#I don't think it's so simple as this in reality - different people have different interpretations of what this phrase means

[thistledropkick]

A while back, I got pretty frustrated trying to figure out what people meant when they used the phrase "strong style." I’d seen people throwing it around frequently in English language wrestling discussion, but I’d never been able to get a real, clear definition for it from anyone, especially not one with actual citations or sources.

I decided to try reading about it on my own. And I immediately learned that people use the phrase "strong style" very differently in English than it’s used in Japanese. 

Strong Style has it’s own Japanese-language wikipedia page. Here are the first couple paragraphs, translated by me:

"Strong Style" is a concept / -ism of professional wrestling. It’s a style in which one expresses one’s "emotions (rage)" in one’s wrestling. [The source for this sentence is given as a now-private Youtube interview with Shinsuke Nakamura.] It was conceptualized by Antonio Inoki, and passed down primarily within New Japan Pro Wrestling.

In Antonio Inoki’s "Autobiography of Antonio Inoki" he said that "Strong Style" is the fusion of the Karl Gotch style of offensive and defensive wrestling techniques and the Riki Douzan style that displayed the fearsomeness of pro-wrestling."

The article goes on to say that in addition to the raw emotion and the stylistic amalgam of Riki Douzan and Karl Gotch, Strong Style is also associated with a specific style of wrestling gear - short black trunks, black wrestling boots, and bare elbows and knees.

When I’d heard people use the term "Strong Style" in English, it had felt like it had a completely different, completely unrelated meaning: "something hard-hitting, MMA adjacent, pro-wrestling that’s similar to a real fight." "Strong" taken literally and simply, as physical strength behind physical blows. But the term as conceptualized by Antonio Inoki had a completely different meaning. The "strong" here was at least as much emotional as it was physical, and the inspiration wasn't so much MMA as it was wrestling.

It’s not unusual for this kind of disconnect to occur between Japanese pro wrestling and the English-language fans, but I was still surprised to learn that the meaning of a term this widely used, and this foundational to Japanese wrestling, had been so profoundly lost in translation.

The Japanese-language wikipedia page also addresses this alternate English-language definition of the term. Towards the end, they include a quote from Shinsuke Nakamura, where he says that unlike in Japan, in America people think of Strong Style as "shoot style" with elements of boxing and amateur wrestling. It also includes a section towards the bottom of the page for "Shoot Style" pro wrestling, which it defines as completely separate from Strong Style, with a European origin and unrelated history.

In any case, reading this gave me a real sense of clarity when trying to understand how the phrase is used within New Japan Pro Wrestling.

[mirrorcatcreditcard]

Take I haven't seen in the fandom yet:

Luka doesn't want to be freed.

"Now, MirrorCatCreditcard," you may say, "that's nonsense. Any human would want freedom from that system."

If you're thinking I'm gonna convince you that Luka doesn't know he wants freedom yet, you're wrong. I'm here to talk about indoctrination/conditioning, grooming/emotional manipulation, my own experience with those topics, and how all of the above connects with Luka as a character. If a deep dive like this is too much for you, please tap out for your own sake.

Luka's life was planned before he even existed. There has never ever been an alternative option. There is no life for Luka as anything but what Herperu chose. Everything in his life has been planned to have him be the perfect pet human idol. That is what he must be.

Fandom, I don't think most of you actually understand this and have dissected what this means (shout-out to the Luka stans who are getting there/have guessed similar things). These words we know have alternatives and are not set in stone are Luka's "gravity makes rain fall to the earth" and "water makes things wet." They are facts so deeply ingrained within him that even if shown the contrary he remarks that the person showing them is just disillusioned.

Take his commentary on Mizi and Hyun-A in the art book. He looks down on Mizi for not being able to control any of her emotions. How does he talk about Hyun-A? He has her at 70% affection yet shows a patronizing attitude—she's the one in denial at reality.

Now, how did we get here? How is a human so "delusional" and set in the control?

He's been conditioned.

Some of you don't know what I mean by this from experience and/or research, and count yourself fortunate that you don't. I pray you never experience such things firsthand. Don't worry about ignorance. Familiar or not, I will explain.

When you are surrounded by only one truth and reality, that is the way you interpret life. If a parent tells a child "the moon goes to sleep during the day," until the child learns otherwise, that's what they believe. Now take that child-like belief and add some toxic environments to the mix. With time, any other kid would learn that the earth rotates from their peers or adults around them. But if the creatures around them all say and believe the same thing "the moon goes to sleep during the day," then that is what the child continues to believe. Years of that same thing being the only truth make that false knowledge into a fact in the person's head, and everything that supports that fact is taken as truth or on the right path to truth.

"This is kinda silly though," you guys are no doubt murmuring, "All of this is a hypothetical. Give us something that makes sense or that someone could actually see happen in our society."

I'll give you my own experience then. My parents taught me that God is real. My parents taught me that I will be damned I do not follow the commandments of the scriptures. I didn't need to worry though. As long as I was obedient to the God who loved me and wanted what was best, I would be saved despite being born an awful sinful human. I was homeschooled, only interacted with people of similar beliefs, and taught that people too different from me in ideology or with radical beliefs against my own were trying to harm me and my family. I believed the people who raised me because why would people who love me lie to me? My task was simple. I needed to obey God and love everyone, especially them. Love meant giving up my entire being and living only as servant and sacrifice. After all, being selfless to the utmost was the greatest form of love.

Let's go back to Luka. His guardian, Herperu, when questioned about any surprises while training Luka, stated not only that he was the one who endured the "tough moments" but also that "(Luka) owes his success to me, and naturally, he should be grateful." This sentiment is echoed by Luka in his interview (shown on Patreon). My god, it's giving parents with disabled kids who brag on social media about how much trouble their kid is and how much they do for them. Sickening. This shows exactly what environment Luka has lived in though.

When you are manipulated into having something as your reality, everything else is fiction and delusion.

Let's review what exactly is Luka's reality.

Heperu is the one suffering if Luka has any difficulties being obedient.

Gratitude is what Herperu is owed because he goes through so much trouble to make Luka a star.

Love/care is shown by owning another's autonomy.

Emotions and bodily reactions exist, sure, but someone should be able to control them; and if they can't, someone should control those reactions for them.

Segyein are superior and the good ones for dealing with humans. Humans must be disciplined and shaped to how an segyein wants it to act to be considered deserving of this goodness.

(Luka)'s perfection is defined by his guardian.

Luka's life is directly connected to being the perfect performer. His guardian praises his abilities with the statement that no other pet human will ever be as perfect as him yet leaves an underlying threat saying that it will be no good if a pet is not trained properly. This has probably been mentally (if not physically) beaten into Luka's mind: his greatness doesn't stop him from being able to be disposed of. The human instinct to want to live has been explained to him as Heperu's wish for him to live and that has been further distorted as a duty to live for the stage he has been placed on.

Luka believes fully that there is a debt in play here. In his interview, he mentions repaying love. He thinks the relationship between fan and idol is completely normal, encouraged, and healthy. Performance is the most important thing. Being where he is is a privilege.

There's a chain here:

Heperu indoctrinated Luka into believing what he says is all true.

The guardian manipulated him easily to do what he wanted with his body and mind.

The years have been spent constantly conditioning Luka to be the god who encapsulated fantasies for the audience.

