#And it does sum up the huge confrontation

[sidecharactersdomatter]

Scylla is so He Xuan and Black Water Arc coded

[cashmoneyyysstuff]

fem reader, fluff, hurt/comfort, reader gets into a fight, this fits into the weirdo! shouto ficlet i wrote, older bro touya au, shouto's scar, kindaaa non neurotypical shouto hinted if you squint lol, shouto n reader are lil misfits, lemme know if i missed sum else !

"can i help you, young man ?"

"i hurt my knee."

you're laying in the nurses office when a familiar voice hits your ears.

"oh really ?" no verbal response but you assume there's a nod because the nurse continues "what happened ?" she sounds skeptical.

"i fell." the person, a boy, replies. the nurse sighs, complaining to herself about kids these days coming to the nurses office for every little thing. you're still pretending to be asleep, not wanting to go back to class yet because you know your classmates won't leave you alone. your face is turned away as you hear the office door shut and soon after there's shuffling in the bed next to you.

your eyes snap open and you turn to see a scarred boy looking right at you, blinking slowly.

"shouto !"

"hi." he answers simply. unmoving, he lays on his stomach. after getting over your shock you copy him. "what're you doing here ?" you ask. your friend blinks in response.

"i hurt my knee."

you look at him incredulously "what are you really doing here ?"

shouto lays quietly simply staring at you. he has a habit of doing that, you've heard your classmates call it weird, but you like when he looks at you. his eyes are pretty. his gaze trails off towards the sheets, "i wanted to come see you." he admits. your eyes widen and you feel your ears burn. shouto doesn't seem affected by his confession, his face as deadpan as it usually is.

"everyone is talking about you in class." your nose scrunches up at his words, huffing with a scowl. "what're they saying ?"

"that you won."

that makes your scowl shrink a bit. your eyebrows raise and you shuffle a bit on the bed and hum. shouto only stares. he isn't much of a talker. you've noticed it's because he just doesn't realise that you're supposed to keep making conversation when you're talking with someone. your classmate mahoro says it makes things awkward, but shouto has such kind eyes when he looks at you, you don't mind. and sometimes, you don't really feel like talking either.

"you didn't have to do that you know." is what he says after a while, you blink at him like you'd already forgotten and he continues. "you didn't have to push tanaka like that, it wasn't a big deal."

tanaka, just the mention of the boy's name is enough to make your scowl return full force.

he's one of your classmates that keeps making jokes that all his other friends laugh at that aren't even funny. he doesn't bother you much, but he's kind of a bully and he makes a face whenever you end up on his team for dodgeball. he makes sure you see it too.

you don't care about him much, because he doesn't bother you. but he bothers shouto. you think he does so because shouto doesn't care to confront him about it so he thinks he's stupid. but shouto's the smartest in your class. today though, he went too far and it made you mad, so you shoved him and he'd shoved you back and suddenly you were surrounded by a group of kids screaming in your ears. your face stung from where he'd hit you and then a teacher was pulling you away from him. then you'd ended up here.

shouto hadn't been coming to school for a bit a while ago and when he did come back he had a huge bandage over his left eye. you'd tried to ask him about it but he never told you. so you never pried, but you heard the (not so quiet) whispers from your classmates and shouto who never seemed like he cared, furrowed his brows and slightly clenched his fists underneath your shared desk whenever he'd hear them. and it got worse when he took the bandage off, revealing a big red blotchy scar.

shouto doesn't usually mind what people think, but he'd asked you if he looked ugly and you assured him that you thought he looked super cool. (you'd never seen his eyes so wide and shiny, so pretty.)

tanaka had disagreed with you though. he opened his big mouth and told shouto he looked better with his bandage on. and you'd snapped. you hated that stupid bandage because it'd make his usual face so gloomy. because you only got to see one of his kind eyes and you loved looking at both.

and so, here you were.

"he had it comin', he made fun of you !" you scowl, shouto's brows furrow the slightest bit as well, mildly irritated. "but you got in trouble."

"well, he made fun of you !" you repeat. you both stay unmoving, laying on your stomach while the nurse is out on lunch break. shouto's lips move up into a pout and for the first time ever you hear him huff.

"i wasn't mad about it. i was fine." he insists, his eyes drift towards his fingers picking at his sheets. "you got hurt because of me, and i don't like that." he mumbles sadly. his cheek smushed against the hard pillow makes him look like a little puppy. you hear your heart in your ears.

"well, i didn't just do it for you," you try, "tanaka's always pickin' on everyone, so i taught him a lesson." you huff. you believed you sounded convincing, but shouto looks anything but convinced. others can't see it well, but you can.

"but everyone's gonna think you did it for me. and they're gonna call you weird again," shouto grips and pulls at the white sheets, you're worried they'll rip off and he'll get in trouble. "even though you're not."

you don't care, you'd been called weird plenty of times at your old school. but shouto's bothered for you and your heart beats in your ears "do you think i'm weird ?" shouto quickly shakes his head, as best he can in the position he's in. your chest feels warm and you smile.

"then i don't care what everyone thinks."

the sound of sheets crinkling stops, and shouto stares at you again. he sits up to instead go sit down on your bed. you bring your legs closer to yourself to make space for him.

"i still don't want you to get hurt, even if it's not just for me." his pretty eyes, one surrounded by red zero on you " i don't like it."

shouto never seemed picky to you. except when it came to his lunch (which was always cold soba) and the order in which he started his day at school (first he changes his shoes, then he takes off his jacket and then went to sit in his seat. exactly like this every day.)

he never told you he particularly liked or disliked anything, usually always shrugging. but he said he doesn't like seeing you hurt. it had made him panic when people started pushing him away to see the fight and he couldn't see you anymore. your classmates were talking about you and he didn't like it. the nurse stood in his way and he didn't like it because she kept him away from you for longer.

he does not like tanaka because he'd punched you in the cheek, your cheek that rises up like the sun when you smile at him.

i don't like when you get hurt, he says. i don't want you to hurt because of me, he thinks. you've got a bandaid on your cheek where you'd gotten punched, but you grin and your cheek rises like the sun, shouto hears his heart in his ears.

you hold out your pinky and promise him you won't do it anymore. holding onto your pinky is comfortable and even after promising he doesn't let go. not even when the nurse checks up on you and scolds you when you shamelessly tell her why you'd landed in her office. he doesn't let go in the hallways even when others are looking. they'll think you're weird for hanging out with him, but you told him you didn't care, and shouto feels like he's floating.

( he only lets go when you get to the principal's office. but he ignores the teacher who passed by and told him to get to class and wraps his pinky right back around yours when you walk back out. your smile is pretty like the sun.)

one time, touya-nii had called you weird, and touya-nii is always right. but this time shouto knows he's wrong. because your smile doesn't dim despite the bandaid on your cheek and you only look at him when you get back to class, despite the people calling for you, your pinky stays tightly wrapped around his, only moving so you can readjust and hold it better.

touya is clearly wrong, and shouto knows you're the nicest person in the world.

[gingergofastboatsmojito]

What Carmy wants

IMPO it's pretty obvious that what he wants is Reparation by Opposition.

In Psychogenealogy and Transgenerational Therapy this means that when you come from a family that was the source of trauma, your responses can only be 3 potential ones: Repetition → status quo that only serves to perpetuate the trauma, Opposition → breaking the cycle but in spite, not as a reparation but as defiance, again: trauma response, OR REPARATION BY OPPOSITION → the only response that includes real healing and liberation from that trauma, which entails not perpetuating the toxic cycle, not acting in spite and just to challenge the status quo to prove "them" wrong or that they don't own us, etc. It's the only mature and healthy response, although the other two do not necessarily imply a conscious conflict. Some people can lead a seemingly "conflict-free" life even when perpetuating the status quo or opposing to it in an act of vengeance, like our case study here:

He wants his legacy to be all he never had growing up:

A panic-less environment.

Anxiety-free.

Be square with everything and everybody.

To make it good, he'd have to filter out the bad.

I already went over this in terms of the show in general because I firmly believe those lines are nothing but a huge foreshadowing of the show's whole arc, and as usual, Storer hid it in plain sight:

That is why MEAT was in the background, in the frame, in the center, because what Carmy was saying was the whole "meat" of the show:

However, as for Carmy, individually speaking, those lines are ANOTHER PIECE OF HARD EVIDENCE, we, Sydcarmy truthers can and should hold onto and go by, to back up our SYDCARMY ENDGAME claims and wishes. We are not delulu. Well, not because of believing in Sydcarmy endgame anyway...

There is no way on Earth Carmy can achieve all that with the C person. Someone who represents his past and triggers his trauma to the point of causing panic attacks, someone who he associates with the "old Carmy" he wants to outgrow to get to where he wants to be and spend the rest of his life in (his purpose). Of course, she represents the status quo for him, the literal girl next door who is totally familiar with his past family trauma and all the things he wants to leave behind. She is what his toxic family wanted for him. She is in no way, shape or form a symbol of progress or healing, you can read about that in pretty much ALL my C Person meta, here ↓

The only character on the whole show that represents change, evolution, growth, and progress, is:

Every one of Carmy's breakthroughs, had her presence in them, in one way or another.

He started turning The Beef around when she came along, even when everyone was still opposing his leadership because he wasn't alone anymore:

He accepted his shortcomings and vowed to change:

He shared his dream with her because he trusted her fully, even when he had only met her for a few months at that point (he didn't even trust C with his right number even after knowing her for years)

He shared her dream:

He put everything in her hands and then couldn't live with the guilt of having let her down, which triggered ALL HIS DEMONS.

