#CONTEXTUALISE

[maleficore]

When I tell you I have been thinking about this for three days straight...

[cvntroach5000]

Underneath it all, we're just savages

author's note: i dont know what the fuck is happening in the trailer, but thats okay. i have ideas and those ideas dont need this context, they just need to entertain me and i hope they can entertain you as well. nexos is not the actual name of the place and i dont like the codenames used for the lis in the event, so ill just be making shit up. do not take anything i say at face value, this is a self-indulgent space. also this is more of a preview than a whole fic, so please send feedback if you'd be interested to read more!

based on the new tommorows catch-22 trailer, written with the event outfit in mind, no use of y/n, reader has the command evol, if you feel like im referencing something no you do not

i think command evol reader is going to become a recurring thing on this blog, so stay tuned for more of that ig

pairing: sylus x reader (implied LaDS men x reader)

content warning: imprisonment, power imbalance, mind control, depiction of fictional mental ailments, descriptions of bodily discomfort

Becoming head warden of the Nexos Prison was not something you did out of ambition. It wasn't some kind of dream-come-true, a job and position you yearned to seize. It didn't make you feel fulfilled, it didn't bring you happiness nor satisfaction. It did ensure you had a roof over your head and food to fill your stomach, basic needs you suppose you were grateful to have taken care of.

But the reason you were here, overseeing the most dangerous wards and the most rabid prisoners was because they were yours. Madness tried to take them from you, so you followed them to the place where insanity rules to reclaim them. Once you'd succeeded, you'd leave this wretched place and take your prizes with you.

Six wards, six sectors in each. The sixth sector of every ward was your territory. Unless explicitly asked, other wardens steered clear of those places. Not that they were forbidden entry, but rather it was wise of them to stay away if they valued their lives. In each sixth sector was a lion's den, containing a single ferocious beast. People infected with insanity, distorted into abominations in body and mind.

You don't work on Sundays. This is a prison, not Hell, even if the lines seem to blur sometimes. The remaining six days, you make rounds through the wards, interrogating the predators residing in your sectors. As the number goes up, so does the level of contamination. The first one is quite sound of mind, even if his body acts out. The sixth one is wholly feral, lashing out physically and verbally, itching to tear everything near him to shreds. But it's okay, it's not like you play favorites with your charges. They are all precious in their own ways and working with them gives you purpose. The only gratification from this cursed fucking job.

Today, you're going to the Sixth Ward.

...Perhaps you do play favorites, after all.

The prison is a labyrinth, massive and intricate. Everything is made with enforced steel from Deepspace. It's cold and harsh, giving the place as little comforting energy as possible. You swear, if those who are sent here were not mad already, they'd be driven mad by the dreadful atmosphere. Nobody gives a shit to put up some pastel colored wallpaper or even a little photo of a sloth that says 'Hang in there'. Though natural light is scarce in the desolate wasteland beyond the prison gates, Nexos goes above and beyond to snuff it out and enshroud the whole facility in complete darkness. Some hallways are lit so poorly, the staff carry around lanterns to be able to navigate through them.

It only takes two hours of elavator rides, weaving through the dark halls and passing through security to arrive at your destination of the day. You climbed the chain of command so fervently when you first arrived here. You used to be nervous and unsure, worried you might mess up at your tasks. Anxious and insecure, struggling to communicate with the other staff. Now you barely notice the guards cowering and scattering as you pass by. You don't even feel a rush of adrenaline as you finally make your way to the gate to the Sixth Sector.

As the doors slide open, a long corridor comes into view. Even from the entrance you can feel the stiffling energy crackling from the cell at the end of the hallway. It's disorganised and weak, as if the air itself is calling out for help. You let slow, long steps guide you down this path you've walked hundreds of times before.

There he is.

You catch a glimpse of the shock of white hair in the darkness, an imposing figure leaning against the jailbars. Even sitting down and slouching, his hulking body looks massive. He doesn't react to the sound of your footsteps. You've made no effort to conceal your presence, yet he doesn't seem to notice you up until you are directly behind him.

His hand slams into the bars, snapping back in a sudden burst of instinct. He almost seems surprised to see you—he really didn't register your presence until now. Still, he lets out a low, breathy laugh. You can see his fangs gleaming in the faint light as he grins mischievously. His gaze seems shrouded by a dark cloud, pupils practically gleaming as they erractically scan over you.