He is continually being groomed to exist for the entertainment and enjoyment of segyein.

Circle back to my first point of this post. Luka does not want to be freed. He doesn't know what freedom actually is. He sees freedom as either foolish denials of reality (and doesn't consider that actual freedom) or as controlling the song and stage when he performs (something he learned from Hyuna). He cannot want something he cannot understand. He cannot want freedom in the sense the fandom keeps speaking about.

It's funny. From the moment Luka was revealed to be hated by the fandom, I wanted to know why. Instead of digging and finding horrific deeds, I instead found a character who portrayed my own traumas and experiences. I instantly attached and delved deeply into learning about this thirty year old singer. Why does he express himself in a certain way? Where do we first see mention of him? Who does he have emotions towards? How was he trained? What makes Luka himself? I have past essays/replies to other's theories if you're interested, but in this one I got personal and didn't sugarcoat the facts. If the fandom can't handle deep thought, we shouldn't be discussing this incredibly profound and depth-filled web series.

As always, thank you for your time, and I hope my thoughts allowed you to open your mind to new things. Mostly, I hope you enjoyed them 🫶

[heybank]

umm so i wrote a little fic/blurb idk i don't think it's good but it's something that's been stuck in my head for a while with my own little oc named grace but her name is only mentioned a few times so it could totally be ignored and seen as reader.

anyway this is my first ever fic so please be kind to me and if you have suggestions or other fic ideas i'd love to hear them.

not proof read and lowercase intended.

and if you think it's awful please lie to me i'm fragile 😔

deny

you are a lover girl. a hopeless romantic, someone who dreams of finding "the one" and living happily ever after. kie often says you tend to fall in love a little with everyone you meet. you can't help it though, you have so much love in you, it feels like you'll burst at the seams if you don't share it with others.

you think you're in love with your best friend jj maybank. no one understands you the way the wild blond haired boy does. no one can communicate with you with just a single look the way jj does. no one makes your heart beat out of your chest and your tummy flutter the way his dimpled smile does, eyes crinkling at the corners, a slight sunburn on his nose because lord know that boy doesn't use the sunscreen you bought him.

so yeah you're in love with jj maybank but then yesterday a different boy kissed you. pope heyward, your other best friend, genius extraordinaire whom you thought was maybe in love with kie but no- he kissed you and you felt a tingle in your ever beating heart. heat filled your cheeks and your ears became fuzzy. that was a new feeling when it came to pope. it made you excited to explore because as much as you love jj, you don't think the boy would ever return your undying affection because your friendship meant too much.

----

you stood in the threshold of popes bedroom, gasp stuck in your throat, eyes wide and mouth open at the sight before you. you’re not sure how to process what you’re seeing.

before you on the bed that pope kissed you on not even 24 hours ago, is jj maybank, your closest friend, kissing the heyward boy.

so many emotions flow through you at the sight before you.

shock because not once has jj; or pope for that matter mentioned or even hinted that they liked men- or each other. then again, jj has always liked beautiful people and pope is certainly that.

sadness because you and pope had literally just kissed. maybe you were naive to think a simple kiss meant something more to the boy, but it was pope, you don't think there's a mean bone in his body. then again you’ve always been too much of a romantic, too blinded to really see what’s in front of you. blinded by your want and need to be loved that perhaps you create situations in your mind that you interpret as reality? maybe you need to contact your therapist again. you're sounding even more delusional than before.

lastly, you feel jealousy. the angry green monster rumbling around in your tummy, making its way up your throat. you’re not sure what exactly is making you jealous because the image of the two boys kissing is surely confusing. are you jealous because pope is kissing another person who isn’t you? a part of you is jealous because he’s kissing jj. or maybe it’s that jj is kissing pope or that maybe they’re kissing eachother and they're not kissing you? you're not sure at this point. dear diary jealousy is a disease babes, and you are infected.

you must have made a noise because next thing you know, the two boys are pulling apart, a string of spit still connecting them and for a second your love rattled brain is jealous of it. the spit that is, because deep down you’ve always known that you wanted them both… to be the one to connect them. you feel slightly crazy being jealous of spit.

jjs face goes beat red and then flushes pale, like a ghost. he looks terrified and like he might vomit all over the floor in a second.

“grace!” popes panicked voice reaches your ears but they’re still kind of ringing from the shock of seeing your supposedly straight best friends kiss.

in your heartbroken haze you wonder if you're being a bad ally right now. you love the gays you swear! you just never pictured pope and jj as being a part of the gays ™.

you clear your throat, “jb and kie are waiting for us downstairs. we were going out on the boat today, remember?”

you try and say that as gently as possible because jj still looks like he’s going to pass out and pope isn’t much better.

popes hands are shaking as he reaches for you and a part of you wants to pull away but you’re not mean. you’ve never been mean so even if your feelings are hurt you’ll always put your best friends feelings above your own. and it looks like pope needs to touch you. maybe to hold your hand and reassure him you’re really standing there, witnessing something that you probably shouldn’t have.

so many emotions flicker through popes eyes. you can’t really see his blush but you’re sure if you touch his face it would be hotter than the sun.

pope grabs your hands in his shaking ones. you can feel how clammy they are and you hazard a look back to jj who has yet to even move. you’re a little concerned he’s gone into shock.

you let out a soft sigh and smile at the boys, a smile that is mostly genuine.

you squeeze popes hand and make eye contact with the panicked blonde boy on the bed.

“it’s ok jj. i won’t say anything if you don’t want me to.” you speak kindly, as if you’re talking to a scared feral cat.

you only see jj swallow hard. “for what it’s worth, i understand the appeal... wanting to kiss pope and all.” you tease hoping to cut the obvious tension in the room. you feel like you're the one choking now.

jj and pope both let out huffs like they’re afraid to laugh but also relieved you’re not upset.

“you’re not mad?” jj croaks like he still has a frog lodged in his throat. he looks at you with soft wonder, like you’re the best thing in his life. his stare makes your tummy flutter.

“of course not. you guys are my best friends. i only ever want you to be happy!” you reply honestly. jj deserves happiness after the shit life he’s been dealt. he deserves good things and if you have to set aside your feelings in order for him to have good things then by golly you’ll do that.

“grace, about yesterday-“ pope starts off,

“don’t worry buddy, already forgotten.” you cut him off. hopefully saving him the strife of having to apologize to you about the kiss and saving you the embarrassment of him telling you he regrets your kiss. you don't think you could survive hearing that out loud.

you march over to jj still holding popes hand, effectively dragging the boy with you. you throw your arms tightly around jjs neck and after a heartbeat, jj returns your hug. you move your head to look at pope and nod at him, encouraging him to join the hug.

“now c’mon. you know how pissy jb gets when he’s made to wait” you giggle.

you lead the boys out of popes room and home and into the twinkie without giving them an option of saying no.

“finally! i thought y’all died or something. what took so long” john b huffs in exasperation.

“my fault jb!” you quickly chirp so the boys don’t have to panic and think of a lie “pope showed me the new book he got and it’s my favourite and i starting gushing and you know me i can’t shut up and… well i forgot why i went up to get them in the first place” you giggle with a sheepish smile.

