Wow....wow....wow....

Prompt 266

Back on my Danny & Ras frienemies/rivals/maybe-lovers-nobody-can-tell-their-signals-are-very-mixed train. 

See, Danny has gone through time a lot. Often. It comes with being Clockwork’s charge-son-thing and honestly he finds it fun. And several times he’s used this time travelling to get some training in. Enter Ras, stage left, also a teen at the time and also learning swordsmanship from the same person. 

And they… utterly despise each other. They would kill the other for an apple slice, if the other one would die! But also, only they can kill the other, as it is obviously their right! 

And well, they keep running into each other. It has been a hundred years, surely the other would die by now? But of course their rival would live through utter spite. Probably to spite them specifically. 

The amount of times they have ended up sparring- trying to kill each other or not- the moment they see the other is actually ridiculous. But time is also passing. And… Danny understands, not having another to talk about things people are forgetting, or have already forgotten. 

How they ended up actually talking without a murder attempt was a long story that included a demon, a dragon, a pair of fae, some bandits, and a lot of alcohol, but it happened. And then it happens again. And again, and now it’s just kind of normal to share a drink after their spars, talking about things that no longer exist, and things they miss. 

Sure Danny can go back in time again, but he knows better than to do it willy nilly. He’s matured, he’s been an adult for a hundred years now, he knows there’s consequences for messing with time, even with Clockwork’s blessings. 

The first time they got married was technically for an undercover assassination. Well, Ras was there to assassinate someone, Danny was there to grab an artifact that should Not be in the realm of the living. And they got divorced after, it was fine. 

They just, also got married again when they met a few years later, for another job. And… okay, so maybe they have gotten married over a dozen times now and only divorced like half of those times. Half of those were for the bit or while drunk! 

And even if technically they’re married or shared a bed, it’s not like they're exclusive! As Ras’ daughters’ existences attest to (adopted in one case or not). They don’t exactly have a label for their relationship, despite others asking for one or trying to put a name to it themselves. 

Now Danny knows Ras isn’t exactly a good dude, or at least on the side of ‘good’ as he’s a literal assassin. But he also knows that good? Bad? Rather relative. He had gotten labeled as a villain when he was just trying to help all that time ago after all, and really who was he to tell someone else how to live their life? 

Which brings him to now, where he’s run into his old frienemy-rival and his youngest daughter. Who has a braindead teenager and a small toddler. Which is fine, really- but also, Talia dear, why are you using a brain dead teenager to guard your three year old son? 

…

Okay, Talia dear, Ras (Derogatory), why are you using your brain dead son and grandson to guard your younger son and grandson? Do you not have the Pits, which you were soo proud about Ras? Yes, he will spar with you, but for Realms’ sake, heal, what’s his name? Ah yes, go heal Jason and he’ll actually stick around for a few years, deal? Good. 

I see some people asking "when are we going to get a Bakugou moment where he encourages Izuku??" But didn't he already have it?

I believe he was the one who started the whole "do your best" thing off before 422

David Tennant tells the story of how he ended up as the Fourteenth Doctor - at GalaxyCon Richmond - March 2023

Special thanks to [ Sabrina Latif ]

does anyone else get so upset when you think about all the things that happened to your f/o... all the things they went through? all the things they haven't healed from? the pain that they may still be enduring? how you can do your best to help them but you can't protect them from everything. so you just love them the ways they needed before, how they deserved. and you see them happy because they finally accept, at least in some ways, that they do deserve it. they deserve love like all beings do

Bernie Sanders finally made a statement, on Nov. 4, calling for a "pause" in the bombing. People in the replies are saying "better late than never!" and I don't even know where to start.

The genocide has been going on for almost a month. Over 9,000 men, women, and children have been murdered. Thousands more have been wounded. Members of press and healthcare and their families have been deliberately targeted and assassinated. Israel has been murdering civilians en masse with impunity for weeks, both lying about it and blatantly admitting to it. 100+ Palestinians have been murdered in the West Bank due to settler terrorism backed by the Israeli army.

In an interview, Dr. Ofer Cassif, the Knesset member who was suspended for calling for an end to Israeli violence against Palestinians, revealed that he'd reached out to Bernie months prior to Oct. 7th because of the pogroms being carried out by Israelis against Palestinians which he said would result with an "explosion [of violence]", but received no response.

what the fuck do you mean "better late than never". what the fuck do you mean? the genocide is still ongoing, and, just like Blinken, Biden, and every complicit ghoul, he's calling for a pause. not a ceasefire. a ceasefire is just the start of what needs to happen. but he hasn't even called for that.

"better late than never" what gives you the fucking right to say that? tell that to the 10,000 people who the U.S. and its allies allowed Israel to murder. tell that to the thousands of wounded. tell that to the thousands who have been displaced. tell that to the people of Gaza who have been without food, water, and fuel for WEEKS. tell that to the Palestinians in the West Bank who are being murdered at the hands of settler terrorists. tell that to the Palestinians who were abducted and tortured and released with blue bands around their ankles. tell that to the Palestinians in occupied Palestine who can't reach their families and friends. tell that to Palestinians in diaspora who have seen their families, their friends, their people slaughtered with the full backing and support of the vast majority of western governments and media.