"Well, hello there, dear supervisor. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" There's bite to his tone, yet he doesn't sound entirely sarcastic either.

You adjust your gloves and review the toolbox you have prepared outside his containment cell.

"Hello. I'm here for your routine interrogation." You announce robotically, as per protocol, "Do you know who I am?"

The prisoner exhales through his nose as though offended by your question. But he takes a moment to observe your face before slowly admitting,

"No. Should I?"

The furrow of his brow softens and he seems to genuinely rack his brain for an answer. He means to tease you, imply you're a nobody that he'd have no way of knowing. And yet he studies you carefully, searching your uniform for some kind of identifier; a name tag, ideally. Though there seems to be a thin metal plate over your right breast, he doesn't spy any words engraved in it.

"Noted." You finish preparing your tool box, setting it just outside the door of the cell.

"I will now be entering your cell. Stand in the middle of the room and raise your arms, please." You instruct him.

He snaps his teeth at you in defiance, but complies, positioning himself as you asked. A special set of chains snakes down from the ceiling, coiling around his wrists and pulling him upwards. He hisses as the links in the chain bite into his skin and he is hoisted high enough that even with his height, he's forced to stand up on his tip-toes.

You lift your hand up to the scanner on the door, activating the security lock. After authorising your identity through the biometric scanner, the bars of the door slide to the side. You leave your toolbox outside for now, slowly entering the beast's cage.

It is dreadfully barren, a single chair stationed in the corner and a pathetic, thin little mattress lying directly on the cold floor. Unfortunately, there wasn't much else that could be provided to predators of his level. They were so stripped of their senses, they barely registered the discomfort they lived in. Always pacing around like starving lions, they were restless. They didn't sleep, they simply collapsed from exhausion once the contamination couldn't force them to stay alert anymore. And they recovered fast, prowling in their cells again as soon as an hour later.

You hum in acknowledgement, stepping forward to inspect your charge. There's a few fresh bruises on him, some a ghoulish shade of purple. A couple of small scratches and one open cut. You suspect he'll heal up soon and create more wounds to replace the old ones. None of them ever had the same injuries two visits in a row. Still, this was a pretty tame entry on his record.

After circling around him, you are quite satisfied with your findings. You look at his face to find him staring back at you, analysing you with intensity to match yours. His eyes trail over the items lined at your belt; a whip, a pistol and a baton. You take the whip from its strap, caressing the leather as you do.

"Heh, I see you came here to play. Plan on beating the disobedience out of me?" He taunts you, but the crazed look in his eye tells you he's almost excited by the prospect.

You huff increduously, "My weapons are tools of self-defense."

He lets out a humorless laugh, "There is no such thing as a weapon for self-defense, sweetie. Weapons are always made with the intent to hurt, to maim. You cannot enforce peace."

You swiftly crack the whip, using it to seize the chair in the corner by one of its legs. You pull it towards yourself, halting its acceleration with your foot. You turn it to face the prisoner and sit down, crossing your legs. You like putting on little shows like this for him. They are wholly eccentric and unnecessary, but often, they help loosening a stuck cog in his brain. Something to work with later on, as you continue your routine interrogation.

"You know, you used to tell me that your body is a weapon. What about your body then? Does it, too, only know to hurt and to maim?"

He seems a little taken aback, but shakes it off quickly. He snarls, gnashing his teeth at you like a wild beast.

You sigh. You snap your fingers and the chains holding him up to the ceiling clatter to the ground. He grunts in surprise as his heels touch the ground. He rubs his sore wrists, red eyes raking over you in intrigue.

"Aren't you arrogant, letting your prey loose like that." He scoffs.

He's trying to figure out if you're stupid or if you've got an ace up your sleeve.

"Sylus."

His ears perk up at the sound of his name, so foreign yet so familiar. Nowadays, it means nothing to him. He can't even recall it himself. And yet, your voice and that name resonate with a primal part of his soul, buried under the layers of madness and contamination.

"Who—"

"Sit."

His brain barely registers the command before his body acts on it. His knees give out and he falls to the ground. It's like his nerves are on fire. More than a prisoner of this cell, he now feels imprisoned in his own body. Like a spirit, tethered to a hollow, useless shell. He can barely form thoughts as his entire being responds only to you and your instruction.

"What... Did you..."

