#Control Gaps

[zillychu]

everyone sh. shutd up im cooking smthn

[tinyslyme]

Oh my god it's him it's my favorite white boy

Why is he the only character that wears this stupid hat?

[northstarscowboyhat]

Why did you stop posting art? :(

I'm not beating the chronic pain allegations

[fjordfolk]

when social media ppl say of their dogs that they 'just don't like to exercise, they're healthy and there's nothing wrong with them they're just built for the couch' and then pans to a dog that's at least 50% overweight

[its-the-sahara-out-here]

hey yall,, fucking hell persona 4 brainrot hit me hard........

anyways enjoy ya filthy shuadders

[jamereadsmanga]

I dunno about that, but Makima is more likely to the youngest rather than Yoru to me, Yoru is the second youngest. The Horsemen mostly following by the youngest to eldest: Control/Conquest (Makima, both Control and Conquest share the same kanji being 支配 (Shihai, which is domination/control/conquest. Which match with Makima's abilities)), War (Yoru), Famine (Fami) and Death.

What you're referring to is order in which the horsemen arrive (according to the bible). That is a fairly responsible model to follow and likely the canon order. But me personally I just like to fuck around with philosophy and anthropology when it comes to the devils.

Here's my rationale

Tldr

Using a complex approach and analysis of Makima and Yoru combined with a vague knowledge of anthropology and philosophical theories on war, i believe that Makima was born around 10000 bc latest while Yoru was born around 3000 bc latest. Therefore, control is the older devil.

Makima's powers follow a naturalist interpretation of control (focusing on the interpersonal relationships between two individuals), while Yoru follows a social constructivist definition of war (social groups, modern society). Therefore, makima only required the concept of social order while Yoru needed it to truly begin to grow.

Firstly, devils are born with a name. Their power is then determined based on how much they are feared. From that, I organized the girls based not on when they were born but when they became horsemen. I follow the history of humans and sort of estimate how powerful they would be at each point and at what point they become powerful enough to be horsemen (best way I can contextualize the idea of devil births with such vague and historical concepts).

Now we dive a bit into philosophy and analyze the root of each fear.

Death is a primal fear. We are born afraid of death. It is the eldest and unequivocally the most powerful. Next is famine. Contrary to popular belief, famine is very probably pretty strong. She is the only other horseman to have natural regeneration powers. She only loses to Death and Falling, two primal devils.

Famine for me is about more than just hunger but rather suffering due to a lack of resources. Food, water, shelter, clothes... it's rare for one to exist without the other. That makes her fear not primal, but it definitely became a thing from the moment humans existed.

Using the Bible for reference, famine would be born the moment Adam and Eve created and greatly empowered once they were kicked from the garden of Eden.

So they're not only the eldest of their sisters but some of the oldest devils out there.

(Things get murky if we think of famine as just famine and not an umbrella concept for suffering but it's hard to separate the two).

Now to try and place control and war in this timeline. To do this, we will focus explicitly on how their powers are defined and what definition that alludes to. I will now introduced two approaches to the definition of war:

1. Naturalist: war is innate to human aggression

2. Social constructivist: war is a product of social conditions and learned behavior.

While these both discuss war, they do help support my arguments for makima. There are 2 ways to think of control: natural or social.

Makima's main power is her ability to control anyone she perceives as less than her. This, however, does not involve entire groups but rather individuals. Makima does not seek to overthrow the government or take control of the entire world. She is content just being a devil hunter in Japan and using her position to make a better world. Makima lacks any sort of lust for collective power. She is only interested in her power over individuals. Therefore, makima's definition of control follows a naturalist model. Control is more related to interpersonal relationships rather than collective domination. This would likely explain going with control over conquest.

Yoru is very different. While her power is still interpersonal, her source is based in the collective. The way she talks and how the concept of war is constructed around her is very modern (guns, tanks, nuclear weapons, WW2, America, etc). She also positions herself as a member of a group rather than an individual. She wants to fight chainsaw man to avenge her comrades. She considers the gun and tank her children. Her tendency to collaborate with others (Asa, Denji, Fami). Yoru has a sense of community within her. Furthermore, when Death tried to empower her, she went about it by evoking conflict between two groups: the chainsaw man church and the remainder of society. Therefore, Yoru's definition of war follows a more social constructivist approach.

With that in mind, let's actually decide which came first. Short answer is control. Control would have existed as long as humans had relationships and some notion of order.

