#{ you seem very interested in my opinions. } — [ Asks ]

[wraithdance]

https://www.tumblr.com/wraithdance/765961917651140608/i-really-liked-your-explanation-of-the-whole?source=share

I am really bad at articulating my thoughts but I think about this a lot as someone who hopes to 1- major in neuroscience (i'm 18, going to uni next year) and 2- is trans. I know being trans is not the same thing at all as POC experiences with fic, very cognizant of that, but more to the point where I relate to the aspect of not being able to get over the like mental wall of seeing "neutral" readers as me? I don't know what my brain is doing when i read certain fics but sometimes i can't do it.

I feel like I should close read some of my favorite fic and least favorite fic to see if there are triggers I didn't notice on the first read. does that make sense or seem similar to what you experience? Again I know it's not the same thing, but like i am so curious as to what cis straight white people put in their fic that makes it so obvious that they're cis straight white.

I am sorry if this bothers you, really not my intentions, I am obviously a future brain nerd and i can't stop thinking about this

Congratulations fellow Nerd! You've activated my interest in Race theory and fandom writing from an academic perspective!

Writing reflects life and to answer this question properly, I have to talk about life shit to catch you up to speed, (this should help if you take a sociology or cultural anthropology class lmao) So, Welcome to:

Calvary yaps: Sociology & Intersectionality in fandom writing 101!

Disclaimer: I'm just a random bitch on the internet who loves English and the ridiculousness of social hierarchies, this will be referencing American social constructs and in groups only, with a focus on my experience as a Black American woman who reads a shit ton of books. Don't fight me if you hate my explanation, I will simply not respond.

Read my house rules before sending me an ask, I'm just being a dumb ass rn and word vomiting my interests, so pls i beg no follow up questions unless I say I'm open to em later.

Definitions to know:

Socialization: the act of preparing individuals to participate in society by learned social norms taught in ones family or social settings like school/friend groups. (one can be socialized in gender, race, cultural practices, etc.)

Social Hierarchies: systems of social organization in which some individuals enjoy a higher social status than others (in my opinion this is a lingering safety measure from lizard brain cavemen hunter/gatherer days)

Intersectionality: A term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw; The process of acknowledging the unique parallels a marginalized person experiences when they have more than one marginalization (ie: race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, size, etc.)

Matriarchal society: Social groups/family structures that center female figures as representatives of authority.

Implicit Bias: Unintentional bias a person may have towards a group or individual based on learned stereotypes, prejudices, perceptions based on another's background or state of being.

first, yes anon you are making sense! So the main question:

'What cis straight white people put in their fic that makes it so obvious that they're cis straight white?'

I've been mulling this question around in my head for a few days and tried to figure out how to articulate this without going into depth in Sociological theory, but I can't! So here we are lmao, this is long as fuck so TLDR here.

I've talked to a LOT of Black and PoC people over the last months because I thought I was the only one who felt strange or could tell immediately when a writer was white, despite doing the best job they could to be neutral.

Every person I spoke to agreed they could tell right away even if we don't share similar racial backgrounds.

The answer I've come up with to why that is, is because white people are socialized (taught by society/their parents how to behave) in a way many black and PoC people are not, so their reader characters will often act in a way PoC people have learned not to, so it flags for many of us.

I plan to answer another question about this at a later date so an example is with shit like:

An over deference to hyper masculine male characters (for PoC cultures like certain Black/Latine groups that are often matriarchal in nature and don’t ascribe to as many traditional gender roles, this is a flag), lack of interpersonal/familial connection, over meekness, no challenging of external factors so things just HAPPEN to the reader and lack of awareness of surroundings to name a few. 

A lot of the language of the irl world places white cis people from Western countries as the default and everyone else as others. In which, PoC people have learned to navigate the world very carefully with a hyper-focus on what will potentially bring them harm/scrutiny/ostracism especially in white dominant spaces.

That extends to when we have down time while reading or partaking in media smfh.

I'm sure you've had to learn the same as a trans person navigating cis spaces and it's the same with any marginalization! If you are disabled you have an awareness of able bodied people and their expectations, same with being fat amongst skinny people, etc.

The more marginalizations you have, the louder the rules of social hierarchies become. Which is why many marginalized ppl stick close to those who 'get it' in their social groups as an act of safety in numbers. (Many of us attempt to have strong family connection/harmony because of this)

So referring to your comment about being trans is not the same thing at all as POC experiences with fic, it is when you are a Black or PoC trans person! My angel face @/buttdumplin has spoken a lot about that as a Mexican transman reading fics by cis people!

(Please for the love of God no one come to me explaining how marginalized they are so they shouldn't be lumped in with the white ppl PoC are cognizant of, I will check myself into a psych ward)

So what does that gotta do with reading fics?

No matter what anyone thinks, it is damn near impossible to not frame your writing from the perspective of your lived experiences. It's why even when I try my hardest to make my characters not sound Black, they will always read that way because I have been Black all of my life!

And it doesn't just happen with race, go on tiktok and search male authors writing women. (or here's another article lmao)

Also ask a Southerner how they know someone has never been to the South and don't know shit about our accents when they write Graves. There are linguistic tells that flag off and why we flame actors who pick up southern accents for their roles.

(They chew on that terrible goddamn Appalachian or Louisiana Accent not realizing Southern accents come in many fonts.)

So when I read a fic about Kyle Garrick from a non black person, I can tell the writer is non black by linguistic implications, the things they emphasize about him and what they don't. It doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy reading fics from non black people, I can just tell!

And sometimes that means I, and other PoC's associate the Reader as a white OC while reading fics.

For example, all black people are not monolithic because of our cultural and regional experiences, but many of us share common threads. That's usually family involvement, colloquialisms, that stupid fucking cookie tin our elders put sewing supplies in...

Other non Black PoC people might share similar cultural practices, so when I'm reading fics from say a latina, I will cock my head and go wait.... are you...? And surely enough, they are a person of color. 

But even while reading from a non black PoC, I have to tread carefully because anti black sentiment exists in many cultures, which is why you'll hear me say Black and PoC/Non black people interchangeably.

It’s how the conversation of Implicit bias comes up, because unknowingly non white characters can sometimes be written with a hyper focus that makes them seem inhumanly one characteristic or with little to no background while the other characters are fully fleshed out.

like the character of color is just a stand in to move the plot around white characters forward. 

So all that to say, without sometimes meaning to white writers will always sound off to me in a way that my brain can pick up on in the most minuscule ways because my awareness of my blackness/otherness has been drilled in from birth and reinforced by social norms.

I can even tell immediately if a white person has been around only white spaces their whole life with the jokes they tell lol.

In the grand scheme of things the race of the writer is most important to me when something jarring comes up that slaps me away from the experience, it explains so much of the disconnect.

Every marginalized person has a threshold for what they can ignore as a ‘trigger’ before they’re ejected from reader inserts, mine is usually the association with racial historical happenings, certain gender dynamics, etc.

It's why I mention crying like a little bitch when I read my friend Jess's (Kyletogaz) TF 141 Hair series, Dragon’s (Dragonnarative-writes) Transferrable Skills, and even Xavi's (Buttdumplin) Piercing fic.

Reading those fics felt like safety and familiarity. It was a moment where I realized I could drop the mental load I had no idea I was carrying, where I was trying to prepare myself for potential emotional damage and just READ.

It's also why as a Black person who fucks with kink and sex work it's been so touch and go when navigating dark fics/kink fics/fics about Sex workers.

Because there are different rules of engagement non white kinksters have to be aware of and that leads to a point on the collective vs. Individual experience as a PoC in kink, that I’ll eventually make a post about at some point or another. Maybe…

So yeah I’m tired of yapping. I hope this long shit was enough of an explanation!! Thanks to my friends Kiko, Jules, Xavi and Folded for yapping with me so I could articulate this better!!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I don't know if this has already been asked, but what did you think of the Halloween event? Is it too early to ask? How did it compare with the other events?

Aaaaah, thank you for asking!! I was actually in the middle of writing my own "these are my thoughts" post even if no one specifically asked 😂 but I'm glad I can just reply to this ask with what I was cooking up~

***Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD!!*** ***Please also note: these are just my OWN thoughts and opinions! In sharing them, I do not mean to disparage those who think differently than me; I only mean to contribute to the discussion.***

I'll be quick and rip off the band-aid now: I liked this event about as much as I did Stage in Playful Land, maybe a little better than Playful Land if I think about it. If you know anything about my thoughts on the previous Halloween event, well... Let's just say it's a mixed bag. Neither of them comes close to toppling the peak that was Glorious Masquerade. (Fandom consensus seems to be quite positive though, with many liking Nightmare more than, if not the same as, GloMasq while Playful Land is still considered the weakest of the bunch.) Playful Land and Lost in the Book with Nightmare Before Christmas both suffer from general pacing issues. The former had an intriguing premise and setting but also many plot holes, a lack of active involvement from the SSR squad, and a resolution that was way too convenient. The latter, Nightmare, was very boring throughout because the majority of the event was centered on party preparations. I enjoyed everyone's bickering and the SSR squad's role in the event, but I wanted more than just that. It's basically like Terror is Trending, but if it had the Nightmare Before Christmas characters also featured. However, Nightmare did have a really interesting ending that played with amnesia and time paradox tropes. It's just that the road to get there wasn't anything special. I'll now get into all of this in detail, but it's quite long. Ready for a read? Then let's go ^^

My Extended Ramblings:

The initial aesthetic is strong. VERY strong, especially to me, a girlie that loves Nightmare Before Christmas and formal wear😭 BY GOD DOES EVERYONE LOOK SHARP AND DRESSED TO KILL IN THOSE NIGHTMARE SUITS... The devs totally popped off with the fits. I also loved how all the characters' coloring shifted once they entered the book; there's notable hatch marks on their shadows and even their skin and hair adopt bleaker saturations. These are SO much better outfits than the GloMaq and Playful Land ones, I'M SORRY BUT THAT'S JUST THE TRUTH. The other events tended to have chunky silhouettes and/or overly embellished elements to their designs that didn't sit quite right with me. NIGHTMARE SUITS HOWEVER ARE PERFECT AS THEY ARE...

