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artist-issues · 2 days ago

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I have never seen anything so satisfyingly bad in my entire life, and we’re going on like ten years of these Live Action Remakes.

Don’t you DARE go see this movie if you love the real Lilo & Stitch.

1 - Where is Gantu? Why did they cut him out of the trailer? Is it because they haven’t finished rendering him yet, because let me tell you, that’s what it looks like for every other character.

2 - Why is Stitch so small. Why is he so small. Why is Stitch that small. He’s supposed to be the same size as Lilo. 1 because it creates more visually-appealing shot compositions when the story is focused on the TWO of them 2 because thematically he is “a future Lilo,” he is the little monster-version of herself that she could turn into if she didn’t have family 3 because the size of a 6 year-old is the perfect balance between “threatening” and “non-threatening” when he has to interact with toddlers and 18 year-old women and 40-foot-tall aliens alike. He cannot. BE. That small. What, we’re supposed to have him stand up on a stool or a stack of books or a countertop every time he and Lilo need to look each other in the eyes?? Did anyone think while making this movie?

3 - How does his orange jumpsuit look so much lazier than it does when it’s a hand-drawn collection of colors and shapes in the original?

4 - Why did they choose the take where the New Nani Actress said “nobody get’s left behind” in a whiny, exasperated voice? When the real Nani specifically delivered that line as if she were somberly, mournfully, reverently remembering what her parents told her? And then moves on to “slightly-annoyed” but only when it’s time to say “I know, I know.”

5 - Why is Stitch so small.

6 - Is that Jumba’s voice?? Why? Why is it not even deep? Why did they re-write the line so he doesn’t mention Stitch as a “monstrosity?”

7 - Speaking of monstrosities—go back and re-do Pleakley. All of him. What—what happened. What happened?? They made every alien I can see in the trailer uglier and less appealing than Stitch—which is SO NOT THE POINT OF HIS CHARACTER DESIGN—but none looked worse to me than Pleakley. He has a fish eye. It is horrifying.

8 - And they made sun-tan-ice-cream-tourist look local. So like…what’s the point of her taking his picture, then? In the beginning of the movie? He’s in the movie to be an example of a hapless tourist, and tourists mean something specific in LILO’s little headspace—she takes safari-pictures of them in her hometown like they’re a rare, foreign sight, because that’s her way of processing the reality that these are people who specifically come to her home just to leave again—and Lilo has issues with people leaving.

9 - Don’t put Stitch on a leash. Don’t do that. There’s a reason they don’t do that in the movies. 1 He is super strong and he is not trying that hard to hide his super strength, especially not when it comes to resisting Nani telling him what to do. 2 Lilo and Nani live in a very laid-back sleepy neighborhood, it changes the vibe when dogs are on leashes. It’s supposed to feel so laid-back that there are lots of free-roaming dogs and no strictly-enforced leash-laws. There are other dogs in the movie and none of them wear leashes or collars. (I know it’s small but the small choices build the movie.)

10 - Lilo. I like that little girl. She can play Lilo all day for all I care. But that is not Lilo. Lilo doesn’t get hip-checked to the ground and then sit there looking sad. I don’t—why do I have to say that? That’s many people’s favorite part of the movie, that she just goes ballistic on Mertle the minute she’s provoked. That better just be a specific edit in the trailer. They better not have cut out her punching Mertle Edmunds in the face. And you know what else? She does not. SCREAM. When she first meets Stitch! You know they could’ve done that, right?? You realize that every other character who sees Stitch for the first time reacts LIKE THIS:

BUT NOT LILO. LILO does not react like any old stereotypical girl. She also does not react like any alien from any planet or any grown women or any tourists expecting to see foreign sights. She reacts uniquely like Lilo: like a nervous little girl hoping to find a friend, who doesn’t bat an eye if that potential friend is blue and shark-mouthed and monstrous. (Everything else about that little girl is perfect, I like her line delivery, I like that she goes “pretty close” when he mispronounces “family,” the original Lilo says “pretty close” in the same tone when she’s trying to teach him how to say new words in the television series.) 11 - Why doesn’t Stitch’s face move at all? Why does it look like his eye muscles and nose muscles have no range of motion, but his lips have way too much? He’s supposed to talk with his jaws more than his lips, like how a crocodile can’t chew or keep food in so it just opens and shuts it’s jaw and throws food to the back of it’s head.

12 - Speaking of re-writing lines, what’s with Lilo and Stitch having an exchange where he admits to being “bad??” And then she point-blank says “family isn’t perfect. But that doesn’t mean they’re not good.”

Is that supposed to be a nod to Stitch saying, at the end of the movie, “It’s little and broken but still good?”

Do you know why the real Stitch is the one to say “it’s (his family’s) little and broken, but still good?” Because he’s saying “good” as in, “acceptable.” “The way it ought to be.” Not “good” as in “morally good” the way that Stitch is “morally bad.” He just uses the word “good” because Stitch can barely speak English and that was the simplest, best way for him to say what he was trying to communicate. If you take him to mean “morally good” then the whole point of the movie gets ruined.

The point of the movie is that the people in your family aren’t perfect, but imperfection won’t break your LOVE for them. It doesn’t mean you ignore your imperfections, and it doesn’t mean you embrace those imperfections and celebrate those imperfections—if it did, you know what, Stitch would still push Lilo to the ground and wreck her stuff and laugh when she’s hurting, the way he does because of his “imperfections” at the start of the movie. But instead, what family is supposed to do with “imperfections,” according to the original movie, is love you anyway and stick around helping you work through them.

That’s the whole point of “nobody gets left behind or forgotten.”

It cannot mean “family members aren’t perfect but we still believe they’re morally good people.” Because that implies that it’s the fact that they’re “morally good people” that makes you stick around, when the whole point of the movie is the opposite: Stitch is objectively morally evil, and they choose to stick around anyway.

Stitch is objectively morally evil. I have to stress that. That’s the whole movie. The whole movie is “what if we start with the villain and redeem him.” If he’s not a villain he doesn’t need redeeming and if he’s not bad it takes all the power out of Lilo’s love for him.

And honestly, he never comes to terms with the fact that he’s “morally bad” in this movie. That’s not the point. He would never admit “Stitch bad” in the original movie. Chris Sanders said, “By the end of the film, he’s not a better person. He has just understood family.”

He becomes “a better person” in the epilogue. But in the original movie, Stitch doesn’t think so much about the difference between “bad” and “good.” He thinks more about the difference between “belonging” and “not belonging.”

Why is this so hard

If you like me don’t go see this movie. More importantly, if you like the original movie—if you think it was good—if you think it was excellent—accept no imitations. Do not go see this new remake.

Remember what Anika Noni Rose just said about the new Princess and the Frog shorts that are coming out—Disney is counting numbers. Do not stream. Do not buy tickets. Just stream and watch the original. And tweet Chris Sanders and tell him how much you love the old one.

#Lilo & stitch #live action lilo & stitch #lilo & stitch live action #live action #remake #rehash #reboot #live action reboot #not my Disney #stitch #lilo #experiment 626 #Pleakley #Jumba #trailer reaction #lilo & stitch 2025 #lilo & stitch 2002 #lilo and stitch

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 8 hours ago

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Since you've discussed your favorite parts of ep. 7, I'd like to know your biggest criticisms of it & how you would've addressed them.

[Referencing this post!]

*raises finger* (my lawyer pulls me away)

Here’s how I would change the ending (while still staying within the Disney + mobile gacha game restraints and sticking with the themes + patterns established by other OBs):

Rework all the dreams. Every single last one. I can’t count the number of issues I have with them. Between the inconsistent pacing (4-35 parts per boy), the lack of urgency, extra fat (irrelevant convos), frequent contradictory explanations of the dreams, and the on-the-nose announcements of how each boy has changed, these are horribly inefficient vehicles for storytelling and need to be significantly tightened.

Between each dorm’s dreams, cut back to Malleus and Lilia so they at least STAY relevant for a book that is supposedly about Diasomnia. Let us know what Malleus’s current state of mind is, have Lilia reflect on what it’s like to see Malleus twisted into… this. Something, anything.

Make the explanation for the dreams consistent. Instead of changing the explanation or slapping on new details every other update, just claim right from the get-go that dreams tend to pull from a dreamer’s wishes/desires but it’s unknown how the dream worlds will actually be interpreted or how they’ll interact with Malleus’s magic since each person is so different. You can still have the dreams with deeper hidden meanings, but avoid overcomplicating the logic governing dreams in the first place.

Have Lilia join up with us in the dream world. Maybe a scene where Ortho or Idia connects the dots on his identity and contacts Lilia using his Muscle Red gaming ID tag in the dream world. Lilia receives his invite that way and joins us for the battle maps + help Silver and Sebek train with their new equipment. You can also potentially use this section to have Silver and Lilia reconcile over Lilia keeping secrets from him.

Like how Sebek had moments with the first years in their dreams, give Silver moments in which he can reflect on his relationship with + thoughts on the Dawn Knight. It feels a little strange to me that we went from emotional breakdown learning about his lineage to… thanking the Dawn Knight for not taking Lilia away at the end??? Like it feels like we missed the middle part of that development. We never got to hear his inner thoughts about the ordeal or how he comes to terms with it. For something so heavy, you’d think there would be more screen time dedicated to that??

The sword strikes Malleus, which brings him back to his senses but doesn’t break the horn. (This is just a personal dislike thing; it’s uncomfortable for me because it inevitably reminds me of poor injured animals and that’s not exactly… fun 💦)

Lilia still gets in the way of Malleus and Silver’s final stand-off, but rather than dying, he’s in critical condition and is in very real danger of dying.

Have Malleus willingly sacrifice a significant chunk of his magic (since he has all that excess from the senators blessing him + Malleus even canonically says he’ll give up his wings, his lifespan, etc.) to bring back Lilia from the brink. This would serve multiple purposes: 1) permanently power cap Malleus, 2) show him that his previous actions actually hurt Lilia but he also has the power to do good too (so he’s not filled with complete despair at the end), 3) rids him of the excess power he didn’t ask for, so now he’s more “approachable” to people, 4) doesn’t bring up potential issues with reviving the dead, since this could be categorized as ultra powerful healing magic, and 5) parallels the self-sacrifice Lilia had for him, that Silver had for Lilia, etc.

Honestly, I think Lilia should move away to the Land of Crimson Long to retire instead of regaining his magic and returning to NRC as a student. That way, Malleus isn’t the “special” OB boy that doesn’t have to still deal with the thing he OB’d over. Have it end on a hopeful note though, like have Idia or Lilia showing Malleus how to text (which is now more feasible die to Malleus’s reduced power) so he can always reach out to Lilia at a moment’s notice. This also fits in with the theme of keeping connected.

