“Then write now, my young friend,” he said, laying a heavy hand on my shoulder: “write to our friend and to any other; and say, if it will please you, that you shall stay with me until a month from now.”
“Do you wish me to stay so long?” I asked, for my heart grew cold at the thought.
“I desire it much; nay, I will take no refusal. When your master, employer, what you will, engaged that someone should come on his behalf, it was understood that my needs only were to be consulted. I have not stinted. Is it not so?”
What could I do but bow acceptance?
oof moment of silence for our boy jon who got got by the “what, no hug for me?” move
So today has been completely fucking awful but it has made me think that my parents messed me up more than I probably realised. I’m always thinking about the trauma I went through with my stepmother, and that is a lot of it but I think my parents caused just as much damage as she did. They stole from me, invaded my privacy countless times, were often controlling, embarrassed me in front of friends, hell my dad tried to blackmail me at one point. If he hadn’t constantly brushed aside my health issues, maybe they wouldn’t be so bad right now. But I’ve always felt so much guilt at thinking those sorts of things about them, because I feel like they still care about me and love me. I’m finding it really hard to accept that I’m allowed to think those things about them, part of me is even convinced that maybe I’m making it up or exaggerating. I feel like most people’s relationship with their parents is probably similar and what I’ve been through is normal, and it’s hard for me to accept that maybe that’s not true.
Stuff like this hit’s really close to home with me because I had an abusive paternal figure growing up.
It’s easy for you to assume that this is an outrageously extreme example that someone’s prolly just blowing out of proportion; don’t. Abusers often use tactics like this. It’s about control and taking control away from their victims. This also means controlling the narrative, and controlling who the victim can talk to about their issues.
The thing is, over issues like this, the best response is to assume the victim is being legit. Even if they’re not, wishing them well won’t have anywhere close to the same repercussions as assuming a legitimate victim of abuse is lying.
I’m only saying this bit here because there are people in the notes of this post trying to play this entire post off as a hoax. I am talking to them personally now. You are not helping anyone except the abuser. The best-case scenario here is that you are a child who’s never had to live with abuse. Because the worst-case scenario is that you yourself are an abuser. Either way, the best thing for you is to stop.
this this thiiiiis AND adding to clarify, one of the biggest signs of abuse is that it sounds fake. which is bizarre, i know, but it’s part of the control.
it’s hard to take abuse seriously even when it’s happening to you. abuse is terrifying, it’s seriously fucked up, so victims don’t want to think it’s real. this happens to everyone. it’s how the brain protects itself.
OP wants to believe that of course their husband is a rational good hearted person who just needs to understand tha water and lights cost money, they’re not hurting the OP on purpose, this is a misunderstanding. no one would do anything so bizarre deliberately, right? it’s unbelieveable. sounds fake.
and it sounds fake to other people, too. OP can’t tell the story without sounding like a crazy lying bitch. i guarantee you if she brought it up in front of a third party, her husband would deny that it’s happening.
that is the abuse. that is gaslighting. he is changing her perception of reality to one that he controls. he is saying, Bizarre and crazy bullshit will happen to you and you have to fucking accept it as normal, and if you dare to talk about it no one is gonna believe your story.
The only thing I can imagine that could explain this is that he’s deliberately trying to make her think she’s crazy. And it’s working.
She needs to get out.
This is sometimes referred to as the “Trunchbull Method”, yes, like the horrifically abusive principal in Matilda.
She does it on purpose, and actually explains why in the book.
Essentially, if you are going to be abusive, she says you should go 150%. Really commit, be as wildly over the top as you can… that way, if your victim ever does get the courage to tell someone about it, what you did will sound so outlandish that no one will believe them.
“Our principal doesn’t like pigtails, so she picked a girl up by her hair and threw her over the fence.”
No parent would believe that… it’s too far. Surely no one would do that. (But if you know the story, you know it happened.)
“My husband leaves every light in the house on and every faucet running all day, and says that it’s literally impossible not to… and when I’ve tried to explain why it’s a problem, his excuse is that I’m not a mechanic, so he doesn’t have to.”
It sounds unbelievable… no one would be that stubborn and off-base, right? And most people who hear that won’t believe it. Which is how her husband wants it.
If he can break her down and make her doubt her own sense of reality and logic over something as trivial as a lightbulb, that leaves her wide open to manipulation on major issues like money, pregnancy, property.
