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starry-bi-sky · 21 days

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i need to get this out of my head before i continue clone^2 but danny being the first batkid. Like, standard procedure stuff: his parents and sister die, danny ends up with Vlad Masters. He drags him along to stereotypical galas and stuff; Danny is not having a good time.

He ends up going to one of the Wayne Galas being hosted ever since elusive Bruce Wayne has returned to Gotham. Vlad is crowing about having this opportunity as he's been wanting to sink his claws into the company for a long while now. Danny is too busy grieving to care what he wants.

And like most Galas, once Vlad is done showing him off to the other socialites and the like, he disappears. Off to a dark corner, or to one of the many balconies; doesn't matter. There he runs into said star of the show, Bruce who is still young, has been Batman for at least a year at this point, but still getting used to all these damn people and socializing. He's stepped off to hide for a few minutes before stepping back into the shark tank.

And he runs into a kid with circles under his eyes and a dull gleam in them. Familiar, like looking into a mirror.

Danny tries to excuse himself, he hasn't stopped crying since his parents died and it's been months. He rubs his eyes and stands up, and stumbles over a half-hearted apology to Mister Wayne. Some of Vlad's etiquette lessons kicking in.

Bruce is awkward, but he softens. "That's alright, lad," he says, pulling up some of that Brucie Wayne confidence, "I was just coming out here to get some fresh air."

There's a little pressing; Bruce asks who he's here with, Danny says, voice quiet and grief-stricken, that he's with his godfather Vlad Masters. Bruce asks him if he knows where he is, and Danny tells him he does. Bruce offers to leave, Danny tells him to do whatever he wants.

It ends with Bruce staying, standing off to the side with Danny in silence. Neither of them say a word, and Danny eventually leaves first in that same silence.

Bruce looks into Vlad Masters after everything is over, his interest piqued. He finds news about him taking in Danny Fenton: he looks into Danny Fenton. He finds news articles about his parents' deaths, their occupations, everything he can get his hands on.

At the next gala, he sees Danny again. And he looks the same as ever: quiet like a ghost, just as pale, and full of grief. Bruce sits in silence with him again for nearly ten minutes before he strikes a conversation.

"Do you like to do anything?"

Nothing. Just silence.

Bruce isn't quite sure what to do: comfort is not his forte, and Danny doesn't know him. He's smart enough to know that. So he starts talking about other things; anything he can think of that Brucie Wayne might say, that also wasn't inappropriate for a kid to hear.

Danny says nothing the entire time, and is again the first to leave.

Bruce watches from a distance as he intercts with Vlad Masters; how Vlad Masters interacts with him. He doesn't like what he sees: Vlad Masters keeps a hand on Danny's shoulder like one would hold onto the collar of a dog. He parades him around like a trophy he won.

And there are moments, when someone gets too close or when someone tries to shake Danny's hand, of deep possessiveness that flints over Vlad Masters' eyes. Like a dragon guarding a horde.

He plays the act of doting godfather well: but Bruce knows a liar when he sees one. Like recognizes like.

Danny is dull-eyed and blank faced the entire time; he looks miserable.

So Bruce tries to host more parties; if only so that he can talk to Danny alone. Vlad seems all too happy to attend, toting Danny along like a ribbon, and on the dot every hour, Danny slips away to somewhere to hide. Bruce appears twenty minutes later.

"I was looking into your godfather's company," he says one night, trying to think of more things to say. Some nights all they do is sit in silence. "Some of my shareholders were thinking of partnering up--"

"Don't."

He stops. Danny hardly says a word to him, he doesn't even look at him -- he's sitting on the ground, his head in his knees. Like he's trying to hide from the world. But he's looking, blue eyes piercing up at Bruce.

Bruce tilts his head, practiced puppy-like. "Pardon?"

"Don't." Danny says, strongly. "Don't make any deals with Vlad."

It's the most words Danny's spoken to him, and there's a look in his eyes like a candle finding its spark. Something hard. Bruce presses further, "And why is that?"

The spark flutters, and flushes out. Danny blinks like he's coming out of a trance, and slumps back into himself. "Just don't."

Bruce stares at him, thoughtful, before looking away. "Alright. I won't."

And they fall back into silence.