Alternative scenario to the previous point: have Lilia be taken away to urgent care and/or in a coma for a while. Let Malleus stew with the weight of what he did. Then maybe he + Diasomnia are called in when Lilia’s unstable and this might be good-bye 💦 Idk, at least then Lilia wouldn’t be dead for all of 5 seconds and Malleus would actually have a period where he’s forced to sit and reflect on what he did. Worrying and praying that Lilia will be saved, promising to the stars that he’ll never act out again if they just save Lilia. (You can still have your power of love saves him moment here!)

Following the OB, give a more balanced view of the repercussions of Malleus’s OB. Tell us how other nations are reacting, show us that some people are suspicious of him + need extra help recovering after the fact (in addition to people who love his UM and want to stay in there longer), etc. The current version works overtime to reassure us that there are zero negative (or even dubious) consequences when, logically, there would be at least some. This includes the main cast. Realistically speaking, they’d at least have some reservations or complicated feelings revolving around what happened in their dreams and how they feel seeing Malleus return. Ultimately, they’d welcome him back but some of them would still snark a bit while others are more forgiving (depends on the character; not all of them would react the same way).

We can still have the party + knighting ceremony at the end, but include some kind of magical broadcast or something where Malleus apologizes to all of Twisted Wonderland and lets them know what steps he intends to take to make amends moving forward. In the original, he only apologized to NRC, which I feel doesn’t cover the scope of the lives he could have affected. And if you’re going to have the other OB boys recite their flaws + how pathetic they were wallowing in darkness + how they’ve changed/are better than that now, grant Malleus that same opportunity here. It would also be great if he could go around and acknowledge the important people in his life, including classmates, to show us that he truly recognizes the value in these connections. I do, however, want to caution: the speech shouldn’t sound like Malleus speedran a character arc and is now without flaws. Malleus should also have some lines where he admits he’s imperfect and may falter, and if that’s the case, then he trusts us to admonish him and set him on the right path. This would show us that he’s willing to give up control to others and that he’s being more receptive to criticism.

Add a nod to Raverne at the end??? Like maybe Malleus wonders where his father is and we get some explanation as to why he didn’t show up in the Castle Wildrose memories but his mom did.

I don't think I actually made many changes here; most of the plot points remain, just change the execution and what the focus is on.

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arciam · 1 day ago

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Underrated JayVik moments/lines (13/∞)

"You should come up with me. We're partners!"

...This well-meaning, painfully oblivious himbo is2g.

Don't get me wrong; it's great that Jayce wants Viktor to be included. But that scene as a whole, to me, has always been one of the most brutal when it comes to the developing disconnect between Jayce and Viktor.

It's the most unguarded with Jayce Viktor will ever be about his anxiety regarding the precarious spot he inhabits in Piltover and society as a whole, his damaged self-image... and yet there is not a shred of recognition on Jayce's face as to why Viktor would decline to make a public appearance in front of "all of them".

After all, they're partners, equals (and in Jayce's eyes, Viktor was never broken), so where's the issue?

This right here is a running theme throughout season 1 - time and time again, Jayce fully fails to assume Viktor's perspective and see what the world looks like through his eyes. Jayce knows he thinks the world of Viktor, but sadly, this blinds him to how differently they are treated, how broken Viktor views himself in anticipation of people's disdain, and above that, just how lonely Viktor feels.

How fully and truly forsaken he feels whenever Jayce fails to support him.

Jayce doesn't understand that Viktor needs him at all.

Once you recognise this, you see it in almost all of their scenes throughout acts 2 and 3. Even in some they don't share, such as, infamously, the sex scene.

(Even the one time Jayce appears somewhat close to this realisation, he says "now he needs me and there's nothing I can do" ...Jayce please. Even Mel understood that the only thing he would have had to do for Viktor was to not leave him alone, yet this pure-of-heart, dumb-of-ass boyfailure keeps wanting to do the most and thereby accomplishing the least. I love my man dearly but Christ alive...)

Thankfully though, it doesn't stay that way.

Because not only does Jayce eventually learn – in a very hands-on way – what the world looked like from Viktor's perspective by losing the function of his leg, clawing his way from the depths of the Fissures to the top of Piltover in maddening solitude (save for the gawking of unsympathetic entities). And not only does he learn that the „impossible dream“ as his mother put it, the beauty and the salvation he was chasing his entire life was Viktor all along.

He also learns that this same dream literally bent time and space solely to set Jayce on his path to Viktor. To save him from himself, to save him from loneliness –

because Viktor needs him.

"Only you can show me this" - Without you, I am lost.

And I believe the moment Jayce realised this, understood the depth and scale to which Viktor actually needed him, that's all there was. In the end, when given the choice, of course he was going to stay with Viktor over abandoning him ever again.

(Disclaimer: When I refer to Jayce as a himbo or a dumbass, I am not downplaying his intellect, only questioning why he's not using it sometimes.)

Part 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13

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#JayVik #JayVik meta #Arcane meta #Jayce Talis #Viktor Arcane #Jayce x Viktor #Arcane

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umbrellalurantis · 2 days ago

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The only thing I feel I disagree with in all of this is the "compliment sandwich" part for criticism.

If it's a minor suggestion or improvement, you can probably ask them directly if they want feedback in that moment, and if they don't, that's fine because it's not a priority or a big deal. And if it is a good time, remember to emphasize that the way they are doing it is fine and explain why your suggestion could help. And needless to say, if you can't think of why an alternative would be better, maybe don't try to push it.

And if it genuinely is something crucial enough that you can't just wait for a better time, then hiding it behind unrelated praise can muddy the message. This isn't to say praise is bad in any sense, as positive feedback is important, but positive feedback should be given frequently on its own instead of tying it as part of the negative. If you need to phrase it as a compliment sandwich to remember to give someone praise, you risk giving praise only when you have something negative to say. You risk making your praise feel disingenuous.

But again, unless it's genuinely a massive issue, just ask if it's a good moment before just throwing negative stuff at someone.

The real core of it is:

Praise people, often, it can genuinely mean a lot, and it tells them their efforts mattered.

Don't criticize others over pointless things.

If you have suggestions ask if it's a good time and explain why it would help and be understanding if they decide they prefer their way.

And if there is genuinely a massive issue, then yes, you might have to let them know right away. You shouldn't be rude about it, but if it's genuinely something you can't just leave for later, then make sure you're clear about the issue and why you're interrupting them over it. But for like 95% of cases you can probably wait for a better time or even keep it to yourself if it's minor enough.

The mattress company I worked for the first time no longer exists. It was long ago eaten and assimilated by a bigger company. But when I started it was an incredibly intense five weeks of training. I was told I was extremely lucky to be selected, and I was. From a pool of a hundred applicants only fifteen of us made the cut to entering the training program.

The course covered how to talk to customers, how to ask open ended questions, how to close a sale, and product knowledge. I learned a lot, and truthfully my greatest takeaway was a lot of social scripts that I could use in other areas of my life.

We also had a midterm exam and a final. Both included a roleplay element with a trainer and a written portion. They told us when we started that the course was challenging but it was still a shock to come in after the midterm and realize half the class had failed.

I was named valedictorian of training- a dubious honor as it meant I’d done the best in the class, but popular lore had it that valedictorians struggled the most on the sales floor. Lo, I struggled.

Not because I wasn’t good. I was. But because my manager set out to systematically destroy my self esteem. Every sale, every interaction I had was scrutinized and criticized.

If I sold a bed with protectors, moveable base, and pillows he’d ask why I hadn’t managed to sell pillow protectors too. His first trainee had thrived on being challenged and he’d never bothered to learn a different way to coach.

It was wretched. My performance started strong but nosedived after a few weeks with him. My trainer, a man I loathed for stonewalling me in my interview, came in to inform me I was on new hire probation. If I couldn’t get my sales numbers up I’d be let go.

His actual phrasing was, “When you have a bandaid do you like to rip it off or pull it slowly?”

Since it was eminently obvious why he was visiting and because I thought it was condescending I sweetly informed him that I liked to soak my bandaids in hot water so they come off on their own.

He was briefly startled at this derailing but then got on with the bad news. I signed some forms stating that I understood my job was in peril.

I went home furious. I thought long and hard about why I wasn’t succeeding and how frustrated I was with my manager. I came in the next day and my anger had crystallized into a cold sharp edge.

My manager opened his mouth to address the probation and I snapped, “Just leave me alone. Go in the back if I have a sale. If you must address a serious issue then you will give me praise on two things I did right and present it as a compliment sandwich. Otherwise just say good job and shut up. Your constant nitpicking just makes me anxious and I do worse. Back off.” Belated and begrudging I added, “Please.”

He raised his eyebrows in dim surprise but I’d gauged him well. He backed off. Dutifully he’d meander into the back when I had a sale and praised me when I closed it. I resented knowing it was only because I’d demanded complimented but they still boosted me up. My numbers skyrocketed, I landed my first split king sale, and I exited probation with flying colors.

The trainer came back in to congratulate my manager for turning things around. To my gratification he gave me credit for setting him straight and said I’d taught him a different way to lead. My manager would often genuinely praise that moment when I’d stood up to him, impressed with my stubborn refusal to fail and my insight into what would help.

My biggest takeaway from the whole thing was just that people need positive reinforcement to succeed. Praise people for doing a good job. If you’re ever in a position where you need to criticize someone put it in a compliment sandwich instead of just saying the negative.

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cuntyhunty22 · 3 days ago

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Good men die too, oh I'd rather be with you.

Paring: joel x reader

Description: Joel is a regular at your bar, you rely on him for comfort and advice, feelings are there but the line was never crossed (until one night) he saves you from you toxic abusive boyfriend

Outbreak isn't a thing.

Tags: smut. Dirty talk. Daddy kink. Daddy issues. Sexual tension. Domestic violence. Mature language. Cream pie. Gun mentioned.

This is my first story in a long time. It's gonna be broken up into parts because it's longer than I anticipated. Bare with me 🫶🏼

It was a hot Monday afternoon at Bucks Bar and Grill. It's just a little hole-in-the-wall bar in this small southern town. Everyone who comes here knows each other. You have worked here since you were 18; you are 29 now, so it's kinda like family. They all have watched you grow up, been there for you through all your trials and tribulations... your issues with your absent father, your alcoholic mother, and now your very toxic narcissist of a boyfriend.

It's about 4:30 when people start coming in as the day whines down, mainly people who've been up at it all day come in around this time..and you look around in hopes one of your favorites shows up… Joel Miller.

He's a great guy and someone you have always looked for advice from. I guess he was the closest to a father figure in your life. From just coming to talk to at the bar or inviting you to cookouts at Tommy and Maria's. Which you have always been too chicken to show up to because your boyfriend would go fuckin mental if you did. And just like clockwork, he walks through the door. Tight teeshirt, worn-in blue jeans, and some work boots. His salt-and-pepper hair more curly than usual. You aren't gonna dismiss the fact that he's a very handsome man; you've always thought that. But I suppose it's been something you've never really thought in your brain, with him being over 20 years older than you and the fact you’re still in this shitty relationship you can't seem to escape no matter how hard you try, how many times he's cheated, how many times he's put his hands on you. You stay. It's probably the abandonment issues, to be honest.