Long answer (disclaimer I am not an anthropologist. Bare with me here)

Civilization would have begun around 10,000 BC or the Neolithic period. This is where we see agriculture, permanent settlements, and social structures beginning to take form. This is the latest we can place Makima, but also, the earliest we can place Yoru. We have a defined social structure that can allow for a flow of control, and we have distinct enough social groups to cause war and conflict. However, modern civilization with far more complex and rigid social structures did not begin until 3000 BC, which is therefore the latest birth period for Yoru. At that point, you gotta call it war, or you're just being stupid.

With these ranges in mind and the understanding of how each concept is defined within the csm realm, you can kinda sorta see why I say Control is older. Hopefully, i was able to explain in excruciating detail the crazy way my mind works and not make any typos in crucial places.

[suguwu]

getou + babying you despite you being older than him—the way he smiles when he prods at you with his careful, measured question about who has taken care of you in life, since all you've done is taken care of others. isn't it time someone showed you what it meant to be looked after?

and who better to look after you than him?

[v7n5]

Was trying to figure out what makes Howard and Lalo attracted to each other respectively besides both of them being dreamboats by conventional standards. We’re all familiar with their commonalities and how they would form a connection over those but realistically speaking, no real initial attraction besides that to physical attributes means any commonalities would amount to nothing cause 1. pretty people are no doubt a dime a dozen for them and 2. there would be little to zero chemistry being generated between them, at least that’s how it is in my book. I found that since Lalo was so clearly designed and developed to be the guy most people would swoon over, its fairly easy to determine why Howard would fall for him. He’s handsome, “exotic”, charismatic, can be a gentleman when he wants to, has an air of mystery to him and basically embodies the kind of self-liberation/freedom that a person with as many constraints as Howard would aspire to have. It gets a bit trickier when it comes to figuring out Lalo’s hypothetical attraction to Howard. What would make Lalo really like Howard and wants to know more about him? This thought experiment has made me realize how ironic it is to find answering the question being raised difficult since Howard does virtually everything in his power to conform to the societal expectations on the physical appearance and the status of a man of his class and background and how he presents himself to the world. He has to be fit, he has to dress sharp, he has to style his hair a certain way, has to speak in a certain manner, has to be married to a certain type of partner, has to have a nice car, a big house, a well-paying job, a powerful position on the corporate hierarchy pyramid, etc. but I do not think Lalo would care for any of that. Hell, I think he would deem holding yourself up to such standards as ridiculous and a waste of time and energy because most of them don’t even make sense. Plus egotistic gringos in suits riding around on their high horses can be found any and every where. So what could possibly make Howard different from Lalo’s perspective? To me, Howard being a walking contradiction would make him very intriguing in Lalo’s eyes. Howard has established a set of rules for himself to follow but he breaks them when nobody is looking, or when there are few witnesses. He carries the image of a constantly positive, overly friendly, generous gentleman but in reality he’s selfish, petty and self-centered. He portrays himself as a well-rounded outgoing person with stable relationships and connections but he’s actually extremely lonely and has no real emotional support system. A part of him probably knows that some of the things he’s done weren’t within the scope of good morals but he did them anyway (and based on how willing he was to carry them out, you cant tell me he wasn’t getting some personal gratification out of breaking the rules). The last one would be especially attractive to Lalo cause he was shown to be an “action speaks the loudest” type of guy. In my own perfect little world where antisocial Lalo doesn’t entirely have a utilitarian view on love, he would be infatuated with Howard’s lame attempts to break out of his straight-laced robotic shell and the sassing and the broodiness that he isn’t afraid to display in front of him for some reason, and over time, he would start to find him to be quite�� cute.

Another thing about Howard that fascinates Lalo his absolute inability to contain his attraction to Lalo. It can be partly the arrogance from knowing that a handsome guy has a thing for him that makes him feel that way, but the other part would be because Howard is so bad at hiding how much he likes Lalo. He wouldn’t downright throw himself at Lalo (at first) but he does weird juvenile things like feigning getting annoyed to get his attention because he just can’t detach himself from Lalo. Long-term crippling loneliness has make Howard that exact type of desperate, needy and kinda stupid person when he’s in love, and the whole thing makes Lalo think to himself “I don’t know what his deal is, but at the same time, I do, and somehow I’m convinced that he’s worth being patient with”, which would open up a whole road that they would walk down holding hands and sharing their most intimate secrets with one another. Basically a one falls first, the other falls harder thing.

