#*just to clarify when i say not talking about other scenes i specifically meant other masriel scenes

[aceyalonso]

F1 drivers if they were on the r/AITAH subreddit

drivers : oscar piastri, lando norris, charles leclerc, lewis hamilton, carlos sainz, max verstappen, george russell, franco colapinto

warnings/notes : jos verstappen 🤮

a/n : i know i said i was on hiatus but c'mon this was such a fun idea

main masterlist | taglist form

So this might sound weird, but here goes. My girlfriend and I (both 23) love visiting new places, and she’s a big animal lover. She found this adorable cat café nearby and has been talking about going for weeks. I wasn’t as excited but figured it’d be fun to surprise her, so I booked us a spot and thought I’d try to make it extra special.

Here’s the thing: I wanted to be "that guy" who shows up with a bag of cat treats so all the cats would flock to us. It sounds ridiculous, but my goal was to make her day. When we got there, I pulled out the treats and instantly had a few cats’ attention. My girlfriend laughed, but within a few minutes, an employee came over, looking annoyed, and told me I couldn't give the cats treats from outside.

Apparently, they have specific diets or something, and I was "interfering." I apologized, put the treats away, and thought that was the end of it. But soon after, another employee came up, saying we were being "disruptive" because all the cats were lingering around us, and they even hinted we might need to leave if it didn’t stop. I hadn’t meant to cause a scene and told them it wasn’t a big deal—we’d stop and just hang out like everyone else. But by this point, my girlfriend was pretty embarrassed, and it killed the vibe of our day.

We left a bit earlier than planned, and now my girlfriend thinks it was a bit of a jerk move, even though she appreciated the effort. I didn’t mean to upset anyone or break the rules, just thought it’d be fun to make the cats a bit more social. But now I’m wondering if I messed up by not sticking to the café’s way of doing things.

So, AITAH?

Edit: I’ve learned my lesson. I will never underestimate the dietary regulations of a cat café ever again.

So, I (24M) have this bad habit of forgetting what’s in my fridge. A while ago, I bought some chicken, but I totally forgot about it, and it just sat there for months. I was cleaning out my fridge the other day and found the chicken at the back, and it still looked fine to me—didn’t smell bad, didn’t look weird—so I thought, "Why not? It’s still good."

I cooked it up, had a nice meal, and didn’t think much of it. But then, later that night, I told my mom about it (thinking she'd just laugh), and she completely freaked out. She went on this whole rant about food safety, salmonella, and how I could’ve poisoned myself. I was just like, "It tasted fine, mom, calm down."

She kept texting me all night asking if I felt okay, if I was getting any stomach pains, and even called a few of my friends to check in on me. Honestly, I’m fine—nothing happened, and I feel perfectly normal.

But now she’s upset with me, saying I’m being careless and that I should never eat food that old, even if it seems fine. I just didn’t think it would be that big of a deal. I mean, people eat leftovers all the time, right? It wasn’t even that old.

So, AITAH for eating chicken that’s been in my fridge for 9 months and making my mom worry unnecessarily?

Edit: Just to clarify, I didn’t intentionally keep it for 9 months. I honestly just forgot about it in the back of the fridge. And no, I’m not sick. Everything’s fine. I promise I won’t be eating anything old again anytime soon!

I (27M) have a dog, Leo, who’s basically my best friend. He’s super friendly and well-behaved, and honestly, I just feel better when he’s around. I bring him everywhere I go – to cafes, parks, and friend gatherings. You name it, Leo’s there. Most people are fine with it because he’s adorable and loves everyone.

Recently, though, my friends have started making comments about it. Last weekend, we met up at this small, cozy café for brunch, and I brought Leo along. He just curled up next to my chair and didn’t bother anyone. But my friend Paul pulled me aside afterward and said it was kind of annoying that I kept bringing Leo without asking. He said not everyone wants a dog around all the time, and it’s “getting old.”

I don’t understand where this is coming from, especially since Leo’s never caused any problems. I figured since no one had said anything before, they were fine with it. Plus, I’m always careful to keep him out of people’s way, and he’s honestly better behaved than most dogs I know. I feel like they’re making a big deal out of nothing, but now I’m wondering if maybe I should have checked with everyone first.

So, AITAH for always bringing my dog? Should I have asked before assuming everyone was okay with it?

Edit: Just for context, Leo’s a small dog – not the type to jump on people or bark a lot. He just sits quietly and naps most of the time. Also, I’ve always cleaned up after him when necessary, so he hasn’t left any “souvenirs” for anyone to deal with.

So, I (39M) have this friend, Nico (also 39M), and we’ve been friends since we were kids. We’re both super competitive by nature, and we tend to push each other a lot. Whether it’s video games, sports, or even something like mini-golf, everything somehow turns into a competition between us. It’s mostly just for fun… until recently.

A few weeks ago, we were at a friend’s birthday party, and they had one of those racing setups in the living room. Of course, Nico and I immediately challenged each other, and we both got really into it. I mean, I might’ve been trash-talking a bit (okay, maybe a lot), but we were both laughing, so I didn’t think it was a big deal.

Well, I ended up beating him by a fraction of a second, and I might’ve celebrated a bit too enthusiastically—think victory lap around the living room, calling him out in front of everyone, the whole deal. After that, Nico got pretty quiet and didn’t talk to me much for the rest of the night. Later, a mutual friend told me that Nico felt like I was “rubbing it in,” and it embarrassed him.

Now I feel bad. I honestly thought we were just having fun and didn’t realize he’d take it so personally. I tried to apologize, but he just brushed it off and hasn’t really been himself around me since.

So… AITAH for taking things a bit too far with my friend, or was it all just part of the usual friendly rivalry?

Edit: We’ve always had this kind of back-and-forth, so I’m not sure why this time it got to him. Just thought I’d get some outside perspective before I bring it up with him again.

Okay, I know this sounds insane, but hear me out. I (30M) love making pancakes, and I’m pretty proud of my recipe. It’s become sort of a tradition to make them for my family when I visit my parents. They’re always really nice about it and say they love them, but... I’m starting to think they’ve just been too polite.

A few weeks ago, I was at my parents’ house and decided to whip up a big batch of pancakes for breakfast. My mom and dad both had seconds, and I thought it was a win. But later that night, my mom started having really bad stomach pains. We took her to the hospital, and she ended up needing surgery for appendicitis. It was a scary experience, but thankfully, she’s okay now.

Here’s where it gets weirder. Just a few days after my mom came home from the hospital, my dad started having the same symptoms. At first, we joked that it was sympathy pains, but he ended up in the ER too, with the exact same issue—appendicitis.

Now my whole family is convinced it was my pancakes. I know logically that my cooking can’t cause appendicitis, but I can’t help but feel responsible because they both got sick right after eating my breakfast. My parents keep joking that they’re never eating my pancakes again, and my siblings have been giving me a hard time about it, saying I’m banned from the kitchen.

So, AITAH for giving both my parents appendicitis with my cooking, or am I just an unlucky chef?

Edit: Just to clarify, I don’t actually think I gave them appendicitis, but the timing is very suspicious, and now my parents are scared of my pancakes. I might need a new family recipe...

So, I (27M) have two cats (Jimmy & Sassy), and they’re pretty much my babies. They’re super affectionate with me but can be a bit picky about who they like. My dad (52M), on the other hand, isn’t exactly a "cat person." He’s more of the “why do you have pets that don’t do anything useful?” type, but he still visits often and tolerates them because he knows they’re important to me.

The other day, my dad came over, and as usual, my cats were lounging on the couch. He decided to sit down and give them a little nudge to move over, but instead of just shuffling away, one of my cats (Jimmy) swiped at his face. It wasn’t a deep scratch, but it was enough to leave a red mark and get my dad pretty annoyed. I couldn’t help but laugh a bit because he was acting all grumpy about it, muttering something about "those spoiled cats."

He got even more annoyed when he saw me laughing and said I should discipline my cats better and not let them scratch people. I tried explaining that cats are territorial and react like that when they’re suddenly pushed, especially by someone they’re not used to. I offered him a band-aid, but he refused and ended up leaving earlier than planned.

Now my mom is telling me I should’ve been more sympathetic and that I should’ve scolded my cat instead of laughing. But honestly, I feel like it was just a normal cat reaction, and my dad knows how they can be. So now I’m wondering, AITAH for laughing when my cat scratched my dad’s face instead of taking it more seriously?

Edit: Just to clarify, my cats don’t usually attack people. They’re very cuddly with me and my friends, but my dad’s not around them enough for them to be comfortable. I’ll definitely make sure he approaches them differently next time... if he ever wants to come back!

So, this might sound a bit weird, but hear me out. I (26M) work at this company, and my boss, "Toto" (52M), and I have a really good relationship. We get along great, share a lot of common interests, and he’s been a bit of a mentor to me. We hang out outside of work sometimes, and every now and then, I’ll stay over at his place after we have dinner or watch a game, just because it’s more convenient.

Recently, my friends found out about this and started making fun of me, calling it “sleepovers” with my boss. I laughed it off at first, but they’ve started saying it’s kind of weird and unprofessional to be that close with your boss. They’re acting like I’m trying to suck up or get some kind of special treatment, but that’s honestly not the case. I just enjoy his company, and we have a good time hanging out.

The thing is, I never really mentioned it to my friends before because it just didn’t seem like a big deal. I figured if I told them, they’d blow it out of proportion (which is exactly what’s happening now). But now they’re saying it’s odd that I didn’t bring it up sooner and that it’s kind of strange to be having “sleepovers” with someone who’s technically in charge of me at work.

So, AITAH for not telling my friends that I sometimes crash at my boss’s place, or are they just overreacting?

Edit: For context, it’s not like I’m staying there every weekend or anything. It’s maybe once a month if we’re having a late night and it’s easier than going all the way back to my place. Plus, he’s got a massive guest room, so it’s not like I’m sleeping on the couch or something. It’s just a practical arrangement

Okay, so I (21M) have a bit of a problem, and I’m honestly not sure if it’s even a problem or just something I can’t control. I’ve noticed lately that whenever I’m doing interviews or talking to reporters, I end up coming off as flirting with them, even though I’m not trying to at all.

I’m naturally a friendly person, and I like to joke around and be engaging. But I’ve had a few reporters (and even some photographers) tell me after interviews that I’ve been “charming” or “too smooth” with them. Some of them even hinted that I was “leading them on.” The thing is, I don’t even notice it happening. I just talk to them like I would anyone else, but apparently, I’m making it seem like I’m flirting—without even trying!

One reporter even gave me her number after an interview, and when I asked if she was just being friendly, she said, “You were a little more than friendly.” I was totally confused because I thought we were just having a good conversation about racing. Now I’m worried that I’m giving the wrong impression to people without meaning to, and I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or make things uncomfortable.

So, AITAH for accidentally flirting with reporters and leading them on when I really don’t mean to? Should I tone down my "natural charm"?

