#I don't believe Jeanne at all

[jerrylewis-thekid]

In these clippings I think the part about how Dean left Betty a lot of debts to pay is missing. It is well explained in Tosches' book instead. Dean had incurred a lot of debt by not paying taxes and when he divorced he left Betty to pay everything. He took her children, abandoned her cruelly and left her with many debts to pay. (but the monster is Jerry).

However, going beyond this fact…

Dean's mom and dad have always been on Betty's side. Never Jeanne's. Dean's mother even invited Betty to tell the press her truth.

She was the daughter of a governor, therefore from a good family. HE DID NOT DRINK. She did it later, when at a very young age she lost a husband, four children and was left in a sea of ​​debt.

Both Dean and Jerry immediately proposed marriage to Betty and Patti. Why so much hurry?

Dean and Betty spent their wedding night with the band. Dean and Jeanne spent their wedding night with Jerry and Patti playing horses. Dean and his third wife spent their wedding night with a couple of friends who went on their honeymoon with them.

Dean NEVER spent his wedding night and honeymoon together, alone, with his related three wives.

Jerry's room at the Glass Hat coincidentally happened to be right across the street from Dean's and Jerry babysat Dean's kids when he and Betty went out during the day. I mean… Jerry, at a very young age, was babysitting the children of someone he SHOULD have just met (they weren't partners yet) and they had rooms facing each other. Okay. Betty says Jerry ALONE was in the room doesn't mention Patti. So he hadn't married Patti yet during the Glass Hat days?

All four of them got along well and were happy. Ah.. so the "keep your wives away" rule didn't apply to them? Did it only apply to Jeanne and Patti?

Dean was never present at the birth of his children.

When Deana was born, Betty called Dean's room to let him know and Jerry answered because they were sleeping in the same room and in the same bed. Instead of running to Betty for the birth of their daughter.

I would have asked myself a couple of questions…

Betty and Jerry were damn submissive to Dean. I wouldn't have had the same attitude as Betty and kept quiet for years, unless…

Jeanne with her angelic appearance and the eleven year difference from Dean seemed to be submissive too, I think she later proved not to be so.

@fredandginger64 @caruso101 @justquicksshot @felinesetmilktea @judy1926

[centrally-unplanned]

We (somewhat rightly) mock the 2000's era fansub translation notes for their otaku fixations and privileging of trivia over the media, but they should be understood as serving their purpose for a bit of a different era in the anime fandom. Take this classic:

Like, its so obvious, right? Just say "pervert", you don't need the note! Which is true, for like a 'normie' audience member who just wants to watch A TV Show - but no one watching, uh *quick google* "Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne" in 1999 is that person. The audience is weebs, and for them the fact that show is Japanese is a huge selling point. They want it to feel as 'anime' as possible; and in the west language was one of the core signifiers of anime-ness. 2004 con-goers calling their friends "-kun" and throwing in "nani?" into conversations was the way this was done, and alongside that a lexicon of western anime fandom terminology was born. Seeing "ecchi" on the screen is, to this person, a better viewing experience - it enhances their connection to otaku identity the show is providing, and reinforces their shared cultural lexicon (Ecchi is now a term one 'expects' anime fans to know - a truth that translator notes like this simultaneously created and reflected).

But of course your audiences have different levels of otaku-dom, and so you can't just say 'ecchi' and call it a day - so for those who are only Level 2 on their anime journey, you give them a translation note. Most of the translation notes of the era are like this - terms the fansubber thought the audience might know well enough that they would understand it and want that pure Japanese cultural experience, but that not all of them would know, so you have to hedge. The Lucky Star one I posted is a great example of that:

Its Lucky Star, the otaku-crown of anime! You desperately want the core text to preserve as much anime vocab as possible, to give off that feeling, but you can't assume everyone knows what a GALGE is - doing both is the only way to solve that dilemma.

This is often a good guideline when looking at old memetically bad fansubs by the way:

This isn't real, no fansub had this - it was a meme that was posted on a wiki forum in 2007. Which makes sense, right? "Plan" isn't a Japanese cultural or otaku term, so there is no reason not to translate it, it doesn't deepen the ~otaku connection~.

Which, I know, I'm explaining the joke right now, but over time I think many have grown to believe that this (and others like it) is a real fansub, and that these sort of arbitrary untranslations just peppered fansub works of the time? It happened, sure, but they would be equally mocked back then as missteps - or were jokes themselves. Some groups even had a reputation for inserting jokes into their works, imo Commie Subs was most notable for this; part of the competitive & casual environment of the time. But they weren't serious, they are not examples of "bad fansubs" in the same way.

This all faded for a bunch of reasons - primarily that the market for anime expanded dramatically. First, that lead to professionally released translations by centralized agencies that had universal standards for their subs and accountability to the original creators of the show. Second, the far larger audience is far less invested in anime-as-identity; they like it, but its not special the way its special when you are a bullied internet recluse in 2004. They just want to watch the show, and would find "caring" about translation nuances to be cringe. And since these centralized agencies release their product infinitely faster and more accessibly than fansubs ever did, their copies now dominate the space (including being the versions ripped to all illegal streaming sites), so fansubs died.

Though not totally - a lot of those fansub groups are still around! Commie Subs is still kicking for example. They either do the weird nuance stuff, or fansub unreleased-in-the-west old or niche anime, or even have pivoted to non-anime Japanese content that never gets international release. But they used to be the taste-makers of the community; now they are the fringe devotees in a culture that has moved beyond them. So fansubs remain something of a joke of the 90's and 2000's in the eyes of the anime culture of today, in a way that maybe they don't deserve.

[callahanisms]

pretentious(?) cinephile patrick zweig.

call it a college au i guess

technically, he's a business student. he's just minoring in cinema studies, which was your major. you always hated the business school kids that came into your literature class (because film is literature) and thought it would be easy. and then they'd be surprised that they were failing because they didn't do the readings and when they participated, it was with shallow commentary. you don't even want to recount how many racist, misogynistic, queerphobic things were said in the class (in general too).

which is why patrick zweig pisses you off.

patrick zweig actually loves film. and unlike the other business boys, he understands that wolf of wall street is a cautionary tale.

"i wouldn't want to end up like him." he said. "doesn't mean i can't enjoy the movie."

patrick zweig actually has good taste in film. okay, maybe not "good" taste because "good" is always subjective. he's a bit of a film snob. you can't believe that he likes Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. you really hated the movie, mostly because it felt like an eternity. that might have also been because you were high watching it. sometimes weed has that effect.

at first glance, he seems like the kind of guy to dismiss foreign films because of subtitles. except you learned that he regularly consumes—and seeks out—foreign cinema. he grew up on foreign cinema.

"my dad's big into french films. that's how i started watching them." he explained to your french cinema professor.

you swear he's in every cinema studies class possible. and he recognizes you too.

"excited for this semester (y/n)? i'm looking forward to the syllabus."

now, patrick being patrick, he mostly skims the readings. rarely does he closely read. he finds himself getting distracted easily. and it's not really helpful with the multiple times you've worked with him whether it's as discussion leader or doing a group project.

there's the rare occasion you've seen patrick zweig in business class. and to say the least, he looks miserable. sometimes, he's so bored that he's doing the readings for your class.

"why don't you switch majors?" "because business school is just to appease my parents."

you don't 100% believe his answer. or maybe he's right in thinking that it will appease his parents. you're not all too knowing about his home life. you guys just have class together. until...

"wanna smoke?"

a joint before your screening. you guys were watching Spike Lee's School Daze for the race and american film class. he's never seen it. you have. maybe the colors will pop even more if you took a hit.

"sure."

so you guys find the smoke corner and light the joint. you inhale and make small talk. patrick zweig isn't the asshole he seems to be. he carries himself with such douchebaggery that it seems to be a defense mechanism. and you learn during that smoking session that he isn't really pretentious. he's just really passionate.

"i hate Prometheus." he says. "what? how can you hate Prometheus? Prometheus is so good! it's like right up your alley!" you cough as you inhale. "listen, i may be a film snob. and sometimes i can be an asshole about it. but ridley scott is a bigger asshole than me." patrick takes the joint to inhale. when he blows, the smoke sort of billows around him. it frames his frankly gorgeous face. "lean into the haunted house of the Alien franchise. don't try to turn it into something deeper when it already had such interesting themes."

School Daze was a watch. patrick had a lot of thoughts, but he seemed to barely express them in class. he saved it for his letterboxd review.

"you have letterboxd?" "duh." he glances at you as you guys are walking to the bus stop. "what's your username?" "ppzweig." "you can't be serious. that's so immature of you!" but also so on brand for patrick zweig. "i made the account a long time ago okay! i'll follow you back if you follow me."

so you do follow him.

you learn quickly that patrick reviews for nearly every movie he watches. the exception are rewatches (if there isn't anything left to say) and films that just didn't really interest him or were terrible. oh and you see through his reviews that he really hates tarantino. actually very surprising! patrick always had something to say though. you loved terrorizing him when he walked into class.