She was also there when he gathered the strength to confront his abuser:

Summing up, the only one who can bring out this Carmy we all want, including himself, is Sydney and he already knows that, he told her:

Bonus track: What Syd always wanted and still does is this ↓

The great news is that what Syd and Carmy want are FULLY COMPATIBLE things.

which is the key to any healthy and lasting relationship love story. Not wanting the same things, none of us want the same things as our partners at all times, it's impossible and or childish because we are dynamic beings and individuals, and any relationship that annuls or censors our individuality can't or shouldn't last. Now, finding someone with whom you can be yourself, NOT LOGAN:

Being accepted by them and at the same time inspired and driven to change for the better, as opposed to remaining stuck in the past, THAT IS LOVE and that is at the very least PROMISING. A relationship based on that and on trust can only be a good one, no matter how toxic or hard it gets at times, as most relationships at some point do or might because that means that all the tools to "fix" it, are there, at hand.

Remember to follow my tag #Gingerpovs 💋

[jounosparticles]

reply to the tags of your reply to my previous ask: PLEASE RANT TO ME ABOUT THEIR RELATIONSHIP!!!! i want to hear. they rot my brain too and im glad that i found someone who's also suffering the suegiku takeover

OKAYOKAY YAY!!!!! this will be fun >:)

a huge suegiku analysis:

okay in the last ask you mentioned how tetchou stabs jouno for fun and sillies and stuff which happened to make me think a lot about how tetchou acts decently different around jouno than others.

tetchou is typically rather formal in the way he acts in a way? as in he's very straightforward, generally composed and calm in his words, and polite to anyone he's dealing with.

an example of this is when he still treated the cafe owner kindly despite him being an "accessory to terrorism" in jouno's words.

basically, in most situations, he remains very composed. even when he's up to his sillier antics (like when he was watching ants or doing pushups during a meeting). he's direct and straight-faced almost always around most people. he doesn't act that way to be seen as silly, it's just who he is (and i love it).

i would imagine he could act this way for many reasons. it is most likely him being professional, likely as a reference to the irl tetchou who had samurai lineage; making him act with the tone and professionalism of samurai.

despite his professionalism, maybe he has difficulty being expressive around most people, or maybe he doesn't want to be expressive around people by choice.

but this is where he's different around jouno.

firstly, i'll talk about the times he's stabbed jouno. this has happened twice, and both were to de-escalate jouno from his tendancy to mentally torment people.

the wording in these panels implies this is a regular occurrence. which is a little funny to me hehe.

anyway, we see by the way that he acts around others that usually he de-escalates situations by talking first instead of acting. he will turn to violence if he believes it's needed, but typically he talks first. we see this when he confronts kenji verbally before attacking.

yet with jouno he doesn't bother to tell him to stop first, instead opting to jab him. remembering that the hunting dogs have enhanced physical strength, a small stab wound probably isn't a huge deal for them.

because of this i think the stabbings are tetchou partially teasing jouno. him messing around like that isn't something he does with anybody else but he seems to enjoy pissing off his partner.

also. stabbing him directly in the ass? gay as hell. jouno following up by saying "don't poke my ass every single time" implies that his ass specially gets jabbed a lot. hmmmm

anyways

another example of this is when tetchou smirks/chuckles at jouno insisting that he's the greatest hunting dog. the small laugh was most definitely to bother jouno.

mmmm theyre both so pretty.

once again, tetchou pushes aside his composed self and being intentionally silly only really happens towards jouno.

arguably, this can be shown again in the pushups scene.

tetchou acting unbothered and then calling jouno's weight "just right" while he continues to exercise seems like a combination of him trying to (jokingly) annoy jouno as well as his tendency to not acknowledge his own actions as bothersome or odd to others.

anyway to sum up this segment: tetchou is only seen intentionally bothering and teasing jouno and nobody else. he acts much differently towards others but seems to let his professional guard down around only his partner. this shows a great layer of trust and comfort between the two!

oh. but im not done talking about this. not at all.

the other huge display of emotions for tetchou was everything that went down with kenji.

as displayed throughout most of tetchou's appearances, he's incredibly justice-orientated. he has a tendancy to put justice above everything. here's a couple panels showing this:

ooog tetchou is so pretty. i love that left panel so much

using his own logic here, he should have went after bram after having found him. tetchou even admitted that, but there was one other thing more important to him than that. jouno.

starting here, this panel takes place after bram and aya escape. at this point, tetchou had assumed the agency was using bram to control people; meaning it wasn't just kenji he technically had business with at that time.

i will also preface this by saying the book's influence likely had an impact on tetchou attacking kenji before they could finish talking.

however, the book's writing didn't stop tetchou from insisting on finding jouno before taking down the agency. his worry towards jouno's whereabouts made him change his stance on justice as well as deterred him from prioritizing taking down the agency.

now that he's talking to kenji, i'd like to start it by showing that he seemed genuinely grateful and happy when kenji initially offered to help him find jouno.

as well in the anime, his eyes soften when kenji offers to help.

after talking to kenji for a brief moment, he opts to attack instead of continuing. this seems out of character for tetchou; he even apologized to kenji before saying he needs to find jouno as quickly as possible.

the fact that he apologized, combined with how we've seen him treat people in the past shows that this isn't typically what he resorts to.

also, in the anime we can see the gloss his eyes slightly shaking as he says this line, which could display worry, sadness, or anger towards whatever could be happening to his partner.

he seems almost distraught, which is a huge contrast to his typically-composed self.

and, of course; there's the fact that mid-fight tetchou had to tell kenji that jouno is a good person despite what people think.

he looks genuinely sad here, as if he's speaking from his heart. jouno has very-clearly put up a tough exterior that he uses around everyone, but tetchou goes out of his way to defend him even when he absolutely doesn't need to.

he could have stayed silent or just said he wants his coworker back, but he insisted on stating that jouno is a good person.

it's also important to note that nobody else tends to speak kindly of jouno, which puts a lot more depth on their closeness to each other. tetchou sees through jouno's words and actions and knows that he is heavily misunderstood.

and of course, we have tetchou directly saying that he will place jouno above justice despite knowing what the right course of action should have been.

he is putting jouno above the very thing he basis his career as well as his morality on. that's how worried he is. that's how much he cares.

and in this panel, we see he's extremely angry towards kenji's lack of response.

lets compare this to the first time tetchou fought the agency.

in chapter 61, when he was fighting the agency alongside jouno; he kept a more menacing/intimidating look as he attacked. when he was not attacking, he kept calm-looking despite being pissed off. compared to when he was fighting kenji in chapter 100 and looked infuriated. even the different fonts used for the dialogue puts further emphasis on this.

now, i'm going to jump ahead to the end of tetchou and kenji's fight. tetchou recognizes his mistake and asks kenji to kill him.

it's important to note that his reasoning as to why he should have chased justice was because he doesn't think jouno would have condoned his choice.

he specified it again, even opting to call jouno his friend. also note how white his eyes are here, meaning his intent was pure and he genuinely felt awful for misjudging what jouno would have wanted. he cares so much that he was asking to be killed for misunderstanding what was the correct course of action.

and then after kenji insists on helping him find jouno instead, he smiles in relief before the two pass out.

one last small note is that we've only ever seen tetchou smile three times throughout the manga so far, and all of them were mentioned here and involved jouno.

to sum it all up: tetchou, who is typically very composed and justice-orientated, is willing to throw aside his entire stance on justice for jouno. he lets his professional guard down around his friend, allowing them to tease each other and be silly as well, which he doesn't appear to do around others often. this shows that the two have a close bond and genuinely care so much about each other.

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as for jouno, i don't have as much to say however there definitely is a few things i'd like to touch on.

firstly, despite claiming to hate tetchou a lot, jouno still uses a respectful honourific (-san) whenever he refers to him. i'm not a japanese speaker so please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong but there's a good chance jouno would opt to not use an honorific at all if he genuinely detested tetchou as much as he claims.

and when it comes to teasing, jouno does it much more often than tetchou does (however he also messes with more people, it's just a personality difference between the two).

clearly with the way they act around each other, jouno does not actually hate tetchou. i think they like to bother each other by play-bullying.

also, noting on jouno's criminal past, he was given an easy oppurtunity to be thrown into the DoA where he could be incredibly powerful and would likely not face any consequences for his actions had he joined.

we know he declined fukuchi's offer because he found joy in saving innocent people. but i would the influence of the other hunting dogs helped set him into that place of mind. tetchou seems to be the one he works with most, so there's a good chance he takes a lot of inspiration from how tetchou handles justice.

another thing i noticed with jouno is that his displaying of emotions is almost an inverse of how tetchou acts. jouno keeps smiling a lot despite who he's speaking to. in contrast, he can keep a straight face when interacting with tetchou a lot.

of course, that could make it seem as if jouno is unhappy around tetchou, but i would argue it's the opposite.

some people will force a happy expression to appear unassuming or kind (or in a lot of jouno's cases, intimidating). so him allowing himself to maintain a straight face around tetchou could mean that he is comfortable enough around him to not feel the need to express everything. he doesn't need to keep his guard up around tetchou.

jouno almost always keeps a very happy or calm composure around enemies, likely as an intimidation factor. yet he allows himself to express frustration and annoyance around the hunting dogs in general, and most often with tetchou. i'd like to imagine this just shows his security in his partner.