Edit: Just to clarify, I’m not trying to flirt with anyone, reporter or not. I’m just being myself, but it seems like it’s coming off differently than I intended. It’s a bit awkward now, and I’m wondering if I should change how I interact in interviews.

taglist

@nepobbylver @wobblymug @xoscar03 @irishmanwhore @nitiii

@livsturnioloo @lilorose25 @si1ver06 @zestytimbit @morgrinha

@callsignwidow

[veilkeeper]

thoughts on the astarion-halsin polymance

i know some people dont like the halsin polymance specifically if the PC's other partner is astarion but. i want to talk about it. because i think maybe a lot of people have come to conclusions without seeing the scenes in question for themselves. so let me give a different perspective.

disclaimers: *i know a lot of people ship/hc this polymance as a triad, but for the purposes of this post i'm talking specifically about the "hinge" dynamic we see in-game thx. **also i got the halsin romance trigger before completing astarion's personal quest, so this post is talking about that perspective, and all quotes are from those conversations. ***i respect people who dont play this route. you're allowed to play this game however you want. the purpose of this post is to discuss the canon, in-game text and how it supports the astarion-halsin polymance as a viable and healthy path for these relationships, with nuance and respect to astarion's personal issues. this is not meant to convert anyone, but it is meant to clarify and provide additional context that i feel is largely missing from a lot of discussions about how the polymance is "bad", unilaterally.

let's start with halsin, because i think he's the easier perspective to tease out here, given that he really leaves nothing to the imagination. he's incredibly earnest and open, and will happily describe his perspective on non-monogamy right out the gate. as he says...

The wolf mates for life, but the bear roams free and partners as its instinct dictates. I need to stay true to my nature, and you to yours.

now, to get ahead of potential backlash here... if you haven't spent a lot of time with halsin, particularly if you've never flirted with him, that line may imply that he's a "player". he is not. given the context of the PCs interactions with him up to this point (and how he treats the relationship after, if you confirm the romance), halsin is deeply devoted, and has really strong feelings for the PC. it's really sweet, i highly recommend romancing him, either as a polymance or solo.

what he's describing here is a perspective of cultural non-monogamy. that he believes his feelings are not diminished by having multiple relationships at the same time, and he expects that if the PC agrees to a relationship with him that they will respect his freedom to pursue others when/if such feelings arise, just as he will respect the PC's freedom to continue and/or pursue other relationships as well. it's a really succinct and frankly unexpectedly respectful negotiation of the terms of a polyam relationship.

and that respect is evident from the get go. if you've never seen this conversation, it basically opens with him saying "hey, i have these feelings about you, i was wondering if you maybe felt the same," and if the PC says that they do, he immediately acknowledges the existing relationship and tells the PC that they can't move forward without consent. and you cant; speaking to halsin again just has him ask the PC if they've spoken to their other partner yet. at every turn, halsin is incredibly respectful of the PCs other partner, he never diminishes that relationship, nor does he expect the PC to ever place him above that relationship. he even says:

Indeed, I am but one of your lovers. You and I should seek happiness, wherever it lies. You are all I want, but I will not hoard you to myself.

he makes it very clear from the get-go that he has no designs on the PC's other relationship and that he is more than happy to take whatever they want to give him.

which leads me to my overarching point: astarion is consenting to this dynamic specifically because the other person in question is halsin.

and we know this for a few reasons. first, because.... mechanically in game, he's the only person you can romance at the same time as astarion. while astarion mentions at various points that he is fine with "arrangements", generally speaking, every other potential romance partner results in a "you have to choose one of us" conversation. the reason astarion gives for why the PC has to choose varies, i believe, but since i don't have the dialogue on hand (i have been faithful as hell in my playthrough) i won't speculate about those conversations.

however, we also know that astarion is consenting to an arrangement with halsin specifically because of this line:

The druid is unique. He has a lot of experience with this type of arrangement. Thus, I'm sure it would be quite a harmless affair.

which is interesting, isn't it? hold onto this one, we'll circle back to it later. and then of course, the other line we need to discuss from astarion here is the famously controversial...

It's not because… you know… we haven't… in a while?

so this is where i get into the potentially controversial take that i have, because it's more nuanced than arguments i've seen on either side of the pro-/anti- polymance debate. but basically i think that astarion is... insecure. shocker, i know. but unlike some takes i've seen, i dont think this means he can't consent to a polyam relationship, i think it means that he has certain Conditions related to it, that he has decided have been met. and i think those conditions are as follows:

the PC's interest in halsin is not borne out of any deficiency of astarion's.

this is why he asks the famous question. he's insecure, and making sure that the PC's interest in halsin is not because astarion is failing to "satisfy" them, that it's not because he isn't enough. astarion has a lot of self-worth issues that he tries really hard to hide, and i think it would be easy for him to think that the PC starting another relationship could be a result of him being... insufficient.

for people who have never been in a polyam relationship, this is a thing. this is an important thing, and making sure all of your partners feel that they're valued and "enough" is an important part of navigating these relationships. astarion does the right thing here, by expressing his insecurity and asking for reassurance. and when the PC gives it to him, the relief is evident and he gives consent to the dynamic immediately. not because he's been coerced, but because he's been reassured.

PC: Gods, I don't want you to think that for a moment. Astarion: I know I was being foolish. But thank you for saying it.

the second condition is:

that he is still a priority

this is pretty self explanatory but since it's sort of the clincher for my whole argument here, i do have to say the quiet part out loud. i dont think what astarion wants or needs is to be the PC's only partner. he talks about "arrangements" on multiple occasions, i dont think he has a problem with sharing. what i do think he wants is to be the PC's primary partner. what he's consenting to, in my view, is hierarchical polyamory, to use the proper term. as in, the PC can fool around with whoever they want, even have feelings for other people, so long as they always come back to astarion. he needs to feel like he is secure and valued above others as he values them above others. he needs to feel like the PC isn't going anywhere.

and that's why he consents to an arrangement with halsin, but no one else. because all of the other romance options, the origin companions, would want to be equal with astarion, they would want non-hierarchical polyamory. halsin, on the other hand, is all about taking what can be given and having a more fluid understanding of relationships. he doesn't care if he's #1, he cares that the PC cares about him, right now. no formal definitions or obligations required.

that's what astarion means when he says "the druid is unique." that's what he means when he says "he has a lot of experience with this type of arrangement." that's what he means when he says it will be a "harmless affair." because he knows halsin is never going to try to take the PC away from him. he knows halsin isn't going to be a threat to him and his status with his partner. and that's why he's comfortable saying yes, even though he says no to every other possible arrangement.

it's not because he was coerced. it's not because he doesn't know how to say no. it's because he feels safe. and that's what we want.

some additional notes while i'm here...

on jealousy: a lot of people hc astarion as the jealous type, as perhaps a little possessive, and i am also one of those people. it makes sense; he's a guy who hasn't had anything in 200 years, and the PC is the first person he's cared about like this. i can definitely see him being a little possessive and prone to jealousy. but stepping outside of the realm of fiction, jealous/possessive feelings are often the result of insecurity and in real relationships should absolutely not be used as a tool to control the behaviour of another partner. and, crucially, jealous/possessive feelings are a thing to be talked about and worked through, not tip-toed around. the presence of those feelings does not automatically mean that a polyamorous relationship is impossible, it just means there's another thing to talk about, and by astarion consenting to the PC having another relationship, he's pretty clearly saying he's willing to talk through those feelings and work on them.

on the ability to consent: i know that astarion doesn't talk about his feelings enough. but i truly dont think that this is a case of astarion saying yes when he means no. astarion can say no, even in high pressure situations he wasn't expecting. he says no to the astral-touched tadpole (rather firmly, i might add), he says no to sleeping with the drow twins, etc. the scene that most people use as proof that astarion cannot consent happens in a much different emotional context, with a lot of direct coercion, and is followed by astarion taking back personal control and dumping the PC. that is not what happens in this scene, when astarion is consenting to a polyamorous relationship. there is no coercion (in fact the PC can explicitly say "i wouldn't even consider it if it bothered you", and astarion expected the conversation, so he would have been able to prepare his thoughts and feelings ahead of time. at no point does he say no or even imply he's not okay with an arrangement with halsin.

on timing: ive seen some people say that they would be more okay with the astarion-halsin polymance if all of this was not be happening right now. i agree with that. ideally, astarion would have more time to adjust to his relationship before it was opened up at all. but because this is a video game, everything is happening during the events of the game. and because this is a video game, the events of the game are high pressure and wild and everything is happening all at once. i don't blame people who elongate the timeline in fan content, or who turn down halsin because they think its "too soon." thats actually very explicitly something halsin says when he initially propositions the player - that he hopes it isn't "too soon." however, astarion still consents (see point above), and relationships barely ever have good timing. one could argue that even the solomance with astarion does not have good timing, when considering astarion's trauma and recovery. so. we make do. and i think it would be... a disservice? to what is (in my opinion) really good polyam writing to just say "actually it's all terrible and icky because there's a lot going on right now" and dismiss it out of hand.

.......................and i think that's everything. thank you for joining me on this very long (oops) deep dive into this. a double thank you for reading all the way through if you don't like the astarion-halsin polymance. i hope i gave you a different perspective, even if i didn't change your mind. love ya <3

[fryday]

I know the fact that they are such private people and that they like to keep what’s important to them to themselves are some of the reasons why they are still going so strong after 15 years. I actually have so much respect for them for not selling their relationship out for $. But oh my god. How i wish they would just drop a tell all video talking about their thoughts and feelings about each other.

funnily enough i feel like we don't even need a tell-all sort of video for their thoughts and feelings about each other, specifically - i think they already share that with us, very generously, and almost on a weekly basis at this point (with every upload). when you think about it, the only things they've never revealed are:

(1) the specific status they assign to their relationship between themselves (to the public, it's still mainly "friends" and to the more avid fans it's a whole amalgamation of terms and labels and descriptions, mostly thanks to dan in his wad interviews, that in the end all fundamentally just say one thing: that they really, really love each other)

(2) the intimate details of their history; what they were to each other through the eras of dnp, what exactly happened behind the scenes, etc (which is maybe what you mean!)

in that sense, i think a lot of what we don't know is technical. it's factual. we do actually know how they feel about each other: they love each other, and they always have. plain and simple.

if we were to ever get a video like that, i'd almost want it from a "wise older cousin" kind of view. dnp are adults now, and they'll always be the same number of years older than us that they were when we first started watching them, and we're always going to look up to them, even if the way we do that changes as we age. but i feel like they know so much by now, about being in a committed relationship and sustaining it through huge challenges and what it's like to grow as a person alongside another person etc etc etc, and i feel like the advice they could give to the younger generation (especially the younger queer generation) would be invaluable. and really appreciated. (also i just like hearing them talk about important things; they're so intelligent and wise and their typical content doesn't always allow them to express that, and a topic like this, that has been so massive to them + their brand over the years, would definitely let them let it all out).

i'm not sure if this addressed what you meant by "tell all video talking about their thoughts and feelings about each other". hopefully i didn't veer too far off course. if i did, feel free to come back & clarify with me!

but i did have lots of thoughts about this generally. because i think we all started out as tweens and teens looking for a relationship confirmation more than anything, and now the hope is for something v different, i think. at least for me. and i hadn't truly thought about it before receiving this ask. so i'm glad i got the chance anyway!

[yellowcry]

I've seen some posts about "Mirabel is disobedient" and I really don't agree with it. So some of my own opinion/analysis of Mirabel's action. Just my own thinking. Not attacking anybody

The thing is. Mirabel actually DOES follow the rules that Alma had said to her specifically in the movie

Starting with

"The best way for some of us to help is to step aside".