"It's my Evol. Everyone obeys me, whether they want to or not. You are no exception."

Sylus's mind is racing a million miles per minute, yet it feels completely standstill at the same time. He's trying to comprehend this power, gauge its limits, figure out its weaknesses. Pinpoint the loophole he can exploit to escape your grasp. Through the haze over his mind, he registers how your eyes have a knowing glint in them. Like you know exactly what he's thinking, like he's an open book to you.

Can you—

"I cannot read minds, no." You clarify before he can even attempt to voice the question.

He notices the whip is gone from your hands. Instead, you play with the baton, inspecting it as you ponder your prey.

"You must be thinking 'There has to be a weakness I can use to break free'. You always loved testing the limits of my ability."

You're answering his questions, yet your words leave him more confused than before. Always? When did he ever see you use your Evol? When has he strategised with it in mind?

A sensation like an electric current runs violently through his body, making his brain tingle as though it's going to pop. It hurts to think, yet he can almost taste all the answers he seeks. They are like blood on his tongue, reeking of iron.

He strains his neck to look you in the eyes.

Your gaze is so empty, as though you are looking through him. Miles into the distance at versions of him he can't recall.

"What if I told you..."

There's a buzzing in his ears, growing louder by the second.

"That we've had this exact conversation hundreds of times before?"

The buzzing halts to a complete silence. And the prisoner slumps to the floor, unconscious.

You stare at his limp body for a moment. Then, you get out of your chair and pull up your notepad.

Another failure.

Tommorow, you're circling back to the first ward. Let's see if there's going to be any progress there.

As you fill out your report, you hear the faint sound of wind rushing through the corridor. Of course, there is no wind in Nexos Prison. Cawing echoes through the cramped space and a single mechanical crow flies into the open jail cell.

Mephisto perches on your shoulder, peering at the tablet in your hands. Then, his eyes shift over to the unconscious, white-haired man on the floor. He lets out a soft caw, flicking his metal wings. Absentmindedly, you reach up to scritch his head, even if the robotic bird can't really feel anything, only simulate the joy of being pet.

"Don't worry, Mephie. He'll return to us."

[iridescentmirrorsgenshin]

okay but the fact that we hear all about kaveh's life post-fall out with alhaitham, the fact he graduated, worked at construction firms and continued taking on others' burdens, had a hard time finding solo work because of how arts are perceived in sumeru, that he went to his mother's wedding in fontaine, that he took a vacation from work because he was stifled by the environment and felt he had lost motivation and worth as an artist, was determined to complete the palace of alcazarzaray at the cost of everything he owned just to have a tangible object of his efforts and view of art only for its outcome to further emaciate him, until he meets alhaitham for the first time in years, is understood at once, has no need to don a front as he does for everyone else in his life, is listened to, is challenged once more and reinvigorated in his perception of his ideals, is offered a second chance, a home, and accepts it, although he cannot comprehend why alhaitham would offer such a thing and yet not ask anything of relevant substance in return, other than rent

all of this, and we hear virtually nothing of alhaitham's life post-fall out with kaveh, besides his graduation and his taking on the job of the scribe. his character stories omit this part of his life whereas kaveh's is full of detail and emotion, mostly suffering. the first instance we see of alhaitham in this time is from kaveh's perspective when the two meet again in the tavern, and in this alhaitham endeavours to understand kaveh once more, before offering his house - the research centre previously allocated to the both of them for the success of their joint thesis before they fell apart - to kaveh.

we don't know why alhaitham moved out of his grandmother's house and into the research centre, why he renovated it from a research centre into a livable home, only that he did so after kaveh informed alhaitham through a third party that he was not in need of a house, nor do we know his thought processes and emotions in the years spent apart - the years that are carefully documented in kaveh's character stories. the image we are presented with is that of stasis; alhaitham pursues no other close friendships, he works as the scribe, owns a nice house within sumeru, is financially secure, and functions within, and carries out, his own ideals - is content with this way of life. in this, from alhaitham's perspective, there are no details necessary to give from this time

but in inviting kaveh to live with him, his character stories tell us that what he gains by doing so is the mirror of himself, both in personality and scholarly thinking, and in this, he is able to gain an enhanced view of the world, which otherwise would be limited. with kaveh being present in alhaitham's life, alhaitham believes that his vision is perfected, whereas it could not be before, with kaveh's absence. it is in this that we hear what alhaitham has been missing in his life, and ultimately, it is kaveh, not just as a scholar, but as a person

what is omitted from alhaitham's character stories is provided in kaveh's character stories; where we hear about kaveh's struggles, we don't hear about alhaitham's. perhaps this is because alhaitham did not struggle as kaveh did in terms of realising and achieving his ideals, but instead his struggles were in silence, recognising that his vision, and himself, had been compromised because he had rejected the ideals that served to enhance his own vision, that he had inadvertently rejected, and thus had been rejected by, kaveh.

