#it's the greyed out morality for me dude | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bits-and-babs · 1 year

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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐖𝐀𝐑 || 𝐉𝐎𝐄𝐋 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑 𝐗 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑

summary: When Ellie is taken by David, Joel breaks open the part of him locked away since his hunter days. As the guilt eats him alive, you try to help him subdue the black dogs of mental warfare.

word count: 4.1k

warnings: Very 18+. It’s giving morally-grey Joel. Depiction of gore, violence, mentions of cannibalism, mentions of David that is a warning in itself. Very vague insinuation of SA as shown in the game. Discontent for Christianity (don’t like, don’t read my dude). Angst, guilt. Hurt-comfort. P in v sex, unprotected sex.

authors note: This got so dark it actually caught me off guard! I am so incredibly proud of this piece. I started it 5 whole weeks ago, and spent up until the night of posting (March 5th) editing and retouching. I hope it does Winter, my favourite part of the game, proud.

tease: “I jus’ need to be close to you.”

Continuous dripping sounds from the radiator, drip, drip, drip. Globs of blood seep down the grooves of the heater, falling when the droplets reach the edge and settling in a pool of coagulated gore. A headless body leans left, slumping against the metal the handcuffs chain it to. What’s left of its skull plasters the walls, the ceiling, and the steel pipe discarded in its lap.

Another lifeless body lays strewn sideways, the chair it’s tied to thrown haphazardly across the floor. Its neck is angled awkwardly; its eyes rolled back so only the whites show.

When you manage to tear your eyes away from the carnage, you can still hear the panicked shouts of the captives before Joel slaughtered them, rattling inside the cavern of your skull. Joel’s callous answer rings in your ears.

“Fuck you, man. He told you what you wanted. I ain't telling you shit!”

“That’s alright. I believe him.”

Snowflakes stick to the window of the home Joel had appropriated as a slaughterhouse, the wooden planks weathered and falling apart after years of neglect. The cold creeps in through the holes in the ceiling and the gaps in the wood, but you find yourself doubting the chill responsible for the goosebumps littering your arms.

Inhaling slowly, you will yourself to speak, but the words die in your throat before they even form on your lips, melting away on your tongue. Your pleas for reason would fall on deaf ears, and you know it—Joel’s far beyond reasoning with.

He’s pacing up and down the room, the floorboards creaking under the weight of his boots as he studies the map gripped between his imbrued knuckles. It’s unlike him, you note, to be so rattled. In the years you’ve known Joel, his steadfast resolution had been comforting, a certain. Not now. The men he’d butchered had mentioned details you could only describe as buzzwords that had Joel’s survivor alarm bells ringing.

David’s newest pet. The Town. Cannibals.

Heaving breaths he expels from his lungs vaporise in the air, still catching his breath from pummelling radiator-man’s brains out. If you couldn’t hear the wheezing in his chest from his laboured respiration, you could damn well see it.

Stepping forward, you wince when the floorboard beneath you creaks. “Joel—“

“They got Ellie, Darlin’,” your partner leaps into an eerily calm rundown of the dire situation despite you having been in the room for the entire interrogation. “They got Ellie, an’ they’re gonna kill her.”

Nodding slowly, you reach across the small distance between you to hold onto Joel’s bicep. Blood splatters the fabric of his brown winter coat, and you can feel his body heat radiating beneath the layers of cloth as his body fights infection. The gaping wounds in his back and stomach from the protruding rebar he was impaled on, thanks to a scuffle with a looter at the university, have stopped weeping puss. However, Joel was still largely incapacitated by the pain — despite the feral display of resilience against these two bandits.

“I know—” you try to ease him, but Joel’s buzzing with adrenaline.

“I gotta go get her; you can’t stop me doin’ this, Darlin’ I have’ta-“

“I know,” you speak firmly, and Joel stops dead in his tracks, clearly not having expected you to green-light his suicide mission, “I know I can’t stop you, which is why I insist upon going with you.”

You expect Joel to make a scene, to lose his temper and tell you that you weren't going anywhere, that it was far too dangerous and losing either of you would crush him. You know about Tess; Ellie told you everything when you joined them in Pittsburgh. She detailed Joel's heartache, despite his desperate attempts to appear indifferent. It's times like these that you can't blame him for being overprotective, knowing he had lost so much.

However, your expectations are not met. Joel looks at you, the whites of his eyes tinted red, and the skin beneath shadowed dark with exhaustion. He nods slowly, evidently realising he cannot compete with an army of cannibal bandits single-handedly with the state he’s in. He surrenders.

Wordlessly, Joel grabs your backpack and begins to sift through the items within. Apparently, he decides you don't have enough ammo, sacrificing his El Diablo pistol and offering it to you.

You accept it without fuss, knowing damn well that leaving with him is out of his comfort zone. Making a scene would make him change his mind.

It doesn't take long for Joel to spread out your limited supplies. Within five minutes, he's lifting his heavy backpack onto his shoulders with an agonised groan. You move out silently, Joel holding the door open for you as you step out into the blizzard.

You hear the frozen grass and layers of snow crunch beneath the rubber soles of Joel’s boots. You set your whole life to the pace of each of his steps, a monotonous metronome. Sometimes, on hot days in the summer, you can smell the rubber melting on the tarmac if you stand still for too long.

It’s bizarre, especially as he guides you into a death trap with an unknown sum of threats, but you find yourself thinking you’d be happy for him to lead you anywhere.

-✩-

Snowflakes cling to your eyelashes, eyes weeping from the cold and freezing the coarse hairs together. It's so cold that you’re convinced that the tears that develop as a result of the stinging cold freeze before they can drip down your cheeks.

Even without the natural eyelash glue, it's hard to see Joel ahead of you in the chaos of the bandit’s town. The blizzard has intensified, casting a light grey fuzzy haze over what you can see— or rather, what you can't. You're not even sure that the shadowy figure in front of you is Joel, but you're too afraid to ask in case a stranger turns around and shoots you in the stomach.

When you and Joel arrived, it was pandemonium already, armed bandits practically running into you as they attempted to reach their battle stations. The whistling of the wind muffles gunshots, and the bell from the church tower rings deafeningly loud across the snow plains in warning. What exactly had happened, you are unsure, but what you do know is that the cracking of the bronze bell will draw in runners from miles away.

You had to find Ellie. Quickly.

"You all right?" Joel calls out above the din, his Texan accent a welcome relief. It takes you a second to find your voice, the cold having momentarily stolen it.

"Yeah!" You shout back, trembling fingers grasping tightly to your gun.

There is a roaring sound on the wind, rising in volume as you continue to trudge blindly through the snow. The gunshots are more frequent now, yet still too far away to be a threat to you. You wonder if Ellie is raising hell or if the infected have already arrived. Neither scenario was good.

An orange glow peers through the blanket of falling snow that distorts your vision. You'd noticed the flaming barrels as you wandered through the town, but this was different. It was huge. The closer you got to it, the clearer the sound met your ears. It was crackling, wood-burning and billowing acrid black smoke.

Joel whistles, the pitchy sound catching your attention over the deafening thunder of the fire. You can't see his expression, but you can vaguely make out his silhouette pointing toward the building swallowed by flames. You were going in.

One step forward and the blaze is singeing your freezing skin, burning the peach fuzz on your face. You swear you can smell your eyebrows smoking, the flames so strong that you're almost scared to step into the building.

Despite your concerns for the integrity of the structure, Joel is quick to pursue the only lead he has to Ellie. He feels blindly all along the entrance, hissing as his palms come into contact with red-hot glass panes. It's a wooden door inset by small rectangular windows. The frame is deep brown and littered with orange, glowing embers embedded within the grain. You're scared, and open your mouth to dissuade Joel from doing anything rash. He doesn't give you the opportunity.

His shoulder slams into the weakened, charred door without hesitation, the windows falling from their frames and shattering on the wooden floor. The blazing heat inside the building wafts over you, causing sweat to bead at your brow.

Desperate, Joel pushes through and stumbles into the building, which you now discover is a diner. The smoke burns your lungs, and your eyes sting so much that you're almost blinded by the tears prickling your waterline. The dark grey clouds are so thick that you're suffocating, unable to take in any oxygen. Had it not been for the noises piercing through the terrifying roar of the fire, you would have aborted the entrance in fear of asphyxiation.

High-pitched grunts of exertion and the sound of metal slamming into wood catch Joel's attention. He looks up, alarmed by the noise and yet scrambles towards it despite the danger.

"Ellie!" Joel shouts out, running on adrenaline as he rushes forward. You let out a sob of relief, knowing that Joel has eyes on her, but the consolation doesn't last long.

When you catch sight of her, you find Ellie in a blind rage. Her bloodied hands hold onto a machete handle with a white-knuckled grip, raising the weapon above her head and bringing it down into the mess of the fractured skull and smashed brains of the body below her. Blood sprays across her face with the sheer force with which she plunges the blade into the meaty mess, tears of fury leaving tracks in the crimson on her cheeks.

"Stop! Stop," Joel wraps his forearms around Ellie’s chest, dragging her away from the mutilated body to a chorus of devastatingly broken ‘no's’. Ellie screams, fighting Joel’s grip and clawing at his arms in an attempt to free herself.

"Don't fucking touch me!" She sobs as Joel hushes her, wrapping his arms around her body and holding her to his chest in a desperate attempt to prove to Ellie that she is safe. He sets her in front of him, forcing the broken young girl to look at him and recognise him.