jouno talking to an enemy, for reference ^ i also just really love this page hehe

the last thing i'll mention here is a lot of speculation on my behalf. however i think that jouno seems like the type to push away those close to him. i kind of perceived his supposed hatred towards tetchou to be a combination of joking around as well as possibly a defense mechanism to try and avoid keeping people close?

my main reason in stating that is that he's claimed to not like any of his coworkers yet still opts to not betray them and still works well with them. if he truly hated tetchou, he probably wouldn't allow them to work together. he likely says such things to avoid being liked too much, and these actions proved to work since tetchou acknowledged that everyone sees jouno as cold.

yet through all that tetchou still knew he was good despite the exterior, which makes them well-suited for each other.

anyways: i feel like these two really do treat each other much differently than they treat the other people around them. that puts a lot of emphasis on their bond and closeness in general. they can be silly around each other, they can get through arguments no problem, they make a great team, and clearly care about each other a ton! they mean so much to me <3

i love my sillies :)

[dolche-tejada]

Round 7 : The Duality of Qin and Hades

I don't think there was any other round conclusion that left me that confused at first. I mean... why did Hades died so tragically when he was fighting for his family and to honor his dead brother's memory, motives that usually tend to be some huge green flags in those kinds of mangas ? And then I realized the answer was right there : Hades was doomed to lost like this precisely because he was fighting for the honor of his family. To understand what I mean, you had to take a look at Hades and Qin as characters

Let's begin with Hades. He is at his core a tragic figure and this well before his actual downfall. From the moment he's introduced into the plot, Hades is defined above all through one thing : Duty. He's one of the most feared and respected gods of Valhalla, someone on which everyone rely and the Ruler of Helheim.

And this is his tragedy because Hades does not assume the responsibilities and duty that come with his status, he endures them and lets them define his entire life.

His whole language is always axed about how he has to do this or how he can't lose that just because that's who he is, never because that's his own choice.

Hades has no desire to avenge Poseidon. He's emotionally exhausted (look at the bags under his eyes), he admitted not having fought for a long time and more importantly : He damn well knows that Poseidon couldn't care less about being avenged. But he has to fight anyway because it's his inherent duty as an older brother, his vow is part of who he is.

He wasn't supposed to fight in the Ragnarok and didn't even want to kill Qin against whom he hold no real grudge. Quite the opposite, he even comes to sympathize with him and admiring him. But he still chooses to fight without hesitation since it's his duty as a god and king of the Netherworld. He can't lose against a mere king of men.

And that's where Qin comes in.

His introduction actually sums him up perfectly : We see him making his own way by breaking through walls into the gods' VIP lodges instead of waiting in his room ; he ragdolled Ares who tried to force him to leave ; and when Brunhilde asks him to follow her to the entrance gate, here's his answer

This is his core character : Qin doesn't care about traditions and expectations. He doesn't follow the path that is expected of him, he traces his own road (literally and metaphorically) and makes no compromises with anyone, whether they are gods or humans.

When confronted to Chi You, a tyrannical demon god who oppresses his country and people, Qin doesn't resign himself to accept it like previous kings did, he actively fights against this status quo and forces it to bend to his notion of duty

It can be long (his fight with Chi You literally take six days), it can be painful but this is how he proceeds and that's his greatest source of pride. He's not defined by his status as king, he's the one who defines what it means to be one

This is an essential component of his backstory and Round 7 writing. When we meet Qin as a child, he's the radical opposite of the one we know : He doesn't try to impose himself as a person and rather immediately conforms to the expectations of those around him.

Chun Yan scolds him for not acting like a child should ? He forces himself to act as such to satisfy her. His guards and the locals of Zhao use him as a scapegoat for the people they've lost ? He apologizes and endures hatred and excruciating pain because that's what is expected from him. That he passively endures

You know where I'm going with this : Little Qin is basically Hades' foil. Both represses their feelings to conform themselves to duty and exterior expectations, which make them utterly miserable (which isn't that apparent for Hades yet but I'm coming to this).

However, Qin grew up from this through his meeting with Chun Yan, which made him realize something that will forge him into a king

A lesson Alvitr will also remind him at the end of his fight by asking him to say clearly what he wants when he started to doubt of himself. Something to which Qin just answered : "I want to win... No matter what !"

One wants to win because he has made a promise from his own will, the other has to win since his vow define him.

Because Hades never learnt that lesson and always suffered from it. I've seen a lot of people praising him for how cool and badass of a big brother he is in his backstory, for wiping out a whole army of titans to protect his siblings but imo this is just sad. Instead of talking to his family about this threat and trying to find a solution together, he immediately assumes that he has to deal with them alone, even tho he knows that they are too much and he might actually die.

And when Poseidon asks him if everything's okay, he isn't even able to ask for help or just look at his brother when he's lying to him

But miraculously this time he managed to win this battle, thanks to his trump card : Ichor Eos. An ability that highlights how self-destructive Hades is when it comes to protect his duty and family. To activate this trump card, he has to hurt himself and bleed. Fulfilling his duty literally requires from him to sacrifice himself.

And despite this, Hades still insists that everything is fine afterwards. No matter how heavy his burden is, he will never be defeated because that's what the world expects from him

Except he did. Sadly this time, his burden was too heavy and he got destroyed in the process. Hades died and not even in a satisfying way. Just compare with the others fighters' death :

Lu Bu died feeling joy for the first time in his life, happy to finally fighting an equal

Adam lost with a peaceful smile on his face, knowing that he did his best to protect his children

Poseidon was bitter in his last moments but held on to his pride until the end

Heracles remained faithful to what he is and inspired Jack to become a better person

Raiden had the best sumo fight of his life and vanished with the woman he loved

Zerofuku finally got to be happy too

Nikola gave the most wholesome speech ever known to Mankind after making science evolved once again

And Leonidas was proud, having proven that Sparta will always be the strongest

But Hades ? Nothing of that

In his last moments, he was convinced of having let his family down and being a failure as a result, apologizing to them for this just before disappearing forever under their eyes.

And the most painful part of this is that Hades was the only one to see himself as such. The members of his family may have admired him for his strength and his willingness to make any sacrifice for the honor of gods but they still loved him first and foremost as a person. Adamas was ready to throw away his own pride as a god (the thing Hades literally died for) by killing a crippled half-dead Qin for winning in a fair fight. Hermes composed a requiem in his memory and Zeus was both heartbroken and sorry to hear his last words. He knew his brother had nothing to apologize for but realized that the latter didn't.

At the end of the day, Hades didn't lost this battle of kings just because Qin was stronger. He lost because Qin was the better king and learn to find worth in himself rather than in what people expected from him, while Hades let his responsibilities consume him throughout his whole life.

[namorthesubmariner]

My mutual, Doombot, has written a great analysis of Namor & why many writers & Marvel fail to grasp an understanding of his character. This is so well written & really sums up what Namor fans have been talking about on the CBR board for years. I think people who don't "get" Namor should read this.

Full text under the cut

Doombot: What's interesting, or disheartening really, is that, for people who don't know Namor that well, all these mini-series' and supporting roles in recent years must be how so many people see Namor, and it's just not him. He's in this awful limbo where he needs an ongoing series for readers to understand him again, but he also (in Marvel's eyes) needs to be popular enough to be given an ongoing. It's like employers asking for 10yrs experience for entry level positions, it's backwards. Plus every modern showing of Namor in all these other books have him as a huge assh*le or an outright villain (or both)

Modern writers simply don't seem to understand Namor, and their OOC portrayals of him present Namor to modern readers as someone he isn't.

Even if Namor felt he had been wrong, if he felt he'd been unjust or needed to atone for some action or judgement he made, he would never in a million years submit to human "justice". (which in Marvel almost always means American) The same justice that has never been afforded to his own people, even when humans (usually Americans) decimate, poison or outright murder them in hundreds, if not thousands. You never see Captain America or IronMan coming to Namor's aid, to help get justice for the scores of innocent Atlanteans that are blown up, murdered or displaced by human activity. In fact, Captain America and IronMan will be the first to confront and threaten Namor if he dares to even think about getting any kind of justice for his people. Yet time and time again, Namor will answer the call to help save humanity from looming threats and disasters. He does this KNOWING it is never offered in return, that the same people he fights for and beside will never come to the aid of him and his people. Yet all the heroes will instantly clutch their pearls and label Namor as unstable or a villain if he gets frustrated or angry enough to seek his own justice. This alone tells you a lot about who Namor is and who the heroes (who claim they're his friends) are.

Namor willingly does this is for a few reasons. First, he simply believes these are the right things to do. Secondly, because he has a deep need or longing to be accepted by the people of his father. Just as he has a deep need to be accepted by the people of his mother, the Atlanteans. Namor, for all his blustering and power, is extremely lonely. He's never been accepted by either, humans or Atlanteans, from his childhood to now. Yet he's always strived to do right by both, in a naive hope they will eventually love him, that he will finally belong somewhere. That's the tragedy of the character, it's the entire fucking point. These are complex social and psychological issues, yet extremely simple at the same time. He's alone. He's angry and hurt, distrusted and disliked, yet always tries to do what is right, and he's usually repaid with scorn. His prickly, pompous or cold demeanor is a facade, it's covering the fact he's a deeply lonesome man who desires a connection to his people(s) and also the fact he was raised as a Royal and everything that means. Being distant, exceptional, superior, a living symbol.