Danny, when he leaves, turns to look at Bruce, "I mean it." He says; soft like he's telling a secret, "Don't make any deals with him. Don't be alone with him. Don't work with him."

He's scampered away before Bruce can question him further.

(He never planned on working with Vlad Masters and his company; he's done his research. He's seen the misfortune. But nothing ever leads back to him. There's no evidence of anything. But Danny knows something.)

At their next meeting, Danny starts the conversation. It's new, and it's welcomed. He says, cutting through their five minute quiet, that he likes stars. And he doesn't like that he can't see them in Gotham.

Bruce hums in interest, and Danny continues talking. It's as if floodgates had been opened, and as Bruce takes a sip of his wine, it tastes like victory.

("Tucker told me once--") ("Tucker?") ("Oh-- uh, one of my best friends. He's a tech geek. We haven't talked in a while.")

(Danny shut down in his grief -- his friends are worried, but can't reach him. When he goes back to the manor with Vlad, he fishes out his phone and sends them a message.)

(They are ecstatic to hear from him.)

It all culminates until one day, when Danny is leaving to go back inside, that Bruce speaks up. "You know," He says, leaning against the railing. "The manor has many rooms; plenty of space for a guest."

The implication there, hidden between the lines. And Danny is smart, he looks at Bruce with a sharp glean in his eyes, and he nods. "Good to know."

The next time they see each other, Danny has something in his hands. "Can you hold onto something for me?" He asks.

When Bruce agrees, Danny places a pearl into his palm. or, at least, it's something that looks like a pearl. Because it's cold to the touch; sinking into Bruce's white silk gloves with ease and shimmering like an opal. It moves a little as it settles into his hand, and the moves like its full of liquid.

Bruce has never seen anything like it before, but he does know this; it's not human. "What is it?" He asks, and Danny looks uncomfortable.

"I can't tell you that." He says, shifting on his foot like he's scared of someone seeing it. "But please be careful with it. Treat it like it's extremely fragile."

When Bruce gets home, he puts it in an empty ring box and hides the box in the cave. He tries researching into what it is. he can't find anything concrete.

Everything comes to a head one day when Danny appears at the manor's doorstep one evening, soaking wet in the rain, and bleeding from the side.

#dpxdc #dp x dc #danny fenton is not the ghost king #dpxdc crossover #dpdc #dp x dc crossover #dpxdc prompt #man i just really need more dpdc stuff where danny and bruce have a good relationship. like man i NEED it. like i need to see these two #bonding together. and not in a cracky 'oh danny is a distant friend/cousin/etc' stuff but like. active participants in each other's lives #or as active as can be in this case. i neeeeed these two getting along and caring about one another #this idea came to me like last night and hasn't left since nd it was driving me up the wall to think about both positively and negatively b #i neeeded someone to hear about this or i was gonna implode #danny is the first son #tried to just get the general gist of the idea down but i definitely thought of the idea that bruce lowkey suspects vlad for having a hand #Vlad allows Danny to sneak off because he thinks Danny is alone. if he knew Bruce was there he'd be piiisssed and would put a stop to it #Sam and Tucker are alive they just got ghosted for a bit by danny bc he was in Major Grief and didn't wanna socialize. He couldn't go to #them because he didn't wanna put them in danger via Vlad.#oh that thing he handed Bruce? Yeah that's his ghost core. I have a headcanon (that isnt always applied) that ghosts can take their cores #out of their bodies at will and painlessly and without issue. and its common practice actually to do so bc they can be a not insignificant #distance away from said core before problems start to act up. and its common for ghosts to leave their physical cores at their lairs for #safekeeping because as long as the physical core is fine: so is the ghost. they can reform if their body gets destroyed. it also acts as a #fast travel sometimes. where they can reform at their core in an instant. its not inspired in the slightest by SU but i do see the overlap #most cores are pretty small for safety sake: its harder to hit if its small. and they're pr resilient too but its better to be safe than #sorry. so yeah. danny essentially gave bruce the physical embodiment of his soul and indirectly said #'if anything happens to me at least i'll be safe with you'#danny doesn't know he's batman btw #starry rambles.#was gonna go into danny becoming a vigilante beside bruce but im sleeeepy so i'll do that in a reblog. he's gonna go by nightingale if #anyone is interested. stereotypical but to be frank it is a *good* name imo. has a good amount of syllables and consonants to it #and the bird theme. and since its part of an ancestral name it has even more backing for it being bird-y without being meta

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incorrect-league-of-villains · 11 days

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Tomura: Fuck off, old man.