“you’re so lucky you’re cute, grace” kie laughs teasingly.

you see pope and jj making eye contact. you have a feeling you might need to play therapist for them soon. pope doesn’t know how to talk about his feelings without beating around the bush and well, jjs favourite thing to do is deny deny deny.

actually, that’s exactly what you’re gonna do too! deny you have feelings for pope. deny you have feelings for jj. deny you ever saw them kiss and deny that them kissing only upset you because you weren’t a part of it. deny that a part of you enjoyed it. deny that your feelings matter in this situation and deny that if given the chance, you’d love to be in between a beautiful jj maybank and pope heyward sandwich.

yep, deny deny deny. this is gonna be a long freaking summer.

[bonefall]

how do surrogacies for cats in another Clan work, socially? With honor siring you don't have to stick around once the cat you're siring for is pregnant; but with surrogacies you're going through an entire pregnancy and kitting process, which your Clan will probably catch onto at some point. Do you just... go off to give birth and come back and tell your Clan "bad news they didn't make it :( they all got uhhh eaten by a hawk sry all" after dropping them off with the cats you surrogated for

The out of universe reason is simple logistics. Some parents can't give birth but they still need a visit from the stork, with how small Clan sizes are.

In-universe, it's a whole process.

MOST surrogacies are done by family, or are in-Clan. A sibling who is able to get pregnant will do so, with the expectation that their family member will take and raise the kits.

More are done on a sort of "open book" policy. Onestar and Whitetail are an example of this; One wanted kits and asked White, but didn't want to coparent. She agreed, and neither one kept it a secret.

So Whitetail is not Heathertail's MOTHER, but it is known she was the honor-sire.

Likewise though, it's within your rights to keep it secret, even within a Clan. If you asked Onestar where the kit came from, invoking Queen’s Rights would shut it down.

But you could put two and two together that Whitetail was probably pregnant and stopped being so right when Onestar became a Mi.

For the record though. Listen carefully.

not every cat who is expecting will suddenly flash like a neon sign indicating it. The whole Clan will not suddenly get a text saying "DUDEHEART IS PREGNANT." Some people just don't show. Some cats don't smell that different. It's rude to ask unprompted and even worse if you guess wrong. Like real life.

Please understand.

On the Anthro-Scale, from 100% feral cat to 100% fuzzy human, BB cat gestation is closer to the feral cat than most of their other behaviors. So this is not the same "big deal" as a human pregnancy.

In general, I write "medical" topics closer to real cats than the Erins do. I mostly take "liberties" in the portrayal of disabilities so THOSE are closer to the real humans in my audience

intelligent cats are not going to be correcting me on my incorrect portrayal of Feline Diabetes, but I could unwittingly cause harm in spreading diabetic misconceptions that real people try to clear up, y'know?

Anyway. What that means is that warriors giving birth is not the federal issue that it is for humans. It's still not TOTALLY safe, but dying in childbirth is exceptionally rare, plus being much less painful and considerably faster

"The Birthing Stick" means something is wrong.

So there's several factors at play within Clans, but Out-of-Clan surrogacies are much more interesting.

These are usually arranged at Aftergatherings. They were rarer before the move to the Lake, which now sees waaaay more cross-clan friendships.

USUALLY the Clan's Cleric will be involved, which IS technically a waiving of the Queen’s Rights. Leafpool simply doesn't interpret it that way.

A more "traditional" Cleric, like Littlecloud, will NOT be involved for personal safety and comfort reasons. This makes a bad situation but that's the reality of QR (and is a reason why Fire Alone cats think QR doesn't go far enough.)

Kits are always given to the parent before 1 moon. Fading Kits aren't socially questioned if they fade before that 1st moon. So it's pretty easy to hide it.

"All of my litter was faders" is unfortunate in the way that a car accident is unfortunate. "Shit, are you ok?" "Is StarClan trying to keep a close eye on you? Are you going to try again?" Etc.

"Frequent Flyer" surrogates, like Brightheart, often keep a single kitten from each litter to avoid the implication of "bad omens."

If they aren't Brightheart who likes raising kittens with her mate, the kitten is often given to an in-Clan parent who wanted a child.

Most surrogacies aren't "free," but it does depend on who's doing it for you.

Like all other things in BB, this looks very different between generations, and depends heavily on the "attitudes" of the Clans at the tine. But, Queen’s Rights will protect you from revealing too much. STILL, surrogacies ARE harder than sirings. Just not impossible.

[gorgeouslypink]

Why They Entered the Void and You Haven't

One of the most popular things that I hear from my anons is complaints about how other people are able to enter the void so easily whereas the anon has been trying so hard and struggling forever. This was something that frustrated me a lot during my void journey too. I would log onto tumblr and everyday people who had just found out about the void state would meditate for 5 minutes and enter or just set an intention to wake up in and wake up in the void state and get to live their dream life. Something that really frustrated me was subliminals. Subliminal comment sections would be flooded with people who listened once or twice and entered whereas I would consistently listen for weeks and not get any tangible results. Even on my page, I always talk about compatibility but why are some people compatible with certain methods and others aren't, especially when you want to enter a certain way that so many people have entered but can't. It's super annoying and frustrating which sparks questions: why is it so easy for some people and not for others? why did they enter and you haven't?

The answer is very easy: the law of assumption!

I genuinely don't care if your a states girly or affirm and persist girl or a SATS girl or a subliminals girl or whatever else, all of these methods come back and tie into the main principal behind loa: Whatever you assume is true is the truth. Your assumptions harden into fact and become your reality. This is the basis of the law and it dictates our lives and it is the ideology behind all the methods as well. And this is why some people enter the void easily or with a certain methods while others struggle for months. We are all Gods but the difference between all of us is our assumptions and our assumptions are what leads to our compatibilities and our experiences during our void state journey.

This is why my favorite void tumblr era was the self concept/void concept era. Tumblr was overflowing with success stories for one simple reason; people weren't struggling over methods, they went straight to the root problem which was their void concept and once they fixed that, their 3d had no choice but to obey.

This is why I hate when people start complaining about methods or how challenges don't work or about bloggers. The problem will never be something external, the problem has always been you and your void concept.

You don't believe in loa. Kinda weird how you believe in the void state but not loa but just keep trying different methods and hopefully you find one compatible with you and your assumptions right now. Good luck! But if you understand what I'm saying, then there are 2 ways that we can go about this:

1. Fix your void concept. Choose whatever method you want. All of them work. States works, Intention works, Affirm and Persist works, Subliminals work, SATS works (personally my own recommendation), all the methods work. I highly recommend reading some manifestations books and trying to understand the law yourself (my personal recommendation is At Your Command by Neville Goddard, just search it up on Google and a free pdf pop ups). Understand the law and you will realize how imperative it is for life in general and the way you interpret the law will show you which method to pursue. Edward Art started off reading Neville and he interpreted the law into the practice of states which has been helping many people. I read a few of Neville's books and how I interpreted it lead me to SATS. Maya (@charmedreincarnation) who I think is one of the best bloggers on here for loa intepreted the law and uses intention. Do your own reading and see how you interpret it. Once you change your assumptions and fix your void concept, you are guaranteed to enter the void. It doesn't matter if you want to wake up in it or use yoga nidra, you will enter because that's how your assumptions will be.