[enjoyvoidblack]

I know there's absolutely no canon support for this, but I'd like to think Oliver Banks was having lunch with Simon Fairchild when the eyepocalypse was triggered. I like the idea of the two that had maybe the best sense of the futility of it all, the inability of any one person to stop the fate that was coming to them, winding up next to each other and calling a truce to watch the world finally fall in on itself. I don't know if Oliver would've known - more people were tormented infinitely than died in the Eye-ruled hellscape - but if he did, maybe he'd seek Simon out if he knew he existed. They've both got the same sort of hands-off acceptance about them, the realization that nothing they could try would stop the inevitable. Maybe Oliver would find some solace in a person who'd found that acceptance hundreds of years past, even if his flavour of insignificance in the span of existence is more in space than time.

Maybe Oliver got a nice sandwich and Simon got a weak tea and they both got a couple bites in before the universe went all to hell. Maybe even if they didn't know what was coming they felt it, on some level (even if they'd kind of always been feeling it) and decided it wasn't worth panicking about. Maybe they didn't even talk about it, while they waited for their orders at an outdoor cafe table. Just the weather.

"It's cloudy out, do you think it might rain later?" "No. Not likely."

[stygiansauce]

You know what, I'm gonna ask something bold. Countercurrent Tango is old right? Like mid 30's or around 40's and i wanna ask how things would change if Tango and Jimmy are the same age like mid 20's when they done the "scene" in the locker room? Would they be toxic or just a let out frustration from the game?

OHHHHH Anon this is a very interesting question!

Yes, Sticks Tango is 37 and Jimmy is 26. I did this on purpose because I really enjoy the age difference between the ranchers. I like playing with the "old man guilt" and Jimmy's ideals in a partner leading him to someone older. I even do this in MoE, though it's a tiny gap. In the world of college four years is a VERY big jump, especially when comparing undergrad to graduate school.

It really feels like a key component to the ranchers relationship. They're not really them without it, in some format.

BUT, I think if they were closer in age, unsportsmanlike Conduct would still play out the same. Why? because Tango um..doesn't know how old Jimmy is. He assumes they're closer in age than they are. So it's getting frustrations out for sure, but also Tango taking the lead when Jimmy is too overwhelmed to make the choices. If Tango were younger, I don't know if he would have values the same kind of things? he does now? if that makes sense? Like maybe he would have been rougher instead of soft. Maybe a little less praise? because even Tango's mean comments are laced with something sweet.

Sticks Tango is very softhearted. A lot of what he does is gentle in intention. I think that's just the way Tango is as a character, he leans heavily into the positive side of things when interacting with others. Though, with the backstory I'm setting up for Sticks Tango I think he would have been a lot more reckless had the ranchers met at a younger age (assuming Jimmy were close to to Tango's age that is).

RAH I hope this is making sense? I can't really say a lot about why Tango is the way he is because it will spoil part of the next fic. This is fun to think about though! like, age gap ranchers is kind of a must have for me as a ranchers author. Maybe I should play around with an au where they're the same age, see what happens....idk. could be fun!

Thanks anon! I hope this gave you the answer you were looking for? Xoxo

[arottenlust]

I can’t bring myself to support you despite some of your good takes 🥀 you being a goyuu shipper really undermines your points lol

LMAOO yeah ik. my trauma has shaped me and my likes I fear 💔💔❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

That’s why I’ve been posting abt it bc I need the people to remember that my tastes are unfortunately morally and ethically corrupt </3 im not tryna traumatize anyone when they follow me innocently 😭

Do disagree w the second part of this ask tho. U don’t have to support me to agree w my points. My ships and my takes on the whole Toji thing are separate, and it honestly shouldn’t undermine my opinions imo bc they aren’t connected to each other. no matter who says it, being anti racist is the correct opinion 😭??

if it makes anyone feel any better I doubt I’ll post much about goyuu or skit or any of my ‘darker’ interests or whatever (at least for now) bc I don’t rlly read that stuff on tumblr, it’s mostly twitter (edit: ummm I lied there will definitely be freak shit on here...)

I mostly use tumblr for x reader and satosugu fics I think ?

oh but to anyone reading this fair warning that there will be other dead dove shit on here, tho not much, and mostly x reader but yk.

I’m tempted to write abt why I ship them and other similar ships but I doubt the people wanna hear that eek

Honestly I agree that I should try to be normaler but I yam who I yam ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

this made me giggle thanks for the ask!!!!!