... That being said, I think this event's premise was not great. I know everyone's mileage with this will vary greatly, but personally I don't like Lost in the Book events. I don't enjoy having Disney properties so blatantly shoved at my face; I'd prefer it to just be a distant part of the lore and history of the Twst world. The other issue with the event being so closely tied to its Disney film is that the story becomes so predictable. You can't really explore beyond the bonds of what the film has already set up, so you're trapped with whatever status quo Disney has mandated is "okay". (For example, in Nightmare, it has to be set BEFORE the events of the actual film in order to keep things "the same" when the film events actually play out.) Lost in the Books rely on individual nostalgia to some extent to get you invested in what it's trying to sell. This was particularly evident in this event, which featured several characters from the film and made Jack a very big fixture in the story. I for one was not sold on it despite my own fond feelings for Nightmare Before Christmas. I needed it to prove its own merits to me, and I'm not entirely sure if it was successful on that front.

I have made it no secret that I don't like most Twst events in general. Too often does it feel like pointless meandering and sightseeing without anything of real substance happening (though I do enjoy meeting new characters and learning new lore). That's also the case with Nightmare; the scale of the conflict isn't anything spectacular--but that's fine, it can still work as is, even if I don't personally find it interesting. I was still plenty entertained by all the bickering between the boys and between them and the residents of Halloween Town. The highlights for me definitely have to be Jade being a little shit to everyone, Jamil being tormented with bugs, Sebek's big speech in the climax, and Leona just beefing with EVERYONE in sight (particularly Malleus). The comedy and character interactions helped the middle part of the event not feel dull. I do feel like them having to switch groups around halfway through was short of a shoehorned way to prolong the middle of the event though 💦

One thing I noticed like, right away as I was playing this event was how disjointed it felt. And for the life of me, I could not pinpoint why… until I went back and compared the number of chapters per part. This is how the parts break down:

Part 1 - 13 chapters

Part 2 - 22 chapters

Part 3 - 20 chapters

Part 4 - 13 chapters

Part 5 - 16 chapters

For comparison, Glomasq:

Part 1 - 15 chapters

Part 2 - 18 chapters

Part 3 - 17 chapters

Part 4 - 19 chapters

Part 5 - 18 chapters

And Playful Land:

Part 1 - 16 chapters

Part 2 - 21 chapters

Part 3 - 11 chapters

Part 4 - 16 chapters

Part 5 - 18 chapters

Generally, Part 1 is dedicated to setting up the scenario and reason for travel. Parts 2 and 3 are meant for exploring the new location, with a big reveal dropping towards the end of 3 that kicks the conflict into high-gear. Part 4 is for combat, and then Part 5 is the continuation of the combat (with a focus on confronting the Big Bad), climax, and resolution. … Did you notice it? GloMasq (the only event of the three I consider overall excellent) is pretty evenly spaced out. Playful Land meanwhile has a weirdly short 11 chapters in Part 3 but had the extremely long 21 chapters in Part 2 beforehand. The discrepancy is made even worse in Nightmare, with Parts 1 and 4 being woefully short and Parts 2 and 3 being 20+ chapters each. It has the (likely unintended) effect of making the conflict resolution feel really rushed.

Alright, I think I've held off for long enough. Let's talk about the elephant in the room, our new addition to the Halloweenies, Mister Skully J. Graves himself. Right from the get-go, he had a mysterious air about him, especially since he's the first ever character to meet his twisted inspiration. Like I said in my first impressions post, I'm really into his design, but his personality shocked me. I expect some whimsy, but not a guy that flat-out kisses everyone he meets and calls total strangers "lovely dears". At the same time, he has the spirit of "sad wet cat" energy, and his expressions can whiplash between that and being absolutely deranged, which I found kinda charming. I get the feeling that he charmed a LOT of fans, as I saw many gushing about his otome-esque behavior and loving how he always calls attention to Yuu and Yuu's opinions. Unfortunately, Skully has what I lovingly dub "Ashengrotto Syndrome" due to my own experiences with Azul. That is to say, I started off liking both Azul and Skully, but after a certain point (book 3 for Azul, part 2 for Skully) they both took a nosedive right into my dislike zone. This is something I vaguely alluded to in my halfway through the event impressions post. I'm under the impression that this is a surprising opinion, so I'll try to do my best to explain why Skully lost his appeal to me. So the initial deterrent was his defensive and controlling behavior surrounding Halloween. He also gets so nasty and speaks down to others who don't see his perspective, which I don't find cute at all. I've mentioned before that I hate it when characters act elitist/gate-keepy and refuse to accept other opinions or change, and Skully fits that bill to a T. Sure, he might have his reasons, but I still find the result of his reasons distasteful. It's fine if he wants to respect the past or celebrate Halloween the way he's been taught, but it's another thing entirely to force those views on others. I've been on the receiving end of this kind of attitude and it was very unpleasant; I would not wish that upon anyone. (To make a long story short, I had invited a friend from outside my culture for a holiday meal so neither of us would be alone that year. That friend then complained that I was eating "non-traditional" food for the holiday.) Really rubbed me the wrong way when Skully started to tell others about HIS Halloween while being totally against everyone else's suggestions. Some of the others (like Jamil) even made an effort to try and include him anyway after his outbursts, and Skully was still unable to accept this lying down.

The hand-kissing thing was... charming at first, because I thought it was just his way of greeting people. But the more Skully did it, the less charming it seemed to me because of how everyone reacts to it. The others are CLEARLY uncomfortable with it, but he disrespects their boundaries by continuing to do so. To me, that seems very invasive and rude. Skully especially kisses Yuu a lot, and whether or not you like it will be up to individual preference--but personally, as someone who doesn't like strangers touching me intimately, I'm not into it.

During the Halloween planning, I noticed Skully speaking to Yuu directly quite often, which is different than the previous Halloween events. I started to feel a little uneasy about this, and for the longest time I could not tell you why. Then I realized. I don't think I can explain it any better than how I did in a previous post, so I'll copy and paste from there:

Another thing that really bothered me was that Skully keeps asking Yuu for their opinion. It SEEMS polite to consider them, but his intentions are way less selfless than they appear. Skully is often asking Yuu for their thoughts AFTER some other character has disagreed with him. So he is literally only consulting Yuu because he wants someone on HIS side. If you ever pick the dialogue option where you disagree with him, Skully insists there must be a misunderstanding and he will explain it to you no matter how long it takes. Don’t you see??? He doesn’t want to know what Yuu truly thinks; he wants validation in his own way of thinking. That’s NOT actually being considerate. The same shit happens when Skully tries to kiss Grim again. Grim dodges but Skully sneaks behind him and kisses him anyway because I guess that’s what gentlemen do according to him. Bro has demonstrated time and time again he does not value consent nor what others’ thoughts are on anything that differs from his own thoughts.

Skully lets his true colors show around the end of the third part. There, he feeds Jack Skellington a sleeping poison, turns Grim into a pumpkin, then takes Jack, Grim, AND Yuu as his hostages while claiming he'll reign over Halloween. Okay, that sounds great on paper, right? But there's so many practical problems with this.

Firstly, HOW does Skully plan to achieve this??? He's not that powerful since he's a first year; how does he intend to stand up to the NRC students? We even know at this point that he can't use his UM that much. Skully has shown he is impulsive and doesn't think ahead too, because he just assumes that Grim figured him out after walking in on the scene of the crime instead of lying/deceiving him about who poisoned Jack. He could have easily blamed someone else or claimed he walked in and found Jack like this already, but he didn't. It comes off as very near-sighted and not well planned out on Skully's part (which may very well be intentional; I don't think he was written to be a large threat.) I know this event's plot isn't meant to be as serious as prior iterations of Halloween events, but it sure doesn't help build tension for the finale.

We find out later in the event that Skully isn't mistreating his captives; he's keeping them in the bathtub Lock, Shock, and Barrel ride around in, feeding Grim and Yuu snacks, and asking them to please keep quiet. He also rambles on a lot about how he admires Yuu and how he wants to grant them a perfect Halloween, etc. That's... wholesome for a kidnapper, I guess??? But what I don't appreciate is (again) how he keeps shoving his ideas onto me and acting like he knows what's best for everyone. He’s not respecting my autonomy or right to think how I want. Skully is literally made of the most negative traits of Idia and Malleus while having none of the danger level of either one/j 😭 This makes me continue to not take him seriously and think that Skully could easily be beaten up--which does, in fact, end up being the case.

The ones who truly shine in this event are Sebek, Jamil, and Leona. The implementation of the SSR squad in Nightmare is much better than Playful Land. In Playful, it felt like Kalim, Ace, and Ortho hardly did anything unique to save the day; instead, it was a convenient phone call that rescued them from demise. The most I can say is Kalim was open-minded and tried to welcome Fellow and hear him out. Most of the other things could have been fulfilled by any other character, which didn't make the SSRs feel as integral as they were in GloMasq (with Azul's UM being needed, Malleus being the one Rollo has beef with, and Idia understanding the feeling of losing a younger brother and mourning). In Nightmare, each of the SSRs is similarly given a chance to shine with their special skills and UMs.

Beginning with Sebek! He leads a lot of the planning and serves as the one to draw up plans, which earns him praise from everyone, including his seniors. It's excellent set-up for him to later confront Skully about the idea of being recognized and acknowledged by one's idols (which I will discuss later in this post). Sebek is also the first to confront Skully on Spiral Hill after Skully has kidnapped Grim, Yuu, and Jack. In an act of desperation, Skully starts firing off magic and making really deranged expressions; Sebek unleashes his own UM, Living Bolt. This results in a strong flash of light in their location. The impact destroys Skully's shades and causes him to break down--he wore them as part of his ensemble, trying so hard to emulate his Halloween idol, Jack. Skully manages to pumpkin Sebek in the midst of his fit, and Sebek insists that Malleus--his own idol--will surely rescue him. NEXT UP IS L*ONA OTL WHO HAS MADE ME SO ILL THE ENTIRE MONTH OF OCTOBER, HURK 🤢 who heard the shouting. He rescues Sebek (he’s de-pumpkin’d) and Skully isn’t able to touch him because King’s Roar is just too OP 😭 (I’m sort of confused about how tf Leona’s UM works though?????? He seems to be sanding Skully’s MAGIC, which shouldn’t even be tangible???) I’m confused. dbsvsjsnskwk And he tells Skully to get back up do he can keep beating him back down????? BRUTAL. Leona’s been pretty useful up until this point too, taking charge in leading the group, strategizing, sussing Skully out, and thinking long and hard about what his true identity is. Bro’s really working those fat brain cells of his, huh…

I think this is the first of the Halloween events (that introduce new characters) where the new guy’s explicitly said to be in danger of OB. Not sure why that is, it’s just interesting to note???