All for One: I'm not that old. How old do you think I am?

Tomura: The last number.

#incorrect lov #in light of what the Fuck is going on in the bnha manga right now????#i had a grand total of like 4 afo quotes in my respository and this was the last one left #but seriously what the fuck is happening #i tuned out for like 2 years and i come back to deku [SPOILERS] and shiggy [SPOILERS] and afo [SPOILERS]#like WHAT #guys i dont actually know if dabi is alive is he alive #is hawks alive???#hell is bakugou alive????? last i heard bro got Wasted #im only here because ive been procrastinating on coursework for the past 48 hours and im trying to keep the streak going #it's 6 am ive been up since i awoke from my nap at midnight #only thing of actual substance i know is that hawks and dabi got 4th and 5th place in the most recent popularity poll #good for them soulmates #dabihawks #shigaraki tomura #shimura tenko #all for one

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hylialeia · 10 months

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you don't get it. she loved him once. she didn't have a maester, she had a brother. he sold their mother's crown to keep them fed. he said Dany, please. she loved him, once.

#I feel like the tragedy of viserys and dany is they really might have been close and loved each other normally of they'd been allowed to #barristan says viserys always seemed aerys's son but when has westeros had any sort of developed understanding of mental illness #dany knew him best and she said the last kindness left him when he sold their mother's crown #it begs the question how much kindness there would have been if they hadn't been children forced out on the streets #a brother dany says never forgave her for their mother's death giving her birth.#but who told her stories and brought her up while his own mental faculties were wearing thin #it doesn't feel like tywin keeping tyrion based on lannister name and blood alone #she loved him once.#that viserys had some inherent lecherous evil in him doesn't feel in line with that to me #it doesn't feel in line with dany please #if ned is the good guardian to tywin's bad one viserys was just a boy who found himself in that role under the worst possible circumstances #and who under duress of those awful circumstances and his own undiagnosed mental illness #(for which he never got any help or support)#failed his sister very very badly #leaving daenerys to feel the hole of his absence even when he was still alive #because she loved him. once #lol anyway!#asoiaf #daenerys targaryen #viserys targaryen

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thosewildcharms · 1 month

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the REAL question is. will there be some sort of payoff to the "five pizzas and a wedding ring" line. as in. am I perhaps gonna see rick and michonne get married on my tv screen. because I would actually really like it if rick and michonne got married on my tv screen. do they NEED to get married when it's basically just a formality? well, no. but! consider! rick giving michonne a ring of her own instead of her wearing the one from his previous marriage around her neck. consider marriage vows (!!!) delivered by andy and danai. I know we've already been given so much it's nuts to ask for more but. five pizzas and a wedding ring. am I boo boo the fool

#richonne #the ones who live #like. truly the only REAL wish i have for this show is that they make it out together and alive and back with their kids.#and i know he already referred to her as his wife #and realistically there's probably not enough time left in these last three episodes #but if i may be greedy for a second.

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hypogryffin · 11 months

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side-by-side

#persona 3 #p3 #mitsuru kirijo #p3 aigis #i have THOUGHTS and FEELINGS about the potential of mitsuai as a dynamic #emotions even #just. listen. they are the only two who can never stop fightjng shadows. who will never have peace and never leave the other world behind #everyone else has a choice. maybe akihiko doesnt feel like he does maybe he feels like he has to get stronger and keep figjting #so that no one he knows will ever get hurt again. but its a DECISION on his part to stay fighting shadows. and everyone else has left their #fighting days behind. but aegis and mitsuru??#aegis is a shadow suppression unit. she was created to fight shadows and even if she has a life and feelings and friends she will never #NOT be a robot made to fight and kill shadows. she can never stop. it is a part of her forever.#and mitsuru theoretically has a choice but. does she really? does she really? the moment she awoke to her persona she was cursed #now as the last kirijou alive she has a burden no one else could possibly bear. no one can take responsibility for her grandfathers sins.#nor for her fathers. nor for every person who worked at kirijou ergonomics no matter their innocence. no one but her.#she cant stop fighting shadows until the kirijou name is clear of guilt. and that will never happen until shadows stop existing #everyone else who survived sees have the option to put their weapons down. whether they choose it is on them but they CAN choose #mitsuru and aegis will never be so lucky #just. G-D! G-D! gnaws my arm off

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quirkle2 · 3 months

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more zombie au :] (1.2k words)

The odor of rot has joined the damp growth of life from pots. Even if some things die off without human aid, there are always stronger elements that thrive in their absence.