2. The second way was the method I shared before my hiatus, but I think Maya's directions for it are more clearer so make sure to read this. Basically, in this method is just the intention method but on crack. The specific steps puts you in the ideal place where your intention will manifest do if you just intend to wake up in the void state, it will. You are using the law to use your advantage but are bypassing the things that hinder manifestations from being instant. Here are two success stories using this method: one and two.

I recommend combining both these ways and just entering tonight. For whatever reason, you can't do the second way, I don't want to hear any complaining. You know the problem is you. Use the first way, fix your void concept, and enter the void state. If you ask me, Im always going to be recommending SATS but just read Neville's books on your own and see what speaks to you. I also really recommend watching this wizardliz video for motivation.

I believe in you guys and I can't wait to see all the success stories.

[akookminsupporter]

hi Rosie:-) was wondering if you had thoughts on how tk became the most dominant ship in the bts fandom?

recently showed a non-army friend some classic run bts episodes, a few clips of jks funny/chaotic lives and also all the gcfs on YouTube. They was surprised when I said that jm/jk get a loooot of hate across the entire fandom - as an outsider looking in, they really didn’t understand it and said even briefly from seeing a few interactions that clearly these 2 had a close connection.

said they had a travel show coming out and they said people must be excited because it sounds fun but I had to explain some are even trying to boycott it 😂😭

As a babyarmy too, just don’t understand how jikook became some disliked/hated when every other one is accepted and tkk is considered the norm.

Have a great day!

Honestly, this is a question I've asked myself more than once. I know that Jungkook and Tae used to be close, always playing pranks and having fun together. In the beginning, people didn't really notice Jimin and Jungkook, apart from observing that they got along very well. But tkk was a very active duo in the early days of the group.

After that, I think it might be because they are attractive? Maybe, I'm not sure. That seems to be a predominant factor for the shippers of that ship.

As someone who entered this fandom without knowing anything about ships, I was surprised that this ship was so popular and that there were people who genuinely seemed to believe it was real. As I said, they were quite an active duo, but I think it's notable the time they started to gravitate towards other members. New dynamics began to grow stronger and different.

I think, for many members of the subgroup, it's a matter of "manly man + manly man." It's also an aesthetic issue, I think? I can't be sure.

The shippers of that ship are different. And different isn't always good. They stay afloat on baseless theories, edited photos, and lies—pure and simple lies.

I've always believed that Jikook is as disliked as you say because they make a lot of people uncomfortable. The other BTS ships are really just ships, in my opinion. Some may make you do a double-take, but generally, you can feel confident that you're seeing what you want to see or interpreting what you see the way you want to. I'm not sure if that makes sense. With Jikook, that's not the case. They have done and said things that break the illusion of "I'm seeing what I want to see" and enter into a reality—something real or with a real possibility of being so.

Many in this fandom have a certain fetish for same-sex relationships. It's almost like a taboo, something "forbidden," as such, it's fun because they know or believe it isn't real. It's a "game," and Jikook doesn't fit into that. That's why this fandom, in general, is always quick to justify, explain, and, as a last resort, OT7-ify everything Jikook says or does. That's why many people are quick to scold others for being "weird" just because they say Jikook is real. Jikook makes them uncomfortable; other ships do not.

Something that haters or Jikookphobics still don't understand is that no matter what they do, Jimin and Jungkook are not going to stop being who they are. More importantly, they are not going to stop interacting the way they always have. It didn't work in 2019, it didn't work in December 2023, and it’s not going to work now.

[zeroducks-2]

I love seeing all your headcanons for darker flashfam aus, because I have been thinking for a while that even though DC tries to push for cute/wholesome interpretations of the teams and families, a lot of the time in practice there's actually really dark stuff going on that they refuse to acknowledge, but the problem is fandom also doesn't like to talk about it either...

This is not a problem only with the Flash family, yeah. These folks have very complicated relationship and not all of it is sunshine and rainbows, there's a lot of dark spots and there's a lot of abusive behavior they have towards each other. And they are written like this! Fans aren't the ones who came up with Wally nearly killing Barry because Hunter told him so, or with Aquaman betraying and nearly killing Garth to save Arthur jr, or with Bruce beating up and gaslighting Dick, and I could go on. This is all canon, but then DC flips the switch and acts like these "families" (between quotation marks because in some cases these aren't families at all) are all good and sweet and "unproblematic".

And it's a big problem with the fandom too. You can show people entire pages of Iris verbally abusing and guilt-tripping Barry, or the downright outrageous way Bruce treats Stephanie, or all the shit that went down between Oliver and Roy, and people will still act like these relationship are flawless and there's absolutely nothing wrong with their dynamics.

Some of it boils down to people refusing to acknowledge abuse, and like, this is a problem in real life too so I'm not exactly surprised here. Some of it is people having developed a specific idea about the DC "families" (through fanon or some fluffy stories or their own headcanons), and refusing to acknowledge that reality is different than what they thought. Either way it's extremely frustrating. Relationships between heroes and their clusters are complex, and "everything is ok because they love each other" doesn't cut it because it's not so simple by a long shot (not saying that they DON'T love each other, but love doesn't negate abuse). And if DC wants their families to be unproblematic then they should write them that way!

[fallloverfic]

The way folks are, again, unsurprisingly shitting on the Omniscient Reader manhwa while shitting on the live-action based on what appears to be 1-2 posters and a title just says so much.

I also think it's funny folks are stating that the studio who is making the live-action movies didn't read "the source material" when a sizeable chunk of non-Korean fandom has likely only read the unrevised version of ORV, since that's what the popular English fan translation is based on. So when you are furious the movie crew didn't read the "source material", like... who are you mad at, exactly, cause statistically speaking, you probably didn't read it either?

Like it's fine to criticize the live-action stuff, I'm not trying to defend it, and it's fine to not be a fan of the title or the posters or even dislike it when it releases (personally, I'm not into live-action adaptations of most things, especially when they were already adapted into comics; I prefer full animation every time). This is just a bizarre reaction, and little different to how people reacted after the anime announcement and casting announcements/speculation for the live-action. Maybe the movie crew didn't read the source material, or at least not fully. Maybe they just made some very weird decisions. It's live-action, that happens. And adaptations are seldom going to be exactly the same as the source material. They're adaptations. That's what they do.

The only official English translation of ORV of any kind, particularly based on the revision, at this point in time, is in the manhwa. It's not perfect, and it's fine to criticize it or not be into it, but it's fucking hilarious that people think it is ruining ORV in comparison to, what, a fan translation based on a different version of the story? Assuming it's even possible to "ruin" an existing novel that is not going anywhere.

The freely available and massively hyped manhwa brought in a ton of fans to the fandom. It probably brought in a lot of folks who wrote and drew your favorite fanworks. If you think it is somehow ruining ORV, you are the problem, because you just hate other fans. And manhwa-first fans see you. Like it's fine to not get along with other fans, it's fine to disagree with their interpretations, particularly if they're basing it off of a different version of the story. This is not my first fandom where a large chunk of the fandom came first from an adaptation, and I get what it's like to be frustrated with popular fan interpretations from chunks of fandom who focus on adaptations or are adaptation-first, particularly when massive changes are made for the adaptation. But rather than write angry screeds about how the adaptation (one of which we haven't even seen yet, a poster /= a movie, let alone a series of movies) ruined the source material, you can just use your block button. There are in fact plenty of people who have interpretations of the novel you probably don't agree with, too.