"better late than never" no, it's not good enough. IT'S NOT. there are SO many people around the world - both citizens and members of government - who recognized the injustice for what it was the DAY the bombing started. we owe the Palestinian people so much more than that. "better late than never" the ONLY thing that could POSSIBLY begin to even "make up" for the horrors and injustices inflicted upon the Palestinian people for almost a century is to end the genocide, end the occupation, end the apartheid, end settler colonialism, and dismantle the colonial state. Palestinians deserve NO LESS than total emancipation. Complete liberation. until then, it is not and will never be enough.

What I'm about to tell you... is going to be hard to believe. Again. - LOKI Season 2 (Oct 6th, 2023)

Posting it on main too, but here's my contribution to the @hoshinokaabi-secretsanta with a gift for @mastercrowned!! All of the given prompts were So Delightful, but in the end I had to go with drawing Morpho ordering a Kirby Burgie (or maybe 10) asdlkgjn

version without the text bubble under the cut!

This whole event was a Delight to participate in! Had I more time and energy I would have Defo scribbled out more, but for Now pls enjoy my Favorite part of the image that Unfortunately got masked by the completed piece which is.

Scrungle Dee

i hate being a mentally ill adult actually. i hate that there’s always groceries to be bought and housekeeping to do and work in the morning i hate that we have no space to feel it all i hate that we walk around acting normal. there are so many people i know who are clearly deeply unhappy with their lives and we make silly little jokes that allude to it but sometimes i want to grab them by the shoulders and scream ‘i know you are miserable!! we can’t keep living like this!! this is why people break!!’ im sick of this drudgerous apathy i want us all to be dramatic like when we were teenagers i want us to sob together and scream bloody murder at each other and tell each other we want to kill ourselves not as a funny post-ironic joke but because we all feel like that sometimes!! i want us to get fucked up on god knows what til we can’t open our eyes i want us to take care of each other instead of always taking care of ourselves i want us to be vulnerable i want us to hold each others hands in the ambulance!!

i really do think the desire to paint ten as unambiguously The Worst™️ when it comes to his relationship with martha is out of this desire to uncomplicate their relationship. to decouple them as friends and people who profoundly impacted each other’s lives. it’s just an easier narrative to swallow: that ten was Awful to her and then martha kicked him to the curb when she realized she was too good for him. easier, maybe, then dealing with the troubles of unrequited affection don’t have to be anyone’s fault, or that ten shut martha out in a lot of ways but let her in in others that he wouldn’t let any other companion near, or that they were still friends, they still wanted to see each other and be around each other, even though it was messy and sometimes hurt. you know?

Just to minimize my chances of being genuinely misunderstood OR deliberately misinterpreted, and crucified for something I don't think, How Dare You Say We Piss on the Poor website etc...I'm gonna say this right up top. I absolutely understand why people don't like Thessaly as a character, if anyone does completely unironically stan her as some kind of feminist hero who Did Nothing Wrong uwu, I personally see it as a bit of a red flag. I don't like terfs real or fictional. In a vacuum, I could even completely sympathize and agree with the people who want her cut.

HOWEVER.

It's really something to me to see people clamoring for her to be cut, because she carries and expressed an ugly indefensible prejudice (transphobia) in words towards (1) person. Meanwhile Hob fucking Gadling enacted one of the most violent forms of antiblack racism I can even think of against thousands no, millions of people, the ripple effects of which still affect billions more today. Just a little light idk, profiting off the fucking slave trade and had to be told by someone else that it was bad...and he's a fan favorite.

People are saying Thessally being Dream's love interest reflects badly on him or is somehow endorsement by the narrative (?!?!?!?!?!? Didn't she (SPOILER ALERT AS IF IT MATTERS BY NOW) help participate in his extended assisted suicide? She's not painted as a great person to me just another character what are y'all SMOKING whatever fine. It's fine this is fine.) But shipping Dream with Mr. Former Slaver is not only not verboten or frowned on widely in the fandom but its THEE most popular pairing by far. So...why the difference?

Like where are the same fans who are saying Thessaly shouldn't just be more clearly shown to be wrong, she shouldn't even be in the show at all when it comes to Hobert's crimes??? Yes, transphobia is indefensible. Isn't racism?

And I hear the cries of "it's fiction!!!" Already rallying (if anyone who needs to hear this even sees it lol) to which I say:

HORSESHIT. I KNOW you don't, deep down, really agree because if you did, why get upset about Thessaly being included??? Why does what she said to one person matter if it's Just Fiction You Guyze. Fictional characters are allowed to do bad things and fiction isn't reality sweaty....except when you only apply that standard to fictional racists you like and simp for, but fictional transphobes you don't are SO HARMFUL they shouldn't even be portrayed in fiction.

Like. Give me a big fat BREAK. This looks like bullshit, no? I'm sorry, but I'd love for someone to try and give any other explanation besides one personally offended you or hit home for you, and the other doesn't.