Hey, darlin’, how are you doing today? Joel says to you as he sits in his usual corner spot on the bar. You just look at him, and it's like he can read your face. "I'm okay, just getting through the day." You crack a smile trying to defuse the conversation. You knew that would eventually start because today you didn't wanna think about your issues. You just wanted to work, make money, and talk to your customers.

"Want your typical order?" Yeah darlin you already knew. You laugh "well Mr miller I seem to know what you like" you seen him smirk and his eyes get dark. Shit you thought.. did I just flirt with him. (Yes you did.) you set his whiskey down, along with a beer. As you do that he notices a light bruise on your cheek bone you attempted to cover with makeup. Darlin.. I don't mean to be rude but what the fuck is on your face.. he reaches up to gently brush your face ..did he- you cut him off. "It's nothing I'm just clumsy and I smacked my face off the sink getting out of the shower." Joel scoffs because he knew it was a lie clear as day. I've told you, you need to leave. You need to take care of yourself because if something happens to you.. he trails off his sentence like he just let more off than he's just a regular at your bar. " Joel I'm fine" you replied. "I have to go out to the shed and change a keg.. I'll be back if you need me."

You go back behind the bar to grab a new beer keg because one blew just before the rush came in and you finally have a moment to fix it. As you're walking outside you feel someone follow you.. here it is your shitty boyfriend paid you a visit. Hey I need $50 he says. " I gave you $100 this morning.. I don't have-" bitch I know you fucking do he yells.. you can tell he's been drinking more than he should have. As he raises his voice at you Joel appears just a few feet down eyeing the situation.

"I said I don't have it.. not until tomorrow.. why do you think I'm working open to close today." I don't know! Boyfriend screams. Probably because you get off on the attention these old men give you because you'd rather be here than be at home with me.. YOUR BOYFRIEND. "Well someone has to pay the bills instead of blowing money on drugs alcohol and who knows what the hell else." DONT YOU DARE TALK TO ME LIKE THAT YOU FUCKING WHORE. You are nothing. You work in a bar. In these tiny ass shorts taking money from people that only wanna fuck you.. your gonna be nothing just like your parents.. he grabs your arm hard already leaving hand prints.. you notice Joel has moved just a bit closer with a lit cigarette in hand.

" here take my card there is some money on it, just leave me the fuck alone and don't come back here tonight." You are fighting back tears because this just answered what Joel was asking not even 20 minutes ago. Your boyfriend take the card lets you go and starts walking away. Joel still watching, as boyfriend passes by him. Whores I tell ya, boyfriend tries to joke with Joel.. and Joel looks at him with an expression you've never seen on him.. you've heard he has a dark side but you've never witnessed it until now.. if looks could kill your boyfriend would be dead on the gravel.

You felt so embarrassed.. you knew people knew the situation but you've done pretty good at no one witnessing the shit you deal with. As soon as your boyfriend was out of eyesight you felt this heavy embrace around you as you stand there sobbing. Hey hey hey darlin it's fine.. I'm here we are gonna fix this.. your head is buried into his chest. His warm body on yours, the smell of cologne, whiskey, and cigarettes has taken over your mind.. all these emotions flooding you.. your shitty boyfriend.. how much you hate him.. and oddly enough arousal from being touched gently by a man.. which hasn't happened in god knows how long..

his hands linger on your shoulder as you look up at Joel he's already staring at you. "I need to go back inside..." no he responds take a minute.. you pull away from him and all of a sudden you feel even more empty then you did before.. you came to the realization that you are touch starved and that just ignited a fire in you.

"I have to Joel.. I have to make money because he's going to spend it all, I know he is" you start to tremble again and Joel grabs your face, listen to me... as of right now nothing like this is ever going to happen to you ever again ya hear me...im going to take care of you... "WHY JOEL" you scream at him. "Why because I'm so fucking damaged , because you see a girl with issues and you automatically wanna save- Joel cuts you off by his lips crashing into yours, at first your hesitant and you try to fight it but you couldn't deny that this just what you needed, you needed to feel something besides hate and dread.

You give into the kiss and it gets deeper hungrier, his hands still holding both sides of your face just pulling him closer and close as the kiss gets more passionate you let out a soft moan and that made Joel go crazy. He picks you you up, your lips never leaving one another as you wrap your legs around him and he backs you up against the building, the kisses still building as if that's even possible, Joel's lips eventually leave yours to trace kisses down your neck gently biting, making that soft moan not so soft. Shhh darlin, does this feel good.? "Yes.. uh fuck. Joel put me down." He looks at you confused.

I'm sorry I shouldn't have- "no you should have..

I just hate that it took this situation for it to.. that I'm just not in the best situation right now for this to happen.. that people will have opinions on the age difference "

Then leave him. And fuck em

•

You go back in to finish your shift.. and Joel doesn't leave.. he watched you all night but this time instead of glances of making sure you were okay.. it was glances of pure lust.. pure want.

It's about 2 am now, your kicking everyone out And closing things down. And it hits you that you now have to go home... and you're really unsure if you should.. the bar finally cleared out.. except your kitchen closer.. and one man.. Joel was still here.

"I should get going." You're going home.? He asks concern all over his face. "Joel I have too.. if I don't it's gonna be worse if I do..." don't.. darlin please don't.. we will deal with him.. "Joel there is no we.. sure we shared a moment.. but I'm in a relationship.. and this.. this shouldn't happen I'm the same age as your daughter practically, you know how that will look on me.. on you.. what he will do.."

it kills you saying this because honestly it's the last thing you want to do is hurt a man who has been nothing but kind and caring.. and hell maybe there is something there.. that's the thing you know there is and that scares the hell out of you.

"So yes I am going home." At least let me drive you he says.. "I can't.." give me your phone he demands.. "what why." My number, my address it's there, and take this.. he hands you a wad of money.. you don't even want to know how much is there.. "absolutely fucking not.. Joel.. I can't take your money." You can and you will..he replies.. text me when you get home and I swear if anything goes down if he so much even tries to touch you. You call me. I'm being serious now I ain't playin I mean it you call. "Okay."

Promise me darlin... "I promise."

•

When you make it home it's about 3:15 am.. and your boyfriend isn't home... or so you thought.

"Hey I'm home.. you here.?" You still have your bookbag on.. and you hid the money Joel gave you. "Hello.?" You call out again..

*thud* *thud * followed by moaning..

you scof "you've got to be fucking jokin." You walk upstairs to find your boyfriend fucking another girl. "HEY WHAT THE FUCK" the girl screams. "In our bed!!??? I mean I knew your were shitty but this shitty.!?" He tosses the girl out of the bed and charges toward you.. you fuckin bitch , do you know you ruin my life.. that I have to cheat on you to even get laid.. when's the last time you let me touch you huh.?

He's screaming right in your face backing you up against the railing of the stairs. You shove him.. which you knew was a bad idea because that shove was followed by a punch to the face and a shove that sent you falling down the stairs.. good fuck you you cunt I hope you get brain damage.. oh by the way she sucks better dick than you.. and skinner.

You lay there for a second.. thankfully the fall wasn't as bad as it could have been. You took a quick second to regain your head because you knew he'd be coming down those stairs.. and as soon as you got to your feet here he came..

I need that money.. he screamed.. what did you make tonight being that little whore you are.. huh..? He's standing in front of you now.. give me your book bag. He demands. "No." If you don't give it to me now you bitch I swear to god.. "you swear what huh..?? That you'll hit me.. that you will rape me.. again..?? What else could you do.?"

I'll fucking kill you. He smirks. At the moment you reach for the pocket knife you put in your boot. He chuckled... oh am I supposed to be scared..?? "Don't fucking touch me.. I'm done here okay.. done.. I'm leaving." Fine go.. but give me the money you said you would.. "I gave you $150 in cash.. and there was at least $400 on my card.. what more do you need.!? I'm not giving you anything else ever again..!"

At this moment he's backing you up against the wall his hands heading toward your throat.. and before he could reach them you slice his arm.. YOU CUNT..!! And you took off running to your car.

•

You put your car and drive and sped out.. blacked out from trauma and adrenaline not knowing exactly where you were going until you arrived..

The house is what you would think for a well established contractor. Gorgeous but still very homey nothing over the top. You know it's so late and he's probably fast asleep. You're still spiraling as you bang on the door as hard as you can.. because you were unsure if he decided to follow you or if there was a tracker on your car..

"JOEL.! JOEL.! Please answer.. fuckk" and the door swings open and pulls you inside like lightning. Once you're in, he's holding you as you sob. Sob harder than you probably ever have in your whole life.. baby.. hey.. breathe for me okay.. he looks at you.. you need to breathe. " he- you choke- unable to catch your breath about to have a full blown anxiety attack. The knife still in your pocket but it's now stained your shorts with blood..

Joel looks down and then looks back up at you.. is that your blood..? His jaw clenches and his eyes black as the night. " his blood" you managed to say.. he relaxes a bit.. did he follow you..? "I don't think so.. I don't know.. there might be a tracker on my car but I'm unsure.." okay.. I'll go look. Give you a minute to calm down. Let me grab you something to change into... do you want a beer.? "Okay.. and yes.. but Joel..?" Yes darlin.? "Please don't leave me alone for long. I won't.. and thank you for keeping your promise. That made you crack a slight smile. He brings you out a big flannel to put on and a pair of sweats..

you changed collecting yourself in the bathroom. You ended up just wearing the flannel and underwear because it was over sized on you. You walk out into the living room Joel sitting on the couch two beers waiting. "I know you gave me pants but I hate pants and I just want to be comfortable so if it's inappropriate I'll put them on." He chuckles. Babygirl you are worried about not wearing pants.. of all things... you laugh "yeah that's kinda stupid to be the thing I'm worried about isn't it." Are we calmed down..comfortable.. anything else I can get you.? " I'm alright."

Okay.. walk me through what happened.. you explained everything to him.. tonight.. the past 2 years.. all of it. You can stay in the guest room until you figure things out.. I'm not letting anyone hurt you ever again okay... you are safe. "But what about your daughter.. will she be okay with me here, I don't wanna overstep..I'll drive to my parents.. it's better there than being with him."

No.

You are staying here. "Joel I just left someplace that dictated what I did please don't tell me what the hell I should do and where I should stay." He looked hurt. I didn't mean it that way darlin I'm sorry. I just know if you are here you are safe. Sarah will be fine. She comes and goes because she's at college. Not only that maybe you could be friends. You laugh. "Yeah okay be friends with the man's daughter who saved me.. and oh I had a hot make out session with him in the same night that I sliced my boyfriends arm - ex Boyfriend Joel pipes in.. "sounds like a great plan" Joel chuckels. Okay I didn't say it was perfect or ideal or hell not odd but you would be safe and frankly that's all I give a damn about.