[currentlyonstandbi]

viktor saying "our paths diverged long ago" will always be funny in retrospect. babygirl if only you knew just how intertwined your paths have always been and will always be. your very essence is woven through the fabric of time and space together.

[aniihera]

Ok. I’ve been compiling my thoughts on the pathologic 2 endings for a while now, and I’ve finally pinpointed my feelings on them (enough to share at least). I’m desperate to hear what others think about them too.

Lengthy Kin-themed rant oncoming? Perhaps.

More under the cut.

CW: Spoilers for Pathologic 2 (of course).

- - -

To preface: As I am Māori, not Buryat or of the other cultures I have heard the Kin to be based on, my perspective is more from *my* understanding of what it means to be Indigenous than anything else. There are probably many things I’m missing. But I’d like to throw in my two cents, however relevant they are.

Suffice to say, my feelings are complicated. Stylistically and narratively, there was a lot that I enjoyed. From a reconnecting/ mixed Indigenous perspective, however, I still feel unwillingly bisected, torn.

At the culmination of everything, Artemy Burakh and the player are roped into a cruel, two-pronged choice. Destroy the Polyhedron along with the miracles of the Steppe, or let the plague devour the town as you lead the Kin back to its heart. In these scenarios, you either assimilate the Kin into the town, which many of them will despise you for, or push out the nonindigenous townsfolk by force, letting nature run its course. Any third option has already been amputated, beyond your will. You cannot protect the Kin completely either way, some will likely die from the plague in the latter, and the more fantastical will in the first, by being cleaved from the earth’s dying magic.

Diurnal, or Nocturnal. No matter how you look at it, the kin cannot thrive in either. For it to be a choice at all, hurt, to say the least. After playing the bachelor’s route in the first game, I’m sure that was deliberate in an anti-utopian sense, perfection is impossible etc, etc. But the first lens I saw it through, stuck with me.

When I initially read Isidor say this after Artemy’s trial in the abattoir:

“Facing the Future is the way of Love. Facing the Past is the way of Love. But the two are incompatible, and it broke my heart.”

I was devastated. The hopeless dichotomisation of future and past… and I could only construe it as assimilation or death in some manner (but I could not see what role it took yet). That feeling festered for a while, but I wanted to see it from another angle. I think it's natural to be sensitive to the words “progress” (which is usually linked to “civilisation” and colonisation) when anchored against Indigenous culture, but I didn’t want that to blind me completely.

On its own, I do like this line. It’s weighty. And I think it articulates aspects of Indigenous struggle well, to some degree. Going back to the “past” is somewhat impossible for many reasons. Decolonisation is needed but I don’t believe it means restoring the “past” fully by any means. Culture is not stagnant, and neither is the future. To say they are incompatible though pains me. Especially when contextualised inside the divide between the kin and the town. It is an intentionally agonising line, and successfully so. Pitting the themes of Past/Future, against, Kin/Town, is something I find hard to reconcile with. Even just the first part irks me; personally the past walks with me at every step, the future is void and useless without it in full view. But I wouldn’t say a line from Isidor (or Artemy’s subconscious) necessarily defines the game more than it does his perspective. For me, it is the patterns that follow and precede it.

Aspity is a very obvious portrayal of what it looks like to “face the past” completely. Visiting her sanctuary, It becomes very evident that her opinions of the non-Kinfolk sway towards genocidal. They must “flood the town”, as she put it. Considering their treatment on the Bull Project and well… everything else, It’s not unfounded. During the night visits, we develop a growing understanding of what is at stake for the kin. Their language, legends, arts, and traditions, and too many Kin are dying from pest and persecution (Its a familiar story). Herb brides are forced to sell their cultural dance to get by (another familiar story for Māori, kapa haka and tourism, our culture has also become a commodity out of necessity). Legends like the shabnak adyr too are warped by the townsfolk (as it is used as an excuse to target Kin women). Assimilation means these things for them too.

