#and he RAGED at me for being 'controlling'
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It's been a hell of a day for bad takes, but I just saw one over on ao3 that legit kinda disturbed me a bit, so I just wanted to say something real quick so if this sounds like it would be a bad one for you to stumble upon by accident, too, you can just ask me and I'll DM you the info so you can block the author or whatever. Putting more specifics below the cut, tl;dr it's pretty gross, racist ooc behavior implying Ed is uncontrollably violent (to the point of Stede being angry at him for killing people, which is famously a line Ed didn't cross before the finale) and it (and this is the part that made me want to warn people) has a very graphically-described moment of Stede threatening to kill Ed if he ""hurts the crew again.""
I was just going through new fics like usual, and admittedly it's on me for not taking a closer look at the tags ("ed's toxic behavior is finally addressed" is hidden in the middle so I didn't spot it when I was lured in by the hurt/comfort and angst with a happy ending tags) and the last line of the summary was about Stede finding the words to help Ed believe how much he loves him - I have most of the Izzy ship tags filtered so this one just didn't ping any red flags for me from a glance before I clicked on it. I should've looked closer but I think this one was extreme enough it would've surprised me even if I had seen the tags that were there.
And I'm used to seeing everyday racist shit and just scrolling by, but I can't overstate enough that this one actually made me upset, because it's not just your everday canyon racism over here. This one had Ed immediately flying into this unprovoked rage state when Stede voices extremely mild criticism, makes Stede take a weird amount of concern with Ed's kraken-era behavior including being very angry with him for suddenly killing people (???), is very focused on how Ed cannot control his anger and needs to atone for how he "mutilated" Izzy, and had Stede threaten to violently and painfully hunt Ed down and kill him himself if he ever ""hurt the crew again"" (as if that was literally ever a risk).
It was just a level of extreme that I was shocked by, and technically it was properly tagged, but it was easy enough to run into if you're not paying close enough attention even when most of my filters work to get 99% of the racist stuff, so if anyone wants a link to it just let me know. I found it looking at the most recent fics, so at the time of writing this it's probably still on the front page if you look for it.
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Jonathan's decision to play along today was very difficult to make. But, in the end, it was the right move. He set aside his anger and impulse to rebel... perhaps as much or more out of fear rather than just logic, but we do see his reasoning and it makes sense.
And honestly, I think he pushed his luck nearly to the limit anyways. Look at how Dracula asked. First, he waited a few days after everything that went down with the vampire ladies, perhaps to see if Jonathan would bring up the topic. If Jonathan does, maybe he had plans to lie to him again, to gaslight him about either never sleeping outside of his room, or about Dracula finding him dreaming somewhere else and helping him back to his own bed. Still, Jonathan's reaction to such a lie could very easily force an end to all this pretending. But since he never brings it up at all, Dracula knows he can continue his game. In fact, Jonathan is proving to be a very resilient player, one who has just enough struggle in him to make it more interesting, without being too unmanageable or ever close to actually get away.
Dracula gives Jonathan this 'request' "in the suavest tones" - he's really emphasizing his charm here, being extra friendly as he tries to make Jonathan feel even worse. But then, contrary to what he's seen thus far, Jonathan hesitates.
I would fain have rebelled, but felt that in the present state of things it would be madness to quarrel openly with the Count whilst I am so absolutely in his power; and to refuse would be to excite his suspicion and to arouse his anger. He knows that I know too much, and that I must not live, lest I be dangerous to him; my only chance is to prolong my opportunities. Something may occur which will give me a chance to escape. I saw in his eyes something of that gathering wrath which was manifest when he hurled that fair woman from him. He explained to me that posts were few and uncertain, and that my writing now would ensure ease of mind to my friends; and he assured me with so much impressiveness that he would countermand the later letters, which would be held over at Bistritz until due time in case chance would admit of my prolonging my stay, that to oppose him would have been to create new suspicion.
I think he must have been sitting there making these arguments to himself in real time. Wrestling with his fear and his outrage and possibly losing most of his control over his expression and body language as he did so. And at first, this is fun for Dracula. He wants Jonathan to struggle like this. It's fun to watch. But then, the longer it goes on, the more real becomes the possibility that this will be Jonathan's breaking point. And if it is, if he outright says "no" even this once, then Dracula's entire game is ruined. He's just committed to wanting to keep Jonathan around for another full month. Jonathan passed the test with the other vampires. Dracula has been looking forward to this. How dare he spoil this -
Dracula's rage rises as he finds himself forces to make excuses and be convincing when he likely assumed he no longer needed to put in that much effort. Jonathan finally does agree, but he didn't do so right away. And it's a very fine line, because continuing to do this does in fact make him more interesting and fun in the long run, and thus perhaps allow him to live longer. Maybe after they separate for the evening (morning, being nocturnal) Dracula would actually look back on this moment with indulgent enjoyment. He pushed perhaps right up to the limit of what Dracula would tolerate, but he didn't quite cross it, so the game can continue. But at the same time, pushing like this (or rather, resisting being pushed before giving in) is extremely dangerous in the moment - because in the moment, there's still a chance Jonathan could cross the line. Dracula has a temper and he will take it out on Jonathan if he decides he's had enough.
It's that tightrope again. More of the same. But I just... love imagining this moment. Dracula's sickly-sweet smugness at the start, his utter confidence in his victory once again. And Jonathan - pausing. Saying nothing in response. Thinking it over, taking so long to do so, trying so hard to keep a neutral face but not fully succeeding, maybe keeping his head bowed so his expression can't be seen. Dracula's anger building along with almost a sort of desperation, as he lays out all this bullshit reasoning, maybe losing control of his own tone somewhat as he gets more aggressively vehement. The absolute tension rising, up and up right until the moment Jonathan looks up and agrees, when it suddenly dissipates. But the aftermath lingers, even in Dracula's victory. Even as Jonathan writes the three letters, one after another under Dracula's watchful eye. Dracula takes them from his hand, squeezes his shoulder in ostensible thanks, but such a clear threat. Jonathan's face twitching, a little spasm of fear and despair, at the contact.