It is the first direct appeal to Mirabel. Alma does not clarify what she meant by 'step aside' at this moment. And Mirabel's action pretty much show that she stopped helping at that moment. So we can see Mirabel leaving the preparation and going into her room. Which shows that Mirabel generally follows Abuela's rule. But what is coming next is the ceremony. Mirabel doesn't stand with the rest of her family but stays behind the curtains in the dark. Which is exactly what Alma had said, step aside, don't be near the family. Yes, she breaks this rule in the end. But this happens only because of Antonío (but let'sbe honest, who can blame her?). Which highlights that Mirabel is ready to go over her own guidelines if it means helping and defending people she cares about.

The breakfast is probably the scene that shows Mirabel not following rule the most. We don't know how the rules are in Madrigal family. But taking the facts, it is safe to assume that talking at the same time as Alma does can be concindered rude. So shows that Mirabel can be a bit forgettable and focus on her goal rather than what is going on in reality. Hovewer, we can also see that Mirabel stops after Alma's demand to do so. Allowing the rest of the scene to go even without her interruptions. So even in this small situation, Mirabel still clearly follows what Akma has said her to do.

"Stay away from Luisa."

Another rule that Mirabel easily follows. We can see her concerned. And taking Mirabel's passionate nature into account, I have no doubt Mirabel would want to check on her sister. But she doesn't. Yes, we can blame it on the fact that Mirabel was far more focused on the vision at the moment. And even when Alma is obviously far away and we can see Luisa struggling with a pot, Mirabel still doesn't aproach her sister to help. So staying away as she's supposed to.

So in general Mirabel followed all the rules said to her specifically. She did break some of them, specifically about Bruno. As entering Bruno's tower that's off-limits (only because Luisa said her to. And what's interesting, Mirabel describes Luisa as obedient in TOTS) And generally talking about Bruno. And even not talking about Bruno seems more as a principe. Alma isn't a dictator and she wouldn't force rules upon the whole Encanto. People just generally don't talk about him.

All other things that seem to cause problems weren't actual rules because of how specific they are. Finding an old vision, going into the walls and finding Bruno, talk with her family. Neither of this seems as something that would be forbidden. Either because it's too odd (Imagine a rule saying "Do not go into a hole hidden beihind the portrait and don't you dare to accidentally find your lost uncle") or just not something to be forbidden. (Banning family relationships lmao)

Each time Mirabel tries to simply agree and swallow her feeling or find an excuse and lie whenever she actually did something forbidden. Like entering Bruno's tower. Doing ot silently and clearly hiding. Which is an opposite of rebelling as it normally meant active protesting which Mirabel have never done until the argument scene. And let's be honest, if adds the climax so much.

And about that. It is the biggest moment when Mirabel finally opposes Alma. It can technically be concindered as breaking the rules, but we don't have any confirmation. In the very least occasion, same to the breakfast, it can be concindered rude to talk back to Alma. What's interesting, she looks at her sisters suggesting that she does it to defend them not thrown Alma off or for herself. Just the same all the way back in the Antonío's ceremony. Showing her kind and compassionate nature once again and the fact that Mirabel feels much more need to break the rules not for herself, but for offering support to her family.

So that's the thing. Mirabel wouldn't break rules for herself. Or try to argue. But if people she cares about need her — she will go against what she does normally

[raayllum]

also cause I'm not there yet in my 5x08 liveblog but because even just a whiff of "Callum gave Finnegrin the spell" made the fandom troll come running into my inbox to say otherwise, just wanna clear up a few things for peace of mind before we get there

The first is that I know it was the fandom troll because of the timing & presentation, not necessarily because the now deleted/blocked ask had the "Callum purposefully gave Finnegrin the wrong spell" take. While that was an indication to me that this was probably the fandom troll since they seem to take issue with my characterization of Callum in particular, perfectly smart reasonable people have also proposed that possibility of the spell ingredients being not entirely accurate as purposeful; it's not exclusive to crappy people by any measure.

With all that in mind, I want to discuss how I view the scene (and indeed how I think it's meant to be interpreted per a casual viewer reading) as well as why I think Callum giving Finnegrin a not word-for-word accurate actually kind of makes his choice more morally questionable, not less

So let's begin

1) I don't think the scene's intended takeaway is that Callum gave Finnegrin the wrong spell

I think Callum panicked, and he folded, and he would've told Finnegrin anything the pirate had asked for in that moment to try and spare Rayla's life. While TDP is an immensely detailed show in many ways (hell I have a tag dedicated to just those details), every scene still has to ultimately work for a casual viewer. I don't think this scene is any exception. One of the first things in the series that we learn is that humans took down the King of the Dragons with dark magic and it's a repeated fact throughout most of the first season, and into the third when we see the events that transpired exactly.

So when Finnegrin mentions it, we're probably going to remember that was a thing that happened and it involved Harrow and Viren, but we're probably not going to remember the specific ingredients. Therefore, like Finnegrin, most audience members are going to take Callum at his word, especially since throughout most of his conversation with Finnegrin, Callum is arguably far more honest than he needs to be (fessing up that he did dark magic at all, mentioning that he studies all the primals, that he did the spell to save a friend at all - which is exactly why Finnegrin sets him the hand cutting test to try and break him, etc). The scene - again, for the audience's benefit - even as Callum clarify for those that wouldn't remember why he was spouting things about dying breaths and unicorn horns, because again, I do think this is the Intended Takeaway:

Part of the reason I think Callum panicked (other than Jack de Sena's wonderful voice acting and uneven breaths) is because, if Callum was thinking clearly enough to withhold information purposefully, he could've considered 1) that Finnegrin is bluffing about threatening Rayla (Callum cannot see her or any of the others, so that could be the case) and 2) Finnegrin would have limited means to know that Callum was lying if Callum said exclusively the wrong ingredients and sent him on a wild goose chase. To give as much as he did accurately was dangerous (but we'll talk more about that in a second).

We also know from instances in the previous seasons and just the prior episode that Callum doesn't have all sky spells (ones that he can do whenever he wants basically) memorized either, and that it's not out of the realm of possibility that Viren would've fudged a little to Harrow about some components of the spell (such as emphasizing love and hatred) because he was actively trying to convince - somewhat guilt-trip and manipulate - Harrow into doing something didn't really want to do, but ultimately couldn't say no to.

However, one of the things that's the most fun meta is reading into things deeply, looking at various character interpretations, and seeing what we can find below the surface level / casual viewership read. Just because something may not be the 'intended takeaway' (which can already be hard to define) doesn't mean it's not a real possibility, especially if enough dots connect, and doesn't mean it's not worthwhile and or without merit.

So let's look at the scene from the assumption that Callum is giving Finnegrin a not totally accurate spell On Purpose - what does he omit, what does that tell us, and where does that leave us from a character standpoint?

2) Haha, jk, unless...?

First things first, let's look at what Callum says vs what Viren says

No, no, wait! A dying breath. Blood filled with hatred. And a unicorn horn. That's the dark magic you want.

In her final moments, I captured something that I hoped we could use later. It contains her dying breath. [...] Claudia captured a unicorn and brought me its horn. The dying breath. The unicorn's pure horn. There's one last component I need. The undying hatred of one who loved the victim. Your blood.

Now, even Viren's stance and the circumstances of the spell isn't entirely clear. We don't know if any dying breath would do, or if it had to be Sarai's (and had to go her killer, as opposed to someone else). We don't know if the spell requires the unicorn's horn to be 'pure' (I'm assuming not already corrupted somehow with dark magic) or if it would work regardless. And we don't know whether the hatred or love is more important, or just one, or if they're equally important. It's quite a list, after all.

Which is why I think in some ways Callum's lack of specificity actually makes what Callum told Finnegrin more dangerous, whether you read the minor omissions as intentional or not.

Cause think of it this way, you're a pirate lord and you want to kill your enemy. You heard from this mage kid that any dying breath would do. What's your next move going to be? You're probably going to murder a random member of your crew and collect the breath because you were never told it had to be your loved one's final breath (which would make the spell impossible).

So that's one murder down, bare minimum. Then you're going to either send people out or word that you're looking for a unicorn horn at a port where people already canonically smuggle dark magic supplies (Chasing Shadows, TDP reflection). This will either lead to you hiring people to eliminate one of the - it appears to be - few remaining unicorns that still exist to bring you the horn, or if you've put out a reward, multiple dark mages / mercenaries may try their hand at killing one and bringing the horn to you. That's probably 1-5 unicorn murders as a result, if the mages are working not in communication with each other and all vying for the reward. This is also assuming that none of the mercenaries or mages come back empty handed and get harmed or killed because of Finnegrin's anger at their failures.

You also might torment and torture someone else to get them to hate you before you drain them of blood / take their blood for the spell, again not realizing that 'love' has to be a facet of it. At best, that would maybe be what you do to the crew member before you kill them for their final breath.

Then, once he has all the ingredients (and he'd need some sort of incantation, because dark magic is a lot of steps and processes) there's two main avenues.

Either these all work and he successfully has his weapon of vengeance needed to kill Domina Profundis, because what was given was enough. This would mean Callum's actions led to about 2-3 successful murders of mostly innocent people and possibly more political upheaval at the death of another archdragon (the ocean would certainly be out of whack, but it's not clear how much, if any, political power Domina still holds).

It doesn't work and Finnegrin, stubborn as he is about control and loathe to admit he can't commandeer something (magic and wills included), figures that something went wrong and tries again, having to collect the ingredients all over again. Depending on how many times he'd try (I feel like maybe 2-3 max), this could put those murders up to maybe nine innocent individuals, assuming Finnegrin's worsening temper over his failures doesn't increase the tally.

Rattling off the accurate spell ingredients could've actually minimized the damage, because any of the specifics might've stopped Finnegrin in his tracks. If Finnegrin just needed hatred of one who loved the victim, he could've fulfilled that on his own with some of his own blood ("I loved that crab" and her definitely hates Domina Profundis). The one that could've entirely halted his plan is if the dying breath had to come from the victim, in which case the chance to avenge his beloved crab is long gone. Finnegrin could've heard the list of very specific ingredients, deduced that he would not be capable of carrying out the spell, and been on his merry way to use Rayla as revenge fish bait.

But by giving Finnegrin an 'imperfect' list, Callum made the pirate captain more likely to engage in the violence required to get there, without an actual textual guarantee to the audience that what was given wouldn't have worked, either (aka we have two ingredients list and without a third to tip the scales, it'll always be a technical 50-50, maybe 60-40 read in favour of Viren).

So where does that leave us?

With these two readings in mind, you have two options:

Callum is willing to sacrifice Domina Profundis', and a few unnamed innocent lives/creatures, to save Rayla and thereby gave Finnegrin a dangerous in its own way, if not more dangerous because of potential increased collateral damage, list of spell ingredients, because he acted entirely out of emotionally fuelled panic where he wasn't totally thinking clearly

OR

Callum is willing to sacrifice unnamed innocent lives and creatures, but not Domina Profundis', in order save Rayla, because he decided on purpose to give Finnegrin a more achievable sounding list of ingredients that would increase collateral damage, but not let him kill the dragon, because he made a calculated decision on purpose that those lives were worth less than Rayla's and Domina's to him (for some reason, as she's a stranger to him)

To be clear, I would love the second option as an interpretation because I do think Callum can be calculating and I do think that's the far more Viren-like option - choosing what to sacrifice for other people in the mindset of harm mitigation ("A thousand men and women are prepared to fall protecting you tonight, but you won't let one sacrifice their lives for you?" / "If you must choose, choose the egg").