Part of the reason people don't present Namor correctly, as we've discussed here before, is that he's not a superhero. Not in the sense most think about it. Captain America, Superman, Spider-Man, the classic superhero who is out to do right, to fight for "Truth, Justice and the American Way" isn't at all what Namor represents. Not only is Namor not a hero for America, he's not even a hero for humanity. From his very inception he was a champion of "the other", the outsider, the non-American, non-human. He's a main character in American comics who is NOT fighting for America or American values. He's the opposite of Superman. Superman is an alien who does everything in his power to become the best version of a human, of an Amercian, that he can be. Namor is not human, not American, and doesn't want to be. In fact, he's more often than not at odds with humanity. Humans are a real danger to him and his mother's people. This is quite remarkable for a superhero in 1930-whatever. Marry this concept to a character who is also raised as a Royal, as above the everyman, destined not to fight for American justice and democracy, but to be a king and rule a kingdom. All of this adds to the difficulty many readers and writers have with Namor, especially in modern comics. These things aren't made clean enough, instead Namor is seen as a huge a-hole, who's just arrogant and is always on the edge of being a dangerous lunatic villain. The quirks of Namor's personality are left bare, on the surface, but he's hollow. Modern readers don't get to see and understand WHY Namor behaves they way he does.

Namor doesn't need to be deconstructed. How or why would a deconstruction be interesting or valid for a character you barely understand to begin with? What Namor needs in a new and strong foundation so he and his world can be rediscovered and examined/explored for new and modern audiences.

[yourtouchismidas]

Thinking about your posts where you said people at Gigi’s school don’t particularly like Matty. Could we get a blurb of maybe RG and Matty or just Matty showing up at the school to pick up Gigi and a parent or school staff member confronts him? Maybe he gets to defend himself or even Gigi does?

matty is at the school gates with his hands in his pockets. it's chilly, and matty is tired. he is always tired. work is long and there's always people wanting things, wanting him, his words, his time, his thoughts. all he wants right now, is to watch his little girl's face light up when she sees him at the school gates, is to hold her hand as they walk home to you, is to hear about her art project or her circle time or her sums she's finding hard.

there is a group of women next to him, one in yoga pants, one in a pant suit with a skirt, one with those huge nike trainers on women are wearing these days. matty, despite his bank account, gets on more with the ones who rock up in trackies, like he is wearing now, dads who spend their evenings at the pub, mum's who work two jobs trying to get by. today he is too tired to talk to anyone. anyone except gigi, anyway, and you (you've already got the kettle on ready for his return.)

the woman are looking at him, he can feel it. he's got his eyes trained on the doors, where no children have emerged yet, still five minutes to go. one of the woman laughs. they turn to him then turn back to the group. they're all turned inwards, towards each other. one of them is kayleigh's mum. kayleigh who tells gigi she can't play with her. kayleigh who told gigi her halloween costume was stupid. kayleigh who got paint all over the table and told everyone it was gigi. gigi takes it better than him. she shrugs and says kayleigh is mean, and that she doesnt want to be friends with her, and that the teacher always knows that gigi is a good girl and wouldnt do what kayleigh blames her for. gigi says that kayleigh doesnt understand her halloween costume cos she still likes baby stuff. and matty, since he can't drop kick a six year old, has learnt to just do a half smile at kayleigh's mum, breathe and let it go.

except today he is in a bad mood and they are talking about him. he can hear it. he has heard the word "band" and "tour" and he has heard someone say "missing school" which he assumes is about gigi, because she spends some time on the road with him. he has no doubts that if he didnt bring her out to tour, then these women would complain too, about leaving her behind. there is no winning. he is a bad father. because of his career. because of everything they know about his past. everyone knows about his past.

he's trying to breathe and let it go. he's trying to pretend like he can't hear. he should move. the kids will be here soon. gigi will be here. except then he hears the words, "never here," and something inside him snaps.

"i'm here now, aren't i?" he barks at them. he tries so hard. and he misses his daughter with his whole heart when he is not with her, and do they not think, if he could, he would spend more time with her? they all look round in faux surprise, as if they are completely innocent.

"oh don't do that," matty says, "i have ears."

they all look at each other and shrug, frowning, except kayleigh's mum, who stares him out.

"we're just discussing parenting styles. that's all. and yours is... different," she says, still staring at him.

"i'd rather be on tour a few times a year, than have my daughter raised to think that it's okay to talk shit about people in the playground," he shrugs.

"can you not swear please?" one of the other mums says, "we're in a school."

"the kids aren't out yet?" matty says, gesturing at the playground, where only adults stand, "or are you deluded about that too, the same way you're deluded about the fact you were definitely talking shit about me a few seconds ago."

the door opens and kids pour out, running at parents, gigi in the doorway but not quite here yet.

"they're here now," kayleigh's mum says.

"your powers of observation astound me," he says, just as gigi cries out "daddy!" and runs at his legs.

"hi baby," he says to her, putting a big hand on her head where he neat little plaits you tied for her this morning have come loose and are wild and fraying. she looks between you and the other mums, sensing something is wrong, when kayleigh appears, thrusting something glittery into her mum's arms saying "look what i made mummy."

"oh wow that's beautiful darling," her mum says, crouching down to her to zip up her coat that is open. kayleigh starts fussing. whining.

"you ready babygirl?" matty asks, and gigi nods, putting her hand in his, as kayleigh dissolves into a full on tantrum, screaming with a red face on the floor, as the whole playground turns to her.

"kayleigh's crying," gigi says, plainly, as if it isn't obvious to everyone in the playground, or in a one mile radius.

"hmm," matty says.

"she's just getting her coat done up," gigi says, staring too, stopped.

"come on, love," he says, nudging her arm, "don't stare. it's not nice to be rude, is it?"

"no," gigi agrees.

matty starts to walk away, gigi trotting along beside him, not staring, but he does throw back one look at kayleigh's mum, who catches his eye. he waves, doing his little half smile, turning away and smirking.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

This happening very recently, but I was replaying to another fan about the whole thing with the fandom being mad at Marinette about not telling Adrien about his father and about him being a senti monster and how it was dumb that the fandom was (going into a lot of the fandom making fanfic of Adrien leaving Marinette because of her lying and then turn around to complain.)

I, at first, said that I understand the fandom’s criticism because that moment seems OOC for Marinette to keep Gabriel’s secret and that if Marinette loved Adrien, she’d tell him the truth, regardless on him leaving or not.

They responded (to sum it up) that Marinette hates lies yes, but she keeps lies to protect the ones she loves. She does it all of the time. And her keeping a secret has nothing to do with the fear of loosing Adrien, but everything with his safety.

They then responded some more but I can’t get into cus…they blocked me…after I basically said they had Vaild points but I wouldn’t blame Adrien for leaving Marinette if he found out. I see both of their POV’s

My over all thoughts on this is that…I do understand why Marinette did the things she did, but it doesn’t erase the fact that it feels…icky that Adrien has little to no knowledge or anatomy over himself. The knowledge and anatomy lies with his partner…

So….thoughts?

So I disagree that this lie protects Adrien. It might keep him emotionally safe, but it risks his physical safety since he has two magical remote controls that aren't exactly well kept secrets. Marinette has no idea who all knows about them and she should be assuming that the new butterfly is in the know since the butterfly clearly knew about Emilie's hidden chamber.

If Marinette had kept the rings, then you could make the argument that she's keeping him safe in the best way that she can while still protecting the rest of the world since there is a solid argument to be made for not exposing her secrets while there's still an ongoing threat, but that argument's out the window since she gave the rings to Adrien! She made him the unknowing guardian of his own freedom in a world where jewelry theft is a common teenage past time. That's really, really, really bad and you cannot logically justify that choice.

With that being said, I can actually buy Marinette not telling Adrien right away. He just lost his father and, as previously said, telling Adrien probably means exposing her secret identity, which is a huge deal when the butterfly is still at large. I do think that she'd cave pretty quickly, though, because the guilt would eat her alive. I think that she'd quickly start having nightmares about him losing the rings and other such stuff that would quickly poison their relationship.

However, I also feel like this is yet another case of Marinette getting an unfair amount of blame for a thing that isn't all on her. Yes, she needs to tell him, but she's a late comer to this party who only knows the details second hand. Heck, I've said before that I'm not even totally sure that she knows that Adrien is a sentimonster because Felix's play was rather vague about Adrien and Kagami's status.

But you know who is fully in the know about everything? Felix! And Kagami! And Nathalie! And probably Amelie, too. People who are also supposed to love Adrien and want what's best for him. People who have also told him diddly squat even though they knew long before Marinette did, yet I don't see anyone complaining about them.

Kagami in particular really grinds my gears because I especially don't buy her keeping this from Adrien. She's the queen of confrontation who literally called him up to yell at him for being such a push over after seeing a freaking marketing photo! Does anyone actually buy her keeping the senti stuff from Adrien for literal months? In a lot of ways, I actually think Kagami and Felix should be the ones to tell Adrien because they know so much more than Marinette and because they share his status so he won't feel so alone.

Basically, the fact that Adrien doesn't know isn't the result of good writing, it's the hand of the author taking corporal form and sewing everyone's mouths shut because the writers either don't want to deal with this issue or they want to milk it out for drama in the coming seasons. Do I like that Marinette is keeping this a secret? No, but she's not doing it because she wants to. She's doing it because she's a fictional character whose writers are really bad at handling both serious topics and satisfying reveals. I haven't read any post season five fics but I'm sure that they'd annoy me just as much as the fics that deal with the season four conflict by heaping all the blame at Marinette's feet and holding no one else accountable for their actions or lack there of.