It could be SUCH a good scene in an adaptation that emphasized the abusive dynamic here.
#dracula daily#count dracula#jonathan harker#dracula's version of will-they-won't-they except what's in question is if jonathan will break the pretence
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Speak Your Mind - Inumaki Toge
pairing: inumaki toge x reader, gender neutral, established relationship
synopsis: inumaki grapples with the thought of not being able to speak his mind to you. not fully understanding, you try to ease his mind but his words hurt.
content warning: angst, use of cursed speech against you, misguided anger, self loathing, pretty heavy bout of anger/sadness
"Stop talking."
Was the first warning the man gave you. But it only lasted mere seconds as he saw your mouth open again once the tension of his words was gone. "Stop doing that," you snapped.
"Shut up-"
Was the second warning and he watched as your mouth snapped closed once more and anger flair in your eyes. He didn't mean for the argument to be taken to such measures, it truly started off rather innocently. But your words struck a chord in him that he didn't know he was capable of inheriting. "Stop it," your voiced hushed as your jaw went slack from his cursed energy no longer gripping you. "It's alright, Toge."
But it was far from alright.
"Get out!"
Not registering what he said until his words already hung in the air, his eyes tracked as you swiftly exited and slammed the door behind you. The room fell silent. An eerie silence that made his already racing mind swim with self-hatred and guilt. He didn't mean for it to get this far. Didn't mean to use such brash, controlling, words with you. He felt his thoughts come full circle, as this was the very topic of conversation he wished to have with you.
His words hurt.
It was a thought hammered into his very being, starting even at such a small age.
"Don't speak, Toge."
"Not a word, Toge."
"You could hurt people, Toge. It's better if you don't say anything at all."
But he couldn't help it, couldn't stand not speaking to you. He craved it, needed it even. It filled his stomach to the brim with dread every second of every hour and every day that he couldn't talk to you. Not in code, not over text, not in writing, not in one word replies that were safe - but actually converse with you the way he so eagerly wanted to. The way he saw everyone speak to you. Perhaps it was jealously, or perhaps a twinge of self deprecation. But he hated it, loathed it.
You tried reassuring the young man, to which it started the very argument moments ago. You would never leave, you would always love him, and you didn't care that he couldn't converse naturally with you. You loved him exactly the way he is.
But you didn't hear him. You didn't understand.
You didn't have such an ability where the weight of words caused catastrophic damage. Your words didn't feel like nails rammed in your throat from such a simple slip of the tongue. Your words didn't have the power to be lethal.
He juxtaposed you in every way of lexicology.
His words singed the back of his throat with every syllable, biting and gnashing at vocal cords with every letter spoken. His words were heavy, feeling his shoulders drop from how burdensome they were. And the taste of cough medicine and numbing spray permanently stained his mouth; years of trying to remedy the drawbacks of his ability only to loathe the taste more than blood itself.
Letting a loud, guttural yell from his lips escape he shut his eyes tightly, hands balling into fists from rage and overwhelming grief. But he couldn't say a word - which made him all the more angry. "What-!" He yelled, and promptly screwed his mouth closed with a loud groan - 'is wrong with me??' All he could do was grunt, groan, and scream nonsense, anything else would mean using cursed energy. But rage moved to hopelessness, the fire in his chest shifting to a chokehold.
Tears welling in violet eyes, and a deep, shaky breath filling his lungs, he felt his emotions collapse. It was as if the world had crashed around him at his realization of his actions, a heavy guilt stabbing at his heart and twisting. Tears slipping down pale cheeks as all he could think to do was cry, to sob, to wallow. Knees roughly hitting the floor as his legs were wobbly, adrenaline and anger completely replaced by despair giving him whiplash.
He couldn't imagine you would want to speak to him after his actions, he couldn't imagine you would want to speak to him ever again. "You idiot," he murmured to himself through tears. "What have you done?"
#jjk toge#jjk x reader#jujutsu kaisen#jujutsu kaisen x reader#jjk inumaki#toge inumaki#inumaki toge#jujutsu kaisen inumaki#inumaki toge x reader#toge inumaki x reader#jjk angst#inumaki angst#inumaki drabble
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3 maybe a fluffy smut
3. Technically speaking, this is not my fault.
Additional ask by same anon: Okay wait I sent in 3 but that has a pregnancy blurb would be everything like smutty fluff
dude this is pure filth, I am so sorry. But hey! Hope you enjoy lol (I'm going to hell)
content warning: sexual content (fem receiving, p in v technically protected) - MDNI; mentions of emergency contraception; unplanned pregnancy
plan b - prompt 3
Thank God the chateau is empty save for you and JJ, because neither of you are being particularly quiet.
You’re practically screaming as he eats you out, a vibrator held steady on your clit. The asshole that he is, JJ has the audacity to laugh at you. He keeps chuckling against your shaking thigh, pressing kisses into the skin because he can’t keep his mouth off you for even a second.
“Feel good, baby?”
He already knows the answer to that. You nod against the pillow, forehead damp with sweat. JJ toys with the settings of your vibrator and another moan racks your body.
“Jesus Christ, why did we wait to get one of these?”
“Fucking do something, JayJ,” is your slurred response.
JJ laughs again, voice deep and husky, before obliging. His tongue slips in and out of your hole, lapping at your wet, parched like he’s been lost at sea. You aimlessly grasp at the ruined sheets, feeling your third climax fast approaching.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” you gasp as it builds.
JJ leans back, replacing his mouth with his fingers. The cold metal of his rings presses at your entrance and it only amplifies everything. A strange but satisfying feeling builds deep inside of you, unfamiliar. Practically seeing stars, you come with a broken moan of his name. But as you topple over the edge, you soon realise that your body is reacting completely different to how it usually does. You lose all control, succumbing to the pleasure. Finally, as you come back down, you can make out JJ’s astounded laugh.
“Holy shit,” he mutters.
Panting, you shift yourself to take him in. You’d squirted. If it weren’t for the expression on his face and the raging hard on in his boxers, you’d be embarrassed. But you can’t find it in yourself to be with the way JJ is looking at you, like he wants to devour you whole.
