i have a little brother who is 12 years younger than me, and when he first came into the family (he's adopted) I used to take him with me everywhere because he was adorable and I loved looking after him (and sometimes forces to take him with me when I went out). And people used to think he was my kid when I went to the shops or the park.

It STILL happens sometimes!!

and I'm now just imagining this happening with Dick and Jason, or Dick and Damian.

Omg there was this one time where I was hanging out with a group of my friends and my baby brother wanted to come with me, so I brought him along. And we're at the shops and he wants donuts so he's looking at all the options through the glass and this lady behind us taps me on the shoulder and goes

"is that your son deary?"

And I'm like "no, no he's not mine he's-"

And before I can finish she turns to my other friend like "is that your little boy?"

And she laughs and goes "oh god no"

And then my little brother smacks one of the guys in the leg and goes "I want that one! I want the T-Rex with the red sprinkles!"

And so he says "lol okay, can I get the red T-Rex for the little man please?"

And the old lady just frowns and goes. "Is he the father?"

And my other friend is trying SO HARD not to laugh, and the old lady is looking at him suspiciously like she's gonna ask him next, as I go "none of us are the father, that's my little brother, I'm looking after him"

And this lady is like "oh I knew I saw some resemblance there, good on you" and I'm trying so hard not to disappoint her by saying that we do not in fact share any genetics and we're only related through law.

And she's saying "you should probably get you mother to teach him how to tie his shoe laces, I'm so worried he's going to trip over them and hurt himself" and now my other friend who was already laughing is basically on the floor in tears like

"don't worry ma'am I'll tie them, we won't let him get hurt"

And I can't help but picture this as Dick and the other titans. It would be so fucking funny. Like I'm just imagining Dick and Kory being asked if this kid is theirs, and then they asks Donna and she's like 'oh Hera no'. And then Roy is the one ordering the donut and Wally is the one laughing so hard he's in tears.

Oh God I desperately need someone to draw this. It'd be so funny to show my friends like, this is what our shenanigans did. It's DC fanart now😭

Or maybe I'll write a fic with the same premise, don't count on it.

Did you forget he got buried in a tomb because he tried to do the right thing? Or is your brain that full of A!A cock? also the bg is scrapped stuff

Astarion is neutral evil. You could make a strong argument that his alignment changes after his Act 3 quest if he stays a spawn, but for the majority of the game he is very obviously neutral evil. And there's nothing wrong with liking a neutral evil character. There's also no law that says an evil aligned character can't do something right every once and a while, just like there's no law that says a good aligned character can't do something wrong every once and a while.

Regarding "also the bg is scrapped stuff" - if you're alluding to him being a corrupt magistrate... are we supposed to believe the Gur in his backstory attacked him for no good reason, then? Despite him saying it was because "they didn't like a ruling he gave"?

Finally, just because I had my character romance Astarion doesn't mean I, a real person, even find his design that attractive. (I don't tbh.) Like, I'm on the ace spectrum for fuck sake, I don't even think about sex at all except with mild curiosity or as an element in a fictional story. But if someone out there does actually think Ascended!Astarion is sexually interesting, who gives a shit? Mind your business.

reblog for a bigger sample size if you feel like it

why are people so obsessed with comparing alicent motherhood to rhaenyra's?

their situations are so different. alicent had no support system, the only parental role model she had was otto. she was maritally raped and forced to have children at 15 with an abusive neglectful partner and no support system to help and guide her. (because yes, a 15yo teenager is still a child and needs help and guidance to deal with a baby)

while rhaenyra's mother also died, and viserys is also a shit role model, rhaenyra had children when she was older with a man she loved \ cared about. she chose to have kids with harwin. also, laenor was also a kind man and seemed to support her and the children.

alicent and rhaenyra both loved their kids and did the best they could. alicent is def struggling with her motherhood, but the way this fandom shows her no compassion and labels her as a "bad mom" while forgiving viserys's horrible treatment of his children is so disappointing to see.

people don't realize that "you're not as good of as mother as this other woman" is constantly weaponized and used to oppress women. and it's never "you're not as good of a dad as this other man". never.

It comes down to this: all interpretations of a text are technically valid, but some interpretations say more about the interpreter than they ever can about the text.

Y'ALL CAN EXCUSE RACISM?

Let's get one thing straight: I have no part in this chaotic mess (infact, I have blocked all the accounts mentioned below), but it's grinding my gears how it's devolving into another petty fanfic drama: case 607. I know this drama is getting the attention for certain individuals who are demonstrating mean girl behaviour and gossiping about other writers behind their backs. However, I am solely focused on addressing the racist and discriminatory remarks made by these individuals in the leaked text messages.

For those not in the loop, there's been a huge drama in the fanfic community involving leaked text messages from a group chat of four prominent members. In these messages, two users - Fae and Bel - have admitted to sending hate anons and talking smack about other writers behind their backs. Two other members left the group after it was revealed that B tried to make amends with someone who these two, Em and Ange, don't particularly care for. As a move to clear their names, Em exposed all the texts, trying to prove that Fae and Bel are the real villains here.