The aisles are overgrown. Ritsu brushes past the vines as gently as he can, wooden floor groaning under his worn soles. There’s a gap of empty space in the middle of each aisle that he slots through, eyes roaming the shelves of largely useless things. Stronger stems snag onto his backpack and he tugs distractedly while perusing the labeled pots along the tables.

The barn is quaint, and Ritsu thinks he would love to stay. Moss eats at the boards under his feet and bugs swarm around him in the hot air incessantly, but it’s peaceful and there’s a constant sprinkle of sound to his ears that have grown so used to silence. Whoever owned this place beforehand put up a few wind chimes indoors—they must’ve always had the front entrance open for customers.

It’s a quiet little homemade garden center, or something similar, on the side of the highway. It’s an overgrown property with something dead in the backyard that Ritsu refuses to acknowledge or let Shigeo near. The shingles and boards in the roof have been replaced with polyethylene sheets—a barn-turned-greenhouse, uprooted from the hay and cattle it likely used to house and settled back into the Earth to be a paradise for plants.

There’s a large branch hanging through a hole poked into the plastic overhead. It sways with the wind and the chimes that follow, and Ritsu whistles with the leadless melody and gives it a direction while he studies old seed packets.

They didn’t stop here for any particular reason—a garden center doesn’t have much for apocalypse survivors, but Shigeo has always liked overgrown things. He’d always enjoyed taking care of their mother’s plants back home, and then Reigen’s at the office. His brother likes the humidity of greenhouses and the smell of soil and dirt and must.

He sees the top of Shigeo’s head over the aisles, across the barn. He walks past a shovel hanging on the wall and yelps out a grunt when it clangs to the floor behind him. Ritsu shakes his head and smiles, running his fingers along faded price tags.

The feeling of greenhouses has always had this… wet fullness, to Ritsu.

When he breathes in it’s like he can taste the life that breathes out and it feels like a conversation, a question and an answer, both of which he’s not sure how to articulate. The leaves wave to him and he waves back, the once-active sprinklers pepper his skin with dots, with compliments, with proclamations they are eager to share. The vines weave between fencing just to reach him, just to talk.

He understands why Shigeo likes it, and why he’d always asked to accompany their mother on trips to get new seeds. Ritsu hadn’t really understood, then, how pretty it could be, how full it could feel.

Shigeo had always been right about loving the little things. Ritsu wishes he’d seen that sooner.

His brother ambles down the aisle ahead of him and he listens to the quiet patter of his sloppy footwork, moving around a table of seed trays. His whistles carry across the barn, sort of aimless in their own right instead of leading the wind and the chimes somewhere worthwhile, but the sounds soak into the overhead plastic nicely, so he keeps going.

He pulls back a layering of vines and leaves to scan the contents of another shelf, and then he notices Shigeo stop in his peripherals. His dirty shoes stay planted in the corner of his vision, leaves burying the toes, and Ritsu looks away from the products.

He means to say something, to ask him what’s up even if saying things to Shigeo very rarely results in productivity, but he stops when he realizes his brother’s head is… tilted.

He’s looking at him with as much inquisitiveness as his dulled down awareness can muster, pale eyes flickering across Ritsu’s face like he’s working out some puzzle. He instinctively stops whistling, brain lagging behind on this new info of this new behavior, and the sound fizzles out into a little huff of air that leaves the greenhouse feeling oddly empty.

Shigeo studies him for a moment longer, blinking slowly, and then he straightens his head out as Ritsu stares back. His brother’s gaze lingers there on his mouth, like he’s still confused, like he still expects something to happen.