But also for folks mad about "The Prophet", maybe you need a refresher?

Also for folks confused, singNsong announced on 3 February 2020 that it was a 5-part live-action movie deal. How Dokja knows what he knows about what's going to happen is an important part of a good chunk of the story, including the opening. He gets questioned about it a lot. It makes some sense they'd title the first part of five about this. I assume the other movies will have different titles.

The live-action is probably going to bring in a new wave of fans. It's a simple reality that some mediums (e.g., an 800 chapter, ongoing novel) is less inviting to people than other mediums, such as film, and folks may be interested when they see the film. A chunk of them will probably check out the novel (and the manhwa). They may even love the novel more. They may write your favorite fanfic or draw your favorite piece of art or write a great essay of thoughts on thoughts. It's happened before, many, many times. Relax.

[darklinaforever]

When I see people making entire posts and articles to defend the nice romantic interest in the love triangle where the heroine finds herself, with a villain / anti-hero, who also loves her, to explain that in fact morally the guy nice is more fair and normal and that the mean guy who is creepy and we shouldn't prefer him to the nice guy...

I always wonder what is in these people's heads.

Like... they think we're stupid ? That we are not able to see that the guy coding as a villain / anti heroes is problematic and sometimes downright creepy ? They really think they're teaching us the truth about the world with this kind of moralistic explanation / defense about a character who in the real world would actually be considered romantically good ? These people really have a problem with the difference in interpretation between reality and fiction ?

There's a very simple reason why in fiction, we sometimes prefers men with problematic traits. Because they are simply interesting. Especially compared to the normal guy the heroine will end up with.

Fact : Being a boring character in fiction is worse than being a character capable of murder.

And don't make me say what I didn't say. There are some very nice and very interesting characters in fiction too. Like Stiles from Teen Wolf or Peeta from The Hunger Games. They are simply written as real characters. And not just nice guys supposed to be a fairer path for the heroine to follow. They are interesting and convincing. Which sometimes “nice men” in love triangles just aren’t.

And sometimes there are villains who are not interesting because they have no characteristics other than wickedness or other negative aspects that can disgust us. A villain will often be appreciated for his intelligence and or certain human qualities that make him more complex than simply being evil.

So obviously, we're going to prefer this type of character for a ship, instead of the normal type who narratively barely contributes anything, and is barely a character at all.

And we're not even going to talk about the cases where the character supposed to be the bland nice man actually turns out to be a bigger asshole, objectively speaking and in reality, than the villain / anti-hero of the love triangle. Right, Malyen Oretsev ?

Anyway this is a post made out of the blue where I simply wrote down my thoughts as they came to me. I hope this is understandable. Anyway, these were my personal spontaneous thoughts. Don't hesitate to share your opinion on it.

[finxeydav]

Art Twompcord!

Hello! I’m excited to announce that I’ve made a discord server tailor made for those creative folks in the Twomp fandom who like to put their imagination out into the world! But of course if you’d like to come in just to see the wonderful masterpieces made and meet the wonderful people who make them you’re absolutely welcome as well!

Here you may showcase anything you want! Headcanons, art, fanart, pairings and ships, theories.. the works! Make new friends that enjoy the silly weirdcore series as much as you do! I’m also hoping to add in art contests and events later on once everyone is settled!

This server was designed to be a safe place for those who my feel unwelcome in other spaces, having witnessed some of the toxicity in this fandom, I thought it might be high time to create something that could unite us, because let’s face it, we’re all just a buncha sillies arguing over who’s silly ideas are more valid, when in reality, all the silly ideas are valid! In this server you’re valid and deserving of respect, and your personal creativity and interpretations will be protected. If we can all come to an understanding on that front, I think we’ll all be able to set aside our differences and happily co exist.

You may ask for entry through me on discord @finxeythemushroom289

You’ll need the code phrase to enter though, so read through these rules carefully:

—————————

┊Respect and decency.

This goes all ways to everyone, be it the admin or normal peeps. Make sure to look out for boundaries, and don't be afraid to point out yours! But do not act inappropriately either.

Violation of this rule — kick/strike.

┊All members must be 13 or over, do not endanger the server.

Violation of this rule – [ immediate ] ban.

┊Do not ping owner or staff unless necessary.

Questions are acceptable, just do not spam ping.

Violation of this rule - Warning/strike.

┊Refrain getting into conflict.

Take it to the dms, simple as that. Violation of this rule — Ban/kick. 1am

┊LGBTQ+phobia, racists, and any sort of discrimination, are not welcome here.

Violation of this rule — [ immediate ] Ban.

┊Lolicons, proshippers, and any other sorts, are not tolerated either.

Violation of this rule — [ immediate ] Ban.

┊Speak in the right channels.

examples; show art in the art section, vent in the vent channel, and etc.

Violation of this rule — Warnings only.

┊No NSFW in non NSFW channels.

Violation of this rule — strike or ban depending on the severity. Is the

┊No slurs.

Cursing is allowed, but must not be directed towards someone in an offensive way.

Violation of this rule — for slurs, ban/kick; for disrespect, strike.

┊No personal information leakage.

You could hurt yourself, and or others, so be mindful. This includes sharing screenshots of dms, yourself or others private photos, as well as general private information. — strike or ban depending on the severity.

┊if you are a minor, do not ask for a NSFW role, this is reserved for adults only, this is for your safety.

Violation of this rule — Warnings only.

┊if someone in the server is violating any of the rules stated above, you are always allowed to dm me about it, any chats you have with me are entirely confidential and I will not expose your identity if asked. I do not recommend confrontation, you may risk both of you getting in trouble.

┊Remember, Ashur is a real person, with a real life and real feelings. Be aware of this when talking about him and his works.

Witching hour

—————————————————

These rules are also in the server as a general reminder. I take the rules here very seriously, I will not be lenient on violations.

[4th-make-quail]

May I ask a clarifying question on your boundaries? I don’t consider myself “proship” or “anti” as I think those terms are reductive, and two people who may both fit under one label could have incredibly different opinions. However, I believe that the way I interact with media could be something that someone would call “anti”, in that I find it more interesting to look at fiction through the lens of reality rather than “fiction doesn’t effect reality”, by which I mean when reading Lolita I like to go “okay so what is this saying about how the psych profession saw csa at the time?” “How was this influenced by Nabokov’s own experiences?”, I see Marius and Armand as a reflection of child sexual abuse and enjoy analysing it under a more realistic lens, and would find wincest more interesting as a look at enmeshment between siblings under an abusive parent, rather than a ship (although what people mean by the term “ship” is also really vague and can differ wildly).

Based on that, and what you say in your pinned post, would you prefer I don’t interact? I wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable!

Okay so to preface this, I don't go into much detail in my pinned because I hate the whole thing, and I hate spaces which are super dedicated to the pro/anti discourse. I try to keep my online spaces free of discourse and drama because its simply not fun! I don't want to spend my days steeping in negativity.

This got very long, so I'm gonna put it under a cut!