But wait, there's more! In these same chats, Bel not only mocked fellow non-English speakers but also bragged about sending rat emojis to an 18-year-old Pakistani writer who was already receiving racist anons. While everyone is focused on getting back at these two women for being shady af, it's mind-boggling how Em and Ange are suddenly jumping on the anti-racism train.

These two ladies stayed in the same chat as a fellow Pakistani writer was driven away because of racism, knowing full well that one of their own was contributing to it, and said NOTHING! Zero discouragement, no condemnation - they only hopped off when things got personal.

So here it is… I've had it with all of you hypocrites. You praise and encourage these women at every turn, feeding their egos like they're the second coming of Beyonce. But let's not forget who's always stirring up drama in this fandom - hint: it's these same people with a sense of entitlement the size of a planet. The issue is groupthink and y'all have all jumped on the bandwagon. You're worse than HBO's marketing department because just like their shitty teams, everyone involved here SUCKS ASS. You don't have to pick a side because they are all petty, mean losers. Bel and Fae are facing the consequences of their actions, which they rightfully deserve.

However, Em's exposé on Bel's racism seems more like an opportunistic move and it's disappointing that so many of you are supporting it. It's a predictable cycle now; there will be a half-hearted apology, an announcement of a hiatus, and then tons of people will flock to their inboxes to shower them with praise and excuses. It's ridiculous! I know there are many who feel the same way as me but are afraid to speak up because they don't want to upset the "village elders" and risk losing their connections and engagements. It's a joke atp!

Instead of taking responsibility for their own wrongdoings, they will come up with a list of 10 different cyber crimes by others to divert attention from their own nonsense. These very same women have confessed to creating multiple fake accounts, secretly stalking servers without mods noticing, and constantly harassing individuals through anon messages.

Yet, we are supposed to consider them as examples of moral integrity and ethical behavior? 😒

The annoying thing about “ugh why can’t we have more irredeemable and unsympathetic villains, all villains get redeemed or are sympathetic these days” discourse is…most stories that have redeemed or sympathetic villains also have at least one irredeemable villain with 0 sympathetic qualities. Name a redeemed villain and I can often also name another villain from the same story as them who doesn’t get redeemed. For every Darth Vader there’s a Palpatine. You say “not all villains can be Zukos some of them should be Ozais” but miss who the obvious Ozais already are in favor of calling for the Zukos to also be Ozais.

Every time Rickon future is mentioned, there's someone that seems to be so sure that he'll return like this cartoonish savage, a wild child that bites at random. In short, someone who will not be able to integrate into civil society (where have I heard this before?).

But why? Simply because he was raised by wildlings? We met the wildlings, we met Osha, she is not a madwoman who cannot control herself... She simply has different values from those of the kneelers, but she is perfectly capable of functioning in Winterfell and interacting with people.

And in my opinion Shaggydog's influence is not a sufficient explanation for this characterization. In fact, I think that Rickon, living with people who know what a warg is, has a good chance of receiving an education about it and learning to control this power.

I'm sure he can survive in his role even without knowing etiquette by heart.

Mistranslations that aren't, part 2

Part 1 here. I didn't catch all the misinformation in this thread the first time, so I'm back for a second round.

つまり、オマエラには帰る場所なんてもうないんだ。In short, there's no place for you bastards (omaera) to return to. だから外に出ても無意味なんだよ。So there's no point in going outside.

Omaera, the plural form of omae, is a very crude way to address someone. It's the same word Monokuma uses that has been consistently translated as "you bastards" throughout the series. Kokichi normally uses the more polite kimi, the plural form being kimitachi, so him suddenly switching to omaera is an indication of how he's aligning himself with Monokuma and the mastermind at this point in the story. Translating it as "you bastards" is more than appropriate, is what I'm saying.

王馬くん･･･これって単純に、Ouma-kun... this means he's simply 僕で遊んでるだけ･･･ だよな? playing with me... right?

So, I finally found the line I think the OP was referring to. The reason I couldn't find it before? Because their "translation" is so incredibly off that it went straight over my head. 単純 carries the meanings pure, simple, straightforward, but here, 単純に is like the English purely. You use に for adjectives the same reason you use -ly in English. They mistook Shuichi's junsuini, meaning purely or simply, as him calling Kokichi himself pure. The context for this, by the way, is Shuichi wondering whether Kokichi is serious about killing him.

にしし、 それはね... Nishishi, well... 親を殺して組織を乗っ取ったんだ。I took over the organization by killing my parents.

大丈夫、嘘に決まってるじゃん。Don't worry, I'm lying of course.

殺したのは兄貴だよ! The one I killed was my older brother!

I... don't even know how to explain this one since it's so straightforward. 殺したのは = one that was killed, followed immediately by 兄貴 = older brother. There's no mention of parents in this last sentence. Maybe because Kokichi doesn't explicitly but rather implicitly refer to himself they got confused? I honestly don't know. It's also in response to Shuichi asking how he took over his organization, so Kokichi's response to that being "my brother killed my parents!" does not connect.

