up because they know if he did they would get left behind and lose the freebies he gives them. The saying "You're the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with" applies here. His friend group appears to be immature, thirsty, and too overly involved in his life. Just because they knew him before fame doesn't mean anything. I think there have been quality women he dated who were turned off by his clique of friends always in their business and face. Not to mention the same vacations, the same restaurants, the same everything. Groundhog Day. Who wants to date someone like that?

I didn't realize Jim Toth use to be his agent. Look at what he did for his wife Reese Witherspoon. Reese gave an interview explaining that she had aged out and was unhappy with her career. She said Jim pushed her to create her production company which she did. She also used Jim's connections to launch Draper James, her book club, podcast, and other ventures. Jim also helped rebrand Matthew McConaughey. He had the Golden Year for Dallas Buyer's Club and True Detective. He turned down the Wolf of Wall Street that got Jonah Hill an Academy Award nomination because of money. I'm sure Jim tried to get him to the next level.

Chris directed one movie. It didn't get the response he wanted yet he didn't seek directing gigs on television to hone his skills. Denzel Washington directed episodes of Grey's Anatomy. Other actors and actresses have done the same. Defending Jacob didn't get awards recognition so he returns to comfort zone of romantic comedies and action films instead of trying again with the drama genre. Look at his ex Jessica. She created her production company when she didn't get the roles she wanted. The Sinner and Candy changed her career for the better. Chris is capable of so much more with his career. He gives up after one try.

The latest mess is just his immaturity and wanting to be a rebel. He'll retreat when he becomes a punchline while being compared to Dane Cook and John Mayer. That's where this train is headed if this goes public. He has coasted off his reputation for being kind to fans, crew members, and staff. That gets celebrities a lot of leeway with fans when we have other celebrities who make staff and fans miserable.

His messiness is more on display due to social media and not having Marvel backing him. Studios heavily invested in certain actors and actresses always keep their PR image intact.

He will either become a cliched joke or find his own version of Amal Clooney.

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes, Anon. (BTW, would you like to pick an emoji for future use as an ask tag?)

I do think people don't understand how much benefit he got from having two PR teams, Disney and Megan, cleaning up behind him from 2011-2019. We've already seen the "oopsies" that have started happening once Disney/Marvel dipped out. And now that he's full-blown in the messiness of a mid-life crisis, who knows what else we'll see.

But, I'm not seeing anything over the last couple of days that changed my mind from "situationship" that has PR angles unfortunately attached. I don't think it makes it somehow more special that he coasted up in NYC for some Broadway shows when he's got some filming downtime. If nothing else, to me it just makes it look even more like an arranged meet-up.

[artisticmenace]

one of scott's therapy sessions, which is during his thirties after his dad dies. (ocposting again)

tw: suicide, homophobia, attempted murder(kind of), fighting, mention of being in the hospital(but he doesnt talk about it past saying it), therapy(?), his therapist is nosy and kind of annoying

"Hello, Scott. How are you feeling today?"

"Pretty damn awful. The pinto broke down yesterday, poor thing. First time in all these years, though. Can't complain too much."

"Mm. So Rachael's picking you up today?"

"Yup. Speakin' of which. I got some news."

"Yes?"

"Rachael is, uh... She's not a woman. She's my, well, she's not even really my husband. Can't get married and whatever. His name is Rodney. We got illegally married in the woods at twenty-six. Love of my life since I was seventeen."

"That makes a lot of sense, Scott."

"So, ya just don't care?"

"There was a small part of me that wondered. There aren't many women working in lumber yards. Or carrying their husbands to bed. Or a lot of things."

"Well... who knows? Rachael coulda been some body builder lady."

"That wouldn't've helped your case either."

"You psychologists ain't supposed to be judgin' books."

"Well, I didn't act like I had any impressions now, did I?"

"You rotten lady."

"Hahaha. Can I meet him?"

"Well, yeah. He's pickin' me up in his little truck."

"I'd be glad. Now, do we want to pick up on what we discussed last time?"

"Alright."

"You started talking about a... Leroy Coffman?"