So. The thing is anon, the proship label originally came about as a response to antis, to describe people who don't actually care what other people ship ("ship and let ship", "your kink is not my kink and that's okay" and all that), but it's been massively conflated these days and now people take it to describe what they call problematic ships or art. You're right about them being reductive terms - and in fact, I have a lot of freak friends who are super into things I personally dislike or am outright squicked by (and vice versa), because we're not a monolith.

My stance entirely is this: I don't care what other people ship. I don't care how they ship it, or how they want to analyse and engage with that source material. I think what people ship and what art people enjoy has no say at all in what their morals might be.

What you describe as how you engage with those pairings is a completely valid interpretation! Preferring to look at a relationship through those lenses is perfectly fine, and in fact lots of people do this under the umbrella of meta.

What I personally mean by "ship" is the usual description - I want those two characters to have a romantic and sexual relationship. However, I also have no issues with people who don't have that viewpoint because it quite literally doesn't affect me unless they go about harassing others.

Liking a "problematic" ship dynamic doesn't mean you also condone that thing in real life. There's a reason one of the top sexual fantasies is noncon (see: any women's magazine list of these), and it's not because the person secretly really wants to be raped in real life. It's because human beings enjoy exploring taboo subjects in a safe and fictional environment.

Where my opinion stands on this is simple. If you think it's okay to harass people for the ships they like, if you think it's acceptable to write call out posts and smear people's names because of the ships they like, then I don't want to know you. If you think liking Marius/Armand makes that person a paedophile, or that liking underage ships leads to the person eventually moving on to real life kids, or that being an incest shipper means you're gonna go fuck your own sibling, again, I don't want to know you.

The same goes for both sides of this frankly stupid issue - far too many people who call themselves proship proudly love to dunk publicly on antis or people who don't share their viewpoints, which imo makes them just as bad! If someone's out there being awful to people who don't ship their problematic ships, then it's just as bad!

This is also why I don't do any DNIs or anything like that. If I see someone start to follow me and they have big obvious "PROSHIP DNI" in their info, then I will go ahead and block them, but otherwise I'm not interested in policing who can interact with me in that way. It's not for me to decide whether someone else wants to interact with me, it's on you to decide if you want to.

I'm not gonna be going out and ripping on people who dislike a ship I like, or who engage with art in a different way to me. However, if I come across posts in my tracked tags or on my dash expressing anti sentiments, or going on a negative rant about something I love, then I will also probably unfortunately be blocking that person. I don't like seeing negativity about shit I love on my dash or in the tags (really, does anybody? lol) so I'm proactive about that because a) it depresses me, and b) I spent a long time in the ffxiv fandom, where people think liking Garleans makes you a nazi apologist, and where they love to go on ranting screeds about how my favourite characters should die painfully, and I'm honestly not about that in my fandom life.

Anyway, all this to say: if you're comfortable interacting with me, a Marius/Armand bitch who does indeed enjoy their fucked up relationship because of how fucked up it is (and finds it incredibly sexy, actually), then I'm fine with you interacting with me. I'm not gonna be sharing or posting about that specific ship anyway, and I'm certainly not gonna be awful about people who find it distasteful or triggering or even just plain don't like it for whatever reason. It won't make me uncomfortable in any way to interact with you because you engage with those things in a different way to me, as long as you don't also engage in the other activities I discussed further up.

Sorry this got so long, anon! Hopefully it all makes sense. As an aside, I'm not interested in having any debates about these issues with anyone and will not be engaging with arguments about it. Sensible discussion, yes. Arguments, discourse and wank? No. Thank you for understanding! 💚

[lee-hakhyun]

was thinking… the avatar skill is granted to writers to represent how they make characters, and even put a little bit of themselves into each one. in orv, it was mainly abused for convenient cloning, but it also ended up with two of the same person in different areas for more of a mindfuck. i do think that, perhaps, this is the way it is in orv because hsy and kimcom are depicting themselves as characters, so of course the avatars their selves in the story make would reflect themself

but another notable thing about orv is that the characters take on a life of their own, y’know? you may put in a little bit of yourself into writing them, but they aren’t and could never be you in actuality. even in a biography the distinction can be made that what is depicted in text will have been distorted from flawed human memory, let alone in a fantasy setting where you write not an ‘origin’ (inspired by past events, grounded in reality), but a ‘lie’ or a ‘wish’ (something that you yourself may not necessarily have gone through personally, fantastical or idealistic elements).

yjh is the most prominent example of this, perhaps. he’s a character that hsy’s writing and kdj’s reading had brought to life, but he’s a separate entity from them entirely, with a life of his own. hsy put a bit of herself into him (in begging kdj not to give up, among other things) which kdj then took to heart, but all three of them have so many differences regardless.

taking that into account, we could look to the side story and see how singnshong is now choosing to depict 49% kdj as a separate entity who struggled with identity - because he was a ‘character’ that kdj made, to live out the happy ending in his place (the happy ending he wanted but wasn’t brave enough to take). … but the characters you write into existence aren’t completely you. and the readers (kimcom, here) won’t necessarily see things the same way you do.

perhaps this played a role in yjh’s conversation with 49? they are both characters come to life, with their purpose and sense of identity put into question. an entity that their makers had poured so much love into for others, whose purpose was rejected as kdj’s guilt made him reject yjh (hsy’s love) and kimcom’s desperation made them reject 49 (kdj’s love). full of so much love to give, but unable to give it.

perhaps that is also part of the reason why kdj is invested in lhh’s story now too - he wants to see lhh get the story he deserves to have. to be able to love the people he deserves to keep in his life. because this ‘character’, too, has come to life in ways past the boundaries of simple words on a screen, and as a story (a person) he deserves to be heard.

everyone borrows parts of each other,,

how i think of it, part of why 49 started breaking down was because he started not seeing himself as 'kim dokja' anymore han sooyoung's avatars all still saw themselves as 'han sooyoung', and everyone still acknowledged her as hsy. but for 49.. they might not have said it (bar hsy), but everyone was looking for the 'real' kdj and 49 was struggling.

and this is just a thought, but maybe the reason lee hakhyun can't use avatar is because he doesn't have a solid grasp on his own identity? we don't actually know what his abilities are because he can't see his own attribute window, just the effects (language interpretation and another effect that lets him connect clues together..?) he probably doesn't have the 'writer' attribute in the same way that kdj didn't actually have the 'reader' attribute

...your comment about yjh's conversation with kdj made me realize that one of the lines,

'someone once told me this'... i went looking for the line. and.

yjh told 49 the words that lee sookyung told him.

and if kim dokja is watching lee hakhyun's story to fulfill 49's wish,, oughh the side story lets everyone have the stories they deserve. even the outer gods. especially the outer gods.