“Oops?” you meekly say.
JJ flips you over frantically, looming on top of you. His lips crash onto yours, consuming your every sense as he sloppily prods his tongue into your mouth. He grabs at your thighs and shoves your legs up so your knees are practically by your head. And then he’s shoving off his boxers and lining himself up. It’s when his dick prods your entrance that you come back to your senses.
“Wait, wait, wait! Need a condom!”
JJ groans, annoyed and impatient. He rifles through the bedside drawer, his frown growing deeper and deeper with every passing second.
“Shit, there ain’t any,” he mutters.
“Please tell me you’re messing with me,” you beg, hands coming to cup at your face. It’s ironic you saying that when he’s the one that’s been patiently holding out for the last hour.
JJ gets to his feet and turfs through the door thoroughly. Nothing. He goes through his wallet, his short pockets, your bag. Nothing. Cursing up a storm, he shoves his way into the bathroom and turns the place upside down. You hear a loud whoop when he returns, holding the packet up like a trophy. You sigh out a laugh, elated with relief. With that, JJ doesn’t waste another second.
He fucks you hard and fast, holding out longer than you expected considering the edging torture he’d undergone whilst praising your body like a temple. It was an unspoken agreement that this part was more for him than for you. Besides, you’re so wound up that it hardly takes anything for you to come again.
The post-sex bliss is short lived though. After JJ peppers your body with groggy smooches, he moves away with a promise to grab a flannel to help clean you up. But then he stops mid-sentence. You crack open an eye, smiling doppily as you take in your boyfriend. His expression kills the joy.
“What? What’s wrong?”
JJ stares at you, wide eyed. “The condom split.”
You jolt up in bed. “What!?”
“It must have been an old one or something!”
You scramble for the packet and look at the date. Expiration date: 2017. Your mouth slowly falls open. Wordlessly, you hand it to him.
“Shit. We gotta get that plan B pill now,” JJ says.
You agree. Legs wobbly, he helps you dress and the two of you head out to the nearest pharmacy. Morning after pill equipped, you take it and put the whole nightmare to bed as a lesson learnt. Crisis averted.
Easy to say your victory was far too early. So, four weeks later, as you and JJ stare down at the positive pregnancy test in his bathroom, he sheepishly smiles at you.
“Technically speaking, this is not my fault.”
#jj x reader#jj maybank x reader#jj maybank#jj#obx#outer banks#outerbanks#jj drabble#jj maybank drabble#jj x reader drabble#jj maybank x reader drabble#prompts
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love your db analysis posts! i'd love to hear your thoughts on ultimate gohan, if you have any. between him having little to no reaction to finding out everyone on earth is dead, and randomly letting gotenks fight buu instead of himself, he did not seem to be the same character at all to me, and iirc even piccolo says so, i just... find it hard to believe a non-rage-triggered power-up would do that to him.
Much like Android 16, I do wonder if there were more plans for Ultimate Gohan that wound up being scrapped by the shift in narrative direction.
We're first introduced to the concept of Ultimate Gohan as the Elder Kaioshin is explaining his abilities.
Gohan's dormant power has long been a recurring attribute of his character. In fact, this isn't the first time he's had an elderly sage draw out his dormant power.
Teaching him to draw out and control his dormant abilities was (stealthily) part of Goku's training with him. That Gohan was finally starting to make it his own and tap into his true ki is the reason for why he was repeatedly unimpressed by Goku's abilities.
Gohan didn't even realize it, but through his mastery of the Super Saiyan, he'd also begun to take control of and internalize the tremendous ki he'd always had stored away in him. And as he came into his own ki, what he could sense of Goku's ki proportional to his own didn't make sense to him.
Super Saiyan 2 was, then, the culmination of Gohan's development. His full power, channeled through the Super Saiyan and its amplifying effects - both for better and, uh, for worse.
But it's been seven years and Gohan's been indulging in his true love of academia, in accordance with the agreement Goku and Chi-Chi made about his future.
Goku may have successfully escaped having to get a job by conveniently dying at the last possible second, but Gohan's future is set on a course. He's going to be an academic. It's what Chi-Chi wants for him, and it's what Gohan wants for himself; Even Goku acknowledges that.
Seven years of rigorous study and zero martial arts practice later, Gohan isn't the guy anymore. In fact, examining just how much Gohan isn't the guy anymore is the whole point of his fight with Dabra.
Goku eyeballs Dabra as being roughly around Cell's power. This allows Dabra to serve as a yardstick for Gohan, so we understand what it means for him when he fails to measure up.
Gohan that was a Zanzoken/Afterimage. Nobody even does those anymore. They became obsolete after ki-sensing was normalized, because everyone can now easily sense which "image" is the real one. The one other time we saw a Zanzoken return post-23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, it was against Frieza, who can't sense ki.
Dabra is mocking you right now. He legit thinks you're so shitty at martial arts that you'll fall for this amateur-hour guff. And he's right.
I kinda feel Geets here. If I had to watch my last chance to ever fight my rival get wasted on this, I'd be losing my mind too. He fucking fell for a Zanzoken; Can I just take over already?
So. Yeah. Full Power Gohan isn't a thing anymore. He can still tap into the form - and for some inexplicable reason so can Goku and Vegeta - but this is no longer Peak Potential. Which is where the Elder Kaioshin comes in.
This is a classic formula of Dragon Ball. We've seen it in the RRA, Piccolo, Saiyan, Namek (twice!), and Android arcs. First, Goku gets the shit kicked out of him - sometimes even to the point of being presumed dead.
While the surviving cast members scurry about trying to find a way to face the bad guy, Goku - sometimes unbeknownst to them, sometimes not - is recovering and preparing to come back stronger than ever. This typically takes the form of some sort of godly trial or ordeal guaranteed to make him stronger than ever.
Then, at the 11th hour when all else has failed and all hope is lost, Goku makes his return to have one last epic battle for the fate of the world/universe/cosmos.