"It's me," he speaks firmly, trying to access the rational part of her brain as he holds her still, his palms settling on her bloodied cheeks and inevitably smearing the ruddy liquid across her skin. "Look, look. It’s me."

Her tearful gaze settles on Joel, still in a panic as she searches his face. It takes her a moment, but relief swallows her expression and she practically falls into Joel's embrace.

“Oh,” she sobs out, eyes falling to the blood-streaked floor as the shock kicks in, “He tried to-“

“Oh, Baby Girl…” He murmurs brokenly, clinging to her as though he feared the world would snatch her from him again if he didn’t hold her in a vice-like grip. “It’s okay. It’s okay….”

“Joel…” Ellie sobs, burying her face into his chest and soaking his already bloodied clothes with yet more gore and tears. Joel presses his head to hers, repeatedly murmuring that it was okay, that he had her.

As Joel speaks to Ellie, you allow them this delicate moment of solitude. Of course, you were part of this family, but the bond Ellie and Joel shared far outweighed anything you could offer. A found father-daughter relationship that filled the holes in each other's hearts. It wasn’t your place to intrude.

Casting your teary eyes to the ceiling, you catch sight of a rudimentary hanging sign made from a white mattress topper. Scrawled upon it in mostly black paint, the lettering bulky, and only one word is written in scarlet.

“WHEN WE ARE IN NEED, HE SHALL PROVIDE!”

Bile rises in your throat as you take in the quote reminiscent of bible scripture. It turns your stomach, knowing what this man would have done, what the town no doubt did do to others, all while justifying it with thinly veiled Jesus worship.

It was an odd realisation, one that left you feeling quite numb as Joel helped Ellie from her knees. The comprehension that for the past 20 years, humanity had been coming together to fight the Cordyceps virus in the hope of removing the scourge and returning to normal life. Instead, the happenings in the diner, in this town, proved that the Cordyceps virus had little impact on the real plight.

That humans, people, are the true sickness.

-✩-

You are fearful at first that Ellie wouldn't be able to sleep after the trauma of her ordeal. She had, at first, been delicate on the journey back to the cabin that Joel had been recuperating in since his accident. Exhibiting signs of shellshock, she refused to elaborate on anything she had seen or heard during her captivity, and both you and Joel decided it best to leave her to unpick her thoughts in her own time.

The brass bells in the cannibal town had drawn the attention of a ginormous pack of runners, and you were scared that Ellie would be unable to find it in her to fight for her life.

However, as Ellie often did, she proved you wrong. Perhaps that is why she retreated to a dream world the moment her head touched the pillow. The sound of her steady breathing is the only noise permeating the silence that had settled in the cabin basement.

Joel retreats into the shadows when Ellie finds sleep. Leaning his back against the rough brick wall, he groans in agony as he sinks into a half-comfortable position. You watch him settle, eyebrows pinching together as you witness him fall back into the blackest corners of his mind.

You hesitate. You've only ever seen Joel like this once, distraught by the deaths of Henry and Sam after barely reaching freedom beyond the Pittsburgh Bridge. He had withdrawn into himself for weeks, the guilt eating him alive despite not belonging to any of you.

The black dog of mental warfare was a friend you knew Joel had come to know well. Before Sam and Henry, there was Tess, his hunter days, and of course, Sarah. Each time, the darkness would require him to carry a heavy burden of culpability despite his lack of fault.

"I'm glad," Joel's gruff voice cuts through the silence. He sounds broken, battling an insidious infection that you can't see. Similar to the Cordyceps virus, it encroaches on his mind, turning it against him. “I'm glad she killed him."

Again, you withhold your innermost thoughts as Joel battles to admit his feelings. He looks up at you, resting against the opposite wall. His expression is cold, but his eyes reflect a tragic pain within him.

“I’m relieved she killed him. Because I dunno what I would’a done.”

The black dog has returned, settled at Joel’s feet, and with it the guilt lands in his lap.

"Joel," you whisper, rising to your feet and approaching your crestfallen partner with delicate steps, "It’s not your fault."

Shaking his head Joel refuses to acknowledge your exoneration, beginning to launch into a tirade of self-hatred. "No. No, if I'd‘ve-"

You interrupt him, a firmness quite unlike you seeping into each syllable. "It's not your fault."

This time it appears to strike home, Joel slowly nodding his head in acceptance as you sink to the floor with him, resting your head on his shoulder as you settle beside him for warmth. The following silence isn't as emotionally charged. Joel appears to find comfort in your embrace. The black dog slinks out of the room through the crack in the open door.

You gently press kisses to the soft expanse of skin peeking from underneath Joel’s collar. It's a comfort, one that you regularly award Joel before sleep. He tilts his head in the opposite direction, offering you further access to the skin layering his jugular.

Without question, you continue to pepper his skin with endearment. He wasn't one to regularly ask for it, so you took this as a sign that Joel required some tenderness right now.

"’m sorry," he mumbles, embarrassed by his needy behaviour, “'m just-“

"You don't have to explain anything," you whisper, the curve of your lips dragging against his pulse point as you speak to him. He hums deep and low, eyes slipping shut as you continue your ministrations.

Achingly slowly, you drag lips across his jugular, pressing kisses to spots on his neck that you know are reactive. The soft valley behind his ear, the curve of his jaw, the junction between his neck and his shoulder. They all receive your affection, and you begin to hear Joel's breathing labour ever so slightly.

Joel’s infectious fever bleeds into something akin to fervour, his ribcage rising and falling with heavier, unsteadier breaths. His eyelids flutter closed, the searing, sour pain blending with the pleasure that sparks in him when your lips brush over his pulse point.

“Darlin’-“ He whispers, and it’s utterly broken. Pitchy and cracking in his throat when your fingertips work at his shirt buttons to expose more of his clavicle. His hands are settling on your hips as you swing your thigh over his lap slowly, thumb pads sweeping over your hip bones in delicate patterns.

“What is it you need from me, Joel?” You murmur softly, nose nudging at the bottom of his throat, at the v where his collar bones meet.

“F-Fuck,” he chokes, eyes cast skyward as he attempts to piece the broken pieces of his mind back together and find an answer. “I jus’ need to be close to you.”

He thought he’d lost Ellie. Thought he’d find her strung up with pieces of her flesh scattered about an unsanitary butcher's room. No doubt his mind was spinning with all the possibilities. What if you’d been shot trying to get her back?

Joel needed to be confident you were alive. Needed to feel your pulse thrumming against his palm.

“I can do that,” you promise him gently. You never pledged anything to Joel; nothing was certain. However, right now, you could offer your word. Could swear to ease his trepidation.

“I’m here.” Your words are spoken with conviction, his head nodding slightly as you take his wrist in your hand. “You can feel it. Come here.”

Delicately, you lay his bloodied, trembling hand across your chest. He lets out a quivering breath through his nose when he feels the thump of your heart against the lifeline of his palm.

Your free hand settles on the brass button holding his jeans together, popping it open and exposing the trail of dark, greying hairs that trail down his naval. His eyes flicker to your own, chapped lips parting slightly as you pinch the zipper and drag it down with a quiet ‘zzzp’.

The thud against his palm picks up the momentum as you feel him harden beneath the denim of your jeans, and you catch his lips pull up. A short, single scoff of disbelief- relief- as you gently work the jeans down and over his hips.

“Does this old man really do it for you that much?” He whispers, his fingerprints teasing the stitches of your collar. Your flannel is worn, threadbare and velvet soft, and your skin is burning hot beneath. “Even greyin’ and broken like I am?”

“Joel,” you whisper, pressing a delicate, lengthy kiss to his forehead, between his eyebrows. Fumbling with your cargo pants, you have them over your ass in no time, dragging your panties along with them. “You are the only man alive that makes me feel this way.” Your lips brush against the creases on his brow; frown lines etched deep into his skin after years of misery.

“Mhm,” his rich, oak eyes drag down your form as he watches you undress and expose your soaked cunt, thighs glistening wet in the low lighting. “That ain’t hard when most of the population died out.”

“Joel,” you repeat with a less-tempered tone, nose nudging at his hairline as you wrap your fingers around his length. He grunts quietly, careful to smother any loud noises to avoid drawing Ellie’s attention. “There wasn’t anyone before outbreak day, either.”

“Not even that actor-… What was his name, George Cloo-oh fuck,” his stupid joke dies on the tip of his tongue when you slowly sink down onto the head of his cock, walls fluttering around the stretch of him. His voice is hoarse, whisper breaking into silence as he slowly pushes the crown of his head into the terracotta brick walls.

“No,” you chuckle softly, watching him struggle for logical thought as you take more of him, and slip him further in. “No, not even him.”

Joel grunts, digging his teeth into his lower lip as you take him to the hilt. He nudges your cervix in this position, the sensation almost like a mild bruise, but you love it. Love that it will match the hickeys he leaves on your shoulders- marking you inside and out. Claiming you as his, Death and His black dog be damned.

“Oh C-Christ,” he lilts, and it sounds like a whimper as you squeeze around him, “I can feel it. Can feel your pulse-“

“See? I told you I’m alive,” You muse, wrapping your fingers around his wrist as you slowly begin to grind your hips forward in a circle. Joel just nods dumbly, his previously pale cheeks flushed slightly.

No bouncing, no thrusts. Joel is too fragile, his immune system fighting a nuclear war inside of him as his white blood cells try to secure the perimeter of the wound in his abdomen. You focus on rolling your hips instead, slowly inching off his cock and sinking back down onto his velvety length.