The Trunchbull Method is insidious, especially when there’s no physical abuse and it’s just emotional/verbal. With the right conditioning, most of the victims don’t even see it as abuse.
Notice how she’s the sole member of the household with a job, that he’s mooching off her and has been for some time, and has been gaslighting her (while wasting hundreds of dollars, if not thousands) for months, to the point where she is genuinely wondering if she is insane…
…and even when people point out the abuse, she still firmly believes that it’s not? She wants to reach out for help, but she still feels guilty, because he tells her it’s her fault… and a part of her believes it.
This is exactly how this method of abuse works. When someone tells you what’s going on, and it sounds like abuse, calling them a liar or saying you don’t believe it will only ever help their abuser.
Believe them. Help them. Make sure they know you support them. Help to ground them in reality if you can, assure them that they aren’t crazy. That their thought process is rational.
example: “You’re right- turning off lights when you leave a room is very easy. And small children learn to turn off faucets when they’re done with them. You’re correct. His behavior doesn’t make sense, and neither does his excuse.”
Make sure they know you’re in their corner and will stand by them.
On average, it takes seven tries to leave an abusive relationship. Seven.
The more support a victim has, the faster that number goes down.
Update: as of 4 days ago (today is 11/19/2021) she left him and is trying to get her life together… but knows that she is struggling with the loneliness.
She goes into a lot of the things he did (tw: he body-shamed her, insulted her, and hit her regularly) but here’s her update. If you can and feel up to it, please offer her some support and love. Let’s do what we can to make sure she doesn’t feel alone.
“that is the abuse. that is gaslighting. he is changing her perception of reality to one that he controls. he is saying, Bizarre and crazy bullshit will happen to you and you have to fucking accept it as normal, and if you dare to talk about it no one is gonna believe your story.”
I don’t think D*pp’s reputation ever actually took a hit following his divorce and I’m going to keep saying this. I followed this case from the start and I don’t ever remember popular opinion being on Amber Heard’s side. When the divorce happened she was a gold digger. When those tapes got released years ago people didn’t even need anything more than out of context audio tapes to start demanding she be removed from Aquaman 2 and calling her an abuser.
I really think the explanation is more simple than rehabbing his public image because he really didn’t get fired from the WB until after he lost his libel case. Even after some fans called to replace him, the WB and world’s most famous transphobe JKR stood by D*pp. In this wonderful piece by the Hollywood Reporter. They lay out pretty clearly why D*pp isn’t getting work in Hollywood right now and he is unlikely to have his career post his libel case in the UK win or loose.
I think it’s so much more simple than people can imagine. It’s not ruining her reputation when people never sided with her. It’s not winning back his own career. It’s definitely not about winning the case (which many lawyers have said he is unlikely to do because defamation has SUCH high bar to clear. Since he has to prove she wrote that article with the intent to cause harm.) It’s just further abuse. He is doing this because abusers can use the courts to continue to abuse their victims. It’s just a way to keep abusing her. It’s really that simple.
And that it’s SO simple and obvious and people are doing his work and abusing her for him is wild. It shows you how short the #metoo movement was, and I deeply fear the way this will affect domestic violence victims. And it is one of the reasons I will continue to be so vocal about this. I support Amber. I stand with Amber. I will defend Amber. I stand with all victims of domestic abuse. I stand with people who hit their abusers back. I stand with people who didn’t leave for whatever complicated reasons they may have had. It is not on anyone to judge how someone handles an intensely traumatic situation. I see you. I believe you. I will support you. I will defend you.
Amber Heard has never been charged with abusing former partners. She was briefly arrested after bystanders called the police during an argument with her then girlfriend Tasya van Ree, but charges were never pursued. And Tasya van Ree herself is on the record saying Heard wasn’t abusive:
Also, if we want to bring up incidents that didn’t lead to police charges, how about Depp’s arrests for destroying a hotel room or threatening paparazzi with a plank of wood? Or how he’s being sued for punching a location manager on the set of City of Lies? Why do people always bring up Heard and van Ree but conveniently forget those?
Amber Heard has proven Depp’s abuse twice already
Amber’s claims of abuse have already been found credible in court TWICE. First, she was issued a DVRO against Depp during their divorce proceedings. Second, Justice Nicol in Depp’s UK defamation lawsuit found that there was sufficient evidence that Depp physically assaulted Heard on twelve occasions and sexually assaulted her once. Bear in mind, the defendants of a libel case in the UK must prove that their statements are “substantially true.”