•

It's about dawn now and you haven't slept at all.. darlin do you wanna try to sleep Joel asks. "Honestly I don't think I can.." come here.. Joel stretches out on the couch patting up to his chest.. you crawl up to him laying your head right down as he wraps his arms around you. Covering you with the safest you've felt. Do you think you could sleep now.? "No.. but I like this.." you let out a deep breath finally fully relaxing besides the butterflies you feel from being this close to Joel. As you exhale warm lips touch your forehead in a sweet kiss. Hmm..I'm sorry- Joel huffs..

" don't be.. " you lift up pushing your lips onto his and hunger hits.. the kiss was so eager so passionate. Your tongues caress one another begging for more pulling the kiss deeper and deeper as he bites your bottom lip.. you feel heat between your thighs building. " Joel fuck..-mhmm.." his lips leave yours finding your neck.. he goes straight to the spot that made you moan earlier.. as he does this your hands in his hair which is something you fantasized about. You did a slight tug and he himself let out a moan. God baby is this okay..he strares at you as his hands trace down under the flannel to your ass. Grabbing it.. literally worshiping it.. you moan again... I think that's my answer he chuckled.

He continues kissing that sweet spot on your neck and you just feel yourself flooding. Your hands roam around his body as you feel the bulge in his pants.. you carefully squeeze and Joel lets out this animal like moan. He grabs your hands being careful not to be too rough with everything you've been through.. baby don't worry about me let me take care of you..

he shifts you around legs on the floor and he gets between them. Kissing up your legs on your tattoos.. ya know.. I have always found these so sexy.. kissing continues upward. "Mhmmm is that -ahh fuck mhmm.." your sentence is interrupted the touch of his fingers grazing your heat through your panties.. can I take these off..?? He asks. And as much as this is heated he is so gentle with you.. which in this moment is what you needed. " yes" you whimper. He slides your panties off the sides your leg open wide for him to dive his tongue right into your wetness.

Mhmm- your- so- he manages to say between licks- so wet- so soft. You arch back pulling him more into you, grinding yourself on his tongue as he licks and sucks. " ahh I'm ahh fuck I'm-" he then slides 3 fingers in he doesn't even bother building it up because he knew you needed it. Fingers curling right where you need them, in and out of you at just the right pace. You couldn't hold it in anymore you've tried to contain it. The room is filled with your moans of ecstasy.. it all building up.. Joel still working on you, fingers in and it as he sucks gently on your bud.. you reach down and pull his face to you, your wetness on his beard but you didn't care, lips crashing together full of need as Joel still working woks his fingers on you..

"Joel - I " I know baby.. mhmm go'head I got you. Cum for me. Let go. And you did you let go. "Fuck oh my god.. Joel's lips back on yours as you catch your breath and the ecstasy of your orgasam washes away. Feel good? He asks.. "considering there is a puddle on the ground what do you think." Mhmm made a mess for me huh baby.. you blush as that hasn't happened in years. " yes." Let's wash up and try to sleep huh. Joel says. "Okay" you follow him to the bathroom then to his bedroom to sleep.

•

You wake the few hours in Joel's bed. Staring at the ceiling you're not sure how to feel. From pretty much stabbing your ex.. to having Joel give you the best oral you've ever experienced to now laying here naked in his bed. You roll over to find his spot Empty but a note was left.

*darlin I'm sorry to have you wake up alone, had to go check on a project, please text me when you wake.. I'll be day dreaming about drowning in that sweet wetness.*

-Joel

You can't help but to smile.. you check your phone to see you have 59 calls from an unknown number and texts.. which you assume are your ex.. you block and delete all of them.. knowing your going to have to change your phone number.. now you text Joel..

* as lovely as it was to ride your face and fingers I think there is some thing else I want to ride today.. (attached image ) you naked in his bed.

-incoming FaceTime : Joel miller

"Hi"

Hi darlin

"Old man I'm surprised you knew how to FaceTime"

Old.. he chuckles.. this old man knows how to do lots of things..

"I'm well aware"

You work today correct..? I'll be there when I'm finished.. this next part might freak you out but just listen to me.. there is a gun in the nightstand.. I want you to take it with you okay. No arguing just do it.

"Okay.. Joel... I woke up to a bunch of calls and messages im scared."

I know baby take the gun okay.. just precaution.. I'll see you later.. and we can talk about what else you're riding.. oh btw Tommy said hi.

"Jesus Christ Joel you told Tommy.!? Fine whatever hi Tommy. Okay see you later.

*facetime ends

•

You get dressed in clothes you had in your car.. little black skirt.. tank top and Joel's flannel. You pull your hair up into a clip.. doing your makeup the best you can to hide the new bruises.. grab the gun and head out the door.

It's about 4 when you get to work.. and if the timing is right Joel will be here in 45 mins.. when you get there the older lady who you work with pulls you into the kitchen. Sweetie pie you alright..? Your old man was in here looking for ya.. real distressed...said something about you owe him money.. you give in and you tell her everything.. what happened where you've been ..

she's the closest to a mother and if you want to be safe you need the truth out there.

Oh honey I'm so sorry she says.. "it's okay.. it's just time to move on and end this." Sooo Joel miller huh.. she chuckles I mean I can't blame ya he's a gorgeous man and an even better human.. he's been through it too ya know.. she looks at you. " I can tell but I don't ask.. I'm just thankful he exists.. but I'm worried people will judge.." do you think he could make you happy? She asks..

"honestly right now there is not many things I'm sure of.. but he is the one thing I am."

•

Joel walks in.. beautiful as ever. You don't know if it's the left over feelings from making a mess In his living room or if he has always been this attractive.. he hasn't even touched you and you feel a heat between your legs.. but today it's ruthless.. it wild.. it's wanting him in every way possible.

He smiles when he notices that green flannel tied around your waist. You grab his order not even having to ask him and take it over to him.. " Mr miller.. whiskey neat and a beer." You always give me what I want huh darlin. "Is there anything thing else you want Mr miller.." you lean across getting close to him faces inches apart. Actually there is.. but I'm not sure it's appropriate to bend you over in a full bar.. don't want them to hear those sweet little moans..your mouth drops. "

"Is that something you've thought about before..??" If we are being honest here, I've been enchanted by you since you started working here. Your tan skin, your green eyes.. those lips. Your face is now a million shades of red. " I need to work I'll be back..." you take off the flannel revealing the cheeky little skirt you have on that hugs all your curves.. you glance back and Joel looks like he just had to adjust himself.

•

Finally 2 am rolls around.. the bar clears out and it's time to get ready to head home... well Joel's home. Kitchen lady left so now it's just Joel and you left in this bar..

" so Mr miller.. bar is empty.." he cocks his head looking at you.. he sweeps you off your feel planting you on the bar.. mhmm I've thought about you All day he whispers in your ear as he kisses across your jaw working his way down to your neck right to that spot. "Hmmmm yeah what about..." you guide his hands between your thighs to you lacy panties you have on. He doesn't even bother teasing he just reaches right in making your body arch. " daddy please" you smirk because you knew that would unlock something. Circling your bud with the right amount of pressure to get you right where he wants you.. Slid a finger in just because.. and what do you want from daddy.. still sliding that one finger in and out just to keep you on edge..

"I want... ahhh mhmm fuck.. " focus look at me, he cups your face eyes locked in. What do you want.. tell me.. " as much as I want to ride you.. I want you to fuck me.. " how he ask.. still teasing toying with you. " on this bar Joel.. fuck me on this bar.. so when you come in here the only thing you think of is me screaming your name as I cum all over your big cock." He's taken back a but he just looks at you and smiles.

He slides your panties off and pushes your skirt up.. you undo his belt unzipping his tight jeans where you can fully see how hard you have him. You reach in and pull it out, and god is he big, long and girthy you just knew he was going to fill you up. He takes his cock and rubs it against your entrance pre cum on the tip mixing with your wetness. Look at me.. you look up and he pushes his cock into you.. " fuckin Christ.. you fill me up so good.." Joel's thrust starts easy and gentle just getting used to each other building it up. And after each thrust it intensifies as he puts your legs on his shoulders thrusting Even deeper into you.. you gonna cum for daddy he says thurts getting harder and faster like he just can't get enough of you he just needs more and more and more. " yes" you whimper "but only if you cum in me.. I wanna feel you explode inside of me.." that's all it took to send Joel over the limit. Hard thrusts as he reaches up to rub your clit.. "my god- I - I " yes darlin come on I'm right with you.. "ahhh fuckkkkk" you feel it come over you as he fills you up. And you cum together. Joel lays there for a second trying to comprehend that just really happened.. "did we just fucking cum at the same time..?" He chuckles yes we did. He's still inside you. AS he pulls out you feel the hot seed drip out of you. Hell of a day to wear a skirt-

Crash

Window bust.

Grab the gun.

•

You fucking whore.!!! You hear your ex scream. He's standing outside the big window looking in. Joel zips his pants as he plops you off the bar. Gun.. you have the gun..? He looks over to see it already pointed in your exs direction. "Go home.! I told you I'm done leave me alone.!"

No bitch.. come outside and I'll finish what i started yesterday.. you and your geezer, cant believe you'd fuck someone old enough to be your father.. but that makes sense right.. because you never had a daddy.. so you have to fuck the first one who even gives you the closure you need huh.. can he even fuck you.? Actually I just did Joel replied smugly.

"Joel call the cops" you hand him your phone.. not taking your eyes off your ex gun still pointed at him.. oh so you couldn't finish it with your knife.. so sugar daddy gave you a gun..?? your ex chuckles all cocky. He's the one that gives you money.? Huh.? The one that brings you food.? You remain silent ready to pull the trigger.. darlin we have to go outside.. the alarms are going off and the police are here.. "we can go outside through the back.. he will probably meet us there but maybe by then the cops will be here.." Joel leads the way holding your hand that doesn't have the gun in.. if I open this door and he's here I'm beating the hell out of him you hear me.. I don't want that to scare you.. or make you look at me differently.. because once I start I don't think I can stop. he stares at you worried. "Do what you have too." He opens the door and you ex lunges at you. Knocking you to the ground.. gun flying.. he punches you blood everywhere.. But Joel towers over him and pulls him off of you .. Joel lands a few good punches and he doesn't stop.. he keeps hitting him over and over and over.. a truck pulls up.. followed by cop cars.. lady who lives next door comes running over. Oh honey.!!! She says.. pulling you away as Joel is still punching your ex.. Tommy comes running pulling Joel off.. cops swarm around us.. pulling you and Joel separate ways.. "JOEL" you scream. "JOEL." "I need Joel don't fucking touch me.. "

you hyperventilate and pass out.

Part 2 coming soon.