SkULLy RUNS FOR IT and bumps into Lock, Shock, and Barrel, who proceed to subdue him. Surprise, turns out that Jamil had gotten to them first and Snake Whispered the trio. The kids call Jamil MASTER and -SAMA… My guy, you are so repressed 💀 (I recall it being said in book 4 that using his UM on multiple people can result in rapid blog accumulation so UHHHH I guess I’ll overlook this for now or assume 3 people isn’t an issue????) Earlier in the event, Jamil was like the only person to approach Skully to try and include him in the planning. Must be used to this being a big brother + always dealing with his dorm.

I’m not sure if it’s just me but??? It feels like they overlooked how some of the SSR trio’s UMs worked just to have it fit in the context of the climax they wrote. For Jamil’s, maybe you can excuse the fact that he’s controlling 3 kids by saying it’s easier for him to manipulate young minds. BUT THERE’S NO EXCUSING HOW LEONA CAN SAND MAGIC 😭 At least say he has strong defensive magic that Skully cannot break through????

It’s times like these that make me really question whether or not Yuu is actually important for helping these people learn to get along, because they seemed to have resolved the issue just fine without any kind of intervention from Yuu. Yeah, they bickered and picked on each other too, but they still fixed things on their own (albeit on their own, but it comes together in the end anyway) while Yuu is kidnapped and completely out of the picture.

Vcdnsksksksn The moment that follows is kinda funny and wholesome… Well, for the SSR trio, not for Skully. They all sort of rub it in Skully’s face that he lost and then praise each other but in a back-handed way??? Like they call each other nasty and shit at planning, etc. Leona says Jamil bullied Skully so much that the poor thing started crying, then Jamil accuses Leona of threatening Skully a ton… then they gang up on Sebek (wow, they’re both awful and I love that for them).

Seeing this camaraderie makes Skully throw ANOTHER fit because he’s jealous that Sebek gets all this praise and attention. Meanwhile, Skully is all alone, always alone. Though it’s not explicitly stated, it’s implied Skully is deeply insecure about being by himself, as his classmates at school don’t understand him and rejected him + his interests. He extols a lonely and desolate version of Halloween too, something that reflects his own soul... clinging to the only solace he has in this world, the one constant. A holiday that he cherishes so very much--to the point where his own UM is linked back to it. The big dilemma he goes through this event seems to be a mix of having his own views being questioned as well as having his impression of his Halloween idol challenged. This makes Sebek a good foil character for him, similar to how Kalim was for Fellow and Idia for Rollo in the previous Halloween events. Skully even calls out Sebek explicitly, saying that he has all of the things he has never had. He'll never be disappointed by his idol Malleus (sadhbaslidbas this is ironic, considering the events of book 7), he has senpai who praise him, he has Zero for a friend, etc. Life’s soooo unfair, Skully claims. And like??? I was so shocked to see Sebek acting mature about the whole thing??????? He refutes Skully's claims and tells him straight up that to believe in someone isn't to force your own views onto them so your idol stays how you pictures them in your head. It's a mistake to think of one's idol as perfect--not even Malleus is perfect. Even so, Sebek explains that agreeing with someone and loving/respecting them are very different things... so he will accept Malleus's flaws and love him nevertheless. Even if he disagrees with Malleus, even if they have to part ways, Sebek will accept it. That's really surprising coming from him, seeing as how Sebek acts absolutely SURE of Malleus's absolute goodness in the main story... Now I'm wondering if this event must take place after book 7??? Because that's when Sebek has his own views on Malleus totally shaken. Still, I'm so proud of Sebek for dropping this hard truth on Skully--it's definitely something Skully needed to hear and be reminded of to be pulled back to reality. He also just outright calls Skully put for all his cowardly moves, including going after those who cannot fight back 💀 Very Ace of him to do…

Speaking of Skully, what really put the final nail in his coffin and sent him to the Shadow Realm (my dislike tier lol) was all the tantrums he threw this event. I understand being upset and frustrated. Really, I do. I understand being envious of others, of feeling like you've got no one by your side. But is it REALLY necessary to react like that…? And so frequently… He just shouts “shut up” over and over again… OTL I don't know, it feels like I could sympathize with him more if they properly explained why it is Skully is so into Halloween (besides his hometown being the same) and why he holds the past in such high regard. The most we get is it's just something his hometown is into and when he left for school, none of his peers really accepted that. Is the implication that Skully retreated further into his hyperfixation to cope with his loneliness????? If so, I'm not sure if this was properly conveyed so now Skully is left acting like a big baby and overreacting to everyone trying to get him to calm down. The worst of it is when he claims he’s the one who TRULY loves Halloween and everyone else is fake. That sounds like something straight out of an angry elitist otaku’s vent post. Other characters acted similar to this when on the brink of OB (which Skully was) but never so childishly. This might just be a me thing though, I don't really care for overly emotional characters; they're usually not my cup of tea.

I'm not sure how I feel about everyone forgiving Skully and partying with him at the end for the Halloween celebration. On one hand, yeah, forgiving him makes sense because it's not like he was plotting anything crazily world shattering like Rollo or a participating in a large-scale crime ring like Fellow. Skully didn't really harm anyone (though he did try to shatter someone he pumpkin’d), at least not on a large scale like Rollo and Fellow did. On the other hand, I think it was a little bit too overdone with how sappy it was??? Like why did Jack say he was PROUD of Skully for being so passionate that he went to these extremes for Halloween? Why did Jack give Skully a HEAD PAT after the shenanigans he pulled?? I felt that saying he's forgiven and inviting him to join the festivities anyway would be sufficient. And again, I detest how Skully disregarded everyone’s consent and kissed them (Yuu and the SSR trio) as an apology even when they (SSR trio) already made it clear they didn’t want to be kissed. That just felt super gross to me, not funny or cute 😔

One of the big highlights of this event was, of course, the Twst cover of This is Halloween. Everything about it is just so... *chef's kiss* from the strong vocal performance to the perfect selection of characters to recreate each scene. It's a shame that we can't access the song outside of this event, but I know that I'll be playing it on an endless loop off of Youtube 😂

For all of the issues I had with the story up until this point, I'll be the first to say that the ending was genuinely sweet. Skully actually expresses gratitude towards everyone (a first, lmao) and calls us his friends, the best thing that has ever happened to him, etc. He wants to meet with everyone and celebrate Halloween with them again. BUT. I don't like that he singled out Yuu specifically as someone he really likes. I get the same feelings from him as I do with Malleus... Like, there's a weird over-familiarity and attachment he has with Yuu despite Yuu not doing or saying much to bond with him. His reaction seems unwarranted to me, with a lot of the appeal of his friendship coming from how much the player projects onto him. (And to be clear, I say this ONLY for myself, as Yuu is meant to be a character for self-inserting; in the case where I put myself in Yuu's shoes, I would be uncomfortable with how Skully is acting toward me.)

Now we get to the ending that seems to have emotionally broken the fandom.

I said earlier in this post that I don't like Lost in the Book events, and another reason for that is because there's amnesia involved at the end. I feel like an event isn't worth it if the memories get wiped anyway because then it's like the events never happened at all. However, Nightmare actually played with this trope and did something really cool with it. Even though those who leave the book have their memories erased, they're still left with some residual feelings that can propel people to act. In the Stitch event, this resulted in the boys wanted to vacation to the beach. In Nightmare, Skully--who was transported within the book from his original time HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO--was so touched by the connections he made in the book that he essentially becomes a changed man. He graduates from NRC and travels the world to spread the joy of Halloween, thus being responsible for why it's such a big holiday in modern Twisted Wonderland, the era which our main cast is from.

No one remembers the book's events, but Skully is so thoroughly motivated by his lost memories... He somehow recreates the Nightmare Suit, BUT DROPS THE SHADES (a symbol of him trying to emulate Jack) BECAUSE HE HAS NOW BECOME HIS OWN PERSON. He shares a jubilant version of Halloween because that's the version he cherished celebrating with his idol and first real friends. History doesn't remember him, but his legacy is still going strong. LIKE THE GAO POSE... DID IT ORIGINATE FROM HIM???? ? ? ? ??????? ?? AND NOW I'M THINKING ABOUT ALL THE FUN THE GHOSTS AND STUDENTS HAD IN THE FIRST EVER HALLOWEEN EVENT... BECAUSE OF HIM SPREADING THE HOLIDAY AROUND

The NRC students don't remember him either, but they must somewhere in the deepest recesses of their hearts... CUZ THEY ALL STILL MAKE COMMENTS ABOUT HIM, LIKE LEONA SAYING BRO LOOKS LIKE A PATHETIC LITTLE MEOWMEOW (exaggeration). There's also the implication that Skully's spirit is still around, since the characters remark feeling a strange cooling sensation on the back of their hands. We never SEE him, but we sense that there's something there. In the end, they promise that they'll make the best Halloween ever in honor of his legacy and we get sequel bait.

Twst REALLY had to go and drop that ending on us and then peace out, huh 🤡 It's hard to put my feelings about this ending into words, but I think I would personally describe it as very bittersweet yet romantic. Not lovey-dovey romantic, but like... it portrays a hopeful future even though it's sad too. Like, it's tragic that the NRC students and Skully will never be able to celebrate together again. But isn't it cool that even though they were born in totally different eras, fate still allowed them to meet and completely change the course of history? And even if they forget about their encounter, that meeting still impacts them to this very day. It changed the world and their lives forever. Reaching for that thing you're missins and forgetting, without really know what it is... Something lingering there, without a form... There's something so dream-like about the concept, I have to commend the Twst devs for coming up with it. In that sense, I'm quite satisfied with the conclusion despite the bumps in the road I ran into on the way.

IN CONCLUSION. Yeah, I thought this event was another mixed bag. The pacing was bad and nothing that interesting happened since the story was mainly about preparing for Halloween. I'm not a fan of Skully. However, what I can say is that Nightmare had a good showcase of Sebek, Jamil, and Leona's strong suits and actually allowed them to resolve the crisis. The ending is also much stronger than Playful Land's and poses many interesting questions about Skully and his impact on history.