But again, given the framing of the scene I think the first reading is 1) more sympathetic and speaks to Callum's more compassionate emotional nature and 2) is the intended takeaway, but if people want to read it as Callum strategically deciding that certain lives - other than Rayla's - were worth sacrificing that so she and Domina Profundis wouldn't be killed, that is absolutely a valid prerogative.

It's just not mine

[silent-neutral]

About SH2 Pyramid Head symbolism and the remake PT.1

--mentions of sexual violence, suicidal themes and just overall mental illness-- please PLEASE DON'T READ BEYOND THE CUT IF YOU PLAN TO PLAY THIS GAME BUT KNOW NOTHING ABOUT SILENT HILL 2!! There will be spoilers in this ''essay'' and I don't want to spoil such a great game for anyone starting fresh and blind, because that'd be the perfect way to start this game imho - your feeling toward this game will be heightened without knowing too much, plus forming your own view and having questions about it is also cool.

(***Had to cut this down into parts after watching 10+ hours of the remake and so much watching gave me a headache that felt like a literal hangover the next day ugh I felt like James lol otherwise it's too many topics and words in 1 post. This way it might be easier to organize them. )

------------------------------- My mind was blown recently. Ig I'm posting this to clarify more to myself than anything, but I had to search up Ito's recent comments about certain scenes with Pyramid Head. (ahem, the first cutscenes specifically). I've always had my own ideas and guesses about specific details playing as James, but after some clarifications on Ito's part about Pyramid Head.. it kind of jarred me, but at the same time explained other things and now my initial view of this game and its characters are validating my assumptions.. And if you knew about this already, well good on you.... Ito tweets so much sometimes, info like this gets buried and I had no idea until a week or so ago lol. So in light of SH2R releasing, I conveniently found out about some crucial details that would *also* inadvertently explain my (petty) gripes about SH2R. I watched the entire playthrough and my views have slightly altered (mostly positive, as this game was actually very faithful to the original imo). but for now I give you...a very wordy analysis on some themes of SH2. Excuse my rambly thought process though, it's very hard to organise them sometimes, I say to future self re-reading this later lol.

We know the monsters all carry symbolism relating to James. Specifically speaking, the series has a lot of sexual undertones present. Man.. Idk where it all started but I'm pretty sure we all assumed it was true when every Silent Hill source or fanpage over decades would bring up James' sexual repression. It made sense because of how things appeared, plus Angela's trauma and her demon....that James even fights... Well.. Ito hates fans saying James 'sexual repression' being symbolised in the monsters are canon. He doesn't mind people forming their own opinion, but he hates when fans say it's canon lol. At any rate, there was a lot of confusion from what I read at first (and the language barrier didn't help, but I think I got the gist of what he meant). --------------------------------------------------------------- Talking specifically about the mannequin scene, Ito says PH is *not* raping them. Ok sure, tbh it looks too vague to label it something extreme like that. But it became something of a meme and Ig it ended up being believed as true. Kinda wish this sentiment was quashed many years ago and not in 2020/2021 gah... So, what's happening in that scene is actually far more deeper than simply to traumatise James.... Pyramid Head is a manifestation of James' guilt AND unconscious desire to be punished for killing his terminally ill wife. James is called to Silent Hill via a delusional letter from Mary he created in his mind.(A made up one to ignore the real one). He's suffering from some kind of selective amnesia throughout the game, hence why everything is there to remind him of his pain. Obviously he's traumatised by what he did that his mind has blocked it out to the point it seems he has remembered a false timeline of events... but his soul is yearning for judgement. Ito says that, therefore, James is suffering from many delusions, that's what's creating and manifesting his inner demons (true for all that come to Silent Hill). Pyramid Head himself is manifested as the executioner, tasked with punishing James, and so.. He is actually attacking James' delusions, trying to remove them:

*o* And Ito goes further! Right after PH kills those mannequins, he stalks over toward the closet James hides in (also meaningful, lmao, but okok it's not about sexual orientation). Apparently, PH's appearance is shifting. Ito says he modelled and animated all the monsters in the original, so I trust him when he says that the front left panel in the corner of his helmet is peeling/flaking back and a tongue-like appendage protrudes from the hole. Although.. he admits it might be too dark to see in that scene, but it's there supposedly. I'm paraphrasing, but Ito implies that PH is impacted by James' delusions in that James *thinks* he sees a tentacle come out of the helmet and thus manifests that. And that's when James shoots at him - He shoots at his own desire to be judged when it attempts to remove his delusions that are keeping him from the truth of his reality!! James can't face reality at this point - those delusions are keeping him somewhat sane and distracted! It hurts too much this early on for PH to attack those delusions so he stops it...this is why he is 'in the closet'. James continues to keep those 'skeletons' there, for now. It makes PH look like the true good guy - an angel.. like Valtiel (interesting to note they have similar body design). Because of learning this, I very quickly noticed how throughout the Remake, you will find plenty already downed enemies.. and it was easy to think ''PH was here''. After James realises the truth from the tape, the Hotel reveals its true appearance (not sure when it burned down or if that has something to do with Alessa, er wait I remember in Origins it was in her house.. well anyway! this could explain James' sketchy memory of events, especially when confronted by Laura having only met Mary and received the letter a year ago in-game.) Anyway, the point is; if James is aware, then the delusions begin to fade. So after watching the Remake, I hoped that the monsters wouldn't appear/be weakened and lo and behold! Bloober was paying attention! The monsters after you watch the tape are weak and limping, can't attack or are already dead and I was delighted! It means Ito was consistent that the delusions the town creates makes up the core theme of Silent Hill. In the original, there are only 2 lying bodies before the PH fight. (I forget the meaning behind them but it has something to do with James' helplessness.) At any rate, Remake did the 'dying vision' symbolism much better here and the explanation is so so fascinating that it led me to rethink the concept behind PH. Side note though, about that hole in PH's helmet. I was always so damn confused about it for so many years!! I used to draw it as a rectangular hole (some art by Ito actually depicted it like that iirc), and then eventually to a gunshot hole since James, well, shot at him, so I assumed that's what it was from. and NOW it's actually a triangular shaped hole from the paneling being 'turned upward' due to how James' is perceiving him in the moment. What a revelation, I cry. Ah.. and note on other design aspects.. Apparently Ito never designed PH with a mass of flesh under the helmet (just a perpetual shadow and the neck bag thing at the back) and he doesn't even know who conceptualised that, but I think it's due to all the cameos and appearances PH has made in many games since SH2. And he looks slightly different each time so.. yeah, interesting that.

Even the figma has that fleshy mass (and gunshot hole!) but I'd say it is accurate on nearly everything else:

It is a very nice figure though. I can't blame all these figures ever released that *weren't* supervised by Masahiro Ito himself, because lmao, Ito just admitted that PH is subjected to changes depending on how James views him, and that explains why details are vague and hard to determine let alone see bc the game is so dark. Take this little gacha figure of PH for example, from a cute baseball game called, I think, Konami Dream Stars (Pal Pro kun?) Yeah, I got Snake as well lol:

...and yes, shameless little peek at my nerdiness on display, all the Capcom stuff is directly below it lolll

------------------------------------------------------------------ So! Having learned what I did, I ofc had to question the next obvious thing; the cutscene just before the first boss fight. PH was without a doubt molesting the Lying Figure/Body which was moaning suggestively the entire fucking time - no one is about to gaslight me into thinking THAT wasn't sexual! And yes, Ito admits that scene was intentionally made to appear sexual (as opposed to the mannequins) and yet he says it has no sexual meaning....wtf does that even mean?! Well, I think I got it. Again, language barrier is most likely to blame, but... To apply the last explanation for the mannequins; James' delusions are making him *think* he is seeing something intimate to the point it manifests right then and there which is so disturbing he recoils and tries to go back through the now-locked door. And so.. it would seem that to PH, he is just trying to destroy the delusions and he can't help how James perceives that; it's just going to manifest accordingly. And while Ito hates 'sexual repression' as somehow being canon to some fans (the majority actually), well, bruh... can you really blame people for coming to that conclusion? The flesh lips, nurses too, are on the risque side. Now, idk how it doesn't indicate something sexual if it's not meaning to be but I am aware of Ito's art style tending to be quite sexual and suggestive, featuring a lot of bdsm themes in his artwork and he is quite obviously inspired by at least HR Giger's work. So making the nurses, for example, look the way they do may be a stylistic choice, but I highly doubt it doesn't also have a symbolic purpose other than referencing Lisa's image or something (This is Silent Hill though ffs, everything is symbolic, it HAS to be). I'll reassess the meaning of those for myself, but specifically I'm addressing PH (and soon in another post, the other elephant in the room: Abstract Daddy.) Initially, I always saw PH as trying to remind James of his sins, jolt his memory, to wake him up to reality. (Which is interesting considering it's not clear if Silent Hill itself is even rooted in reality, the alter dimensions I mean. Another topic I want to address soon.) I also noticed the mirroring effect PH/Maria were doing in relation to their human counterparts; PH is James, and Maria is Mary; James killed Mary, and so PH kills Maria. But.. If PH is actually also trying to destroy the delusions, (which also appears to reflect the fact James is trying to overcome his guilt, his mental blockages that are causing his selective amnesia)that inadvertently means PH will need to destroy himself in the end as well, and that is exactly what happens..

Coincidentally, this would also reflect James' suiciding.

But first, PH attacks the monsters that are manifested and represent different aspects of James' trauma/psyche. Then he is constantly confronting James by killing Maria, or James having to return to a dead Maria. I thought he was basically tormenting James by showing him what he'd essentially done to Mary. "This is what you're guilty about, this is what you need to accept'' I think that idea still holds water (pun very intentional), but now I feel it adds another layer because Maria is the ultimate delusion... and thus, PH must destroy her. Now when she says 'I'm not your Mary, but I can if you want me to be' makes more sense to me what she is. She too is subjected to James' delusions because she keeps shifting the perspective she talks or thinks in, Mary's or Maria's? But she knows she is not Mary, just a manifestation of an idea. And James deep down knows she is holding him back (like all the other delusions) and that feeling calls PH to thus kill her. When James can't escape the reality of his past, he finally accepts the truth, the memories revived by the tape, and confronts PH after stabbing Maria a final time. 'Stop denying/ignoring your guilt, and stop trying to cover it up with distractions like Maria'. James finally doesn't need to be told anymore, he has punished himself (fitting, seeing as PH is an extension of James anyway) and thus PH, the final delusion/illusion kill themselves and disappear.

-------------------------------------

OK so that's PH! Now to compare that with the remake

My main gripe was that the game is way too saturated in colour and too bright in certain parts, but it improves that as you delve deeper in the game thankfully. Kudos to Bloober for changing James' face to something more 'unaware' and disassociative. Gripe number 2: I do wish they cut out the 'hand rubbing' in the opening scene or at least tone it down bc that kind of foreshadowing is too damn obvious, sorry. Not needed. Especially not right at the start. Not even for old fans playing it, we know what happens, but cmon...It makes James too aware of *something* and his selective amnesia is what gives rise to his own customised demons...if he is even slightly aware of what he did, then what is the point to seeing the monsters, let alone PH attacking them, now that we know what Ito had intended? Wouldnt that change their appearance, or rather, remove them altogether? sigh, anyway. I find PH a bit too bright, not dirty enough and consequently, not as disturbing. Partly for that was how they clearly removed the lying body scene from the boss fight. I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, but now with much needed context, this now makes sense...