Ritsu blinks once, twice. The wind chimes call as wind pokes at his greasy spikes, as it prods at the ends of his jacket and fills the silence with a different flavor of itself. The interest in the zombie’s eyes fades a little, gaze straying to the vines around them.

Very tentatively, Ritsu wets his lips and blows. The whistle grabs his brother’s attention immediately, and he’s suddenly tilting his head like a curious dog.

He can’t help the laugh that spills out and makes the whistle a mess of exhales. His shoulders shake a little and he hurries to keep the tune steady and consistent; a few seconds pass and Shigeo tilts his head the other way, exhausted eyes big and more alert than they’ve been in days.

Ritsu experiments, and ventures around with the sound—goes lower and higher and watches his brother twist his head back and forth like he’s trying to understand calculus. There’s something very innocent about it, about the look in his eyes that reminds him of when they were kids and their father would show them magic tricks.

It’s muted by the ever-present fog there in his pupils, but Ritsu thinks he sees a spark of that life in them, of that curiosity born from a mind that knows little. He gives him a simple sensation, a simple experience, and his brother is eating it all up like he’s four again, like he’s new and everything is colorful and unknown and big.

Ritsu watches Shigeo tilt his head back and forth, watches the rusty gears behind his window panes move. He changes tactics, because some sad part of him tells him to, and whistles Shigeo’s favorite song instead.

He remembers the name, but he doesn’t need the name because when he thinks of the tune he thinks of his brother, and that’s all that matters. It’s happy, because Shigeo likes happy music. It’s chipper and yet it meanders, like it’s willingly getting lost, like it’s wandering where it wants to and it’ll eventually find its roots again. It’s happy the whole time. The whole adventure.

Shigeo stops tilting his head, and the gears behind his eyes churn a little bit faster. His gaze clings to Ritsu’s and his brother makes actual eye contact, sinks his own being into Ritsu’s head when he’s least prepared for it. The recognition in his gaze has his soul souring.

He keeps whistling. He doesn’t want to stop, because Shigeo feels like Shigeo right now, and he doesn’t want that to stop.

His brother stares. Ritsu’s grief tints the music.

#qkwrites #zombie au #mp100 ritsu #ritsu kageyama #shigeo kageyama #mp100 shigeo #mp100 mob #every time i think about this au too long i am filled with despair #last line of this . damn i was cookin #ritsu's grief tints Everything he does in this world #he's fucking haunted by it and it's awful bc it's not like he can just.not think abt it #bc the source of his grief is Shigeo. and shigeo still breathes and walks and reacts to things ritsu does like he's alive #and he Is alive. he's very much alive #but there is a lot missing. and ritsu Feels the absence every fucking second #it's like walking into a house that used to have another person in it. and all the familiar sounds ur used to will never be made again #it's very empty and stagnant and the things that Do stay are Different #and it changes a lot. one minute ritsu will be having an okay day—best mood u could possibly have in an apocalypse anyway #and then he looks over and shigeo is doing smth that he used to do Before but it's wrong and a little bit to the left #and without the life in it #pure muscle memory on shigeo's part #and suddenly ritsu's mood drops So fast and he's so Exhausted from these mood swings he keeps having #u know that thing that goes like .uhhhh grief doesn't fade life just gets bigger around it. or smth #yeah ritsu's life isn't rly getting bigger. he is not moving away from the grief bc the source of it keeps staring him in the face

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finnitesimal · 6 months

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On the surface it's Missa being tormented by being called a bad dad but it's very much BadBoyHalo being shot in the chest repeatedly every time Missa talks about how he takes care of them

#Missa saying he left the last one for four days and thought it'd still be alive. unfathomable

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shima-draws · 4 months

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Binks’ Sake hits SO differently now

#The fact that they knew they were going to die.#The fact that Brook recorded their last moments together. Preserved for forever. So he can take it back to Laboon.#The fact that they kept playing. And they started to fall one by one as the poison finally took them. Until it was only Brook left. Alone.#The fact that Brook came back to life and had to bury all of his crew mates. His entire ship.#The fact that he was trapped for FIFTY YEARS on a ship that couldn’t sail properly. Stuck with the corpses of his friends.#The fact that he was so lonely and miserable and kept dreaming of his crew mates being alive.#THE FACT THAT HE’S STILL SO GOOD #HE’S STILL SUCH A GOOD PERSON. That he didn’t succumb to madness and bitterness #Compared to the Baron. Brook has suffered SO much more and yet is still so kind and giving and loyal #Actually crying my eyes out right now. I need a tissue brb lol #Shima speaks #One Piece

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eerna · 6 months

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Just noticed Yato is disappearing too and that’s why Yukine is clinging to him

YEAH. Y E A H. HE THINKS HE IS GOING TO LOSE BOTH HIYORI AND YATO AT THE SAME TIME. I AM LOSING MY MIND.