[baronessblixen]

Eyyyyy, saw your tags! :DDDDD

I will say: knowing more about an actor doesn't change my perception of their work; but I know a lot of people-- older generation, mostly-- who do think the way that he does. To them, the more they know, the more they can't "forget" the actor/actress in a role.

Maybe it's an older generation thing? A thought process left over from the world of 90s-and-before-media, before the advent of smartphones? Or maybe it's a broad audience thing: the type where people aren't so invested in someone's career or anyone in particular, and just want to go to the movies on a Friday-- the normies that fund most of the ticket sales. I do know I've been hearing a lot of sentiment lately from others who are over-saturated with celebrities talking about their opinions rather than marketing the product... maybe that's the modern day equivalent? Maybe that's what he was trying to articulate. (Sometimes he communicates in half measures when trying to work something out.) I think so, anyway.

But today's landscape is also so different: people are selling themselves-- branding, as he called it-- their personalities to sell their products. It just is that way. Hopefully he doesn't feel the pressure to do so, as well (I don't think he does, or would care. But it's a thought.) Maybe there's pressure there, but there's also freedom (or can be): the landscape for his professional fears have changed... but they've also changed in ways that are, to him, a net negative. So. XD

Hope you have a great weekend! :)))))))

When I read your ask, I realized that most people I know - regardless of age - don't care about actors' private lives 😂 that's slightly different though than not wanting to know as it might skew the viewing perception.

I guess it makes sense. DD was born in the 60s when Hollywood's star system was breaking apart. Back then the actors were brands too - though different than today. The studios gave them new names more often than not and a personality. They needed them to be certain types to lure the audience in.

The history of the star system is really interesting. Back in the very early days, actors didn't have a name. Audiences didn't know who these people were - but they wanted to know. Same with the first magazines. They'd be about movies originally, but people wanted to know about the actors instead. That's not at all a new thing.

So I don't think it has anything to do with social media and smartphones and more like you said with the broad audience. Before social media, tabloids were HUGE. That was the only way to glimpse more into the private life of your star. I just don't think any of it is new. The means are just different.

There's middle ground between putting your whole life out there and being private. It's not just DD, but one thing I've noticed with celebrities saying they're private is that usually, they have no problems talking about their kids or their family - people, weirdly enough, who didn't choose to be part of this life. Then when it's about their romantic life they're like, oh no, I'm private. That seems like a cop-out.

This is already half an essay but don't get me started on celebrities becoming a brand these days. Why do celebrities need to sell us products? That is a trend I really hate. Maybe I'm too old to get it and thankful for every celebrity who doesn't feel the need to create a drink/food/candle/skin product.

Hope you have a great weekend too 😁

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hi, Im not sure if youve written anything about this before (I had a quick look but couldnt see anything), but I find Hermione's relationship with her parents kinda interesting. Obviously they're pretty chill with her being a witch — they go to diagon with her at least once and seem quite interested in that sort of thing, they're obviously very proud of her — but by about gof and ootf theyre completely absent from her life. Hermione doesnt seem to go home during that summer holiday and seems to spend the rest with the Weasleys which I find incredibly odd. Her parents were obviously not abusive, nor were they in any sort of danger until dh when Hermione goes on the run (and of course she oblivates them and moves them to Australia first). Voldemort doesnt even make any attacks until hbp because hes lying low. I just cant think why shes suddenly estranged from her parents to the point where they allow their only teenage daughter, who already spends majority of her time in Scotland, to spend her holidays with a family thats already financially struggling?? Surely no actual parent would do that. Of course it could be lazy writing by JK or the rising popularity of Hermione after directorial choices in the films which called for more page-time, but Id be very interested to hear your opinions on the topic because for the life of me I can't figure this out.

(sorry for the long ask)

Hi, no problem about the long ask.

I think Hermione's parents are probably one of the things JKR didn't think through, but I like looking at things like that froma an in universe prespective. And in universe the relationship between Hermione and her parents, while not abusive, has been estranged from day 0.

What I mean by it, is that I don't think Hermione was ever very close to her parents. We see how a muggleborn who is close to his parents acts with Colin Creevey:

“So I can prove I’ve met you,” said Colin Creevey eagerly, edging further forward. “I know all about you. Everyone’s told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you’ve still got a lightning scar on your forehead” (his eyes raked Harry’s hairline) “and a boy in my dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures’ll move.” Colin drew a great shuddering breath of excitement and said, “It’s amazing here, isn’t it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad’s a milkman, he couldn’t believe it either. So I’m taking loads of pictures to send home to him. And it’d be really good if I had one of you” — he looked imploringly at Harry

(CoS)

He tries to keep his muggle parents up to date with his life in the wizarding world. He brought a camera explicitly for that purpose. Hermione, on the other hand, never really included her parents in her life. They try to be supportive, they go with her to Diagon, but I'm convinced they know very little of what's going on at Hogwarts with their daughter.

I mean, she probably tells them about her high grades and about Harry and Ron, but she probably never told them about Voldemort, or at least, not much. Or about the bigotry she has to deal with as a muggleborn. I'm also pretty sure she didn't tell them how dangerous Hogwarts is or that she got petrified in 2nd year. I mean, I don't know about you, but if my daughter told me everything that happened to Hermione, I would start asking about alternative magical education that isn't Hogwarts.

I think Hermione was always a lonely child, her parents were likely at work or conventions more often than with her and she is used to hiding things from them. Hermione 100% used to be bullied in her muggle primary school, you see it in how she acts, and I think she didn't tell her parents about that either. So Hermione and her parents were never close in my opinion.

And then, you take this girl who is used to hiding the less pleasant aspects of her life from her parents and send her to the wizarding world. And she's smart, she quickly realizes no one wants to hear about dentists and that she doesn't belong. So she shuts up, she stops bringing her parents up since everyone thinks surgeons are just maniacs who cut into people. So she reads up, she studies everything she can so she would belong, because she never found herself in the muggle world and she loves magic. She loves the wizarding world and chooses to be part of it, even at the price of cutting her parents out of her life.

In first year, Hermione goes back home for Christmas, but from year 2 and onwards she stays at Hogwarts becouse she doesn't want to miss out in that year's mystery, or time with Ron and Harry. She, like Harry, doesn't want to leave the wizarding world for a world they consider worse.

And the fact she does her best to spend more and more time in the wizarding world is an extension of that. It's not that she hates her parents, she loves them, but she loves them less than she loves the wizarding world.

I think, the moment in book 4 in which she took the chance to fix her teeth magically against what her dentist parents would think is right, is a moment that shows that clear choice. Mr. and Mrs. Granger clearly care about Hermione and want what's best for her, but Hermione thinks she is better than them because she is a witch. She treats her parents like children who don't know what's good for them. She knows because she's a witch, so she can send them away for their safety. They might think using magic on her teeth is dangerous, but they're muggles they don't know better. Even Hermione falls into this prevalent mindset among wizards that they know better than muggles.

The Creevy brothers wanted to keep both the wizarding world and their parents. Hermione chose the wizarding world. She figured that if she truly wanted to belong and be up to date with everything, months in the muggle world would make this assimilation harder, so she stayed in the wizarding world. And when the time comes to make a hard decision to Obliviate her parents and send them away, it is easier to rationalize. She hasn't been part of their life for so long anyway, they would hardly notice the difference, besides, she's the witch, she's the one in the know, not them.

It's quite sad, but it's a result of Hermione's decision to assimilate into the wizarding world as if she was always there which is, I think, influenced by the bigotry that is everywhere. I mean, even the Weasleys look down on muggles:

“Are they doctors?” he [Harry] asked Ron quietly. “Doctors?” said Ron, looking startled. “Those Muggle nutters that cut people up? Nah, they’re Healers.”

(OotP)

So, yeah, Hermione chose to be a witch, and to her, that means cutting her parents she was never too close to out of her life.

[dinarosie]

hi i am actually very interested in the fact that you are "anti-marauders" because i have a strong feeling you've never actually had a conversation with a (real, not tik-tokified) marauders fan. i don't particularly "hate" snape, but i do NOT think he's a good person. i have a lot of similar nuanced feeling pertaining to peter, and i will admit that james and sirius are often childish and did bully snape. i've decided to reread half-blood prince, and rewatch the movie, so i can have a real conversation of my opinion on snape, and i will send in another ask later.

also, sectumsemprus (is that it?) is his SIGNATURE spell- for reference, voldemort's signature spell is avada kedavra, and harry's is probably expelliarmus. do you know how many times you have to use a spell for it to become your signature spell?

Hi there! Thanks for reaching out.

First, I want to clarify that I use anti-Marauders tags not because I created this blog solely to spread hate against them or to harass their fans, but because it’s a general Tumblr rule. For nearly any post criticizing a character, you’re expected to use anti tags, as fans of that character might not want to see critical posts about their favorite. This ensures fans who may not want to see criticism of their favorite characters can filter or avoid it if they choose.

Now, you mentioned that I probably haven’t talked to a “real” Marauders fan, which is why I have anti-Marauders posts. But honestly, I don’t think all fans of the Marauders share the same views, nor is it possible to talk to every fan before making a post. I see a lot of anti-Snape content daily—much of it from Marauders fans—and often get an idea for a post that I decide to share. I imagine most bloggers do this; it’s part of engaging with fandoms online. I try to offer thoughtful critiques when possible, but that does take time. Sometimes, seeing particularly harsh, illogical, or double-standard comments pushes me to post a short, sarcastic response—one that mirrors the style of some of the content I encounter.

Overall, I wouldn’t call myself “anti All of Marauder fans.” Yes, I use terms like “Marauders fans” and “anti-Marauders” tags, but my issue is only with fans who unreasonably hate Snape and mock him (even for things like his background) or who attack Snape supporters, labeling them with hurtful terms simply for supporting him. Outside of those specific cases, I have no problem with other fans.

As for your question about Sectumsempra, I understand you’re suggesting it became Snape’s “signature” spell through frequent, harmful use. I looked up the reference you mentioned, and here’s the passage from Deathly Hallows where Lupin speaks of Sectumsempra:

“He lost his hood during the chase. Sectumsempra was always a specialty of Snape’s. I wish I could say I’d paid him back in kind, but it was all I could do to keep George on the broom after he was injured, he was losing so much blood.”