"hey so why did you rate Alien: Resurrection four stars?" "what happened to hello? how are you?"

side note: i did make a top 10 list of films that i think patrick would have. idk how character accurate this is but he strikes me as such:

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

Trainspotting (1996)

Night of the Hunter (1955)

Citizen Kane (1941)

Amélie (2001)

A Clockwork Orange (1972)

Boogie Nights (1997)

Taxi Driver (1976)

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Lady Snowblood (1973)

[tartrat]

Unnamed Coaches' Name Headcanons!

Random unnamed coaches and the names I’ve given them. I decided it would be funny if i gave each quotes and quests. I also just gave them all the classic rarity because it would've looked weird without. theres 9 maps and 10 coaches.

1. Freed From Desire: Garnet. I mentioned this in my other drawing of her. I just felt like her being named after a gemstone was fitting, like she just has that air to her. The gemstone itself is believed to bring emotional balance and self confidence, which i think fits with the map.

2. All The Stars: Vega. A while ago I was thinking about avatars for other coaches and I remembered her. Vega is one of the brightest stars in the night sky. maybe she comes from a long line of coaches who use the stars, so she was named after one of the brightest. Side note but i accidentally gave her robes the beta colours, they should be like a purple instead of red.

3 & 4. Love Story: Just straight up Romeo and Juliet. I thought about giving them names that are similar to Romeo and Juliet, but realistically that's what they would be named. I just wanted to draw both of them since Love story is one of my favourite 2022 maps.

5. Blinding Lights extreme: Jayyce Sway but friends and family call him Jayy. I can’t get the idea of him being Talia Sway’s father and him settling down in Wasterra out of my head, plus "Sway" as a last name just sounds futuristic to me. Jayyce is just a corruption of "Jace" that i thought would look futuristic with two ys. I just think he's cool and would be a great father. (you can't really see it but he is smiling here)

6. Giddy On Up: Belle. Another map i miss, its just really fun trying to do those high kicks. Other names i was thinking for her were Andrea and Laura ( after Laura Bell Bundy), but neither sounded country enough for her. Then i thought Annabelle, which i then shortened down to Belle.

7. Follow the White Rabbit: Allison. I didn't want to just straight up call her Alice, unlike how i just gave the love story coaches Romeo and Juliet. Originally i was thinking of spelling it as Alicyn but then went against that. But also it sounds like "Alice In" as in "Alice in Wonderland". Also i know that its the rabbit who says "I'm late!" twice but the quote i was originally giving her didn't really make sense. I rushed this one because intitialy she was in the same pose as one of the gold moves from FTWR but it looked too weird and i wanted to move on. She looks shocked here, i don't want to think about this drawing anymore.

8. John Cena: Jeanne Cena. this is just like the John Wayne coach all over again. You’d pronounce Jeanne like John. It was the obvious choice, and I also just wanted an excuse to draw her. Doubt you'll need her name if you can't even see her in the first place. One of my favourite maps, its just so good.

9. Levitating Extreme: Aster. I was thinking along the lines of Astro for some reason, then the name Aster kept popping up in my head. Turns out Aster means "star" and is also a type of purple flower that is star shaped. Given the space imagery from his background it makes sense.Definitely the type to not tell you his name because he sees no point because he thinks he's disposable (as if Si'ha Nova ever gets attacked).

10. Buscando Extreme: Jacques. I don't know why but he looks french to me, then the name just stuck because i couldn't think of anything else. One of my favourite extremes, at some point in early 2021 i somehow knew most of it off by heart. also i like to think of him as the father of the coach from the classic version. At some point all the male 2021 extremes i'm just going to headcanon as the father of another coach.

-

So this is what i've been working on. I mentioned the love story, Giddy on up and Blinding lights extreme coaches in previous posts because i was doing this lol.

i did it in the order of JC - BLE - FFD - LE - ATS - FTWR - GOU -BE - LSTV. By the point i got to Buscando extreme i was getting tired of doing this so he along side the love story coaches look fucked up. Given that it was my first time drawing some of them, i didn't really think that they'd look good, since i'm not used to drawing them. But it was good to draw coaches that i haven't drawn before, and draw the ones i have already drawn, again.

I have other things i want to draw next, there's a map concept in my drafts that i want to actually draw so that will probably be my next fanart post.

[yanderefairyangel]

Little ranting ( I know for a change) but

(warning : discussion of vanijeanne if you dislike this ship don't read)

Vanijeanne is that sort of ship you know is a real media literarcy test for people

And to clarify

I don't mean "people who dislike it because of how it's a toxic realtionship" that is perfectly valid

I mean the people who say stuff such as "it completely ruined Jeanne's character, she used to be cool and badass and now she is all blushy mushy" or "Jeanne is a girlboss she doesn't need a love interest especially one that cheapens her character to "cute uwu blushing waifu" or "vanijeanne is just shoujo trash and it ruins Jeanne's writing from a cool woman to just a "love interest", in short mainly critics of how it affected Jeanne's character and how she went from a "cool girlboss" to "cute uwu anime girl"

I am going to be harsh but someone needs to say it : Jeanne was never a "cool badass girlboss" and if you still think she is, I beg you to re-read the manga with close attention with the Gévaudan arc in mind

Jeanne as she appears at the begining of the story is a traumatized broken girl who bears a mask because she is told to by people

I think the Gévaudan arc made it very clear that Jeanne used to be closer to how she came to evolve then she ever was in chapter 1, look at little Jeanne

She was an energetic, lively kid honest with her emotions. To those who read PH, you might remember how Oz expressed admirations to the sincerity with which Alice expressed her emotions because he himself is unable to be as sincere with himself

Jeanne used to be Alice. She used to express herself with authenticity and you might be thinking it's to be expected, she is a kid, but she radicaly changes after her parent dies executed in front of her very eyes

Her whole life is completely shaken by this whole event, this doesn't just mark the begining of a traumatic new life with a haunting traumatic memory but a life of objectification

The main chapter exploring what happened to Jeanne after her parents died and she is about to become a bourreau is called "POUPEE FISUREE - the essence of the witch", it literaly means "the essence of the witch is broken/cracked doll".

There are thousands of explanation you can theorize about what is Jeanne's exact nature but one thing is for sure is that she existed for the sole purpose of being used as a tool, she is objectified down to her very core

The dialogue is explicit enough but the fact the first "You are a doll" is a black speech bubble conveys the tone of the scene, you don't even see Jeanne's face, only elements meant to convey the fragementary aspect of this memory

It all began long before Jeanne was found and adopted by her parents, how exactly it happened isn't the point here, rather it's because she was with them she could live as an average child when she was not meant to

The transition between how Jeanne used to be and how she is after her parents are killed is brutal but here is the interesting bit, the parallel between this page and the following

"You are a bourreau, a tool" is presented in the exact same manner as "You are a doll"

Jeanne's reminiscene upon hearing this is enough to understand that "you are a bourreau" = "you are a doll" = because "you are a tool"

Jeanne immediately prooceeds to believe that what happened was a punishement because she did the contrary of "what she was told"

If what she was told was "don't think, don't want, don't wish" it's easy to understand that back then, when she used to be a all happy child she did think, want, wish and the fact that she expresses herself with sincerity was meant to reflect that, she didn't felt the pressure of her fate yet but now that her parents are dead and because she believes its a punishement for her disobeying, she now has a pressure put unto her shoulder to accept being objectified

The bottom of the page specfically, with a dead looking Jeanne, the text, and the image of bodies piles is enough to understand that Jeanne's lack of expression comes from the fact that she is broken, that she musn't disobey this time and that she embraced her condition as a tool and the meeting with Chloé is essential to understand the extent of her condition

When Chloé faces Jeanne, this is how the scene looks like from Chloé's pov

There is a clear contrast between Chloé's memories of Jeanne and the Jeanne that stand before her, it's not just a matter of growing up, the change of expression from an innocent smile to a bloody expression, the light colors used in the flashbacks vs the reality where Jeanne is cloacked in black, the use of screentoones making the scene shine vs the other scene being darken by screentones

From Chloé's pov, it's like the Jeanne of the past is gone and got replaced by someone completely different, even thought the similar hairstyle proves otherwise

As for Jeanne, from her pov the scene plays like this

She is conflicted between her new nature as a bourreau and her frienship for Chloé, she don't want to kill her but "she can't want anything", she doesn't have the right to, and while from Jeanne's pov this is just a flux of contradictory thoughts

This is HOW her internal conflict looks like to an outsider

Even though we thought the old Jeanne gone, she is still there, she is simply supressing herself due to the trauma, her survivor guilt enticing her to repress herself, her emotions, her true despire but she can't

This is one of the time where she let the mask slips, she can't go on, even if Chloé encourages her, she can't bring herself to kill someone she'd much rather protect than go on, she is completely tore apart between her feelings and her new condition that forbids it, this is specfically why Chloé let herself fall from the cliff, to spare Jeanne from having to live with the pain of having to kill her, but that was still too much for Jeanne

I hope I don't need to point out how deshumanizing of bourreau the way these vampires talk is, the words they use in regards to Jeanne just kin her to a doll, if you gave this page out of context to someone who doesn't know any better about VNC, it's likely they'll think the characters are talking about a literal doll ! She stopped "being useful", they want to "throw her away" because "she broke", this is like a kid talking about getting bored of his toys !