“Hoh- uhng, fuck-“ his illegible groans make your heart batter his meta-carpel bones, compelling him to acknowledge your vital signs and their optimal function.

He’s twitching inside you, the slow rise and fall of your hips forcing him to feel you stretch around each ridge and pulsing vein of his cock. Joel looks like he could break down, the sensation of his building orgasm such an overwhelming sensation in his already exhausted body.

Pushing your fingers through his soft curls, you clasp the back of his skull and lean forward to hold his face to your chest. He can hear it loud and clear now, the shell of his ear cupping the cavity of your chest where your heart batters against his cheekbone. His arms wrap around your waist, squeezing you as tight as his septic-fatigued muscles can hold you.

It doesn’t take much for you to work yourself into your own fever. Joel’s cock always manages to find that spark inside you, nudging it and coaxing your orgasm to bloom between your thighs.

“M’gonna cum,” he rasps against your chest, his hot breath fanning across your skin. Joel’s pressing sloppy, clumsy kisses there, exhaling heavily with each roll of your hips.

“Mhmm-“ you muffle your cry by biting your knuckles, focusing on the clench of your walls and the buzz of your orgasm surging up through you. It’s like a whirlpool, pulling you under and drowning you in the wave of bliss that overtakes you.

Joel’s follows almost immediately after, his whole body tending despite the pain as it pulses through him, his cum painting your insides. His hips stutter, burying deep within you and letting out a ragged breath of relief that edges into a moan of your name.

Passing carbon dioxide between you, your foreheads press together as your breath fans over each other's faces. His eyelashes flutter with exhaustion, and you can feel them tickle the peak of your cheekbones. It’s so tender, so unlike Joel.

“I won’t let him take you.” His voice is so quiet the words almost don’t form, just barely leaving his throat in a sigh. His hand, not having left its rooted spot above your left breast, slowly inches towards your throat. You feel his index finger prod at your pulse, sealing his conviction that you are safe.

In honesty, you’re unsure who he means. Death, probably. David is long gone, but Joel’s fever is tipping him closer to delirium than reality.

One thing was for certain; you had managed to stave off the Black Dog for now. It lay at the doorway, stuck beyond the threshold it was forbidden to pass over, waiting until Joel allowed it back inside.

END

@hoeneey @howaboutcastiel @welcometostayingawake @syrma-sensei @ethanhoewke @foxilayde @bookfrog242 @wh0reforbucknasty @zakizigekwe @ahookedheroespureheart @buckys-other-punk @anxious-sappho @alexloveskili @captainrexstan @knights-power @southcrnbelle @niallsbunny @hold-our-destiny @vermillionwinter @stormkobra-5 @erenbissexual @alwritey-aphrodite @maggotzombie @deadpige0n @bakerstreethound @whatthehekko @cottagebunny9 @bit-dodgy-innit @peachyproserpina @pedrosprincess @inklore

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antimony-medusa · 5 months

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on Consequences in minecraft streaming

Okay so one of the real common things that I've been seeing lately is an increasingly passionate call for certain characters to experience Consequences (and the rest of the post always makes it clear that they mean a specific type of definatively negative repercussions) for their actions during QSMP events. And aside from the absolute deja vu of having seen these same calls when DSMP was airing, and how that turned out (sorry, the syndicate did not all have a meeting where they apologized for their sins while tommy told them they were horrible people), I'm not 100% sure if that's going to happen or pan out in the exact way that I think people are aiming for and expecting will happen.

I keep seeing a lot of people saying that it would be bad writing if people don't get "consequences" for their actions, and what they're specifically asking for is punishment and for people to realize what they're doing was wrong. BBH is supposed to repent for furniture thefts and torturing the people keeping him from his kid. Phil is supposed to realize that actually he's good at PVP and apologize for saying that his team has been suffering in purgatory. Tubbo is supposed to fill in his tubhole and only do things other people ask him to do.

But like, so much of the time, what we're seeing is these streamers being interested in writing morally grey characters, just some little guys who make bad decisions, and the thing about characters being morally grey is that they don't always have a come to jesus moment and become morally pure. Sometimes they just keep being morally grey. Sometimes they get worse on purpose.

Maybe BBH never decides that torturing that guy was bad, because he wanted to get his FUCKING KID back. Like, I seriously think you have to be prepared for that character arc to never end in Bad going "that was wrong to do", and maybe his cubito will still be happy. Phil is a dude with anxiety who's been sure that his kids are going to die from the moment he got to purgatory, streaming at 1-4 in the morning while other teams break into their base, even if bolas goes insane and scrapes out a win I think it's way more likely that that team is gonna go "what a wild fluke that's the power of gas masks" and not have a moment where they go "it was unfair of us to assume that we were underpowered, I guess everybody else was the underdogs! Our bad." Tubbo is tubbo, he's already building a new create thing, he is not going to apologize for leaving marks on the landscape with mod packs.

Like, the streamers are interested in making human characters, making interesting decisions, not communicating moral lessons to their fanbases. Bad is operating within a Taken film, not a sermon. Quackity wants his cubito to be pathetic, gay, and out for revenge, not to communicate the importance of forgiveness to those who hurt you. Tubbo's victory condition is having a nice date with Fred, full stop, does not care who he has to run over to get there.

Absolutely I think there are people intentionally doing corruption/villany arcs on the server, and they probably intend for that to lead places. There will be Consequences, as in, things will happen. Cellbit is doing cannibalsm on purpose, and not as a teaching moment about how good cannibalism is for your social bonds. But like, maybe that leads to him being thrown out of his family and not trusted because of his sins, OR maybe it leads to him murdering his way through a federation complex, facing down a bloody cucurucho, and going "you made me into you and I hate this" and eating him. Narrative consequences does not always mean punishment and a return to moral purity. Sometimes people just do bad things, and then repercussions happen, but they don't necessarily "see the error of their ways". The specific call for like— retribution and repentance as the consequences people are going for— for punishment— if a character has done something bad they don't "deserve" good things to happen to them and it's bad writing for that to happen— I just don't think that those are the stories the creators are necessarily interested in telling.

And secondly, what people are often asking for is character conflict— they want people to be socially excluded by characters they feel have been wronged, and learn the error of their ways that way until they apologize sufficiently. Phil is gonna hate BBH or Tubbo is going to hate Roier or something once they return from Purgatory. People want their cubitos to have beef with each other.

But the thing is, on a meta level, I don't doubt that the entire admin team and streaming team on QSMP is just screamingly aware that this fandom cannot be trusted with conflict. The election was just part of it, but I made it through the election, and Purgatory has been so much more unpleasant— and I am not just talking about twitter. This website, tumblr, has been full of people fighting each other for their teams. And I am not just saying "red team fans have been bad", because boy have I been staring in horrified awe at the takes that some red team people have been putting forward (what on EARTH do you mean BBH deserves to have his kid die, touch grass immediately), but if I step outside of red team circles, everyone is talking about how red team people are horrible hypocrites who win too much and only deserve to suffer (I saw this posting the day that blue had back to back wins, so it isn't even tied to how well red is doing). The quality of the discourse has been increasingly unpleasant, and this has been taking place in streamer's chats, on twitter, in discords, and here on tumblr.

Every QSMP streamer is increasingly aware that having conflict with another streamer is basically sending a wave of negativity their way, and setting off bombs in the fandom at the same time. And they're all friends with each other! Sometimes they decide that the story beat they're going for is worth it and just tell each other to stay off twitter, but like, you have got to be prepared that maybe they will just be friends again. And that might be weaker writing, for people to keep forgiving each other, but that is an unfortunate aspect of the technical aspects of this medium and this fandom. Maybe the creators would be more willing to have character conflict if they didn't know that that meant the person they were mad at in-game would get death threats on social media.

Like no fucking wonder Phil apologized for getting mad at Wil within the same stream and before Wil said sorry to him. This is why the French have given up on revolution arcs, you know it's why the women are all very careful to get along with people. All of those creators know the cost of making anyone into a villain, and I'm just saying maybe get prepared that we won't have inner-party conflict. Maybe they'll decide it's worth it for a fun story moment! Maybe they won't. Maybe don't get 100% married to the idea that the only good writing possible moving forward is for people to be thrown out of the community and then repent for their sins.

#qsmp #fandom meta #discourse #negativity #this is also just screamingly culturally christian of you but that lies beyond the scope of this post #cw cannibalism

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napakmahal · 6 months

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Elegant like Emma D’Arcy

This may or may not be my personal love for aquiline noses and the fact I love that they chose to give Tadashi a more noticeable nose shape. 🤍

You and Tadashi we just having a well-deserved quiet night in. Finals were over and winter break had started. The seaters came out, and the books went away for four weeks. A little upsetting that San Fransokyo was not the place to go if you wanted to experience snow, all they got was rain and on occasion: hail. But the overly cold chill in the air and the light sprinkle of icey waters falling from the grey skies justified the cuddling. You were on your stomach, one leg was tossed over Tadashi’s torso with your face smushed against his chest. His laptop was resting on his nightstand, playing some crappy Christmas hallmark movie about the cliche big-city girl and flannel-wearing, small-town boy. There were so many of those with covers that looked nearly identical that neither of you could name the movie without looking at the title.

“Do you think there are really people like that?” You asked, your voice slightly mushed.

With a decent amount of vocal fry your boyfriend answered, “Like what?”