It’s worth noting the term Lupin uses here: specialty, not signature. Sectumsempra first appears in Half-Blood Prince as an unknown spell by an unnamed creator. After Harry uses it on Malfoy, it’s still an unfamiliar spell until Snape admits to creating it at the end of the book. But in Deathly Hallows, right after the Battle of the Seven Potters, Sectumsempra becomes widely associated with Snape (via Lupin’s words).

While in Half-Blood Prince the goal is to keep the creator of this spell anonymous, in Deathly Hallows it’s crucial to know exactly who used Sectumsempra during the Battle of the Seven Potters. The inconsistency here seems intentional. The author isn’t referencing Sectumsempra’s notoriety here to highlight Snape’s past; rather, I believe she brings it up as an important clue about the future. This clue gains significance after we view Snape’s memories, especially after reading Dumbledore’s line to him just before the Battle of the Seven Potters:

And Severus, if you are forced to take part in the chase, be sure to act your part convincingly… I am counting upon you to remain in Lord Voldemort’s good books as long as possible, or Hogwarts will be left to the mercy of the Carrows..."

But in THE PRINCE’S TALE, we see that Snape defies Dumbledore’s advice—he steps out of his role as a Death Eater and targets another Death Eater with a spell that’s highly conspicuous, one that could jeopardize his cover. (If successful, and had it hit another Death Eater, they would have immediately recognized the spell as Snape’s own.) So why would Snape make such an irrational choice? Why take such a risk? To save the life of Remus Lupin.

This scene is one of many that show Snape’s growth and commitment to doing the right thing—not out of loyalty to Lily, not for Dumbledore, nor for any personal reward.( And that's exactly why, in the chapter where Snape's true loyalty and the real story behind him are finally revealed, this spell and its backstory are brought up.) As he admitted in his iconic line to Dumbledore, he had grown weary of watching lives be lost when he had the power to save them. Whether it’s an old bully, Lucius and Narcissa’s son, or James and Lily’s, Snape steps in without hesitation to protect a life—even if it endangers his own

Another reason I don’t believe the author’s aim here is to highlight Snape’s crimes as a Death Eater is that there are numerous scenes throughout the series discussing Snape’s actions during that time. Yet, we never see any indication or hint from the author that Snape committed serious harm or atrocities while serving as a Death Eater. In fact, in his argument with Bellatrix, it’s mentioned that Snape actively tried to avoid participating in missions. During his planning conversations with Dumbledore, we’re also told that his soul has never been tainted by murder. And in Karkaroff’s trial, there’s no crime or accusation he can use against Snape.

[amoscontorta]

What are your NSFW Sylus thoughts/headcanons? 👀 bc I'd love to hear you go in depth with them and why u view Sylus the way u do bc it seems like everyone kinda has a different view of him. For instance, a big division I've seen is that there's some people who view Sylus as a switch and others view him as a dom or a service top. It seems like some people get personally offended when their view on Sylus is different from another's unfortunately 😅

I get it, people love Sylus a certain way, but I'll never support people trying to kink shame others for wishing Infold had went in a different direction with him or having kink preferences that might go against Sylus' or even having kinks Sylus might not be into. For me, Sylus is mainly a dom. He loves a challenge bc he gets bored easily, yet he also is very competitive, which is why he isn't gonna wanna lose most of the time. He's stubborn too.

Even in No Defense Zone MC wasn't really in full control. Sylus was ordering her around and teasing the whole time, but he clearly thought it was cute seeing MC want to be a little bit more dominant with him. MC was also obeying his orders. Do I think he likes to be called degrading names when he's eating u out? Sure, I could see that. Likes praise? Sure. Do I think he's gonna let you walk him on a leash and be into pegging? Absolutely not 🤣 but that's just MY opinion on him from everything I've gathered. I think he enjoys letting you have some control, but he's gotta be in the right mood for it I think and he probably has things he isn't into like everyone else. Either way, I'd love to hear ur thoughts on this whenever u have the time ❤️

Hi there. I’ve been thinking about this ask since I got it, and one of the things I know for sure is that I’m going to upset someone no matter what I say. But the whole point of me starting to share my fic and being more active on tumblr is to challenge my social anxiety when it tells me that my opinion isn’t of interest to anyone at the least, or offensive/hurtful at the worst. 

So here we go, my answer under the cut.

So to answer this question, I need to get through a few points first before I tell you what I personally believe about Sylus’s sexuality.

I don’t believe in kink shaming either, and I think that peoples’ complaints about the direction Infold takes the LIs are valid. We all want content that we can really relate to, and if the canon take doesn’t satisfy you, one of the great purposes of fanfic is to fix it for yourself and other fans like you. That’s such a huge part of engaging in fandom and even if I don’t agree that the character would actually do what you make him do in your content, if you write it well enough, if you capture his voice, give him logical motivations, respect the core of the character while you do it, then I can be convinced to enjoy it despite it deviating from canon.

That being said, I love Sylus because of his canon characterization, and I do believe that there are some things he would be into, or not into, based on his dialogue in the game itself.

It’s impossible to answer this question personally without telling you the following: I think it’s insane that we as a worldwide fandom and/or global community have restricted ourselves to a strict BDSM mindset of looking at people as belonging to an inflexible binary of dominant or submissive, with the only middle ground being switch, with formal labels and rules of what a “dom” does, what a “sub” does, and so forth, and the value judgments we place on which label you fall under. And what drives me further insane is how much that binary is tied up in so much misogynist bullshit if we’re talking about hetero pairings with a female MC (the power dynamics of a female sub versus a male dom alone is so often written in such a way that the writer’s internalized misogyny results in literally painful-wince-inducing reading). Human sexuality is so fluid, personal, intimate—I think that the average person’s dynamic and preferences change depending on who they’re with, what stage of life they’re in, what scars they bear from past relationships, and even on a day to day basis, how much energy they have, etc. So although all I seem to see in fandom discourse is dom!Sylus, sub!Sylus, I think that mindset is reductive, especially because even with the shit-tastic translation Infold has inflicted on us, they’ve managed to create an incredibly nuanced character who feels real enough to be human. Reducing him to dom, sub, or switch misses so much of his personality and how much he clearly loves and is obsessively devoted to MC and what MC wants.

 Finally, I think every time we’re discussing fictional characters, it’s important to remember who is writing them, and why. Infold is here to make money. They created LIs with a spectrum of traits to appeal to the widest subset of their targeted demographics. As a result, they’ve given the LIs, at least to some extent, both dominant and submissive characteristics, to appeal to the greatest number of players.

We have memories with Sylus and dialogue that indicate he’s dominant: “I prefer to be the one to take the initiative” when you tap his dick too many times in destiny cafe, his outfit descriptions about him getting a thrill of being a predator on the hunt, of dominating his prey. But we also have the no defense zone where he’s in a submissive position, even if people argue that he’s topping from the bottom in that card. Multiple times throughout the game, he lets you do what you want to him, and then says “are you satisfied? Now it’s my turn,” which points to him being a switch. Like, Infold covered all of their bases not only with Sylus, but all of the LIs to some degree.

Ok, with that context, and using the sort of vernacular that makes concepts easily recognizable even if I hate the labels: I think Sylus is a switch. He is first and foremost a hedonist—he is comfortable in his body, he prefers the finest food, drink, atmosphere, clothing, he wants to be entertained, he is constantly fighting boredom and the ennui of cynical disillusionment with the worst of humanity and being the apex predator. He loves pleasure. It doesn’t matter what form that pleasure takes. And he wants pleasure with MC in particular, because he is written by Infold as that devoted—he has a line in the destiny cafe about no one else touching him so intimately before. He’s willing to learn everything about your tastes, and then use what you teach him to pleasure you and himself. On multiple occasions he says “Oh, I suck at this? Then teach me.” So even if initially he’s shit in bed, he’ll only make a mistake once and then blow your mind on his next attempt. Sylus wants to fuck you the way you want him to fuck you. So if you want to peg him, "well sweetie, I have a prostate for a reason." You want him to choke you with a tie and fuck you like an animal, he’s down. He’s so self-assured and interested in what you want and giving both himself and you pleasure that he doesn’t believe in the “dominant = most powerful, most masculine, having the upper hand, winning” perspective that so many writers in this fandom seem to assign to the term dominant. Conversely, being submissive, or the recipient of penetration, or letting the other take control isn’t a weakness in his eyes. He “submits” because it pleases you, because he enjoys being at your mercy, he’s thrilled to have someone he trusts enough to have power over him, and that someone is you. He trusts you to make him feel fucking good, and if you can do that by putting him on his knees, who is he to say no? If on the other hand, you submit to him, he thinks you’re the most fearless, strongest badass there is for letting a literal killer who everyone else on the planet fears put you in a vulnerable position. The connotations of dominant = strong, superior and submissive = weak, inferior, losing just do not compute for him. I don’t think he’d just think of you as cute for wanting to dominate him. I think he’d think you’re magnificent for daring to try, he'd be incredibly curious how you intend to do it, and then if you truly are a dominant powerhouse, he’d happily drown in the pleasure you give him.

Now, again, this all assumes that you, yourself, are into dom/sub dynamics. Which so many people simply aren’t. And I think if you just love him, and want to have sex with him because you’re attracted to him and want to share that intimacy with him, or you don’t believe that every single sexual encounter has to contain the rigid dom/sub binary or hierarchy of positions, that you experience attraction and sex as two people on equal footing sharing a life and a bed, he’d happily fuck you in missionary for the rest of his life, luxuriating in being able to watch your expressions, of looking into your eyes, of leaning down to breathe in the scent of your neck, and just loving you until you both come and then have a snack and watch something stupid on tv.

Lastly, I do believe that there are some things Sylus wouldn’t be into, no matter how sexually adventurous he is. I don’t think he’d be into degradation, at least towards you: he is not going to call you cruel names, because you’re the person he cherishes the most in the world. I think he’d just straight-forwardly tell you, “Beloved, that doesn’t do anything for me. If you really want me to, I can try,” but you’d know his heart just isn’t in it. He isn’t going to physically hurt you, either in a pain play way or just being too eager to fuck you to properly prep you. Edit: just look at the way this man handles his gun during quality time. He's not going to treat your body with less sensual respect that that fucking gun. If sex hurts for you, he’d feel like he’s doing it wrong, and he’d slow down or try a different approach until it doesn’t hurt, or he’d tell you he isn’t interested in whatever pain you’re asking for just like with the degrading language. If you’re into degradation, with him being the receiver, I can see him being into that because he seems to be so amused by you when you’re mean to him, but even then, there are so many times in game where he says stuff like, “you talk to that person so nicely, why aren’t you that nice to me” or how happy he gets when you do start doing kind things for him, or saying kind things. I think he lives for your praise much more than anything else, but whether you’re calling him names or calling him beloved, both are good, because you’re right there, finally, looking at him, loving him, and he can finally breathe again after so long without you.