HOWEVER....If my guess about James' assuming something sexual was taking place in that scene is what manifested it to begin with, then what is there to say about the remake?... So the simple act of hand-rubbing (awareness) really DOES make a difference, huh?! >:O it took away our favourite PH scene! 😂💔..

We can talk about DEI and stuff like that affecting certain themes in this game.... but Ito saying 'it doesn't mean it's sexual' would explain why it's taken out of the remake. Ito has supervised the Bloober design team on this, so they would have so much more context and info from the man himself... Still, it appears to conflict with James' psyche, bc it is through his very perspective that we are perceiving the town and how it presents itself to James so ofc if James sees something explicit, so are we the player. We are seeing the town and monsters through his eyes. And there is much to say about whether or not the other characters are even seeing the same town, but I'll get to that too. There is also the possibility that it's just 'creative freedom' on Bloober's part. It sucks, but overall... the game's pros outweigh the cons. Symbolism for Silent Hill is a very strong trait though, so I'm a bit conflicted about those changes. In the end, PH being a punisher and attacking the delusions of James' traumatised state of mind is fundamental, so as long as that is present, then I can't really say it's so inaccurate ig. It does imho, take away from PH's menacing persona and tones the disturbing factor down which consequently, in my humble opinion, makes him less scary. Intimidating, perhaps.. but less so. He looks very cool though lol. Especially how he breaks the walls during the chase and the final PH battle, I was super impressed with it! I didn't really like how PH was animated in the cutscene in the first fight (the way he turns around, idk..) but I love how they both throw the spears at you! This fight definitely improved upon the og version. Ah, and the sound of his heavy footsteps are wonderful as well! There was another creative thing Bloober did with PH's knife where you have to pick it up to advance through the tentacle wall thing. I realised this was a manifestation of James mental blocks since he starts holding his head in pain. But I thought "oh cool! James is gonna use the Great Knife to cut them!" But sadly, no.. but.. those tentacles would peel back, afraid of the presence of PH's knife... they are delusions after all~

Oh btw.. I didn't realize this before, but as soon as you attain Angela's knife, PH appears with the Great Knife - before this, he is unarmed. In Remake, right after you get her knife, you can hear PH's infamous screeching coming from dragging the Great Knife, reiterating that he is James. Subtle but very cool! I can't believe I didn't make that connection myself lol bah.

A bit more gripes to mention though: his strange janky movements that were imitated in remake made it look like a sad parody of the original scene, which was much more disturbing. I think it would have been better had they not added that part, it was random to see when he was moving as normal as one does trying to apprehend the mannequins, then calmly and slowly assessing the room only to suddenly flail about and strike random poses barely reminiscent of what he does in the original...and then just stand there as if James never shot him 🤨 not to mention, James looks so unbothered in this scene, he doesnt look at all anxious like in the original..the whole 'interaction' looked awkward. The original scene was paced better giving PH a kind of build up to those strange movements. I also dislike the lack of reaction and bad pacing with several of Remake's cutscenes as it toned down much of the intensity in crucial moments of the game, like in this one with PH. Yet... improved on others that I think were made better than the original's by elaborating on them.

Anyway I will touch on this and add more criticisms on remake in another post, this one is long enough lol; i just tried to get my thoughts on PH in one post but if I missed something I'll just add it in the PT.2.

If you actually read this, you must be as obsessed as I am (thank you)! Feel free to add your thoughts if you want, I love talking about silent hill symbolism or the ideologies behind The Order.

[loustat-0]

Sorry, same anon as before! I just wanted to clarify a little. I wasn't even really thinking that much about the people who only know what is in the show so far. I do think that the only scene with Armand being himself was rather sinister and it made some other details about the penthouse rather sinister too, though. I have been a little confused by some people not picking up on those red flags, but that is a different thing.

I was really more thinking about the people who seem to have at least been spoiled on details of the books and are being more hypocritical as you say. That is the group that I guess I find exhausting. I should have been more specific and not generalized an entire group as much. I know the show is its own thing to an extent, but it is still based on a book series, and I think it is reasonable to go in anticipating that the main core points are going to remain the same. I was really just frustrated after seeing the last post you reblogged along with having recently seen things like Daniel is going to die because he is old.

I actually understand the people who like book Loumand because of how dark it is and because later they are able to be genuinely close. I really like Armand as a character, and I am really looking forward to seeing Assad play the real Armand on screen in all of his glory. I would never consider not watching S2.

I actually think hating any of the characters (or really even the relationships) for real world "moral reasons" is just going to be a recipe in frustration. Like you said, the main characters all do some pretty horrible things at various times, and they are all forgiven by each other or basically never judged in the first place. I feel like there has been a lot of holding the characters to these types of moral standards going on, and it doesn't work well for this story at all when all of these characters are destined to live together pretty happily in their vampire castle no matter what they have done.

Thanks for clarifying Anon . I know what you're talking about & I understand all that I hope the fandom grows less toxic than before . 😊👌🏻

And about the missunderstanding of You not watching S2 it's okay I didn't mean you specifically I meant other fans who felt disappointed because they won't have loustat as much as S1 & they don't like Loumand . So don't need to worry about that . Plus Everything you said is correct & agree with that . I just hope that our brilliant show runners & writers give us a story very close to the books at least I hope they don't change some important fundamental stuff in S2 . Because there were some storylines they had changed which some of them were very unnecessary & some of them were too short or too long yet it was a very beautiful & gothic Romance that got my attention . So I just hope we see every vampires & their messed up storylines & their pain & angst & also their happiness . 🥰

[mdhwrites]

Are there any characters in toh that you felt they should have never been created?

Or characters that you think would had better the plot, or move the plot forward if they had more focus?

Personally, I think Vee is just there and her existence didn't serve much, her screen time could've been used for smth else.

So the first part of this is… interesting to me. It's incredibly hard to ever say a character should never have been created unless A: them simply existence causes problems with the rest of the canon and the story itself or B: you know their inclusion was doomed from the start. This second one is really hard to be able to clarify though unless you have behind the scenes information and the like because unless they were made to be fridged or be offensive, etc. like that, there are few concepts that are bad from the get go.

With that said, The Collector easily should not have been in the show. There just wasn't time for him or the human realm and S3 has been very clearly struggling with those facts. Since he was also introduced in S2B, it's known that he was made after the shortening was very clear to the crew and they should have cut him and focused on Belos, especially since Belos is the big bad anyways.

The second question just gets responded to with: Raine. Raine and Darius. Honestly, just the coven head rebels in general should have probably gotten an entire episode actually dedicated to them that could have helped sell the threat, give them more personality as an organization rather than feeling like they exist to get around tropes or/and Raeda angst, etc. like that. Then again, quite frankly, with how little they've actually done with Raine outside of "ISN'T IT TRAGIC HOW EDA CAN'T BE WITH HER LONG LOST, TRUE LOVE!?", Raine as a character and their plotline probably could have been cut but it was something Dana wanted from the start of the show and S2A would have mostly not been affected by the shortening so they could have possibly had more of a role. Then again, they were also made to be Eda's long lost love so…

And finally Vee. Vee is… complicated. Honestly, it's hard to talk about Vee without talking about her episode, Yesterday's Lie. After all, maybe there were plans to do more properly with her (and she easily would have had the most interesting part of a season on Earth because of having to give up the identity that made her friends and have a place in the world back to Luz, if that was actually discussed of course) but as is… She's mostly just the one episode and looking cute. Worse yet, almost all the narrative goals are tied to Vee so their triumphs and successes are also tied to her.

Now let me get this out of the way: I like Vee. I think she's incredibly likable, cute, etc. like that. She (and the ClarVee ship) was probably the only reason I wrote anything immediately after Yesterday's Lie's ending left a bad taste in my mouth because it rubbed me the wrong way even on first watch. Her backstory is compelling, explains how she can be shy but also have a backbone when the chips are down and her limited interactions with her friends is incredibly charming, even before the MashVee ship existed.

And I'm not going to argue she shouldn't have existed. Character built for a single episode are fine. TOH actually has a paradox going on that while some characters desperately needed more exploration, like Amity, others very clearly should have been cut sooner rather than later. I mean, what could have been done had they just not spent two episodes of S2 on Gus when Gus isn't important to the narrative in any way and Hexide stopped being relevant to the show after S1? How much did we have to have Huntlow if it meant that Luz, who is one there for Hunter's biggest character moments, literally never speaks to him between Hunting Palisman and Hollow Mind?

But Vee was built for specific narrative purposes and does them well. Quite frankly… Too well. To the point where it creates problems. But that has to do with the narrative goals of Yesterday's Lie rather than Vee herself. The two just interlinked because when you make a character for a single episode, you know their narrative goals and how organically and well they function with those goals is part of evaluating the character.

And the narrative goals of Yesterday's Lie seems to be to have:

A: Given an answer to why no one was freaking out about a child going missing for MONTHS and it does this one quite well just by Vee being a shapeshifter.

B: Criticize Luz and whether or not she actually had any reason to leave which is the one Vee interacts with the most and is also the biggest problem to.

C: To build Camila's character, establish her unending well of understanding since she never judges Vee for even a second, nor Luz's story about the Isles, and then end on a mid-season cliffhanger I have SEVERE issues with but is outside the scope of this blog.

Vee's goals thus are to be able to fill Luz's shoes, which she does naturally, be able to scold Luz about her life and to be able to contrast hard enough against the norm as to make Camila's sympathy shine through. Her slug form and her ability to shapeshift honestly fit two of these three really well by themselves. It was a genuinely elegant and clever concept/implementation that was good for what they wanted.

But then there's Vee's actual character and actions that play into B. And B is… A lot.

Because this is the episode that caused me to turn on Luz in my heart.

It wasn't immediate but there's one line from Luz that really sums up the fact that you have to trust Luz in order to not entirely agree with Vee in this episode. That you have to go off of only Luz's words and not her actions for what her backstory was like. To be able to believe Gus and Willow were the first chances at having friends. That no one ever understood her. That school was always a nightmare for her.

And that line is "Oh no, highschoolers," because that is the second time Luz quite literally ever has that response to ANYONE. In the ENTIRE show. She didn't have any worries about meeting kids in Hexide. She never had worries about trying to hang out with Amity despite Amity clearly hating her. She didn't worry about Amity's siblings, the various villains she met, Eda, King, etc. In general, Luz shows NO signs of social anxiety or any sort of manifestation of trauma in regards to bullying, rejection, etc. like that.

Worse yet is who these people are. They are quickly characterized as atypical people with nerdy interests and chill personalities. They'd be in the anime club or the role playing club or the video game club at school. They are by all intents and purposes, people like Luz. Nerds. Outcasts. Etc. like that. People Luz could have easily befriended. I mean, Vee did and she knows nothing about human society.

Yes, the two also have drastically different personalities but also Masha likes giving tarot readings to her friends. I feel like Luz's passion would just mix and amplify Masha's own passion and the two would literally go hunt monsters together while Vee makes sure they don't do anything stupid. Luz could go on a rant about her philosophies on magic and the faux stoner dude would be enraptured by how wild and imaginative Luz could be.

