#what are you gonna do. hate her? for being right? the woman who birthed and raised you?

[wind-up-thancred]

mama's gonna help build the wall

[pinkyqil]

Too Much Is Never Enough

Hidden secrets series

Hidden secrets Masterlist

Warning : mention of pregnancy, little morning sickness and overly fluff

A/n: hope y'all enjoy this along with the anon that requested for this,I also added a lil sneak peak of what r future opucation might be in this I'm gonna be working on one more chapter before writing the birth and how alexia and jenni start their co-parenting the part y'all probably want the most but anyway my request are open at the moment so feel free to send them in, as always feedbacks and opinions are always appreciated

A few week's had pass since the mini gender reveal party and the leak photo of them both hanging out.

Right now the couple could careless and just let the internet go on a rampage of what was going on between them.

On the other hand alexia had woken up feeling a little morning sickness kicking in.

she should be familiar with it but no matter how many times she gets that feeling she couldn't get past feeling so sick.

she hated having to dealing with it especially right at this moment. and today her body honestly wasn't feeling it. but got up either way too wash up her face before heading down to meet join jen.

Jenni noticed the little pale look on alexia face wondering if she was alright,already knowing the answer to that.

"You alright". she asked

"Not really feeling a little down"

"You feel good enough to go shopping or we can just cancel it".

"Jen I'm alright just need to rest up a bit before heading out".

"Why don't you go upstairs I'll come join you soon and once you're fully rested we can go". Jenni told alexia one more time before helping her up.

alexia nodded agreeing to head up and rest before going out has she seem to lack energy especially after throwing up earlier.

After a while she was joined by jenni who started to massage her before pulling her into a cuddling position which made alexia feel slightly better before they both fell asleep real fast.

jenni had woken up first so that she could prepare the car and a few snacks for alexia so she could feel her best. by the time she was done alexia had already woke up and gotten ready. and now the couple were on there way

The trip too the baby store took an hour and half has the were going to an all baby mall. At there arrival jenni had already been talking alexia ears off on what they were going to get without even arriving at the store.

"So where do we start"?. Jenni asked alexia.

"Why don't you tell me seeing you were talking about it the whole ride huh".

Jenni obviously being annoyed with alexia answers before grabbing her hands leading her to the clothing section.

"Jen grab a cart on your way before we bump into something".alexia told her once again

They were both enjoying the occasion looking at the different choices that they had but would often disagree with each other sense of clothing choices.

"Why can't we get this it would definitely look cute on her". Jenni questioned her

"We can't get cause you already picked three of it in different colors Jennifer".she said while rolling her eye's to the older woman.

"That doesn't mean she can't have another color putellas". She spat back

"What did you just say hermoso". Alexia asked her with a glare.

"Nothing".jenni mumbled under her breath.

Even with alexia disagreement she had stil added the pices of clothing the cart while alexia wasn't paying attention. they had the same disagreement over and over again

"For the last time our baby doesn't need every color of each item".

"Whatever you say". It was now jenni's turn to roll her eyes.

Alexia was getting annoyed but she couldn't hide her smile whenever jenni suggested in getting more stuff she found her enthusiasm fun but would decline just get on her nerves.

Jenni had saw a huge cute teddy and a musical box that looked like it had an dancer on it.she knew she had to get it but alexia would just deny her request.

so she decided buy it without her noticing and hurrying up to hid it somewhere in the car without her knowing.

The musical box had gotten Alexia attention but by the time she tried looking for it again it was gone.this time so was jenni she couldn't even bother cause she knew that jenni was roaming around and all.

"You ready to go". she asked alexia.

"Yeah my legs are killing me right now".alexia told her.

The pair payed for all there purchases before heading out and putting arranging it in the car. mostly jenni thought as she didn't want alexia doing heavy lifting.

Ride back home was peaceful spanish music playing in the background jenni singing while alexia struggled to stay awake after a day full of shopping and needed sleep and food.

They arriving back home and got into arranging the things they got. alexia was a neat freak or at least she just needed everything in place so they wouldn't have to be doing it once the baby arrived.

While putting stuff where they belong alexia noticed stuff that they didn't get kept on appearing as she was trying to organize the clothes noticing the other colors top that she said no too was there.

"hermoso what did you do".alexia asked while holding the top.

"I can explain". jenni said once she felt alexia eyes starring deep at her.

"Oh well you better have an explanation for every single one of these that you got".

"Fine we can go return them".she said with a deep sigh turning her back on alexia.

"We can keep them I'm just messing with you". She said while laughing.

"Was wondering where this was".she said while holding the musical box close to her.

"You like it".

"Yeah it like one of a kind".

The rest of the night was spent arranging the things they got laughter and a few makeout session before they finished up.

Before heading to bed alexia had played a traditional catalan dance recital that she had found herself wachting a few days ago and right now.

She found herself loving the dance culture and everything that surrounded it. Reminding her a little about football with the way they move how it precise and everything with it's flow she loved it all.

A/n : hope y'all enjoy this chapter,one more chapter left still I write the birth and we get to the main part of the storyline. Anyway feedbacks are appreciated and I hope you all have an amazing saturday 💗

[verosikastrikerstellaexcuser]

Adding on to previous anon, can the fandom please explain why it's *Stella's* fault they were forced into a child marriage? Can they explain why it's *her* fault they were forced to conceive an heir? If anything, it's both their parent's fault.

The more they present Stella as just a heartless creature, the more tragic she becomes. Now she was a little girl with visible anger issues, and *nobody* bothered to help her or care for her as a person, just as an incubator. This is why she's wasted because she could have been a great example of generational trauma AND an example of a female abuser

This is what I've always thought and I've said it on here before that its appalling to portray a victim of an arranged marriage whos even more disadvantaged by it than the man like this show does (since St*las gets the whole house in the divorce but Stellas only option was to marry him so she could never own her own property, basically Stella has no property rights much like women used to not historically). The St*las stans just don't. Fucking. Get it. They say you're an abuse apologist and that its ridiculous that "Stella fans can't accept that sometimes women are just bad people" yes we fucking can. I'd have no issues with a female Alastor, for example. But the issue with Stella is that since birth shes been a victim of so much heinous shit, and yet shes BLAMED for it by the show and Viv etc like WTH?

The issue isn't that Stella is as an abuser. But that wasn't set up and done properly, much like many things in this show. The way shes mean to Stolas "just because" is fucking nuts. Like what do you mean just because? Yes, some abusers are abusers just because. But that doesn't work when Stella had 0 choice in marrying St*las like huh!? Shes been valued as nothing more than a baby incubator and for her looks since birth. She never had control over her own future in life and if she never wanted to be a mother, tough. If they had written her as being angry about that and then taking it out on St*las it wouldn't have pissed me off. What pisses me off is that the show and the fanbase is encouraged to act like shes a heinous bitch on the level of someone like VALENTINO. Nope, nope nope nope. A woman forced to bear a child with a man she didn't want to by her family is not on that same fucking level. Her abusing the man who also had no choice isn't right but she still never could have been "horrible just because". She is not Jack Horner from Puss In Boots. A victim of a forced arranged marriage could never be that, because Jack Horner type characters are evil just because they love to be despite stable happy upbringings, while Stella has like 5000 reasons to be evil. Which, let me preface with, I'm not saying it would make her abuse of St*las justified then. But it WOULD make it logical, her motivations would feel much more coherent. Instead of the show weirdly and nonsensically writing a woman being an abuser not because shes lashing out at being the victim of an arranged marriage but just because "shes evil" and the arranged marriage never affected her.

She should have been a sympathetic antagonist if they wanted to be her one. But instead the show and Viv encourages the fanbase to believe that none of what was done to her as a child affected her (yea pretty much impossible for that not to impact someone we are our upbringings and environments). We're supposed to believe she totally didn't mind being arranged married because she's mindless and just thought "oh fuck it, I mean I hate St*las and can't stand him but I'm not affected at all by being arranged married to him, and I'm not gonna mindlessly stick around to bully him muehehehe I love being brainless and hateful and evil just because!" Its such bad writing to write your female victim of an arranged marriage like this while your male one is an innocent soft uwu baby who never did anything wrong ever. Because all the arranged marriage and Stella's story boils down to is tragedy for St*las and opposition to the St*litz ship. Its so ick. Its exactly how misogynistic yaoi fanfics of the early 2010s would write women, the misogyny is completely transparent.

[lonely-cereal]

Isabella and Ray and farm system small analysis

Isabella always acts like the outside is worse. That it will be the most woeful place. If her kids escape they will feel nothing but misery. She guilt trips, acting like she's the protector and that she's helping. She gave each child an amazing life. What else could she do? They were gonna die and she made sure they had a happy life beforehand. Besides Ray. Poor ray. But she can't change anything, can she? He has his reasons to live, he won't see them get shipped off. Ray didn't deserve her treatment (he deserves the world) and she KNOWS it. Yet she doesn't bother.

I think her treatment towards ray had something to do with HER illusion being shattered as well as his.

Imagine, you're a new mother. You're not near any demons anymore. You slowly build up this fake dollhouse family. Everyone loves you, the food is good, and you're in control. Even though there are shipments, you know you're the reason they had a happy life until the end.

But what if you find out, the child you literally birthed out of the womb and carried for 9 months is also in line for YOU to kill and they Know it. They feel so betrayed. You can't pamper them normally. They'll never look at you as a human again. You're not a mother in his eyes, you're a monster. You can't even save him, because he's a boy. Boys don't get to join the farm system. If he escapes, he'll find happiness, but you'll be killed. That illusion you just made for yourself is gone. You chose this job and it's real. You try to not get attached to your child, but you can't so you push them away to the point it kills you both.

Ray has every right to hate this woman. She's vile, she's cruel, she hurt him, she abused him, she made his life miserable. They could have had it all, they could've shared that burden together, she could've been nicer. But ray believes he's selfish for wishing this. Is he better himself? (Yes) he doesn't wanna be like her at all, but he is in some ways. Isabella fails because she had no companions, Ray didn't fall alone. He had someone to lean on. He had true (platonic) love right there living with him. Ray eventually was not sharing his burden alone. He learned to love and learned to live.