And as for how I’m writing him in the current fic: I’m writing him with all of the foregoing in mind, and will be highlighting what kind of lover I think he is for this particular MC. I could just as easily write him being a very different lover, but still in-character, for an MC who is not so damaged and has a much more dominant personality in the bedroom (as opposed to current MC who is pretty much only dominant when killing and withdrawn/timid outside the battlefield, and who enjoys the soft, kindness-driven taking-the-lead loving that Sylus is capable of displaying).

Thank you for coming to my ted talk. And thank you for the interesting ask! Even if I disagree with your or anyone else’s take on him, at the end of the day we all love this character, and what you want or need from him is valid, even if it’s not to my taste or in line with how I view him.

[felicjana050896]

This will be a very long post, so sorry, but I have to, I have inspiration and I have to write down my thoughts :)

So, about the leak…, I saw it, so for everyone who reads this

ATTENTION

if you don't want spoilers, don't read further, there will be only spoilers about the leak below and I ask everyone not to openly spread the information contained in it the leak or the leak itself without hiding this information or the leak below and providing it with a warning, because there are people who do not want to see the leak and have the right not to see information about it, and people who have seen the leak and want to know about it discuss have an obligation to do everything to ensure that such people are not openly exposed to this without warnings, let's respect each other as fans of Hazbin Hotel.

First I have to add some words from myself (again): So, moving on to the leak that is on Tik Tok, I won't post it here because I don't want to spread it, at most I can send the video in a private message to those interested, with a warning again not to spread it further, but to keep it to themselves, there are people who don't want to know about it and you have to respect them, but then there are people like me who like this little bit of excitement while waiting for the next season (by the way, this is good news, because you can see that the season is being actively created, because I was afraid that we would see it no sooner than in 2026/27, and looking at this leak, the way it looks, at some points it is already quite advanced in terms of sketches and the fact that both animators and voice actors, that the series is being actively created, I think it will be released somewhere in six months, or a year at the latest, and that makes me look forward to it even more :) ) and yes, I sometimes like to receive some information from the actors or the creators themselves, Viv herself said some spoilers about the second season, such as the song Charlie or Vaggie, etc. (if it's true, because I don't know how this account is reliable, but it seems to be an official account informing about news related to cartoons, who knows, I don't, you can probably also find this tweet in the most popular ones from Hazbin Hotel), because for me such information is a small relief in waiting and they fuel the excitement about the series' arrival, because it makes me wait for it even more impatiently.

And finally, getting serious about the leak, I would like to analyze it, I will only write, I will not paste neither photos nor fragments of the video, as I wrote above.

At the beginning we see that Alastor has come to Rosie asking her, even demanding her help, we see that he is angry, even furious.

I won't write about the fact that this whole leak tells us practically 100% (unless someone is really laughing at us) that Rosie is the owner of Alastor's soul, because there is nothing to analyze here, in my opinion, I can only write that I was shocked…, I didn't even suspect that Alastor might have a deal with her, my two most likely chances were:

Eve/Roo

Lilith

I would have sooner believed that Alastor had a deal with the von Eldrichts, never with Rosie, because in the first season they really seemed to be very close friends, many people shipped them, I shipped Alastor with her after Charlastor, it was my second shipp which including Al, and now…, I don't see Alastor and Rosie happening at all, and clearly this whole friendship is fake…, which brings me to my next point:

Alastor doesn't actually have any real friends!

Some people have written before that he has no friends, but they always wrote it this way, that if Alastor is "friends" with someone, it is only for his own benefits, and I always thought that Rosie and Mimzy were his friends after all, Rosie more, than Mimzy, because Mimzy uses him, but despite everything, and now my view is ruined… Alastor has no real friends…, Rosie is his mistress and this whole friendship is fake, Mimzy uses him, he uses Husker, Niffty is kind of his obedient pet after all, he doesn't have anyone real in his life… and that makes me think even more about Charlastor's perspective… because Charlie is a person who doesn't mean anything using Alastor, who is honest and true (even if in my opinion she hides part of herself, this demonic part of herself, partly for the sake of wanting to be too good, partly for the sake of Vaggie, who is disgusted by demonicity…, sorry, but I'll go anti Chaggie now, how can you say that you love someone when you are ashamed/fearful/dislike/hate/disgusted or in any way negative about half of the personality of the person you are with and want them to hide that half…, even worse because Vaggie hate songs, singing, dancing, general joy and optimism that Charlie displays, even her good heart, because Vaggie herself was against helping others from the very beginning, it really surprises me how you can make these two people be together and even in the Wiki about Hazbin Hotel the character of Vaggie writes "she likes everything that Charlie likes", when everything is nonsense…, everything that Charlie likes, Vaggie hates, the only thing that Vaggie likes is Charlie herself, Charlie, but stripped of her good heart, of her love of dancing, singing, music, of her demonic powers, everything that Charlie is Vaggie hates or he just doesn't like it… how can it be possible to say that these two characters have chemistry…, I used to justify their relationship with the text "No, Vaggie is just too underdeveloped, empty", but now the more I think about this relationship, the more I see that it's not true, Vaggie in my opinion has something else in her, something more, but like Charlie, she hides it because, like with her lies, she is afraid that Charlie will dislike her for it or hates her, and at the same time she tells Charlie to proverbially hide in a corner every time, these two women have a negative impact on each other, they pin each other flat to the ground with chains and do not allow each other to get up…, they limit each other, this relationship is superficially healthy and sweet, but if you look deeper, it is terribly toxic for both of them… I've gone too far… and this isn't about Chaggie… I'm sorry, but something really got on my mind today after seeing this leak… :) ), Charlie is the person who can (and in my opinion will) become the real person for Alastor, the one who won't uses him like Mimzy, nor try to gain power over him, despite being more powerful like Rosie, she will not be his pet like Niffty, nor will she be his subject like Husker, Charlie, in my opinion, will surprise Alastor more than once (positively, of course) and this will significantly change his perspective, because probably everyone in his surroundings, they were one of the categories of those four people above, summed up to two: they either tried to take advantage of him or allowed themselves to be taken advantage of by him, and I look forward to watching Charlie neither try to gain the upper hand over him nor submit to him, but she responds to his challenge honestly, as equals, that's something I want to see :)

Moving on, we clearly see that Rosie treats Alastor as her pet, she calls him "pet", says that he is part of her zoo, says that he will listen to her, sit when she says sit, etc., we see some a kind of leash and a cage, so it's no wonder that Alastor treats Husker in the same way and treats Niffty like a small animal, he took an example from Rosie, it's not his own invention (as some people thought), but her influence.

We further learn that Alastor has been serving her for centuries, from what we learn later in the cutscene, Alastor has been her "pet" since they met, so it could be a really, really long time ago…, it's possible that even from the very beginning when he went to hell… he says that he obeyed her demands and a thought occurred to me… what if all the murdering of overlords that Alastor did in the past was not of his own will, but on Rosie's orders… because she wanted to get rid of strong competition and used Alastor for this purpose…?

We further learn that it was because of Rosie that he disappeared for these 7 years and that people are less afraid of him after this time, the question is why did she tell him to disappear?

Did she just want to weaken him this way, to silence the Radio Demon a bit, because she saw that he was starting to pose too much of a threat, so she told him to disappear?

He then talks about fixing his staff, so we learn that he went alone, reluctantly, as we see at the very beginning of the clip, to ask for her help in fixing his staff. I'm guessing it's about all the people in the hotel, Charlie, Vaggie, Angel Husker, Niffty etc., maybe they are in a complete emotional turmoil and he asks her for help, similar to when he took Charlie to her when she needed to talk to someone after an argument with Vaggie. Most importantly, even if Alastor says "staff", we clearly see that he cares about this staff ;) , he went to the person who owns his soul, with great reluctance, to help his "staff" (let's agree Alastor, we call each other by name, they are not "staff", they are friends :) ), clearly in my opinion we will see Alastor becoming more and more attached to our hotel group, whether he likes it or not :D

And something that is most important to me, which is at the very end, which I must quote:

R: Who can't be sad?

A: At least not yet.

This is what struck me the most (apart from the deal itself, of course), everyone in Cannibal Town (except Susan, of course…) is smiling all the time, Rosie herself is also smiling almost all the time, these exchanges above can, in my opinion, suggest two things:

Less likely, but I'll write it anyway, that Alastor wants to get over Rosie and wants her to end up sad.

Most likely, and by the way, it would also solve the case that Alastor's smile is not some maniacal smile of a psychopath, as some have written, but it may really be, as others have written, the result of magic, Alastor's deal with Rosie and Alastor is constantly forced by her smiling, which he has had enough of.

These are my quick thoughts after this leak, thank you for your perseverance (who persevered :D ), reading (who read :D ) and I wish you a nice day, evening or night :)

Link to the second part:

[bakuhatsufallinlove]

I feel like Horikoshi left so many things open for bkdk's relationship and it doesn't sit right with me tbh. We didn't even get a proper talk between them after everything, which is kinda strange to think about. Between this and the off-screeing of their handhold, I feel like the writing feels really underwhelming and unresolved. I cannot understand how Hori was satisfied with this. I hope that we will get new content and resolution in vol 42 maybe, but I don't want to hope and then ending up being disappointed at the end.

Hey anon, I'd like to ask you something.

Did you send this message to me, bakuhatsufallinlove, because you wanted to hear what I had to say on the matter? Me, individually, as a person whose opinion you might respect or be interested in knowing?

Do you read my blog? Are you familiar with what I write about? Or did you just stumble upon a total stranger talking about both bkdk and volume 42 and decide to fire off this ask, which doesn't contain a question, but rather your own negative opinion I am supposed to respond to somehow?

I'm not trying to be mean, but I really want to know. I feel like it's a trend that people who are unsatisfied with the ending go around randomly telling other fans how much it sucks with very little prompting. Maybe you want to be dissuaded from your negative opinion, but it doesn't come across that way, nor do you seem interested in why other people might like it.

I loved the ending. When I said the only thing I wanted was a bkdk handhold, I meant it.