And I find it extremely weird for ppl to keep calling only kakashi "a state dog" just for being a Shinobi when there are hundreds of other Shinobis exist!!! Why don't I see anyone saying the same absurd bs about Gai? Yamato? Asuma? Kurenai? Tsunade? Minato? Anko? Iruka? Naruto himself? All the literal other Shinobis in literally all the other hidden villages, but yeah let's keep calling Kakashi, the one Shinobi that disobeyed his superior's orders over and over again because he believed they were wrong THAT, the only Shinobi who refused to pass children who weren't ready as Ninjas to go die in missions and defied the Hokage for years about it not caring about being hated for it by anyone, when the first lesson he ever taught to his students was "Do not blindly obey the rules" and only passed them when they disobeyed him and chose what they believe is right over his orders, Kakashi, the only Hokage who did actual good changes to the village and the ninja world, like the "No kill policy", like cleaning the system from ROOT even tho that gained him so many enemies and like the exchange system he built between the Shinobi nations and more... Calling Kakashi "a state dog" simply wipes his entire character and personality and all the good he has done to paint him into a picture that doesn't even remotely represent him or who he is!!!

"how can you still like byler because of (blah blah blah)" oh man it must be so difficult not being able to separate a character and their actor

People like this should ask themselves what authority they have over someone's life to speak with such self importance and if the person they're addressing knows them or values their opinion. The answers to all the above is a resounding NO. Leave actors the hell alone.

I've come to the conclusion that being assigned the fandom-mandated "sunshine character" is the worst possible fate a character could face

I am going to say this as gracefully as possible.

There are new people in this fandom everyday, people who have never experienced fandom before, and are not aware of the courtesies surrounding fan-created work. Creative overlap totally happens within these spaces, and I have a lot of grace with those boundaries. I do believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt, particularly when they lack experience. That being said:

- Borrowing strangely specific developmental plot elements unique to a story to build your own without permission is stealing.

- Taking a sentence or metaphor from a fic and marginally warping it to pass as your own is also not ok and the original author can almost always identify it.

I could go on, or be less kind, or share screenshots, but I'm not going to (at this time). The effort I've put into the Darkgarden is immeasurable. I have dedicated 13 months and close to 1000 hours crafting this story via literal tears and 4am sessions. My voice as a writer is, well, strange- and quite distinct. This is a VERY popular story within a relatively small fandom community. If someone borrows original elements from it, it is going to be brought to my attention.

A couple of close ACOTAR writer friends have also experienced plagiarism over the last few months and it really just isn't ok, no matter the degree.

I can't explain what it feels like to see ideas + expressions I've toiled over being blatantly taken and used elsewhere. The feeling is completely arresting, gut-wrenching, and quite frankly, hurts me.

I find peace at night knowing that I crafted this story raw from my heart. It reflects in the writing.

Can you say the same?

Have a great weekend.

"but rhaenyra's line survived !!!!! she won!!!!!"

i don't.... care.

no fr, who gives a shit? if y'all think that rhaenyra's deeply traumatized son inheriting the throne as Aegon iii (meaning : there was an aegon ii), having a miserable life and dying in his 30's is this great big win for the blacks... then ok, they won i guess. rhaenyra & daemon died. most of rhaenyra's children died. the entire green bloodline died (and no, it's really not the win y'all think it is. it's sad and tragic). all of aegon ii young innocent children died. almost all of the targs dragons were killed, and the dynasty never recovered. yes, f&b is about misogyny, but it's also about the pointlessness of war. it's about a family with too much power that can't help but destroy each other - they literally have a dragon named cannibal who feeds off other dragons and can't be tamed - AND Y'ALL STILL DON'T GET IT???? like come on, it's not even subtle. this idea that a war can be honorable or rightful goes against the entire point of asoiaf. and the thing is, the targs literally go on to have another bloody succession war a couple of decades later because that's who they are!!! there is no lesson to be learned. there is no happy ending.

This debate has reached peak annoyance. Like seriously, WTF? Rhaenyra's entire story revolves around her struggle against the oppressive patriarchy and navigating her own femininity within its confines. Even Emma themselves have pointed this out - but nope, you guys just want to stick with your narrow interpretations of the text. Rhaenyra was named heir, but even then she faced different expectations and challenges because of her gender. It's only natural that she grapples with it throughout the narrative.

It's so funny how Emma and Olivia's insights on their characters are often met with eye-rolls in this fandom - and yet, when the show continues to explore these same themes, you all go back to whining like toddlers in a candy store. Both Rhaenyra and Alicent's gender is at the forefront during the dance as they navigate a world run by men who can't seem to stop warring with each other.

The show may not be perfect, but at least these writers are trying to bring something fresh to the table instead of rehashing the tired, misogynistic showdown between an evil stepmother and a perfect valiant princess.