There's also the case of how the Kin are depicted as more animalistic than the “more human” townsfolk. Oyun, Big Vlad, and even Artemy have a long history referring to them as such. To make the Kin less than human is inherently othering (as is any case where the empire views us as inherently more primitive or unevolved). The importance placed on Aurochs and being one with nature in Kin culture paints this in a less hostile light (Big Vlad’s view not so much). But I fear the effect this might have on player perceptions of the Kin will be negative regardless. I’ve seen a few statements about the Kin being a “hivemind”, I can't say I entirely agree. Many are divided on how they view Artemy, as well as what they desire for the future. I’ve also seen this in reference to when a few odonghe gift you organs for your tinctures, but at this point everyone in the town is desperate for a cure no matter the cost. Their more violent practices appear to weaken many fans' empathy for the Kin, painting the Nocturnal ending darker and darker. Getting rid of herb bride “marriages” would be a good thing at least right? Assimilation might be a good thing then? Nothing good comes without cost, and for the Kin this cost is too steep. Survival doesn't have to mean losing yourself piece by piece.

I will say that despite liking the non-Kin townsfolk, I do wish there was a larger Kin presence among the main roles. While we have Nara, Aspity, Oyun, and Taya, I understand how their presence does little to assuage the dread of seeing the rest of the cast wade out into the Steppe. For me, seeing Murky and Sticky in such a lost state during the Nocturnal ending, made me unable to see it as anything but a mistake.

Two other alternating themes are present through the endings. Childhood (miracles and dreams) and adulthood (waking up and walking forward). The dominant presence of children in Nocturnal, and the fact that walking through the near empty town really does feel like a nightmare, showcases this. The impossible has been made possible, the earth sleeps, sated. The endless cycle of responsibility, from father to son, from parent to child... Children rule the future here. In Diurnal, this cycle, at least, has some room to be broken. Responsibilities are weighed more evenly. Letting go of miracles and childhood dreams, that is the only future in this end. I’m not sure If i have to discuss how problematic it might be to place indigenous revival in the realm of childishness, and assimilation in the realm of growing up, but i thought i'd leave the notion there regardless.

Leaving how you view the two ends aside, it's obvious that Nocturnal has a heavier, gloomier tone.

Maybe having a third ending would’ve been reductive, to have one person so easily find a solution to unifying the town. But, it hurts so deeply to have that choice wrenched from your hands. The choice might have been severed by Isidor, but it felt like so much was possible for Artemy. With one foot in both worlds, the potential of true reconnection, i thought we could move past what was possible for his father. It felt like that was the direction Artemy was moving in, seeing the choices before him and bullheadedly trampling through the middle. Just like he did with the cure, finding the impossible connection.

As it stands, the endings are brutal. Survival for the kin is held by a thread, regardless of the direction you look. They either die a physical death, or a cultural and spiritual one (the two could very well be interpreted as present in both depending on how you look at it). By your conversations with Aspity, even if they survive, the Diurnal end is hinted to lead to an essential “dissolution” of the Kin as they know it. Wherein the differences between the Town and Kin will become so negligible that the two are no longer distinct. Which from my perspective is its own, however voiceless tragedy.

Ok, that was a lot of negativity but I’d like to be candid. Even despite all that, Pathologic is still one of my favourite games of all time. I saw someone say on here that Pathologic 2 is most interesting when allowing the player to decide where love takes them (even if they are led to extremes). Love being at the forefront, regardless of the choices you make, no wrong answers, that's what I appreciated most when playing as Artemy. Whether you chose to kill the three odonghe for Rubin, begged him to stay despite everything, killed Oyun, the Oglimskys, or the pest, it was for the love of something. The internal strife of having a mixed identity too, the rejection and affection from both sides, is something I related to even if the circumstances were miles apart from my own. I wish that Nocturnal aligned with that energy, that the nuances there were a little less stark. That opposing assimilation felt like less of a mistake.

There's a lot more I could delve into but this is pretty long already. This post could all read like nonsense/surface level, but I’m curious to see what other people think! Especially other indigenous folk, I’m dying to know how others interpreted the endings regarding the Kin.

[whatcannotbesaid-shallbewept]

So What Makes Chappell Roan so great anyway?