We got a hospital scene where Katsuki cries about how he can't bear the idea of a future without Izuku.

We got so much build up showing us how comfortable and at ease with each other they became after DvK2, which suggests they have reached a point of understanding where words may be unnecessary for certain things. The things that did still need to be said were said.

We got a finale that told us Katsuki dedicated nearly a decade of his life to making sure Izuku could be a hero the way they always dreamed about as kids, and now they can be together.

If you are going into the release of Volume 42 having not appreciated any of that, I genuinely don't think you are going to be satisfied with any extra content we get. And I'm sorry for you in that regard, but I don't feel that's something I can help you with.

[phantombre]

3, 5, 11, 14 for the ask game? :D

ohboy,ohboy,ohboy,ohboy...

Ask Game Here: (Thank you, @pink-november, btw)

Warning: mild (but still existing) Pristine Cut spoilers

3.) Favorite Vessel?

The Razor. She's actually the first vessel I got when I first played the game. (Specifically, M.A.D. I think I would have gotten the Spectre if I hadn't fallen for the "this was too easy" trick.) Regardless, I'm glad I got her first. She's easily the funniest Princess. Her desperate attempts to quell suspicions in chapter 2 is fucking hilarious, especially the "I would like to go outside and see a bird" bit when Hero almost buys into it. Speaking of, it not only introduced Cheated, who in my opinion is one of the most relatable voices, it introduced EVERY voice, so I got a small taste of all of them.

Runner-ups would be Moment of Clarity, Wraith, Thorn, and the newly added Cage.

5.) Favorite Voice?

Skeptic. The beloved...

He definitely stands out from the other voices, by which I mean, he doesn't quite fit with the genre of the story. It's as if you took a 1940's film noir detective and put him in a dark fantasy setting without telling him that he's in a dark fantasy setting. Which (I think) is why he keeps trying to rationally explain his surroundings despite his surroundings clearly not being rational.

He's also kind of a dork. That segment when he "winks" honestly caught me off guard when I first heard it. Had me giggling throughout the rest of the chapter.

Runner-ups include Paranoid, Cheated, Cold, and Broken (especially after the Pristine Cut).

11.) Non-canon Vessel/ Voice interactions?

To be honest, I don't have any specific examples that come to mind. Maybe due to the fact that I'm not fully finished with my Pristine Cut playthrough and don't want to accidentally say something stupid.

That being said, from what I have completed, Smitten seems to be a very underutilized voice. (Yes, I have played the Happily Ever After chapter, so I do know about that... concept.) I mean I understand that his personality is applicable in very specific circumstances (i.e. the Thorn, the Damsel, the Razor). Like, I wouldn't put him with vessels like the Den or the Wraith or such. The Wild would be an interesting one, though. So would the Apotheosis. Hell, put him with the Eye of the Needle so that he and Stubborn can both gawk at the hot Princess. That'd be funny, I think.

14.) Favorite Ships?

oh boy...

To be honest, I'm not one for the shipping scene. At least not sexually. Maybe romantically? Ehh?? If anything, it would be platonic.

But...

The ones I see most are ContraHero, HuntCheat, and (from you, specifically, heh) ParaCold. While all the voices have interesting dynamics with each other, these specific pairings make sense to me personally more than anything else.

Case in point:

Ooh, what's that?! A voice sneak peek?!? eaoooaaag!!!

Personal head canons include:

- Contrarian and Hero constantly flip-flop between the best of friends and an old married couple who bicker a lot (also bushy hair supremacy!!!).

- Hunted is one of the only people who can make Cheated smile. Like a genuine smile, not a smirk. Mostly because he finds Hunted's animalistic behavior amusing.

- On the other side, Hunted is very particular about where he sleeps, only picking locations where he feels the most safe. And his favorite spot is with Cheated's company.

- Cold's general apathy towards everything, specifically staying alive, is greatly concerning to Paranoid, so he resolves to "make him feel". (I know, similar to what Smitten decreed. However, unlike Smitten, who used it as a threat, Paranoid is genuinely invested in what he sees as helping Cold.) Likewise, Cold is probably one of the best voices to easily quell his panic attacks (granted he could also be the cause of them, but still...).

[lemotmo]

Hi! I'm sorry to bring this up but... are Oliver and Ryan really interacting with buddie content? Or just Eddie and Buck content, as a duo of characters in the show (because let's be honest, they go together), not as a romantic pairing. Because all I see are Buck and Eddie costumes, and in one of them there was even a third person dressed as Chim. It's not like they liked the one of the two dudes that looked like boyfriends that were clearly going for romantic buddie. I just wouldn't call what they're doing interacting with buddie stuff, just 911 stuff specific to their characters.

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on this one Nonny.

If it was just this one time, I would think your theory holds validity. But this isn't a one-off at all. They've done this before.

Ryan with that parody video a while ago, Oliver with so much fanart over the years, general Buddie posts (thumb thumb thumb anyone?) and now costumes. This is a pattern by now.

Ryan actively liked a bunch of Eddie and Buddie costume posts today, one of them being an Eddie-apple and a Buck-lemon that kissed. I mean... that's pretty specific if you ask me. 🤷‍♀️

Oliver is out there liking all kinds of Buddie stuff, but ignoring anything BT. Again, very specific. That is a pattern.

This isn't 'just' about showing a duo of friends on a TV-show. They know what they are doing. They aren't fools. They are having fun with this (until some rpf idiot decided to ruin that fun, but whatever).

How much more clear can they get at this point for people to start believing it?

For years people have called us 'delusional' and I think it seeped into our bones to the point that we just believe we are making things up that aren't really there. Well, I promise you that you aren't just 'seeing' things this time. You aren't delusional. Trust in what you see.

Now I can't/won't 100% promise that they'll follow through with Buddie on the show, because you never know with Tim. But from all that we've seen so far and now this very interesting social media pattern? I'm quite confident they will.

As I said before, if they wouldn't go through with it now? ABC and the show would be in big trouble. It would be a PR nightmare, which is something a network doesn't need or want.

And yes, I talked about this with Ali. She shares my opinion on the Ryan and Oliver's social media pattern. I talked to a couple of mutuals about this as well. Everyone seems to agree, so I'm not alone in this.

Again, agree or disagree. All is fine. Everyone is allowed an opinion. But please keep it civil. Thanks.

[shiraishi--kanade]

Oh I'm not denying your right to analyse her, she's equally as fascinating to me and in my own eyes she's a combination of generational trauma and living vicariously through her daughter taken to the extreme by perhaps personal sadistic tendencies. We're given hints at Mafumom was probably coming out of poverty or at least financially insecure position; we're also given hints that she did not receive higher education and depends entirely financially on her husband, which is not a good position to be in regardless of their relationship, and pushing Mafuyu towards a high-paying career at the cost of her mental health might've been a good trade off in her mind. This is an interesting probability worth considering, as well as the other ones I laid out.

My addition was less directed at you trying to find a reason to her actions (aside from the last two paragraphs, but that's just me getting personal¹) and more about that I think the approach towards it is incorrect. Much every action she does that seems unreasonable or needlessly cruel can be explained by her being abusive and wanting absolute control and authority over the situation, a part of a much larger scheme & plan that took her years to realize;

Instead of focusing on the cases where she's shown to be cruel and trying to explain them individually (when they are very simply explained by the fact that Mafuyu is the target of manipulation and abuse), it is in my opinion more productive to grab her character as a whole and ask "Why is she like this?" question. Less of "why did she do this bad thing in that situation (because she operates on abuser logic, most likely)" and more of "what brought her to the position where she considers doing all of this to her daughter to be justified/normal?" approach, which is on itself I think is a good question to ask and wonder about. I just think the scope of abuse is too overwhelming to try to pick apart every single instance we're shown on screen and it needs to be considered through a larger lense of their relationship as a whole, or else we're missing important context.

Though I'd argue it's hard to tell if she doesn't know she did anything wrong or she feels like she didn't do anything wrong because of her sense of entitlement towards Mafuyu, and feeling entitled to forgiveness/love/obedience regardless of the horrific abuse she consciously initiated. "I didn't do anything wrong" vs "I did hurt her but she should have forgiven me because I'm doing it out of love and love is never wrong", and her own words in Farewell to my Persona seem to indicate towards the latter, for what it's worth. These beliefs may be hard to tell apart and in my opinion she hasn't spoken enough after third anniversary for us to confidently make the call. She is... A lot.

¹ - also it's not directed at anyone actually trying to make sense of what might've pushed her to that. It is more so than I hope Sega never confirms anything and sets it in stone and doesn't spoon feed us the explanation because I just feel like it would be poor taste and make a lot of people sympathise with Mafuyu less. Explain not justify, etc. Or at least if this does happen, she isn't forgiven or her actions aren't narratively justified. It's also just entirely possible there is no reason to her actions and she's just... Like that.

The more I read Mafuyu's stories the more confused I am about why her mom is like that. She has the temperament of a good parent, being able to control her emotions, but she chooses to guilt trip her kid who was probably scared after getting lost? She reacted calmly at first, but went about scolding her like Mafuyu is intentionally hurting her by getting lost instead of getting lost because she's a kid and stuff happens.

Like, if you can stay calm enough that your first response is to not scold her but check in on her, why would you guilt trip your kid after? A simple, don't it again, would've scared a kid enough to not do it again. But no! It's you're turning out to be a bad girl instead. Oh I'm sorry, who wasn't paying attention to her kid in a busy theme park? Not Mafuyu, but you

Girl could've been kidnapped and you'd have found a way to blame her, honestly

Honestly it seems like her mom is the culmination of the worst of toxic culture mixed into one and making it generational. I'm still gonna believe my theory that it's generational and that Mafuyu is breaking the generational trauma.

If Mafuyu really did end up being a doctor, what then? Yeah she would've been a great one, but what then? Being in the medical field ia stressful enough, add to it her not being able to feel her own emotions, what's gonna happen to the patients who needs their doctors to go beyond the physical and Mafuyu can't provide that?

What was the point of all that she did?

Mafuyu's mental state is shattered, add to it the stress of the medical field, it's easy to see where it'll end up. Again add to it the toxic work culture Japan has, if she gets lucky she gets a normal hospital, if not, good luck. That girl is gone and never moving up to be a successful doctor with her people pleasing facade. They're gonna take advantage of her.