Isabella did not. She didn't have any real meaningful reason to live besides to live. Pushing everyone down to rise to the top is her ONLY way. Even her own son, who deserves nothing but love. She knows how to get to the top and she will. At least, that's what she'd like to think.

Because in the end, she cared. Ray cared. They all cared. Death was her atonement. However, if she had lived longer, would making everything up to ray and the others had been a better way of atonement?

[blues824]

The remarried empress with a female Scaramouche.

💙Her falling out of the sky and and being found by sovieshit.

🖤How would everyone react to her being a doll that was created by a goddess who she has mommy issues with because she didn't give her her birth right (if I was correct it was his heart. )

💙Her being over 500 years old and holding grudges against humans and now is in a world that she doesn't know about doesn't help her especially sovieshit and rattrash doesn't help her hatred towards humanity.

🖤Her becoming a lady in court who has a enormous attitude towards people but still respect because of her status as a person created by the gods .

💙She does not need to eat drink or sleep making them panic at first but she do not need the things humans need to survive.

🖤What would they think of her outfit (I love Scaramouche his hat ngl ) and her ability to fly.

(Like I said I'm still new to genshin impact so if I made a mistake feel free to correct)

The story of Scaramouche is high-key sad, not gonna lie. This one is just three characters: Sovieshu, Rashta, Navier.

Sovieshu

He had met you after Navier took you in, and to say that he thought you were beyond childish would be an understatement. You clung to his wife as though she were your mother, and he got feelings of jealousy out of nowhere. You even said that he was stupid for abandoning her for that ugly woman that he calls his ‘mistress’.

From that point, your relationship just went downhill from there. You had a more popular and agreeable reputation as a creation by the gods themselves, so you were in a place of power. He could see that you used it to your advantage, and you made your hate for the Emperor public. But, under the order of the High Priest, the worst he could do was lock you in your room. Best not to anger the gods, after all.

Any attempts to try and find out anything about you were all in vain, as you were not a citizen from this world. You weren’t even human. You’re a doll that’s sentient. You were able to be mean to anyone and not suffer any questions. You were untouchable, to say the least. All he knew was that you probably had a bad experience with both gods and humans because of your distaste for them.

Rashta

She was very excited when she heard that someone new would be joining the palace, but less excited when she found out that it was because Navier had found you. So, she had her claws in you already… She honestly thought that the Empress was taking advantage of your status as a ‘creation of the gods’. 

This feeling was especially apparent when you said something about how she was taking advantage of Sovieshu’s status and power. Actually, you said things like this to everyone, but because of your reputation you were dismissed. This made Rashta so angry, as she could be as kind as possible and people would hate her because of her beginnings.

You didn’t really like her either, as she was living proof that humans couldn’t be trusted. You would rather go back to Raiden than have to be taken care of by her. That being said, you tried to stay away. Your job as a lady of the court that was serving Navier meant that you wouldn’t come into contact with Rashta much anyway, so it was perfect.

Navier

She had found you lying on the ground in her secret spot within the garden. She was definitely worried, but this was the first time a human had actually shown genuine care towards you. You hated to admit it, but you almost immediately grew attached to the Empress, but she didn’t mind it. Instead, she treated you as though you were her child, making sure that you had gotten a good education so that you would be knowledgeable. The connection you had with Navier was like mother and daughter, and it made you feel like your past could finally be forgotten.

When the High Priest came to visit you, he saw your abilities and deemed you a creation of the gods. He was actually right, but not about the gods that created you. The archon Raiden had created you, and you told your new mother about how the goddess had abandoned you and thought you were a failure for being a sentient vessel that wasn’t capable of holding her gnosis. 

You had been through so much, but to be fair, you had been around for 500 years. You became a lady of the court, and she made sure that you stuck by her side. Actually, she took you in, claiming you to be a child. For once, you didn’t mind, as you were happy that your new mother made you feel like you were enough; like you were a normal human.

[stxrrynxghts]

Subhadra (and Draupadi)

I am gonna be talking about what I dislike on the way this woman is treated by ppl, including shows and stuff. This is just my opinion, don't cancel me over this.

Subhadra is someone who is mostly seen as Krishna's sister, Arjun's wife and Abhimanyu's mother, mostly. She doesn't actually have her own identity when we talk about her. I have seen people downright act as if she is Draupadi's "slave", which is not fair. Subhadra is her own person, who should be seen beyond the tags of a sister, wife and mother.

But then, this specific set of people HATE it when you point out that Subhadra IS Abhimanyu's mother. She is the adult who was with him for the major part of his life, and who was responsible for his upbringing, not Arjun, not Draupadi, not Yudhishthira and definitely not Karna.

The show, Star Plus Mahabharat, did a great job in showing Subhadra as dumb. She doesn't know that it is a diagram of a war formation, she doesn't understand what her brother is saying, and she is stuck in this bubbly, naive, childish character, who is somewhat of a third wheel between Arjun and Draupadi. Now, I like Draupadi aka the CANON Draupadi, not any show's version.

See, I like Draupadi, and it is not wrong to show a relation between her and Abhimanyu, BUT, pls keep in mind that Abhimanyu has not been around these people since 14 years. How can he be this close to Draupadi (and Arjun) out of a sudden?

Abhimanyu, in the show, never mentions Subhadra, not even once. It is a pretty light thing, very minor, and it is a show with many inaccuracies, and their portrayal of Draupadi is not accurate in any sense. Didn't they show her say that she won't marry the son of a suta, an event which is clearly, not canon?

But, what has happened, is part of a "domino effect". I have read many stories, on certain other writing platforms, and there you can clearly see the effects of this type of writing.

Abhimanyu, in these stories, has no regard for his own mother. Draupadi, in these stories, is the center of the Pandava world. She only loves Arjun, Krishna and Abhimanyu, while her own sons, other husbands and brothers are disregarded by her.

Subhadra is accused of marrying Arjun, and of "stealing" Draupadi's son. These writers, who are 12-13 year old kids, with no knowledge of the actual story, try to "uplift" Draupadi as a character but end up villainizing her instead.

Honestly, one story even justified Draupadi snatching away newborn Abhimanyu from his mother. She also pays 0 attention to the Upapandavas in this story. Thankfully , it was taken down a year ago.

Subhadra is vilified for being Krishna's sister, Arjun's wife and Abhimanyu's mother, by many. That is not right. I am repeating again, that I absolutely have no problem with the canon Draupadi, but the one who is shown by some people? No, I don't like her. Because she isn't Draupadi, she is a different version of her.

Even the shows don't do Subhadra justice. BR Chopda barely gave Subhadra any screen time. Radha Krishn did the same. Suryaputra Karna did not even bother including her, as did Dharmakshetra.

And Star Plus Mahabharat? They ruined most all female characters. Most events related to Draupadi are well...fictional. Her birth, her meeting with Krishna, her meeting with Arjun, the circumstances that lead to her wedding, the villification that follows in Hastinapur, the division of Indraprasth, in the Rajasuya Yagya, many parts of the Game of dice, the incognito year, her knowing about how her sons are going to die, and because of which her subsequent reaction in the War, and in the end, Gandhari's reaction to her, are all events which can be considered fictional. This isn't how the main female Protagonist should be treated as, folks. And well, btw, when they aren't paying attention to characters like Kunti and Draupadi, why will they do anything right with Subhadra?

Subhadra's meeting with Arjun, the Kalyavan thing, Subhadra's marriage with Arjun, and her pregnancy are all botched up to the extent that now, after I have read some stuff here and there, I don't even want to watch this show.

Before writing a hate comment, pls re-read the parts where I have stated that I DON'T HATE THE OG DRAUPADI. And as far as I know, any shows portrayal of hers doesn't count as the real Draupadi. This became kind of a mix on both these women, and y'all who are my friends/have checked my other posts KNOW my opinions on Draupadi and Subhadra both. So , pls, I have a mental health too, and I am not trying to undermine any character.

[multifandombullshitbabes]

Random Merlin Rewatch: Where a random number generator gives me a season and an episode from BBC Merlin; and then I comment on it as I go.

Today's episode: Season 3 Episode 9 - Love in the Time of Dragons

Before I start, very excited for season 3! Especially this episode! I don't remember all of it, but we're sure gonna get a TON of Gaius on this one. Love ittttt.

And we're back to young boyyy

Alice (?) has such a kind little face.

What the fuck is that thing. What the fuck is that. Ew. Hello???

EWWW THE ANIMATION ON THE FACE IS SO WEIRD, I HATE IT, WHY DID IT MAKE THAT FACE EUGHH

Damn intro music came in early. Not complaining, LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I love how, even though magic is being used for good, for performing miracle cures on people who would've otherwise fucking die or something, Uther HAS to see a problem with it. Like. Hello?? I'm very curious to see how Arthur is throughout this episode, seeing that magic here is doing something obviously good.

Merlin judging Uther so hard (as he should).

"I'm not the king, after all." I wonder if Camelot citizens are not as hateful of magic as Uther; fearful of course, and that's valid in my opinion, but the fact that Gaius said that and that's all it took for somebody to basically admit to treason?? Interesting dynamic this kingdom has. An obvious divide I think between the lower classes and the royal one.

Is Gaius smiling?? He's smiling so wide as he's walking out of the inn.

HAHAHAHHAH Gaius lying so clearly to the king and Merlin is the only one who knows, his face!!!! Like, that powder was bright blue and glittery, obvious magic, no denying it.

MERLIN'S FACEEEEEE

GAIUS GASLIGHTING MERLIN?? HELLO? This is hilarious, our poor boy is so confused.

Not Gaius taking away Merlin's meal like. LET MY BOY EAT!!

BABYYYYYYY. Also love that he's reading in bed, in fact fell asleep on it. It's probably a magic book, but it could be literally anything else!! Maybe a book on medicine and stuff, Merlin is Gaius' apprentice.

Merlin looks so handsome in just his sleep shirt, so cute.

BED HAIR!!!!!!!!!

Oh my god, Gaius and Alice are so sweet :(

MERLIN'S FACEEEEEEEEE he's so curious!! But like a happy curious!!!