Jeanne's hair is very imporant to understand the difference between past and present jeanne in a visual language, her long hair showcases which Jeanne is talking but that's how Jeanne feels inside, much like how little domi is how presetn Domi felt inside

She has been used way too much as slaughtering doll to view any solution to the problem as other than killing, she has been told naught but that and the situation in Gevaudan is making all of it resurface

So knowing that Jeanne when we first meet her in vol 1 is a girl that has been objectificed all the rest of her life (not even mentionning that Jeanne is like.... centuries old), had to deal with survivor guilt over her parent's death, unability to do anything when facing Chloé and that now, apointed as a chevalier she is having constant anxiety over her condition as a curse bearer and constant fear to harm Lucas because she had to face losing all the people that mattered to her

Are you still going to call Jeanne a "girlboss" ? Are you still going to insist the story used to present her as a "strong female badass, cool and emotioneless" ???

It might come off that way when you read the story for the first time when no one knew anything more about Jeanne, but in retrospective it is obvious that in reality it was just a mask that Jeanne bore because of her being told she is just an object !

"she is the hellfire witch she is meant to be strong she doesn't need a man !" I hear, and I have to remind that Jeanne NEVER CLAIMED this title for herself, it was IMPOSED on her by people, this contributing to her objectification, not a way to sound cool. Jeanne would much rather be something else than the Hell fire witch and this is part of the reason why her relationship with Lucas is important, it gives her something to protect when she was a mindless killing doll after she had lost the people that mattered to her. Lucas himself state that jeanne doesn't need to kill anymore because even he can sense she doesn't enjoy her role as the "hellfire witch", all it entails and Jeanne's continuing on insiting to kill even almost to a reflex level reflect the extent to which she has been objectified to the point she just can't see another way

In these early chapters, she isn't strong, she is simply bearing a facade, a mask. A motif re-used later in the ball masque arc to indicate all characters hide their truth self behind a mask. So you'll excuse me for thinking that there is NO ground to call someone putting a facade due to her contasnt objectification at the ends of powerful vampires exploiting her survival guilt a "girlboss"

And no, her falling for Vanitas does not make her weak !

In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if the real reason why Sensei had Vanitas approach her in such a disturbing way was to make him come off as also objectifying her to better reverse this idea rather than "making a shoujotrash plot point" (do I need to point the misogynistic implications of calling this "shoujotrash" or)

By this point in the story we know nothing of Jeanne and Lucas doesn't seem to be using her, he cares about her, so when Vanitas forces a kiss on Jeanne because he got "zoku zoku" over witnessing Jeanne letting the mask slips for the first time when she believes Lucs is in danger, we are compelled to think that Vanitas is a jerk because he is being a creep to a woman without thinking upon whether or not other people did worse to Jeanne

But as the story progresses it becomes increasingly obvious Vanitas was not the only one nor the first person to do things without any consideration of Jeanne's personal feelings, in fact it's the opposite !! It's specifically because few people treat Jeanne right that she is so easily swayed away by any act of kindness !!

This is portrayed comically because we are from Domi's pov who has no real idea of what Jeanne had to go through (as seen per pondering on who in Jeanne's family committed a crime)

But the point is that Jeanne's weakness to kindness stems from 1) she is being hated and feared as the "Hellfire witch", another form of objectifcation 2) she has been reduced to a tool and goes along with it because of her survivor guilt 3) Jeanne is deeply someone who is kind hearted and caring, a "maiden at heart" and this isn't here just for gap moe's sake, it's there to show the extent of her situation

It is absolutely twisted that someone who is fundamentally innocent and naive about many things shows a face that compleltey contradicts these notions for the only reason being "she has to bear a mask, she has to force herself into not wanting anything"

Because she internalized the orders given to her to her core, she is not used to receive any act of kindness nor to enjoy herself or just live like a normal person, she doesn't have the right to according to her superiors

That's not even mentioning she doesn't have a lot of people around her and isn't used to healy relationship

We all already know she lost her parents and her frienship with Chloé ended tragically to the point it haunts her still, but who else is in contact with ?

Ruthven : he is her teacher and he spared her a dreadful fate but it's very obvious Ruthven keeps a lot of secret from her, he made her swore an oath and shee cannot even talk about her condition due to it

I think the way she pictures Ruthven in this scene says enough about their relationship not being the epitome of healthiness. Ruthven's feelings regarding Jeanne are very complicated no doubt, but this is still an unhealthy relationship where Ruthven has control over her in ways Jeanne herself doesn't necessarily realizes

Luca : while Luca treasures her (and has a puppy crush on her) and Jeanne wants to protect him at all costs, Jeanne is also haunted by the fear she might hurt him

Dominique :

She originally approached Jeanne to tease Noé and immediately starts to feel guilty upon realizing Jeanne is a "good girl" because of Jeanne telling her... basics facts. Like, you have to understand that this scene right here just confirms that Jeanne doesn't have many friends and that she even worry about people getting close to her either 1) because they might be in danger if she doesn't behave 2) because she might be a danger to them 3) because her bad reputation and status as a tool can put them in a pitch

I don't have the domijeanne mini comic, but Jeanne is aslo swayed by Domi's acting kind towards her and that's how they befriend but you have to keep in mind that Domi wasn't in the best place mentally either when she approached Jeanne

Ultimately while not "toxic" Jeanne can't exactly confide in fully because 1) She views Luca as someone she has to protect so they cannot be equals 2) Domi views Jeanne as a reflection of her weak self, thus as someone needing to be protected thus they cannot be equals

This doesn't exist with Vanitas, he can be approached as an equal. Yes, you heard that right. Yes, Vanitas approached her in the creppiest way possible and should have been put in a jail a second time, yes Vanitas was being terrible to her many times, yes be blacmailed her, yes there are endless jokes about how jeanne just dances in the plams of his hands and yes their relationship isn't by any stretch of the imagination a heathly relationship

That's the point and Jun sensei's owns it

Vanitas clearly approached her in such manner because he was still thinking about how much he isn't worthy of love and he can safely love Jeanne because with how he treats her, he can be sure she will never reciprocate any feelings he can have towards her

And because he approached her that way, Jeanne can more easily let the original fear she expresses (for example when Domi invites her to dancing) aside, this how he progressively becomes someone Jeanne can relies on and thus, despite it looking like there is a power imbalance in favor of Vanitas, he is in reality able to be on equal terms

Most if not all of the Vanijeanne moment in the manga serves to flesh out Jeanne as a character which might be why detractors of the ship refuses to look past what it actually says about Jeanne's character in favor of a narrative where the "cool badass girlboss" has been ruined by the tiny rat doctor

However, they allow us to see past the "hellfire witch" facade and approach little by little to Jeanne's real core, but because she is still fundamentally conflicted and torn appart by condition, she isn't able to reveal herself fully, not to mention she is still warry of vanitas but because she is wary of Vanitas she can talk to him without feeling inferior or unworthy of it

Vanitas quickly becomes the one person she relies on the most, not just for blood and yes this is very likely what Vani truly meant when he told her to drink only his blood, especially given how the second condition is "call me by name. Even if he purposefully acts unlikeable, Vanitas is still Vanitas, he sensed Jeanne needed help and he investigates it, Vanitas deep down is someone who is kind and selfless after all, even if he would rather cut his tongue than admit it

Vanitas doesn't really take off his mask in front of her unlike how he does with Noé because Noé constantly confronts Vanitas, Jeanne is very passive in contrast, the one time she begins to see through the cracks is during the cabin scene where her getting angry isn't amusing Vanitas (because he likes to see her emote instead of her putting the poker face) because she is trying to make him think of his own safety for once, you know ? Self care, the thing Vanitas hate because he hate himself so much he think himself underserving of love

That is ultimately why Jeanne ends up falling for him

Vanitas is the first person ever to tell her she has the right to want things, that she is more than a doll, to explicetely tell her to her face she can wish for something

Even if Luca and others treat Jeanne kindly, they didn't necessarily told her outright "you can desire things" and yes, this is largely because Noé's influence on him is showing but given how the previous intereactions with Jeanne didn't got him to blame Noé for him saying certains things and making certains promises, it's fair to assume that prior to these, the moment where he was being considerate where just... Vanitas being Vanitas. He might have kept his mask on, he is still like this

Ultimately Vanitas keep his promise and that's what enable Jeanne to move on from her internal conflict : because now, she has seen one of the people she cares about being saved. It didn't ended like her parents, it didn't ended like it used to in Gévaudan and it doesn't implicate any of the fears she has towards Luca (largely fed by these two bad ending to her past relationships), her friend is safe and she just let her happiness explode with no restrictions

By helping Chloé, Vanitas also helped Jeanne finally come to term with one of the biggest issue she had so far : think of herself as someone who has the right to live (you know, like Chloé)

This is why finally allows Jeanne to reconnect with how she used to be in the past and deliver a big bright unrestricted smile with later on appearances confirming that Jeannes expresses herself more sincerely and without any complex, Domi commenting on her shinning or her contribution to the Attraction park arc

Falling in love with vanitas didn't made her weak, it did the opposite : it helped her finally break free from a doll of the senate, to be herself again

Jeanne never wanted to be a "cool girlboos badass" and when she appears as the Hellfire witch, it's not what she was, she was a girl whose innocence was broken, who was objectified and taken advatange of for her survivor guilt and forced herself unto a mask, to stop thinking, wanting, desiring, living in short, a simple killing machine

She fell in love with vanitas not just because he was kind to her but because he helped her overcome a situation that could have easily put her in her past situation again, making her go through the same internal conflict as she did, because he told her she has the right to live as an individual and not a tool

And that's what allows her to finally overcome this, to finally be able to be true to herself

How exactly is any of this weak ?