Music gives me most of my ideas or I listen to something and it amplifies it

#pedro pascal #fanfic #joel miller #joel x reader #joel tlou #the last of us #pedrostories #fanfiction #tommy miller #smut

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thesharktanksdriver · 18 hours ago

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Okay, hear me out, if Determination!reader goes back to wano, how does king react? Because I kinda get the feeling he is probably one of the most worried about them, and also how would he reach to Reader's being part of the strawhats? Love ya!

(Sorry for not posting a lot lately I’ve been really busy with school. Next week I have two essays due one day after the other with one being 50% if my grade and two days later after the last essay a test worth like 20%. As apology and because I love king I went full analysis mode)

Worried is the understatement of the century, king is in a perpetual state of panic and paranoia from the worry. It’s the type of worry and fear that leaves you on hyper surveillance and makes you sick to your stomach kinda worried. The shot that starts actually affecting your mental and physical health (I know from Experience lol, was not a fun couple of months and I think it gave me trust issues irl oof)

None of the beast pirates are particularly happy about y/n joining a different pirate crew, let alone the strawhats. For a while the Beast pirates have no idea what, who or where y/n went so they were all left in perpetual worrying. Because there’s a possibility they ended up with the marines, vegapunk, or gods forbid in the hands of the world government or Mary geoise (again). But eventually they hear rumours through the grapevine that y/n joined a pirates crew, none of them are sure who but it’s a rumour that only mildly mitigates the stress on most their shoulders except for king.

While kaido stews in a mixture of depression and alcohol, king remains long hours in the night trying to talk with all the contacts that Kaido has into getting more information. What’s the Jolly Roger? What sea could this crew be in? Do they have bounty posters? And most importantly are they competent and a threat?. The number one thing he’s worried about is the world government and by extension marines getting their hands on y/n, so he firstly needs to know if this crew for the time being is competent in protecting them whilst he’s trying to track them down and secondly if they’ll be a hassle in tacking down when the time arrives for retrieval.

He’s coldly calculated in his efforts mostly because fear consumes him down to his very being. It reminds of him being Alber again, not being in control and at the mercy of others and fate.

He so desperately wants to take control of the situation and find y/n because he cares. He cares too much about them and the risk it is with them having their freedom. He will tear their wings and lock them in a birdcage if it means they’ll be safe, and whilst it’s hypocritical he doesn’t really care anymore when he’s been subjected to the hands of the worst of mankind.

You won’t be poked and prodded at like he was, you’ll be safe. Won’t be strapped to a lab table but instead held with care as ash coloured feathers hide you from the world, never mind the smell of burning flesh of those who threaten you.

For a long while his efforts are fruitless (Luffy’s chaotic nature realllly makes it hard for people to track, even highly paid bounty hunters lol) but king starts to get word after one of the Whitebeard commanders is captured by the marines. He wouldn’t take note of it if not for the fact that immediately in response for this reports of something happening on sabaody with doflamingo’s auction house and quote “3 members of the first generation fighting over a child”. What’s more worrying though is the fact that an admiral and pacifista was sent in response.

For a few days tops there’s radio silence and he thinks maybe it’s just a coincidence even if it sounds wayyyy to much like y/n. And then news comes out that some lunatic broke into impel down with a kid and both then proceeded to break out with the help of the now ex-warlords sun of the sea Jimbei and mother fucking crocodile.

At that point king had the unfortunate realization that yep, that’s you and you joined the strawhats of all fucking crews. The crew that quite recklessly went to crocodiles home turf, defeated him and his whole baroque works system, defeated gecko Moria and his island ship, declared war on the world government for Nico Robin and now was headed head on into Marineford to save one of whitebeards commanders. God hates him-

By this point he knows there’s no getting there in time to stop you nor that lunatic you apparently called a captain from getting to Marineford but that doesn’t mean he nor the others would waste this opportunity. But as kaido rallies the other beast pirates king is left to stew in his own thoughts of fear, anger and a bit of envy.

Fear because of how your quite literally sailing straight out of the fire and into the inferno, fear that they make take you and they, no, he wouldn’t be able to save you from the fate of the world government getting their hands on you. Anger at the fact that your apparent captain, Strawhat Luffy, had dragged you through various dangerous situations carelessly. All those stupid decisions could’ve easily ended up with you dead or worse once more and yet this smiling idiot did it anyways knowing you’d follow along, knowing you’d follow him to the ends of the earth because he was your captain. Quite honestly it pisses him off astronomically how careless this kid is, and it makes him deeply envious that you trust him of all people to be your captain. Something that Kaido deserves

Because Kaido unlike this bumbling teen could protect you.

Kaido would raize islands and king would burn cities to ash to prove that

Did you not know that?

Did you not know how much you mean to either of them? To the rest of the upper ranks?

What could this captain do to deserve your kindness in the wake of this cruel desolate world? More than him and Kaido?

It makes him more jealous than he would like to admit, alongside more volatile and easy to anger as the question festers. He wonders if he did anything wrong, if it was all his fault. That maybe if he did something else, if he was faster and didn’t flinch at the moment the hairpin stabbed past the leather and into his flesh that maybe you’d still be here and not with that captain.

What ends up worrying him more though is what happens at Marineford and after. The fact you reveal yourself to the world and so many other questions that can’t be answered on the fact that you escape and disappear for 2 whole years. They couldn’t even make it in time because big mom intercepted them on the way and both crews ended up locked into a battle of sabotaging the other.

But that now leads to wano (sorry for the big build up I like reveling into character analysis lol and I love king)

Within wano due to king, Kaido and Maria’s insistence there are a lotttt of wanted posters for y/n. Considered y/n can’t have photos taken of them due to their devil fruit (they look like a person made of light rather than a person) hand drawn posters are made and distributed. So it’s safe to say y/n is screwed when they show up and the rest of the strawhats are shaking their heads when in their respective new identities they also find these bounty poosters nailed to every board and post in wano lol

( somewhere in wano nami states at the poster of your smiling face painted on the sheet. She can’t help but grumble under her breath and scrunch the picture into a ball that she then kicked away. This batshit plan was already bonkers enough, but of course you had to understate the fact you somehow tamed the god damn beast pirates)

Yeahhhhh so king through Orochi had the posters put up and no matter how small of a tip (typically it was a rumour or some random kid that had maybe the slightest resemblance to you) he showed up regardless of how small of a chance it was.

And eventually it pays out when he found you, someone called in a tip and there you were. Clad in a brown kimono, sticks stuck in your hair and dirt covered hands digging through the trash seemingly looking for food.

Tanuki, you looked like one of those raccoon creatures the people of wano talked about.

Joyful little tricksters and that’s a pretty good description of you right now as he grabbed you by the back of the kimono and lifted you up. Not letting you finish your sentence of trying to talk your way out of this.

He can’t help but frown beneath his mask of the various scratches and bruises littering your arms and face. Not to mention he can already see that the material of the kimono is poor, probably scratchy and irritating. Your scrawny and considering the fact you were elbow deep in the trash behind a small restaurant tells him of why.

He’d fix this though.

Though the tanuki look was fitting he can’t help but think something else is a better look. Maria would fuss over him taking role of caretaker over her but first come first serve. Kaido likely wouldn’t be swayed even with her “affections” towards him because he’d be more than happy with king bringing you back.

There was another myth in wano that he thinks would fit better.

A black winged being of the wind, the tengu.

Yes, perhaps that would also warn others that you were under his protection.

For the first time in years all feels fine at least in the moment, because for as much as you argue with him he can’t help but see that even with the annoyance and slightest bit of fear that internally rips him apart…he also sees that some part of you was happy to see him.

Even with the shit situation and context, within that moment there was still a small silver lining to you seeing that he was ok

He was still alive

Your friend was still alive

“Wait king why is your flame all weird?”

“We’ll talk about that later. For now just…just let me hold you”

There’s a small moment of silence as his star shaped flame created crackles in the alley

“They missed you, I missed you”

“They?”

“The crows”

“Ah”

“….theres still time for you to let me go. To pretend-“

“I won’t do that”

“…I know. Doesn’t hurt to try though, kaido’s orders and all huh?”

His wings extend around from his back to cover you

“You think I’m doing this just because of Kaido? If you truly believe that then I’d suggest you rethink. I’m not letting you go just because of an order, I’m not letting you go because I’m not letting you go back to those who don’t deserve you. Who don’t protect you as they should”

“King…there’s a difference between protection and possession” it leaves you shakily, his wings trapping your further as your fingers dig into the leather of his jacket

“I know. But when you have nothing but pain and suffering but then find something irreplaceable you don’t let go. If a star fell into your hands healing your pain, making you feel less like a husk wouldn’t you not let go?”

“But I’m not a star, I’m a person”

“You’re a lot more than that and you know it…Kaido will be happy. A feast will be thrown and I will be at your side the entire time, your bodyguard”

“My jailer”

“I’m not sorry for that, not when you chose to constantly and deliberately put yourself in harms way. The only thing I’m sorry for is the fact that I may not be able to save you from the sight of Kaido killing your crew”

#answers #determination!#one piece #platonic

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mtreebeardiles · 1 day ago

Text

Ahhhh

Do I wanna weigh in on this? I probably shouldn’t but I’m gonna

First off, pretty sure there’s some degree of facetiousness in Trick’s tweet re: Taash and autism. It came across as an exaggeration, talking about how even in an emotional scene where Taash is talking through how they feel as best they can people will STILL ignore these aspects of their character or try to wave it away

Secondly, for all the complaints I see about how “in your face” Taash is, how the game “spoon-feeds,” people STILL seem to miss some crucial context in the game itself regarding why Taash makes some of the choices they do. The blunt way they come out to their mother? There’s a whole ass codex entry for Taash where they agonize over how to do it, and they decide the straight forward approach is best because their mother tends to respond to that better — she’s a scholar, she’s very blunt herself, etc

Thirdly, I feel like not enough credit is given to the complexity/emotional undercurrent of Taash and Shathann’s arcs, development, and how they mirror each other. Regardless of how you feel about her as a parent, I think it’s an interesting thematic choice to have two characters struggling with who and what they are and how those struggles impact each other. Taash is struggling to understand themselves, trying to fit into this idea their mother has of them, while at the same time Shathann is struggling to understand how to be a mother/parent when she was not “trained that way.”