"You've lost none of your charm." Gaius was a charmer when he was younger, confirmed. Womanizer.

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!!!! AFTER THAT WHOLESOME SCENE BETWEEN ALICE AND GAIUS, WHAT THE FUCK!!!

Merlin trying to find out about the tea. Also love this role reversal, where the child is the one asking the parent where did they go last night. So fucking silly, love it.

"Do your suppliers normally kiss you?" HAHAHAHHAHA MERLIN!!!! YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THAT!!! GAIUS SCANDALIZED FACE, HELP!!

Merlin acting like Gaius is a silly teenager with a silly little crush is so amusing, I'm in love with this episode (let's ignore the weird creature part for now).

Just when Gaius find a job as the king's physician, she finds Alice. We know from a previous episode that Gaius got this job just when Arthur was born, right? I'm pretty sure. So they met for a little time, before the purge happened. I'm assuming the writers fucked up a bit on the timeline and Gaius was employed before Arthur's birth, which makes more sense to me.

I'm assuming Alice lived in Camelot for longer than Gaius, before he came to Camelot. I think Gaius might have learned his skills as a physician somewhere that's not Ealdor, but I'm assuming he was born there as Hunith is there, etc.

Merlin's like "Fuck yeah. Romance. Go get her, uncle."

Merlin is just straight up getting his shit rocked.

SDFGYHGFDTRESRDTGYUIJOKO

MERLIN IS JUST STRAIGHT FUCKING SUNSHINE WHEN HE MEETS ALICE HE'S SO CUTE

Oh my god, I would KILL Gaius if he just gave my room to somebody else's just right there on the spot. Merlin is better than me, for sure.

Not Merlin sleeping on the fucking floor, jesus christ.

THIS CREATURE MAKES ME SO UNCONFORTABLE WHY IS IT MOANING WHEN IT TAKES OUT VENOM, EWWWW

Oh I wonder how it was like before magic was banned. How people lived and learned all about it.

Ohhh how interesting, the way Gaius is not as scandalized by dark magic as maybe one would normally be. I wonder if it's not as bonkers unless it's taken to an extreme degree. I also wonder how "normalized" it was before the purge. Like how did sorcerers react to it then, and also now.

Of course Gaius doesn't want to admit Alice might be doing something evil, not just because this is their second chance and they haven't seen each other in so long, but also because she's obviously not the kind of person to do so.

Oh wow, we've never seen Gaius so blatantly angry with Merlin before. He's really hurt by Merlin's accusation of Alice.

Who the fuck screams "MORNING." in the library, Merlin. Also, it's just shock-full of cobwebs, someone PLEASE clean this place up, what the fuck.

Okay, so Merlin's still struggling with being a physician. I bet he's learned it since he's technically there to be Gaius' apprentice, but he doesn't like it much. He can take care of some stuff, but he won't like it that's for sure.

"Can I help you?" "No." MERLIN SDFGHJHGFDSEDTFGHJ

So interesting that Geoffery didn't react at all badly at Merlin asking about a magical creature. He even joked about Merlin seeing it or not. I bet he was just happy that somebody was using the fucking books and shit.

Merlin is just such a clumsy little shit, oh my god. Jesus fuck.

Love the face journey that Merlin just did where he landed on "Oh I'm gonna use magic in a silly way."

WHAT A DISNEY-ESQUE SCENE LMAOOOO

I don't think we fully appreciate how well Merlin is able to research things. Sure, it might be a little luck, but he's just elbows deep in a bunch of books, some opened, just researching for whatever he's trying to find. There's skill in research, y'all!

OH NO GAIUS' FEELINGS ARE HURT, NOOOO, GAIUS PLEASE LISTEN TO MERLIN!!!

Seeing Alice just live so naturally in Gaius' chambers really makes me yearn for an AU where Alice stayed with Gaius somehow and Merlin got to be raised by the two of them in Camelot. That would be so sweet :,))

Love how whenever Merlin is obviously upset about something, no matter how "annoyed" Arthur might act, he always asks what's wrong. It's so cute.

Arthur's strategy whenever he fights with his father is to just wait for him to get to his senses?? Arthur, babe, do you know who your father is?

AWWW ARTHUR TRYING TO CHEER MERLIN UP. Too back he's not a jock.

OOP!!! WE GOT A GAIUS AGE!!! A book Alice gifted him on his 50th birthday!! He got it a bit confused with when he became court physician, so maybe he was around that age when he got the job!! That would make him around 70 years old in present canon, which isn't too far fetched in my opinion. He looks older, but honestly being in the medical field, and also having to watch all your friends die right in front of your eyes, probably ages you a tad bit.

Oh the guilt is EATING HER UP inside. Oh Alice. Oh darling.

This is so interesting, it's the second episode where Arthur has found his father, at bed time, in his chambers in some way sick, meaning Arthur must check on Uther every other night? Every night? For what? It's probably matters of state or something, but don't they have all the time during the day to do that? In the start of the episode they're literally sitting side by side looking at documents. I wonder if Arthur just checks on Uther just because. I bet Uther's been the occasional assassination target during the purge. Maybe it's Arthur being paranoid (for good reason, I guess).

Oh Gaius is so deep in denial about Alice, this is just sad.

Wait, all of Uther's food is brought by armed guard up to his chambers? What about those family meal scenes we have. I'm assuming they must not happen every time, maybe. When the king is not too busy, the royal family eats together and any other time his food is brought to his chambers. And all of the food and drinks are tested for poison, of course.

Well. Arthur proving once again that he is smart. Sad it happens selectively. Also, he'd be a great detective.

Gaius implying that he might have taken the blame of Alice's actions, knowing the truth. This is just sad, bro.

I wonder if Merlin's magic truly isn't strong enough to kill a creature of the Old Religion. Sounds plausible, for sure, but I bet he can come VERY close.

THE WAY THE MANTICORE JUST FUCKING LEAPS AT MERLIN STRAIGHT AWAY MY BOY CAN'T GET A BREAK!

LET'S GO GAIUS USING MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!

Some very stressful few seconds, I must say.

Gaius getting an adrenaline kick of what is just basically a normal Tuesday for Merlin.

It's so sweet that a lot of the characters do try and have open communication. It's very refreshing to see. They admit their fears and insecurities and they talk. It's so nice.

The fact that Merlin jokes about the dungeons being "so secure". 'Cause we all know they suck ass bro.

Why are they eating raw meat?? Y'all gotta cook it babes, what the fuck.

And that is it!!!! What a fun episode. No Gwen or Morgana though, sad :(.

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

saw your yuki/kyo dissection and i was curious to know what's the other ship you think was an obvious possible option?

... after consulting @cafedanslanuit , Imma say it. For the plot. And Imma write my essay explaining my case. But y'all... don't get mad at me for being right. Strap in, this is gonna be a long one lmao.

But before I actually say it, we need to talk about Akito and Tohru and how they parallel one another.

Because these two are the same character at the opposite ends of the spectrum and 2/3 of the key aspects of Fruits Basket that make the show work. Without them, there's no Fruits Basket.

Both of them are quite literally the same character.

Masculine naming convention? Check.

Abandonment issues? Check.

A favored parent and a parent they have negative feelings towards? Check.

Especially since their respective relationships with their parents led to those abandonment issues and how they interact with the world. Akira was to Akito what Kyoko was Tohru. Ren's unnatural hatred of Akito, viewing her as a threat for Akira's attention, Akira's death and Kureno's curse suddenly breaking for no rhyme or reason led to Akito becoming the person she became.

Katsuya's death caused Kyoko to fall into a depression so deep she neglected Tohru for an indeterminable amount of time. Very nearly left Tohru to herself before coming her senses and becoming the best mom in the world that we the audience know her as. But that period of Tohru's life was very forming for who she became.

Kyoko came back after coming to her senses, we know this. But to Tohru, her mother suddenly embracing her for the first time in likely weeks, was the result of Tohru mimicking her dad's speech. A formal way of speaking that became so engrained into her daily habits, it's completely inseparable from her now.

Akito and Tohru's respective experiences ultimately lead them to the same core aspect of their character: Loneliness.

Both of them are terribly afraid of being alone, they just keep people in their lives in very different way.

Akito relied on fear, Tohru used kindness.

Akito used violence, Tohru used compassion.

Akito's go-to was embracing her father's words that she was a special child born to be loved. As such, she could do anything she wanted to the other members of the zodiac without facing any repercussions.

Tohru's go-to was her belief that her not prioritizing her mother over rest is inherently connected to her mother's death. That she should have prioritized her mother over everything. That her mother had to be her number one even in death. Thus, she became afraid of loving anything or anyone more than her mother. And yet, she still didn't want to lose anyone else in her life.

Tohru's kindness is genuine but there is a benefit she gains from it similarly yet juxtaposed to Akito's abuse.

That's why the two of them are able to come to an understanding with one another by the end of the story. Why Tohru was able to set everything else aside to start from zero because she understands that fear of being alone all too well.

They are both a mirror into what the other person could have been like if their circumstances were different. Tohru could have been that bitter, hate-filled woman, while Akito could have just as easily been the sweetest woman in the world.

Akito is Tohru

and Tohru is Akito.

All this buildup is to say that...

I think the only other obvious choice for Tohru was Shigure.

Yes, Shigure.

Y'all heard me right.

The final piece to what makes Furuba work, the one who instigated the plot in the first place.

And I'm sorry if y'all get mad at me for saying that, but I really don't think this is an incorrect assessment. I'll die on the hill that it was an obvious what if.

There's superficial things one can have fun mentioning in regards to these two ー

Across all adaptations of Furuba, Shigure is the first Sohma we are introduced to

Shigure's cursed year is the Dog, Tohru's birth year is the Dog

But the biggest thing for me is in how Tohru is an intrinsic part of something Shigure lacks as a person, that being empathy.

To make myself clear, I'm not saying Shigure is completely void of empathy. Because we can see him expressing it to the people he cares for in the story. (Ex. Wanting to go on a vacation during Golden Week so Hatori can avoid his ex's wedding.)