Since when strong is when no emotions, cool, etc ??? You know what that is ? It's just pushing toxic masculinity standards unto women, which is what has been happening in the whole subgenre of the "girlboss" protagonist making these characters unsufferable

You don't have to like Vanijeanne, you have the right to dislike it because it's not a healthy couple, because it makes you uncomfortable, because you prefer others ships heck if you think that's so bad it prevents you from enjoying moments in VNC that is fine

but don't call a victim of severe objectification forced to hide her feelings because of her survivor guilt a "strong cool badass girlboss", dont use her name of Hellfire witch like it's something she claims and is proud of when it's been put on her by people as another mean of objectification and don't call her finally recovering from it "weak" or "cute uwu blushing anime waifu shoujo trash slop" or any of the nonsense I have seen

It's one thing to dislike a ship, it's another to completely miss the point of what Sensei is trying to accomplish in the first place

[howlingday]

Jeanne VS Salem

Tyrian: Who's there?! Who dare intrudes on the castle of our goddess?! I'm not expecting any deliveries-

Jeanne: Hi~! I'd like to pledge myself to her grace, Salem~!

Tyrian: O-Oh! Um... You're a large... woman? Erm, we're always happy to accept anyone who seeks to pledge themselves to the will of our goddess, but something about you feels-

Jeanne: (Sniffles) P-Please, sir, don't treat me like this... I've already been treated so harshly for how I look.

Tyrian: Ack! Nonono! I am SO sorry! I didn't mean-

Jeanne: I thought if I followed in the path of her grace, Goddess Salem, she could make me stronger. Make me tough enough to bear the humiliation I've suffered for all these years, and lash out at those who had harmed me in the past... And in return, I would serve her every whim, fight any who oppose her, and maybe, just maybe, bask in her glory enough to understand why I felt so drawn to her.

Tyrian: (Steps aside, Bows) Please, forgive my poor hospitality! Come in. I'm sure her grace would be pleased to have an acolyte such as you.

Jeanne: Oh, thank you~! (Walks in) Also, I've brought a gift basket for Salem and the other followers, which includes you~!

Jeanne: Oh, this is such a big castle... It's so dark and foreboding...

Tyrian: If her grace approves of you, this castle will become your home, and you will come to love the dark, foreboding atmosphere.

Jeanne: Oh, that would be wonderful~!

Hazel: (Sees Tyrian and Jeanne, Thinking) Hm... Didn't know Salem had fans like that. (Waves)

Jeanne: (Nods)

Tyrian: (Opens door) Greetings, your grace. I will leave you two alone for some privacy. Call for me when you're done. (Shuts door)

Jeanne: (Alone with Salem)

Salem: ...So, I hear you wish to join me. What's your name, dear?

Jeanne: My name is Jeanne, (Curtsy) and yes, if you'd be so kind, ma'am. I've even brought housewarming gifts. I hope you'll enjoy them.

Salem: Oh? How kind! Let me have a look s-

Jeanne: (Pulls out Phantom Zone projector)

Salem: ...

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

Jeanne: (Walks to Team RWBY)

Yang: Did it work?

Weiss: I can't fucking believe this actually worked.

Blake: Shh! He's coming over here now!

Ruby: (Hugs) Did it work?! Did it work?!

Jaune: Yeah, it worked. Make sure to thank Clark for letting us borrow this thing. Also, I beat the shit out of the other two while they were busy trying to get her out of the Phantom Zone.

Nora: That's our fearless leader for ya~!

Ren: It almost feels unreal...

Jaune: You know what's also unreal?

Jaune: HOW FUCKING UNCOMFORTABLE THESE PANTIES ARE!

[humaudrey]

Things my Rewrite Will Fix About Descendants - Kingdom Names

I'VE DONE IT!!

Anyway, one thing (there are multiple though, let's be honest) that particularly irked me about the Descendants franchise would be the names of the kingdoms. While "Auradon" has a nice ring to it, some of the names of the other smaller kingdoms/locations leave something to be desired.

So for my rewrite series, Barriers (and for my second rewrite WIP that has yet to be named), I decided to rename the ones I didn't like.

Charmington -> Edenwald, Snow White and Florian's Kingdom

First of all, if any of the kingdoms were going to be named "Charmington", why wouldn't it be the kingdom from Cinderella? Originally, I wanted to swap Charmington for Cinderellasburg, so naturally, the old Charmington would need a new name. I wanted the name of the kingdom to reference the Enchanted Forest in Snow White, so Eden was the first name to come to mind (meaning paradise, but also referencing the Garden of Eden in the story of Adam and Eve from the Bible, which also parallels well to Snow White being the first Disney Princess). But "Eden" felt somewhat incomplete. Eventually, adding the "wald" (meaning forest in German, which is where the story of Snow White originates) at the end gave it a much more fitting name imo.

Cinderellasburg -> Charmont, Kit/Charles/Henry/Christopher and Cinderella's Kingdom

Don't get me wrong, I love Cinderella (somehow even more now than I did before), but why would they name a region after some commoner? Yes, her story's inspiring, but not inspiring enough to rename a kingdom in her honor. Having the kingdom named "Charmington", where the Charmings rule felt fitting at first. But, the more I looked at "Charmington", the more "Charmington" felt like a clothing store or a medieval amusement park. I wanted to incorporate "Charm" as a prefix , and took the suffix from "argent" (meaning silver in French, which is the color of Cinderella's dress) and changed the e to an o.

Auroria -> Aetheria, Aurora and Phillip's Kingdom

I almost left "Auroria" alone because it sounds so pretty and ethereal and whimsical. I could believe that either Aurora was named after "Auroria" or "Auroria" was named after Aurora and I was willing to let that be that. All I did was add ia to aether, and that sounded prettier to me lmao.

Auradon -> Beaumier, Adam and Belle's Kingdom

This one is specifically for my second rewrite. In this fic verse, all of the united kingdoms are still called "The United Kingdoms of Auradon". However, Adam and Belle are not the monarchs ruling over all the other kingdoms, therefore their specific kingdom needs a name. I wanted the name to be French inspired, and the name "Beau" felt fitting given it means "beautiful" or "handsome" like "Belle". "Beau" is also a nice little callback to the writer of the original fairytale in 1756, Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont AND to one of the villages the setting is based on, Ribeauvillé. All I did after that was research names of places that had "Beau" in the name, and I came across Beaumier Hotels.

And nothing for Seaside, because A.) All of the other names I came up with sound too corny (and I don't like Tirulia) and B.) Seaside's growing on me.

[vanessalocke]

do you think that Francis and Arthur trade their roles a little in the way that Francis is apparently the more masculine and stronger but actually feels more soft and feminine than Arthur while Arthur brings more of that patriarchal feeling? I don't know I think it's fun to play with those subjects and it fits several of their moments from the french being considerated effeminated to the English overtly gay

That's why I ship both FrUK and UKFr. Both are reasonable, Arthur and Francis can both take on top and bot roles with each other.

I have a headcanon that Francis is actually quite a patriarch. To be more precise, in his youth he was a very patriarchal person (more so than Arthur). I say this not only because the Salic code only allows male heirs, but also because French men are actually notoriously conservative. Yet as time has honed the harshness of his personality, he has become calmer and more peaceful.

However, Francis is a patriarch, but Francis does not hold too many stereotypes about women. He believes that men should lead the family and take the lead in politics, but that does not mean that he denies women's abilities. He will not encourage women to participate in politics (in the sense of participating in the state apparatus) because he feels the harshness of politics will erode women and he doesn't want that, but he will encourage women to develop themselves in the field of science and technology, and will not prevent women from contributing to culture, art and poetry.

France is the birthplace of many brave and outstanding women. Jeanne d'Arc is legendary. Besides Jeanne d'Arc, I quite like Louise Michel and Simone Weil, both of whom are known as the Red Virgin, they went to prison many times without fear, and they gave away all their wealth to the poor. France has Jeannette Guyot, one of the women who received the most medals in World War II. France also has Jacqueline Auriol, one of the first female pilots. She underwent 33 surgeries, set five world airspeed records, and was a member of the Académie de l'air et de l'espace. Ines de la Fressange is the most beautiful and gorgeous woman I have ever known. With the exception of Jeanne d'Arc and Fressange, these are women who (in my opinion) are underrated compared to the French women always mentioned in the media like Brigitte, Coco Chanel or Simone de Beauvoir.