And this all begs the question of WHY didn't Luz have friends?

Well… Her opening montage, the first real introduction to the character, kind of explains it but not kindle. After all, two of the three events we're shown, and VERY much so her presentations and projects, are about getting attention. About making sure she does something big enough that people consider her contribution the best, regardless of those around her. So she can't match a cheerleader physically? Call that nothing and show a weird trick you know. Wants to make sure people talk about her performance in the play? Opening night, do something that you didn't clear with your director and catches everyone off guard, even if it means going off script and possibly ruining the play.

Even worse is the clubs she IS joining there. After all, why isn't Luz a part of the anime club or something? Or a part of a book club back home? Well… Cheerleaders and actors are more popular. They get more attention. They're special. Nerds, outcasts, etc. I mean… Who wants to interact with those when it means people might look down on you?

And the final nail is that she does finally accept outcasts… So long as they have magic. And the closer she gets to Amity, the less she interacts with Willow or Gus, to the point where they spend close to zero time in Season 2. And why wouldn't Luz want to be with the popular witch instead of people who were only special by having magic in general?

Do I think this interpretation is intentional? No. Vee's friendships were merely to try and add a bit of gray into what was black and white. However, how Luz was introduced wasn't given enough thought to make such pointed questions work. Not when you're forcing the audience to ask these questions with Vee shouting "YOU HAD IT GOOD!"

So how good did Luz have it? Well, there were fellow outcasts in her own town, which appears to be pretty small, so she could have had friends and her mom is a literal saint. S3 would only reinforce this. And she still abandoned it all for three months so she could become a witch.

So… Sorry, but the statement of "If everyone you meet is an asshole, the asshole might be you," does fit sometimes. And it fits for Luz here.

And it's also the worst part of Vee because if Vee didn't exist… I might not have considered these problems. Not so quickly. But Vee being able to contrast Luz, to be successful in the human realm simply because she's willing to actually accept those around her and bend a little, not entirely, to what will make them like her, was one of her narrative goals. One of the reasons she is as she is.

And another time where TOH thinks it's being clever when it's really just shooting itself in the foot because it has never been smart enough to ask the questions it proposes. And it sucks that that's tied to a character who is so wonderfully likable otherwise.

[sab-teraa]

Oooo, can you spill the Safir tea??

Hello <3

I'm so sorry, I just saw this <3333

Disclaimer: I got all this info through the grapevine and I was not online when this happened, so I could defo be wrong. So if anyone wants to clarify/correct/add information, please feel free to do so :) Anywho, brace yourself, it's a long one lol and pls keep in mind that the show is about a love triangle. 1. Cheating scandal

The streets are saying that two lead actors cheated on their s/o others with each other. Could be true ... maybe not true ... but, allegedly the actor's gf posted something shady in response to this relationship and the two lead actors have gone on to post what some would call 'romantic photos' together.

2. Cast infighting

So, from everyone's understanding, Ilhan Sen is meant to be THE sole male lead for the show ... but he has no prominent role in the story (at this point, I think it's changed) ... rather, his character has been pushed to the sidelines for the other two actors/characters (the ones who are allegedly in a relationship).

Some say it bc the other couple is more famous than the Ilhan x female lead couple, while others say it because the 'dating' actors do not like Ilhan and are trying to ice him out, and are thus being difficult on set and not wanting to shoot with him etc. leading to the story changing. I think the second theory stems from 2 things - 1. Ilhan is apparently not promoting the show like he did with ami (idk how true, I don't follow the show or him on socials) and 2. the 'dating' actors only promote scenes + bts + promo with each other.

3. Bots

The streets alleged that lead (i.e. the dating actor) bought a bunch of bots + fake accounts ... and he is now talking crap about people involved in the show and I think Illhan specifically (idk how true) and is apparently resharing hateful information (idk how true)

His fans are also accused of buying bots and reporting accounts of people who ship llhans character and the female lead.

4. Actors fighting fans

Apparently, that other actor (dating actor) was rude to fans who visited the set. Once again, idk how true... bc from what I heard ... he didn't want to meet them? or was busy or something. Fans apparently don't agree with that and feel like he should make time for them??

5. Production involvement Apparently, production has gotten involved and is trying to diffuse the situation, and is basically making everyone act together and for the story to go forward.

6. Award drama

So, theres drama about who is the main lead on the show ... and one of the award shows nominated Ilhan and the actress characters for best couple ... and that lead to fans fighting everyone lol

Once again ... idk how true all this drama is ... but yeah.

[noddytheornithopod]

Got mixed feelings about the Ahsoka finale. Liked some stuff, but other stuff I'm not so sure on. Spoilers under cut

Okay first thing... the episode felt kinda cheap? Like, I could tell this was on a TV budget, lol. Some episodes have looked pretty good, but for whatever reason this just wasn't working for me?

Maybe I also just am still getting used to seeing animated stuff in live-action. Seeing the green flames finally show up is a relief, but it still felt kind of strange.

My other thing is, I'm not exactly sure I understand what block Sabine has overcome to be able to use the Force properly now? It was kind of jarring to suddenly see her do all this stuff.

Oh yeah, and a lot of this is down to unfortunate circumstances but... Baylan only got one scene? And we only get a slight tease of what he might be after (something Mortis related :v)? Was surprised we barely got any Shin, too.

I did like the zombie troopers even if the action scenes looked a bit cheap. Morgan dying I'm indifferent on, also hey "blade of Talzin." Thrawn explicitly mentions he knew Anakin, and clearly hints he knows of the Vader connection.

Still not sure how I feel about Ahsoka's place in everything, we got Morai finally but Filoni's really teasing the mystery box with her here (and now Baylan, lol). Also, hi Anakin.

I admit I do find the irony of Ezra being the only one to make it back quite amusing. Him making the new lightsabre inspired by Kanan's is pretty cool, too.

It is kind of weird that Sabine only talked about her decision with Ahsoka, though. That conversation resolved that aspect for them thankfully, but to know that Ezra's not gonna know anything until whenever they're together next is... yeah. Who even knows when that will be? If there's a Season 2, I feel like that's gonna not happen for a while, lol.

Oh yeah, some more clarification of the timeline with Mandalore and the Purge. It sounds like it happened at the end of the war, so at least they got to have like 4-5 years of having the upper hand before Gideon and co bombed the fuck out of them.

Maybe it's just me but they felt kind of vague on how much Ezra knew about Thrawn and the Nightsisters? This episode clarified it, but it was hard to tell in his previous appearances.

Am curious as to the specifics of what Morgan went through, and what the sacrifice those Night Troopers made was. It seems like they're not dead, but they do something that renders them subservient to her and makes them undead. IDK how similar Marrok is, he seems kinda different.

Am sure the Thrawn book discourse will continue, but everything's lining up and playing as I expected. He's all in on the Empire, but he's genuine when he says he believes it's for the security of the galaxy. For those of you worried about the Grysk, there's a bone for you. :P

Not sure when "long live the Empire" developed though, cuz if it was post-Endor then wonder how Thrawn got it, maybe it's something they prepared to say if things went to shit, or more weird dream shit is happening, lol.

So... yeah, that's the end of Ahsoka, presumably the first season of at least another. Kind of average in the end for me, I guess. I like more than I don't, but I do have a bit of Filoni fatigue at this point, especially with the amount of mystery boxes, lol.

Okay with Sabine and the Force, upon reflection I realise it's meant to be because Ahsoka showed she trusted her and had faith in her. Definitely think it could've landed better, but I guess I at least get it now.

Also, RIP to learning about where Ahsoka was between Malachor and the end of the Galactic Civil War. IDK what Mr Filoni think, but I personally think it's a pretty important detail to acknowledge, because why wasn't she with the Rebellion then?

[hua-fei-hua]

as someone who enjoys stories involving multiple pairings, romantic or not, as integral to the plot, i often find myself thinking abt what exactly constitutes "a main pairing" esp since on ao3, most people assume that if a ship is not the first one tagged, the fic will not be About them and will more often than not Not give them an arc, bc tagging every minor/brief instance of a ship on ao3 Is a thing that makes combing through tags Exhausting and i Get It.

personally, when writing fics with multiple pairings important to the plot, i just say "they are both main pairings", but i also want to tag my works in a way that communicates such to my audience without making one seem subordinate to one another. you could clarify in the tags "all/both these tagged ships are plot relevant and get development", but that takes hoping that people will read past the relationships once they realize it is not their otp tagged first, and i simply do not have faith in that.

so that means courting one audience a little more than another bc that's just what it is to exist on ao3 at this time. fine, but how do you choose the order now?

is it based off of screen time/word count? that certainly is an objective measure, but what happens if their amount is approximately equal? does it only count if one of the characters in the ship is involved in that scene, or can other characters just, like, be talking abt them or smth? what if they're with a third character, all talking together abt smth totally irrelevant to their romance? does that count as screen time together? does that add to their word count?

i like to use a standard of "character/relationship development" to decide whether or not i even put ships in the relationships category (as in, "can someone looking for this ship specifically as their otp walk away from this story satisfied with their role in the narrative?" n if the answer is no, it's tagged in the freeforms as minor/side/background), but now that's hard to quantify.

and what if the ship with less change/development is the ship with the higher word count, simply bc their romance is more slowly paced for w/e reason? what happens if one ship is intended to foil the other, placing the narrative emphasis on the second pairing, yet still maintaining equal or even greater screentime on the first (bc we the audience are meant to be thinking abt the second pairing by comparing them to the first)?

which one is the "main pairing" and should therefore be tagged first in this sort of situation? audiences aren't always thinky-thoughtsy creatures, and just bc we're supposed to be considering other relationships thematically when observing a particular one doesn't mean that the one currently being observed isn't still having A Moment that is Meaningful to them and Contributes something to their relationship.

i really don't know tbh; i just wish overtagging wasn't so much of a thing that a lot of people feel like they can't really trust a fic to Have that much of a ship if it's not the first one tagged

[trans-leek-cookie]

very personal (arguably oversharing) but vague on details talking about. CSA and experiences in my life that idk how to like. Organize my thoughts on them. 👎 And also I genuinely couldn't care less Abt who reads this (minus like. Pls keep urself safe y'know) here's a mahjong tile 🀄 because idk

Thinking abt CSA is fucking weird bc there was an instance that (clothed and minimal physical contact. I don't wanna over share but Id feel weird not clarifying). I have trouble personally labeling bc like in my mind there wasn't intent to harm or like. Full Awareness of what what happening bc the other ppl involved were also my age. So I don't want to label them as abusers but at the same time I do think it affected me. But, besides that, the thing is I don't think the event was The Big Thing that fucked my relationship w sex/sexuality as a kid bc really That One Was The Internet. Like the reason The Thing happened was bc all of us as kids were exposed to porn at a young age and we didn't have the ability to really process what that meant and idk Abt them but my parents just tried to keep me away from that stuff rather than actually helping me process what I was seeing?

Especially since it wasn't even something that I really actually... Idk i sought it out bc I didn't understand it well more than actually being aroused by it so. Yeah I do wish my parents had given me more info there.