With the UK decision, Depp tried to appeal three times. Each attempt was denied.
The recordings of Heard “admitting” abuse are selectively edited and taken out of context
The recording of Heard telling Depp no one would believe him if he said she abused him? “You can please tell people that it was a fair fight, and see what the jury and judge thinks”? The context of that clip is Heard telling Depp she feared for her life during one of his abusive episodes, and him whining that once she threw a can at him. He was trying to make her out to be equally guilty and she was pointing out how ridiculous the comparison was.
Heard saying “I hit you, I didn’t punch you”? He forced open a door on her feet, and she shoved it off herself, hitting him. That’s the context. In the same recording, he even asks how her toes are.
When Heard says Depp runs away from fights, she’s saying that he breaks boundaries they have previously discussed and behaves violently and hatefully, and when she tries to discuss it later, he refuses and shuts her out. That’s abusive.
Heard has admitted in her depositions to hitting back and throwing items to defend herself. That’s not abuse. Depp is on tape, video, and text doing and saying far worse.
Depp’s own legal team in VA entered into evidence a long audio recording which contained Depp saying to Heard, “the day I chopped my own finger off.” Depp and Heard were alone at the time this recording was made, so any attempted justification by saying Depp was covering for his abuser is nonsense.
Depp also confirmed he cut his own finger off in two separate texts to his doctor, and texts to his sister and Paul Bettany.
Depp was found to have abused Heard on twelve different occasions by the UK court. Heard was granted a restraining order against him during divorce proceedings.
Depp now claims that Heard is a gold-digger trying to extort money from him with false claims (even though he’s the one suing her.) Interestingly, when he started a relationship with Amber, he referred to his ex-wife Vanessa Paradis as an “extortionist.” Also as an “ex-cunt” and a “withering cunt.”
The phrasing “whatever your opinion of the Depp/Heard trial you have to agree that the memes are inappropriate” suggests that there are multiple morally acceptable opinions to have. There are not.
You’ll have to stand before God with your monstrous opinions someday.
I am among those too old for tiktok so I empathize with the instinct to see this as another ghoulish tiktok trend like ‘Helen Keller isn’t real’ and just chalk the whole story up to a sordid tabloid event.
And it is sordid and distasteful! But it’s also a calculated attempt by an abusive man to ruin his ex-wife’s financial stability and personal reputation to punish her for leaving him. Allowing this to just be a distasteful, sleazy story allows it to taint the victim of domestic violence with an layer of sleaze she does not deserve and which serves the abuser’s ends. This is not nuanced at all.
sorry but i’ve decided i’m not going to shut up about the implications of the depp vs heard spectacle. it’s genuinely frightening how this is radicalizing people into thinking the legal system is FAVORED on the side of women naming their abusers and rapists when the reality could not be further from the truth. i’ve seen more incel propaganda repeated word for word in the last few weeks than i’ve seen in years. please PLEASE use your brains. this is bigger than stanning a single celebrity and hoping they ‘win’. Me Too, despite being localized around abuse in hollywood, had a measurable impact on how victims were treated outside of that sphere of power. this case and how people are reacting to it online will also have an impact. it’s just all so incredibly irresponsible.
lemme just give u a lil context on some things that might be missing from social media content in the depp v heard trial. for background, i’m an attorney. i’m from california. i’m a certified domestic violence victim advocate. i work for a domestic violence shelter that provides services to both male and female survivors of domestic violence.
notes on previous cases & the type of legal action johnny depp filed
this is not a legal proceeding initiated by AH. it was initiated by Johnny Depp. it is not the first proceeding initiated by Johnny Depp.
once a victim ends a relationship and cuts off contact with an abuser, it is not uncommon for an abuser to use the legal system to continue to exert power and control over their victim. it’s called litigation abuse.
in the most recent completed legal proceeding (Johnny Depp sued a british tabloid for defamation for referring to him as an abuser), the judicial officer determined that AH had proved at least 12 of 14 alleged incidents of abuse to a civil legal standard, making it perfectly appropriate for a news organization to refer to Johnny Depp as an abuser.
this is a defamation case, not a case about abuse. its about whether or not AH defamed Johnny Depp by writing an article about *her* experience as a public figure associated with domestic violence, an article that did not mention Johnny Depp by name.