#eernask #eernanon #eernask talk noragami #noragami spoilers #and like. isn't that what would have happened in the end anyway.#yato tying his existence to hiyori's memory means he would def be dead after her memory is gone. which could happen at any time.#like yeah she could teach her kids to keep his memory alive but EVERYONE knows that is a thin ''maybe''#and yukine would be left the last one standing. with only his name to remind him of them.#i'm sure his ton of other friends would take care of him but he was the odd one out in this trio tragedy i am cryin just thinking about thi

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agentravensong · 1 month

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re: my previous post, i think if you were to stage a version of ros & guil are dead and wanted to highlight the "they're stuck in a time loop because that's the nature of theater (in the modern day)" thing at the end, the best way to do it would be to have the last thing be the messenger's voice coming from offstage, calling ros and guil's names and telling them they've been summoned by the king of denmark. don't show ros and guil waking up, but have that be the obvious implication; that after all this, they don't get to rest, because they have a long journey — the same long journey — ahead of them — again.

#this way the last tableau we're left with -- the last thing we see -- is still the “important” hamlet characters #so it doesn't undermine the driving in of the cruel irony that this story was never really ros and guil's #and it doesn't undermine the lads disappearing from view (dying) by showing them immediately alive again #rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead #ragad #also imo this version would make it clearer that each performance of the show is one loop (and thereby that it's inherent to the medium)#where having them return to the top of the show before curtain makes the timeloop feel more divorced from it and arbitrary

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hybridkilljoys · 8 months

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I've been an absolute emotional wreck since last night due to my narcissist father making me feel less than human so can i..........ask for some reassurance that i'm not an absolute failure of a human being

or pictures of your cats, that would help a lot too

#its been months of dealing with his abuse and last night it left me feeling worse than ever and i am just #really exhausted and mentally broken rn #and i hate asking for reassurance because I always feel like a bother and I should just deal with shit myself until it passes #but when i say last night was bad it was bad and i feel like i am not even meant to be alive that is how that man made me feel #so i just wanna be selfish this one time #and ask for spare kindness because i could really use it right now because my feelings arent going away #no matter how hard im trying to distract myself today and i dont have the strenght to stay like this for a week or more #so yeah #gomen for rambling in the tags im just really #idfk embarrassed and ashamed i dont like asking for help i feel dumb even tho i know its not dumb but yeah #txt

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emmavakarian-theirin · 3 months

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ISOLDE.

#oh the essay i could write on how much i DESPISE her #alistair started talking about her and all the hatred i had for her came back in force #and now i'm face to face with her and i'm starting to think it's morally and logically correct to sacrifice her #first for being a child neglecter and second for enabling all the chaos and death and destruction to redcliffe #all so she wouldn't disappoint her fereldan daddy who is ALSO a child neglecter but she's worse and i can't kill him tragically #but even fucking. about to enter the castle after saving the village after SEVERAL NIGHTS OF DEATH BECAUSE OF THIS #and she scoffs at alistairs mere presence?? bitch he was 8 when you saw him last and sent him away! EIGHT!!#fuck you and the noble you rode on #dragon age origins #and as for logically correct: if you leave the village at all before battle everyone (except teagan) is killed. EVERYONE. and that's 1 night #after several days of attacks! no one else is left!! but the demon is still alive in the castle and anything can happen #and it takes 1-2 days to get to the circle to get the mages. leaving for up to 4 days to get more help to *possibly* stop more deaths?#and it's clear arl eamons life takes priority over all else....#so yeah time to kill a bitch i guess 💅

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orchideae · 3 months

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A few quick random tidbits about Yanshang Teahouse:

