#S+ isn't leaving

[s1lv3rp4w3dc4t]

shout out object shows with canon queer ships. I'm talking on screen kiss or even just verbal confirmation. all things considered it's a bit strange you don't really see them that much when you think about how gay everyone here is. I love you ii but c2bc did what you didn't and I think that's actually really nice.

[bixels]

What did/do you like about Pharah?

Uh, gameplay-wise, I really love characters in shooters who rely on three-dimensional movement techs. Chaining together hover and jump to stay in the air for as long as possible and keep momentum is so satisfying, and picking enemies off from the sky made me feel like a bird of prey. I was a good Pharah main.

Story-wise, there unfortunately isn't much to canonically go off because Pharah is so underutilized and neglected. Her personality's pretty boilerplate "heroic hero" (she's literally inspired by Captain America).

But it's the crumbs/bits and pieces that I really latched onto. Pharah's a confirmed lesbian; her short story with Baptiste implies she harbors a crush on Mercy (fucking thank you.). She's biracial Egyptian/First Nations. She has major mommy issues, having grown up both admiring and resenting Ana. She's the bridge between Old Overwatch, inspired by the idealized heroes who surrounded her childhood, and New Overwatch. She's one of the only inter-generational characters in the cast; someone whose experiences span the gap, which is why I seriously believe Pharah would make a great main character.

There isn't much to go off of, though; she's a very uncomplicated character (she's a soldier for a private military corporation, lol.). But that just means she's a blank slate character, so I've seen fanfic writers run wild and create some really interesting takes on her. My favorite interpretation of her's a dense, herbo gym-bro type (a lot of her liens are about work outs, exercising, and playing sports) who's easily excitable under her seemingly self-serious, armored visage. We see how she tends to gloat and hype herself up when she's on a streak too, so Pharah definitely has a competitive and boastful side under her more professional and militant performance.

Now Mercy? Mercy is a real complex character.

[gelphiegifs]

"Look at you."

[spirk-trek]

Amazing Grace Fanzine | Barbara P. Gordon, 1984

[phoenixcatch7]

Absolutely insane to me that anyone either in universe or irl believes anything the main wen clan says.

We see from the very beginning in every adaptation that their modus operandi, nay, their way of life, is to lie, threaten and bribe people into doing their dirty work for them (you see this even easier in untamed).

Their favourite thing in the whole world is to make other people look bad, ESPECIALLY when they get a scapegoat out of it.

This is one of the ways the jin clan at the time follow in their footsteps - they capitalise on wwx as the pre prepared scapegoate they can blame and use to sow doubt, discord, distrust. They use the exact same tactic to remove a perceived threat on wwx as the wen remnants, mxy, even jrl - isolate them, make their word untrustworthy, assert themselves as the Righteous and Generous side in the process. But not without rubbing everyone else the wrong way just to make double sure they uncover anyone willing to stand against them!

The main issue here is, of course, the burning of lotus pier. First of all, wwx had no part in the physical actions the wens took, just to get the most obvious out of the way. Secondly, gusu burned first. That had absolutely zero to do with wwx or any rising rebellion - it happened before the indoctrination! (Side note, I can't believe that's how it gets translated when that's the biggest possible red flag term to use. It's genuinely insane when the clans remain complacent as they toss that word around and prepare to send their kids to it. At least pick, like, Education or Examination or something with plausibly less brainwashing cult kidnapping energy.)

Anyway. The wens chose their targets well. Gusu burns first: it is the best connected, hosting the lectures, it is the biggest repository of knowledge in the entire jianghu (including assassination techniques!!), it has two rising stars, one set to take up the role of new (and thus more alert and proactive). It's got the weakest actual sect leader by far. It's also, perhaps, the most isolated. None of the other clans are aware it's been utterly decimated by the time of the indoctrination.

Then it's either the Nie, already partially crippled with the previous sect leader already killed by wrh, leaving a child to fill the boots with no parents, no previous instruction, an infant brother and no elders. They're prone to deviation exacerbated by resentment (which human battlefields are FULL of) (though they can be helped by, you guessed it! Lan techniques, whom they've just burned all of). They have no rising star, their heir is famously useless. Or the Jin, the most closely allied major clan, with immense wealth but little actual stake in the war as long as they themselves aren't targeted. You'll remember it's the sect heir who finally drags his men onto the field. The jianghus whore is too busy coddling up to and yes manning the wen to be of any concern.