notes on forum shopping by depp’s legal team
interestingly, this defamation case was NOT filed in California, the state where AH and Johnny Depp lived during their relationship, and was NOT filed in New York, where the NYT, the publication that published AH’s article, is based. it was filed in the state of virginia.
because this trial is about defamation, not domestic violence, there has been a significant lack of expert testimony about domestic violence. let me just tell you a few things about the concept of mutual abuse.
in california, it is possible for two people to get restraining orders against each other if they have both committed acts of domestic abuse. HOWEVER, this type of legal outcome is heavily regulated because the legislature and judicial system understand that true cases of “mutual abuse” are exceedingly rare. therefore, california law requires that a judicial officer make “detailed findings of fact indicating that both parties acted primarily as aggressors and that neither party acted primarily in self-defense”.
in making this determination, caselaw directs judicial officers to consider the entire history of abuse in a relationship, rather than taking each incident as a single isolated event. this is because, say after 6 months of being choked, threatened with death, and having objects thrown at your head, when a drunk angry partner comes towards you, hitting them first, in and of itself, does not make you the primary aggressor. it is considered “reactive” violence, done in self defense, and can only be evaluated in taking the entire history of abuse in the relationship into account.
the fact that one party was injured during an altercation, in and of itself, does not make the injured party the victim and the injury inflicting party the primary aggressor. this is based on long established legal principals that a victim of physical aggression can employ reasonable physical force to defend themselves, even if that application of force results in injury to the aggressor
that AH admitted to striking Johnny Depp, in and of itself, does not legally mean that AH is “equally guilty” of domestic abuse, does not mean that she is not a victim of domestic abuse, and does not negate that Johnny Depp was the primary aggressor throughout the relationship
a few other notes:
johnny depp is not captain jack sparrow, edward scissorhands, or any other famous character you love. he is an almost 60 year old man with a documented history of frivolous litigation, alcohol and drug abuse, and physically violent outbursts dating back decades.
johnny depp is a cisgender heterosexual male, a multi-millionaire, a well established actor, and was in his 50s when he married a bisexual woman, an up-and-coming actress 20 years his junior. there is an ENORMOUS power differential here. which is not to say that it is inherently abusive, but it is context that needs to be part of the discussion.
petty but whatever, AH’s lawyer never said she used that specific makeup product brand to cover her bruises. AH’s lawyer said she used a product that did color correction, like that makeup product brand has, holding up their product for visual emphasis in the courtroom. it’s not evidence of any kind of lie and it’s extremely bad faith on that makeup brand’s part to insinuate otherwise
that lady who diagnosed AH, claimed she doesn’t have PTSD, and claimed that she has histrionic personality disorder and BPD, is NOT a board certified mental health professional, was hired by Depp’s legal team, AFTER drinking with Depp’s legal team, is paid by Depp’s legal team, and spent less than 12 hours evaluating AH in person. Not a credible reputable source of impartial, science-based evidence.
The clock’s slow and careful overhead. My mind shuts off. Searching for exit will prove fruitless. Your eyes are all I see. Quite frankly, they are all Iwantto see. You control me. You always will.
I can’t think past this madness swarming in my head any longer. I’ll give in. Anything to be put out of the misery of consciousness.
You walk on eggshells around me, expecting me to cut you down at a moment’s notice. I can see the trembling in your fingertips and the hesitation in your speech. It’s cruel to make you wait and suffer.
at the end of the day that man’s defenders have gone full qanon like it doesn’t matter what she says or how many photos of her bruises or the insane amount of property damage she has. it doesn’t matter that there are audio recordings of him screaming at her “you don’t exist” and telling her nobody will believe her or or admitting to head butting her or threatening to hurt himself while she begs him to stop. everyone jumped at the first chance to take their foot off this man’s neck so they wouldn’t have to face the reality that he’s a piece of shit and now they won’t see anything else. even the dumbass “mutual abuse” crowd refuses to acknowledge the way only one of them is being smeared and mocked relentlessly across the internet (and now on snl, apparently.) it doesn’t matter to them that her allegations against him were made in 2016, well before there was a mainstream metoo movement to “take advantage of”. it doesn’t matter! does anyone else feel like dying
actually the worst part is how many young people pride themselves on being “too smart” to fall for propaganda are the ones leading the online charge against this woman because they watched a tiktok “debunking” her claims
while I’m still deciding exactly what kind of brainrot to give my immediately-post-moreau eliot in this unshareable fic, I’m pretty sure about:
1- the realisation, months into being in the clear and on the run with moreau very definitely dead behind him, that he didn’t stop drinking beer for his own reasons. he’s staring into the fridge at some shitty bottles of beer in this shitty little shop realising that he actually misses it. it’s harder than it should be to talk himself into buying some.