[chettyspagetti]

CONFETII 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 I’m needing more ideas to draw them …. Any middle school or highschool headcannons you have for them are 100% appreciated

[lendmyboyfriendahand]

More in the AU where Elrond and Elros are 16 years old rather than 6 when Sirion is sacked. Tag is "older kidnap fam fic" for previous installments

Elrond wakes up draped over the rump of a horse.

Not, to be clear, his own warhorse. His faithful stallion is being ridden by one of the few remaining warriors of the Gap, the great cavalry of the Noldor, who will be able to keep her seat regardless of what the horse tries.

Elrond isn't initially sure who is riding the horse that he's been set over like a sack of baggage. His arms are stretched out past his head, tied wrists dangling toward the ground, and his ankles are tied as well, tighter than the hobble that he had while walking. He can't see anything but horse flank.

Elrond wriggles around to try and get a better view, and someone notices.

"Lord Maedhros, it seems your guest is awake."

Maedhros pushes down the middle of Elrond's lower back to pin him more surely to the horse. "Lie still. If you fall off while riding in formation you're liable to get stepped on by the next horse, even if the rider wished to avoid you."

"I know how to ride properly."

"Yes, I saw that you were quite skilled when you killed my soldiers, which is why you're staying right there."

"Could I at least sit upright, even if I have to ride behind someone else like an infant?"

"Maybe tomorrow, if you give your word not to escape."

"I'm not stupid enough to try and bargain with you again, after you broke your word about setting us free from the cellar."

"I never said I'd set you free, I said I'd leave the city and wouldn't kill you. Sirion crumbled in the first assault, but I did no more damage after taking you and your brother into custody. If they're smart enough to repair the castle first, everyone should be able to keep warm this winter."

"And if they focus instead on burying their dead, or rebuilding their houses, or rescuing their kidnapped princes?"

"Who knows? But I'm not king of even the Noldor anymore, and the people of Sirion are not my responsibility."

"You would just let them die?" Elrond wanted to glare at the Feanorian, and nearly slipped backwards off the horse as he tried to sit up.

Maedhros caught Elrond deftly by the bound wrists and pulled him back into place. "Next time you do that, I'll let you fall"

"So you don't actually intend to even spare my life."

"I agreed to spare you, not to save you . None here will harm you, but I won't rescue you from consequences of childish stupidity, no more than I will rescue Sirion from winter. If you would rather bash your head open rather than remain my captive, I am not so cruel as to deny you that escape."

Elrond had nothing to say to that topic, as his first retort about more palatable escapes seemed likely just to enrage his captor, as did any question about cutting off hands. "Where's Elros? Was he at least left back in Sirion?" Elrond wanted his brother to be safe, and his people to have a leader with his mother drowned. But he, selfishly, also did to want to be alone with the kinslayers.

"He's here as well, don't worry. Nornmalo has him, and I trust him not to torture a prisoner, despite what it may sound like."

"The moans of pain might be a headache, he drank rather a lot of beer while we were trapped."

Maedhros laughed. "Well, a hungover child soldier. He will at least bother Nornmalo less with questions."

"Could I give him something to soothe the headache? I know a bit of healing."

"No. A headache won't kill him, and he'll get water when we stop same as you."

They stopped only once that day, to water the horses at a stream. Elros was pulled down from the saddle - feet first, luckily, though he still landed in a heap - and his hands untied. Maedhros tossed him a canteen, and said "if you need to piss, now's the best time. You won't get piss all over the horse or your clothes, and we're downstream of the rest of the company."

"My legs are still tied."

"The ropes low enough you should be able to unfasten your belt."

"Are you going to watch me the whole time?"

"Until I find another guard, yes."

Elrond drinks little enough water to avoid the issue, for the moment.

When it's time to ride again, Elrond puts up a fight about having his arms tied again. That just gets Maedhros pinning his face in the dirt while a soldier ties the rope.

Elrond is slung back on the horse like a parcel.

They stop again just before sunset to make camp.

Elrond's hands are untied again for dinner.

The food is simple, waybread and water, and Elrond wonders if he should mention that Men need to eat more than once a day.

Far more exciting than the food though is the figure dropped on the grass next to him, clutching his own canteen and waybread.

"Elros!"

"Elrond! By Ulmo, you're alright!"

"I am, just a bit bruised from the horse. You?"

"Here's something for your healer's notes: do not put people with hangovers upside down for hours. I must have thrown up a dozen times."