[sansacherie]

how are you feeling about the upcoming season 2? are you looking forward to it? i always think of that post you made saying that whenever i miss the show i'm really just missing alicent. i'd like to enjoy the show and i'd like to see more of alicent, but i can't feel much more than dread because i don't have any faith that they will treat alicent in a fair way. i really appreciate having mutuals like you who see how impressionable the audience is against alicent and how much more forgiveness the narrative has for its men than its women (esp green women)

hmm yes and no 😭😅

i'm invested in alicent. because despite the writers' approach, the intentional/unintentional, i failed to hate alicent, or even feel sorry for her in the the way some sanctimonious viewers do, full of cold and distant pity which enables no real empathy or understanding. i became invested in alicent, and i loved her.

but at the same time - no. she's not the only reason, but she is a big one. i dread the way they're going to approach her in s2 because it's a good chance its not going to be fair, or at least they're not going to be fair if rhaenyra or team black looks bad in the process.

like one of the reasons i'm not looking forward to it is because of alicent deciding to crown aegon because it was "viserys' wishes". because of this i know there are people hoping that later when rhaenyra holds the capital she'll tell alicent that he meant something else entirely different. and the cynic in me would be like why would anyone believe that anyway? honestly it would look like rhaenyra attempting some form of legitimacy. but by then why should alicent care? so viserys believed in a prophecy. so did his descendant rhaegar targaryen and he ruined so many lives just like viserys, including a 14-16 year old girl while he was at it!

just because they believed in prophecies doesn't mean they were right or interpreted it correctly. doesnt give them the right to play with other people's lives like that.

another reason why i dislike it is that the change took away a lot of the complexities that came with the green coup. i don't have a problem acknowledging the sexism that plays a factor. but alicent is also someone who long before she was forced to accept the realities of her children supported rhaenyra's claim and who told rhaenys targaryen she should have been queen. maybe one can say she was just trying to soften rhaenys and maybe that was partly influencing her but at the same time honestly she didn't HAVE to say it. like she could have just told rhaenys the cold facts of the situation and left it at that.

but there are people in this universe who don't think a woman should rule even if she is the undeniable rightful heir and will go for a male option even if his claim is so weak it's a joke. like the male cousins who tried to contest jeyne arryn's rule for example even though she was her father's only surviving child. alicent isn't like that. but she also isn't going to ignore her son's rights which is just catelyn stark coded aka most medieval noble women. the thing about book alicent for example when people call her ambitious is that alicent wasn't really asking for anything more? the expectation for most noble women outside of dorne (and even in dorne there are still some houses where sons inherit before daughters)!) is that their firstborn sons will inherit their father's lands/castles. i remember reading a while ago someone on here saying alicent should have been content with her children being princes/princesses because if she married into another house they wouldn't be royal. and that irked me (not the person who said it) because i would take this take more seriously if viserys organised strong matches for them. but of course he didn't because of a) targaryen blood purity and b) subconsciously to prevent alicent building a cause but in that case maybe viserys shouldn't have bloody remarried! it's that simple. but then again this is the same man who didn't see the holes in the jace-helaena betrothal so who knows.

so yes ultimately alicent did "usurp" rhaenyra partly because of sexist notions (sons v daughters) but at the same time rhaenyra's inheritance exists on the whims of a man! i just can't help but think rhaenyra might have been more interesting in a story where she decided to challenge aegon's claim simply because she was older and wanted to be queen, maybe arguing that just as aegon the conqueror took the realm with dragons she can take the iron throne because she has more than the green faction/her brother.

and going back to alicent she defies the wishes of said man for her children! viserys is/was her husband so she should obey his will but instead she will crown aegon anyway and defy her husband's wishes. people lose out on that because they're too busy being pissed about rhaenyra.

these writers don't deserve alicent

[forestdeath1]

Really don't understand why people keep saying that Remus didn't love tonks truly. I think he did but ppl around keep saying that he's coded as gay?

Hmm I think I'm not the best person to ask this because I have different views on the concept of love. I'm very open-minded about it and believe anything is possible in our world.

But I’m just wondering. What does true love means? Last year, my mate divorced his wife after 8 years of marriage because he realised he's gay (he's gay, not bi, because he said so. Period.) Did he not love her during those years? Or did he love her, but not truly? Where is the line between true love and "fake" love? Why is everything so simple in fandom? Life is definitely not that simple.

Regarding made-up "gay coding", it's really filled with a lot of bi-erasure. Bi-erasure is a reality, not a fiction, and it's embedded in our culture. Bi people are "not gay enough," so they are often overlooked (and also not straight enough). People often forget that a man can be bi, attracted 90% to men and just 10% to women or other genders. He doesn't become gay because of this. There are bi men who have never dated women or other genders, but they know they are bi.

And people often use the metaphor of lycanthropy-HIV for gay Remus, but this argument doesn't work because the HIV epidemic of the 80s was always associated with both gay and bisexual men. HIV is a story first written on the bodies of Gay and Bisexual men. So yeah, it’s bi-erasure. Moreover, "bisexuals have become the easiest group to blame in the spread of HIV between the gay and straight populations. Bisexuals have been stereotyped by straights as duplicitous, closeted men who participate in sex with other men and then bring home disease to their wives". Hmm... who in the books are accused of spreading disease to "normal" people? Isn't it the werewolves?

Bisexuality is an often invisible identity. Heterosexual and homosexual communities contribute to bisexual erasure, acting in concert to protect a binary system that is complicated and disrupted by the possibility and presence of bisexuality. Contemporary cultural norms and “pop science” demonstrate the acceptance of two types of partner choice—heterosexual and homosexual—whereas the bisexual person is made virtually invisible. A historical analysis reveals that our modern categories of sexuality came into existence as recently as the 19th century, and that the selection of gender of object choice as the salient feature of sexuality was not accidental, but rather it developed out of pressure to reinforce the sexual binary between men and women. When a literary character engages in sexual acts with members of both sexes, the character's sexual orientation is most often interpreted within the framework of our hetero–homosexual binary, even by the queer community as demonstrated in an analysis of literary criticism surrounding Jeanette Winterson's Written on the Body and Radclyffe Hall's Well of Loneliness.  Read more

Well, overall I try to stay detached from bi-erasure in fandom. There isn’t much that can really hurt me now, including bi-erasure online, but bi-erasure in real life is part of my story. Bi-erasure exists not just in fandom (which isn’t a big part of my life and I only joined recently), it exists in real life too. I knew I was bi from the age of 13 (well, actually, around 14-15 I thought I was a lesbian because my only loves at that time were girls), and I’ve spent a big part of my life as bi. In the past, I felt ashamed in front of some lesbians and straights, as if something was wrong with me, but can I change my sexuality? I know some bi people who, because of traumatic past experiences, prefer to surround themselves with other bi people. Not to mention the myth of straight-passing privilege. Bi people are marginalised not just among straight people but also within the LGBT+ community. Bi, trans people or people of any other sexuality (+) are considered outcasts.

So, many people take a character who in the original story married a woman, and label him as gay, finding "evidence" for it. They say it's not bi-erasure. If this isn't bi-erasure, then what is bi-erasure?

As I've already said, I am open to any interpretation. And in one fanfic, I write Remus as gay. Because that's what I want. But I don’t find "evidence" for this. I just decided that he's gay, and I interpret the rest of his story through this lens.