as soon as he gets back to the current safehouse (more like home than it should be, really, for all that they hadn’t planned to stay there long) he finds the closest thing to a respectable sports channel on the and sits down and opens one up and forces himself to go through the steps of what he used to enjoy. he feels like someone’s watching over his shoulder the entire time.
it gets easier, with practice.
2- he genuinely thinks he’s someone who doesn’t like jewellery. he’s had bigger things to focus on, alright? he’s wondering if he made a mistake leaving chapman and the others alive, he’s tying himself into knots trying to work out if he’s betraying everything he held dear travelling with moreau’s killer and letting them feel safe enough to even sleep in the same room as him, he’s trying to figure out what he wants from his career - and what he can expect from it now - and he’s baking a lot of bread.
and he just looks right past the leather cuffs and braided bracelets and clever little beads he passes in market stalls. they’re just Not Him.
it takes him having to stop by a safehouse he hasn’t properly used since his PMC days. he sweeps the place and finds himself staring into the top drawer of the bedside table at the metal thumb ring that was shiny when he had to leave there in a hurry seven, eight years ago.
he picks it up and brushes off the dust and thinks: oh.
3- he has to be reminded that he has agency and options. he’s taken down an old enemy and is about to kill them entirely on autopilot when there’s a sharp voice and his companion looking at him like eliot, I won’t stop you, but do you actually want to do that?
and he kind of has to wake up. he kind of has to wake himself up several times a day, sometimes, because there’s no-one holding his leash now. he has to do that himself. he has to actively take it back out of a dead man’s hands, over and over, because he made the decision to leave and he did that for a reason.
it’s difficult to remember the reason, sometimes. but he buys beer and he gets the thumb ring cleaned up and it’s something, a reminder of his decision, a reminder of the person toby saw good in.
CW for infant genital mutilation, intersexism and transphobia
Reaching out to educate the perisex (that means “not intersex”) trans community about intersexism in an effort to build solidarity and support between our communities, not to discredit the trans community or to make anyone look bad. Intersex people are erased and abused heavily by perisex cis society, and we need solidarity to survive and the trans community has the potential to be our most solid and supportive allies.
If you are trans and your initial feeling about this is defensive or attacked: please address that in yourself. Of course you feel bad for not realizing there’s a whole erased group of people that is suffering, and maybe you’ve been complicit in intersexism without realizing. Now’s the time to learn and grow!
And do NOT compare this to “detransitioning”. To transition is to identify as a gender other than the one you were assigned at birth, and to be forcibly surgically altered and assigned a gender and then to transition from that gender is NOT what intersex people call “detransitioning”. To say so is to be intersexist, and to erase intersex experiences and define us out of our own identities. We do NOT have to conform to perisex words and definitions that do not apply to the intersex experience.
Also keep in mind: whatever you say in response to this, the person this is about will see your comments. Be fucking kind.
If anyone is able and willing to caption this, please feel free to do so or DM me so I can add it to the original post. My own auditory processing disorder makes transcribing anything from audio to text absolutely hell so I need help. Thank you!
[transcript:
All right, trans community, it’s time once again to address intersexual in the trans community. And I’m feeling extra autistic and overstimulated today, so bear with me if my tone or mood seems weird.
So, the way that the terms ‘cis’ and ‘trans’ are defined by the majority of the trans community, often excludes the existence and experiences of intersex people. I’ve been asked by one of my trans intersex friends to share her experience.
She was born with a vagina and a clitoris that was large, and she could urinate from her clitoris. And so they surgically closed her vagina when she was an infant. Without her consent, obviously. She was then assigned 'male’ at birth and raised as a boy, and put onto hormones and forced to live as a boy. She now identifies as a woman and has had re-corrective surgery but trans people tell her that she’s “not a real trans woman.” Why.
Hero sighed as he finally came home. Christ, those attacks had been a hassle to deal with. And afterwards he wasn’t even able to go home straight away, of course. No, first he’d had those damn press conferences to assure the public that Villain couldn’t possibly be on the loose again. It was just a copycat, nothing more.