Shathann left the Qunari out of fear for her child, and found herself in a world where others abandoned the Qun in ways she finds disagreeable at best. She clings to the trappings of her culture like a lifeline, a crutch against her anxiety that despite her best efforts she’s gonna mess her kid up, and any mistakes Taash makes are a reflection of her own failure for taking her child away from the discipline and order of the Qun. It’s not hard to see how Shathann may take Taash’s confusion of self as a personal failing, not because she has an issue with Taash being non-binary, but because she probably feels inadequate as a parent. (I mean. Not probably. She does feel that way.) when Taash comes out to her, it goes poorly because Shathann **needs** to be able to recontextualize it in something familiar (I.e., what it would be under the Qun). Taash gets irritated because Shathann can’t seem to help categorizing everything instead of just letting it be and existing in the moment, and Shathann retreats, recognizing that she’s acting as a scholar and not as a mother again — because Shathann struggles reconciling these two parts of herself, treating them as the antithesis of each other instead of trying to find a way to blend them together

It doesn’t seem to occur to her that she can be both, because she doesn’t know how to forge her own path — or maybe she doesn’t trust herself to, and her uncertainty has her clinging to what she does know all the harder. The tablet as proof of how special Taash is… wasnt what Taash needed.

But it’s all Shathann knew how to give

#not to be too blunt but shokra toh ebra amirite #datv #fandom critical #datv spoilers #Taash #man I could write a whole essay about them and their mother #maybe I will once I’m done with my Taash romance run #I have a lot of feelings about it #instead enjoy my disjointed thoughts for now

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kaccvcate · 1 day ago

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This may surprise my fans, but in my life I often find myself to be a very unloved person, despite my best efforts. Perhaps that's why I feel the need to defend the unloved and controversial. Somehow more provocative now than when it was made in 1946, my favorite hill to die on is Song of the South. The last time I wrote about this movie I was 19, and although I had a fairly adequate defense, I believe now I have a much more nuanced understanding of history, and can do it more justice.

When this film was made, the United States army had only recently been desegregated, and the Deep South was still under apartheid. It's based on a book featuring stories collected by a white author who worked alongside black laborers on plantations, controversial when it was published in 1881 for the dignity it gave to "folk stories" (how some people pronounce "non-Christian religion.") I haven't read the book, but like it or not, racists hated it when it was published, and that means it was a daring and revolutionary piece of literature. For those who are not familiar with United States history, slaves were legally granted their freedom in 1864. I could get into the fact that slavery is still alive and well in United States prisons, perpetuated by racist laws targeting certain ethnicities, but that is a whole nother can of worms.

The script was written by Dalton Raymond, who had actually lived in the south, and Maurice Rapf, a Jewish communist. Some parts of Rapf's draft had to be toned down for fear of censorship, but the whole movie is reflective of his touch. The black actors are the only authentically southern characters, the white actors were all Hollywood people (and as a red person living here in Mississippi I can tell you exactly why.)

The most important part of this film is the animated sequences depicting myths about the character Br'er Rabbit. Many people see race as an issue of black and white, but reality is a lot more complicated. In reality, many natives of all nations were sold into slavery by their friends and family. A lot of black people are actually native as well as African. Specifically the stories that Uncle Remus tells are Muskoke in origin, and I know this because my great grandmother told them to me, and she never saw this movie. James Baskett tells the stories with familiar ease, he performs the voice acting for the majority of the characters. This means he was intimately familiar with the stories, and judging by his accent, I would say he is probably Muskoke, which means he is the same race as me. The movie centers around his phenomenal performances. Over and over, the black actors are more effective in their roles, but due to their race only a few of them were given the opportunity to perform in other movies.

Some have attacked this movie for the characters talking as if they're "stupid," which is incredibly offensive since the black actors have clearly been allowed the freedom to write their own lines, they speak very naturally and are written with complete dignity. Simply I would be able to tell if a honky or Jew had written fake dialect for them, and I've watched the movie with a black friend from rural Georgia, who emphatically confirmed it was how his family spoke when he was a child. Multiple actors have distinctive Muskoke accents. The stories themselves are about animal characters outwitting each other competitively, and have a lot of wisdom in them (in my humble opinion.) In Asian cultures "zen" is celebrated for its superficial simplicity, which reflects enormous depth, but I suppose native americans are just "stupid." People are often trained to think of unique dialects as being indicative of less “education,” but people are learning constantly even when they aren’t reading books or speaking in European accents. To reduce your estimation of a person’s intelligence based on accent alone is racist, whether your skin is black or white or anything else.

Many people attack the movie for portraying the black workers singing, as it makes them look happy. I don't know how to approach this, as the fact is that songs were a vital part of the work day back then, and still are today, regardless of how happy you are to be there. Maybe this is just my cultural understanding. People also inaccurately assume that the black characters are enslaved, simply because they're living on a plantation. The unfortunate truth is that after black people were freed from slavery, absolutely nothing was done to help them in any way, and so many chose to stay where they were if it was nice enough, which is the situation portrayed in the film. The unfairness of the dynamics between the characters due to their race or income is the center of the plot. The movie also features poor white characters, which is accurate to reality as, at risk of stating the obvious to some, many white people also suffer from colonization and most never owned plantations. (Yes, even in Georgia.) On my Scottish side I am descended from slaves sold to American colonizers by the English, who colonized Scotland first, for example. People of all colors and nationalities have taken advantage of colonialism and slavery for all of history, including native americans and Africans who sold their comrades to European conquistadors, Jewish people who owned slave ships, and so on. Even in some cases Asian people bought slaves for their plantations in the American south (this won't come as a surprise to anyone Asian, as slavery is still common in many countries and not limited to prisoners as in the U.S.) It's a complex situation that can't be simplified into "white people did this to black people," as convenient as that would be.

Walt Disney had this movie premiere in Atlanta specifically to make a statement. The theater was segregated, as I mentioned previously, and the black actors weren't allowed to see the screening. They also were forced to stay at a separate hotel. Walt announced the movie, and walked out, leaving a theater full of empty seats - black actors comprise the majority of the cast, and again are the only authentically southern characters.

I've shown this film to lots of native friends, "black" and "white," and many were perplexed as to how the film could be considered racist. I think the misunderstanding is largely due to divisive propaganda. To judge a work of art as intensely cooperative as a movie by the actions of one individual is a little reductive, but it's true Walt Disney was a flawed person. He had as recently as 1941 gone through a massive strike at his animation studio, as he was treating workers extremely unfairly, not to mention his unfortunate racial disability (being white.) And we won’t even get into his friend Leni Riefenstahl today. But just because he wasn't a devout communist, doesn't mean he wasn't also a daring and revolutionary artist. People’s actions aren’t any more black and white than their ethnicities. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the very first feature-length cel animated film, released in 1937, less than ten years before Song of the South. Less than ten years previously, people didn't think a feature length animated film would be watchable, and if you watch some short films released before then, you'll see exactly why. Maybe he didn’t see ripping off his employees in California as being related to apartheid in the south, or maybe artists he respected and admired quitting their jobs made him open his eyes to discrimination more broadly. Perhaps the events of World War II were a factor in his decision making. It’s hard to know, but I’ll never stop loving a movie that so beautifully portrays the characters I first learned about from my great grandmother.

#song of the south #disney #movie reviews #red panther speaks

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drdemonprince · 2 days ago

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feel like we need "multiple things are true" nuance where

Trans men are men and have gender-based privilege because of that as compared to women (to be clear both cis and trans women).

Trans men typically share certain body parts, experiences, or types of treatment with cis women and experience misogyny for this (for example, being able to get pregnant and being expected to bear children).

The fact that trans men have some commonality of oppression with cis women doesn't change the fact that trans women also 100% have commonality of oppression with cis women. I mean trans women are very clearly subject to misogyny. Trans women are also more oppressed "for their transness" than trans men are in many ways. They are often seen as outsiders and predators even among other queer people and face transmisogyny. I don't deny this at all! But it is not reasonable to say that trans men are not also oppressed for their bodies.

Being classed as a woman from birth is a material condition that changes the healthcare you are given and the way you are treated by peers and by authority figures. That is oppression. Being classed as a man from birth and then being seen as "failing" to achieve manhood before you ever come out, being forced into a role that is wrong for you and then facing bigotry and violence for not meeting that standard, really just all of having to face the oppositional sexism that Serano describes-- this is absolutely oppression.

I think the issue that many trans men are taking with you is that you seem to be denying the former part for political face-saving reasons-- that trans men face some of the same forms of oppression cis women do on account of being assigned female. When endometriosis is underdiagnosed or ignored as regular period pain that's due to misogyny, whether the person is a trans man or a cis woman.

I don't think that is the issue trans mascs have with what I'm saying, because i never said it. I've said that trans men experience many forms of misogyny, including medical misogyny, dozens of times. Via transphobia they are subjected to a great many forms of structural misogyny.

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dammit-tazmuir · 15 hours ago

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YEAH. Every time I see people talking like she struggles with being in Corona's shadow, I'm like??? Guys, she made the shadow.

She never wanted to be Crown Princess. She may say "Ultimate power—and posters of my face," but that doesn't mean she wants fame from just anywhere. And honestly, the emdash there could well indicate that the latter was not just an afterthought but a straight up lie. The whole answer could be a lie, even, but either way she wants eyes off of her. Perhaps long enough to achieve true ultimate power, and then eyes on her would be good, but for now she needs stealth. Perhaps she's only saying what she thinks people will believe.

In GtN when asked which twin to fear, Harrow initially thinks Corona, because she says "I" and Ianthe says "we". Harrow takes this at first as Corona being more independent and dominant, while Ianthe sees herself as part of a unit. Later information makes it much clearer that Corona only speaks for herself and doesn't really have the power or sway to speak for Ianthe, while Ianthe very much does have the ability and inclination to speak for both of them. (Possibly also "royal we" but lol.)

This isn't to say I think Corona is an innocent victim or harmless. She is a bleeding heart and a diplomat first and in many ways wonderful, but threatening herself to force Ianthe to do something wasn't a new occurrence, and it's made a point she does similar types of flattery and ingratiation that Ianthe does with people. (Paraphrasing, "You look at We Suffer like you want her to think you're into her, but you're not.") And "what throne will I mount if you don't bind me down?" to Judith, with true fear, is... Baby what tendencies do you have that you don't trust yourself with...? Regardless, it certainly wasn't a one-sided deal. Just, IF one side has distinctly more power in their dynamic and the con they pulled off, at least by any metric other than how far the other would go for them, it's easily Ianthe.

There is also! The very high likelihood that Ianthe is why Coronabeth is as unnaturally gorgeous as she is. Like. "Nobody who's seen [her] in the flesh wastes time with an adjective." Corona has been barred entry to places because she's TOO pretty. Her beauty is written about in Cohort files, including one that says Ianthe's appearance next to Corona's suggests Ianthe may not be as good at animaphilia as Corona. We ofc know Corona isn't a necro. Animaphilia is never clearly explained, and when Pal says he thought it was her specialty her response is "that's just for show", which, knowing Tamsyn's love for layers... (Also Mercymorn, whose eyes show no signs of age in sgarp contrast to her peers, accuses Ianthe of being "one of those animaphiliacs" and let's be real she's a hypocrite lmao.) We know Ianthe can do body modifying stuff because of what she easily did to Harrow's hair, and when she's reunited with Corona she starts fussing over her looks and talking about how to fix her up.