“People that would just straight up dip from their high-paying jobs and comfy lives just because they met someone.”

Shrugging as much as he could. “I’m sure of it. Plus it’s kind of romantic. No?”

“Pfft,” You scoffed. “I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure that counts as some form of self-sabotage.”

“What?” Tadashi smiled down at your head. “You wouldn’t quit a job or leave your city for me?”

“No way would you let me.”

That made them both laugh because it was true. Tadashi wanted nothing but the best for you, and leaving everything or any opportunity at all would cause a riff between you. He didn’t like the idea of being the guy that might have indirectly guilt-tripped you into not living to your full potential. Nor did he like the idea of you being miserable because you stayed or left. He is the embodiment of the scene where Jess from Gilmore Girls gets angry at Rory for dropping out of Yale.

“Why? Would you just give up everything just for me?” She raised her eyebrows up at him.

He had to think about that for a moment. Part of the reason you loved him so much was because of his dedication to the people he loved. It was his core moral that he’d carried with him for years on end. “Maybe not everything, but I’d compromise.”

It was almost hypocritical. Just the thought of you quitting or missing out on anything because of him made him want to punch a hole in the wall. Yet when it came to you or anyone else he held in high regard he made so much of an effort to make everyone happy. That’s true love by the way. Watching the happiness of someone you love and finding joy in it despite you maybe not being in the picture.

“That’s not fair.” You groaned into his chest.

The ringing and movement of his chest fluttered against the side of your head. “It is to me.”

“You suck.”

“You both suck!” Hiro came crashing into the room. The dark circles under his eyes looked more like shopping bags and his skin had grown dry and cracked. He’d just finished taking a three-hour final with a written portion, a matching portion, and in an in-person experiment with stations.

“Hey dude,” Tadashi smiled at his older brother. “How’d it go?”

Instead of answering, Hiro just collapsed onto the floor and for a while, you thought he might have stopped breathing. That fear was soothed by the loud snores of a young teen boy who hadn’t gotten any proper sleep for almost two weeks straight.

“He might drop out after this.” You laughed.

Tadashi’s eyes sprung open like they were going to pop out of his head, “I don’t think so. After all, I did to get him in. No way, I’ll shoot him before he does.”

“Aww, but he’s so tired. “You fake pitied and pouted.

“He has three weeks to rest, he’ll be fine.”

For the next few minutes, the two of you went back to enjoying the heat of the other’s bodies, finding calm in the breathing noises between you two, and after a while, you’d start to tune the movie out. It’s not like it was that interesting anyway. The very generic-looking couple were having some kind of fight about her using him for some big corporation story. Didn’t make much sense and wasn’t that compelling in any way.

Out of boredom, you started drawing invisible shapes into your boyfriends skin with your fingers when you got to his neck and hear his jaw and face. Tadashi’s side profile is so beautiful, especially his nose. Tadashi had a very elegant aquiline nose, with the perfect nose bridge. It fit his face like no other.

You brought your finger up to his face and started grazing the top of his nose bridge, tracing the lines of his face. He’s ethereal.

“What are you doing, hon?” Tadashi pressed his face down and glared down trying to see his own nose.

“I’m admiring your nose.” You admitted, fully focused on the center of his face.

“I can see-er I can feel that. Why?”

You shrugged, “I don’t know. It’s just so pretty.”

“You think my nose is pretty?” He chuckled.

“Mhmm,” You hummed. “Like it suits you so well. Your nose makes you look so elegant. Like Emma D’Arcy.”

Tadashi grabbed your hand gently and pulled it away from his face. Instead, he brought your hand to his lips and started pecking kisses all over your palm, wrist, and parts of your forearms. “Thank you hun, I’m glad you find my nose so elegant.”

“You’re welcome, beautiful boy.” You craned your body forward to peck him on the lips.

Tadashi smiled down at you, “I love you.”

“I love you too, baby.”

#baymax #big hero 6 #big hero six #tadashi hamada #hiro hamada #bh6 x reader #tadashi hamada x reader #hiro hamada x reader #disney #fanfic #emma d'arcy #aquiline nose #tumblr #napakmahal #writers on tumblr

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wc-confessions · 3 months

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i hate every heroic, misunderstood, or cool blackstar interpretation out there. he's just so pathetic and lame. he has no backbone. he needs a pretty man to bat his eyelashes at him and go "hey! do you want to horribly abuse your friends and family for me, hotstuff?" and he fucking will. he isn't morally grey he's submissive until he dies. when russetfur died he was upset because he ran out of red based cats to tell him to do shit. no one abuses children like russetfur so who the fuck else is he going to turn too ? he loves hurting the elderly. dude he fucking HATES Old people. brokenstar was like lets abuse the elderly and he went oh boy! i love abusing the elderly! and he was so so sad when he couldn't do it anymore. he went oh ho hum.. the elderly aren't able to be abused anymore.. and then sol rocked up like hey.. i heard what you said about abusing the elderly.. thats so cool? they locked eyes. they were fucking in this. they were gpoing to starve granpa. and the kids. russetfur was the best at being mean to children and blackstar LOVED IT. once i saw blackstar kick my dog because it was elderly and a child. anyway it was such a fucking farce when stonefur came down from heaven to tell him not to be a bitch anymore and he went oh gee ok i wont because then SOL FUCKING ROCKED UP AND PUT HIM BACK ON HIS PATH OF BULLSHIT like even without sol he was playing hopscotch with russetfur who falls asleep soundly to the thought of berrykit screaming. i guess tawnypelt does too since she sliced him in half. shes based though. he knew rowanclaw was a good replacement for russetfur because rowanclaw also loves torturing the youth. he didnt Need to take violetkit he just thought russetfur would approve. and she did. anyway if you like blackstar rowan and russet thats cool hehe i like them too. i fucking hate them though

#text #anonymous #confession #warrior cats

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moonssalad · 8 months

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Am I the only one who is disgusted by seeing how many people actually seriously excuse Rhysands fucked up actions?

I have seen so, SO many people talking about how he hid the truth about Feyres pregnancy from her and always excuse it by saying how he didnt want to stress her out 💀. Or that he was looking for a way to save them before he told her, like he shouldve told her right away. And how he told the IC about it before he even told Feyre and told them to keep their mouths shut too and even worse is that they fucking listened to him, like what the fuck?? And how always in discussions about only Rhysand keeping it from Feyre people always start talking about how Madja didnt tell her either, like dude this is a conversation about what an asshole Rhysand is and not about Madja, keep to the topic! And how people hate on Nesta for telling her, like fucking hell. Ive even seen people say that Rhysand not telling her is AS BAD as Nesta telling her to hurt her or whatever. Its just insane, I think I lose braincells every single time I see posts like those 🤯. Feyre literally says throughout the books multiple times how she hates when people choose for her or dont tell her something because they think it would be too much for her and Rhysand literally keeps one of the most important things from Feyre.

Also what the hell was that bullshit about Amren saying how Rhysand should be High King? Hes literally one of the worst options for it. Bro cant even handle 2/3 of his court 💀. And lets so many people suffer in Illyria and Hewn City even though he has had CENTURIES to change something. Honestly none of the IC even try to change something about the Hewn City, like are you seriously telling me that Mor was the only person who was good in that shithole? Whats even more insane is how Mor doesnt change anything about it when she had LIVED THERE for years and now has the power to do it! And Illyria, Cassian seems to be the only one who is actually trying to make it better even though its not really working. Why the hell cant healers heal wings but can heal someone whos guts are basically spilling out?? Hell why the hell doesnt anyone know about c-section? Just insane. What the hell does Rhysand even do for his court? Just sits on his ass and thinks only about Velaris? Because it seems like that.

And am I the only one who was mad how Rhysand chose to show off Feyre as if she was his plaything in the Hewn City. Like yeah yeah keeping up appearances or whatever but how the hell will they see Feyre seriously after that? I think Feyre was in the Hewn City two times and the second was when she was High Lady and Rhysand got her to sit on the throne after the first time he showed her off as his toy. You cannot convince me that the Hewn City residents take Feyre seriously and its all Rhysands fault.

Talking about keeping appearances, the whole 'mask' thing is so stupid. When someone doubts the IC intentions they have the fucking audacity to be mad about it as if they arent the ones who made sure eveyone thought they were all incredibly evil.

I dont even want to start talking about UTM and how fucked up it was.

People always say that he does things like these because he is 'morally grey' but to me hes just a toxic asshole. You dont write a 'morally grey' character and then excuse every fucked up thing he has done, its just not how it works.

Rhysand is literally the worst MMC ever and its insane how so many people say how wonderful he is, how he is the man of their dreams 💀, fucking worried about yall if you seriously think that.

Feyre should take Nesta, Elain and Nyx and get the fuck out of there because they all deserve so much better than this.

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mask131 · 4 months

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Kind of a continuation of my Medusa post? But this time about Poseidon.

I talked in my Medusa post of a trait that... seems to be lost on many people when it comes to the characterization of Poseidon? The fact that Poseidon has not just a bad side, but a dark side, and that he is supposed - in many ways like Hera - to be one of those ambiguous villains or anti-villains of Greek mythology. There's the misinformation that "Hades was a bad guy" and the new false take that "Hades was a good guy", when truth is "Hades was a neutral guy". There's the name TV Tropes and Idioms used to designate falsely presenting a bad god in a good light - "Everybody loves Zeus", and I get it is supposed to be a reverse of "Everybody hates Hates", but this is part of the wave of Zeus-hate by the Internet that literaly covered the fact Zeus was supposed to be the BIG GOOD of Ancient Greece. And the third brother also very clearly falls into the series of mischaracterization as there's this sort of cliche of Poseidon as some sort of chill guy who just hangs around the back of the Greek pantheon and is a cool dude...