He kicked off his boots and, with heavy legs, dragged himself up the stairs. He’ll go check on Villain tomorrow morning, maybe release some of his frustration on him. Right now, he just wanted to go to bed. The serum that had given him super strength was quickly leaving his system, and taking all his energy with it. He’d need to get horizontal soon if he didn’t want to collapse in the hallway.
As he stumbled past Sidekick’s room, holding the wall to keep upright, he heard something that made him pauze. He didn’t even register what it was he’d heard, his feet just stopped in their tracks. But then he heard it again. Was Sidekick crying? It was the middle of the night, what was he still doing up?
Hero opened the bedroom door. Blinking though his swimming vision, Hero saw the kid curled up on his bed, his bandaged arm pressed tight to him. His red hair covered part of his tight-knit brows. Though his eyes were closed in sleep, he was whimpering and flinching mutedly.
With every second, Hero felt himself inching closer to a crash. Yet, he still shuffled inside and sat down on the bed. He brushed some of Sidekick’s short hair from his forehead.
“Hey, kiddo,” he murmured. “It’s all a dream, it’s alright.”
At the touch, he merely flinched and didn’t wake up. Something in Hero’s heart twinged at the sight. The kid started muttering something. He couldn’t make out the words, but through the sleepy monotone, he could tell it was an apology of sorts. He took Sidekick’s shoulder and shook gently.
“Sidekick. Wake up, bud.”
With a gasp and a start, Sidekick shot upright. He blinked, and gazed at Hero with wide glassy eyes.
“Hero! No, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, don’t-!” he stammered, clearly still with one foot in the dream.
Hero sighed, and scooted a bit closer. He put his arm around his charge, pulling him closer.
“C’mere. It was just a nightmare, you’re okay.” His own speech was growing a bit slurred from his exhaustion.
Though Sidekick struggled a bit with sleep-heavy limbs, he was soon leaning against Hero’s chest. For a second, he stayed frozen, before Hero’s comforting rubs on his back made him relax a touch.
Hero smiled. It had been a while since he helped Sidekick through a nightmare like this. When he’d been just a scrawny 12 year old, he’d often woken him up with screaming in the middle of the night. The dreams were about fire, about his parents, about Villain. Hero never punished him for waking him up. No, instead, he’d hold the preteen in his arms until he fell back asleep. It wasn’t any trouble for him, and the kid was always so sweet afterwards. And now, even though he was nearly grown and Hero was so very tired, he’d do the same. Maybe the tiredness was making him nostalgic.
He could tell Sidekick was still tense against him. His heart beat so fast and hard, Hero could feel it through his back. He moved his hand up to ruffle his hair.
“It was just a bad dream, kid. D’you wanna talk about it?”
Some of his lower city accent was slipping out. When was the last time he’d even used the serum? For all the training he’d put Sidekick through, he himself had been slacking.
Sidekick’s stammered words still spilled out.
“No, I-I was falling, and he was there, and you were too, and I was going to hit the ground and die. I was going to fall, and I tried to tell you sorry, but-” he stopped himself, shuddering a bit at the memory. Hero sushed him.
“It’s okay, bud. You’re fine.”
The kid turned quiet, and they just sat in the dark room a while. Hero had to confess, this was nice. He should hug him more often.
“I’ve been hard on you lately, haven’t I?” he mused.
He felt Sidekick hold his breath, and he sushed him again.
“You don’t have to answer, it’s alright. I guess we both could have done things differently, huh? It’s been a tough year. But we’re still buddies, ain’t we?”
Sidekick nodded against his chest. He smiled, fondly. God, the exhaustion really was making him sappy. His eyes were fluttering closed, when Sidekick’s soft voice pulled him awake again.
“Did.. Did you check on Villain yet?”
Hero hummed and shook his head. “Nah, ‘ll do it in the morning. D’ya-” He had to interrupt his sentence with a yawn. “Christ, I need to get used to the serum again… bet I’ll have a headache tomorrow. Anyway, you want warm milk or something?”
Why wasn’t Sidekick relaxing? He was still so tense, even though the nightmare must have faded by now. Had he really been so hard on him, that he couldn’t be at ease again? Well, Hero supposed he could be kinder and gentler. If only the kid wouldn’t make him lose his temper again, that should be doable.