Everything suggests that animaphilia involves altering the body and appearance, and that Ianthe has gone out of her way to use it on Corona to make her as radiant as humanly possible and then some, to ensure all eyes stay on her.

Also in the aforementioned Mercy bit, "[She said] I wasn't as pretty as someone called Cyrus. It was like being back with mummy." And yeah that's ouch to read, but Ianthe says it "with a touch of fond nostalgia". She's not bitter. She thinks it's funny. (Her sense of humor is ridiculous at all times and that's not un-related but like. Not the important detail here lol.)

The issue is people take her words at face value (she lies frequently) and/or project how they would feel in what they can see of her shoes. And it's entirely possible her feelings are ultimately mixed. It's possible she's doing a balancing act between a desire for recognition and immediate gratification versus sticking to her longterm goals that she wants even more. It's also possible that any hint of "oh woe is me, Corona always got all the attention" is fully her doing a bit, fishing for sympathy for something that doesn't actually remotely bother her. It's fully possible her only real issue with "they turned our birthday into a memorial" was being pissed people chose to believe Corona was dead. There are a lot of possibilities, but all of them involve her life in the shadows being entirely by her own design.

OF COURSE there's also just The Unwanted Guest (and anyone who hasn't read it should immediately). So like...

Whatever part of her might be genuine about craving recognition and praise could, you know, be pretty new actually. Or she could have been a little before but gotten a big boost lately. Imagine feeling a sudden need for things you didn't think you cared about, and those feelings aren't even yours, except they are, and it's entirely your own fault...

Whatever the case, we may not know any of her plans exactly, but so far, she's always been at least pretty adjacent to, if not exactly, wherever she wants to be.

The inherent misunderstanding of Ianthe's character as the constant second fiddle.

I see many posts about how Ianthe must be oh so devastated to always be number two. I also see so many posts calling Ianthe pathetic and a lot of them don't sound ironic about it.

Did anyone else here notice how every single character in the books who thought Ianthe was pathetic at some point has either converted to thinking she's probably one of the most dangerous lyctors to have ever existed or is just straight up dead now? What a coincidence. Or maybe, just maybe, having the common sense to survive until the end of Nona and realising Ianthe is to be handled with caution go hand in hand.

Even Pyrrha Dve says that Ianthe freaks her out.

Ianthe could have ended the jig with Corona at any point, proven the world that she is the golden child, not her sister. But why would she? She would have given up a good portion of her control over Corona for a little appreciation from people she doesn't care about. She would become the "crown princess of Ida as she never wanted". Having Corona see her as the only reason she ever manages anything is simply so much more valuable to her.

Harrow called Ianthe a boot licker and asked her how she isn't ashamed of groveling to Augustine like that. The woman straight up told her she simply understands that "being ashamed is a privilege". A couple hundred pages later Augustine dies by Ianthe's choice and Ianthe takes his place at God's side. Weird. Another funny coincidence. Or maybe Ianthe just understood that sticking close to Augustine no matter the cost would open a gate to promotion eventually?

Asides Alecto waking up, this Woman has thus far achieved every single one of her goals or is still on her way to doing so. She did not suffer a single major setback. The only people who ever managed to give her minor setbacks were people who understood exactly how dangerous she is and how serious she is to be taken as an adversary, people who understood that her main if not only weaknesses are a) that she cares too much about the people she loves and that the gaslighting is simply a desperate attempt to make sure they never leave her. (see Coronabeth and the gun) b) she has no patience and gets bored easily, thus will take short cuts whenever she can rather than doing a job correctly from the start.

I firmly believe she'll either suffer a terrible fait in Alecto or take god's place. Or both.

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mangionebabymama · 3 days ago

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I’ve been thinking about the whole sexual dysfunction discourse about Luigi (hope it’s alright to talk about, feel free not to post) and how his portrayal in the media has kind of made sincere conversation about it impossible (the fact that people use it to incriminate him, to mock him, characterize him as an incel, etc). It’s tough because obviously it’s personal and should be treated with a lot of sensibility and care, but at the same time, if this is something he really experienced I also think it’s important to recognize it? Obviously it is not defining of him, but it would also be naive (in my opinion) to dismiss it as unimportant (in case it is real). For me it honestly helped me connect with him, because I have experienced my own set of issues with that and I think something like this (more as a man, I think, but still) fundamentally changes your identity and self esteem. Still, I’d obviously prefer if it all were rumors and he’s never had to deal with this. And hopefully he will be able to keep his privacy and we will never know! Anyway. Sorry if this is too heavy, just something that’s been on my mind.

Hi there, I'm totally fine with talking about this! Thank you for bringing this up for discussion and for opening up and sharing your personal story on this topic. This is something that deserves the space and respect to be considered with great consideration.

Though I have not personally experienced sexual dysfunction, even as a woman, I absolutely understand where you are coming from and get it with what you're trying to say, with how you feel that similar connection to him in how he's also personally (apparently) gone through something that you have. When you learn that other people genuinely and literally understand what you've gone through, especially when it's difficult and unimaginable to grasp. It seems like no one else can really seem to understand what it's like to be in your shoes, it also feels comforting to know other people have struggled like you—even though we would never wish the fight to battle upon someone else, it does feel less lonelier when you learn you are not alone anymore in such a place of isolation and indifference.

You're right in that in case he does have sexual dysfunction from his spondylolisthesis, it does not define him, but it is a part of his life and understanding of what he's faced and confronted in his life. We can see, just like us, he is human, and he knows what difficulty is and what it means to be unable to do something that you expect yourself to do well, and to know that feeling of when you ultimately feel that you are not yourself. Therefore, it changes your self-esteem completely. It would be naive, and it would also be invalidating to not acknowledge this condition of his, as just because it's Luigi, that doesn't mean that something discouraging like sexual dysfunction could ever happen to him—because at the end of the day, he is still human. He goes through the same human experience as we all do.

I also hope that all of these were rumors, no matter whoever originally shared the beginning of this narrative about him having intimacy issues, because when it's all said and done, it's not our business to know. It was never our business to know about that and Luigi's medical history and private life in the first place, and that's on that. Before everything, he deserves his privacy, and there are many things about his life that we don't need to know entirely, and there are many things that we shouldn't ever have to know—because he's entitled to that, and he's entitled to his privacy through and through.

#mangionebabymama asks

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sam-keeper · 3 days ago

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so this is months after the fact, but i'm wondering if you read dean kissick's now infamous harper's piece about "representation" making art banal, because while it seems to me he has some kind of a genuine frustration, both he and the people responding to him are sort of talking around the actual issue in question, or misplacing blame (classically by pointing the finger at "minority" artists)? my first instinctive response to the assertion that no interesting art exists because of the nebulous project of representation, was that, well, skill issue - interesting "minority" artists exist, very much so, perhaps the more interesting question is WHY they don't make it into shows and what would have to change structurally beyond the lip service of institutions to elevating non-white, queer artists.

...but at that point i realised i know literally nothing about the visual art world lmao and while i can confidently point to why this happens in publishing, i was wondering if you had any thoughts abt the actual piece and some of its very blithe (and what seems to me!) and sweeping assertions?

oh my god I had not seen this piece and it BODIED me. WHAT AN OPENING PARAGRAPH! I read the opening line out to Sarah and she looked like I had thrown a flash grenade in her face. she was blinking the spots out of her eyes. the whole thing is so incredible it's sort of hard for me to get my thoughts together--though, I think it's very Psychological that he keeps complaining that the art world has lost the vitality it had when he was... in his 20s? and my man surely you're not writing a whole article grousing about identity then in one of the last paragraphs dropping a line like, "In the Nineties, when I was a student at a Christian boys’ school in Oxford,"

but that opening though. oh my goodness lmao.

ok confession though on the main subject: I generally feel pretty disconnected from the contemporary high art world myself honestly? I've always had trouble getting an overview of Scenes cause I tend to burrow pretty deep into the stuff I'm most interested in, I've always been a bit too autistic and working class (complicated term for me but w/e) to really... fit in with my peers even when I was in grad school for contemporary art history... you're probably more knowledgeable about contemporary publishing than I am about contemporary art tbh. it's something I actually feel self conscious about as a self professed materialist haha

the annoying thing is I do sort of get what he means, for like, 6 paragraphs or so in the middle of the piece. there's definitely a strain of contemporary identity-focused art that leaves me kind of cold or just nonplussed in part for the reason he lays out: that there's all these things that are supposedly signifiers of this or that or "call to mind" or "invoke" some historical marker... but all of that is present in the descriptive text rather than the piece itself? like, you would need an incredibly specific and *narrowly focused* repertoire to see a chain made of salt and immediately jump to "ah yes it's like the ancient greek slave trade, in particular".

I don't think this is necessarily a problem of bad art though so much as bad ad copy?

like, I do encounter a lot of artist statements that leave me going, like, ok but *does it decolonize the body through the inversion of subject and object* though? or whatever. like what would that actually feel like, to have happen to you, intellectually and affectively? there's a lot of bold claims about what radical things the work is doing and it often feels like upselling, to me. but that doesn't necessarily mean I dislike the art! actually at multiple shows in my area I've seen stuff that I really enjoyed and then looked at the artist statement and learned that in fact what seemed like a shocking, surreal expression of an inexpressible inner experience was actually banal old "social anxiety". like the art has to fit into a consecrated schema of psychotherapy or sociology or ethnography to be marketed or justified. I don't think that's a problem of identity, or politics, I think it's one of commodification, but I empathize, I think, with the author's *frustration* about it.

also, tangentially, I have this whole thing I wrote recently that might make it into an article or might not, about Felix Gonzalez-Torres's "Untitled (Portrait of Ross in LA)", his famous interactive/conceptual piece where a pile of candy weighing the same as his lover's ideal body weight is continuously depleted by gallery attendees and refreshed by gallery administrators. the Smithsonian recently showed that with just, a comically blithe description that cuts out the entire context that this is artwork about gay men during the AIDS crisis. and that's actually a good example imo of a place where it's really important to have contextualizing information because the contextualizing information is part of the piece and shapes how everyone involves participates in the work. like, you might come to the conclusion that it "invokes" communion, and that's great, though I think saying that in the museum guide maybe is a bit over-determining? but you can only get to that invocation if you already have a context about the performance that you've been invited to engage in, if that makes sense. the accompanying explanation is a script that the participants are using to guide their interpretation--interpretation the way an actor interprets a line, I mean. and I think Kissik would just throw this out along with everything else, which is unfortunate.

but! like! I don't really know because he also seems to enthusiastically cite things pretty similar to this as pluralistic art that is of the present instead of the past. why is Wael Shawky's Cabaret Crusades good and Puppies Puppies's bronze nude self portrait bad? I have no idea. (well, she's transsexual so.......) or, like, is he suggesting that the Symphony of Sirens, an avant garde whole city performance honoring the October Revolution, is good because it's not... about anything? sometimes it seems like he just has a problem with people painting in traditional ways but then in others he's like hey look at this cool traditional painting! I find this so genuinely perplexing lmao. I genuinely do not know what I'm supposed to come away from this piece doing, as an artist.