But to summarize basically I don't think that even was uniquely traumatic in that like. I don't want to downplay the fact it obviously still affects me but it honestly feels like. Idk it wasn't anyones fault directly it was just decisions that we all didn't have the proper context for (my peers and I lacked the info and experience to have informed consent when it came to sexual stuff and my parents didnt know how much sexual stuff i was seeking out bc I actively hid it from them) so like.

The way I'll put it is that if someone has The Exact Same Experiences I wouldn't say they Were Wrong to label it as CSA (specifically COCSA) but personally I think that label doesn't capture the way it registers and therefore affects my relationship w sexuality. I feel like I struggle with that in some ways bc it's a sorta... Hard to define gray area and I don't Like That. I want things to be defined and like fully dissected to I can understand them.

Then there's. Like. Another incident in which my dad exposed me to a movie that. Idk it was about strippers so it wasnt that it had A Sex Scene it was About Sex Work and shit. Also one of the fuckin. Trailers for other movies they put on DVD had a "please be 18" joke (it was a racecar driver getting flashed) that. Now idk if it was meant as like hopeful or worried? But I had to ask my dad to explain that to me and he did??????? And I barely remember his explanation but man what the fuck

Anyway it's another case of I don't want to call it CSA bc that implies there is An Abuser and that. Doesn't feel right. I guess. And not just bc like oh he's my dad he wouldn't do that

It's like i wasn't forced or coerced into watching I was just curious so I watched it. And I think the problem is the fact he didn't like. I don't know

Because I was getting exposed to sexual shit on my own, so I don't even think making me Not Watch it wouldve helped in the long run. I guess it's more that fuckign. Both of these things are singular incidents that are easy to remember bc of the fact they are identifiable as Incidents

But like. The thing is that I genuinely don't think those Incidents are the problem, because even if they didn't happen I would have still been exposed to sexual material that normalized fucked up ideas of consent and sexuality and sex. Like.

I guess the problem is less Abuse and more... Neglect? In that I wish adults around me had done more to explain consent and that sexual shit isn't Bad in some nebulous way but is like. Dangerous in the way a knife is.

Because the problem isn't the fact a knife is sharp the problem is that you arent careful when using the knife and hurt yourself or someone else (or someone else hurts you) and a knife can be used to hurt people because it's dangerous but that doesn't mean it's always bad it's just Dangerous. And also it should be kept out of kids' reaches until they understand how to safely interact w it

Also tangent: I don't think asexuality should b like pushed on kids or whatever but I think it's worth telling kids about because learning about asexuality as a (pre?)teen when I had known about sex since I was probably 7 ish? really helped prevent my relationship with sex getting worse

Mainly bc it taught me it was normal to not want sex and never want sex, and I think while some kids might think they're ace when they're just y'know. Kids who aren't interested in sex. I think it does help kids who have been exposed to sex contextualize their experiences more

Like. Explicitly having confirmation that sometimes people just don't have sex (which isn't exclusive to ace ppl there's just a lotta overlap) or experience sexual attraction Ever was helpful for me to fully understand the different parts of sex. And also I don't think it's the end of the world if some eleven yrs old thinks they're ace and when they become an adult they realize they were wrong or whatever.

[dunmeshistash]

What I meant with the difference between Xenophobia and Racism was mostly this

"Xenophobia is the fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners, whereas racism has a broader meaning, including "a belief that racial differences produce the inherent superiority of a particular race." Although they are similar, they are different enough that it is possible for one to be both xenophobic and racist."

I did not mean as if Xenophobia is any better than Racism. I just mean the way they talked about the Mountain people striked me as "they are the other" rather than something to do with race. While Kabru is racist because he believes all demi-humans in general should have less rights/are less human than other races, while Falin and Laios are xenophobic because they believe these specific nomads are savages that should be killed, if that makes sense. The difference is important to me since I've been a victim of both and they feel different to me, but I guess calling them racist works too in a broad sense and how the word is used. (I might also be wrong in my interpretation)

I do think the fantasy racism in dungeon meshi is one of the best one's I've seen, and it works within the worldbuilding instead of being a 1:1 of real world racism or "They're evil so its okay", but it makes me a little sad when I see how people react in the notes. Especially when they just say "oh so they're racist" and don't engage further.

I'd also like to clarify "This says more about the world they live in than about them as people" I meant in a literal sense the racism is part of the worldbuilding, it's the rule not the exception. Plus Laios and Falin left their village as children (Laios when he was 12 and Falin a year later when she was 10). The other instance that I think it's more relevant to Laios it's how he used Chilchuck to hear for the mermaids. Which is a great scene cause it shows the racism problem Chilchuck talks about, half-foots really are used as bait, even by their 'mostly good' teammates. Laios wasn't gonna let him get hurt but he still used him. Anyway, they're all flawed characters, and that makes them great characters.

Dungeon Meshi - Humans and Demi-Humans

[rengokugutspill]

expanded notes & clarification about why/ how Rengoku is baby boy (read at your own risk at this point);

People get so bent out of shape with me when I say Rengoku wants to fuck his mom, for whatever reason I feel like no one wants to acknowledge that & try to deflect, but I want to point out for clarification that I'm not saying this as a fetishist or for some kind of degradation but directly looking at how human psychology works.

Like, he seriously crafted his entire life around what his mom said to him before she died, & I believe every media incarnation of him shows him as holding her in high regard & looking for excuses to talk about her.

Yesterday I seen a weird glitch on Google when I was trying to look something up that had his character quick overview show his mom as his love interest & I felt so vindicated, but I went to actually look at the page to see what they were saying & the actual page didn't say that but I was fascinated because a segment in his relationships article wrote his death scene with a different implication than I had originally took from it. Whoever wrote the article posited that from a realistic perspective that doesn't confirm or deny spirits, Rengoku at least imagined as he was dying that his mom would say he did a good job & she was proud of him... Obviously I had been looking at it through the lens of spirits are real, but when you look at it from the perspective of reality without confirmation of spirits, it's exceedingly more fucked up to say he just imagined the whole thing because he wanted that so bad.

To express this concept in a more familiar sense is men making fun of women for having daddy issues; the example of no present or active father in a womens life during her formative years tends to result in a women seeking affection in an older man. Though obviously this is not true for every circumstance, but it is frequent enough that it is a well know facet of psychological trauma experienced in formative years.

I'm not saying he straight up wants to fuck his mom, but moreso I personally feel like he is dealing with conflicted feelings. Like, it's a little difficult to say he is not obsessed with his mom in some way, that point does seem to be driven home & I don't know if you're doing his character justice to ignore that aspect of him.

I would also attest men & women internalize trauma differently. I think for him specifically, there is a number of elements that effect his psychology. For one, I think it's meant to be read that he did previously have a good relationship with his mom, though personally I find the relationship to be a little bizarre because when I first watched the series I perceived she was detached as a parent but other people interpret her as genuinely being loving but that she's just stern ? So I am saying you're either working with losing a parent that genuinely loved you or working with losing a parent you already had conflicted feelings for. Which I think both can be difficult to move from. But obviously after this it would seem he watched his family fall apart. & I think he was about eight when this happened, give or take.

It seems to be nebulous the extent of his father being abusive, because some people think he was physically abusive but other people don't think so & it doesn't say one way or another & it likely might not ever really clarify. It's also nebulous whether or not Shinjuro continued to care for his kids because there is a fair amount of official artwork showing the boys just alone together without their dad at all. In that reality it's likely Rengoku would have to take care of himself & Senjuro by himself as a child. Some people can also read into real life dealings with having an alcoholic parent, where the oldest child tends to also have to care for their parent too.

I am saying to have your whole life change in an instant could really inadvertently glorify his mom to him, to associate her with positivity, comfort & a life without suffering.

I think it ended up being a double edged sword though. Kimetsu Academy seemed to frame his mom as just absolutely being in love & infatuated with his father & admiring his swordsmanship. I think it makes sense if she was viewing her husband as being the greatest man of all time for his grand displays of selflessness & heroism, of course she would want that for her son. Especially if it was something important to the family before she had died. I also imagined it could be possible she didn't accurately understand the strain of being a demon slayer or hashira, since obviously she herself was too frail to have that lifestyle herself. It's possible to think she didn't accurately realize the weight or severity of what she was asking her son to do. Where you can then look at Shinjuro's response as being more like “you mother didn't know what she was talking about.”

But I had mentioned before in a previous post how I think being forced to become hashira was detrimental, I will reiterate; he would have been some manner of teenager to start more serious training & participate in final selection, I can't get over saying/ thinking what if you were that age doing that ? Can you imagine the physical & psychological strain it would have on you ? & I could totally be wrong on this, but I thought one of the supplemental materials expressed Senjuro being in school, so since Rengoku did have a family & wasn't an orphan, it's possible he was doing this stuff while still being in school, though that's not expressly stated.

He has to train nonstop, meanwhile his dad keeps telling him he can never do it, which did seem to internalize to some degree as not believing in his own strength or significant value as a swordsman or demon slayer. So he is a kid at this point doing all this & watching all the other kids around him getting slaughtered. It would seem he had already internalized an idea of dying to protect someone else. Which I personally read as not only was he going out every night to fight demons grappling with the idea of I could die tonight, but also basically telling himself you know, one day you're just going to have to kill yourself for someone. Like, I'd expressed before feeling as though his conversation with Senjuro in his dream in Mugen Train & his narrative dialogue in the first backstory comic do seem to express him as a character that does convey very depressed inwardly.

But it's like he did all of this specifically for his mom. I find it difficult to attest that he actually wanted to do it necessarily. I'm not dismissing that he probably at some point did want to be a hashira like his father who he seemed to deeply admire as a child, but I'm saying I also think he is painted as someone who really didn't have a choice either way. I actually feel like it's that hopelessness of the situation is part of the reason why he basically has his last words being telling Senjuro basically to not become a demon slayer. Though the first backstory comic expands upon it by saying he knew Senjuro was too weak & would die immediately. I also personally can't help but feel like obviously he loves Senjuro & likely when looking at his own personal feelings as hashira, I don't think he wanted to put Senjuro through it.

I'd also expressed before viewing him as an asexual character, which I do standby to some extent. This is moreso to say that except for Uzui, I think most of the hashira are too busy being hashira to foster a romance with someone. Especially if Rengoku is meant to be read as someone who was always planning to die for someone at any given moment, I feel like he wouldn't've been outwardly looking for a significant other because what's the point, he has this important job he can't slack on & he's just going to die anyway.

So I'm not saying he is out here literally fantasizing about fucking his mom, but I do feel like it's very plausible for a subconscious malfunction to moreso convey that in an intimate sense he would likely be looking for a partner that filled that role. Though I would also argue if you do subscribe to him being interested in Mitsuri, I wonder if he is someone that is just easily won over by a women showing interest in him ? & if that were the case, I would double down it's because he's a displaced boy looking for affection & comfort.

& I will also clarify for people who do read him as daddy that I don't think that's actually wrong either. He is protector & caregiver in nature & was willing to adopt the main kids & has likely been raising Senjuro by himself. There is not a world where he is not daddy to some degree, what I am saying moreso is the subconscious psychology likely does have him as someone that just wants to be held, comforted & be safe.

So I'm not being vulgar or profane to say it's an incest situation, I don't believe that. I am saying moreso that I believe on a subconscious level a partner is going to be compared to his mom regardless, even without him deliberately doing so.