[wellnoe]

so in bridgerton season 2, kate and anthony have very similar character hangups. they both see their relationships to other people as primarily about fulfilling obligations, and they don't trust anyone else in their families (to be responsible, make their own choices...or even like. emotionally. they do not confide in their families). the upshot of all of this is they've each self-appointed themselves the adult of their respective families, and this situation helps them maintain a degree of distance from the very people they are ostensibly caring for.

imo kate comes out of the season kind of addressing these hangups! she is forced, via all her plans collapsing, to talk honestly with her sister and mother, and she is challenged in her perception of her family members as dependents she has to arrange things for. through this process, she engages in really charged scenes of emotional vulnerability (her scene with mary esp, in ep 8, is really really good) and edwina really insists kate take her and her feelings seriously!

anthony ends the season in a much weirder place. bc. ok. the entire reason violet wants anthony to get married in the first place is because they want to ensure the family has an heir. if anthony does not have an heir and something happens to him suddenly, as happened to his father, the viscountcy will pass to his brothers. this is a problem because both anthony and violet think his brothers are super flaky! they both, at separate times, use the idea of one of his brothers inheriting the viscountcy to explain the urgency of anthony's need to get married! and it feels, as a viewer, that the secret to anthony character development is he needs to learn to trust his family. he needs to learn to respect them as people! because if he does that he removes a huge source of the pressure on himself and he is actually able to engage with his family and other people emotionally.

and then one of the best lines of the show is daphne's "all of these decisions you seem to make and then resent us for, they do not make you worthy of your family's respect". and he does resent them for it! he gets really mean to his brothers, his sisters, his mother. daphne is maybe the sibling he's closest to this season, the one he has the most genuine conversations with, and she sees very clearly this self-martyring vanity, the almost condescension with which he looks down on people who make choices for themselves. so i'm saying this is a hangup for him not only bc it sucks for him emotionally to not be able to really relate to his family, but also bc it is the thing that makes him act worst toward the people in his life. people he ostensibly loves and wants the best for!

so the question is where does he end up with this? and its weird! bc he is able to open up emotionally and the show acts like things have changed, but they haven't! he has an emotional conversation with his mom, which is fairly nice but only one slice of his problem. daphne stops showing up after episode 6 so there's no more insight from her. he doesn't talk to his other younger sister at all. and there's also really no evidence that he's had some revelation that his brothers are also adults! his last scene with colin is him yelling at colin for not paying attention to staffing issues and spending a huge sum of money. one of his last scenes with benedict is him finding benedict high at a party and being mad about it, and then his actual last scene with benedict is a confrontation over the fact that anthony secretly paid for benedict to be admitted into an art school. which does not indicate a high degree of trust in him or his abilities. and benedict can only manage this stale disappointment toward the way anthony ALWAYS acts, which anthony easily brushes off. it's SO weird!

[gorbalsvampire]

More questions! Would you consider having cross splat play for a group with v5, ww5, and h5? Have the mechanics been simplified/streamlined enough for that to be possible without being a huge headache?

Also, unrelated: I think in today's ttrpg terms WoD5 wants to be a "fiction first" type of game. It definitely has introduced some features that add support in that way, such as the relationship maps, considering Coterie type, and the touchstones. But I think some of its mechanics still cleave to that "simulationist" mindset of the 90s and aughts, and get in the way of what the narrative does well 😅

This is a bit meandering, but I hope you gain something from it anyway.

So for my money, the big issues with cross splat play are thematic. Vampire and Werewolf are asking different questions of their players, and pursuing different kinds of horror. For all that they're nominally set in the same world, they don't fit right when they're shoved in next to each other. It's like how comics crossovers reduce the cosmic splendour of interplanar warfare between godlike entities and the workaday world of a nerdy student/photographer to a sort of spectacular slurry when they're put together - it can be fun, but it feels like less than the sum of its parts because none of them are getting to do what they were designed for.

Hunter is the exception. I think Hunter can dovetail with another splat reasonably well, because the Hunters are real people in over their heads and confronting a supernatural horror; a premise that can adapt to whatever kind of horror the other splat is presenting. Hunter also has tidier mechanics, which brings me to the "why I, specifically, wouldn't include Werewolf in a crossover" part.

When I've checked out Apocalypse in the past, I've found it aggressively America-centric (why do werewolves in the Celtic nations or the Balkans use terms from the First Nations?), not quite selling the "melting pot" pack (maybe this is me, but I feel like a werewolf pack should all be from the same tribe and differentiated by something else, like auspice), and worst of all - dull. Between Tribes and Gifts and Auspices and Spirits and five different statblocks it's managed to make pretending you're a werewolf fussy and pedantic.

I like trad games. I came up with Call of Cthulhu and WFRP. Pass me the percentile dice, we're going in! But the strength of V5, specifically, is that it's modular. From "only players roll" to "only simple conflicts" to "right, look in the back of the book for a combat move", V5 scales to an extent where it can be mechanically present, imposing the bare minimum of Hunger and Predator Type, in even a fairly lightweight chronicle - or it can go full tradgame, if you want it to!

The trouble with the wider WOD, in my opinion, has been the development outwards from Vampire. Most of the splats have started with Vampire's mechanics (an equivalent to blood points, humanity, disciplines, clans and so on) and adapted them and developed on top of them, which means they end up overburdened because they weren't working out from a neutral core. (CofD sidestepped this by starting with the human-focused core game and building very similar sets of numbers into the different splats, one direction at a time.) Combine that with the ever more convoluted world-building of the One World of Darkness conceit - you and I know that no amount of "the Lupines from Vampire aren't the Garou from Werewolf" holds up to the way the Revised books were written - and by the time you get to Wraith, both the system and the setting are overdeveloped and creaking at the seams.

I bring up Wraith because I really, really want Wr5 (technically it'd be the fourth edition, but whatever). I want a Storytelling Game of Psychological and Survival Horror, something that interrogates why the dead haunt the living and poses that as its central question. You can keep your Kingdoms and your Legions, but they're the threats that drive the playable ghosts into the periphery - they've made unacceptable compromises to survive deeper into the Shadowlands, closer to Oblivion. The Guilds offer another way - true death staved off by staying close to the truly alive. Maybe that's been the premise of Wraith all along, but I got the impression the game as published was more interested in building Stygia as a dark fantasy adventure than in ghost stories.

You're not wrong though: the WOD games have always existed in the space between blow-by-blow gun-catalogue tradgame and experimental, experiential storygame. When they're good, they turn that space into a sliding scale. When they're bad... well, when they're bad they're the detailed rules for kung fu in Requiem. The whole thing runs better when you're fiction first, but retain just enough risk/resource management that the mechanics get to intrude and remind you that you're not playing heroes. You are the monster. The more action you take, the more those trackers move. The Hunger is rising. When will you Rage?

[paper--machete]

Re: Your tags on the post about writing you love, I'd love to hear your breakdown of music you like? Either "how do you personally breakdown music" OR "Here's a breakdown of a specific song/album"

well for example something I've always seen as very important when it comes to albums is sequencing, i.e. the order that the songs are put in on an album. in theory this shouldn't matter at all but sometimes putting the songs in just the right order can push an album to be so much greater

like for example a good opener can set the tone, but imo the greater task belongs to the opening three-track run to let the listener know what to expect from the rest of the album. a great example of this is death grips' the money store- track 1 is get got, one of the groups notably more lowkey songs with ride doing a much more toned down style of vocals. track 2 is the fever (aye aye), where ride brings out his usual angry-screaming vocal delivery but it's backed up by arguably one of the band's best hooks ever. track 3 is lost boys which is probably the weirdest they get on the whole album. the money store essentially does a perfect job of welcoming an unassuming listener into the world of death grips; it understands they're difficult to get into and organizes itself to become more accessible. it's kind of a winning formula tbh- track 1 is the opener, track 2 is the lead single, and then track 3 uses its similarities and differences with the first two songs to communicate the overall vibe. QOTSA almost always uses this formula; rated R, songs for the deaf and era vulgaris follow it pretty perfectly

as far as the full album goes I think it's important to take into account variety and sameness. one thing that always kills me when checking out albums I haven't heard before is when too many songs in a row are sonically similar and they all just blend together. I think a great album sequences it's tracklist in a way that every song plays off of the one that came before it. the new Kendrick Lamar album GNX did this really well imo. here's a summary of the tracklist for example-

confrontational and imposing opener

high energy banger

low energy chill song

low energy artsy song

low energy banger

mid energy artsy song

MUSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD

chill banger

mid energy chill song

mid energy artsy song

weird song

very pretty and grandiose closer

the energy and vibes are always switching it up on a song by song basis, and no two songs of the same vibe are back to back. not to say you can't pull this off on an album, but I find it's so much more satisfying when an album is always trying to keep you interested and invested

I think the thing I've really come to appreciate lately with music though is execution; does this song/album do a good job of pulling off the idea it wanted to. I recently became a huge fan of arcade fire's 2017 album Everything Now which everyone haaaaaaated when it came out back then because the thesis statement of the album was "phone bad" backed up by a more electronic-disco-pop inspired shift in sound. but revisiting it today I feel like everything about that album was deliberately and perfectly executed to sell that album's ideas; Everything Now is sarcastic, it's commercial, it's electronic, and it's so so tired of capitalist life. the production from daft punk's Thomas Bangalter, the cheesy and at times cringe inducing lyrics from win butler, the deliberate shift towards pop sensibilities, all of it comes together to make Everything Now into a complete work that is greater than the sum of its parts

my train of thought stops here but basically there really is a lot more to music than what you're hearing. so many external factors play into how you end up interpreting it for yourself and me, personally, I'm trying to max that shit out. read David Byrne's book How Music Works if you want to go insane like me (I only read half of it but a lot of what he says really helped open my mind to eventually think about music this way)