This is the Dragon Ball formula. Has been since the day the Four-Star Dragon Ball saved Goku's life from a lethal Dodonpa. Of course, getting Gohan back up to speed isn't going to be enough, since Majin Buu in his weakest form was able to do this to our Cell-adjacent yardstick.
I wonder what Dabra Cookie tastes like? I imagine it's like the wafer part of a Keebler cookie. Sugary and nice on its own but better with fudge.
So. Yeah. If Gohan's going to throw hands with Buu, he's going to need more than the power he fought Cell with. Fortunately, that's the Elder's specialty, and what makes this different than that other time Gohan had his dormant power drawn out.
That's right, we're limit-breaking again. Not the limits of human ability, the limits of Saiyan ability, or even the limits of Super Saiyan ability; We're limit-breaking Gohan specifically. Elder Kaioshin's abilities can not only draw out Gohan's full dormant ability but push it beyond Gohan's natural limits.
Full Power Gohan? Nah. This is Limit-Breaker Gohan. Not his full potential; Beyond his potential. Something entirely different from the Super Saiyan, but similar enough that he doesn't require much alternative instruction.
Kinda feels like a thing that shouldn't be able to exist, to be honest. After all the time that's been put into things like the strain of the Kaio-ken on a body, the effects of Frieza having power beyond his limits, or even what trying to use Super Saiyan 3 in a mortal body does to Goku in this very arc.
The idea of Gohan channeling ki beyond his limits seems like it should have some drawbacks, doesn't it? We do get some hints that something's weird about Gohan's new power. Piccolo can't even recognize his ki signature in this state.
This form is doing some weird shit to his ki. And, as Piccolo notes, Gohan's harder now. Gohan is here to take care of business, and nothing is going to get in his way.
But. Then. The switch happens. Suddenly, Gohan is no longer the protagonist and we need a way for Majin Buu to suddenly be too much for Gohan to handle. So we go from this:
To this:
In the span of two chapters. All so that Buu can ass-pull a brand new ability that's never once been mentioned before even though Kaioshin will later cop to having seen him do it twice, that will instantly make Ultimate Gohan stop being a solution to this problem two chapters after his debut.
A plan that, in fact, he began putting into place one chapter after Ultimate Gohan's debut. Never in the history of Dragon Ball has a brand new form or ability been obsoleted this quickly.
And then Gohan was basically thrown in the dumpster and this was never spoken of again, with Ultimate Gohan just becoming his new Strongest Transformation in follow-up products. You can feel the climactic final act being aggressively aborted around him, in favor of Goku and Vegeta's third act.
Hell, at one point, Goku even suggests bringing in Gohan to fight Pure Buu. Y'know. Since Ultimate Gohan is the strongest in the universe and all that. But Vegeta nopes it.
No explanation offered. He's just like, "That's not the plot anymore; Try to keep up, Kakarot." To be fair, Goku had a chance to bring Gohan into this too. They're both aggressively elbowing Gohan out of the spotlight here.
Mad disrespect.
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Hey, it's me again!
I have another request if that's ok. If not, I understand.
Pro heroes (All Might, Aizawa, Hizashi, Midnight, Ryukyu, Fatgum) Mirko who adopted a child with a dangerous quirk that's hard for them to control and is scared that they'll end up hurting people because of it. The kid being only around 3 years old
Pro Heroes x Nezuko Reader
(I know I already did this but I just love Nezuko and it’s the only thing I could really think of that would work. That’s also why Aizawa isn’t in this, because he was in the previous one)
So the narrative is that the police got a call from civilians saying that a child just got their quirk and is out of control. The police alert the heroes and the following is how I believe each person would handle the situation and how they would help the child if they’re the one who answered the call. Each one of the heroes gets the reader a muzzle for them to wear after they adopt the reader.
All Might:
Was shocked at how strong you are in your adult demon form
Gets a bite taken out of him and while their teeth are in his arm, he hits their exposed neck knocking them unconscious
After that he asks one of the police for help and manages to fashion a makeshift gag/muzzle
The reader’s parents were unfortunately killed by the reader in their transformation induced hunger and rage
All Might decides to adopt the reader since he fears what AFO would do if he found the child and stole their quirk
When you wake up and learn what you did you end up crying and he holds you in his arms as he laughs and shows you that he’s fine
Present Mic/Hizashi:
Was slightly scared by how strong you are in adult form
He handles the situation similar to All Might
Although he does get bitten a lot more, he refuses to use his quirk on the reader
Seeing as the parents are il-equipped to handle the reader, he decides to adopt them and help them
He helps the reader fight off their hunger for humans
Likes to play games with the reader and helps them learn how to control their quirk
Midnight:
Isn’t too scared of your strength since she barely saw it
Midnight puts the reader to sleep and has the police help fashion a makeshift gag
Seeing as the parents are too scared of the reader, she adopts them
She loves dressing the reader up in cute outfits and the reader loves having Nemuri do their hair
She teaches the reader restraint and helps them fight their hunger for humans
Ryukyu:
Is amazed by how strong your quirk makes you and knows you’ll get even stronger
She manages to subdue the reader until the police can put a muzzle on them and quirk restraints
She tries to find the reader’s parents at the scene but later finds that the parents abandoned the reader and don’t want them
She takes the reader in and teaches her how to get used to their new life with their quirk and helps them fight their desire for human blood
Fatgum:
Is surprised by your strength and how powerful your quirk is especially for someone your age
Uses his fat to subdue the reader and puts quirk restraints on the reader
When he discovers that the reader’s parents are villains he decides that he’ll adopt the reader since their parents are locked up anyway
He helps the reader overcome their hunger for blood by making sure they have plenty of alternative food to eat, no eating people
He loves cuddling with the child and helps them learn to navigate their new quirk
Mirko:
Knows that your strength will make you a great hero someday
The only one who actually has to fight the child in adult form
Does get bitten but doesn’t mind
Like Midnight, the parents reject the reader saying that the child is a monster so she adopts the reader
Teaches the reader to put their hunger into their resolve to not eat people
Teaches the reader how to fight and use their quirk
#mha x reader#bnha x reader#all might x child reader#all might x reader#present mic x child reader#present mic x reader#pro heroes x child reader#mirko x child reader#midnight x reader#fatgum x child reader#fatgum x reader#ryukyu x reader
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any particular ideas about the victors and empathy? like are there any that are low/no empathy, or any that are hyperempathetic? it would be interesting to see how empathy or lack thereof would impact their experiences/images both before, during, and after their games (even if panem probably doesn't have a very good understanding of what that entails from a psychology perspective lol)
a fun thing is that both Selene and Petra are low/no empathy, which makes them a fascinating pair. Petra knows she's missing something early and so outsources her sense of right & wrong to The Rules while Selene just does not care and this is a source of conflict for the two of them quite often.