This post is way too long. BUT. If you are interested in how Chappell fits into the current pop landscape, why she’s unique, and why she got so big then read on.

Personally - I think if pop music is going to continue then it NEEDS to follow Chappell Roan’s example.

As a popstar she stands out from her contemporaries in a way that isn’t talked out enough. If the world doesn’t end in the next ten years, I feel like we’ll be looking back at Chappell Roan as a gamechanger for changing the pop landscape. 

Let’s put things into context. Before going to gay clubs and writing pop music, Chappell was closer to an Adele-wannabe than the next Lady Gaga. 

In old videos from the 2010s Chappell distances herself from the “pop” label. Her republican family wanted her to use her voice to go into country or christian music. 

Becoming a popstar - a Katy perry maximalist popstar at that! - was not only a deliberate choice from what she used to be, but a risk for her. The oldest songs on her album are still piano ballads for that reason. 

If you look at her career momentum you can already tell she’s coming at this from a much different angle from everyone else.

Back in the rock era, people heard “Live Forever” or “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in tiny venues before they even knew anything about Oasis or Nirvana. The bands got big because of the strength of those songs - 

Success doesn't work like that in the pop landscape though.

Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, Tate Mcrae, Sabrina Carpenter, Harry Styles, Camilla Cabello, Renee Rapp didn’t get big off the strength of their songs. You can argue they have good songs, sure - but that’s not how the order they got famous in. Their names were known before they had songs out. They then had songs people liked, but they were famous first. 

Would Selena Gomez really have gotten so famous if she started out by just touring a lot as a no-namer and hoping people liked her songs enough to buy them?

But Chappell got big the old way! She performed live in obscurity for years, working and learning how to hype up a crowd. Go watch her perform Naked In Manhattan to a crowd of 50 people. She custom-made songs to sound better live. The thing that finally pushed her into the mainstream was giving a great performance at Coachella.

People just liked her music enough to keep seeing her live, despite her not being famous. 

She has a much different background than any pop star working today, and because of that she just brings a lot of different things to the table. She’s not only not a traditional popstar - she’s openly explicitly gay, her drag aesthetic isn’t to shock it’s out of a genuine love for that style - she doesn’t sound like a traditional popstar. 

First of all - her voice! Which honestly needs to be talked about way more, because WOW. Way more expressive and powerful than what’s expected from pop music. I think Olivia has a great voice too, but Chappell just makes way more interesting choices with her vocal performances. It’s really no contest.

 Listen to how hurt she sounds in Casual, how angry she is in Good Luck Babe or how scared she is in Pink Pony Club. See how different she sounds from Ultra Graphic Modern Girl, California and Guilty Pleasure. Like yeah, obviously this woman started out singing low-key piano ballads where she had to work to actually distinguish her voice instead of letting it drown under production. 

She also just has way different influences than the other main pop girls. 

We currently are living in the era where every new popstar really, really wants to be Taylor Swift. Olivia is Taylor all over, Gracie Abrams is very much positioning herself as a Taylor Swift type figure, and Sabrina is extremely influenced by her. 

However Chappell (And Billie actually) are really uninterested in Taylor. 

Chappell lists her influences as Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Kate Bush. Billie always mentions alt-icons like Radiohead, Amy Winehouse, Lana Del Rey. Both are actually pretty influenced by Lana. And it shows when you compare their music -

Olivia does some interesting stuff with her sound - the riot grrl nods are very fun imo - same for Sabrina (Go listen to Juno and Espresso!). But they are a lot less adventurous than Billie and Chappell sound-wise. Like Taylor they just prefer to stick to something so they can put the lyrics onto. Like Taylor their lyrics are self-referential and outwardly trying to signal to the audience what they’re about. 

For Billie and Chappell the production is just as important as the rest of the song. Which puts them more in the lane of alt artists like Caroline Polachek, lana del rey or Charli XCX. It makes Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess/Hit Me Hard And Soft way leagues more interesting to listen to than Tortured Poets Department or The Secret Of Us. 

I already knew about Chappell from the lesbian twitter circles I was on. But like… that wasn’t necessarily unique to her. We were also hyping up quite a few gay girl obscure singers. Fletcher, XANA, Renee Rapp all had their moments where we thought they could be a big thing. Especially Fletcher. Chappell Roan actually started out opening for Fletcher. Which is crazy, since you guys probably haven’t even heard of her. 