[cartyrs]

How do you feel as a CielDoll shipper with recent chapters

this just reminded me that a new chapter is out and i just read it and i'm in the brain dimension. throwing this ask under a readmore bc it got long but it basically just sums up my opinions on the series as a whole rn:

my feelings on kuroshit have been complicated the past few years ngl! more than anything i'm very frustrated with how the story's been paced since the twin reveal, and i've found it very hard to stay engaged as a fan with how slow things are progressing. but that's also not what you asked so i won't rant about that LOL

I have very mixed feelings on this current arc - it's what finally got me back into reading bc DOLL! MY FAVORITE CHARACTER EVER! IS HERE AND I WAS RIGHT THAT SHE'D BE RELEVANT AGAIN!!! I'd really, really like it if Doll lives past this arc and is able to confront Ciel again. I think I might actually drop the series entirely if she dies here because it feels very pointless to me after all these years to bring her back if her whole point was just to [207 spoilers]. I'm really interested to see Ciel's reaction to her rebirth, esp if after coming clean about his true identity that he's able to be honest about the guilt he harbors over killing her. (SINCE YANA PUT DOLL AND JOKER IN THE SAME PANEL AS MADAM RED, CIELS PARENTS, AND R!CIEL IN CH 100, OVER 70 CHAPTERS AFTER NOAHS CIRCUS, ID GO CRAZY IF IT DIDNT MEAN ANYTHING)

I've always seen Doll as being one of if not the most significant character into understanding Ciel - his sympathy for her in Noah's Arc shows that despite how emphatic he is that he's forgone his soul, he does still care about people underneath it all. I'm pretty sure Yana's even said that if circumstances had been different (plot wise and also wealth wise), they could have been really good friends. I think Doll as a foil for Ciel reveals a lot about him - the biggest being her double-identity and reveal, as well as her playful, childish side vs. her cold, killing side (which even then, Doll doesn't want to kill - she just has to. I think deep down, Ciel is the same way). Same with Doll discovering Ciel's brand and having that empathetic moment with him over it, they don't go too deeply on it but Doll's backstory prior to living on the street is that she was abused by her parents and they scarred her face. She knows better than anyone else in the story what that permanent mark of abuse means for Ciel, and that's why she's so sorry she accidentally exposed his brand.

I've never shipped Doll/Ciel in a "canon" sense (like it just wouldn't make that much sense post-doll's "death", she despises him for killing her family, and after knowing what the circus did, she's nothing but a child kidnapper to him, criminal scum that's not worth anything). Their dynamic to me is so much about the "what if things had gone differently?" - which I also apply to Ciel's other friendships, particularly with Soma, Lizzy, and Alois (though season 2 is it's whole own discussion LOL). So much of Ciel's characater arc is about how he was willing to throw his own life and soul away thinking he had nothing after his parent's and r!ciel's deaths, as well as his own disgrace, but kuroshitsuji has shown us time and time again that there are people who deeply love and care about ciel, and if things had been different, if he hadn't sold his soul to the literal devil, he could have lived for them. i love Doll for him in this regard, because she's someone who doesn't know what happened to him. I think a big crux to Ciel's relationship with Lizzy (ignoring the incest aspect because of the period accuracy, but also because of the incest aspect I obviously do not ship them in a romantic sense) is that she knows more than most people about what happened to Ciel and his family, and that humiliates him. Pity and vulnerability humiliate him. This is a huge reason why he can't be honest with Lizzy about what happened - he doesn't want her pity, it only makes his reality that much worse. When he meets Doll, she's a stranger. And despite knowing nothing about him, she worms her way in and tries at every angle to befriend him. Also, given that his betrothal to Lizzy was by force (esp with how he steals her actual fiancees identity lol), I think if Ciel had been able to choose his own partner, he might have chosen someone like Doll.

ANYWAY - that's why I'll be really disappointed if they don't reunite at some point. I have some vague hope, since this is the last of the servant's arcs, maybe we'll get back to Ciel soon and Doll will get the confrontation she deserves. I actually really wasn't expecting [207 spoiler], that changes a lot for the character dynamics in this arc. I unfortunately haven't been a huge fan of Doll's actions in this arc, it feels horrifically out of character for me to believe that after her moral values are laid explicitly clear in circus arc (she feels guilty for kidnapping children and doesnt want to do it, but fears her older siblings retribution and fears Kelvin and feels an obligation to keep her family safe above all else), that she'd be willing to both make connections with the children at this orphanage as well as let them be used to keep her body alive... for what? To kill Ciel? Obviously she was brought back by Undertaker, but I doubt that Undertaker's true intentions are to kill Ciel, given how important the Phantomhives are to him (I think he's probably way more after Sebastian, but that's another thing entirely). So, why did Undertaker bring her back at all? Why is it Snake and Finny that find her, and not Ciel? Her personality once Snake and Finny discover the truth too is just all over the place, I don't particularly buy it.

I've felt that Yana's writing has seemed rushed and lazy since the twin reveal, whether it's her shifting her focus onto TWST, or that she's just trying to wrap up the series as fast as she can, while also still attempting to churn out monthly chapters (if you compare recent kuroshit volumes to old ones, old volumes had maybe 4-5 chapters, while new ones fit about 10 chapters at the same pagecount, so it's also waaay shorter chapters each month that don't quite move the story along). It's obvious to me that now that R!Ciel is out of the bag, the servant chapters have been a way for Yana to finally write plotpoints that she's had on the backburner since early on in the series (Meyrin, Bard, and Snake's backstories) - but IMO, terribly integrated. Finnys backstory in witch-arc is still some of my favorite parts of the series - because the arc itself is incredibly written, and Finny being highlighted fit in so well. It feels like with these mini arcs that Yana's just like oh shit what kind of plot should X servant's backstory come up in, and none of the newer plots/characters have felt deserved (i.e. the maids in meyrin/ran mao's story). Same thing goes for the characters in this arc, the children dressed like the phantomhive servants are just so weird and out of place to me. Why is this a thing??? An orphanage dedicated to making children act like ciel and sebastian and others and then sacrificing them as blood for Doll????? Why???? The whole scenario is weak and far-fetched IMO, I would've rather Doll's reentry (as well as Meyrin/Bard/Snakes backstories) been introduced in a more natural way, it genuinely feels like Yana is throwing all her cards on the table to wrap the series up without any loose strings.

SO, I don't have like, a TON of hope for Ciel and Doll's story to be wrapped up in a way I personally find satisfying for their character arcs, I'm vaguely hopeful that they'll at least just meet again, but as you can read I've had very mixed feelings on the direction that the series has taken for years now (servant backstory arc has been going on since MARCH 2019 LMAO..), so I'm sorry that your very simple question turned into a rant HAHA but this is like, the crux of my relationship with Kuroshitsuji atm.

Kuroshit has had its fair share of problems, many of which I'll be the first person to go out of my way to critique. I've been able to rationalize being a fan by touting just how good the manga's story is. Nowadays, really not so sure I can stand by that opinion! However, Doll's also like... is The character of all time for me. I've even been contemplating getting her tattooed lately LOL. So, regardless of the direction the series takes, even if it just absolutely tanks, she'll always remain incredibly special to me, as will Ciel and all the characters I've loved over the years.

[mid4stouch]

・｡ [ namtan tipnaree . cis woman . she / her. ] - dixie natthamon was blasting she’s bad and she knows it by beneath the sheets on the sidewalk in austin today . according to other atx residents , the twenty six year old bartender at oceans 7 has been given a reputation of being cunning, but also charming . [ always on the go, never knowing when to stop playing games, sly smirks and fluttering eyelashes. ]

TDLR.

born and raised in amarillo, texas to a single father, dixie never knew what it meant to have a true, loving family because her father had been anything but.

to make a long backstory short: dixie essentially was in charge of taking care of not only herself, but him as well and it managed to take a toll on her. growing up, she was known for acting out and becoming someone no one could recognize. from a sweet young girl to a cunning, manipulative one as the years went on. by the age of eighteen, dixie was kissing her small town ( and father ) goodbye without ever sparing another glance back.

dixie had traveled a lot — hopping from state to state, leaving her mark for a year or maybe more — before moving onto the next. it was her thing for years, but eventually, dixie began to grow a little homesick and made her way back to texas at the age of twenty four. maybe not her small town, but austin was enough for her. though despite all the years of being away, nothing about dixie has changed.

PERSONALITY.

to sum her up, she can be considered ... morally - grey. not a good person, but not a bad one. she's just there and manages to excuse everything she's done in life.

if there's one thing to know about dixie, she knows how to get what she wants and does whatever she can do ensure it happens. from batting her eyelashes, using that southern accent or twirling her hair in her fingers, she'll do it.

a master at playing games — sometimes actual ones, but mostly mental games. the kind of woman who can make you believe that she's all about you, but then suddenly disappear within a blink of an eye. no explanation and if she's ever confronted, there's no remorse in her actions.

her childhood plays a huge part in her behavior: experiencing all the instability in her upbringing, it gave her a deep-seated fear of attachment. in all aspects of her life. she acts the way she does because it allows her to control her own life and relationships.

[sophieswundergarten]

@nobody33333333, I am now officially caught up on S.O.S.!!! It's such a good story, guys, please go read it if you still haven't seen me sing its praises by now.