[awoart114253]

headcanons and thoughts about the Role Reversal Au for EX

this is my own interpretation of a reversed roles au, is heavily inspired by Void's ao3 oneshot, but I don't want to interfere with their story and ideas, so this is my own take on their concept/story...

so the main twist of the au is Ex becoming admin after getting X banned in HC s1, before X was admin, leaving Ex to be the one to eventually become the sole admin of HC

my main thoughts about admin Ex in this au compared to canon would be Ex's attitude and personality, with the responsibility of being an admin being put in their hands... I imagine they were a mess at first, maybe even similar to X, Keralis and Joe were the main ones that guided them, which means they became rather close to the two in that time

I like to think about Ex not caring what happened to X, they were too happy and exicted about being on a server around people who were nice to them, Ex had this childish personality at first... but as the years went on and they had to mature and learn many things to be a competent admin, guilt started to grow

guilt of what they did to X, they weren't the ones who pulled the trigger but they were the ones who set it up... a little lie that became much bigger than them

the song I used for the timelapse of my fanart for the Au is called Apricot by iyowa, is a song about a character who doesn't want to grow up but has to face reality either way

I think it fits admin Ex since "facing reality" in this scenario would be to admit that they lied, that their whole existence as the admin of HC and the friendships they built was all based on lies, they were simply taking the place and role of someone else... but Ex is too deep in it now

they love the hermits, and if keeping this from them means Ex gets to enjoy this "daydream" then so be it... they can even say it's to protect their hermits, if they really want to be delusional and selfish

and that means that the way Jeff taunts Ex is slightly different from canon Ex, since Jeff uses Ex's affection for X as a way to mentally taunt them... in this au, Jeff uses Ex's guilt

I drew Ex choking X with this very idea in mind, in the infamous Evil's fault scene I imagined in this au Ex would be forced to look into the blurry face of X while they can't move, with their hands wrapped around his neck while Jeff taunts them with their guilt and the ugly truth they try so hard to hide

it's easy to manipulate Ex into letting Jeff stay there. It's so simple, Jeff just has to use this against them

doesn't matter how many times the hermits say they can always talk to them about anything

Ex will always stay quiet

*slaps the top of the car*

this baby can fit soooo much angst!!

okay that's enough angst, let me talk about the cute headcanos of admin Ex

for my design of admin!Ex I went with a face mask and visor rather than full helmet, not just because I like drawing Ex's glorious disney princess hair but because the hermits love to braid it!

I like to think that it started as a thing keralis did, when Ex was working late on some code or trying to figure out something admin related, instead of fighting a very sturboon sleep deprived Ex... he simply started to slowly take little bits of Ex's hair and start braiding, that helped Ex relax and the more hermits heard about it the more they begged Ex to let them mess with their hair too

some hermits even like doing it as anxiety relief, so Ex happily decided to have a mask that would still cover their face and eyes but let their hair out, Ex had many hair styles through the seasons due to this... I think some hermits cried when they decided to have short hair for a while around s6

Ex is definitely a builder, redstone is for nerds, no questions asked... also because they feel... guilty about picking up after something X taught them when they were younger

still don't know what style they would mainly build in, but I bet darker color schemes and sharp shapes are their main thing, oh right... can't forget some Red! the pink red-ish tone of crimson wood is Ex's favorite block, they would build a whole base with just this color and texture if you let them

Ex is not the best.. beeest admin in the technical department, but they're awfully good at manipulating player code, meaning that any problems player related are easier to deal with in Ex's book... unless it is a mix of server code corruption + player code corruption, then they go on a full mental spiral... thank the void Keralis is there to calm a very anxious and desperate Ex

sometimes Ex thinks about how X would be a much better admin than they are if he was still here

Ex is awfully and I mean awfully competitive, talk about participating in every server war you could think of and treating it like an actual war zone... Ex's true chaotic personality sometimes shines through the strong face they try to put as an admin, the hermits know that very well... their admin can be scary sometimes

Ex, even though having grown a lot of patience over the years, it's still very easy to rile up and make them angry, some hermits like taking that as a challenge to annoy their admin and fuel their "hidden" strong personality

Ex doesn't like appearing in public, that doesn't mean a lot of players from outside of hermitcraft don't know who they are... if anything, their mysterious nature as the admin of hermitcraft where "the best players reside" only servers to full the fire of people's interest

gladly, no one has dug up enough to find any archives about Ex's family and previous server residency

not even in another universe Ex can escape having a public reputation...

this is an awful long post so I'll stop here and continue another time lol

[tajmutthall]

Vindicta interrogatus

(I don't know Latin so grammar might not be accurate.)

I recently read Vindicta by OneKingdomOnce. https://archiveofourown.org/works/55937650

It tore me to pieces, reduced the foundations of my post-Kings-Rising beliefs to rubble, left me feeling as if I had missed a whole subtext in the Captive Prince novels that somehow @laurent-ofvere picked up on and used it to break my heart twenty ways.

This is not to say that it is a bad story. It is fabulous. Well-written, well-plotted. The characters are recognizable and believable, although in different ways than one might have expected, because they are *consistent* with canon and yet--what *are* they in canon, really? It hurt to read it. And I've been consumed with tentatively trying on the feeling of *that* being the post-novels reality. Went back and reread many portions of the novels.

The writer's fabulous mind somehow pulled out the aspects of the characters that could possibly be reinterpreted without making canon false. It's a weird feeling.

I don't want to provide spoilers exactly. You have to read it and make your own interpretation and admire the writer's craft and skill. But I do want to introduce some of the observations and questions that poured into my mind while rereading canon and lying there in the dark. And wondering how many of them the author also wondered, leading to the Vindicta result.

Fairly late in Kings rising, Laurent told Damen about how he still had hated him after all the various things that Damen had done for him. Is that hatred truly eradicated?

Laurent lies. without remorse. We know that. And is amazingly believable when he does so. How much of what he says can we truly believe? In canon or afterwards?

Laurent can play (act) a part perfectly.  Jokaste in a blue dress. The Pet in the inn with Damen. And possibly for a long time, given how he has carefully curated his image among the folks in Vere.

everything we see, except the chapter in which Laurent is knifed by Govart, is from Damen's point of view, who sees things in simple and linear fashion. What do we know about how accurate he is at recognizing deceit? Recognizing lies? Putting pieces together and coming up with accurate conclusions? understanding people's motives? Really seeing deeply into Laurent's complex mind and emotions?

Is Nikandros that much better at it than Damen?

Do we get any sort of inkling about how good a king Damen would be? Clearly he is a brilliant military strategist and tactician and that he can fight like gangbusters and is very strong. What do we know about his skill  required to govern? How much of that would fall on Laurent's shoulders?

we know that Damen loves sex and apparently loves pleasing his partners. Could he possibly misinterpret Laurent's responses to him? Could he really honestly give up all others for Laurent?

How much does Laurent really love what Damen does to him physically? How much could he really absorb and accept? How much was he just being hurtful, but lying? or telling the truth? "I needed a victory at Charcy. You provided it. It was worth enduring,’ Laurent spoke the terrible, lucid words, ‘your fumbling attentions for that.’ (Pacat, C. S.. Kings Rising (The Captive Prince Trilogy Book 3) (p. 42). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.)

Near the end of Princes gambit, Laurent (yes he is angry but still) rants about he was glad that Kastor killed Theomedes, with poison, and how he wished he could've seen Damianos' face When Kastor's men came for him with their swords. Was he really simply just lashing out because he was angry at that moment or was that still what he really felt and wanted to see happen?

what does Nikandros really think about Laurent? What does Laurent really think about Nikandros? What does Nikandros think about Damen now? WHAT DOES Laurent REALLY THINK ABOUT Damen now?

We know that Laurent is perfectly capable of playing the long game (witness his comments about how the game with his uncle started a long time before Damen). How long a game can he play? --has he been playing?