This just leaves the jiang. A strong and powerful great sect filled with dangerous, head strong warriors. I'm explicitly including yzy in this, who is a harsh taskmaster who continues taking night hunts into marriage and motherhood to keep her wit and skills sharp. The daughters engagement with the jin is cancelled, which means they won't alienate the jin by attacking. The father is both alive and active, capable and willing to actually run the sect and lead it into battle with the wen (or at the very least his wife is practically chomping at the bit). It's got two rising stars glued to each other's hip, one of which is the heir and the other the brightest, most troublemaking, most ready to throw hands in the name of justice in his whole generation. Their people are wealthy and loyal.

Oh, and also, they basically own the waterways. I'm not sure if it's explicitly canon, but they are the sect most connected to the rivers that (canonically, remember the waterborne abyss?) run between at least three of Great sects, including (drumroll please) the very first sect they just burned to the ground and are notably keeping surpressed (wen chao, at the very least should have bragged incessantly to everyone who looked at him, never mind his captive and isolated audience), and the wens themselves!! Lotus pier basically borders to its town, which is very clearly thriving af. It's loud, it's colourful, it's exotic, it's getting so much trade it's not even funny. The jiang are so much more experienced in water and water enemies (remember wwx noticing lwjs weird boat waterline?) than even gusus heir and spare! They are trade, they are TRANSPORT, they are INFORMATION (merchants and gossips).

Even if wwx didn't exist, it's just the most tactical thing to do. If you want to cripple your enemies, you target their knowledge and ties. You sabotage supply lines and communication lines. You do that as fast as you can, make sure to damage moral, prevent them from rallying together. The wens win when their enemies are divided. All together and united, they form the sun shot campaign.

WHICH IS WHY. Absolutely NOTHING they say or do can be trusted!!

What's her face coming into lotus pier and targeting wwx is so blatant and transparent a divisive tactic (so identical to the rest of the clan) I was honestly shocked anyone even pretended to listen. Jc believing it even slightly really surprised me. And I'm!! Not trained! In leadership tactics in fantasy land, SECT HEIR. At the very least living with his mother should have given him some idea of how to spot when someone is lashing out and scapegoating for their own gain, good grief.

Unfortunately. Pink antenna (I don't know how but the anime makes her look really old) dangles the possibility of sparing the jiang in front of their faces. It is a long, unlikely shot. It's playing into their hands, it's giving them the jerk off material and superiority high they want, it's undignified and self sabotaging. It's probably stalling at best. But. It's literally the only option either wwx or yzy could live with. If they didn't at least try.

It's exactly the same tactic the jin later use with wwx (again) and the remnants. Give us your strongest people, your glue, your most clever and loyal. Let us ruin them, kill them. In return, we will let your people go free <- lying so openly and blatantly to people so cornered and out of options that they might just, desperately, make the willing sacrifice. It's scummy and cruel.

Ironically, I think this is the time wwx and yzy are most in agreement, and it's when jc would rather anything else. They play this awful role, really ham it up, demean themselves and pretend they're playing right into the wens hands. She says no, she hesitates, she backs out or fumbles, she gets pressed for harder, more, make him really bleed. Wwx is willing to perform the farce and be the sacrifical lamb, on the longest shot to keep his home safe. He wears his own mask for this, because you'll notice he's able to get up and fight immediately after, whereas lwj was bedbound and healing for literal years.

Yes, wwx is insane and martyrish and has way too little self worth. Yes, yzy would not have been so willing if jc was picked. Yes, she stopped the SECOND they realised the wens were just going to keep pressing until wwx was dead and then probably demand she desecrate the corpse. She wasn't about to cripple her best fighter and son's best chance of survival. And she recognised that becoming a supervisory office would be pretty equal to being destroyed by them, but also grant the wen a HUGE boost in everything a war monger could want. If the wen took lotus pier, forces overwhelming as it already was, they would win. Full stop.

Whether or not all that was going through her mind as she slapped pinky idk, and I won't say she made the right choice, but again, either way they did what the wens wanted. This is how they isolate and sabotage threats. They will say and do anything to keep their hallucinated high horse and get that sweet sweet bullying high.

They cannot, under any circumstances, be trusted to give a reliable word on anything. In fact, I'd argue that you should believe the opposite of what they say.

So stop acting like anyone genuinely believes them. Have characters (wwx) blame themselves for events with their guilt complexes but not their head!

Also shout out to mianmian for being the only other person to call anyone out on it.

[trexalicious]

I have mixed feelings on both of them but interesting...🤔

[r3dblccd]

I can't wait to use my new bullet journal 🥰

Bonus: My first bullet journal that I've been using for this a d last year. I named it CHONKY (ignore the bottom left sticker, a friend gave it to me. Probably for a reason but ain't gonna talk about that fjgfjffif)

[worshipfulmercy]

i have so many thoughts about his gender and how he's kind of textually a woman and/or abinary (read tags if interested)

[wayfinderships]

Oh boy! :D I can't wait to look through my f/os tag!