But for Shigure, empathy isn't something that comes easy for him. As he words it, his kindness isn't as good as the real thing someone like Hatori has. Shigure considers his kindness a hastily manufactured afterthought.

He's someone perfectly content using someone if he gets something out of it. And if he sees someone hesitating to reach for something they want, he'd rather just provoke them into action than attempt to warmly encourage them or understand where they're coming from. Because he doesn't see a point in hesitating at all and frankly, he knows comforting people like that doesn't come easy to him. So he normally opts not to.

As such, he's fascinated by the levels of empathy and kindness Tohru has. Tohru's kindness sometimes even makes him feel guilty and Shigure isn't someone who often feels guilt in the first place.

Contrast to him, Tohru is so pure that Shigure can't help acknowledging how twisted he is. In season 1/the manga's first arc, he even tells Hatori that because of that forced realization he gets every time he looks at her he thinks Tohru is too pure for him.

Compare to that to our final arc of the manga/season ー where it all eventually escalates to Shigure's quiet contemplationthat maybe he should have dreamed of Tohru.

That it's most likely that Akito wasn't the right one to dream of.

That someone as twisted as him needs someone like Tohru to balance it. To be that beacon that can lead him into being a 'normal' person.

He genuinely thinks about it in that moment as he playfully tells Tohru 「もしもの、お話し」 which is more accurately translated as "It's a what-if story".

Had Shigure dreamed of Tohru all those years ago, what would have been different?

...

But Tohru isn't who he dreamed of and this is the bed Shigure has decided to make for himself. One he has kept on the path of for years. So he lets himself think about the what ifs for a moment before ultimately deciding to keep lying in the bed he's made in hopes of the day Akito finally comes around.

But it's in Shigure's mind, and now the audience's mind, that more than likely it should have been Tohru. Tohru and what she represents is who he should have dreamed of.

You can see signs that a relationship with Tohru is something Shigure's considered even vaguely in the series even before that point though.

Sure it's passed as a joke, but when you look back at the scene with the "what if story" goggles, you can't help wondering "was it really though?"

Hell, Shigure desiring Tohru is something that even Akito feared.

She was enraged at the thought very thought of it during the Summer Vacation arc. It's what set Akito off enough to tell Tohru that she is the God of the zodiacs and they all belong to her, Shigure in particular.

Akito was already even in an agitated state before she asked Shigure if he felt anything even partially romantic towards Tohru. Why? Because she's displeased that Shigure isn't kind to her the way he used to be. That he used to only look at Akito but now he doesn't. She wants him to be kind to her again, like he was before.

And Shigure is exceptionally kind to Tohru.

Like he is very careful and considerate when he comes to Tohru which he even confesses to Mayu at one point when she tells him that he should treat her carefully. He tells her 「これでも僕にしてはめずらしいくらい大切にしてると思うんだけどね」 which can, more accurately be given a rough translation of "I think it's unusual for me, but I'm taking good care of her" or even "I think it's unusual for me to value someone this much".

And if you look back on the series, that isn't cap.

Excluding characters like Kisa, Hiro and Momiji (who isn't the same age as the other two but acts youthful enough it is easy to forget), Tohru is the only character Shigure doesn't really treat the way he does everyone else.

Shigure has no problem poking and prodding at people, even in moments where they're very clearly in emotional turmoil when he says them.

Asking Yuki what Akito told him during the Summer Vacation arc.

Telling Kyo that he is using hating Yuki as a shield for what he doesn't want to think about.

(... Telling Akito "bitch I wouldn't have cheated on you if you didn't cheat on me first" lmaooo.)

Even if at the end of the day, it is coming from his own way of caring (trying to get people to act and move forward), that doesn't change the fact Shigure can be a complete asshole. One that will say some very hurtful things to people.

And he's done it multiple times to the same people over and over again. Measuring what's the right amount of what to say to avoid or invoke a specific reaction that he does or doesn't want. Sometimes it's played for laughs, other times it is to rile someone up so badly they cannot contain their aggravation.

So it really isn't cap when he tells Mayu he does, in reality, treat Tohru very gently. For all that Shigure is capable of doing, he treats Tohru with more care than he normally gives to people. Especially considering he has no real reason to since she was a stranger to him until recently.

It takes Shigure until the final arc to do anything of his usual nature to Tohru. And when he does, he asks her if she's mad at him afterwards. It doesn't sound like much until you realize he's never done anything of that sort for any other character in the series.

Yuki. Kyo. Akito.

He'll back off. He might sigh and state it's pointless to continue a debate when he and the other person are going back and forth in circles. But he never asks to see how that other person feels because he doesn't care. Hell, he can tell if that other person is upset with him or done with his shenanigans.

And yet with Tohru, he feels compelled to ask for the first time ever.

And, of course, I can't talk about all this stuff and not mention Shigure's calm fury when Tohru fell from the cliffside. He stayed quiet for damn near 20 seconds as he processed that Akito told him that Tohru fell and we don't see his face the entire time he's processing. Then once he finally pulls himself together, he couldn't even let Akito finish her sentence when he asked if Tohru's 'fall' was a push.

We never truly get to see in Furuba, something that could set Shigure off.

But I think in that moment we get a glimpse of it. A glimpse that shows just how strongly he feels for Tohru. Because it begs the question, if Akito had pushed Tohru off that cliff, what would Shigure have done? How would he have reacted? I don't think even Shigure knew how he would have reacted.

I'm honestly morbidly curious.

That's all to say, that, "what if" story was with Shigure. Not Momiji, not Yuki. It was Shigure.

'If you didn't end up with A, you definitely would have ended up with B'. If we narrowed this down to Yuki and Tohru specifically, there's only two other characters that come close to that. If it wasn't Machi for Yuki and Kyo for Tohru ー YuKyo and ShiTohru would have been at the finish line.

If Shigure had dreamed of Tohru... or hell, what if he had dreamt of Akito but decided that that dream alone wasn't enough to keep the canine sense of loyalty he was cursed with?

There definitely would have been more than just proposals played for laughs and musings of that 'what could have been's.

Well anyway if you're curious to see my take on what it could have been like if Shigure dreamed of Tohru (complete w/ YuKyo and onesided AkiGure) do I have the story for you because I'm writing it on AO3. Read and give me comments to validate my delusions wwwwwwwwwww

[darael]

Regarding Imane Khelif and Angela Carini

I originally made a version of this post in response to one about how Angela Carini wasn't to blame for the massive wave of nonsense that has been directed at Imane Khelif; about how her perfectly reasonable emotions (and some actions based on those that she regrets) were being used to make her an icon of a hate movement she does not support. About how both of them were victims of misogyny in this situation.

This is gonna be a long post, folks, so buckle in.

The problem is, there's reason to believe Angela Carini fully intended what she sparked, and is not sincere in her apology. Before we get into that, though, I want to emphasise some things:

Even if I am right and Angela Carini is some combination of racist, intersexist, transphobic, and/or willing to exploit these bigotries for her own benefit, that will not justify misogyny towards her. We can criticise her actions and inferred intentions without relying purely on sexist or misogynistic tropes and slurs.

Defending one woman by tearing down another is a dynamic that's been used misogynistically many times in the past, but

Talking about "white women's tears" is not actually that when the thing described actually fits another pattern seen in racial-justice circles: white people, but especially white women, do often weaponise crying and claims of injury (whether physical or emotional) to get disproportionate harm done to people of colour and especially Black people. This results from an intersection of racism and patriarchy, in which white women are treated as fragile and inherently in need of protection from "savages" and men. The underlying premise is misogynistic but women with the requisite privilege can still weaponise it.

The attacks on Imane Khelif are transmisogynistic (because they rely on the trope of the predatory, violent trans woman), intersexist (because they rely on claims that she's intersex, and that this would make her more prone to violence), and racist (because the denial of women of colour's femininity, the making of their access to the social class of "womanhood" conditional, has been a long-standing part of white supremacy). These things are true even though Khelif is not trans and is not known to be intersex, because bigotry doesn't care if its direct victims are actually the ones intended. She is a cisgender, likely-perisex woman of colour who is experiencing misogynoir, intersexism, and transmisogyny.

Got it? Good.

Now, then. First, some background:

At the Olympics, in the 66kg women's boxing, Imane Khelif from Algeria was up against Angela Carini from Italy for her first match (in the second round; she got a bye from the first due to seeding). Khelif had formerly been disqualified from a 2023 tournament run by the International Boxing Association (IBA) under… suspicious circumstances. Despite having passed "gender testing" the year before, she was suddenly re-tested and disqualified mid-tournament after she beat a Russian boxer. It is worth noting that the head of the IBA is Russian, and under his leadership the Association's only sponsor is the Russian fossil-fuel company Gazprom, and that the IBA has been barred from participation in the Olympics due to rampant corruption (the Olympic Committee handled qualifiers directly since there wasn't an alternative association to turn to) — so you can see why this is suspect. The IBA claimed that Khelif's testosterone was not tested, but "another recognised test was used", the nature of which the organisation refuses to disclose. The head of the IBA said on Telegram that Khelif had XY chromosomes, but he is hardly a trustworthy source and the organisation has not confirmed his claim. Even if it's true, Imane Khelif was assigned female at birth, raised as a girl, and has passed all the (transphobic and intersexist) Olympic committee's medical eligibility tests; she categorically does not have a meaningful sex-derived advantage over other women.

Angela Carini was injured from her first-round fight, but chose to take part in the second round anyway. After taking two blows in her fight against Khelif, she withdrew. The match took 46 seconds, which is certainly short, but not fantastically so. She broke down in tears and said something that could be translated as "it's not fair!" or "it's not right!", but this could be construed as frustration over her Olympic dreams (and especially a promise she apparently made to her father that she'd go all the way) being broken. Similarly with the way she refused to shake the hand of the woman to whom she'd just conceded a match. She also made comments to the effect that she'd never been punched so hard. In response to this, transphobes, intersexists, and racists accused Imane Khelif of some combination of being trans, being intersex, and faking her gender (though of course they did not use these terms; their claims were that she was secretly a man). As mentioned above, there is zero reliable evidence that this is the case, but that hasn't stopped bigots from running with it.