oh, well, except that the bit about Louis Fratino sort of hits, too. his critique of Fratino is that he may be making gay cubism but the fact that it's cubism still makes it aesthetically conservative. I actually think about this a lot, the tendency for marginalized artists right now to paint themselves into history, as it were. it's directly relevant to my own practice, since I'm drawn to art primarily from the turn of the century, or I guess broadly from something like 1860-1960 maybe? I was classically trained, I do a lot of figure drawing, and I love drawing nudes of my queer friends. is that aesthetically conservative, or is depicting trans people happy and horny and beautiful surrendering to bourgeois aesthetic values? if I draw a fat snake furry in a pose based on Ingres's Odelisque is that a clever detuning of the canon, or is that a concession to the canon's authority and an admission that I don't have anything to say that hasn't already been said by a cishet male european?

it's definitely an anxiety for me. (I'd say it's table stakes for him but I guess the opening paragraph's point is that it's all fun and games until somebody loses a leg.) no idea what to do with all this but I do think about it, and I do feel frustrated with how... inward focused so much art now can be? that's not something that appeared in the last 8 years though lol that's the whole postmodern turn! like, architecture for example--yes there's all sorts of ironic quotations of classical greek elements and forms but it represents a historical return that contrasts the break represented by say brutalism. lichtenstein does dot painting renditions of cubist art. practically everyone in the Lowbrow Movement that comes out of comix are addicted to quotation and citation from both fine art and pop culture, and those guys are almost all cishet white guys!

so, whatever. the piece touches on some stuff I've thought about too, basically, but in such a garbled way that I'm not even sure what to really do with it. also I found out from this piece that he's associated with the Dimes Square people. once again I feel vindicated in being prejudiced against New York City and its people, though I can't say more about what kind of performance piece I'd like to see introduced to Dimes Square without getting put on some sort of List. oh, also Helen Lewis thought this article was brilliantly written. lol. and also, lmao.

I feel like there's probably more that could or should be said but I can't really think of what else to say so I'll stop rambling now.

#contemporary art #fine art #art history

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gxthlilith · 1 day ago

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HOT TAKE ON AA AND FANDOM RN

*note that this isn't all about THAT artist but general takes. I don't defend THAT artist words and actions. If you will come and call me stuff, I won't take it well because a random person cannot judge me. Please, read this as a general take and not only for certain situations. Especially in certain parts of post. And do note that if you take my words from your point of view is fine but I am open to have conversations without hating! No need to instantly judge me without knowing me because I am fine with dark art - I am not this and that as you think.

I'm so sad to what is happening in fandom rn. Everyone is hating to hate.

Astarion's fans are the target, especially AA fans. People don't understand that not all fans are crazy and hateful.

By what I've read from comments and saw in videos those who spread hate on AA or Astarion in general, aren't better than those who they speak of, imo.

I dislike how Astarion suddenly is portrayed as a monster just because he Ascended and people try to prove with dialogs and forgets there's dialogs of him adoring you and still showing his vulnerability even if he ascends.

As much as I love both versions of Astarion but I love Astarion wholely. No matter if he is a spawn or ascended. I love his flaws and his bratty personality. From the moment he pulls up a dagger to your throat to offering life in the shadows as a spawn or rulers as ascended. I never felt like he was good even before becoming spawn. I feel like he saw others from above as magistrate too! People shouldn't overglaze.

I feel like the people that like his one version only prefer that but doesn't take in the character of who he is and how he changes. And by dropping comments of "you completely didn't understand his character" is such horrible take in my eyes - do we understand ourselves to understand a fictional character, especially someone that overlives our age?

In my opinion, spawn is something we create and help him discover. Because he isn't nice at the beginning besides later on. Because he was so lost for so long. Meanwhile ascended Astarion drinks in the power BUT it doesn't mean he is Cazador 2.0. If he would be one, he would've left after finishing ritual - you're not needed. He would've killed you and burried you to become a spawn. Like he had that.

I feel like people who see him as one can't take on, on a man that shows who he is, its confidence and dominance. You don't have to kneel for AA as you do in game. Make headcanons! We don't get to explore AA as much as we do get to explore spawn. And there's no such thing as being equal. Only balance and harmony. There always will be times where one will do more than the other and opposite. Most important is being happy, respectful and loving to each other than care about being equal.

The sudden change do spook people but what interest me the most that in era of dark romance - people push away AA when it's so perfect for dark romance.

If your tav/durge can't handle a power hungry vampire lord in headcanons, seems like not the AA problem.

And people who just hate by making silly takes like: you cannot change Wyll into Astarion in a dance scene... Darling, change Astarion into Wyll in his scenes! Do whatever your fantasy desires, rather than making childish takes or what others have to do. Shouldn't be anyone's business.

And this whole art drama made me remember that color of skin is a really big issue for people! I have forgotten such problem for so long because I don't care about the color. Color doesn't disturb me to get to know the person! I care about the person, its behavior, its personality. I don't talk to color of the skin only, I talk to a human being, because at the end of the day we are all just people - no matter the color, ethnicity and etc. We shouldn't shake off someone because of color. Let's love each other as we are. And if we feel proud in our skin and culture, and love that in each other - it would be more beautiful. People should stop putting labels and just enjoy each other, spread less hate.

And love art without caring of artist's backgrounds. I wanna enjoy art without labels, without politics. Art deserves more. And there's lots of historical art that are far worse and sells for millions but social media ruins opinions by seeing only one truth. This is not about THAT artist.

I don't tolerate to whatever THAT artist draws and says.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 durge #astarion #bg3 #durge #baldurs gate astarion #bg3 astarion #astarion ancunin #astarion ascended #astarion spawn

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marzipanilla · 1 day ago

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welp lemme know when you've seen the finale lol

Like I def think ppl talking about the real story starting are missing the point of the set up in S1, but I almost get their point this past season in that it felt like things were dragging/just waiting for something else to come along. bleh. definitely need to do a rewatch. god I was watching a scene from S1 the other day to remember something and it really is such a wildly different time lol

FR ! you know Rex would have been exploding some of the crazy shit Eve could make. plus they were kids you know they'd be doing some stupid shit lol also at least one of kate's corpses has to have been exploded at one point. like. there's no way it wasn't.

I know Levy needed something bc he will never be a physical match for Mark but they coulda done something interesting w the damn bots, like you said. instead of a jet stream just have those fucks popping in and out of diff portals picking up radiation from other worlds and weird shit!! let one of his few 'tactical' villains actually think things through !

Debbie really could have been such a great way to expand the make up of the world. way more than Mark she honestly rides that line between hero and normal so much more. getting that weird gray area of reality from her would have been so awesome. I mean, the show genuinely already does a lot more 'civilian' world building than the comic (the entire support group thing being new) but they coulda done more! but no. ppl aren't ppl unless they're dating someone in Invincible, so... we get Paul.

Mark 'infiltrating' the alt!Marks would have been super fun. him saying some weird dumb 'evil' shit to convince them he is like them and them just nodding like 'yeah I kick puppies too, who hasn't' and Mark just having to be like 'that worked??' Moments where bundles of them joke about their favorite issues of seance dog, getting into a debate with himself about things he loves! cracking a joke and suddenly realizing how paper thin the differences are! like yes they kill ppl, but they also still like burgers and cartoons and their gfs. they still have so much more in common than not. him having to really face how much of what he does is a choice. him getting to struggle w what that choice means

it's so weird to say bc the character says it so much- but it honestly doesn't feel like they actually pushed Mark's no-kill policy hard enough? he can yell about ppl going to prison all he wants, but if they don't show him genuinely being unreasonable about not killing then every time he makes the choice to split hairs and get away w it, its like, there is so much less of an impact when the time comes for him to make the choice to be deliberately lethal. have him say he wont kill seismic's beasts bc they're like dogs just standing in front of their master! have that be part of why that fight failed ! have him try and humanely managing a hoard of multi-pauls! bc if hes trying to kill the animals, if he's slaughtering copies of that dude, if he's driving himself through the head of a dragon and assuming that will kill them, then sir, you dont have a no kill policy.

Mark not putting a lot of forethought into things is a bit of a character trait for him, but the fact it is almost stretching into inaction and just an absolute lack of even a lack of thought- like- he isnt even not thinking about something and performing an action- there's literally just nothing going on and its like ??? you've had time surely to even maybe repress or avoid this rather than somehow just completely avoid it even existing somehow??

Mark agreeing to go hang out on a beach w Debbie instead of refusing and the beach is Beach City (am now officially thinking too much about this crossover lol)

The way I got caught up on our back and forth I almost forgot this, lol! AND OH MY GOODNESS, IMAGINE? I forget exactly what which point Debbie makes the beach offer, but I’d love when exactly in SU/SUF-timeline they’d go? There’s something so fucking funny to me about them going during the SUF-timeline and always narrowly missing the strange, Steven-shaped mental breakdowns in the back. I know those don’t occur in a single day, but it’s tickling me. How could they miss anything? I don’t know I just think it’s funny.

Though, post-SUF is interesting if Gems can see the similar “world on your shoulders”, Mark has going on! Steven can shunt the narrative in the Gems’ minds, which I think is neat, if I’m not misusing the phrase since the guy’s on the road far away. Or maybe it’s just before Steven goes and they stumble into each other. I’d kinda love Pearl and Debbie interacting, honestly, if they could talk about loving someone who hurt you, hide things from you, even when you thought you knew them so deeply, and they left you to raise a child. Pearl being in a well adjusted space, and Debbie still grieving.

Honestly, the gems could help train Mark, they’re got experience and similar-ish powers in strength, sturdiness, and they can jump/run fast enough for flying to be vaguely similar enough to lecture about, I think. Or Lapis Lazulis, haha! Peridot with her trash can lid! Garnet, I’d love to see if she told Mark anything about his future in vague, well meaning advice. Or even giving relationship advice considering Amber. Or, importantly, how to convince an entire reign to end their colonizing ways, lol. Is Mark perhaps willing to start a war, take advantage of being related to any leaders, or fake his own death to varying results?

In general, there’s something so fucking funny to me about Nolan, in the sake of comparison, being Pink Diamond coded. Like OH, did an important or well respected of the colonizing empire come to earth and learn the beauty of its people and nature, including faking/lying/omitting things about his identity and background to being in, only to feel conflicted when his responsibility still remained, and he tried to free himself from them? Yikes! We’ve been through that before! Like gimme Pink Diamond and Nolan outfit swap rn. This is tickling me so much oh my goodness.

#invincible chatter #well another season down #idk just sorta squinting at the future

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