Arthur is in the opposite situation. He is very partriarch (and has a lot of testosterone), but in the opposite direction compared to Francis. He has no problem with women holding power in the family and leadership in politics, provided that the woman proves she is capable of doing so. However, he always thinks that those women are "exceptions", and his view of women in general is that women are naive and incompetent creatures. Although he has many prejudices about women, his chivalry will cause him to sacrifice his life to protect them. And if you can prove to him that you are capable, he will recognize you fairly. He feels there was no problem with women having economic and political power, but he strongly dislikes the idea of ​​women fighting in force. Arthur would rather die than fight a woman. The queens of England are so famous that I won't list them here.

In the AUs where both Francis and Arthur are homosexual, they are both still patriarchal but very respectful and tend to protect women. They even love and protect women much more than some straight guys. I always thought they were very pampered and protected Belgium and Seychelles together (in HumanAU).

Both Arthur and Francis considered themselves responsible for providing for their families. Arthur did not cede that position of provider and protector to anyone. Francis in his youth would have been just like Arthur, but as he became older, he relaxed and felt it didn't matter who was on top/the head of the family. If his spouse wants to provide and protect him voluntarily, he will let that person do so (in case he finds them capable). This allows Arthur to satisfy his patriarchy when he is with Francis.

TL; DR: whether FrUK or UKFr, Arthur will still be the head of the family.

[mayormimii]

For the character ask game! I thought for a long time who exactly to ask (I was rushing between all the young Mistresses), but I decided to choose Clara!!

7, 8, 14, 18, 21

Hi, Saya!! Of course I’m happy to chat about second-generation Mistresses, including our little clawa

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to [Clara] that you like?

I will always “teehee” at Clara memes, this one by rat-prophetess has been my most quoted since last May

When Clara’s included in Termite content on the sheer principle that she’s a teenager. So sweet.

When fans remember she can sometimes get along with the other Healers, even when she’s depicted as their occasionally annoying sister.

When artists keep the gap between her upper-front teeth or give her shaggy hair

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to [Clara] that you despise?

“Despise” is a strong word I'd only use for the time a guy called Clara Burakhovsky’s adopted daughter (with Artemy as the “jock” and Dankovsky as the “gay nerd”); I know Clara would strangle him for the mere association.

Oh, but I do despise when fans neglect the fact that she’s as much Artemy and Dankovsky’s doppelgänger/soulmate as they are each other’s, though I can imagine why some are wont to neglect that.

The following’s less offensive since her personality’s subjective, but I don’t enjoy when writers/artists refuse to ground her in teenaged-girlhood or neglect to distinguish her from her eldritch sister as a person. A prime example of the former is that line in which Bad Grief asks if she’s looking for patterned stockings or a doll house just to irritate her. I love that she’s modeled after a developer’s younger sister, and I want her to remind me of girls I know, between her desires or her affection for specific people rather just ‘humanity’ as a hazy whole. We already have two protagonists who are men, and have certain relationships to women/womanhood specific to them, so it would be nice to appreciate the aspects of Clara that men can't necessarily relate to (but are still resonant to many people). I believe she loves the Saburovs, or at least wants their love—but some fans treat her like an angel of death only out for their blood. I also think she’s friends with some of her Bound, but she’s often depicted in isolation unless it’s to call the other two Healers idiots.

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to [Clara].

As she already is? Clara is *so* '90s grunge and the reason I refuse to believe the game is set anytime before c.mid-1960s. If you asked me to dress her in another subculture, she’d pull off cyber grunge, fairy grunge, or 2000s olderbrothercore. My Pinterest board makes her look like a ‘Messy French It Girl’ sometimes, which is so appropriate for our Jeanne d'Arc

An artist once drew her with a long skirt, but in a ‘hobo in the colder months’ way, and it’s easily my favorite art of her.

18. How about a relationship [Clara] has in canon with another character that you admire?

Whoa, “admire” specifically? Well, I admire—even envy—Clara’s dynamic with older men such as Vlad Sr, Victor, Rubin, Bad Grief; how easily they come to treat her like a younger sister or daughter.

Her animosity toward Andrey and the debate they have is the reason I began to like him.

But one of my favorite relationships is the one she shares with Tot that brings out her tender, nurturing side.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for [Clara], what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

I enjoy detailing Clara’s private, cozy moments in the Rod with her parents, talking about the meals they share and what she wears (you might remember an instance in which she borrows her father’s pajamas since she hates itchy nightgowns), how her room is arranged, and what it means to be Katerina’s heiress (such as becoming well-versed in the town’s intrigues).

I don't enjoy writing about her sister, who (I believe) represent the aspects of Clara that soured my opinion of her during the Haruspex route, or inevitably addressing how mercurial her personality is, which should make Clara feel real but only makes her feel surreal: more like an idea or symbol than a grounded, relatable person. In the end, I tend to ignore that and focus on how she was in my playthrough.

The rest is difficult to articulate, so I pulled pins from my board & a song which hopefully offer an idea of how I want to portray her/what I want to see from others’ future portrayals:

As always, thanks for asking! <3

[kinghijinx22]

Top 5 queer ships from video games

HELLO my fellow queers! Just in time for the end of Pride Month I have decided to write about my top 5 queer canon ships from video games because I thought it would be a cool thing to do for the occasion, because I play the video games and am obviously very queer myself. This is also sort of a post to go along with the top 5 pansexual characters that I did last year as well. So to begin our list at number 5-

5. Alex Chen and Steph Gingrich, Chengrich from Life is Strange True Colors- Starting off with a ship not from a game I've played myself but I've seen plenty of lets plays of which is something I can say about the whole Life is Strange series, Alex Chen and Steph Gingrich from True Colors are a couple of dorky sapphics with a really cute relationship. The best in Life is Strange in my opinion, while the series has always been known for having good queer representation, I personally was not as impressed as others with the vagueness and burying of gays that LiS 1 and Before the Storm did, and while LiS 2 is better with Sean and Finn in it's explicitness, they make Finn such an asshole. Canon bisexual protagonist Alex Chen of True Colors is the most likeable protagonist in the series in my opinion, and Steph Gingrich who is lesbian, is easily the best love interest. Better then Ryan from the same game in my opinion, Alex and Steph's relationship is well developed throughout the game and the 2 of them have some really heart warming moments, especially that kiss when Alex goes upstairs to see Steph during that town event. Alex seeing the blue emotions around Steph before they kiss because she's worried about Alex not kissing her, and then she does and they explode with the yellow light of happiness. And then in the endings, Steph either settles down with Alex or Alex who is also a musician joins Steph's band and they go on tour together which is very romantic as well. Best LiS couple easy for me.

4. Bayonetta and Jeanne, BayoJeanne from Bayonetta- So now we jump into games that I have played myself with BayoJeanne from Bayonetta, specifically their relationship from Bayonetta 1 and 2 because Bayonetta 3 fucked it to ship Bayo with that loser Luka instead. Bayonetta and Jeanne though were badass power couple of witches in the first 2 game. Childhood friends, to lovers, to rivals, to lovers again, what a wild ride for a relationship to go through as well but they end up being so sweet together. To explain, in Bayonetta 1 Bayo has lost her memories and Jeanne is brainwashed by Bayo's evil sage father Balder so Jeanne as another powerful witch is Bayo's rival throughout the game and it is heartbreaking, fighting your lover who you don't even remember. They both get their memories back by the end of the game though, and Jeanne rescues her girlfriend Bayo from the goddess Jubileus so she can punch her into the sun. Bayonetta 1 has some strong BayoJeanne moments but Bayonetta 2 goes all in with their relationship, with Bayo going on a romantic rescue mission to save her girlfriend from the demon Alarune, journeying through literal heaven and hell to do so. That file that you can pick up in Bayonetta 2 that talks about someone going through hell to find their lover, and then that scene where Bayo wakes up Jeanne after rescuing her from Alarune is great. "What do you need a wake up kiss or something?" referencing some developer art that shows their homelife, where Bayo has to wake up Jeanne for work. Love this badass witchy power couple, the sapphic aunts who always spoil the nephews with Christmas gifts.

3. Jala and Tyler, Jyler? from Thirsty Suitors- who I don't believe have an actual ship name until I just made one up because Thirsty Suitors is so underrated that it's fandom is almost nonexistent? Seriously this game is really good and I wish Tumblr had more fan art for it, especially Jala and Tyler fan art because they very quickly have become one of my all time favorite couples in anything. The most recent addition to this list for me, I only just played Thirsty Suitors for Pride Month and while protagonist and biggest bisexual disaster I've even seen Jala has 7 exes in total, 6 of which you need to confront throughout the game, Tyler has been the most important person in Jala's life. Her childhood friend who she has been on and off with romantically, but the girl who was always by her side and who she would always come back to. I also want to say that, it's mentioned that Jala was also by Tyler's side and helped her while she was transitioning which is really beautiful and I think it's cool that a trans girl is the main love interest of this story. Jala and Tyler have a very messy but special relationship, and after Jala is able to reconcile with Tyler after how much she had let her down in the past, it's implied that they do end up back together and in a fully committed relationship by the end of the story through some art depicting their future together which is good. I just need to mention that Thirsty Suitors is a super charming and delightfully queer game that handles it's characters and themes very well and I highly recommend it. It's a game that celebrates queerness while also allowing it's characters to be heavily flawed and their relationships very messy, as seen with even Jala and Tyler.