— Teahouse/casino. While said to be 'disguised' as a teahouse, Yanshang does seem to genuinely function as one, or at least during the daytime. And it's primarily during the evening hours that it functions more actively as a casino. Now I need to note, the latter is not public knowledge. Or rather, it's more so a rumor that holds a fair bit of truth to it. But a rumor is a rumor nonetheless. This is vital, because it is because of this that it is still running. I've spoken a fair bit about this behind the scenes lately, but Yanshang functions as a casino because it draws 'less than good people' into a surrounding that has everything playing against them, and through that, Yelan is able to gather intelligence that benefits everyone, especially Ning. So if the latter for example, Ningguang were to know its full ins and outs, it would actually mean that she'd have to turn a blind eye to something that is not fully legal, which spells all kinds of trouble for the person responsible for, well, the law in Liyue Harbor?

— Gambling. Yelan has gained a reputation for her gambling skills, and is even rumored to cheat when the need calls for it (though of course, this isn't picked up on, it seems!), as is noted in her fifth character story: "If there is a draw, that could only mean one thing: Her opponents are cheating too.", and so potential opponents are advised to steer clear of playing against her through word on the streets of the harbor.

— Home? While this is not Yelan's home whatsoever, there is an upstairs area that is something akin to her 'private quarters'. It holds no personal affects that are tied to her directly, but to an extent, if one were to ever intrude/break in (past The Halbert and the Fang, somehow), you'd find the 'guise' tied to this notorious woman who owns Yanshang. But this guise is not quite her. Again, she works in personas, some much more realistically than others (the art of it, is knowing what of yourself you put into personas as to add to their authenticity's longevity). Either way, there is a comfort and peace that she finds in it, and the room is somewhat styled into a decorum that Yelan appreciates, beyond the 'keeping up appearances' aspect to it. It is hers in the end, to some degree.

— Finances. While one would be led to believe that Yelan gains a lot of financial benefits through Ningguang, Yelan's second character story might beg to differ: 'The way (Yelan) sees it, she is not so much working for Ningguang as making good on her end of the deal, or rather... she is honoring a certain pact. She plucks the fruits of intelligence from the tree of danger for Ningguang, and in return, all she asks for is danger itself and the sense of achievement.' While I'm decently certain that Yelan might occasionally stand to gain some sort of financial gain through the Qixing, it seems evident that it's not what her primary motive is. Yelan seems to not be interested in luxury by default (she lived in a hut for a long time), and more so seeks a sense of freedom, thrill and personal achievement. Now do I think that because of this, she's not well off? No, I simply think that the majority of her income may actually come from Yanshang Teahouse, and, to put it not-so-eloquently, ripping off bandits, and hopefully, specifically some Fatui in the process.

#[ meta. ] the chances are if i open this door; there can be no witnesses left alive. is that a sufficient reason for you?#[ a big motivator for the last one also is that the security and 'receptionist' for yanshang never changed after yelan took it over. ]#[ which tells me they're likely loyal to coin (as most in that field are to be fair) or are subject to blackmail. ]#[ one may be tempted to think the latter; but that's not quite... safe enough. as in jail there's resentment that forms and then... ]#[ word of mouth and they'd become yelan's (or the tea house's) enemies rather than keeping them neutral or friendly. ]#[ so i like to think it's coin. but also considering the direct trade route/delivery route that we know canonically runs from... ]#[ chenyu vale to yanshang-- there's /got/ to be enough money in circulation there. ]#[ she has a decent pouch of mora on her. that and an even bigger pouch of favors people owe her (and vice versa). ]#[ any way; i'll likely be adding to this! ]

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antianakin · 2 years

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So I've been thinking about those posts that have gone around protesting the fandom inclination to not like villain redemption arcs because of the puritanical values that go along with believing people don't deserve the "rewards" that come with redemption arcs, usually: love, acceptance, understanding, etc. and the idea that no person deserves to be denied the basic things every human being should be granted.

And, of course, applying that to Anakin.

Because as someone who does not truly LIKE Anakin, I'm usually the first person to not be inclined to forgive Anakin post-child murder, post-genocide, post-betrayal. I'm generally the first one to believe Anakin can't get better once he's chosen to do his worst. I've called him a rabid bear that just needs to be put down for his own sake and everyone else's. There isn't a cure at this point, he can't be saved or redeemed.