"Yep. We were just the best of friends in grade school. I was a good little catholic boy who said his prayers every night and all that. Then I got with my first girlfriend, who I told you about. That all changed and whatever. We'd poke each other with knives and laugh about it and shit."

"He told me one day that he loved me. He said he hoped I didn't mind. That he thought I was beautiful and all that... I told everybody. Anyone I came across. Meanest, nastiest thing I've ever done. Ruined everything for him. They called him names and all that jazz."

"Still remember our first real fight. He pushed me into the dirt and told me he hated me and hated that he ever loved me. I still feel awful about all that."

"When I was twenty-six -yes, the same year I got- well, didn't get married- he got out of jail. He came to the gas station I worked at and told me the date, time, and place he planned to beat the shit out of me. He was gonna kill me. I know he was. But I also knew that he knew how, precisely, to do it, and he didn't. He let me live."

"The last thing he told me was that he had loved me all this time and still didn't know why. And he hoped I'd remember him. And right before I blacked out from getting smacked with my own bat again, he blew his own brains out."

"And then later after the hospital and everything, I found a note he had left taped to my bat. And it said that he left me alive because he wanted me and Rodney to be happy."

"And I don't know how I feel about that. I never had feelings for him. I ruined his life. I wish things could've been different."

"I would feel the same way. None of that could have been easy."

"Yep... I dunno. Rodney should be here any minute."

"Mhm, well, when do you want to see me next?"

"Well, never again, but Thursday works."

"You don't like me very much do you?"

"I'll be honest, I don't. You're young and ya know more than me."

"At least you're honest, Scott."

"Actually, we've both been pretty good liars so far, Danielle."

"Haha."

(knock! knock! knock!)

"Come on in. Oh! You must be Mr. 'Rachael'."

"Heh... I guess he told ya, then?"

"I sure did, Dandelion."

"I wanted to talk to you, er-"

"-Rodney."

"If Scott wouldn't mind stepping out?"

"Alright."

(creeeeak... creeeaaakk... click.)

(pause)

"So, I wanted an inside look at him. How does he act at home?"

"Well, he’s still grumpy. You kinda make him sound like some troubled kid at school, haha."

"Haha, yeah. I didn't mean it like that. It's just that he's very straightforward. It's almost more concerning than what he actually says. Even after a few years."

"Oh, he's been like that. His dad's the same way. You must be used to the city folk. Out in Nebula, that's all you get."

"Hm."

"He’s all he is. He's rarely any more than that. Sometimes he cries, sometimes he should cry. I used to think he was somethin' bigger than himself. Sadder than he seemed. Which was true. But everyone is."

"Huh."

"But he's pretty honest these days about who he is. He doesn't try to show off anymore. We're both gettin' old."

"Well, that's... unexpected."

"You're unexpected too. Real nosy. I see why Scott doesn't like ya too well."

"Well, that's my job, practically."

"Yeah, yeah. Well. That's just about it. He's as lovey-dovey as ever. Doesn't bother to hide it, either."

"Alright, well, I'll see him again on Thursday."

"Okay, bye now."

"Bye..."

[austinslounge]

I'm relatively new to following Austin and I always see on Twitter how they make fun of Vanessa, last week they were making fun of her being in a Netflix movie and that Austin has bigger projects, which is stupid because the fact that she's in a platform movie means absolutely nothing, in fact even Austin may take on a project like that later.

I understand that Vanessa behaved badly towards Austin at the end of their relationship, but I see him as a completely scorned woman, I mean she was with him for 9 years, he was the love of her life and things didn't work out, sometimes one acts with rage at the end of relationships and I feel that we who are women should understand it more, but they insist on continuing to be aware of his life, when he's already married someone else and had a baby. Unfortunately Austin's present at this moment is Kaia and the shippers or those who throw shit at Vanessa should analyze this relationship and everything that happens in it.

We only have memories of Vanessa and a beautiful version of Austin in love and being happy, but what happens in the present with her if it has nothing to do with Austin, what does it matter? Why do they insist on hating her when she no longer talks about Austin and he himself has commented that he has the best memories of her and mentions her fondly?