Chapter 12

Oh yeah! This chapter starts off with an Isaac cameo!! I love him so much, something that I’m entirely blaming you for, Bods.

“well, yesterday was Tuesday, so—” One of the best lines to come out of the show. It actually sounds like a Book SQ line, now that I think about it…

Aw, poor buddy. But Garrison is so kind to him! She’s struggling a lot, but she makes an effort. You write all of the characters with such an excellent element of sympathy and humanness, and I am hugely impressed by it.

Oooh, the SQ narration is getting more and more rebellious. (Is this where we will finally see the punk rock version?)

More on Curtain’s campaign to aggressively adopt/employ all of the children before his brother!!

He’s already totally convinced he’s going to be able to take in Kate, and he’s pushing Sticky so hard already! It’s obvious that he’s being super manipulative and tricky, but you can still feel how easy it would be to get sucked into it with where the kids are.

Sticky!! Oh boy, you can feel the tension as he’s trying to figure out what to do in this instance, he’s feeling pulled in both directions at once. 

WHY DOES HE THINK NO ONE LIKES HIM??? HE FEELS LIKE NO ONE WANTS HIM THAT’S SUCH A WELL-WRITTEN PART BUT ALSO IT SHREDDED MY HEART

Oh, and now we get to see Miss Perumal begin to put it all together! You do such a great job of writing her as proactive, but not impulsive or hasty.

You phrased the messages as so neutral and passive, but it’s still uncanny. It makes it feel like it very well could just be someone’s stream of consciousness.

And Miss Perumal is of course a responsible daughter. Although I’m sad that she feels guilty!! Everyone in this show/book/universe has issues with either taking too much responsibility on themselves, or not enough.

Ah. No. It’s the very sad bit.

Reynie’s trying so hard not to be suspicious. Poor child :( 

“SQ’s historical lack of friends wasn’t something Reynie knew about, but he did sense the disappointment in SQ’s voice when he said he wasn’t allowed to bring a friend. Maybe he could use that to convince SQ that it was okay to bend the rules sometimes”

THERE IT IS. THE SAD PART. Because, I don’t think you know this, (I say, to the author of the fic as I climb on top of the podium) but those two lines are insane. They don’t know, neither character knows, what the other one has been through and why they are acting this way and what their intentions are. They’re both just two lost children who have never had real friends before, and are looking for someone to love them. But we know. We know that Reynie is trying his best, but ultimately he’s going to betray SQ’s trust, because, while there are certainly other ways he could have done it, he’s a child. He doesn’t know how to do this, he doesn’t even know how to make friends normally, and he shouldn’t be in this situation but he is. And SQ is just waiting for the other shoe to drop, and yet he still finds himself devastated by it. No matter how Curtain loves him, he’s not a stable father, and he taught SQ that it’s only a matter of time before everyone uses him, before he is betrayed and left behind and ignored. And the way that you captured all of that, all of how the characters are feeling and their history and intents and how the audience is going to feel, and how they know what’s going to come of this, in two sentences, is insane! It’s bizarre. It’s wildly talented and fantastic and I want to give you the biggest hug but also how dare you sum up a whole, deeply complex and emotionally painful tragedy in less than fifty words what on earth

AND REYNIE FEELS SO AWFUL. IT IS HURTING MY HEART.

The payoff for your point with colleges!! Oh, you’re so genius. I’m infuriated but know that I love you.

The unreliable narration is wild, because he’s not actually that confrontational a person. He’s got opinions and independent thoughts, and he can definitely disagree with people, but he’s over here thinking he’s getting to be all disagreeable and unlikable and prickly when it’s just the way Curtain’s raised him into being an accidental boundary-less chronic people pleaser.

WHY IS YOUR OFFICE YOUR ‘PERSONAL SPACE’ IF YOU CONSISTENTLY LEAVE HIM IN THERE. MAKE UP YOUR MIND

And Curtain’s unreliable too!! He’s trying to help SQ, but he also is a terribly messed up person and immediately jumps to his weird conspiracy theories.

~~He doesn’t ever say he won’t do it, just that he’s not supposed to~~

HE ACTUALLY REFERENCED THE S.O.S. OH GOODNESS HE HASN’T DONE THAT FOR LIKE THREE WHOLE CHAPTERS. IT’S PROBABLY NOT THAT IMPORTANT I’M JUST LOSING MY MIND ABOUT IT.

Oh. He wants him to be friends with Kate. I hadn’t considered that, but it makes sense. It’s been really neat to see how he’s started thinking about her more and more and how he’ll fit her into his plans since meeting her.

WHY IS HE SO MISGUIDED. HE WANTS TO PROTECT SQ WHICH IS GOOD BUT HE’S ALSO SUPER WRONG.

At least you made it better than the show, in giving Curtain a reason instead of just sounding like he’s being horrid and manipulative.

I’ve always wondered if Reynie actually enjoyed art, because there’s no way that, even if he spent all day on it, he could come up with art of the caliber he seems to have on the spot with no prior experience. I like to believe he actually does enjoy art, and that part is genuine. He just has a little hobby, and it’s not something he likes as much as SQ, but he can appreciate it.

OOH. It is getting to be like Curtrain’s relationship with Garrison. Interesting…

Just once, it would have been neat to see Curtain pass out when talking to SQ. Obviously he would never do that in the series as far as we’ve seen, but I think it should happen at some point.

AND HE’S STILL BLAMING NICHOLAS. HE’S USING HIS BROTHER AS AN EXCUSE FOR HURTING BOTH HIS OWN CHILD AND REYNIE. AHHH I JUST WANT TO SMACK HIM SOMETIMES.

AJKSFHJDSGHGKJDJKHDGLHKJGDSKJH

I’M SORRY FOR THE EXCESS OF CAPS LOCK TODAY BUT MY WORD

That perspective switch is gorgeous, I’ve been heavily visualizing everything because that’s my brain but the way that that little detail is exactly like a cinematic shot where it’s focussed on one character and then switches in a smooth singular shot instead of a cut and I just— ajksdghadskjhjadsjhdshjgslgh

More crying time! Yay!

He feels so strongly about Nathaniel, and I know I keep harping on this but you write it so well. Because their perspectives are so intensely reversed; Nicholas is always on the verge of tears from guilt and sorrow, but Nathaniel won’t admit to himself that he’s sad, so it just comes out in anger and seething bitterness that is as equally fragile.

WHY IS HE BUYING A BUNK BED????

Okay, I get it, and it’s very emotional and sad, but also??? It just came out of left field I was not expecting it somehow. Goodness.

Aw, SQ feels so awful. I want to hug him. (And tell him that it’s actually a common trait in gifted children to struggle with making friends your own age!!)

Ahhhhhhh, the confliction!!! I want to give Reynie a hug, too. They both should get hugs. And a blanket and some hot chocolate. Please tell me that SQ’s plot line ends happy instead of him dropping off the face of the earth like what the show writers did :( 

And Reynie’s so aware and compassionate!! He knows what it feels like, and he’s trying to spare SQ, even though it’s causing him more trouble.

Agh, and SQ thinks this is the more innocuous trespass. But he���s got it totally backwards!! Man, your writing is so full of suspense and I know what’s happening!!!!

STOPPIT. STOP DESTROYING STICKY EVEN MORE THAN HE’S ALREADY BEEN HURT.

Oh. Oh! And that’s part of the thing!! The Whisperer just mimics back at people, but in conjunction with Curtain’s thoughts it makes them trust and mimic him!!

And Sticky jumps so quickly on board with Curtain’s information. But it doesn’t feel like he’s being a terrible person, which I think is yet another testament to your skill, as it genuinely just feels heartbreaking that poor Sticky, who, again, is a literal child that Curtain shouldn’t be using to hurt his brother, has been so lonely and wronged by people in his life that he can’t help but start falling for Curtain’s manipulation.

SIDE NOTE: The Whisperer probably also makes the kids associate the feeling of calm security with Curtain!! More manipulation!! Oh, Curtain’s such a terrible person.

“It seemed that Nicholas’ little spy had Curtain’s son and his best messenger fooled” HOW ARE YOU SO CLOSE BUT ALSO SO VERY WRONG ALL OF THE TIME

It’s interesting how we can see Curtain start talking to Kate and Sticky the way he talks to SQ, but those tactics aren’t working on SQ as well anymore, so he’s switching to the way he works around Garrison.

…Why would you give Curtain a “burden of greatness” line right in the middle of this scene that is pulling like a weight on my heartstrings. I nearly choked because I wasn’t expecting to want to laugh at him /j /lh

SQ’s comment about poison ivy reminds me of Milligan warning Mr. Benedict about the stinging nettle! Probably not an important observation in the slightest, but I thought it was neat :) 

THE BIT ABOUT ORPHANAGES PICKING AND MARKETING CHILDREN BASED ON APPEARANCE STILL MAKES ME WANT TO RIP OUT THROATS AND I’VE READ IT SEVERAL TIMES NOW

Oh, Reynie. I mean, I get it, but it’s a bit concerning that your first thought is jumping to “Curtain’s a murderer”

Reynie’s so sweet. He comes to the conclusion that it’s fifty/fifty if Curtain’s a murderer, and his next thought isn’t “Yeah, we should probably leave the island. Like, now, before Kate inevitably gets herself caught”, it’s him being worried about SQ.