If we’re being serious, there have been lesbians making pop music before the Beatles (Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield). In the modern age, there are multiple lesbians winning grammys, some are on the charts, and there are plenty of famous bisexual woman making music. Chappell is not a gamechanger for being openly queer.

But when we talk about Pop music, Chappell Roan stands out because she's owning it, in a similar way that Lil Nas X did. Making it extremely explicit in almost every one of her songs, and making her queerness is a huge part of over the top pop persona. 

Lil Nas X isn’t all that relevant anymore but he was breaking boundaries that haven’t been touched since Madonna for a while there. Chappell Roan definitely feels like a continuation of that.

She’s also just very good at articulating the queer experience? 

Obviously she has the “men can’t give me orgasms” songs, but Pink Pony Club might be the archetypal example here. Leaving your shitty hometown to be gay in the big city is a topic that has been done before - but Chappell sounds so vulnerable when she sings it.

She doesn’t pose being herself in that song as a choice - but something done out of necessity. And like Queer Euphoria of being free for the first time, you hear it! There’s so much optimism and heartbreak in that song. All the best Chappell songs have both of those in them.

Naked In Manhattan is joyful and euphoric for the most part - but in the subtext its way more complicated. She’s way more into this girl and vice versa, and how apprehensive, and again, vulnerable she sounds on some of lines kinda hurts your soul.

Kaleidoscope is mostly a sad song about falling in love with your best friend but how hopeful and pleading she is in the chorus just makes the entire song.

Unlike say Olivia, she writes her pop songs to have emotional plot twists Guilty pleasure and Feminonmenon start out as sad ballads and break out into explosive energetic pop songs. Bridges in Red wine supernova or Good Luck Babe hit like a sledgehammer. 

Oh yeah. Good Luck Babe. She can work in the industry for another ten years but I still think “You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling” will go down as her best lyric. 

As a woman who repressed herself for years and grew up in a homophobic environment… It shows in the way she writes. She knew from experience what “you’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling” meant. 

But even down to the way that she describes love, you can tell its actually very different than her popstar colleagues. Love is a Chappell Roan song is an immovable force that can’t be tamed or controlled. In the narratives she sings about, it’s hindering her, making things more complicated, breaking her heart when it isn’t breaking her partners.

 

In typical pop-punk fashion ;ove in an Olivia Rodrigo song is a condition. Illogical, embarrassing but ultimately something to get over (Stranger) or to avoid (Bad Idea right, get him back). It gets rough out there, but love can very much be won in a Olivia song. 

Love in a Sabrina song is a game. Or perhaps more like a battle? Sabrina is locked in regardless. Almost every love song Sabrina writes is about her plans or how she wants things to go just as much as it's about what’s actually happening. The way her relationships affect her ego and people's perception of her is one of the big challenges she goes through in her discography .

Most of the time she fails! The balancing game between having someone and her ego gets tipped in the wrong direction. She’s with guys just for the sake of saying she’s with someone. It ends poorly. Sabrina’s songs are full of expectations in a way. This is probably why straight women relate to her so much.

Love in a Chappell Roan song is an eldritch monster.  It can’t be controlled or stopped. All you can do is obey or suffer through it. She sounds so angry in the good luck babe bridge because she knows you can’t control love. 

You’d have to stop the WORLD just to stop the feeling. 

[kafkaesquedyke]

I’m a little confused by some posts I’ve seen about armand breaking down the door in the book, because they frame armand as either ‘lol he’s so random’ or ‘that proves he’s abusive too’ when everything that happened before explains armand’s actions

break down with tva book quotes under the cut TW: discussions of csa

the initial event that triggers everything is Marius sending Armand to a brothel to have sex with other boys (which was preceded by Marius sexually abusing Armand for a couple of years atp (all of the following takes place while Armand is 17), including already having sent armand to another brothel to have sex with women)

this basically differs from his previous sexual encounters in that he 1) has sex with other guys, 2) they’re most likely around his age, and 3) he enjoys it (I consider basically every sexual encounter Armand has in tva non-consensual but this, and the following encounters, are the closest to “potentially consensual” within a fictional narrative, that this book has to offer and the closest we get to Armand’s real sexual preferences)

following that Marius grows incredibly cold towards Armand, which he clocks as him being jealous (Armand knows Marius is a supernatural being and that he can read his thoughts) though Marius is also potentially stressed because of his duties towards Akasha and Enkil