"That's terrible! Maybe we can ask-"

At that point the guard tells them to hurry up, they'll be taken to where they're sleeping in ten minutes regardless of how much dinner they've had. Elrond and Elros focus on eating.

They are not, apparently, going to be sleeping near each other. "Too much chance to plot."

The Feanorian soldiers have tents. Some of them share, some of them have their own. A few soldiers have tents obviously designed for two or three that they go into alone.

The horses stolen from Sirion are tied to a picket line. It's loped through the reins, but one person untying the end would let all the horses scatter.

The horses the Feanorians rode into town on are not tied at all. They are loyal old warhorses, and will not flee from orcs in the distance. If wolves do sneak past the guards into the camp, better for the horses to run, and come back at their masters' call when the danger is passed.

Elrond, by contrast, is tied to a tree trunk. His hands are tied in front of him rather than behind, and his legs are unbound. Maedhros's brother - and Elrond learned from a careless remark that their is only the one left - even tossed a blanket over Elrond's legs, to guard against the chill of the night air.

It is the most freedom of movement Elrond has had all day, but that's saying little.

He is stuck sitting up, feeling every root and rock underneath him, unable to reach his hands back to where the rope is tied behind the tree.

Elrond sleeps poorly, stirring at every noise, whether it's a guard on their rounds or an owl hooting its warning.

In the morning, Elrond is given a breakfast of water and waybread again.

Maedhros says "You know it would be suicidal to flee, alone in the wilderness, yes?" and lets Elrond ride behind him sitting up.

Elrond's hands are still bound, and a rope leads passed Maedhros to the saddle horn. If he fell off, he better hope he can keep pace with a cantering horse, or else be dragged on the ground.

Elrond stays on the horse. He figures out his balance well enough to turn, and sees Elros riding similarly.

Thing continue like this for over a week, until they reach Amon Ereb.

[4lbon]

Dash scroller who saw your age gap post while scrolling but respectfully, I think you’re wrong. Maybe by your experience people up in arms about age gap relationships is about policing women and denying them agency but by mine it’s the opposite. There is a certain power older men put upon younger women that I find disgusting and I’ve seen first hand how younger women react to that and obviously it’s happened to me. To a certain degree, older men are a nuisance and you cannot take them at their word!

hey, i think we're actually mostly on the same page, because you're right!! there are definitely old creeps who will prey on super young women with not a lot of experience, but that's not where the age gap discourse i was talking about starts or ends. yes, age gap relationships probably are more likely (but not guaranteed) to have unhealthy and abusive power dynamics. but the solution is to educate young women that men in their 40s who almost exclusively date 18-20yos are losers with nothing to offer. the solution is to have better education around abusive relationships and how to get out of them, across the board regardless of age gaps. the solution is NOT to police the choices women can make.

because for better or for worse, women being allowed the agency to make decisions that might be bad for them is part of womens' liberation. "women need to be protected from making bad decisions" has been the justification for oppression since the beginning of time!!! women can't be trusted with bank accounts, what if they spend their money poorly? women can't be trusted to pick their own husbands, what if they pick poorly? IT IS A TOOL OF OPPRESSION FULL STOP.

like i so agree with you that some 40yo men are gross creeps but the solution to that i'm seeing across social media is the infantalization of women. acting like women can't make their own choices in men before 20, or 25, or whatever arbitrary number we decide brains are "done developing" IS MISOGYNY. part of womens rights is the opportunity to make bad choices. yes, we should discourage it and provide them education to try and protect them, but the way people talk about young ADULT women like they need to be forcibly protected from themselves like children is MISOGYNY. its a dangerous facist pipeline. we can talk about predatory old men without acting like 19yo girls are babies who shouldn't be allowed to make their own choices

[duckiemimi]

between geto and gojo, who's the meister and who's the weapon

[akuma-tenshi]

i have not been directly exposed to much age gap shipping discourse, mostly because the main fandom i run in (idv) has so few confirmed ages and the ages that are confirmed are either ignored / overwritten by headcanons or pretty standard. that being said i am always thinking about the time someone said shipping chu yao and yamato from dislyte is bad because they have a ten-year age gap. yamato is 27 and chu yao is.... 37. and they have also never met. it baffles me so hard i just find my mind straying to it constantly like.. yes on paper ten years is a lot but they're both adults who have never fucking met before and also they both have issues that go way beyond the age difference. you're telling me the worst part of shipping two cutthroat ruthless men who value power and control the most is their ages?? boggles the mind