I also think daddy aspect, if you look at how his interactions with his mom were shown in Kimetsu Academy, it showed his mom was still very sickly & required that her sons cared for her & helped her with things. I feel like it could be unseen in original series that even as a child he likely had to help his mom with things since there was likely a lot she couldn't do. When examining romantic/ intimate care type based on his personality fun facts in the official fan book, the one that states he's prone to obsessive tendency & then the relationship fact in regards to Mitsuri that did say he babied her, which I will admit might not have been an accurate translation, I'd posited his relationship character would be someone who strives to take care of his partner & do things for his partner, likely to an obsessive & maybe annoying degree. & I do think it could in part stem from helping to take care of his mom when she was sick & dying.

& my personal assessment is to look at a romantic/ intimate relationship like filling a void; I think he is the perfect partner for a women who is already predisposed to weakness or already otherwise sickly.

Because some people misinterpret me saying he's baby boy to be infantilizing or comparing his outward presentation to a child, which isn't what I'm doing. I'm expressing that even with radical acceptance, you can't tell me he wouldn't want a women to hold him. An able man & a daddy, yes, but to love him deeply & fully is to recognize that inside he is a baby boy who misses his mom.

I hope this clarifies for you more how Rengoku is baby & how to consider a nebulous oedipus complex isn't actually implying anything deeply perverted or fetishistic. & a brief side note, I understand how psychology based around Freud's theories was tainted to normalize older male role models engaging in predatory behavior against minors, but there is still a foundation in the complex entirely removed from sexual abuse. I'd heard before stated a child's first love is their parent & that's not a sexual statement but was in reference to some people, but not everyone, will subconsciously seek out a resemblance to their parent in a partner due to the association with safety & comfort. I am also referencing the study in psychology which basically stated a lot of times when people are traumatized by a circumstance, eventually, though like with everything else it's not all the time in every case, sometimes it gets twisted into a sexual thought. In other words, it's definitely possible he really did want to fuck his mom but I wasn't implying that personally & think there's a personal strife more nebulous than that, but I'm also saying to some extent if he did I think he's slightly justified in the sense that yeah, that actually is a normal response to trauma outwardly. Obviously I'm not justifying not going to therapy for it or challenging yourself on having a wrong idea. I am saying he loves him mom to a notable degree that makes it questionable but that I personally don't actually care what he's doing or thinking about because whatever is happening is agreeable to me specifically.

I felt the need to express my feelings because I don't see people express the same views I have & people seem to respond very shocked or disturbed to that concept, but I think people are looking at is as black or white rather than assessing it from a known understanding of human psychology. & i'd also seen questionable posts about him as baby boy.

Personally, it's fascinating. Because I know people are stealth following me & reading my theories, because I see instances of people responding to my theories, questioning them or even recycling drawings I had previously posted as inspiration. I have zero issue with this at all. If there is one community I want to be involved in it's women who love Rengoku but also being someone who expresses ideas that other people can determine whether or not they like or agree with them while being someone held in a flask & watched without communication. In that regard, this essay was selfish.

At the same time though, I understand both laws of affirmation as well as utilizing a hexagram manifests ideas into the physical world. It's also entirely possible that people who seem to be responding to me have nothing to do with me at all, yet I find it fascinating if that were the case how I can say something & then it would seem someone is referencing directly something I had said. With these two aspects, it's still a matter of I am going to put information in the world & see what happens.

All this to say I was surprised with how many god awful ships he gets that dishonor his character; why is no one shipping him with his mom anyway ?

As another maybe interesting passing acknowledgment; for some reason beyond my understanding, Naruto porn in particular will pair any character with any character regardless of relationship. I am curious if the defining aspect between series is the popularity of taboo porn topics for men & Naruto being a more predominantly male fan base but people doing porn for Demon Slayer are mostly women who aren't into taboo subjects ? But then idk because why are people openly shipping Rengoku with his brother ?? Though I had mentioned before in scrapped posts feeling vehement disgust for people shipping Rengoku with his brother & Tanjiro because those are children. I felt like on the same hand I didn't know why if people were doing that, they didn't ship him with Nezuko ? But then later I saw one person did but their account had been deleted & reposts of their art people flipped the fuck out in the comments saying he would never & she's a child, but I didn't understand the double standard because the same thing can be said for Senjuro & Tanjiro ? I didn't understand why people seemed to be more open to age gap gay porn or incest but all of a sudden it drew a line if a girl was involved ? Either way I'm not condoning it, it was just something I saw that really made me feel some type of way. I almost feel like people feel like they can do anything & get away with anything if it's gay porn & that really bothers me.

But also I watched a mini documentary about the Tale Of Genji the other day & how it's extremely well revered in Japan with womens book clubs devoted to reading & rereading the epic. They said how sexy & awesome Genji was & his mom died when he was young so then he experienced romantic & sexual feelings for his step mom & fucked his step mom & apparently the women loved it ?

A footnote also being that I love shit like this because I love picking apart psychology so I do find it incredibly interesting to psychoanalyze something as layered as this.

& perhaps moreso the ambiguity that it's likely there will never be a definitive answer for wtf he's actually doing or thinking, so I have no choice but to writhe about it & think about it & ponder.

& also a clarification being personally I'm mommy so I absolutely want to baby that man & love the idea of being a bastion of comfort & safety.

I been saying consistently as a half joke that he wants to fuck his mom because it's difficult for me to not recognize with an understanding of different types of developmental psychology studies that there is a possibility he's actually being weird about it, or maybe he is just totally normal & devoted his entire life to his mom & never shuts up about her. I'm saying yeah baby boy let me hold you in my arms while you tell me about how much you love your mom.

You have it or you don't I guess.

Anyway, don't bait me on this later because I might get too silly.

[perpetual-fool]

-

Starting serious work on my conlang, and got swindled into watching a show.

I've worked out that fundamental meaning has to be a function between observations. I think I can abstract that to 'arguments' and 'premises', but I need to work out data types, what sort of things there are which could be premises. It shouldn't be that complicated, but I'm finding it hard to wrap my brain around it for some reason. I think that's because I'm trying to sort out my existing understanding, and much of that has been corrupted.

I kept seeing clips of the show online, it suggested something interesting was happening. Problem is, it's not, nothing's happening. Like, I would have to start with how things are, then see what develops from that. Instead, it's like characters are sort of vaguely pantomiming a plot, except the plot doesn't fit the circumstances or the characters. Like for instance, the character known for wantonly killing decided to spare the main antagonist for no reason, so that the antagonist can come back and antagonize later. And also there's no justification for the antagonist to antagonize, and everyone is trying to kill each other despite the fact that all of them are trying to achieve the same thing. Or, character makes a heartfelt plea to convince someone of something, but say nothing specific and make literally no argument about it. That is, there is no causal relationship between how the world is supposed to work and what's happening in the plot.

And I'm wondering if this is just a sloppy version of what actual people do. It does mirror a lot of their behavior. Ya' know, the truth is true whether or not it's valid, or whether it happened, or whether it even could happen. And the equation isn't that complex. If they're not starting from the premises then they must be starting from the argument. Oh! say, arguing over whether the ends justify the means. an argument without its premises. I have wasted so much fucking time trying to make myself understood. Last attempt, I had this whole thing about multiple phrasings, examples, counter-examples. But none of that will fix communication if the other party is actively trying to destroy it. Ambiguity for instance, I'm pretty sure that's a feature and not a bug. Like, off the top of my head I know three different versions of "argument", and they'd would decide which one(s) I meant here to justify imposing what they want onto me. That was actually the thing that tipped me off to the fact that it's them and not me. I'd clarify 'I mean term(a), not term(b)' and then they responded as though I meant term(b).

Honestly the most disappointing thing for me about season 2 is that they still refer to the timelines as 'sacred' or 'branched'. So like, (spoilers for Loki S1) the deal with 'the sacred timeline' was that it's the one He Who Remains came from, what was or was not a 'branch' and who was or was not a 'variant' was defined by HWR. But now HWR is dead, the terms no longer have any meaning. Every timeline is a branch, everyone is a variant. So it's like the writers don't even have the most basic grasp on their worldbuilding. Somehow that feels more significant to me than bad setups or nonsense plot. I guess maybe it was the most engaging thing they had going. Like, what's most interesting for me is when I have to reframe how I think about things. I'd love to hear a take on time travel that's not just 'the past rewrites the future' or 'there are parallel timelines'. Say, the scene where Loki is talking to OB in the past, and as it's happening in the past he remembers it in the future: if they'd actually justified that somehow that'd be cool. (Aside, variations of "you can't actually change anything" are cop-outs.) It makes sens that they wouldn't, you'd need to come up with an alternative causality, which would be difficult to impossible. But it'd be fun.

[ilightmytorch]

How I Won NaNoWriMo in Three Easy Steps

Here's where I ended on November 30, 2023:

I've participated in NaNo since 2016, but the only year I won prior to this one was 2017. So, what did I do differently than I did in 2018-2022?

Go for the Par Badge.

This little baby made all the difference.

In prior years, I would tell myself I couldn't possibly write 1,667 words during the week with working full-time plus an hour+ commute. So I'd play this game, "I'll write less on the weekdays and make it up on the weekends," except I would quickly get so far behind that I'd need, say, 4,000 words per weekend day for the final half of the month, which is more than I can write, and then I'd lose heart.

This year, I decided to go for the par badge, which meant writing 1,667 words every single day. Which meant I never fell behind and never lost heart.

2. Sprint.

Sprinting on Discord has been a revelation. I've realized I haven't been writing very efficiently. I'd "write" for an hour and only get a couple hundred words, at best. But something about having that timer going and knowing I'm going to have to report back at the end of 20 minutes helps me focus, especially when other writers are sprinting at the same time.

It's also helpful for when it's past 10 pm and you're tired, but you're only at 1,300 words for the day. It's like, "OK, you need 367 words, so one good sprint or maybe two. Less than one hour and you can go to bed."

I'm absolutely going to be sprinting whenever I write in the future.

3. Write Easy Words.

If writers fall on a spectrum from planner to pantser, I'm 70-80% of the way toward the pantser end of the spectrum. For this year's NaNo, I wouldn't say I became a planner or anything, but I had a list of specific scenes I wanted to work on, and at least some sense of what was going to happen in those scenes.

I looked at my spreadsheet for last year, and during November 2022 I worked on a brand new story idea that I'd just gotten (bad idea, because that probably went slower than it needed to because I hadn't had time to think it through) and smut (very bad idea, because I'm a slow writer in general, but particularly slow when writing smut).

Bonus: Dictate.

About 4,000 of my words for the month were dictated into my phone using the microphone button in Google Docs. This is what I do whenever I'm stuck in traffic, which is all too often, unfortunately. I'm a big fan of talking through my story, especially when I'm struggling with it. Often I'll realize that there's a logical problem with the sequence of events, there are character motivations that I need to clarify, or that I'm using the wrong POV. While stuck on the interstate last night trying to get to the last write-in of the year, I identified a logistical problem but also got a really good idea for what my villain is going to threaten to do in the climax, so I'm excited to work on that scene in December!

Bonus 2: Cold Turkey.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention my favorite app, Cold Turkey. You start by setting up a block list (it comes with a preset list which you can add to or remove from as needed). When you turn it on, it won't allow you to see any of the websites you've blocked. So, no wasting time scrolling Tumblr when I need to be writing!