And if that bothers you or you feel like it says something negative about you...idk what you want me to say??? You can't control how other people perceive you and that's how people outside this majority-of-the-fandom bubble see it. You don't need to respond, I just wish and genuinely hope this gives you a moment to think about why fans who ARE bothered by both (and not just paying lip service to being bothered by the one but railing against the other) are so frustrated with people saying everyone is welcome but in practice only bending over backwards for the comfort and emotions of themselves, and people they can easily relate to.

You don't have to like Thessaly (I don't. I find her an interesting antagonist, I don't stan her. And frankly that's not the point of her character) but you'll pardon me for feeling more than a bit cynical and side eying people's motivations for what seems a...pretty obvious double standard, on what fictional crimes related to real world issues matter to y'all, and which clearly don't. Either actually bring the same energy to the table for fictional people who committed atrocities, even if against a group you're not part of and thus don't feel the need to empathize with, or just carry on, but accept that you don't have the SLIGHTEST room to talk about cutting characters who do immoral things. And you also need to accept that you look like a hypocrite when you do.

i like to think that Poppy holds Wally when she's scared/nervous

If there’s one advice I can give you, it’s this: take math classes, dude. YouTube tutorials, tutoring lessons if you can afford it, online quizzes, ask your math whizz friends for help. because as someone who’s math incompetent and had a brutal situation at work, that shit WILL be an obstacle. I know math absolutely sucks, but trust me, it’s everywhere, and you WILL need at least the basics

People talk a lot about how Valka being kidnapped by dragons must have made Stoick hate them more and how seeing Hiccup defend Toothless must have reminded him deeply of her, and to an extent, if we are going to apply the context of the second movie to the first, it must be true.

However, also imagine that you've got this large web of connections, you've grown up hearing of all these people who live in surrounding islands and you respect them to an incredible degree.

You are strong and everything that has ever happened in your life has only done its work to back that. You're on top of the world, and those people you know? They are too.

You've all gathered for a meeting, and this man comes in, looking odd, with a strange manner, weak in mind, speaking of how he's got the capability to change the world as you know it. He bades that you bow to him, that you surrender yourselves and your ways of life. He claims he has become allies with your worst enemies, the things that have ravaged your people just as you've ravaged them in turn for centuries. He's got no grip on the kind of life you've lived. What he's suggesting is a ridiculous, silly nightmare. You think he's mad.

You sit on your throne and you laugh and the voices of every other Chief in the archipelago are laughing with you.

Then, suddenly, the strange man sets fire to your meeting place, and it seems almost like a nightmare- all at once you lose all of these people who you've looked up to and grown up with distantly as one guy comes in one day and kills them all and you can't do anything.

Then it's up to you to scrape up what's left of their remains and help put them to rest. It's your job to help fill the spots that they left behind, the ground changed completely beneath your feet.

You've been intimidated to the point of terror. You're convinced he's a madman out to get you all. You've seen the real world and your fall has been such that you're convinced that no one can stop him.

You don't know much at all about this strange man who has completely demolished the foundations of your strong society with one fell swoop, who has sentenced so many tribes to years of weakness and vulnerability as they try and get used to their new leaders- this strange man who has exposed your own tribe to the elements as you travel from place to place trying to fortify everything that has been left to ruin.

And then time passes, and you're chugging along with your tribe, and you have a son. He is odd and he seems to have no grip on anything- he doesn't seem capable of understanding the way your home works in all the ways he must. He is odd, weak, of a strange manner and then one day he is not.

One day, you come home and he seems so different- people clamor around him.

He's somehow figured out how to bring a dragon under his control- the most fearsome you've ever known. Unintentionally, he threatens to dismantle the world as you know it. At first, you find yourself reminded of your wife- your son pleads for sympathy, but unlike your wife, your son has succeeded.

You only know of one man who has ever done that, and you've only known of one other that you've found so odd in such an off-putting way.

You find yourself reminded of a madman you'd known very briefly, once upon a time- and you're scared... and mad.

Cahaya and Arum are the oldest dragons in my lair. They're in fact older than my lair. My own progen hitting 9 reminded me that they hit a decade:

Back in April 2015, when I'd just joined and was wanting to dip my toes into the coliseum, I wandered into the Lending Library thread to borrow a pair of level 25s to help me level up my own team.

A user called Ruinia (#234) happily let me take on Cahaya and Arum. After about a couple weeks I was ready to return them, but Ruinia didn't return until August when she was retiring from FR and looking to send off her dragons to adoptees, etc. She replied to my PM to keep them. They've been officially part of my clan ever since, and she doesn't appear to have logged in again after that week.

Ruinia's clan profile has comments up until 2019, some from 2015-2018 wishing her well wherever she is. 2018 was 7 years ago.

It's a bit daunting to think that they were with Ruinia's clan (led by her 1st gen imperial Solastiir) for about a year and a half, and have been with my clan for the nine years since.

They each have a piece of cute art that predates April 2015, and one of the artists (GwenniethePooh #377) appears to still be active on FR! It's just. It's been a long-ass time.

They're still major fixtures of my coli team, along with the team I levelled with them.

🫡