Here are the things I wish to point out about Angela Carini's behaviour:

Before the match, she put out a (now-deleted) tweet calling Imane Khelif un uomo — "a man":

This suggests she was cozying up to those seeking to disqualify Khelif on racist grounds well before the match actually started.

Since the match but before her apology, her coach has described her as seeing herself as "a paladin" for a cause:

This suggests she actively embraced the transphobia and intersexism that was promoted in her name.

She's also boasted about how since the match she visited Italy's vehemently transphobic, and indeed outright fascist, leader, who "welcomed her like a daughter", which certainly isn't conclusive but isn't a great look. I don't have the source for this one on hand, sorry.

But Carini apologised, right? Well, kind of. She apologised for refusing to shake Imane Khelif's hand after their bout. She said she'd embrace her. She also said "if the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision" — which might appear reasonable on the surface but also actively plays into the idea that there's some reason the IOC might not have said she could fight. She also also said "It could have been the match of a lifetime, but I had to preserve my life as well in that moment", which could be a genuine expression of an athlete's need to take care of their body, but also feeds neatly into the "this freakishly strong brute could have killed Angela Carini!" narrative that her allegedly-unwanted supporters were already using. Further, the closest she came to apologising for anything other than refusing to shake Imane Khelif's hand is "all this controversy makes me sad", which is… not actually an apology. All quotes in this paragraph were from Carini via the linked Ground News post.

I have seen allegations, but I'm not claiming this to be the case because I haven't examined the evidence, that Carini has a history of faking an ankle injury to end a fight against a stronger boxer in 2022. I mention this for completeness, but it's also worth saying that even if true, while this might suggest a propensity for exaggerating the extent of an injury, in the match against Imane Khelif she was visibly bleeding when she withdrew, and her broken nose from her previous match would also have been difficult to fake.

In my conclusion: it is my belief that Angela Carini was a willing participant, not an innocent pawn, in the racist, transphobic, intersexist, and plain misogynistic (not to mention baseless!) allegations made against Imane Khelif. I acknowledge her partial apology, but it strikes me as an attempt to evade being held responsible for what her actions caused rather than a genuine one. Even if she is sincere, it seems to me that this would represent a thought process along the lines of "this got out of hand" rather than "I did something wrong". You don't have to agree with me, of course. What evidence I have is now in your hands, and you must make up your own mind.

[zuffer-weird-girl]

Hello!may i request an overhaul x shy reader, were overhaul and the shy reader meet a karen and the reader gets mad for the first time???

Here's an example- Kai and y/n go to a store to get food and cleaning supplies, everthing was all right until a woman bumped into kai. the woman looked at Kai and scoffed and said something that made him angry(kinda). when Kai said something rude back to the woman, the woman went insane and started to make Kai uncomfortable, y/n saw this and got angry(and maybe protective).

sorry if its confusing-

(A/n): no no, is not confusing at all! I actually loved your request :3 you guys probably got that my favorite trope is when (y/n) is comforting there character/defending them so-

You looked for the price tag of one bleach bottle Kai told you to look for and almost felt your soul leaving your body when you found the dammed numbers.

"Kai..." You called as he approached from behind and looked over your shoulder.

"You found it. That's impressive." He said nonchantly while taking it from your hands as you stared at him like he had grown a second head.

"You can't be serious. You're gonna spend all that on ONE bleach?"

"Why you sound so troubled with this? This product is the best to clean. Actually kill almost 90% of the bacteria. Trust me, I tested it."

"That's why you're almost bankrupt...." You mumbled in disappointment as he only glared at you before noticing you were just joking.

"Forgive me of I want a clean place to live then." He mumbled as you snorted.

"Is only this we have to grab or you need something else?"

"I need you to actually talk with the cashier." He smirked at your pout and at you slamming softly your forehead on his bicep "Oh please, I'm just joking. Is not the end for the world after all.."

"You're a meanie sometimes..." You mumbled as he chuffed.

You both were about to leave until a rather... irritated woman bumped into your boyfriend. The sudden intrusion of someone else already making you look down as Chisaki could only scoff and mutter something under his breath.

"What did you say?!" The woman suddenly sneered which made both of you widen your eyes and look back at her.

"Pardon?" Your boyfriend spoke, the coldness of his voice was enough to give you shivers but aparentemente to that lady jt only made her angrier.

"Don't go saying bullshit to me." She scoffed looking him up and down in disgust "filthy is your fucking parents to give birth to you. Frankly how can the police allow this kind of person to just walk in a public area?" She asked out loud and you frowned at her rudeness.

"Oh. Clearly I'm not the only one who was a disappointed. Look at your age and you are acting out like a spoiled child in the middle of a market. So mature." He spoke back, a finger sneaking his way inside of one of his gloves.

That was enough to make the woman to go berserk. She started to shout profanities at him like there was no tomorrow. Sucefully dragging the attention of other customer as you saw your boyfriend mentally heave a sigh that now with all the attention on him he couldn't do kuch as he only stared down at her in complex boredom.

The thing is... you knew Kai Chisaki. You knew him that by only looking at his eyes you saw how actually uncomfortable he was. He hated being the center of attention, he hated not being able to control a bad situation but the most important is how much he despised people shouting at him.

But when you saw her manicured finger just poking at his chest while chatting eh was a waste of society... you just apparently lost control. Because one minute you were behind him almost dying of shame of all the people watching....

And the other you were just in her front with a hand raised to give a harsh slap to that bitch's face.

She had just got out of guard when you blinked back to reality with a blink... you could feel all eyes on you as she stared at you in pure hatred and went to slap you back but you blocked it with your forearm and kicked her on her stomach to make her fall on her back.

"YOU BITCH! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO I AM?!"

"Aparently a waste of human garbage." You growled as you got closer to her while she shakily got up with a growl.

"Oh I see! You are one of these type of woman who rule on the relationship. How freacking pathetic-" she gasped when you grabbed her shirt.

"You listen here." You growled "we had and have to go through a lot of fucking shit while daddy's girls like you got all you wanted with a snap of your fucking fingers. I don't fucking care what you will say of me or just be a picky whore but if you EVER insult my boyfriend again... you will be found in seven different countries by tomorrow. Deep. Buried. In the fucking ground." You whispered the last sentence as she trembled while you slowly let go of her.

"I think you did enough." You gasped when you felt a gloved hand on your shoulder and immediately went red at finally noticing that your boyfriend had watched everything. "Shall we go now that this woman ended her performance of the year?"

You nodded shyly as you got to his side... only after leaving the market your actions came back to you as you muffled your screams on your hands while you both walked.

"I can't believe I did that!" You whined "I-I mean, I don't regret it but... ARGH! That was so embarrassing dear God!" You whined before you noticed he stopped only to look at him to saw the kost softest look your boyfriend carried.

"... I can't say it was appropriate what you have doen since you surely got more attention then necessary." You face palmed.

"Don't need to rub it please..." You sighed before you widen your eyes at how quick Kai had gotten close to you, lower his mask and place a kiss on your forehead, mumbling something on it. "W-What was that?"

"I said-" He sighed, not quite looking at you as a pink grew on his ears "Be more careful next time.... but thanks for... defending my honor.. darling."

You could feel your face heating up at the rare pet name as you let out a squeal and buried your face face in your hands while walking away from him.

"You do know I have the car's keys right?" He spoke nonchantly only to arch a eyebrow at you stomping over to him and snatching his car's keys away. "(Y/n) stop that give back my keys."

"No! You just made me feel weird!"

"It was a compliment."

"THAT EMBARRASSED ME-"

"We've been in a relationship almost for a year and a half already..." he deadpanned while he watched you red face get on his car only to let out a rare chuckle at noticing how far away you were...

[alicentsultana]

hehehe thank uuuu, I'm very much a sucker for modern aus 🤭 I did make one up for one of my asoiaf ocs (if you want to hear about it I'd be happy to share) I don't think I can write it all out by myself honestly but I could co-author/come up with ideas if you or anyone ever wants.

Random Lore that's all over the place so please bear with me:

I feel like the Targaryen business is like something in steal? (Valyrian steal lol) And they have heavy political influence? Are somewhat fallen royalty? Kinda hc that basically every asoiaf region is modern au is independent and not conquered, individually used to have royal families then revolutions happened, now there are elections and vice-presidents for ever region, rather than absolute monarchy. (The latest VP for the crownlands is Lyonel Strong)

Old grandpa Jaehaerys was a raging misogynist, and he didn't want Rhaenys to become the new head of the fam so he gave Viserys 80% of company shares, 10% for Daemon and gave Rhaenys the remaining 10% percent. The Velaryon's own a shipping business and the Arryns have an airport business.

Between managing the company, being sick and playing with his legos Viserys doesn't have a lot of time overall. He neglected bby Rhaenyra, as in didn't spend much time with her and mostly left things to Aemma because she's the woman and that's her job (fuck u Viserys) then Aemma dies and he sorta overindulges Rhaenyra as in let's her do whatever she wants and gives into any demands she has, and trys to spend some time with her because he's guilty af about Aemma.

After marrying Alicent he basically dose what he did before Aemma died, leaving everything the childrearing to Alicent because she's a woman sooo 🤡 stars neglecting Rhaenyra and just doing whatever he did, this is also a reason why Rhaenyra comes to mislike Alicent, since belives that it's all the evil stepmoms fault that her dad is ignoring her again, this if fuled by Daemion too who hates Otto and Alicent's guts since a new wife means there could be boys and he's gonna get even less of the company shares.

Alicent dose try to be a good Stepmom (In my head Alicent's mom Clarice Florent, and she died a year after Gwayne was born so Alicent was about 8 herself when it all happened, she understands what Rhaenyra is going through and doesn't hold it against her) Alicent shows up/ plans every important event in Rhaenyra's life (school events, dance competitions, plans birthdays...) and eventually Rhaenyra somewhat warms up to Alicent and her half-siblings, but I feel like there would still be a somewhat resentment because watching Alicent give birth to baby boys something that her own mom had died for ... Yea Rhaenyra is complicated but I love her.