... And I blame Percy Jackson for it. Don't get me wrong: I love the Percy Jackson books. But it is not because I love them that I don't recognize their flaws, and that I am not saddened at seeing how their fans warped what Greek mythology is. "Percy Jackson" and affiliated series, due to being a book series about the son of Poseidon, presents Poseidon as this good, benevolent, chill, positive deity. And I respect that, and in fact it came off as a true TWIST back when they were released, and I loved this twist because Poseidon had always been one of my favorite gods. Not only that, but Riordan made clear he knew about the dark and bad side of Poseidon, and tried to work it in his worldbuilding, by having key moments of his books relying on Percy confronting his half-brothers (Procrustes, Polyphemus, Anteus, etc...). In fact, a strong point of the original book series was Percy having to deal with the fact his father could love as much him as these monsters... But unfortunately Riordan apparently did not work on this point enough since the Internet basically decided to make Poseidon an uwu god.

So let's break it down. And if you didn't understand anything I said until this point, don't worry, I explain it all here.

Poseidon was... not supposed to be a wholly good, benevolent, and certainly not kind deity. I mean he has his positive point and his goodness, like all gods - because Greek gods are always neither wholly black or white, but grey (except for these minor gods that are personifications, and that do obey a black-and-white morality). And when you crack open the first Greek mythology manual for children you will often find the description of Poseidon as being just as temperamental and mercurial as the sea: sometimes Poseidon is a calm, quiet and kind god reflecting the peaceful sea ; other times he bursts out in anger and violence like a sea-storm, and his mood can change very, very quickly just like the oceanic weather. The Greeks were heavy sailors and fishermen: they knew the sea was their best ally and their more treacherous enemy, that they should worship but not trust it.

In terms of mythology, this is reflected by Zeus being the "dark twin" or at least "darker double" of Zeus. Zeus and Poseidon are plenty similar: both are one of the "big three" as the PJO series calls them, both are notorious for being lustful womanizers that keep having babies left and right, both are heavily implied in the great epics of heroes... The same way Hades was the "Chthonian Zeus", Poseidon was very much the "Oceanic Zeus". But the difference is that Poseidon was supposed to be much more dangerous, and much darker than Zeus.

Zeus embodied the law and the rules. He was a keeper of oath, a punisher of criminals, a rewarder of the goods, he embodied order and justice. Poseidon? No such thing. With his dual nature of helper and persecutor of heroes, with his sudden mood changes, with him surrounding himself with monsters and hybrids, Poseidon rather reflected a form of chaos. This was reflected for example in the quarrelsome nature of Poseidon, who kept getting into fights with other deities about the ownership of specific human cities or islands. His two most famous battles being his dual against Athena, for the ownership of Athens, and his trial against Helios for being the god of Corinth. But other tales of him feuding with gods for pieces of land exist...

And to that, it should be added that Poseidon was one of the most famous antagonists and hero-persecutors of Greek mythology, thanks to him being the big bad of "The Odyssey" and the archnemesis of Odysseus. This status as the antagonist of one of the two fundamental works of Greek literature puts him at the same place as, for example, Hera, the by-default persecutor of great heroes (just ask Herakles or Dionysos). It should be especially noted that The Odyssey takes a great care into painting Poseidon was maybe originally rightfully mad, but pushing the persecution beyond the reasonable. The beginning of the Odyssey has Athena plead for Odysseus' case before Zeus, pointing out the unfairness of his situation, and Zeus fully agree with her... but explains he can't do anything because Poseidon is still on the case and just will not let go. Poseidon is definitively a grudge-holder, and the Odyssey is not subtle about it.

But the final trait that confirms and illustrates well the dark, evil, chaotic side of Poseidon is his entourage, his children especially. As I said, Zeus and Poseidon are both father-figures in Greek mythology, and both are gods who just keep sleeping with everything around them. But Zeus' constant lust was depicted in a positive light, as him enacting his role as "father of gods", "father of men", as king, and god of justice and protector of civilization: because from his loins were born the greatest gods of the mythology, and the most admirable and benevolent heroes, and the great kings that founded the Greek civilization. But Poseidon? Oh, Poseidon was the "shadow" of Zeus as I said, a sort of dark twin. And so what did he gave birth to? Monsters and criminals and murderers.

The tradition of "the sea giving birth to monsters and chaos" is a very old one, in fact it is a trait of the Indo-European religions, as old as the Babylonian or Summerian mythologies. Even before we get on Poseidon's case, we can remind of the fact that the oldest and most dangerous monsters in the Greek world were given birth to by Phorcys and Ceto, two old and ancient sea-deities that predated Poseidon's rule, and were associated with sea-monsters and sea-dangers (Ceto/Keto herself shared her name with whales, any kind of huge sea beasts, and many of the creatures we describe now as sea-monsters or sea-dragons). Ladon, for example, the dragon guarding the Golden Fleece, was Keto's child ; and so was Echidna (aka the mother of monsters, who birthed with Typhon the rest of the monsters of Greek mythology). And speaking of Phorkys, Poseidon ended up sleeping with two of his daughters.

One was the nymph Thoosa of which we know barely anything - but her child became famous. Polyphemus, the monstrous and savage man-eating cyclop that became such a terrifying image through the Odyssey. The other was, as I said before... Medusa the Gorgon. And as I explained before, in the oldest recorded versions of the myth, there was no transformation: the Gorgon was born a hideous and terrifying monster. The snake hair, the petrifying gaze, the monstrous face that embodied everything the Greeks deemed ugly, the metallic claws and wings... And all that seduced Poseidon somehow, and he made her his lover, and they even had children together - which in turn were also monsters. The benevolent Pegasus, and the mysterious Chrysaor (who in turn later gave birth to Geryon, the three-bodied monster Herakles had to fight).

This trend of Poseidon choosing the most unusual, dangerous or terrifying consorts to give birth to monsters heroes will later have to face is confirmed by the recurring image of Poseidon having slept with GAIA out of all goddesses. And who are the children attributed to this unon of Poseidon with his own grandmother (not only that, but to my knowledge it is the only time an Olympian slept with Gaia, who usually mates with other primordial deities)? Charybdis, of the dreaded Scylla and Charybdis (Scylla is also sometimes identified as Poseidon's daughter - though she was before that a daughter of Phorkys, and it seems she became a Poseidon daughter simply because through time Poseidon absorbed Phorkys within himself) ; Laestrygon, the ancestor and first king of the Laestrygons (another race of brutal, man-eating giants like the cyclops of Polyphemus island), and finally Antaeus, yet another murderous giant (though he didn't eat people).

If you weren't certain of the fact that Poseidon was supposed to be "mostly a bad guy with some good sides" in Greek mythology, just wait until your hear about Theseus' legends! Now everybody knows of Theseus slaying the Minotaur... But before that, Theseus did another whole set of heroic feats. You see, as he left his birth-place to reach Athens in hope of finding back his father, Theseus actually did his first real heroic feats. The roads of Ancient Greece back then were infested with all sorts of robbers, thiefs and murderers - some psychopathic humans, others humanoid monsters, some human working with monsters... And Theseus managed to kill the most dreadful and dangerous ones during his journey. And... surprise surprise! Most of them were children of Poseidon!

Procrustes, the guy who loved to cut people he just invited to go to bed? Son of Poseidon. Cercyon who forced travellers to wrestle to death against him? Son of Poseidon. Sciron who pushed people from a cliff after asking them to wash his feet? Son of Poseidon. Periphetes who smashed people with a big club? Possibly a son of Poseidon.

And then, you have to count on the fact most of the evil and wicked kings of Ancient Greece ended up being "sons of Poseidons" at one point or another: Augeas with his filfthy stables ; Pelias the antagonist of the Jason legend ; Polydectes who antagonized Perseus was in later texts a Poseidon son ; there's also Amykos who had some common elements with Cercyon...

And THEN, not criminals on the road, not vicious kings, but the friggin's ALOADS. The monstrous giants that tried to destroy the Olympians and take over Olympus? POSEIDON SONS.

When something good comes out of Poseidon, it is generally a surprise and has to deal with a lot of the bad stuff their own father produced. (In some variations of the Theseus legend for example, Theseus becomes a son of Poseidon, which completely changes the angle of his stories - as his opposition to the Minotaur and his battles against the bandits make him look like the "good son" of Poseidon having to get rid of all the monstrous sons or indirect creations of his father...).

Even the more neutral or benevolent sons of Poseidon are freaky or disturbing. The first son of Poseidon and Amphitrite is Triton - half-man half-fish, and probably the origin of the origin of the triton species. Some consider Proteus the son of Poseidon, and he is a frightening shapeshifter. And then there's the whole host of "talking magical animals" Poseidon gave birth to, which reflects how "primitive" and... let's say "inhuman" the god stays - from the ram from which comes the Golden Fleece to Arion the fabulous horse. Usually, gods who have such a parent-relationship with animals, in Greek mythology, are not good guys (for example Ares in the Cadmos legend, and his relationship with the dragon Cadmus/Cadmus killed...).