Selene bases her morality around You Are Annoying Me, Personally whereas Petra's is You Have Broken The Rules This Is Bad And Unfair And Wrong which is why they drive each other up the wall
at their first kill tests Selene doesn't feel guilty. she vaguely thinks she should? but she doesn't, and they're here to kill, so, oh well. Petra asks her victim what she did, learns she did something bad, and is like, all right then, I'm good. they have a chat after Selene's about how neither felt bad and it's the one time they're both weirdly sympatico
both Selene and Petra have images that are slightly ... off/wild/feral, in no small part due to this. Selene they have to constantly remind her to pull it back or she'll go full villain (ha ha OH WELL given that she kills her district partner immediately but Misha knows). Petra's original was a bit more on the like ..... off-putting aloof killer vibe, similar to Clove, but with the maces she never got to pull that out so she had to go for the nymphomaniac over the top angle instead.
post-Games it's easy to keep things from Petra re: the state of the world until things explode because she just doesn't think about it. she has enough to deal with re: her own healing and constantly getting re-traumatized and all that nonsense that she doesn't have the mental energy to put towards things like oh what is it like for the districts or the other victors or is the only person who's nice to me actually doing this as part of a giant machiavellian scheme. it all falls apart in canon divergence once she has time to really sit and wrestle with those questions? but boy it takes some time and work and the others (particularly the younger ones) have some choice words for her in the meantime
Callista is also very low empathy, this (ahem) very clearly factored into her image & strategy. She does not care about the other districts and she says what she wants and if you get offended that's on you. Now mind you, while Calli has low empathy and her circle is small, IF you are inside that circle her compassion level is extremely high. Calli knows that Nero is hurting and she wants to do many, many murders on his behalf. She is very angry that she cannot. Ditto with her tributes, most of whom are similarly villainized by the narrative which is part of the reason she keeps choosing them anyway. In the AUs where she does manage to land either Creed or Alec she doesn't get what they're feeling half the time but she will help them regardless and god help anyone who tries to stand between them.
on the flip side we have Devon and Alec, who are both on the hyper-empathy end of things. Devon is able to control and use his fairly well, both in the Games and beyond; Alec has much more trauma and tends to be paralyzed by it for a lot longer before finally managing to work through things as an adult. part of Alec's problem is being unable to make his own decisions or justify his emotions
ironically Claudius is also very high on empathy but has no idea for a long time given that his specific cocktail of trauma and rage responses resulted in him lashing out and hurting people, so his whole "i'm a monster" thing dug in pretty deep and he withdraws. post-games though he can't help it and it lands him in trouble fairly quickly since he can't stop THINKING about other people and it sends him straight to treason town before he's even finished his victory tour, lol. post-canon divergence he winds up being like ... a teen counsellor for ex-centre kids which is the last thing he thought he'd be doing, but there you go. funny enough Eibhlin is the first person to tell him that he's high empathy and he doesn't believe her. but one of the reasons he's so good at 'mentoring' Selene is his ability to get inside her head before she even knows her own feelings really
in general while they don't have official vocab for it the Centre definitely IDs kids who have high empathy and/or compassion and has ways to decentralize that, whether it's giving them a cause or comfort in the rules or helping to carefully dissociate what they do from who they are. for the kids on the other end it's more a question of managing that line so they don't go too far.
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MHA Chapter 423 Commentary
I want to start by saying that I love the series. I really do. That's exactly why this chapter is so damn heartbreaking. What drew me to this series were the themes of saving everyone, of atonement and understanding and compassion. All of that was abruptly thrown away this chapter. I can’t take anything else in the story to heart because it’s lost its heart.
Only some of this can be explained by the terrible pacing of the chapter, as the content should have been in 5+ chapters. What it comes down to is the way the deaths of Shigaraki and AFO were handled by both the protagonist and the author. It’s not that they died, as I expected both to and take no issue with that. It’s how their deaths were written. AFO’s in particular leads to the crux of the problem: when the main villain dies alone and unloved, it calls into question the story’s message and themes.
Under a cut because this is long, but I'll start with Shigaraki before moving onto AFO and the general themes.
I’ll discuss Shigaraki first, as this one is less of a problem (though still very much of one) for the story as a whole. Shigaraki's death scene was far too short and remarkably callous, and he will remain forever incomplete even if "revived". We have seen very little, if any, introspection on his part during this entire war. We didn't see him grapple with learning AFO controlled even his birth. We didn't see him interact with his grandmother. We never saw him learn anything from Deku. We never saw him confront AFO. We never saw him come to terms with anything. Right up until he died in 419, then formally died in 423, he held the same rage. Realizing "wow, I was an angry kid after all" only to follow it up with bragging about being destructive to the very end is not character development. His death was not heroic, as he was more or less “killed” by AFO earlier and he only rallied for one hit. He didn’t sacrifice himself in any way, and it’s hard to consider his final punchdown on AFO particularly heroic under the circumstances.
Deku's final conversation with him was fairly cold, especially considering how he's spoken of him up until now. Saying to the very end that he'll never forgive him and mysteriously failing to say he wanted to save him was very damaging to both characters. Not once does Deku mention his goal of trying to save him. It's as if his goals suddenly changed when they no longer became possible to attain, as if he'll magically be shielded from any failure (a common theme with all heroes except for Hawks and Ochako, though the latter may well be negated if Toga lives). Some recognition of the goals we've been told about for the last 300+ chapters would have been nice, even if Deku just made a casual apology for not being able to "save" him. He seems almost dismissive of Shigaraki in the end despite repeating tirelessly throughout the story that he will do everything in his power to save him.