Meanwhile Daemon is being Daemon lol he's the cool uncle to Rhaenyra who's travelling the world and pops by occasionally to cause a ruckus then bounce off (I hc modern!daemon being a racer/nepo baby who gets into scandals left, right and centre) also him and Rhea Royce had an old money/arranged sorta marriage and then divorced after Jaehaerys dies.

Okay so I picture Alicent as someone who's been sheltered to an extent especially in regards to her sexualities, gets taught the standard things (a woman's greatest joy in life is being a mom, a woman must save herself for her marriage, a woman must be obedient towards her husband...) and Otto especially encourages all of that. collage stars at? Idk we don't have college in our education system it's straight to uni after highschool lol. Either way picture Alicent is a first year in university at 18, she's so excited to make friends and do new things, Otto somewhat indulges that and let's her be.

Then Viserys comes along, Alicent who's not yet finished her first year catches his attention at sunday church. He goes to Otto and basically asks for Alicent's hand in marriage to which Otto says yes, because this is a great opportunity for the family to social climb.

I feel like Alicent has mixed feelings about it when Otto tells her, on one hand she has to leave her studies, and barely realized dreams to marry a man years her senior, on another hand isn't this what woman have to do? Isn't this all that her father and religion have taught her? Her own parents got married straight out of highschool so it's the right thing to do isn't it? But what about bet dreams? Is she even ready to be a mom? What dose it mean to be a wife? Will her new husband be kind to her?

And her mixed feelings about it all makes it easy for Otto to push her forward in the direction he wants, he also moves to KL with Alicent after her marriage just to ... Help her fit into the new role of wife and mother (he just wants to control her and social climb lol)

Years later when Alicent is planning for her divorce:

Otto: he's a good man Alicent!

Alicent: why didn't you marry him then!

Otto: ...

I think Viserys genuinely wouldn't care all that much what happens to his kids with Alicent... Plus I feel like at that point he's also dealing with his sickness too and seeing as Alicent is so determined to get a divorce he just goes along with things. As for company shares he gives majority to Rhaenyra (basically made a will after Aemma dies that almost everything will go to Rhaenyra) after marrying Alicent he gave her 5% shares as a wedding gift of sorts, as for their four kids... He gave them 20% to divide between eachother equally. So Rhaenyra still has 55% which wins her majority, this is also Alicent's motivation for divorce she thinks it's absolutely unfair for her kids to each get 5% shares and Rhaenyra to get 55%.

Picture Alicent finding Viserys's will in the safe and going crazy lmaooo she's like wtf I've spent years in this hell and now this... then she argued with Viserys and tell him either he changes the will or they're getting a divorce.

I love Alicole too! (the knight and his queen can't get anymore romantic than that tbh) I actually picture Criston getting fired by Rhaenyra, something about how she asks him to sleep with her on her 18th birthday and he says no, but paparazzi take weird photos of them and that pissed Viserys off so he fires Criston. I think Alicent would be against it she's known Criston for years and he doesn't seem the type to be unprofessional so she vouched for him but Viserys didn't listen.

But yea getting fired by the Targaryen's left a bad stain of Criston's flawless record and he couldn't get hired as a bodyguard anymore 😔 Alicent heard about it and arranged a job for him at Oldtown as a security guard in the Hightower University. This boosted Criston's good impression of Alicent, since she helped him in his hour of need. But I don't think anything happened between them during Alicent's marriage (she's too much of a religious girly to cheat no matter how miserable her life is) it's only after she divorced and moves to Oldtown that she truly gets to know Criston and they bond, he also helps her with the kids and overall everything becomes a constant in her/the kids lives.

Throwing in uncle Gwayne in here because I feel like he'd be so sad for his sister, nephews and niece. And then sees Criston around and gets all protective because one man already fucked up Alicent's life he's not about to let another one do the same, but then ends up getting to know Criston and becomes best buddies with him lol. Also picture Gwayne who's a teen being the only one who didn't want Alicent to marry Viserys and leave Oldtown, since she's more of a mother to him in all honesty given how he was barley a year old when Clarice dies.

Rip this got so long lol I'm sorry.

Please share you md about your oc, I would love to hear about it!

Gosh I really might invite you to write it with me, I'm seriously considering it! Loved this entire au.

The targ background is on point, it makes sense being a steal company + political presence, power and royal roots. Very consistent.

Jaehaerys would 100% do this, I didn't even bat an eye. Daemon as nepobaby doing rich people sport is so him, I can see him racing and raging if he ever loses, his divorce was the fastest ever, it happened two days after grandpa's demise.

The Targs and the other families going Samsung Circle* is so real, I loved it. "Fly Today With Arryn Airlines 🦅✈"

Daemon would 100% undermine nyra's relationship with alicent, it's a very him thing.

I too picture Ali as sheltered, her mother's death played part on it too. We don't have college here either, so straight to uni! Her uneasiness would be used by Otto, he has a chance in a lot of money (wait until he discovers about it).

I like to think that at some point between Aegon being around six, and before Daeron pops out Alicent start to become more smart inside her household like well no one is actually paying much attention to me, might as well snoop around. Maybe after her father says or points something out about the children's inheritance/their future and she grows suspicious about what is really to their name - she have a vague idea about it. Alicent have her four, Rhaenyra turn eighteen and has her first scandal that Alicent tries to cover with the best of her abilities, Nyra tells her off as if it was her fault and Criston loses his job and Alicent helps him under the wraps after he tells her what really happened.

Aegon turns nine and Alicent has enough proof of having wasted her life, not much to fight for, already traumatized and rather lonely depressed children. Bad family examples, bad family relationships, is RVDR playing family and them in the corner as a separate thing, she has had enough. I like to think she goes around the red mansion opening financial book after book, vault after vault and boom, she calls 0-800-10-Larys Strong, provides paper after paper, including the recently diagnosis of her husband, and when everything is practically ready she goes to Viserys, if he splits everything equally to the children good, if not, he can rot in hell.

I pictured she looked at her children and said "Let's see what they are made off" and just put the baby in her hip, placed them in a car and left. "Mom where are we going?" "Somewhere we will be happy."

Aegon probably understood it better than his siblings who wanted to go home, because this new house is smaller and where are the servants? Though it probably took a toll on his mental health, he only started therapy in late teen years, after his uncle and criston realize he's alcoholic. He helped his mother raise the children at first but it made his relationship with her very fragile and distant, I believe he likes Criston because he's good with his siblings and mother.

Aemond and Helaena probably learned to accept it, but turned out a little better than Aegon, a lot of therapy for them too. They liked the guy that picked them after school.

Daeron was a baby, this is the life he knew since 1 yo. He was the one who turned out mostly okay. He doesn't know who Viserys is.

I wonder what Alicent does for a living, I doubt Viserys would pay her anything beyond two cents for food.

There's also something I would love to see: Rhaenyra's eventual visit. I think Aegon goes what is she doing here? And Alicent just drive them away while they talk. But what would they talk about? Rhaenyra have her convictions but those are her half-siblings, Viserys is going old and sicker, he never asked to see any of them, she thought Alicent placed a restriction, but she discovered that wasn't the case.

Uncle Gwayne would 100% be team no new in-law, Criston would have a lot to prove.

[thefallennightmare]

Talking about kids... my biggest fear about having them is my body (it may sound selfish, but I struggle with body image since I was a child). And if I remember correctly, you have 3 angels right? Did you enjoy the pregnancies or not? Because my mind can't understand those women who say that pregnancy is the best part of their life. And labour scares me since I was a kid (to be fair I saw a movie scene where the woman died while giving birth). Like how that can be a nice time when you're in pain?

I am not gonna lie, because of my fears I'm convinced I wouldn't enjoy being pregnant and postpartum depression scares the hell out of me.

I am aware this is sensitive and intimate topic, so you don't need to answer💗

I hate being pregnant. I gained a lot of weight with my first and I never really lost all of it. Every single pregnancy I was miserable.

This might be TMI for some but with my son, I had him vaginally but his shoulder got stuck and the doctor literally had to twist him around and yank him out.

With my second child, there was the risk of it happening to her so we opted for a c-section. And good thing we did because at one of the last ultrasounds we found out she was transverse(folded up like a lawn chair) so the C-section was a must.

My third child was also a C-section because once you have one already, it’s best to have another one due to risks.

Recovery from csections are way worse than vaginal births. Let me tel ya 🥴

I’m in no way trying to make it scary for women but I am not one of this women that loved their pregnancies. I hated it and am so glad I’ll never have to be again.

I’m finally getting comfortable in my skin after my three pregnancies but it takes time. Always do what your body and your mind feel is right 🖤

[literallyjusttoa]

Some interesting differences between Greek and Roman myths (and other things) that I think would've been really cool to explore in HoO and ToA

Disclaimer: I am no scholar, and while I have tried my hardest to check my resources for accuracy, any sort of second-hand account of mythology has a chance of holding misinformation. I sadly do not have access to many primary sources, so this might not all be 100% accurate!! If you see something and you know it's wrong, pls let me know so I can fix it!

Anyways, onto the list! This is REALLY long, but the organization is gonna go like this.

Fact about the difference between Greek and Roman myths or worship.

Reason why I think it would be interesting to explore in the riordanverse.

and so on and so forth. This is really just for me to document ideas I've had, but hopefully y'all get something out of it too, read at your own risk, I suppose.

The Romans believed that after the Titanomachia, Saturn (The roman name for Kronos) fled to Italy and took refuge with it's king. Saturn eventually shared the throne with this king, and their kingdom was known to be joyous and peaceful. Romans actually worshiped Saturn bc of this, and he had a temple at the foot of Capitoline Hill.

Imagine if Percy arrived at Camp Jupiter, and one of the first things he sees is a temple to the titan he just spent 5 years trying to defeat. Like, I know he has no memories at this point, but I'm sure it would make him at least a bit uneasy. I think this would do a lot to sell the greek/roman schism in HoO, bc that whole plot point never really hit with me. We keep being told the Greeks and Romans hate each other almost instinctively, but other than Octavian, we aren't really shown it. Also it always seems like the Romans hate the Greeks and the Greeks are just kind of offended that the Romans hate them. Having actual tangible reasons for our main Greek character to feel uncomfortable around New Rome would a lot to make this actually feel like an equal issue.