Even Luke doesn't really REDEEM Anakin, Anakin's still only doing what he does to save someone he likes. Great, he throws down a regime to save a family member, where have we seen him do that before? Oh right, when he threw down democracy to save his wife and instigated the beginning of the Empire. He didn't destroy the Empire because he wanted to make amends. He didn't kill Palpatine to save the galaxy he'd helped destroy. He didn't do any of it because it was just generally the right thing to do or because he recognized just how much pain he'd caused and was seeking to do better as a person overall. He does it to save ONE PERSON, and we can pretty solidly say, he wouldn't have done it for ANYONE ELSE, probably up to and including Leia.

Which makes me believe that had Anakin miraculously survived killing Palpatine, he wouldn't necessarily be a better person. He wouldn't truly work to make any kind of amends to the galaxy he'd brought so much pain to.

And what kind of amends could he even DO at this point that would make any kind of difference? He's committed like 167 genocides at this point, oppressed an entire galaxy, killed billions of children on a whim, destroyed whole planets. What can he POSSIBLY do to make any real amends for that? What could possibly make up for that in any meaningful way? He can't undo the Jedi genocide and quite honestly no one should ever let him near a Force sensitive person, especially a child, again. He can't undo the three decades of oppression, he can't undo the fact that the Republic that existed has been basically burnt to ash and needs to be rebuilt from scratch and, again, quite honestly, no one should ever let him near politics ever again.

The best thing Anakin Skywalker can do for the galaxy at this point if he manages to survive is just disappear from it. Whether he dies or just walks away and spends the rest of his life meditating on everything he's done wrong and leaving the galaxy he's brought so much pain to well enough alone, I don't care. Luke can go visit him if he wants to, I guess, but no one else should have to deal with him.

I think that's where my biggest grievance lies in any kind of "Vader Lives" AUs, or "Vader changes sides inexplicably post-genocide" AUs. Because generally, now EVERYONE ELSE IN THE GALAXY has to deal with him like he HASN'T committed genocide. Like he HASN'T murdered mountains of children for the sake of selfishness. As if he isn't someone who would happily do so again if it came down to it as we see in ROTJ when he happily brings down another government to save one person. If saving Luke in that moment had required another genocide instead of just killing Palpatine, we all know he'd have done it. He absolutely would've murdered any number of children to save HIS child. Because he hasn't truly changed and his motivations for saving Luke are almost exactly the same as the motivations he had for saving Padme, it's just that the requirements shifted and the galaxy got very lucky that saving Luke ALSO meant taking out the Emperor and Anakin himself.

Why should the galaxy at large be obligated to share it with someone who would have happily killed them all not so long ago, just because Anakin MIGHT one day learn to be a better person? Why are they obligated to just live the rest of their lives hoping he doesn't decide to go ahead and commit his 168th genocide if Luke stubs his toe on the wrong planet? Why is their fear acceptable in favor of Anakin getting a chance to be good?

Once he's decided double genocide is acceptable? Once he spends DECADES oppressing everyone he can find because misery loves company? I don't really see a way out for him that isn't vastly unfair for everyone else.

#anti anakin #anti anakin skywalker #this is probably a wildly controversial opinion #i understand that it's definitely not the jedi philosophy #that they all believed even the worst people COULD choose to be better #however mace windu who is the ultimate jedi also comes to the conclusion that palpatine cannot be left alive #because he was too dangerous to the galaxy at large to do so #obi-wan kills maul because he is too dangerous to the galaxy at large to be left alive #could palpatine and maul have chosen to be better? sure. but they don't.#and it's not worth the damage they'll cause to wait for them to maybe do so #the galaxy does not deserve to have to keep suffering just to spare one person #why would anakin be any different?#why would anyone trust he's actually not going to snap and cause a genocide at the slightest inconvenience ever again?#he was good once and fought for the republic once and still committed multiple genocides #why would ANYONE trust him again?#and would it be the SMART thing to do to trust him to do better than last time?#or is it just naivete #anakin deserved to die because all he did was bring the galaxy pain and suffering #his redemption was not worth the galaxy having to suffer more #needs of the many #are greater than the needs of the anakin #kill him to spare everyone else his presence

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