I also see a lot of assumptions that Tenko will simply return. If this happens, which is always possible, it would be the most outrageous asspull in the series. His body is completely gone. Unless he regained his original quirk and it's "Resurrection", it's not going to be believable in any sense (and a suspension of disbelief is necessary for fiction; we all know it’s a superhero story, but that doesn’t mean the author can do absolutely anything and we have to accept it). That, too, would be absurd because if AFO had that quirk all along he would have used it here. An argument can be made that he used it 6 years ago, but this is also questionable because a] he only used it once, b] given the Oboro/Kurogiri situation, it seems that Garaki can actually raise the dead. I don't know what Tenko returning would even do. We saw his dying words, and they were unrepentant, and Deku's final interaction with him was cold and detached (unlike, for ex. Shoto and Toya which was only hostile on one side, and Ochako and Toga which was openly affectionate). Coming back isn't going to undo any of that.
AFO dying with no character resolution whatsoever was an even bigger issue in terms of the greater narrative. As with Shigaraki, his death is not the issue; it was clearly going to happen. It’s the how. He died begging for his brother to love and look at him. His brother died condemning him. AFO died as he was born - unloved - despite having a very "human" awakening only a few chapters prior. This was made clear but how he changed how he told his brother he loved him. He shifted from the more formal and very rarely used “aishiteru” to the very personal “daisuke” because, after chasing him for a century only to lose him, he finally understood that what he felt for his brother was love.
He was vulnerable in a way he never had been before, but Hrksh opted to throw him away instead of bringing closure to his character. Consider how his original body died in 410, screaming about how he feels hatred. This time he died begging for love. It was futile either way. Yoichi, the only person he ever loved (albeit in a demented way), rejected him. All the other vestiges manifested faces, but Yoichi denied his brother this last chance to see him. AFO's last panicked meltdown clearly indicates that he simply can not conceptualize love in a normal way, which makes him more pitiable and, ironically, human, than it does make him evil.
The argument can definitely be made that this was a "fitting" end for him, and on some level I can appreciate that, but whether it’s satisfying is irrelevant. This ending does not fit the story of MHA, which carries certain themes. All other significant villain characters were granted some level of compassion, an attempt to understand them, by both the author and the characters. AFO was granted none of this. The main villain in a series about helping and saving others lived and died unloved by all. He might have been "born evil" depending on how one interprets chapter 407, but hrksh made it clear that he never had a chance in life. His backstory is objectively the most tragic and miserable of all, and he was the one character denied any compassion in the end. If the worst of the worst dies alone and unloved, then how can we say the story is truly about saving others, even those who don’t conventionally “deserve” it?
Furthermore, Deku's offhand comment about him being a lonely man comes across more as an insult and a mockery than any attempt to understand him. He "gave" AFO the chance to speak to Yoichi one last time, but it was a farce to distract him so he'd be easier to kill. There was no compassion there, only calculated manipulation. Granted, it's possible this comes down to pacing and what should have been 1-2 chapters was crammed into 1 page, but with no actual exploration of AFO's character on Deku's part, we have to take it at face value. Realistically, Deku should have sought to understand AFO hundreds of chapters ago anyway, if he really cared about saving everyone. In retrospect, not even considering the possibility of trying to figure out the why and how of AFO is a major failure on the part of the heroes. This goes back to how the author has set AFO up to take the fall for everyone without considering how it will compromise the central theme of the story.
Even as recently as chapter 416, Hawks remembers how important it is that we see everyone as united and understand one another. Strangely, nobody bothered to try and understand the main villain.
Ultimately, if the narrative is pinning all anguish and suffering in the world onto a single character, the origins of that character must be understood by the heroes to ensure someone like him isn't created again. By only bothering to understand and save those AFO supposedly created (even though he only created Shiggy), the heroes are healing symptoms and not the disease. There is no internal consistency within the story. He died largely a mystery. We will never know his true goals, as the closest we got was Aoyama's description, which AFO even said was not quite accurate. We also never learned his true motivation, as his reaction to Yoichi dying again indicates it’s not that simple. Which again, means it will just happen again because no characters made any effort to understand. It's like hrksh went for generic, mindless evil but screwed up with his relationship with his brother, ultimately turning him human. His goals and motives can be guessed, but given that this is a shounen, in-depth analysis should not be required to understand the final villain's goal.
This is made even more infuriating when you consider that AFO’s worldview is based on comic books. Shouldn’t this be something hrksh would want to explore, given the entire series is based on comic books? Without ever telling us the truth about his motivation, we lose the chance for the meta-analysis we were promised, one which had notable fan appeal regardless of character interest. AFO's abrupt ending also means we will never get any further explanation of quirks, the singularity theory, or their origin. AFO as the originator held all the mysteries there. Sure, maybe we'll get a monologue from the doctor later, but that's unlikely. And sure, you can argue that those things "aren't important", but they are. Many dropped plot points genuinely don't matter anymore, but these do given their significance throughout the series. Essentially, all worldbuilding went out the window with AFO.
In the end, there is no sense of anything changing after this war. The chapter byline suggests that now with AFO dead, everything will be perfect, which is of course probably what we'll be told. The "cycle of suffering" has miraculously ended, because apparently all of it originated with AFO despite him having absolutely nothing to do with the creation of most villains.
The reality is that nothing in Deku's final battle addressed the failures of society and what can be done going forward to minimize people becoming villains. He completely ignored any attempt to understand the supposed root of all evil (AFO), suggesting he doesn’t actually care about fixing any deep-rooted societal issues and instead only cares about Shigaraki specifically. And even then, Deku did very little for him. When he entered the vestige world, he shielded Tenko from his father and tried to physically stop him from killing his family. That's it. Immediate, reactive, physical behavior. No reflection, no analysis, no acknowledgement of the deeper issues at hand (yes, it's a battle, but that never stopped hrksh from including that kind of thing before), no recognition of what Tenko went through in their final conversation. In this sense, Ochako and Endeavor have done a far better job at being heroes than Deku, which is a serious issue from a narrative perspective.