If you ask me who my favorite fictional Poseidon is in media, I will say without a doubt, the Poseidon of "Mission Odyssey" as you call it in English (I always found this title silly, in French it was "The Odyssey", and that's it):

Now, I know that "Mission Odyssey" is WILDLY inaccurate to Greek mythology and they clearly tried to stretch as much as they could... everything. Just a look at Poseidon's design above tells you that they clearly do not want to give a "traditional" retelling of the Greek myths.

But, that being said, there's a reason why I love this cartoon, and its because for everything inacurracy they have something that is done perfectly right, and in fact well ahead of their time. For example Hades: they did Hades right, as an imposing, frightening deity... but a neutral and fair one, that shows to be understanding, just and generous, and that only acts unfairly and antagonizing when tricked by Poseidon (and promptly apologizes when he realizes he was tricked). And Poseidon's characterization is also done, for me, right, because they truly manage to represent what Poseidon in the Odyssey is supposed to be.

A bad guy, yes, the antagonist of the story, a grudge-holder and a schemer and a bully who is ally, boss or father of most of monsters and criminals of Greek mythology, and is driven by pride and anger... But who is also shown to care about his children (in his own way), to try to respect the divine law and rules as much as he can (though he breaks them whenever carried away by his ego and anger, and doesn't shy from "cheating" at the "divine game") ; and that is shown to be well-liked and positively-seen by many gods and Greek cities, outside of the Odysseus-plotline. In fact, not only does the story hints and offers glimpses at the good side of Poseidon despite focusing on him as a bad guy ; but it also explains why the good side is "outstage" by turning into a story-tool the villainization of Poseidon. As in, the god is shown, just to obtain a petty win against Odysseus or satisfy his obsession with him, to trick, cheat and bully his friends and allies, who later turn against him when they realize the treachery or the deceit, and as a result over the course of the story he gets more and more alienated by all those that loved or respected him... Precisely because of how he plays an antagonist to Odysseus' story.

If you want a Disney's Hades-like villain (as in a recurring divine villain in a Greek mythology story that allies the sinister and the funny), but that is much more mythologically accurate than Disney's product, take Mission Odyssey's Poseidon.

And I just love the design. It is Asterix meets Ursula and I just LOVE this (but given this series came from the same studio that did things such as Martin Mystery, Totally Spies or Team Galaxy, cool unusual designs are expected).

#greek mythology #poseidon #greek gods #greek monsters #monsters in greek mythology #mission odyssey #percy jackson and the olympians #theseus

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th4tsj4zzy · 21 days

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hoo boy im boutta get controversial

only 50 notes in and im starting to post stuff abt hsr controversy >:) this’ll be about the sparkle/ratio being racist controversy for the first + second part of hsr’s trailblaze mission for penacony

TW: slavery, slurs, racism, “death” (suicide..? 2.1 hsr quest makes this make sense) spoilers for penacony’s 2.1 quest below the cut

ofc, when sparkle was degrading aventurine for being sigonian, i reacted how a lot of people did and was like “cheese and rice, thats kinda racist dude, wtf-“ i was pretty worried bc hoyo’s had a history with not handling racism in plotlines well (see: eremite world quest in genshin) but i wanted to stay optimistic bc theres a different team working on hsr and maybe theyll be better at handling racism in plot. but honestly? after playing the second part of the penacony quest, i really think that they handled the entire thing pretty well.

probably 50% of penacony’s 2.1 quest was aventurine’s backstory, how being enslaved affected him, his family, and the culture of the avgins/sigonians (specifically the latter). his “all or nothing” nature clearly reflects the fact he’s used to betting everything (despite being paranoid about it since he quite literally lost everything before being taken in by the [pretty] ipc [woman, jade]) bc it makes him seem confident and gives him an image of carelessness, benefiting him in the long run of scheming. the only reason im able to draw this many conclusions about him is because of the amount of character development they give him in the quest.

ofc, im not trying to say that sparkle’s (and “ratio’s”) racist remarks were justified; to put it lightly, they’re leaning into a darker shade of morally grey, even without knowing their purposes for saying such stuff. however, i do think that them being racist to aventurine is a major part of the world building for HSR. him being on the receiving end of their criticism makes us suspicious of everyone else, but also makes us root for him a bit, which helps balance out the scales of distrust and/or dislike the viewer should have of all of the characters. in the beginning of the quest, aventurine’s probably receiving a lot more of the dislike/distrust than the other characters, so we need to at least find a reason to root for him if the writers want us to understand his schemes.

also, sparkle being racist to aventurine for being sigonian and him persisting through all of the hardships his plans and his past bring (despite 85% of it being for the ipc and the other 15% for the mere chance to see his family and find the truth, the latter mattering more than the former) is a narrative that brings tears to my eyes. it resonates with me as a minority race, and im sure many others can understand why.

sure, sparkle used a slur for the real life alternative for sigonia and ratio brings up his past as a slave. we all recognize its not right for her to do that and that the writers are pretty harsh for writing the slur in, but its just the same way in the real world. the writers are just showing us reality in a video game. death and murder and enslavement is really harsh that also reflect the real world, yet they also include it. are we really gonna act like saying a slur is above killing people?

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radioactiverook · 3 months

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I’m re-listening to Grifter’s Bone for obvious reasons and the biggest differences is that the backstory of Grifter's bone is left deliberately vague. The statement giver mentions a few ways the story goes, but it's very much not the focus. The focus is the horror of Grifter's Bone from an outsider's perspective.

However, in Taking Notes, it's the reverse. The perspective of the musician is the entire focus of the episode, with only a brief glimpse of how the horror affects others. We get his motivations, his emotion, why he continues to play, all of that. When you compare this to Grifter's Bone, where the statement giver basically doesn't care about their backstory, it really shows a sharp difference in the focus of these two stories about fucked up music. (More about how this could play into TMAGP overall below the cut).

This could be a coincidence- with hundreds of statements, I'm sure sometimes there will be similar subject matter. But this really makes me think of the theory some people have been throwing around, that TMAGP is more focused on desire than fear (or what I think, that TMAGP is more focused on why we're drawn to horror instead of what happens when we're confronted by horror). For a lot of TMA statements, especially the early ones, we heard about a scary thing happening to a statement giver. We only saw the perspective of the scary things in occasional statements. In season one, for example, we hear Timothy Hodge's encounter with someone Jane infected, we hear Martin's encounter with Jane, then we hear Sasha's encounter with Timothy Hodge. It's only after all of that buildup that we hear Jane's perspective. And this made sense- starting off with the perspective of "the monster" would dissolve a lot of the tension we get wondering what Jane Prentiss' deal is. Of course, not every TMA episode is like this, as the statements start getting more plot related, we get more statements from the horrors themselves, but I still think it's fair to say that most of the episodes are about a statement giver being a witness to fear.

If you compare these episodes to early TMA, there's a huge difference in the point of view character. Other, more eloquent people have pointed out the difference between Angler Fish and First Shift. In Angler Fish, it's a drunk dude offering someone a cigarette. He all but stumbles into the horror. In First Shift, we have someone who starts with "I should've listened" and someone who returns to the creepy Magnus Institute after taking something. Already, the statement givers are so much more involved in the horrors.

This might just be me, but I really do think that if Making Adjustments or Putting Down Roots was a TMA statement, we would've had the statement from a different perspective- for example, the roommate in Making Adjustments. In TMA, statements from perspectives of people actively causing the horrors were much more special events (at least, that's how I considered it). Sure, sometimes they were morally grey or straight-up-assholes, but "Dude who got tricked into accepting a coffin" and "Woman who watched her neighbor through the window" seem so much more separated from causing the horror than "Woman who got a tattoo because of her insecurities, then took a palette knife to her face" and "Man who became a cool shrub after murdering his partner". And in Taking Notes, we're literally getting a story similar to TMA told from the "monster's" perspective.

(I also think the fact that the statements are gotten from personal files rather than someone who chose to come in and give it plays into how the statements seem a lot more active in causing horrors, but that could be its own post).

There's only four episodes so we can't say for certain, but taking a premise we've seen in TMA and reversing the perspective would be a really clever way to get across that the focus of TMAGP is different.

#tmagp spoilers #tmagp #tmagp theory #tmagp thoughts #the magnus protocol #I'm not a huge theory person so this could make no sense #I also dont take theories too seriously since we're only a few episodes in so im not super attached to this

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cryptids-and-muses · 6 months

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Post canon homestuck crew play Dungeons and Dragons

Karkat and terezi

Co dms

Unstoppable when actually working together

Terezi will get sidetracked messing with karkat

Karkat trying to write a deep and well fleshed out campaign that’s thematically resonant vs terezi’s desire for chaos and traps and trying to “trick” her players FIGHT

Terezi believes in karma and will make the world bend to this

Karkat is trying to set up romance arcs and argues about how it adds to the theming

Dave draws them fanart of their characters. Terezi loves it while karkat argues about accuracy before admitting yes he also appreciates it

Calliope also does fanart and karkat praises her skill and accuracy unlike some people

John

Arcane trickster rogue

Forest gnome

Just a goofy little guy!

Mostly just playing to have fun, starts off with a fun but simple character who develops over time

Ends up SUPER invested and taking this so so seriously

Karkat worked a dramatic reveal into the, in his words, “bare ass bones two paragraphs that a fucking wiggler could have written backstory” and John did not see it coming and loved it

Goes head to head with terezi a lot on her various traps she designs for them. She is getting more and more absurd with it. Karkat had to talk to her about breaking the world building with things she’s introducing. He is the only rogue. Send help.