2. In Greek mythology, Zeus was thought to be powerful, but not a supreme force. He was still beholden to the strings of fate. On the other hand, Jupiter was seen as the lord of life and death, having complete power and control over the cycle of life. He was more powerful than fate, and never came down from Olympus, as Zeus was known to do often.

Again, a HUGE discrepancy that I wish the books explored. This just kind of goes with the underdevelopment of Jason in HoO, but how cool would it be if Jason had this understanding of Jupiter. Like, yeah, in canon Jason points out that Jupiter is stern and distant, but it never gets to all-powerful controller of life levels. Having Jason see his father's distance as right and just would make him an incredible contrast to Percy, who just spent the last 5 books trying to get gods to be more open with their kids. It would add so much to Jason's arc about being torn between Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood. As a Roman and Praetor, Jason understands why his father never speaks with him, but as a kid, he wishes he could know the humanity of the Greek side of his father. (ofc in pjo Zeus sucks either way but Jason doesn't know that)

3.Juno was actually seen as much nicer and more matronly than Hera, and was said to watch over every woman from her birth until her death.

I just think this would do wonders for Hera's characterization in the riordanverse. Imagine if we got to see her actually help one of the girls on the Argo II as Juno, especially since she basically put EVERY SINGLE MALE CHARACTER on the Argo II personally, yet had nothing to do with he female characters??? Seriously, Hera was behind Leo, Frank, Jason, and Percy being a part of this quest, but as far as I can remember, she had nothing to do with Annabeth, Piper, or Hazel being there. What is up with that? It would've been so cool to see Juno watch over Hazel, or help Annabeth (Could lead to some awesome character development for both Hera and Annabeth), or even just give some advice to Piper. Seriously we were robbed.

4. This isn't really a difference, but there is actually a period in Rome where Apollo does not seem to have been worshiped at all, or at least not in any major capacity. One temple is noted to have been built for Apollo in 430 B.C.E., but we don't really see him again in any sort of public way until Augustus takes power hundreds of years later. Seeing as Apollo was one of, if not the most popular Greek deity, this is a rather large change. Of course, once Augustus brings him back to the limelight, worship of Apollo becomes hugely popular, with many emperors claiming his moniker to show their own divinity.

This could actually fill a big plot hole in the riordanverse. It makes no sense that Apollo has 6-7 Greek children as of the end of ToA, yet he has no roman kids at all? However, in this light we see Apollo as a god who never really connected with Rome, and was a bit of a late runner when it comes to Roman worship. If you look at it from a character standpoint, instead of a strictly historical or mythological view, it almost seems like Apollo was holding onto Greece. The Romans started taking Greek colonies in the 200's B.C.E, and have fully taken the area by 146 B.C.E.. In this time, and even before it, almost every Greek deity was co-opted into Roman worship. Apollo, however, stayed steadfastly Greek, until Augustus started to pray to him for victory in battle. (Fun fact: Augustus actually credited Apollo with his victory over Marc Anthony and Cleopatra in Actium) This whole thing makes it look like Apollo just didn't want to be Roman, or at least he didn't want to let go of Greece like the other gods were. And it seems like he didn't let go of Greece at all in the end, as there are very few notable differences between his Greek and Roman depictions. From this, I take two things. One, Apollo was probably never Roman, at least not in the way HoO depicts a god being Roman. This creates some interesting implications for how Apollo lived during Roman times, but that's a whole other thing. Two, because of this, Apollo might not be able to have a Roman demigod child. After all, the demigods at Camp Jupiter are classed as such for being born to specifically roman counterparts of gods. If Apollo has no such counterpart, he can't have the kids. Of course, this begs the question of Octavian, but I'll expand on that later.

5. When you look into it, the Roman god Diana is actually much closer to many characteristics of Hecate than she is the Greek portrayal of Artemis (though this is mainly because Artemis and Hecate were mixed together often, even in Greek times.) It is said that Diana has three forms: In the heavens she was Luna, the moon; on earth she was Diana, the goddess of the hunt; and in the underworld, she was Proserpine, a malevolent master of witchcraft.

Ok, ok I know this actually makes no sense in the context of HoO, but wouldn't it be so cool if Hazel worked with Diana instead of Hecate. I just think it would really expand the arc!! Seeing a different side of Artemis, one of the godesses we've probably saw the most of in the original series, would be so neat. Also, Diana as Proserpine having connections to both witchcraft and the underworld makes her a perfect fit. IDK IDK I just think it would be really cool. PLUS it would give Hazel and Frank a fun little parallel bc Frank would be inspired by Apollo while Hazel was trained by DIana. Vague sun and moon parallels my beloved.

6. The job of an Augur is actually much closer to the Greek's soothsayers than it is their oracles. While oracles are said to interpret the god's will, soothsayers and augurs see the future simply through simple acts of nature. The way in which augurs tell the future actually has a lot less to do with the gods than one might assume.

I just wish this fact was mentioned in HoO bc honestly it clears up so much for me. Also when it comes to Octavian, I think it makes more sense for him to be blessed by Apollo instead of descended from him (I know he says he's both in the book but shhh wait let me keep going for a sec) Soothsayers and Augurs were priests, directly picked by the gods to divine the future on their own. While oracles were basically the gods mouthpieces, Augurs would be allowed to divine their own interpretation of the future from what they saw in nature, all condoned by whatever god blessed them (probably Apollo). In this way, the whole "Apollo is turned mortal bc he supported Octavian" thing makes a lot more sense. In canon, we only get told through a throwaway line that Apollo was "totally swayed by Octavian's promises of power guys, trust me." It always just seemed so out of left field to me. If I were to take it in a new direction, I would lean much more into the fact that Octavian was an appointed priest of Apollo, who abused his supposed ability for prophecy to cause war. Apollo is now directly stated to be Octavian's willful benefactor, so of course he'd take the fall this. It would show Apollo's callousness. He doesn't care for Camp Jupiter as much he does Camp half-blood (see point 4) so he let the position of Augur become corrupt with little complaint. Also, if Octavian isn't Apollo's descendant, my whole "Apollo can't have a roman kid" theory is FOOLPROOF HAHAHAHAAHAHAHA

7. While both cultures had large religious festivals, Rome's were much more centralized and documented. This is mainly due to Rome being ruled by a single republic or emperor, as opposed to Greece's city-states.

This isn't changing anything in canon as much as wishing there was more of it. Man, I wish we could've seen more of the Roman festivals. We're always just told they happen, but I wanna know the specifics! These are huge religious events! Are the New Romans actually fully worshiping the gods these festivals celebrate? How do the Roman characters we have feel about the festivals? Does Jason miss them while on the Argo II? Do Hazel, Frank, and Jason try to put on a small celebration for the festivals that pass while they're sailing to Rome? Let these things be important dangit.

8. When the Greeks sculpted, they focused on the ideal form, with emphasis put on the athletic male figure. Because of this, the face of the figure was not specific to any individual, as it was not the focus. In contrast, the Romans put a heavy emphasis on the face. In Rome, you wanted your lineage to be known, so you had your face sculpted with intense detail. That way, sculptures of your face could be compared with sculptures of your forefathers, or your children.

Again, I wish we were shown more of a difference between Greeks and Romans than "Romans are strict and organized, Greeks like to have fun" They're two entirely different cultures!!! Imagine if we showed the Roman emphasis on lineage in someone other than Octavian. Have Jason be genuinely proud of the affluence being a son of Jupiter gives him, let that be a flaw of his, a point of contention on the Argo II. Show how family pride can be important in arcs like Frank's, where he learns how to accept the fact that he is Mars' son, and grow into that role. Put the emphasis of these arcs on the fact that they're struggling with the ROMAN idea of family lineage. Let being from New Rome be an real identity. I feel like the synopsis of this whole thing is that I wish the Romans had whole beliefs that were wildly different from the Greeks. They could value different things, interact with the gods in distinctly different ways. We always see the conflict of swords between the Greeks and Romans, but never the conflict of beliefs, and I think that kind of sucks. Also it makes NO SENSE THAT THE ROMANS HATE THE GREEKS ANYWAY! Ancient Romans fucking loved Ancient Greeks! They saw the Greeks as their ancestors, adapting all of their religion and art out of a genuine appreciation for the culture. If anyone should hate anyone, it should be the Greeks, bc the Greeks were the ones who GOT CONQUERED. But in HoO, all of the Greeks just seem mildly disgruntled by the idea of Romans. idk it doesn't make much sense to me.

If you got to the end, I hope you got something out of my rambles. I honestly still feel like I have more to say about this stuff, so if anyone has any questions or wants me to expand on anything lmk! If not tho, thank you for reading!

[nyx-the-misthios]

Something I've kinde been wanting to do for a little while is to make a post about one of my favorite comfort characters: Namikaze Minato. So I'm gonna do that lol.

Now, Minato's story is a tragic one. And I'm not just referring to his life. It is a well-known fact that Kishimoto can't write a female character to save his life. However, it isn't just the women of Naruto who have also been poorly written. A fair number of male characters have also fallen victim (no, I am not a man, I'm an afab non-binary), and Minato is one such character.

Let's start with the discourse surrounding his teaching as a Jounin sensei. First of all, that was his first time teaching. You'd be pretty hard pressed to find *any* first-time teacher that doesn't make a boat load of mistakes. Mistakes are human nature, after all. Secondly, he was also kind of set up for failure. Heavily traumatized young child soldier, who is the last of his clan? A blacksheep whose training has been neglected? A civilian girl who ends up being reduced into a damsel in distress (Kishimoto...)? Sound familiar? Kakashi, Obito, Rin > Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura...

The dude was set up for failure, and he didn't have the luxury of peace time when he was training them. Minato was still constantly getting pulled away due to being one of the few Jounin that could effectively defend Konoha's frontlines, so that also severely affected his ability to train his students.

Quick little disclaimer that I couldn't really find much in regards to what that time period is like because who needs a consistent backstory/timeline, am I right? Ugh, anyway. Please take this with a grain of salt.

Secondly, and this is where I see Minato getting a *lot* of hate for. His Hokage reign.