Rezzing Tenko might give us some flashbacks of neglected aspects of his character, granted with lost emotional momentum, but the bigger issue is how Deku handled his death. The same can be said for AFO, though unless Yoichi also returns, that's totally pointless. Giving Deku a second chance to redo everything with Shigaraki and/or AFO can't change the fact that the first time around, he failed to connect. He didn't know he'd get a second chance. Therefore we have to assume he was "doing his best" in 423, and that “best” was mediocre and contradictory to his character.
At the end of the day, we ended up with what should have been 5-8 chapters crammed into one, at the most critical moment of the series. Because of this, major plotlines and characters were thrown out the window and with them, the central themes of the entire series. I think there are ways it can be partially fixed to the point where the chapter is no longer a story-breaker, but given how this was handled, I don’t expect those paths to be taken. The only way to really salvage this is to have the chapter retracted, which of course won't happen.
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how do you self-soothe
#my google search be like#i locked myself in the bathroom because there's nowhere else private in this apt and i don't think rudy has anywhere to be until 10:30#and like if he's going to be super upset and take it out on me then i'm just going to do my best to avoid him#because atp i don't want to be hurt#i made a mistake this morning and overreacted to a joke#it's been three hours and he's still so mad he won't say anything to me unless i initiate#and even then it's just him yelling at me#asked if he was leaving earlier#and he RAGED at me for being 'controlling'#like dude you have a consistent pattern of leaving for who knows how fucking long when you're upset#i am not trying to stop you from leaving. i'm trying to understand if you're leaving FOREVER#but hey got it. i will not ask if you're leaving again. my fucking bad.#i asked why he thought it was ok to treat me this way and he said#'i never said it was okay. i can treat you however i want. you decide whether or not to tolerate it'#so now i'm in the bathroom. because i have no privacy otherwise#and honestly if he wants me away that bad? fine! great!#why the fuck would i waste my time wanting to be around you when you yourself admit you clearly don't want to be around me#i struggle with stuff like this because i feel betrayed when we don't work out an issue instantly. it feels like he is going out of his way#to make this painful for me#but i know he's not. that's my angry brain talking.#he has his own feelings and needs to be given space for them when he asks (like i'm doing now! yay me!)#it doesn't mean the world is going to blow up or my life is over#it means i probably need to leave him alone all day today
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(13 pages) Forlorn
#trigun#trigun stampede#millions knives#on an episode of “how much can i woobify knives :D”#his character is interesting to explore. so much loneliness mixed with strong emotions repressed behind a cold facade#i wondered how he would react to the realization that he misses vash#if he brings his plans to fruition then they'll be reunited -- that's what he tells himself#maybe to keep the loneliness at bay but sometimes it catches up to him#i thought maybe this cold and perfect facade knives parades would shatter and the “ugly” emotions hidden behind would spill out#which would be smth out of his control. and knives hates it. or deep down is terrified of it#smth smth knives seeing vash in his reflection on a stolen red plant#and oh#oh he's PISSED#he let a part of himself break. he showed weakness. and over what? over vash?? but hes doing everything for HIM#he thinks -- so it's vash's fault he's losing his composure right?#it's vash's fault he's distracted from what could reunite them. his fault knives is doing all of this. feeling all of this#using vash as a scape goat for his own emotional turmoil#and that piano be damned. it's a monolith of his loneliness#if only it could all disappear-- the piano-- the cold-- the memories-- the weight on his heart-- the FEAR#there's smth about his rage being rooted in fear that intrigues me#fear of remaining alone-- fear of the hurricane of his own emotions-- fear of time passing and loss of control#then his hood falls off and he's left vulnerable and exposed#also i like the idea of knives looking pretty when he's composed but when he shows strong emotions he turns ugly and wrinkly#comic#i forgot it was in my drafts lol also not kv btw ^^#Thank you for reading! :3#shinxo art#shinxo comic
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time to get pissed about the fact that constantine's father's hatred for and dismissal of him extends all the way down to his fucking name.
like yeah, john is a fine & normal name. he doesn't have any strong feelings about it and neither does anyone else. but john's mother wanted him, loved him, and iirc might have already had a name picked out for him before she died. (his older sister was named cheryl, which wasn't even in the TOP 100 most common UK girl names at the time, so there was a precedent for putting a lot of thought into naming her kids!!) and then she dies, and thomas just. doesn't. care. john, number one most common UK baby name for the four preceding decades. like john smith. like john fucking doe.
how it must feel to him when people say that name with actual affection instead of rage. how rare that is in his line of work. how different it must sound when he's wanted.
#( ooc. ) OUT OF CIGS.#PERSONALS DO NOT REBLOG#wrapping up my rage of caliban obsession with this fuckin thing because AUGH. I'M MAD ABOUT IT#'john doe' is particularly what i think of when i consider name choice bc his dad Confirmed that he wanted john dead as soon as he was born#said to him multiple times in the comics that he wished john had died instead of his mum#almost completely ignored him as a baby until he was old enough to understand being blamed for things outside of his control#GOD. thomas constantine makes me so fucking ANGRY#don't mind me i'm rereading issue 100 and SEETHING#( headcanons. ) I'M JUST LIKE THE BASTARDS I'VE HATED ALL ME LIFE.