Rose

Drow warlock

Tries to justify picking drow as anything other than she just thought it was cool

Nearly went old ones for patron but settled on archfey for story reasons

Has a 10 page lore document detailing her tragic past and her toxic relationship with her patron

It became 15 pages after going back and forth with karkat for a bit and adding even more

Only her and one other person are taking the romance arcs seriously and they become karkat’s favorite players

Tries playing morally ambiguous but terezi can be annoying about that and claims it’s just “the consequences of her actions”

Her and karkat both get very very into the scenes between her and her patron, the drama! The acting! Dave is uncomfortable and karkat brushes it off, it’s not like him role playing as his sister’s abusive girlfriend is weird. It’s in fact very important to the plot Dave

Has written fanfic of the campaign

Jade

Dragonborn barbarian

Path of the beast

Don’t ask me I just know

Her GLEE when she says “I’m gonna rage :D”

ANIMAL COMPANION! She nearly went ranger just for that but knew she wouldn’t have as much fun. Found a way to get one anyway.

It was harder naming her animal companion than her character

Having fun and likes the problem solving side of things, but likes breaking things with her massive strength just as much

Terezi likes to throw stuff at her, both traps and encounters, and finds it funny if she can just wreck her way through

“See John that’s how you deal with a pressure plate trap”

Takes the rp side of things very seriously

Once argued with Karkat over if her favorite npc would do that and cursed him out

Has read roses fanfic of the campaign

Dave

Plays a teifling with grey skin and orange horns

“What are you talking about karkat this is just my dude, don’t you like him?”

Hellus Jeffus

He’s a valor bard, eventually multiclasses paladin

Starts out just trying to mess with people but like John starts getting into it, though he tries to down play it

Have hellus more of himself than he realized and it’s making him face things about himself

Eventually hellus self sacrifices to save the party in this deeply intense moment. There were tears, Dave was wrecked, they went on a whole quest to revive him. It was touching and karkat is smug

Dave might have worked through some things

Jane

Halfling cleric

Her and John are small buddies!!!

Started out life but wasn’t having a lot of fun with it so with terezi’s permission switched to war or tempest with later s few levels in fighter

Her John and Jade are the biggest front liners, John’s character ends up really close with both of them as it’s easier for the rogue to bond with the person giving them sneak attack

Jade and jane’s character have an in game arm wrestling match

Took a bit to get into the rp side of things but eventually got the hang of it

Roxy

Tabaxi, easily, it’s so obvious

After much deliberation settles on glamour bard (though wizard and rogue were tempting for the joke, she wanted to branch out)

So many horny bard jokes but very little actual follow through, karkat gets frustrated by this as she’s all this talk but isn’t pursuing any of the romance options he’s giving her

She has SECRETS! She is HIDING THINGS!! Her cheery persona is a FASADE!!!

Cue complaining to karkat about how hard it is to wait to tell the others about her secrets and him threatening violence if she tells anyone before the in game reveal

She tells jake

Lots of egging on Dave and helping him with his fucking around

The BOND between her and Dave!!! They are the duo to end all duos. Team rocket type shit. There is nothing stronger than the bond between the bards of the party. My theory is it has to do with trading bardic inspiration.

Dirk

Half elf Druid circle of spores

Wildfire seemed fun to him but wasn’t as good

Wasn’t originally planning on being a Druid but after going over all the classes he liked all the customization and decisions that go into Druid like prepared spells and such

Didn’t really think about his backstory much, just improved something. He keeps improving new additions and it’s getting more and more elaborate and complicated. He has multiple hidden and long lost siblings by this point. Still doesn’t write any of this down. If he messes a detail up he justified it with more improv.

Yes his character has spiked up red hair and sunglasses. Don’t question how the Druid got sunglasses karkat.

Really likes the tactics side of things, he’s even pitched a few things to terezi she updated and later worked in

Sometimes works on plans and strategies out of game or making a million back up characters that play off the others in interesting mechanical ways

Is considering becoming a dm some time

Jake

Needed some help making his character, he just didn’t know where to start

Eventually after much discussion settles on a teifling bladesong wizard

Wanting to get away from his usual adventurer style Roxy helped with the backstory and they came up with this evil scientist raised in a cult who’s good hearted but was never taught right and wrong

He gets very into playing him and his moral struggle but can lean a little too good for his backstory, karkat points this out and Jake swears to get better at it

Dave pitched a lot of names for them and it was eventually settled on “Bernard Gunn” even though he has a sword. Jake just likes how it sounds

“Why is he blue jake?” “…..uhhh” “why is he blue?”

Calliope

SHE LOVES THIS SO MUCH

Teifling Druid with a focus on healing

Circle of shepards

Not a troll color pallet like Dave though, honestly it might get a bit trickster

Beautiful backstory that she coordinated with one of the others to make joint. The most obvious choice is Roxy but I think it was actually jade, Jane or John.

She gets so into it you guys, like so into it

Gives at least one dramatic speech completely on the fly

The other character who takes karkat’s romance arcs seriously and his other favorite player

Has also argued with terezi about world building and consistency. This may put her above rose in karkat’s eyes

Was also allowed to read rose’s fanfiction and offered full on reviews

Also considering going into doing but for the opposite reasons to Dirk

Vriska

Fairy artillerist artificer with a dip in war magic wizard

Min maxxed to hell and back

(Technically there was a better race, but fairy has its own advantages and she couldn’t resist)

An elaborate backstory too with some secrets of her own, I’m thinking full on lost princess

Yes she is That Player, you know the one

Has nearly been kicked multiple times and now won’t leave on principle

Not the best at sticking with the party and not just doing whatever she wants, but suprisingly Dirk has been able to talk her into it with his talk of tactics and playing smart

Second most effective is John who just looks at her like “vriska you’re not making this very fun :(“

Kanaya

Fire genasi ranger

Really tried to get into it but this just isn’t her thing so eventually decided to leave the group

Karkat came up with a fun story reason for her to leave and eventually brought her character back as an Npc

Did help rose make a cosplay of her character, after which John, Calliope, and Roxy wanted to make ones too

Vriska eventually tried to “manipulate” into helping her make one for her character

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whitedemon-ladydeath · 6 months

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I feel like Rhys would be more interesting for me if SJM made up her mind on what kind of character he is supposed to be. If he's the "ideal man" then why write him performing textbook acts of abuse. the "ideal man" who is the pinnacle of Healthy Relationship Material cannot really mesh well with grey morality

part of being a morally grey character is,, the fucked up morality that "normal" characters would be like "dude wtf" which you can see with characters like Kaz Brekker and to an extent Damon Salvatore. Their grey morality is tied to their actual personhood and their actual sense of morality. they're not haunted by their actions. it is *within their morality* in their own ideals of what they consider right and wrong

Rhys' "grey morality" is tied to that of his "mask" and then he gets so tortured by how he just has to hurt all these people for the "greater good" my good dude that's not morally grey. a morally grey character is going to see it as worth it and not blink an eye bec it was what needed to be done- see Kaz literally ripping out that dudes eye and not blinking about it while everyone else was like what the fuck

Rhys is written closer to a character similar to Stefan who is just so tortured and the narrative and the people around him (and by extension many of his Stans™️) will go out of their way to completely forgive all the problematic shit he did bec he "has a pure heart" or "hes an addict tho" or whatever and it's easier to excuse when he's standing next to Damon, who is outwardly fucked up and problematic in such an obvious way (Rhys next to Tamlin or even Nesta)

she Wants him to be a morally grey bad boy but he's not *written* like one. he's not allowed to be problematic the way morally grey characters are problematic. Morally Grey characters are inherently toxic and problematic and often to the point where they can be/are abusive

but also, it's the fact that he just,,, doesn't have any real character growth outside of MAF. he becomes stagnant. his characterization doesn't really change. he keeps lying to Feyre. His actions don't really change bec the narrative doesn't challenge him to bec he's "the ideal man"

Hell Rhys taunting Tamlin in TAR was interesting and entertaining for me to read but when we get that in later books from his POV with Tamlin literally just beaten down and having had given up there is nothing to gleam from that. it's beating a dead horse, it's kicking someone while they're down. it's not taunting, it's not entertaining where someone can snap back, it's just demeaning and cruel at that point like fuck just leave him alone and maybe stop trespassing

I'd probably view Nesta and Rhys' beef differently if he didn't abuse political and magical power over her- if the narrative itself didn't immediately side with Rhys as objectively in the right despite lying and abusing his power over her. and maybe to an extent I'd forgive it if we had more scenes with them where they, more or less, buried the hatchet and let their relationship actually develop and build nuance

he gets boring. no one pushed back against him in a way that actually challenges the plot or Rhys, outside of Maybe Nesta when she told Feyre about the pregnancy but even then that went out of its way to vilify Nesta and not Rhysand for putting the gag order in place in the first place

like maybe if SJM committed to a Side with Rhys or actually got the plot to challenge him and give him actual growth I'd be more interested in his character. Right now he's just boring. and he's a dick. and not in the way I find very entertaining in characters

#anti rhysand #a court of thorns and roses #acotar #sjm critical #Rhys! is not! morally grey!

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fruity-phrog · 2 years

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Dead End Paranormal Park shit I need to talk about and I feel bad for my discord server so:

I was expecting a Barney/Logs kiss to be monumental like the first Lumity or Catradora kiss, or at least something like Troyson or Bubbline. But NOOO, I just get SLAPPED IN THE FACE with it right at the beginning of the first episode.