Reynie’s over here trying not to sound scandalized and blurt something insensitive out and SQ’s just like “Wow, I really needed to talk about this. This feels a lot better” akjsdghagdjk

Reynie. Oh my word, Bods, you’re going to kill me with this chapter I know you promised Ember that you’d include more Reynie angst, but goodness gracious

These boys are out here in the woods trying to out-compassion each other what even. Someone needs to show them a loving family dynamic

Nooooo. Because Garrison could have been his aunt, she should have been there

My brain hit the “tumors” thing like a split second before my eyes reached the next line, oh, Reynie, you’re making this a lot harder on yourself then you need to.

You know when you’re reading a book with multiple points of view and sometimes it’ll switch in the middle of a chapter and you’re just dying to get that one character over with so they’ll shut up and you can go back to the one you actually care about? That never happens to me when I’m reading your fic. I’m always ready to go and follow you wherever the plot leads, because all of your writing for the characters is superb.

“There were coincidences and then there was… this” Amazing line. Just wonderful.

Yeah, Miss Perumal! She’s ready to row herself to the island and punch Curtain in the face!! (Okay, probably not, but I love how you describe her passion and ferocity!)

Mr. Benedict. You should be smarter than to let yourself be driven to attempt to construct a bunk bed in such an impaired state of mind that you’ll only end up injuring yourself all because it feels like it’ll fix your relationship with your brother :(

I’m so glad he has both Rhonda and Number Two. Because Rhonda will be all sweet and kind and move slowly for the most part, whereas Number Two is the kind of person to look you in the face and be like “Your brain is being stupid. Tell it to shut up, because it’s not being helpful, and it’s only hurting you”

THIS MAN. I still cannot get over the fact that he immediately took the fate of the literal whole world onto himself and thought his family would abandon him for being an emotionally mistreated child. Gah.

GarrisonBackstoryGarrisonBackstoryGarrisonBackstoryGarrisonBackstoryGarrisonBackstoryGarrisonBackstoryGarrisonBackstoryGarrisonBackstoryGarrisonBackstoryGarrisonBackstory

“For a brief moment, Curtain felt like he was looking at the old Garrison, the one who had been his friend, the one who had smiled at him, and shared her ideas with him. / As if they were suddenly no longer contentious coworkers, but two friends, eager and excited to share their knowledge with the world.”

!!!! He just wants someone who understands him. (Because he’s still trying to replace his brother and he can’t let himself heal from all that happened with the S.O.S.)

But why? Why do you want to cause me such pain????? Really, though, your pacing and little emotional callbacks and themes are fantastic. This is highly superior writing.

HE WAS TRYING TO COMPROMISE AND MAKE HER COMFORTABLE. WHY IS THIS MAN ONLY ABLE TO BE CONSIDERATE WHEN IT’S IN TINY DETAILS EASILY OVERSHADOWED BY HIS NEUROTIC CONTROL ISSUES???????

Ajkahsdjhkd She poured it back into the bottle!!! I don’t know if that’s a thing you added (I suspect it is), but I love it!

I am fully invested in Garrison’s emotional backstory with psychics, but it’s also kind of funny that she’s taking this so seriously. Like, “Ah, yes. The crafty psychic and their reinforcements”, when in reality it’s just. A trio of children and one considerably smaller child.

MILLIGAN! Oh boy.

AND THERE IT IS AGAIN. THE OLD NOBODY LAST SCENE SPECIAL, WHERE EVERYTHING YOU WERE EXPECTING IS AGAIN BLOWN OUT OF THE WATER BY WHAT IT REALLY IS.

WHOO. That was a ride!!! I am still so incredibly excited about this fic. It’s gorgeous and fantastic and I hope you aren’t getting tired of my insanity because this is a full emotional investment for me and I will continue sharing my thoughts with reckless abandon for as long as you let me. As always, no pressure at all, but I am looking forward to what you do next, and I wish you good luck!

[tobiasdrake]

Okay, now it's time to rank fourth chapters. A lot of emotional high points in this set.

Agnea is Truly Her Mother's Daughter This was a deeply personal and emotional step for Agnea. We knew who the villain was since Chapter 2 but Agnea doesn't; Here, Dolcinaea lays the conflict bare and sets the stage for the grand conclusion. Agnea discovers her mother's legacy and steps into Cuani's shoes to face off against a rival she never knew she had.

With an added emotional hook created by Laila and her parallel yet contrast with the young Dolcinaea. This was gold and I'm looking forward to the finale.

Hikari Faces an Old Friend The rich history and complex character relationships between Hikari and Rai Mei culminating in a moment of unthinking and unyielding mercy was incredibly powerful. This is easily Hikari at his best yet, putting him in a context in which his profound mercy resonates in a meaningful way.

We got so much information on Hikari and the complex relationship between Clan Ku and Clan Mei, adding another critical layer to the upcoming battle for the fate of both clans. Meanwhile, Rai is an interesting and complex adversary who feels like she was handled exactly right.

Throné Slays Mother This didn't carry quite as much personal weight for Throné but what it did have was still powerful and affecting. Where Father was despicable for what he did to Throné and her mother, Mother was despicable for what she does to children as a whole - with effort made to parallel what Throné went through with these kids.

So the personal stakes aren't as high but the investment in seeing her cut down is even higher. Add in a gut punch of an appeal from Mira that we all knew Throné could not and should not accept, and we get a chapter that doesn't quite measure up to Father's more personal connection but comes pretty damn close.

Temenos Bids Farewell to Crick The tearful culmination of where Temenos's friendship with Crick has been heading. The true villain behind the somewhat confusing mystery is unveiled and it's Kaldena but not for the reasons you might think?

The reveal is important but it's Temenos and Crick's bond that is the focal point here. After building their relationship up for two chapters, it meets an excruciatingly painful severance - And at the point where it would be most painful, when Crick was finally beginning to see the world through Temenos's eyes. My heart.

(But how did Crick trick Kaldena into murdering Crick? That's the real question here.)

Partitio's Department Store Investment Not super fond of the Benevolent Billionaire character type but fortunately Alrond isn't a huge part of this story. He's basically a means to an end, justifying how Partitio can collect such a huge sum in a short span of time. The formation of Partitio's department store is the meat of this chapter.

That and a chance to throw hands with Thurston, who's been needing hands thrown with him since Chapter 2. His appearance almost feels like an afterthought. "Oh shit, we had you fight a dog instead of Thurston; Let me correct that." But it provides good opportunities for Partitio to demonstrate his strength of character.

Castti Uncovers the Truth of Her Past This one doesn't quite hit the same highs as the others only because we already knew most of what we would discover here; The events in Healeaks only serve to cement them for Castti herself.

But even though we know from the start what's to come, it's nonetheless emotionally powerful when we see it happen. Meanwhile the villain, Trousseau, seems to just be crazy and evil for no reason?

Osvald Confronts Harvey and Learns the Truth A lot of lore-dumping about the seventh source, which clearly plays into the main overarching plot. As well as the grand reveal that Osvald's fridged women aren't actually fridged. Instead, one of them is in a different fridge and the other gets to be the Damsel in Distress for the final throwdown.

Meanwhile the villain, Harvey, seems to just be crazy and evil for no reason? Hopefully the main plot has an explanation for why these guys are just empty shells of sinisterness with no personality or character to them.

Ochette Retrieves Glacis This was a step up from the other two creature collections, as we actually got to see and participate in the Hunters vs. Beast conflict for ourselves. And a step down because it inexplicably tries to create sympathy for the hunters who keep attacking the sacred beasts for misguided glory.

Way too much time is spent on Heig, a character who is impossible to sympathize with despite the game's best efforts to explain how sad he is. This is a character who frankly should be crazy and evil so that we can kick his teeth in, but they went for "saddest blorbo" instead. IDK.

[casualoddities]

Jane of Lantern Hill - Chapters 5 & 6

Now we start getting into some of the good stuff!

It's a well used Trope from LMM for a character to hear gossip or half the context in a story. Here, Jane learns that her father is alive from a plot device, I Mean Agnes, and confronts her grandmother and Mother.

How much more interesting would it have been for her to grow up with that knowledge but warped through Grandmother's spite, or find out later through the letter?

A huge pet peeve in LM's books/ a product of the times is children being unable to express their feelings. Jane can't be upset about this because I'm Grandmother's mind, it's dealt with and anything that upsets Robin (or gets her to think a bit more for herself) is unacceptable.

(I wonder if the dad named Robin, it doesn't seem like the type of name Grandmother would give does it?)

There were just some things that didn't bear thinking of and father was one of them. But the most terrible thing about it all was that there was something now that could not be talked over with mother. Jane felt it between them, indefinable but there. The old perfect confidence was gone. There was a subject that must never be mentioned and it poisoned everything.

Poor kid, it's an awful growing pain to lose that sense of easy trust and ability to confide in a parent like that.

She would have liked to know all about them and sympathize or rejoice as occasion required.

What a nice little sum up of Jane's character! She likes people and sees such a friendly connection, it's enviable!

*shudders* Another poisoned pet. Earlier, when Jane's met Jody she passed a old doghouse. Now we know what happened to the poor thing. Like Aileen Kent, Grandmother won't have anyone above her will she?

Robin has the tiniest bit of rebellion here and there, this is a bit heartbreaking though.

"And mother seemed uneasy and never once tried to pass Jane any of the little signals they had . . . the touched lip . . . the lifted eyebrow . . . the crooked finger . . . that all meant "honey darling" or "I love you" or "consider yourself kissed."

How often do Jane and Robin get to hug or chat? Barely and it's always in secret. Robin, having been under Grandmother's thumb bear her whole life and with no prospects or help thinks there's no way out. It'd be interesting to see what would.have happened if she had more actual friends in the area...