Minato probably holds the record for the shortest reign in the history of Konoha (no, I will not include Danzo. He doesn't count) Minato was Hokage for how long? 10 months to a year and a half roughly. That is incredibly short. Dude probably had several projects he was working on, only for them to collapse entirely upon his death. He likely was actively working with Kushina, who had also been wanting to be Hokage (but got passed over for some reason) on several things to help improve the village and make it more habitable for everyone (especially children) but the night of Naruto's birth is when everything came crashing down and Konoha was under the brink of total genocide by one of their own.

We don't know exactly the circumstances in regards to Kushina's health, but I have strong suspicion that when Kurama was forcibly ripped out of Kushina *just after going through what is the hardest thing any woman could go through* aka childbirth. She was already in the process of dying, and she would have needed intensive medical treatment in order to not eventually pass away due to the extensive trauma her body went through. And Kurama *has* to be sealed within a Uzumaki or a specially prepared object.

The only Uzumaki that even had a chance of survival was poor Naruto, and I just know that Minato was likely beating himself up for it. Yes, Minato knew how Jinchuuriki were treated (he married one after all), but I believe his last words of hoping that his son would he seen as a hero instead of being ostracized was mainly because he'd hoped that it would be explained in such a way to properly paint Naruto as a savior. But the information got leaked and warped to paint Naruto as a demon instead. It is truly tragic that a character with such hopeful promise was poorly executed and was doomed from the beginning.

I hope that anyone who reads this can at least be a bit kinder to characters like Minato who were doomed from the beginning. If you still hate him, oh well.

[yakumtsaki]

To the surprise of no one, Liz and Sophito immediately dumped their baby so they could bang 5 minutes after Liz gave birth. Thankfully we have Sophie, who remains the only competent adult this family has ever seen.

-Felina baby, I don’t want you to worry, I’ll love you even if you end up inheriting Liz’s horrible Frances Worthington eyebrows! -Goo goo! 

It’s time for the pets to get to work procreating, because the lot isn’t nearly laggy enough as it is. 

-Ok Kitana, it’s time to have kittens with Klaus! -’Klaus’, more like Cucklaus! I hate him! -I know you do baby, I hated Cyneswith too but I still did my duty! -And produced SUGAR.  -I promise you your kittens won’t be like Sugar! -Well if they are I’m giving them to the wolf! 

Preggo chimes on the first try, great job bbs!

-Ya great job, Cucklaus, round-headed asshole. -Go to hell, Shitana, I can’t believe I’m wasting my genes on you.

Ok then, let’s move on to the dogs!

I’m shocked to say I’ve finally discovered something Don is good at: getting pets to knock each other up.

-So what do you think, Servilia, wanna have some puppies? -I don’t know, Don, Xander is so hot but what if our kids turn out like Sugar?? -They won’t, baby, Sugar was a freak accident!

First try again, and Servilia and Xander actually really like each other❤️

-Xander! Xander you big stud, come in here and do me again!  -I will babe, let me just catch my breath, you’re a whole lotta woman!

Ya ok gross, going for more of a puppy love vibe here, guys- 

-Then look no further than us! I’m pregnant again!  -That’s right, I knocked her up before the umbilical cord was even cut! 

WHAT. That’s it, I’m turning autonomous woohoo off, you two are gonna drown me in babies, we’re having 2 and that’s it, the lot lag is UNREAL..

..in no small part because of this goddamn wolf-attracting forest I had to plant.

-Are you seriously gonna keep deleting and replacing this thing every night?

Well the fucking wolf has left us no choice now, has he? HAS HE.

-I worry that you’re going a little Captain Ahab over the wolf.

What nonsense, I’m completely sane! Now you sit there and don’t move till the sun sets again in 12 hours, and I’m not moving either, I don’t care if the entire household dies in the meantime.  

HERE HE IS. Alright, asshole, your relationship is at 100/100, NOW BITE HIM

-OH MY, THOSE BONY FINGERS LOOK EXTRA DELICIOUS TONIGHT🐺

THEY DO, NOW DO IT. BITE HIM. B I T E H I M

-NO, I DON’T THINK I WILL! GOODNIGHT, FLOPS🐺

YOU MOTHERFUCKER SON OF A BITCH OH MY GOD I HATE YOU SO MUCH I’M 

-Oh moonflower, isn’t it so nice to reconnect now that autonomous woohoo has been disabled? We can finally really talk about our relationship and not just bury our problems under passionate geriatric woohooing!  -You’re so right, Donnie, this is the best time ever, now let me just go check if iVan needs a late night tune up🌸

GUESS WHO BARGED IN HERE AGAIN TRYING TO GET HIS FIRST KISS. AIDEN ENOUGH. ENOUGHHH

-I’LL SHOW UP EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR THE REST OF CYNESWITH’S LIFE UNTIL SHE KISSES ME, I DON’T CARE HOW MANY FIGHTS IT CAUSES

Ok you know what?? Between the lag, psycho Aiden, and the worst digital animal to ever exist, I have officially HAD IT. Tonight I’m solving 2 out of 3 of those problems!!! 

-Aaaaaiden! Get over here buddy, it’s time for your first kiss! 

-You’re not Cyneswith! 

Ya sorry Aiden the Cyneswith kiss ain’t happening but don’t worry, I found you Clarabelle here who is very willing!

-Hmmm! Well, that’s an interesting perfume..

-Wow Clarabelle, you know, despite being half-cow half-plant, you really are beautiful in your own way.. Very striking.. I love your teeth..

Why don’t you get a little closer Aiden, our Clarabelle is shy!

-Oh that’s sweet, she’s demure! Nothing like that slut Cyneswith! 

You can say that again!

GOODBYE AIDEN. FUCKING LUNATIC

Ugh his stupid glasses upset her stomach! Poor bb.

-Good girl, Clarabelle.. I’m glad I got one last murder with you💜

-And now, to prolong my life for one more wolf party.. At least Aiden died for a good cause! 

Ya the same cause Sandy died for THE FIRST TIME. THAT’S HOW LONG WE’VE BEEN AT THIS WOLF SHIT

-YES. YEEEEEEEES THE POWER OF YOUTH AND NEON FABRICS COURSES THROUGH MY VEINS

Alright, Jojo, this is it. Tonight IT ENDS

WELL HELLO, FUCKER. Bet you didn’t expect us waiting for you western duel style, did you!!! Now why don’t you step into our yard in this new beautiful fenced area we built, don’t worry it has a door! Just follow Jojo in..

..HA. I TRAPPED YOU, ASSHOLE!!! DOOR DELETED!!!! THERE’S NO ESCAPE

-UGH FINE, I’M BORED OF TORTURING YOU ANYWAY. HERE YOU GO, JOJO, YOU’RE BITTEN🐺

Is it happening?????

IT’S HAPPENING. OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

OH MY GOD THIS WEREWOLF DEFAULT DOESN’T SUIT JOJO AT ALL

IT’S OVERRRRRRRRRRR. I CANNOT FUCKING BELIEVE ALL THIS HAPPENED FOR 5K POINTS BUT WHATEVER. IT’S DONE. NEVER AGAINNNNNN

iVan wants to become a werewolf too, which LOL, so here you go, iVan, you’re a robowolf or whatever the fuck now! 

-𝙰𝚆𝙾𝙾𝙾𝙾𝙾𝙾𝙾𝙾. 𝙸𝚂𝙽'𝚃 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚂 𝙵𝚄𝙽, 𝙹𝙾𝙹𝙾? -Yes yes, it is..

And here you go, Jojo, I deleted the cute default so you can have a proper menacing appearance! 

-Thanks..

What is it? 

-You know, I’m not totally sure being a werewolf is for me after all..

What.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

KILL ME

[balanceoflightanddark]

ABC interviewer: "What do you think are the biggest misunderstandings postpartum depression?"

Hayden Panettiere: "The biggest misunderstanding that I found that there were a lot of people who didn't believe it. They just thought that I was being 'crazy woman,' an overly emotional female, and it was my choice whether or not to be depressed. And it was so out of my control."

This is Azula's situation to a T.

I actually just watched that interview for a little bit of context and...yeah. Completely agree 100%. There is a certain lack of empathy when it comes to women who do suffer some kind of trauma or mental disorder or etc. Granted almost anybody with some kind of problem can certainly face ableism or a lack of compassion (trust me, I'm speaking as a guy with autism). But a greater amount of accountability is usually placed on women. That if it happens to them, it's a greater sin than if it happens to a guy.

Azula is practically a good example of this. A lot of fans assume that she has a greater degree of autonomy and control than she actually does. That ultimately her breakdown was her own doing, and that (as well as her treatment in the aftermath) was a form of "karma". Now, I'm not gonna argue that Azula did bad things and needed to be given a swift wake up call to that reality. Obviously. And at the end of the day, she was an antagonist that needed to be stopped.

But blaming her for her own breakdown? I'm sorry, but I don't buy it. The girl quickly and rapidly lost everything, having her entire world view be shattered, and reduced to a sobbing mess. That's not just a wake up call. That's a tragedy right there. And what's worse was that her world view had been conditioned since birth by a toxic and overly militant and authoritarian Fire Nation with no other world view. How exactly does she have any autonomy over her own breakdown if she wasn't even faced with a viable alternative? Hell, the girl even says it right here:

Azula: But what choice do I have? Trust is for fools. Fear is the only reliable way.

She wouldn't say that if she knew supposedly "knew better". Hell, it's a hint that she does know of alternatives...it's just the Fire Nation was so damn brutal that anything outside of cruelty was going to have you eaten alive. Especially when growing up under Ozai's shadow.

Yet time and again, she gets blamed for her own breakdown. Doesn't matter the circumstances of her upbringing. She's a girl. She dared to be better than Zuko. So therefore, she brought upon her downfall. Obviously. Doesn't matter if other characters like...oh I don't know...Aang, don't get nearly as much bile thrown their way for experiencing similar issues when under stress. Azula should've known better, and that's the end of the story in their book.

No empathy for a 14-year-old girl in a series apparently built on compassion, understanding, and ending an era of hate and violence. What. A. Load.