-1 HP

-1 HP

-1 HP

-1 HP

-1 HP

[sukibenders]

Looking back at Girl Meets World, it will forever irritate me especially for how they handled/treated Angela. Oh this show really hated black women because how do you not only 1.) describe her, one of (correct me if I'm wrong) only few black and MAIN characters of the og show, as a "concept" 2.) have characters show obvious disgust at the small mention of her name 3.) depict her as a homewrecker for a new relationship that, really, shouldn't have ever happened 4.) have her old friends treat her like dirt and her old lover like she is the root of his problems, when there was nothing but positive love there 5.) reuse all the concepts from said previous love story just to elevate the new ship with a yte woman and 6.) compare her to Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest hurricanes that caused significant numbers of death, harm, misplacement, and trauma to people, largely of whom were black? Mind you, all these points I mentioned were toward the only main black character of the OG show before the spinoff, and the only, from what I can remember, black female character of the spinoff who didn't even stay long. Not even getting into the racist drama with some of the members on set, but you cannot look me in the eye and tell me that the way the show handled Angela, her story, and her relationship with the other characters + Shawn wasn't fucking disrespectful, you can't because I won't believe you.

[danieyells]

Sometimes I ask myself unnecessary questions such as "if someone made a design for Subaru's sister is that an OC or a canon"

Technically she doesn't have a canon name or design we just know she married into a rival troupe and Leo theorizes that Subaru didn't take this well or something

But she is a canonical entity. Like if someone made a design for Jin's dad I'd list him under canons. So in that same vein I'd have to say an OC design for Subaru's sister is canon right???

[hunter-sylvester]

yeah they might have kicked me out of therapy but I got heavy metal and Netflix's 2022 flop film Metal Lords so really who needs therapy anyway?

[bubblesandpages]

So on the topic of Claire's nearly fatal allergy oversight, isn't there a direct parallel with that in how Carmy, Richie, Sydney, hell, all of the kitchens, servers, and chefs we see over the course of the show treat allergies, and how meticulous they are with finding alternatives for each element in a dish?

[popcorn-plots]

long rant incoming, I'm just fed up with a certain person right now

OH MY GOODNESS is it too much to ask for just a LITTLE respect?? I drive this girl to and from school, every day. I'm going to call her Laura. Laura is an only child and the only reason I'm taking her to school is because she refuses to bike to mile and a half from her place to the school in the cold. Which is fine. The arrangement was that I drive her and she pays gas money. The problem is, she's been super annoying about it. Every morning for about a month, she would text me "are you picking me up today". every single morning. Until I snapped one day and told her that I have been picking her up every morning for the past month, of course I'm picking her up. not my proudest moment, but it works. Now, however, I have to text her every time I'm at her house and she still takes maybe 4 minutes to get out the door. Which, okay, I can understand the texting thing, but I would like her to be ready. and then every afternoon, she tells me that she can't find my car, so I have to tell her where I parked it in the morning. or she won't text anything and I'm sitting in my car for five or ten minutes after I text her for a response that's lik "oh I was with friends" or "I thought you were still in the school, I'm coming out now" which. okay. I understand, I like talking to my friends, but we all leave pretty quickly because no senior wants to stay at school longer than they have to. But there have been more than a few times where I'm sitting in my car for OVER HALF AN HOUR waiting for her to text back with "oh btw I forgot to tell you, I have a club meeting" or "i went home with a friend" or some bs. So every day I have to text her "do you need a ride home" because I'm waiting, in my car, for 15 minutes after school, waiting for this girl. And today, I'm sitting there for 25 minutes. and I'm like, okay I can wait, because I have some fics to catch up on. But then I'm finished with my fics

and I text her because she's still not there and it takes another five minutes for her to respond, word for word, "oh, sorry, I thought you would text me when you got to your car" after I've REPEATEDLY said that I typically leave school as soon as I can. I'm willing to wait for her, but I'm usually gone within five minutes of the bell. I waited half an hour for her to tell me that she was waiting for me to text her, informing her of my location, after I've told her that I'm always at my car. I even text her when I have something going on! Club meeting? I pick her up and before we get to school "I can't drive you home because I have a club meeting." If I have somewhere to be, or if I have to stay after school, I tell her before school or during lunch. Every single time, without fail.