2. Susie and Noelle, Suselle from Deltarune- Toby Fox has been a very supportive queer ally and with Undertale and Deltrune, his games have plenty of great queer representation. But while Undyne and Alphys from Undertale are ok, I honestly don't really like Alphys specifically and personally think Susie and Noelle from Deltarune are the much superior sapphic ship. Because both Susie and Noelle are both great characters and absolute cuties who deserve to be happy together! A super adorable story of blossoming young love and self discovery, dorky lesbian deer girl Noelle is head over hooves in love with the cool dinosaur girl from her school Susie. And while Susie does start off as a bully in chapter 1, it becomes clear that she has a lot of her own personal stuff that she's working through that is heavily implied to be from her home life but by the end of chapter 1 she makes some good friends in Kris, Ralsei and Lancer who actually understand her and she grows as a person. While she doesn't really interact Noelle with chapter 1, you do find out as Kris that Noelle has feelings for Susie when she asks them for more information on her. And it's chapter 2 that REALLY develops Susie and Noelle's relationship and gives them a lot of cute moments together, because Noelle actually joins Susie and Kris in going to the Dark World on their adventures this time. And through chapter 2, Susie and Noelle's relationship is developed incredibly well with all of Noelle's adorable blushing and freaking out around the girl that she loves, until the beautiful scene where Susie gets to rescue Noelle from being captured by Queen and they escape on a heart covered Ferris wheel of all things which gives them an incredibly sweet moment together that always makes me cry. Just seeing them these adorable young queer girls being awkward and falling in love for the first time is just so adorable and funny in the best way. And then afterwards, the thing that actually gives Noelle her courage to stand up to Queen is saving the love of her life Susie! AAAAAH I LOVE THEM AND THEY ARE PERFECT FOR EACHOTHER!!!! The only caveat is that Deltarune isn't finished yet and Susie and Noelle technically aren't together yet? But it's very obvious that their relationship is something that is being built towards and I am very excited to see how it develops in future chapters, what we've gotten already has been great though and has given us so many cute moments for Suselle.

Gregg and Angus, Grangus from Night in the Woods- The only MLM ship on this list because there is a distressing lack of MLM relationships in video games compared to there actually being a decent amount of WLW, especially with main characters. But Gregg and Angus are my overall favorite romantic relationship in all of video games. Night in the Woods is another game with some great queer representation, including it's main character Mae who is canonically pansexual which delighted me to find out as someone who is pan and she made it to the top of my Pan characters list from last year. But she doesn't get much of a romance besides meeting a girl that she has feelings for at a party that doesn't lead to much. Her best friend Gregg and his boyfriend Angus though, are also both main characters and their relationship actually gets a lot attention and development and it's handled beautifully. Their experiences accurately represent what it's like living as an openly gay couple in a small and not so understanding small town. Especially as they were the only queer people living there while Mae was away at college. A small town that also doesn't really have much going on, and they both want to move away where they can live a happy life together in a town where they will be supported and accepted more, where they can maybe meet other queer friends. It's an incredibly sweet and relatable story, and the 2 boys work their butts off at their jobs to make their dream of living that life together a reality. Which is why Mae's coming back home and bringing out the chaotic side of her best friend Gregg does bring some tension to their relationship, but she eventually realizes her mistakes and learns that she has to let them go. Gregg and Angus's relationship becomes even more sweet when you learn more about how they met, how Angus had a horrible upbringing with violently homophobic parents who didn't accept him, but then Gregg came into his life and saved him. And then also that scene where Mae talks to Gregg and he's worried that he isn't good enough for his boyfriend and Mae has to give him and uplifting talk. They just mean so much to eachother and they really bring the best out of eachother as well, with Gregg helping his shy boyfriend to come out of his shell a bit more, and Angus helping reel in his hyperactive boyfriend from getting a bit too wild. Gregg and Angus are so sweet and supportive of eachother, a beautifully written queer couple and my favorite ship from any video game.

But anyway, I hope all my fellow queers had a safe and happy Pride Month! And also that you enjoyed reading my list, I would recommend all the games that these ships are from to people. Thank you for reading and remember to stay proud of who you are all year round because no matter your sexuality, gender, what pronouns you go by, whether your closeted or not, you deserve all the love and respect and fuck any bigot who thinks they can tell you otherwise.

[icantthinkyandere]

Hi! Can i request some Yandere Jeanne d'arc, Jeanne D'arc alter and Artoria Pendragon (Lancer) x Master! Reader that is way too good at his job, however they tend to overwork themselves for how focuse they are at the cost to save humanity. Like they rarely sleep and for some reason their performence never faulters. However they are extremely densed at reading feelings and can be clueless. They treat anyone with resoect and kindness but they can also be nonchalant about something and doesn't really takes care of his health all that well.

{Jeanne D'Arc}

While Jeanne deeply admires and loves their passion for saving the world, it's one of the reasons she fell in love in the first place! She can not stand to watch them ruin their body and mind over it.

Even if they don't have any outward issues with their health, it doesn't mean they probably don't have internal ones. Though, she can't conform to this theory since the medical staff keeps doctor-patient confidentiality and won't tell her their condition after checkups

She'll start with the basics, one of which is preparing food. She might not be the best cook, and that's why she'll ask to be taught. There's no hesitation from the kitchen staff or servants who like to cook. They're more than happy to help since the master doesn't care for themselves properly.

She was so into her quest to take care of her master that it wasn't until she got advice and got prepared to take on this caretaker role she forgot that others had taken to the role as well. That added another part to her checklist: tell everyone they don't have to anymore, which is tricky depending on who she has to talk to

Once she believes she's ready to take care of her master, she politely requests a private moment to discuss with them about this new arrangement and how important it is to take care of yourself, and if they won't, she'll do it.

She makes sure that they get regular meals and makes them go to bed early, making sure to sit by their bed until they fall asleep since she can tell if they're faking

Her caretaking is very strict. You eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the same time every day. She tries to make a new dish every day. It's primarily French food from her time that she'd like them to try or more modern food she would like to experience together. It's the same when it comes to the sleeping schedule she made up.

She's pretty much become their assistant at this point. She wants to make sure they have a healthy life, and so she starts to create a work and off-time schedule for them as well. To make sure they don't keep overworking themselves!

She doesn't mind other servants and staff interacting with her master, but sometimes work doesn't allow them to talk to others, and relaxing alone is better than with others.

She expresses her care in such a calm and gentle way that over time, it doesn't even seem like she might overstep sometimes with her schedule. She doesn't need repayment from them, returning her feelings, or realizing her feelings. That's not what she's focused on. She's focused on ensuring they're healthy.

{Jalter/Jeanne D'Arc Alter}

Being the opposite of Ruler, Jeanne doesn't just come with her servant class.

When she came to Chaldea, she absolutely hated everything about them. She honestly could not understand why they care so much and worked so hard on this goal, especially since they weren't getting much, if anything, at all, in return.

She doesn't like interacting with them because of this and doesn't know much about them other than what she hears from other servants and what she sees when they're around her or during missions. She hates to admit she's gotten used to them being around her now.

She still keeps them at an arm's distance (not because she's embarrassed she's starting to like anything). She doesn't think they're overworking themselves until Jeanne mentions it to her. She already thought they were dumb, but she didn't know they were bad enough to put work oversleeping.

She won't immediately start trying to get them to relax like Jeanne. She would say something about their appearance, something like, "You look worse than normal! When was the last time you slept, three years ago?" And when they say no, it's been three days, she'll bully them into taking a nap.

It goes into them eating, the fun, or new things that happen around Chaldea. They're in a dry spell right now, and we already have enough preparation for anything that might occur. So, shut up and eat this meal Emiya made and play video games.

She tries really really hard to make it look like she doesn't care. But even though it seems like she's bullying them, it's evident to anyone who watches her drag them away from work to take care of themselves that it's just her either acting or in denial she cares.

You're oblivious to the fact that she's doing this because she has a crush? Good. Because she doesn't want to acknowledge her feelings, and she doesn't want them to either. You either have to believe she's 100% just bullying them or a really awkward friend.

Jalter is pretty mean about what she does, but it isn't hard for anyone to miss the fact that she gets furious whenever anyone else tries to get the master to eat or sleep. Everyone around them knows the reason why she's doing all this is because she has a crush on them.

She death glares at them and makes up some poor excuse as to why she's upset someone else brought them a snack. The death glares aren't just for whoever steps into her territory. She will also make it the master's problem by making passive-aggressive comments about it. It's not as bad as what the staff or servant gets, but still.

She wants to help because she does care a lot, but she can't get over her previous dislike or her own personal problems before coming to Chaldea. Until she is forced to or the master themselves bring it up, she'll never admit her feelings and will not be nicer.

{(Lancer) Artoria Pendragon}

She is a fellow workaholic. She's had to come a long way into the semi-relaxed place she is in now. Unlike Jeanne, who goes into a caretaker mood, and Jalter, who lightly goes into bullying, Lancer just helps.

You can't reject her offer to help either, mainly because she's the Artoria Pendragon. If anyone knows what they're doing, it's her.

Like Jeanne, working with her is on a schedule, but it's more in line with pacing yourself than making sure to eat and sleep correctly. She throws herself into their work to give advice and take over any task she can so they may work on each other, so it'll go faster.