Honestly, Mafuyu isn't even my favorite on the priority list, but the fact her mom exists is the only reason I want to dissect her. As a (young) adult with a somewhat good upbringing, she confuses me. No matter how hard I try to think from her perspective I can't. And as someone getting how to care for yourself advice now, she confuses me even more. Work all the time is obviously not optimal but that's just how it is in her head. It is optimal because Mafuyu is focused on that, she'll get it. Which isn't true, as Farewell my mask shows, girl cannot focus because test day is near and the stress of upsetting her mom pretty much makes her crash and burn.

I have so much thoughts. It's getting too long.

[the-casbah-way]

forgive the brief jesus chris superstar rant but. there is a very important difference between the pharisees being villains and the pharisees being antagonists. they're technically antagonists because they're actively working against the interests of our protagonist, but i don't believe they should ever be played as villains. they're not evil or bad or wrong. they're terrified just like literally everyone else in the show is, and their actions are completely justified. to me that's the entire point of the musical. it's not about christianity; it's about the impact the roman empire's brutal and violent imperialism had on everyone on all levels. including jesus and judas, but also including the pharisees, and even herod and pilate. when a powerful coloniser forces their presence on innocent people they are the only winners. everyone else suffers, even the puppet kings and high priests who look like they're reaping some sort of benefit from it all. that's roman propaganda. the romans kept native rulers like herod and caiaphas in power to maintain the illusion of provincial autonomy, and keep populations appeased and therefore under control. everyone in the show is acting out of fear of the romans. the one roman character we do see (pilate) is acting out of fear of his own emperor. it makes no sense to cast the pharisees as two dimensional Bad Guys, especially when the same productions that do that usually offer a sympathetic portrayal of pilate. it would be so easy to stage and direct a production in a way that makes it obvious that the pharisees are doing what they're doing because they truly have no choice, and not because they're pure evil and want to kill jesus for the sake of it. it's not only an antisemitic trope but also undermines a really important theme of the musical. if you can see the humanity in the violent roman governor installed forcefully on conquered land then you can afford some humanity for the pharisees too. they are victims of pilate and victims of rome just like everyone else

[avenger-hawk]

Hi, do you think Sasuke could have married Sakura out of guilt and as a sign of gratitude that she did not give up on him? Or does he really love her in a romantic way? I know that he cares about her in his own way,that she is dear to him, but is this romantic love?

Sasuke married Sak*ra because kishi wanted more money so he created the new generation that in order to be liked instantly by old fans had to be related to it and not new characters, that's why he created couples even if he initially wrote a shounen without romantic couples mostly, and this is the main reason they married, to create a new character for the new manga.

In universe Sasuke was tamed into submission and brainwashed, part of this was guilt tripping into believing everything he did was a crime to atone. Imo marrying sak*ra was a part of guilt tripping, not love and nothing romantic even if he did care about her as a friend in part 1.

my antiSS tag X

[altuspavus]

[ UNDERCOVER ] : while pretending to be a couple for the sake of a mission or other purpose, sender and receiver find themselves giving a Remarkably Convincing performance that leaves them questioning how platonic they really are. (oh boy this would be Interesting for Dori and Ari)

@triickst | meme here

Really, none of it makes very much sense to Dorian, no matter how many times it has been explained by multiple people with different points of view. Including half of their little... outing, he supposes it could be classed as. Truly, it begins to feel like a cruel little joke at Dorian's expense, what with everyone else simply seeming to 'get it' and refusing to explain in detail to him, perhaps because he's a Tevinter noble, he simply should understand by default, or perhaps because he's a Tevinter noble, he should not be trusted despite being an important member of the Inquisition, despite the fact that he knows full well that he's proven himself trustworthy already.

Or maybe it's all a sick joke, maybe someone has caught on to the fact that his glances at Aristide linger a bit longer than they strictly ought to, occur more frequently than a friend's should, maybe it's been noticed how he tends to stand closer to the Orlesian than to the others.

Whatever the reasoning, it leaves a sour taste in Dorian's mouth when he dares to linger upon the thoughts.

Instead, then, he focuses on the positives. They are in civilization proper, and though it is still the South, it's far kinder to Dorian's physical existence and happiness than Skyhold could ever hope to be. Another positive is that his company is, of course, precisely who he would like to be on his arm at any party, in that silly little dream world the man sometimes allows himself to indulge in.

And truly, they do make a rather dashing couple. Their features somehow complement one another's, between the two of them they have to have been the most complimented couple of the entire night, and Dorian would be lying if he didn't say that he's felt jealous glares upon the back of his neck more than once. It helps none of Dorian's annoying, complicated, distracting thoughts and feelings when they share a kiss initiated by Aristide, something likely done in order to better listen in on some conversation or something. It's easy enough for Dorian to justify, to stab a dagger into his own emotions with reason. Any feelings he's quarreling with are only amplified by the kiss, and if Dorian read into people's expressions more than he ought to, he'd almost be able to convince himself that Aristide felt similarly. Oh, the things the heart can convince the brain of.

Still, though, he knows this is all for a job of some sort, some information gathered perhaps. Frequently as Dorian must remind himself of that fact, his mind still repeatedly wanders. Wanders to how good Aritstide looks, how pleasing of a pair they make based upon the glances of reflections Dorian has managed to catch out of the corner of his eyes, how strangely right it feels to have Aristide on his arm despite the fact that the two of them were men, in respectable and noble company, openly appearing to be intimate. Appearing as such being all they were doing, and the thought again twists some sort of bramble wrapped about Dorian's chest.

A moment of quiet finds them slightly apart from the rest of the party, a moment during which they could gather their thoughts, though Dorian's only seem to grow messier as he tries to capture them. He squints into his glass of deep red wine, a tad too dry for his taste but better than he's had of late, he can't truly complain. Wouldn't complain to Aristide regardless, wouldn't bother him with something he's heard far too many times on Dorian's tongue before.

"Nice, isn't it?" The words tumble out of his mouth before he can catch the thought and swallow it down. The intention behind them: the two of them, together, the envy of many others that night, based upon comments, whispers, and glances. The interpretation behind the words, though, could be anything. They were vague enough.

The rational part of Dorian wishes to leave it vague, keep from breaking his own heart and potentially getting himself shunned, thrown from the Inquisition and back to the wolves of his home country. Unfortunately, it seems that the rational part of Dorian has abandoned him. "Having someone to attend these with, I mean. Someone on your arm who can look just as good as you do." A moment of panic bubbles up in Dorian's throat. "—No one else here suspects a thing."

[heart-democracy]

TDI Advice wanted!

Hi TD fans! I'm planning a rewrite of TDI, the cast will be 18 for in-universe reasons (think legal contracts, I'm not gonna be weird about them). I'm aiming to make it more realistic and in line with the 2007 aesthetic, i.e era appropriate lingo & references, mobile phones are rare, homophobia is a bigger concern etc, but I'm wondering how far I should take it?

In the end I'll write what I enjoy, but should I lean more heavily into the gritty side of reality TV both on and behind the screen, include more notable sexism, potential slurs and creepy behaviours etc? The point is for there to be believable drama in-universe and the topics planned all have some merit to be present. I have some hard lines I'll never cross (see last tags on the post for those curious) and I want people familiar with the themes to feel seen rather than exploited reading it.

At the end of the day the cast are just youngsters getting to know each other and themselves. I want to humanize them and write believable conflicts without demonizing anyone, it is intended as a character driven story after all. But I also want to know what others think would make for an enjoyable read/take on the show.

The cast will inevitably diverge from their canon counterparts, but I am unsure how to handle certain characters, an example being LeShawna. She's clearly based on a racist stereotype, but her personality, background and lingo are a huge part of her appeal and I'd rather portray her in a better light than change her from the ground up. If you have any pointers I can keep in mind for her or anyone else you think is often portrayed poorly in canon or fanon then please let me hear your takes! This goes for non-TDI castmates as well, even if they don't show up in the story I wanna know what people think does and doesn't work for them and their tropes/traits cause it might still be relevant!

[hxhhasmysoul]

even if gege was nonbinary as you clam he still didn’t care or develop the female characters in his stories 🤷🏻‍♀️ they all died or were sidelined and only maki got some development and that’s disproportional compared to the male characters. being lgbt does not make an author less likely to be misogynistic, that’s a stupid take.

i'm not saying gege is nonbinary, you completely missed the point of my previous answer. saying gege is nonbinary is gendering them. nonbinary is a type of gender that some people have, there are various types of that kind of gender. you clearly don't understand basic gender related issues, idk how am i even supposed to respond to you.

from what i've seen, and i'm in no way a queer or gender researcher, just a casual observer, there are people who have one of the 2 binary genders, there are various flavours of nonbinary genders, there are people who are gender fluid or have multiple genders (and yes i've also seen both the takes that these kinds of genders fall under the nonbinary umbrella and the takes that say they don't and i will not under any circumstance take a stance on that) and there are people who are agender who reject the whole idea of gender, they have their own individual takes on it.

and the whole point with gege akutami is that officially gege didn't subscribe to any gender. they don't disclose their gender and the respectful thing to do is not to gender them. especially not to gender them as an excuse to dehumanise them.

please don't misrepresent or define for me what my takes are, don't do it to anyone actually. it's rude, for one, like gendering people who specifically don't provide their gender. but it actually makes you look bad in a discussion, it significantly weakens your point and makes you look silly because you're arguing against made up things. but also it's an abuse tactic and i have a history of abuse and it's actually slightly triggering to me. this last thing is actually crucial why you shouldn't put words in other people's mouth, you don't know what they've been through and how much something like that may affect them. so doing that just to "win" an internet argument is really inappropriate.

i have never implied that being part of a minority makes one immune to bigotry towards a different minority, or even their own. it's actually something i've talked about angainst before in the context of a hxh harassment campaign a few years ago where people said that they can't be racist because they are some kind of queer, or a different kind of poc than the person they targeted.

it seems to me that you take the zerosum attitude to feminism which is a choice. i think it's a very performative internet leftist choice but you do you.

if you're actually interested in what i think about jjk female characters, and why i think jjk is actually doing some stuff right regarding feminism and why calling it and especially the author misogynist is in bad faith read this. it's long, it's not perfect and replies to very particular statements made by someone i'm actually friends with rn, but it's pretty exhaustive. it also applies feminism in a way that isn't as simplistic as trying to count percentages of female character whatever to male character whatever.