So, Armand leaves and has sex with Lord Harlech, some noble man he just met (again, I don’t consider this consensual, but mostly because of the age gap)

(not included in the screenshots, but they switch and Armand tops and doms Harlech and deliberately makes a point about enjoying it, which contrasts his relationship with Marius where he is not allowed to reciprocate intimacy (mostly due to Marius’s vampire nature) also Harlech behaving like a lunatic after lol)

then he goes to Bianca (a close friend throughout the novel) and they have sex as well

she calls him out on his relationship with Marius, as well as that he was hiding from him

once Armand returns, drunk after stirring over Marius’ treatment of him in a tavern, Marius is madly painting with vamp speed disturbing the other boys

he’s also painting Armand, further implying that his rage is about Armand sleeping with others, again, something Marius ordered him to do!

Marius ends up flinging paint in his rage, after Armand enters (presumably reading his thoughts?) and orders everyone out of the room

Marius does not respond to Armand’s pleas to once again talk with him, so they can resolve the situation. Armand begs him to simply admit that he’s angry with him and Marius continues to ignore him and then flees

he locks himself in his bedroom (which Armand shared with him so far) then he tells Armand to go sleep with the other boys in a way that implies an end to their relationship. tbc, at this point armand ties all his self worth back to Marius and how much he is desired by him, specifically because Marius is the only person who ever “cherished” him

so Marius rejecting him like that signals to Armand that he is no longer special to him and has therefore lost his unique worth, which Armand has built his entire self worth on (by Marius’s design)

so Marius acting jealous over Armand having sex with others (partially under Marius’s orders), Armand questioning him, not getting a response, leaving to further explore his sexual options, which makes Marius even more jealous, while the entire time refusing to talk about it, despite Armand begging him to, and then rejecting Armand completely is what ultimately leads to Armand breaking the door down. Marius was a 100% more immature here than Armand despite being a thousand-year-old beefing with a teenager (who he’s abusing)

[borzoilover69]

"entirety of dirkjake fandom" my ass. i'm not into the stupid cannibalism kink. it's valid to have a kink but please stop proselytizing it onto literally everyone who ships dirkjake. ugh

my condolences for your inability to engage in fun activities. how far did you have to dig into a dictionary for that fancy word bro.

[kkoct-ik]

guy who broke the dissociative identity news to another of his irls and it was surprisingly painless (i always underestimate how understanding people can be)

[alackofghosts]

wolbert week day 5 - loss

how i wish we could have been friends

[daisychainsandbowties]

sometimes i forget that people are proud of me and then my mom decides to tell the cashier in Tesco at 9pm while we are buying emergency tamari that “he’s going to be a doctor soon”😌😌

[txttletale]

tolkien's framing device is vital to understanding the content of his books and the way his thousand of imitators over the last few decades all immediately discarded it without considering what kind of load-bearing weight it might be carrying is one of the main reasons why the modern fantasy genre is so deeply fanatically conservative and reactionary

[loonyloopylupin96]

Viva La Vida is Remus' Prisoner of Azkaban anthem and you can't convince me otherwise

[frobby]

my feelings about Yukio and his relationship with rin are that I feel like he so desperately wants to communicate with rin, to reconnect with him but he doesn't know how. They live together, they've lived together for years but slowly they've been drifting apart mentally and it's getting harder and harder to communicate. Yukio understands the idea of his brother. His reckless brother who loves him that he wants to protect because he's spent his whole life protecting him. But doesnt actually know that much about his brother personally and neither does rin for Yukio. Years apon years of keeping eachother at arms length it's hard to go back to when they were inseparable as kids and things were easier. At the beginning of the show they're both grieving but Yukio can't confide in rin. He just can't because he's the authority figure, he's the one in charge, he's the one with his life together and if that slips then he's really nobody just like when he was a kid and having his brother protect him but that backfires on him cuz he still after years and years even now when his secret double life as an exorcist has been revealed. He still can't figure out how to communicate with his brother.

[relativeconsciousness]

agatha needed 1-2 more episodes just to flesh out agatha/rio a bit more and make their fight more dramatic/interesting

[doodlejoltik]

my favourite writing device is having an un-Rei-liable narrator