She'll bring up how their isolation from others is not suitable for their mental health, but her being here to help them will help fix that part of the issue. She'll secretly be very proud of the fact that not only is she being beneficial to them, but is also spending more time with them than anyone else in Chaldea.

With her help comes the help of the rest of the round table knights. At first, a couple don't understand why she's helping so much, with Gawain and Lancelot wondering if the suspected crush their lord has is true. Merlin very quickly confirms that it's accurate, and this is her version of a date.

Even if they don't want to (cough Mordred cough), they start to "help" Artoria continue courting them. They try to talk her up about being a good partner who can provide them with a good life, but that quickly fails if they comment about Artoria's ex-wife.

Everyone does whatever they can to take over work to open up free time or make the master feel like there isn't any more work to do with them stated that now that they were free, their master and king should take a break and talk about anything else over some tea or a lovely candle-lit dinner.

Out of Jeanne, Jalter, and Arturia, she is the most likely actually to have her feelings known.

Anyone would be confused about why the knights keep pushing them to give up work to someone else, convince they don't need to keep trying at something or that it's fine the way it is so they can spend more private time in what seems to be stereotypical romantic scenarios. So, when asking them why they keep talking about how amazing of a partner Arturia can be, one of them will just say why.

Master: Why do you keep telling me about how amazing of a wife Artoria would be?

Gawain: Because she's been courting you for your hand in marriage:)

Master: What? Nooooo.

Gawain: Ask her!

And when asking her, she confirms it pretty casually. Yes, she's into them. She's been trying to prove herself as a good partner by taking on their work with them and spending quality time.

It depends on how they react to the reveal that this has been a month-long courting session. She will politely accept rejection, Merlin won't, and maybe some of the knights won't. She'll ask if they would still like her assistance and will back off if needed.

Artoria sees helping them with their work as a fantastic chance to court the master. She can use her position as the King of Lions as a reason why she is more than capable of helping with anything they need. Not only can she prove she is a good partner, but they’ll also stay away from other servants or staff that might get in the way of their relationship

[phatburd]

Bessières and the 600,000+ Franc Question

For @josefavomjaaga

While going over sources and material related to Jean-Baptiste Bessières, there's one thing that keeps twigging my journalist Spidey sense, and I don't like that.

Always, without fail, it's presented as a fait accompli that Bessières blew anywhere between 600,000 to one million francs on his mistress, a Paris opera dancer named Virginie. The fact he had a mistress isn't actually unusual by itself, when compared to the affairs his peers carried on. The exceptions were probably the Davouts and the Lefebvres.

Furthermore, his wife, Marie-Jeanne, discovered the affair after his death when his personal affects were returned to her from the battlefield.

The massive debts the Marshal left behind bankrupted his family, necessitating that Marie-Jeanne into selling their estate, Chateau de Grignon, to cover some of it. Napoleon also paid down some of Bessières' debts and set up a yearly pension for Marie-Jeanne her son. According to some accounts, she struggled financially for the rest of her life.

This is what I don't like about it, and why it doesn't completely pass the sniff test.

I accept that Bessières died flat broke and in debt. In debt to whom, however? Who were his creditors?

When did he meet his mistress? Was that fortune spent over a period of years, or in a fairly short time?

Even as a Marshal of France he had to pay his officers out of his own pocket, and provide his own carriages and some supplies on campaign. If he was flat broke, how did he continue to pay his officers?

Bessières was also bad with money to begin with. He was known to be generous and charitable, to the point where he'd be giving away money to anyone whom he thought was more in need than he was with it. Allegedly, Virginie was in debt herself, and he paid down all of them out of the apparent goodness of his heart.

(This raises even more questions. Was she a gold digger, was she blackmailing him, was he totally besotted with her that he didn't realize what the hell he was doing? Was he just lonely? Did they have genuine feelings for one another? There's a lot of there there, but no real answers.)

My conclusion is, no, Bessières did not spend 600,000 to one million francs on his mistress. Her presence, however, was not helpful to his situation.

He paid down Virginie's debts, however much they were. Being terrible with money, he kept putting himself in a financial hole, and then he kept digging. The upkeep on Chateau de Grignon had to be ridiculous. He still had to pay his officers and his staff. He was probably borrowing and burning through money and racking up the debt. Like that meme goes, "This is fine" while everything's burning down around him. A bit like using a credit card to pay down a credit card, as one might do in the modern parlance.

(His financial problems may have contributed to his increasing depression towards the end of his life as well. Was someone blackmailing him with his debts? Another interesting question that can never be adequately addressed.)

From what I've gathered, he hid all his problems from pretty much everyone. Even Napoleon seemed caught off guard with how bad Bessières' finances were. I argue that the 600,000 to one million francs he owed upon his death were cumulative and not to a single person as the historical narrative wants people to believe.

It seems a small thing to be annoyed with, but there seems to be more than a bit of misogyny to lay all of Bessières' troubles on a single woman as the historical narrative seems to want to do.

Another thing ... if Bessières burned a lot of his recent correspondence towards the end of his life, what exactly was the evidence Marie-Jeanne discovered as proof of the affair. How did she prove it? Did other people know about the affair and kept her in the dark? If so, who was that?

In the novel, "The Battle" by Patrick Rimbaud, a semi-fictionalized account of the Battle of Aspern-Essling, Rimbaud's characterization of Bessières has him wear two gold lockets under his Marshal's uniform. One for Marie-Jeanne, the other for Virginie. I don't know if Rimbaud based that on an actual account, or if it was something he made up. I have a lot of problems with that book though, probably because the translation seems somewhat robotic and not great. It's an interesting idea, however, and maybe worth keeping around as a headcanon.

Did Madame Bessières struggle financially for the rest of her life afterwards? Possibly. I don't have enough information to make a conclusion there, but it's not impossible. She did continue to faithfully visit his tomb for years after his death.

TL;DR Bessières died broke and in debt but it wasn't all because of his mistress. If someone else has something to the contrary, I'd love to read it.

[thethirdromana]

Van Helsing's misinformation

I took a look at some of the claims Van Helsing makes in his "immortal parrots" speech on the 26th of September.

Why was it that Methuselah lived nine hundred years, and 'Old Parr' one hundred and sixty-nine...

The oldest authenticated age that anyone has ever reached is 122 years (Jeanne Louise Calment, 1875-1997). Thomas Parr ('Old Parr') allegedly lived from 1483 to 1635 (which is 152 years, not 169) but the 1895 Dictionary of National Biography, which has an entry for Parr, is very sceptical about his claim, noting that his exact age was "attested by village gossip alone."

Here's Old Parr, painted by an unknown artist:

Do you know the altogether of comparative anatomy and can say wherefore the qualities of brutes are in some men, and not in others?

Comparative anatomy is a perfectly reasonable field, but coupled with "the qualities of brutes" and it being the 1890s, I strongly suspect this is some racist physiognomy bullshit (see p550 here for an example of how this looked in contemporary writing, if you must).

Can you tell me why, when other spiders die small and soon, that one great spider lived for centuries in the tower of the old Spanish church and grew and grew, till, on descending, he could drink the oil of all the church lamps?

This one is delightfully weird. It seems to be a telephone-game version of this story, printed in a variety of magazines and miscellanies (e.g.) since 1821:

The sexton of the church of St Eustace, at Paris, amazed to find frequently a particular lamp extinct early, and yet the oil consumed oil, sat up several nights to perceive the cause. At length he discovered that a spider of surprising size came down the cord to drink the oil. A still more extraordinary instance of the same kind occurred during the year 1751, in the Cathedral of Milan. A vast spider was observed there, which fed on the oil of the lamps... It weighed four pounds, and was sent to the Emperor of Austria, and is now in the Imperial Museum at Vienna.

Here's a photo of St Eustache:

In 1894 the story was reprinted in Notes and Queries, with the question: "Are the statements therein pure fiction? If not, can any one tell me how much we may safely believe? A spider weighing four pounds [1.8kg] is indeed a heavy tax on the reader's credulity."

In reality, the largest spider in the world is the Goliath birdeater, which weighs 175g.

Can you tell me why in the Pampas, ay and elsewhere, there are bats that come at night and open the veins of cattle and horses and suck dry their veins...

Vampire bats are real, and live in parts of South and Central America. The prey of the common vampire bat can include cattle (source). The quantity of blood that they drink is small - in the region of 100g, or about a fifth of a typical blood donation. Vampire bat predation can result in the death of much larger animals, but from infection, not draining them dry.

Here's a common vampire bat:

... how in some islands of the Western seas there are bats which hang on the trees all day, and those who have seen describe as like giant nuts or pods, and that when the sailors sleep on the deck, because that it is hot, flit down on them, and then—and then in the morning are found dead men, white as even Miss Lucy was?

From Wikipedia:

West Sea or Western Sea may refer to:

Atlantic Ocean

Pacific Ocean

Indian Ocean

Mediterranean Sea...

So that's not the most helpful starting point. I don't know which bats these are supposed to be, though hanging in trees like giant nuts makes them sound like fruit bats. In Van Helsing's defence, bats do carry a lot of viruses.

Can you tell me why the tortoise lives more long than generations of men...