not to mention the fact that the original arrangement was that she would pay me 10 dollars every 2 weeks for gas. I've only gotten 20 dollars in the past three and a half months. she keeps asking if I have venmo, and then never bringing up payment when I say that I don't. and she always complains about being too broke to afford anything, then goes and buys pizza and donughts during lunch. she's been flaky for everything else, too and it's so annoying. I've been trying to be a nice friend, because I didn't have friends, let alone kind friends growing up, and I've becoming known as the rich friend who's always willing to help in my friend group. I try to set boundaries, but then people stop talking to me the moment I do. and this has gone on throughout my entire life. Laura's behavior is even what happened in all of my previous relationships, I'd be giving 100 percent and they're giving 50, at best, until I wear myself out just trying to spend time with them and make it work, including talks where I set my boundaries and tell them, literally say "I would like it if you could just do this". If you could just get work off for a single evening or just look away from the computer for half an hour during lunch so we can have an actually conversation, then they never even try and don't understand when I'm all out of juice and can't keep going, then are confused when I stop giving my all

it's infuriating and I hate it. I really want to set boundaries, but guess what. I was raised to walk on eggshells around my mom and let people walk all over me because that's the only way that I would ever get attention from my PARENTS. because I was told to shut up and do what I'm told so that my siblings could get the help that they needed.

[pokimoko]

Listening to instrumentals from the silly doo-wee-ooo show is actually something that can be so painful.

[microwaving-tesilid-argente]

Looking again at some scenes at the start of the 17th and yeah, I was right about the Muriel-Tesilid-Ailette dynamic being “my lifelong crush reminds me of this one backstabber” lmao. Tesilid's trust issues at the start of the 17th were definitely caused in large part by Muriel

(Written as of Chapter 209, shortly after Muriel makes her first in-person appearance in Round 17, and without reading MTL)

--

The pre-Muriel chapters already had plenty of hints imo, where Tesilid was noticeably wary of or harsh towards Ailette.

Pandora’s Dungeon (Ch 96): 

“Plague, death, hope… Yes… hope… false hope. Ailette, are you false hope?”

Ch 97: 

He believed Ailette Rodeline to be one of two things. She was either a rare compensation bestowed upon him by Order and Goodness or an instrument of false hope, designed to make him fall into further despair and misery. If by chance, she was the latter… If the Strict Order and Goodness is trying to make a fool of me once more. “That won’t do.” He swung the holy blade. A titanic burst of aura was unleashed from his blade, shattering the earth like a tidal wave. The ground rumbled and soon filled the deep abyss from the impact. The rift was no more. “Ailette Rodeline,” he muttered. “I sincerely hope that you are neither taken away nor betray me.”

Snow Queen Dungeon (Ch 110):

I was half-expecting him to be deeply impressed by how knowledgeable I was, but all I got in return was a sceptical look of disbelief. “Hmm.” “Excuse me, Sir Tesilid?” I said tauntingly. “What’s up with that face? Is that any way to look at a fellow companion?” “Then let me ask you this, as a companion, how do you know so much about everything? It’s almost like you’re omniscient.” “Allie, it’s an important issue, so I need you to answer me honestly. If, by some far-fetched possibility, your true identity is the Strict Order and Goodness’ avatar…” “Whoa, don’t go there. That’s not it at all.” “It’s not? Good. That’s a relief.” Tesilid seemed to have noticed my puzzled expression and proceeded to explain with a dazzling smile on his face. “I meant that you need to be human in order to stay by my side.”

Muriel’s actual appearance in Round 17 makes it pretty clear that Tesilid was talking about her during the above instances, because she’s the avatar of someone who serves the Strict Order and Goodness.

Ch 208:

[...] and lastly, Myu Elinas, the Divine Watchmaker, who had been asleep for 500 years in a holy resting site of Order and Goodness.  Muriel was her alter ego.  She knew that this world was a World of Return that was abandoned by its god, but she couldn't remember any of her previous lives.

And on that note, I think the way that Tesilid chose to frame his relationship with Muriel in this round is really funny.

Ch 207:

“You’re the master of the holy sword, aren’t you? Sir… Tesilid Argente, was it?” “That’s correct, Your Eminence.” “This may sound like a strange question, but is this the first time we’re meeting?” “What do you mean?” Tesilid asked, his voice tight with discomfort. “For some reason, I feel a sense of longing when I look at you. Would it be al right if I call you Tesilid from now on?” According to the original plot, Tesilid was now meant to politely approve her request to call him by his first name. I was waiting for the scene to proceed as I remembered when Tesilid suddenly went off script. “A sense of longing…” he said, slowly sounding out the words. “I must say, I feel the same way.” “Saintess.” “Yes, Tesilid.” “It’s ‘Sir Tesilid’.” “Pardon?” “I hope you dig deep and discover why you feel that sense of longing. I will only allow you to call me by my name once you do so.” For some reason, Tesilid’s tone had suddenly become short and cold, and he turned her down without any room for compromise.