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the reason that kuai liang cannot work as scorpion is because kuai liang and scorpion are foils to each other in terms of how they handle their emotions.
scorpion is all-consuming rage, rage that blinds him and harms others for the sake of revenge- not justice. kuai liang, though well capable of feeling anger, has a hold of his anger. he can contain himself from exacting revenge because it is not what drives his character.
kuai liang’s role of scorpion makes him a very strange mash of two very opposite characters. we see scorpion’s rage unsheathe itself as he begins beating his enemies with his own chains, and even attempt to kill bi-han because he is so fueled by his own anger which blinds him to the consequences of killing his brother. kuai liang shows his character when after beating bi-han, he does not harm him further, but carries his body back to the temple. he spares his own brother as kuai liang would do, but scorpion’s character is gone as scorpion is hellbent on vengeance- meanwhile kuai liang isn’t.
we could see kuai liang work through his anger, bring himself to slowly forgive bi-han, but with that happening, where would scorpion go? we can see scorpion never forgive bi-han, instead constantly fueled by the pain that is his father’s death and brother’s betrayal, but then where would kuai liang go?
these characters cannot exist as each other, these characters are meant to exist by each other.
#we can also discuss how older hanzo in mk11 wasn’t his vengeful self and shows how scorpion could get to that point#but the thing with hanzo in mk11 is that his older self was meant to show his younger self that he is capable of being more than purely#revenge driven#like their was a reason for older hanzo and younger hanzo and older hanzo being not as antogonistic and fucking stuff up#*a narrative/story driven reason for a character we’ve known for decades#it’s just like. kuai liang cannot support the role of scorpion because that then removes how the anger in scorpion ruins himself further#into rage#and scorpion cannot support the role of kuai liang because kuai liang’s temperament clashes with what scorpion represents#kuai liang is not hellbound rage#scorpion is not self-control#anyways sorry that gif set of kuai liang and hanzo set me off#kuai liang#scorpion#mortal kombat
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"You better get some control of yourself, mijo."
"Or what? You'll use that thing on me?"
#genrex#generator rex#Had this screenshot laying around for a while decided to redraw#Never liked how Caesar was looking away....this moment is SO good though OUGH#I wish I wish they really hammed it up with this ep afterwards I understand Rex will always forgive Caesar bc he's Rex but GOD#I wish I wish I wish there was more drama. I wish more people pointed out to Rex his bro tried to mind control him#I wish we saw more of Caesar dying inside remembering the look of pain and rage on his mijo's face#Thinking what he was doing was for the greater good and knowing that any pain Rex felt in the moment was better than him being killed.#But still feeling that guilt on his shoulders.#Like we get that it happens but I wish we had SCENES of that. Of Caesar alone in his lab distraught. Remembering that look Rex gave him.#Bc from Rex's perspective he didn't just hurt Rex. He's hurting innocent people LIKE Rex.#He's acting the same as everyone else when Rex was so sure he was different.#Do you get me. Do you get me tumblr.
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The Riku-Maleficent / Beast-Xaldin parallels.......
#i didn't remember their first conversation or the one with sora. holy shit...........#''he used my anger to control me. he took all my sorrow my sadness my pain and turned it all into rage.#there was nothing i could do. i could no longer see the truth''#+ being turned against the person you love..................#''belle can see the goodness in your heart but i'm afraid you've yet to...'' + the she's too kind to speak badly of me thing. AAAARRRGGGGGG#IT KEEPS GOING ON.........#mytext#video games#char tag#riku#kingdom hearts
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sat here thinking of the ichigang playing mario party and i was like 'i should make a tierlist of how rgg characters play mario party' but wouldnt you know it my brain is huge
#snap chats#ive been watching my favorite guys play mario party while i work on comm stuff so thats why i was thinkin LMAO#i was also thinkin of one of my fave hcs wherein despite ichi being a true lover of videogames hes not super good at them#like hes GOOD but not AS good as you might think- true casual behavior he's just here for a good time#esp not after not bein able to play anything for like... two decades..#anyway maybe i should update the mario party list.... no i think im still solid on this analysis#i miss playing mario party with my sibs..#we played 4 a lot growin up and APPARENTLY 6 also but when i was Too Young To Remember#apparently i got so mad losing a minigame i accidentally pulled the controller and the gamecube off the table#and that damaged the disk enough to make it unreadable. LMAO baby rage real#ok bye i should finish at least one comm today i have a lot to catch up on#also can i remind everyone tumblr tag system still sucks cause i KNEW i made the mario party post before#but of course trying to look for it tumblr was gaslighting me into thinking it didnt exist like OK. Asshole#luckily i had the og png portraits so i just checked the file date on those and went to look for the ask#ok im gone now bye
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Having had many boredom-induced (my dad’s boredom, to be clear) long talks with my dad during long road trips now, I think the posts (that are important!!) talking about how “the adults in my life as a child weren’t paying attention to my obvious mental illness/struggles” are missing a key point of the puzzle.
Yes, sometimes it’s adults not paying attention. More likely, it’s adults who have no idea what to look for because what you have wasn’t a “thing” when they were growing up (yes it was, but strides have been made to recognize and treat mental disorders since then and past ignorance isn’t necessarily their fault but future ignorance after being told/educated about the issue sure is).
And just as likely (DAD), it’s adults who grew up with the exact same symptoms, internalized their own weirdness as a personal defect rather than a treatable disorder (keeping in mind that for so, so, so long, these were NOT treatable disorders in the modern sense and the treatment was to institutionalize them if it got “bad” enough, and frankly still is but that’s another conversation), developed their own coping mechanisms, and now think the way you struggle and see the world is how “everyone” feels and acts and you need to toughen up a little and stop blaming your “mental illness” when everyone else struggles just as hard but does just fine (spoiler alert: while everyone does struggle, it hits different when you have a mental illness and no amount of being told “it’s okay, everyone struggles like this, you gotta let it motivate you, not paralyze you” will ever lead you to think anything other than “then wtf is so wrong with me that I CAN’T, i just CAN’T????” without better support and treatment if necessary).
#quilly has issues#like a dad with raging adhd who resents being told he has it#and doesn’t know what to do with the information anyway bc he’s made it this far on his own so might as well keep going#meanwhile I’m recontextualizing the anger that traumatized me as a child as overstimulation and depression and anxiety#just to get to the point where I can beat it into my own thick skull that it wasn’t my fault or anything either of us could help#especially not me the child at the time#sigh. just wish dad would also blame himself less for things he couldn’t control on a very real cosmic level too#and get some better coping mechanisms
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