“No, I think we should both sleep, Hero,” his ward said quietly. He chuckled.
“A’ight, that’s fair. I can hear my bed calling me down the hallway.”
He broke the embrace and helped Sidekick get settled back in bed. The kid seemed nervous, still. He wouldn’t look him in the eyes.
Did Hero mess up? He wanted the kid to like him. It would be a shame if he spend all this time and effort in raising him, only to break his trust in an attempt to control him better. It was Villain’s fault for wurming his way into his head.
He tucked Sidekick in and, in a bout of tired nostalgic fondness, pressed a kiss to his forehead.
“Y’re a good kid, Sidekick,” he said softly. Did he see that correctly, and did the kid’s turn eyes wetter than usual?
“Y-yeah,” his voice tremored a bit. “I’ll see you.. tomorrow, Hero. In the morning.” There was a shiver running through his body, and the tears in his eyes became bigger.
“Please, remember that I do love- I-I like when you’re nice to me.”
Hero smiled. Not his practiced toothpaste-commerical grin, nor his meanspirited smirk. Instead, it was a bit crooked and made him look softer, somehow.
Gaslighting is active manipulation to make someone question their sanity, memory, or perception of reality. It’s not lying, remembering something differently, or disagreeing with someone.
Ironically, calling someone’s genuine criticisms/concerns “gaslighting” can be, ultimately, a form of gaslighting.
He’s literally so fucking annoying to me now. I can’t stand him. After talking to my best friend last night. He helped me remember the exact reason I stopped talking to my boyfriend in the first place. So back in June. We were fucking. I told him that’s all it was. We weren’t dating. Well in turn, he decided he was gonna be a fucking prick the rest of the night and treat me like shit in front of his friends. We went to karaoke and I just sat by myself. Everyone was having fun while I was having a panic attack. He told me I can just leave. When he was the one who took me there. So my friend came and picked me up. Once I got in his car I started crying so hard. Well fast forward to a little more than a month ago. Before we got together. We started talking again. I have no memory of that night besides remembering that he was being a dick and I was secluding myself during karaoke. I didn’t remember why it all started. Well my best friend remembered because that night I was texting my best friend the entire time. Well my now ex, decided to use the fact that I don’t remember to his advantage and gaslighted the living fuck out of me. He convinced me that it was ME that was being a major bitch that day, which triggered his mental issues and made him be a dick to me. So yeah. It was my own fault for why he was being a dick. So I thought aw shit, I’ll give him another chance because I was being a bitch back then. If I remembered what really happened that night I would have never given him a second chance. Ever. So yeah. Manipulative much? So now, every time he does something wrong he manages to swing it around qnd makes himself the victim and I’m the villain. Even though he’s the one who fucked up. Like when he had me pack all my stuff, just to kick me out of his apartment. He said it was because “I’m hard to confront”. He blames me.
I told y’all the depp case was going to make times hard on abuse victims and people had the nerve to tell me I was blowing things out of proportion now look
Ask Marilyn Manson and Johnny Depp are friends let that sink in for you.
Also very important to mention that both amber heard and Evan Rachel wood are both bi women. You’re going to be seeing biphobia you’re going to see misogyny.
You’re going to see more people being ableist.
You’re going to hear and see things that involve abuse I’m warning y’all again try not to dismiss me this time around
I mentioned bisexuality because bi women face a greater risk of abuse and it NEEDS to be talked about more
The Blackmuir Reign Snippet: The Knight and the Boy
CW: **whump of a minor** in the past, but resulted in permanent mutilation/injury (the boy doesn’t speak because of the fairly recent removal of his tongue) hurt/comfort, fear of punishment, communication issues, past abuse and threats, serious hand injury (Rudy).
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“Youdo know your letters, don’t you?”
The boy’s eyes flew to his, realizing his mistake. He’d been caught reading the ornamental inscription of an antique dagger. It was a dirty trick, but Rudy knew he’d be interested in a blade like that one and brought it to show him. He’d watched his eyes to see how they landed on the script, if they followed from left to right with any comprehension.
“It would do everyone some good if you would answer questions on paper for us, you know. We could keep it to yes or no.”
The boy looked away, all the color drained from his face. The dagger sat innocently on the tabletop. By my side or in my enemy’s, the hiltread in an earlier from of Muirish. Most native speakers still found it intelligible, if stilted.