“Dig deep and discover why you feel that sense of longing” is a pretty strange thing to say given that Muriel is already aware of both her role/identity, and the truth of the world (from Ch 208). So either Tesilid doesn’t know that she knows (doubtful, I’m pretty sure that’s why he’s so angry with her), or he knows that she knows and is just trying to tell her in a roundabout way that he knows she knows. Basically going “ ‘sense of longing’ :))) b**** do you mean your duty to make me go through shit :))) I see what you’re doing and don’t pull that shit again.” I love seeing Tesilid be rude while still being polite on the surface.

Now I’m going to go out on a limb and make guesses about what Muriel and Tesilid’s dynamic was like before Tesilid discovered the truth, based on the info we already have. I think the clues lie in what sets Ailette and Muriel apart in Tesilid’s eyes. As usual, I'm not going to assume that Muriel falls into the stereotype of The Villainness Bitch because let's be real Irinbi is a better writer than to write flat characters like that.

Obviously the biggest difference is that Tesilid was already in love with Ailette from the 300th dungeon up until the present. It’s why Tesilid never fell in love during all the regressions, and it was enough for 117th to keep playing nice and not kill himself right away when he first woke up. But this just means Tesilid keeps her around and doesn’t necessarily mean that he would trust her.

The more fruitful parts imo are when Tesilid is surprised or heartened by what Ailette does, and which probably got him to start trusting that Ailette won’t be a repeat of Muriel. Instances include but definitely are not limited to:

her beating up the bandits at the harpy dungeon

her beating up the Knights of Worship in his stead

her worry when he came out of the Library fight half-dead

her repeated and complete trust in him to look after her in her post-Divine Advent state

Based on this I feel like it’s reasonable to suggest that Muriel:

1) Never took revenge on those who wronged Tesilid 

This could possibly be played off as some “Saint-like” demeanour where you try to get people to stop fighting instead of punishing injustice or being biased towards/protecting your own people; some kind of duty to the world generally instead of just to him. This seems like it’d play well into pre-regression Tesilid’s self-sacrificing nature and philosophy, where he thought nothing of his own suffering.

2) Never expressed worry and distress as sincerely as Ailette does whenever Tesilid gets hurt?

Honestly Muriel I’m disappointed, this seems like a low bar. But then again, Ailette is very obsessed with Tesilid so maybe it was the intensity that caught Tesilid off guard

3) Never fully trusted Tesilid when she was vulnerable? 

This would makes sense because she can’t remember her past regressions – she never knows how Tesilid actually feels towards her. Tesilid could spend a regression just making her life a living hell if he so wished.

If Muriel really was like this towards Tesilid, then ngl it really was a miracle that OG!Tesilid fell in love with her at all. He probably had really low standards, which makes sense because, well, everyone else treated him worse. OG!Tesilid didn’t even have Hestio & Ephael getting angry on his behalf to put things into perspective. The whole world was gaslighting him and treating him the same way, like him being trodden upon was only natural, and Muriel might even have encouraged him to think that way too. It also really makes sense why Ailette absolutely hates Muriel’s guts, because in that case Muriel would have been doing even less than the bare minimum as a lover and would have been taking advantage of his good nature. 

It also would make sense why current!Tesilid never fell in love with her, and why he was so shocked when Ailette said his future self would. Like, fall in love with someone like that???? Really????? (Especially when Ailette promised to find him again????) (And assuming also that Hestio & Ephael managed to get him to have Some standards about the way he is treated by others by getting mad on his behalf many times over the years.)

Anyway it’s really funny how in the early 17th parts I quoted, Tesilid sounds like he would straight up kill Ailette if she made one wrong move. He must really hate Muriel, huh! I need Muriel to have her next appearance soon, I want to see this unfold.

TLDR; I think it’s likely that Muriel had veneer of kindness and sympathy but maybe subtly let Tesilid down in a lot of instances where it counted, or kept trying to convince him that him getting treated terribly by others was the natural way of things / that he should put up with that treatment. Her acting was probably good enough that Tesilid genuinely believed she could help him for a good long while, but also lacklustre enough that Tesilid never thought of her as a potential lover.

mystery solved!!! (<- didn’t even know there was a puzzle to begin with) (their history is probably going to be revealed in like 10 chapters anyway)