And on the subject, I distinctly remember thinking “I wonder if they’ll have Barney tell Logs he loves them or smth” as I clicked on the second episode. I WAS NOT PREPARED.

Logs is a non-binary gay person. Don’t even fight me on this I’m right.

I was. So. Fucking. Excited. Watching Norma realize her crush on Badyah. It was literally exactly how I realized my crush on my friend and I was so excited to have those two canon.

I was fucking wrong.

Barney talking about transphobia?! Barney talking about people asking about his binder?! THIS SHOW FUCKIN RULES.

Again, I was very wrong about Badyah and Norma.

Badyah rejecting Norma hurt. So fucking much. The rawness of it all just stung so much.

BUT. I HAVE NEVER HEARD ANYONE SAY THE WORDS “I’m straight” IN A KIDS’ CARTOON. It was astronomical. In shows nowadays, queer rep is so far and few between you don’t have any characters to get rejected. So to see Badyah let down Norma as softly as she did, explaining she’s straight then immediately going into a mini sexuality crisis was amazing. Norma’s tears though.

Gonna be honest, was worried about the Josh thing for a minute.

Honestly, I wouldn’t even mind Norma x Zagan. I mean, Zagan’s canonically queer, and I can get behind a good height-difference ship. Also, I love the dynamic of “Morally grey but with a heart of gold x literal demon” Buuuuut Zagan being like 1600 comes with its Twilightes-esque issues.

Not Temeluchus and Pugsely acting like exes that still love each other lmao

Norma regretting everything when her connection to Badyah was lost just hit me in the worst way. The exact same thing happened to me about a year ago - I had a straight crush who was also my best friend, I told her I liked her and we...drifted apart. Everything about Norma's regret from the whole thing is so perfectly written, from her staring at photos of her and Badyah to insisting she's over the crush to being so incredibly excited when she thinks Badyah has come round to her house. I've never been able to relate to a character this much before, and adding on to the fact that Norma has social anxiety and can fixate on one thing until it becomes her entire personality...it just hit me so hard.

Am I still allowed to ship Norma and Badyah? They just meant so much to me before that episode. Is it problematic now? Coz it’s either that or aroace hetero-leaning Badyah.

That whole episode though

The use of the word bi? An entire conversation about how hard it is to come out? The use of the word gay? Norma literally chanting “bi bi bi” like NSWNC?! Screaming, crying.

No, Pauline’s right, Norma’s mum has the best legs.

The coming out scene...shoot me now.

EVEN THE MUM SHIPPED BADYAH AND NORMA-

JULES USING THEY/THEM PRONOUNS. AND SAYING “I use they/them pronouns”. THE GAY IS REAL AND IT IS COMING FOR US.

Not Barney being saved by the power of gay

I called Courtney being an angel from early s1. Suck it.

THE WATCHER THING I DID NOT CALL.

But we all knew Fingers had issues. I mean seriously. The dude’s got slay though.

Last thing - Gord means the absolute world to me.

#dead end paranormal park #dead end spoilers #norma khan #barney guttman #de:pp badyah #de:pp logs #de:pp gord

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sleepingontheclouds · 5 days

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i did a rant for Jason, now I’m doing a rant for my favorite superhero and occasionally morally grey person <3

I’m going to put a trigger warning here and now for the majority of this post. Discussing Dick Grayson for me means talking about very sensitive moments for his character, I will be mentioning and talking about some non-consensual events that happened to him in certain comic canons and one underage event. Please if this can/will trigger you, click off or skim over the parts where I mention it. I will highlight the parts where I actively speak about situations like that in red. Thank you.

Titans

I’ve watched to season 3 of Titans so far and I just gotta say, Dick’s character got a downgrade and an upgrade. Let me elaborate.

Firstly, I love what the writers did and how they characterized the boy wonder in season one. He was an authority figure, a protector. Literally the first time we are introduced to Robin and the first time we see Dick in the Robin suit, he’s brutalizing child abusers.

Throughout the entire first season there are multiple instances of Dick being very protective towards children and very aggressive with people he believes to hurt children.

In a later episode of season one, Dick tracks down a man with Kori after Rachel runs away with Gar. Once he realizes that the man has seen Rachel, let alone in the woods, he immediately goes into attack mode. At that point he believed that Rachel was alone, he didnt know about Gar and he didn’t know that she was with anyone. He punches the man and starts asking if he did anything to her, he goes protective and is very close to breaking that guys nose before his daughter runs out of her room and sees what’s going on, making Dick stop.

Personally, I loved that aspect of his character. It’s not only foreshadowing at the fact that he’s going to become an older brother, I personally think it also hints at a very traumatic event that happened to him in the comics.

It made me so sad to see him lose that aspect of himself after season one. I suppose the overprotective violence faded along side his other more regular violence.

I loved his violent characterization throughout the first two seasons, it really helps understand his character and him as a person.

In the first season, whenever he’s wearing the Robin suit he’s physically incapable of stopping himself from getting too violent, no matter how much he may want to without the costume on.

He stabs people, breaks peoples noses, nearly makes people bleed out, stomps peoples faces in, everything under the sun except kill them. That’s the whole reason he left Gotham, that’s the whole reason he held a grudge against Bruce in season one.

The journey we go through with Dick in season two is an amazing depiction of his character.

The literal order of events just screams mental breakdown to me and the episodes following made me think he had a psychological break, then we find out that he’s just like that.

The events go like this. First Dick starts seeing hallucinations of his father figure which he hates and that’s apparently just a normal thing that happens in Dick’s day to day life? Then he goes Robin mode, hurting a man he used to work with because he’s annoyed with the hallucination of his father. Then he goes to a dance club and nearly kills a man that works with Slade because he has a secret he needs to hide?? Then his traumatized nineteen year old brother tries to kill himself and what does Dick do? He trauma dumps all over Jason hoping that it’ll make him feel better and not want to die. (It doesn’t) then everyone he loves leaves him. He then decides to go visit the mother of the kid he thinks he got killed and finds himself talking to Slade. My guy then books a flight across the world because the fucking assassin with one eye who killed his own son said that he needed to repent by being in isolation?? You know what this dude does instead of going to Japan like he’s supposed to? He assaults two police officers to get himself seven years in jail. You know who he doesn’t tell? Gar. The teenager he left in charge of watching Superman’s clone with no other orders than, ‘call Bruce if he wakes up’ when he knows Bruce will not answer.

Then the dude breaks these gang members out of jail so they don’t get deported, that gets him thrown in solitary. You know what he does in solitary? Hallucinates his dad, fights him in his imagination, and then breaks out of jail.

When Dick eventually grows into his own person after all that insanity, when he becomes Nightwing— he forgives Bruce. It’s another aspect about his characterization that I love. Dick is forgiving, in a good and bad way, until he isn’t.

Dick doesn’t care what people do to him, it’s one of his biggest flaws. He lets himself get hurt over and over again and he just takes it. He lets his peers absolutely bash him and openly hate him, but he’s always still there for them. He always still supports them.

He knows Bruce turned him into a weapon, but he still went back. He went back and tried to ignore everything and forget about all the awful things Bruce did to him. He never directly talks to Bruce about it, sure he’s passive aggressive during [redacted’s] funeral dinner in season 2 but he never actually talks about anything.

The only time he snaps at Bruce is after Jason dies.

After his brother, who he didn’t treat like a brother, dies, he’s trying to cope. Everyone is. He knows Bruce copes in a different way and he respects it, what he doesn’t respect is the fact that Bruce is trying to rope in another child to be Robin. He’s trying to replace Jason right after he dies. That’s when Dick loses his temper.

Even after everything, it takes someone else being hurt for Dick to speak his mind. He never really stands up for himself, he stands up for other people and bottles in his emotions.

Comics

In the comics, Dick is much similar. He bottles up his emotions until he physically can’t.

He’s always trying to be happy, even Nightwing isn’t serious. For Bruce, Batman is a way to let out his true self. Batman is the real Bruce, Bruce Wayne is the mask he hides behind.

It’s exactly the opposite for Dick. Dick Grayson is the caring older brother who has no trauma and exists to help, Nightwing is the funny vigilante, he’s the protector of Blüdhaven who cracks jokes and never breaks a smile while fighting. Either way, Dick just trades in one mask for another.

The only times it’s genuinely him, is when he’s at his most vulnerable. When he isn’t around his family, his brothers, Bruce. That’s when the real him can come out, his real genuine emotions.

In a certain comic run that I’m unsure if it’s still canon or not, Dick gets assaulted. It’s before he has his facade, it’s right when it’s starting to develop. He’s sixteen.

Dick gets in a horrible fight with Bruce, it results in him either running away or getting kicked out, either way he isn’t with Bruce. The sixteen year old is left to fend for himself, then a 21 year old woman who’s targeting Wayne enterprises comes along.

She manipulates Dick and takes advantage of him (along with her husband I think) all to get to Bruce.

He never talks about it.

!! I WILL BE REPLYING TO THIS IN A REBLOG CAUSE THIS IS GETTING VERY LONG AND TYPING IS GETTING SLOW !!

#dick grayson #nightwing #trauma #dc titans #dc comics #dc universe #dcu #batman #batfam #jason todd #He’s so traumatized #:(#I love him #i love him so much #My poor boy #<333 #SORRY THIS IS SO LONG

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