Rudy sighed, re-tucking the end of the bandage that wound around his hand. The last two fingers no longer moved. If that was going to change or not, time would tell. It had been worth it to see the brute who would cut out a child’s tongue bleeding lifeless in the dirt. He only wished he’d had the luxury of making it last a little longer. Of making it painful.
“King Therrin is a good man, you know. He grew up as a ward in the far south. Not some spoiled, unworldly Prince waiting to inherit a Kingdom. I wouldn’t have ridden against the crown to take the capital with just anyone.”
The boy flashed a glance from under his floppy copper hair, so like that of the dead Usurper. He seemed to perk up at talk of battles, of riding in the vanguard against terrible odds. Rudy had seen him mesmerized in the Great Hall, hanging on the every word of a bard’s new song about the siege.
“Look at this. What if I placed an apple here.” He took a red and yellow apple from its wooden bowl (sour little things they were, this far north). “And a cup here…” He placed a pewter cup opposite the apple. “Apple means yes. Cup means no. You point at the apple or the cup to answer, and I don’t tell the King you know your letters. Would you answer some questions for us then?”
The boy stared at the apple. His mouth grew pale and tight whenever he was afraid, and Rudy didn’t know if it had anything to do with what happened, like he was clenching his jaw and holding his lips tight together to protect where he’d been hurt. His little heart began to pound— Rudy could see the rhythmic shiver of his tunic at the armpit.
“Someone told you not to talk to us,” he said flatly. Not a question. “Someone who hurt you.”
Quick green eyes met his. It was the loudest yes he’d ever heard, but still the boy did give an answer in any tangible way.
Rudy would gladly tell him he put his knife through the Tongue Cutter’s throat and opened it like gutting a trout if he did not think it would steal an innocence he could not put back. He wanted the boy to have no inkling of responsibility for that death. The blood was on his hands, and his alone.
“What if the King wasn’t there?” Rudy tried instead. “Would you answer questions for me?”
Rudy thought the apple might spontaneously combust from the intensity of the gaze on it.
“What if we start with you writing your name on a piece of paper? Your name is yours to give to anyone you please, is it not?”
He had pushed too much. To his dismay, the boy began to cry— a sudden welling of tears he turned away to swipe at with his sleeve as if embarrassed.
“Alright now, hey,” Rudy soothed. “It’s just me, little one. You’re not in trouble. We’re just looking for a way to talk to you.”
He placed a hand on the boy’s head and he turned quickly, nearly throwing himself into the Knight’s arms.
Rudy folded him against his chest and held him gently, loose enough he could get away if he wanted. The boy sobbed once— a hoarse, strained sound from a voice that has fallen into disuse and hugged him back tightly, as if someone were going to try and pull him away.
Rudy thought of the Tongue Cutter’s knife, how it had felt as he pulled him closer by his blade to kill him. He wondered if the boy had been cut by the same knife that sliced the flesh of his hand.
I’d have let him cut my sword hand too, if it would take back what they did to you.
He pulled away just far enough so he could take the little foxlike face in his hands. The boy looked up at him, openly trusting even though it was a Knight who had hurt him, in the same garb and armor as Rudy wore.
“I won’t tell the King you know your letters,” he promised. “And no one’s going to hurt you. Do you know that? I won’t let them.”
The boy nodded sharply, giving a tiny whimper on an exhale that would break the heart of even a soldier as weathered as himself.
“And what is this thing?” Rudy asked, plucking at the sleeve of the plain, shapeless tunic the servants in the kitchens had given him to wear. “If you dress in a potato sack, you’ll get confused for the potatoes. That’s what happened to the last kitchen boy, didn’t they tell you?”
He looked down at his ill fitting tunic and grinned through tears.
“They’ll throw you right in the soup,” Rudy said, and pulled a clean linen from his pocket he intended as spare bandage for his hand. He swiped gently at the boy’s cheeks with it, then let him take over himself. He took the linen a little sheepishly, dabbing it on his eyes until they were dry.
“Come,” Rudy said. “Let’s get you away from those kitchens for a while. Have you ever swung a steel sword? Even in practice?”
His eyes went bright, excited as any young boy at the prospect of wielding something dangerous. He shook his head no, he hadn’t, and dropped his gaze to the hilt of Rudy’s broadsword.
“Not that one,” Rudy laughed. “That’ll flip you right over. There’s lighter ones in the yard, to learn on. Come on. I’ll take you.”