First of all, welcome to the fandom! 😊 Welcome to my blog. 🥰

I can't believe shippers were trying to clown Vanessa for being in a Netflix film, when Austin himself just had his MOTA series steaming on AppleTV earlier this year. Did they forget? 😅

Streaming has some great projects for some actors. Some projects even get nominated for prestigious awards.

Anyway, I do feel that Vanessa was probably deeply hurt since I'm sure she definitely saw a future with Austin, but I'm sure some of us have been there before. Either way, Austin has never spoken an ill word about Vanessa, and I appreciate that. 😊

I think that says a lot about his character tbh.

I think we've already hit the nail on the head on why a lot of shippers are so bitter about Vanessa.

[bookofmirth]

Do you think SJM will keep Az as a dark character or water him down to sad emo boy who just wants love? I think she’s setting him up as probably the darkest non-villain character she has, I’m just not sure she can pull it off. How do you think his darkness will be manifested/explored, personality wise? He’s definitely nearing rock bottom, bonus chapter basically confirmed it. He’s ready to latch onto literally anyone who shows him a bit of interest/affection.

This is a very interesting question, thanks! Since you mentioned him being dark, I mentioned some dark things (self-harm) just for anyone who continues to read.

I think that she will keep him as a dark character (dark for her), and I agree with you that she's setting him up to be one of the darkest non-villain characters she has, as you put it.

I think she will be able to pull it off mainly because imo she pulled it off with Nesta.

IDK if I see people describe Nesta this way very often, and I don't think that Nesta herself is dark so much as she was in a very dark place, but I think Nesta and Az are fairly similar. They aren't great at expressing themselves, they feel guilt for what they perceive as their failures, they don't feel worthy of the things they really want, they feel like the odd person out in their respective families. I think that they recognized their darker thoughts in one another, too. When I say "dark" I mean self-loathing. The way that Nesta beat herself up mentally, I would not be surprised at all if Az has very, very similar thoughts.

I've actually had a headcanon for a long time (since 2017 I think?) that Az self-harms physically. I'm not sure if sjm would go there, but he's ripe for it. Where Nesta ended up getting her emotions out, albeit in sometimes destructive ways, I don't think Az has anything like that - as far as we know.

For Az, I hope we get more exploration of his relationships with the IC and with his family. SJM isn't big on flashbacks, but she has written some banger monologues. To me, Az seems like the kind of person who has a lot brewing inside, he just bites his tongue all the time for various reasons. Maybe he feels like people won't understand, like they'll like/love him less if they know what he's thinking, maybe he feels like a weirdo when he finally does talk about his actual feelings. Point is, I think he has a lot of things that he wants to say because still waters run deep etc. Oh, and I think part of the reason he doesn't say things (e.g., 500 years and he's never tried to tell Mor how he feels past the one time???) is because he's afraid of putting himself out there.

IMO, Az's insecurities and fears stem from his relationship with his family, and so I think that's what he really needs to deal with. Just as Nesta thought a lot about her father and then had a breakdown about him, I could see something similar happening with Az, only instead of Nesta saying "I didn't save him", it would be more like Az saying "I should have killed him so that I could have saved her".

I know that in some circles of the fandom, Az's problem is that he doesn't have romantic love, but he was rejected by his blood family a long, long time ago. That's where his conflict stems from. His dad is a dick and he couldn't help his mom. He ended up with a great found family, but I get the sense that he's been questioning the whole time if he really belongs.

I'm aware that some of this is my headcanons about why he is the way that he is, but some of it we've been handed (e.g., his mom in acofas, being jealous of mating bonds in acosf, his anger at being told not to help in acosf, his blow up at the HL meeting in acowar). It's just that imo, Az has 99 problems and his love life is barely a blip on the radar and is actually indicative of much bigger issues.

If she turns Az into the sad emo boy who just needs the love of a good women I will set my book on fire. Luckily, sjm doesn't seem to be that kind of writer. And while I don't think she would write a male character that way, more importantly, I don't think that she would write a female character into the position of having to be Az's emotional dumping ground.