Lovely to reach something that's just straight-up true. The current oldest living land animal is Jonathan, a 190+-year-old Seychelles giant tortoise.

... why the elephant goes on and on till he have seen dynasties...

Asian elephants live to be 50 or so; African elephants, 60-70 years. Weirdly, it seems to have been widely believed in the 1890s that elephants lived for a century; e.g. that's cited as fact in the 1894 Encyclopaedia Britannica. Either way, "dynasties" feels like an exaggeration.

... why the parrot never die only of bite of cat or dog or other complaint?

I've tried but I can't find where Bram Stoker got this one from. Maybe he made it up. The English Illustrated Magazine, 1897, contains an article complaining about how easily grey parrots die after being imported and sold as pets.

Can you tell me why men believe in all ages and places that there are some few who live on always if they be permit; that there are men and women who cannot die?

I've also got no idea what's going on with this one. I can't figure out how to look into it without coming up with lots of 1890s Christian literature on the immortal soul, which is not what Van Helsing is getting at.

We all know—because science has vouched for the fact—that there have been toads shut up in rocks for thousands of years, shut in one so small hole that only hold him since the youth of the world.

This was a wildly popular myth in Victorian times (see this article for more details). An article in The Gentleman's Magazine, 1877, entitled 'Some Facts and Fictions of Zoology' (reprinted in several other places) went into the question in more detail, and concluded:

These tales are, in short, as devoid of actual foundation as are the modern beliefs in the venomous properties of the toad, or the ancient beliefs in the occult and mystic powers of various parts of its frame when used in incantations.

Here's a toad:

Can you tell me how the Indian fakir can make himself to die and have been buried, and his grave sealed and corn sowed on it, and the corn reaped and be cut and sown and reaped and cut again, and then men come and take away the unbroken seal and that there lie the Indian fakir, not dead, but that rise up and walk amongst them as before?

This seems to have been widely believed in the late 19th century - e.g. this 1897 book references "two undoubted cases... one of whom had remained alive under the ground for six weeks, the other for ten days". This 1880 magazine says that it "will appear incredible" but relays the story of a fakir "buried alive for forty days, then disentombed and resuscitated" as fact.

The longest verified case of someone surviving without drinking water is Andreas Mihavecz, an 18-year-old bricklayer who was mistakenly locked up by police for 18 days. Even then, he drank condensed water from the walls, and was very close to death when he was found.

So in summary:

Old Parr: false

Physiognomy: false

Enormous oil-drinking spider: false

Vampire bats: partially true

Bats killing sailors: partially true

Long-lived tortoises: TRUE

Long-lived elephants: false

Immortal parrots: false

Belief in immortality: ???

Imprisoned toads: false

Buried fakirs: false

I guess there are some disadvantages to having an "absolutely open mind."

[k4txlulzz]

(warning: this is a random late night rant y'all , feel free to not take this seriously its just my scrambled thoughts lol)

vanitas no carte fandom is a lot more chaotic than i remembered it to be😭guys what happened i just came back to see how the story progressed (BTW MY FAVE SCENES GOT ANIMATED SO WELL !! the eng dub is so good too)

okay so! vanitas is my favorite character and i truly think he has a good, selfless heart. but yk what? that kiss scene with him and jeanne keeps popping up in my head. but then i remember that if i consider that moment SA i'd have to consider ALOT more romance scenes in the story as that too and i just don't think there can be that amount of **intentional** assault scenes from the creator ?😭

folks have brought up the cabin scene and??? that just confused me. because i never even thought of that possibility while looking at the panels or the scene. people hate vanitas or vanijeanne or even jeanne because of this kinda stuff and . while im conflicted and even uncomfortable(the kiss scene specifically) i also believe that the creator would not make a character SA anyone like that and make it seem romantic. i see this as: if its shown to be cute or romantic and does not show negative mental consequences of the characters after the event, it was not **intended** to be assault. (edit: while vanitas is shown to be malicious in this scene, the incident gets brought up like once after and doesn't really turn into an obstacle in vanitas' and jeanne's relationship which is what made me think this) basically, if it's shown to be harmless, it was most likely intended as that. and i understand the issue with that one weird kiss scene, i don't like it either. its just that vanitas happened to be my favorite before i learnt all this and that made me try and look for an explanation or some sort of evidence that maybe this is a "suspend your disbelief" moment but i dunno. i just desperately don't wanna think that a character and one of the dynamics that mean a lot to me have gross, scary implications . the creator wouldn't write jeanne or vanitas to do something so horrible because those are some of the characters she wants fans to be invested in and that can't be done if those characters are assaulters😭 the kiss scene still does ick me though and i think the moment should have been done differently? in any case, i generally think that media literacy is something every fan needs to have. because otherwise we back ourselves into a corner and "criticize problematic stuff" ourselves into viewing every character as a terrible person who should not be liked

but then again, this IS just my opinion and, to be clear, i don't support assault being brushed off in any media

[edit 2: i also acknowledge that i may be leaning towards copium with this one but that doesn't mean i don't recognize the creator's attempt to create a complex dynamic and characters; i just feel like because of this one scene a lot of people hate vanitas and brush off his dynamic with jeanne entirely which is sad because they have a lot of stuff thats worth getting interested in. i just wanted to make it clear that this post is just me ranting about something and not meant to be taken as a proper analysis ^^🙏🏼 it has also been a while since i looked at VNC stuff and may have gotten a bit rusty. i acknowledge that SA may perhaps be a significant part of the storytelling in VNC but i don't really want to think about those moments for personal reasons and especially when it is shown to be done by a character that really does mean a lot to me:) i enjoyed reading the comments i got on this post and am genuinely quite grateful for them]

[fredandginger64]

Sorry, but I don't get Jeanne. She immediately tells Dean she will give him a divorce? Nah, this woman was a piece of work. She had another man I believe, although I'm not sure if it was before or after Dean asked for a divorce in 1969. Probably before, she was all too ready to divorce him. And Dean, with the 22 year old beauty queen. Well that sizzled fast. Dean just could never find the happiness he was looking for, and he certainly didn't find it with Jeanne. I think he married Catherine Hawn, hoping he could be happy but that didn't work either. And Jeanne darling, if Dean Martin had wanted to go somewhere with you by himself, then I assure you he would have, come to think of it, didn't Dean and Jeanne take off to Hawaii when Dean left Jerry to handle the premiere of 'You're Never Too Young' by himself? Or did the kids go along too? Or Mack Gray? Anyway, then she says Dean has never loved anybody but her. She knew better than that! It's the very reason she hated Jerry Lewis. It seemed the newspapers were Jeanne's friends back then. They appeared to be on her side and Jeanne ate it up, granting interviews like these. That woman knew what she was doing from the time she met and stole Dean from the time she finally divorced him in 1972. And I still say, the only time Dean Martin was ever happy was his early days with Jerry, BEFORE he married Jeanne.

[howlingday]

Double Trouble

Setting - Jaune is worried Pyrrha has lost interest in him, so he disguises himself as a girl to get more involved in her life. Things go really well... until she lets it slip something only Jaune knows. Now Jaune wakes up to find himself- Excuse me. Jeanne wakes up to find herself bound and dragged down the street to an abandoned warehouse.

Jeanne: (Disguised) I can't believe you're doing this! I... I can't believe you'd kill your boyfriend!

Pyrrha: (Slams her against the wall, Growls) What did you just say about my boyfriend?! (Elbows her throat, Breaks voice modifier)

Jeanne: (Voice mixing) Jau... ne...

Pyrrha: DID YOU DO SOMETHING TO HIM?! (Grabs scroll, Calls Jaune)

Jeanne: (Scroll buzzes in pocket)

Pyrrha: (Grabs scroll) Why do you have his scroll?! (Tosses both scrolls aside, Shaking) WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY BOYFRIEND?! (Elbows nose) YOU KILLED HIM, DIDN'T YOU?! (Headbutts)

Jeanne: (Dazed)

Pyrrha: (Walks away, Runs back, Dropkicks)

Jeanne: (Falls over)

Pyrrha: (Kneels) He's the most important man in my life and you took him away! (Strikes stomach repeatedly, Gross sounds) You... You're a monster! You're some horrible, ugly beast that should be put down! (Spits, Crying) He was the love of my life! My soul mate! My best friend!

Jeanne: (Smiles through bloody teeth)

Pyrrha: DON'T SMILE AT ME, YOU CUNT! (Kicks face, Pulls out ominous twin blades) My half-brother is Greek, so I'm going to carve you open and watch you fucking die! (Tears away dress, Sees armor) You stole his armor?! You pervert! (Yanks hair, Sees Jaune) Jaune! You're alive! And you're... inside Jeanne? DID SHE VORE YOU?! Wait... Wait, no. What's going on here?

Pyrrha: (Carefully pulls him out, Holds him) Why? Why did you do this?

Jaune: (Through broken jaw) To spend time with you. I was worried you didn't want me anymore.

Pyrrha: Baby, are you crazy? Just because I spend time with the girls now and then doesn't mean I don't want want to spend time with you. Sometimes a girl needs her girl time, but a woman needs her man all the time.

Jaune: Oh, Pyrrha~! (Kisses with busted lip)