#Some random woman who is unimportant

[insidebrianshead]

Finding out who Ruby's Mum is in Empire of Death

[absolute-decay]

I'm definitely gonna write more planned out and longer stuff for this AU of mine, but, take a silly one shot for now!

"Katsuki, my boy!" Rikiya had practically jumped on the teen, squeezing him tight enough that he couldn't get enough air to verbalize a 'Get the hell off me, geezer!', and instead opted for pushing him away. "God, I know you were worried, but maybe don't strangle me right after I escape from one group of loonies to another."

"Of course, of course, I apologize." The Grand Commander took a small step away, recomposing himself and straightening his tie. Katsuki didn't get to spend a lot of time to wind down with Chitose at her place, since Rikiya insisted on meeting him and the other lieutenants at the Deika City HQ A.S.A.P. "We really couldn't have made this a voice call or somethin'? Y'all know I don't like being dragged around for unimportant shit."

"Yes, you're safety is extremely important," Koku had suddenly appeared behind the boy, gently wrapping an arm around his shoulders and bringing Katsuki beside him, "not just to the cause or Liberation Warriors you inspire, but to us. We were all extremely worried for you."

"I was not." Tomoyasu replied quickly and almost defensively from the chair he was seated in, far in the back of the room. He seemed to be typing away at nothing on his laptop, like always. "Seriously, we trained you for who knows how long, and you allow yourself to be bested by what? A mere gang of insane hooligans? At that point, I'm surprised you didn't die from the short time they had you in their grasps. Couldn't even escape on your own."

Katsuki glared at him, used to the scathing words and attitude, but certainly not fond of it. "Yeah, I'm happy to see you too, asshole!" Rikiya smiled, deciding not to divulge in how Skeptic had looked ready to murder someone when he couldn't find the League's hideout, or the very strongly worded e-mail he had almost sent UA.

"Come on now, Tomoyasu, he's simply a child! And unlike Geten, Chitose was determined to give him a strict and high maintenance education." The woman in question smiled proudly, looking around the room from her seat, closer to Katsuki that Skeptic's. "And for your age and lack of experience, you still held your own, not even a mark on you! Truly, we have all trained you so well, but your own talent and grit shown through more than anything, one of our strongest Warriors, by a long shot! It could be said you're even on par with u-"

"We aren't making him a Lieutenant." Skeptic shot down the woman's passionate sale's pitch. She shrugged, "It was worth a shot."

Katsuki took a deep breath in, looking towards his mother figure awkwardly. "Actually, on the note of Geten, we might... Need him at our place, tomorrow." Curious tilted her head, and Geten, silent up until now, looked at him as well. "Oh, and why is that?"

"Well, UA is setting up a dorm system, and wants approval from the families of the students, and I might have told my class about my adoptive brother with an ice quirk who has no hobbies or job that stays home all day. And told other the teachers, too. Including All Might."

Rikiya hummed, dramatically pursing his lips. This was most definitely an issue, as Katsuki was never officially adopted by Chitose, meaning no one at UA actually knew his relationship with her, or the rest of his family situation. And since he went missing so long ago, him simply enrolling as "Kizuki Katsuki" and making up random stories made some level of sense, and certainly seemed in line with what he would do.

"I see, that could certainly pose a problem. But, I'm sure you're smart enough to come up with an excuse-" "I'll go." Geten spoke deadpan, as if it was obvious he would accept. "Well, I suppose that works as well!"

Katsuki raised his eyebrows, "Really? No fuss given?" Geten stood from his chair, walking towards him. "I want to see your teacher firsthand. Judge who they are, what they're like. If they aren't up to the task, I'll be letting them know, as well as giving you a harder training regimen."

Chitose smiled excitedly, running up to follow him. "Oh, thank you, Geten! The house hasn't really been cleaned for a while or made ready for guests, but, we'll fix that as soon as we return. We could go and get you an outfit to make you seem more casual and fit in better than with the parka, if you'd like?" Geten just grunted in agreement, before Katsuki spoke up again. "I'll also need a dad, but, I didn't give any specifics about him, so, anybody will do."

...

...

"...Why are you all staring at me like that?" Tomoyasu looked up from his laptop, confused and a bit concerned.

"Well," Koku started, "It's not like the leader of The Hearts and Mind Party can suddenly generate a partner and two adopted sons." he walked dramatically around the room, a small smirk on his face.

"Do not imply what I think you are implying." "And, it's not like the CEO of Detnerat could either," "Stop." "And Geten is already the older brother, so..."

"And you think I, a board member at Fell Good Incorporated, CAN generate a lover and two children without anyone in the public knowing or caring?!"

"Yes."

"Mhm."

"I don't see why not."

"Of course!"

"Abso-fuckin-lutely."

"Well, then, it's decided!" "No it is not!" "Kizuki Geten, Kizuki Katsuki, Kizuki Chitose, and Chikazoku Tomoyasu will meet with the UA teacher tomorrow!" Rikiya gestured to the four, as if it was a serious mission they were undertaking. "Wait, I can't be the father! What about my family name!"

"Just say you aren't married." Koku was too happy to throw a monkey wrench into his only escape, not hiding the schadenfreude from watching the high and mighty Skeptic degraded so.

"Yet." Chitose chimed in, "And when we do, you're getting my family name." Her smile was much more genuine than Koku's, scarily so. "Do not mess with me, woman!"

Katsuki snorted as Geten seemingly teleported in between Skeptic and Curious, grabbing his wrist a bit too tightly with that scarily blank expression on his face. "Come, Father. Be their for your family."

Tomoyasu could only get out "I-"'s and "You can't-"'s as he was dragged out of the room, Katsuki and Chitose following behind, leaving only Koku and Rikiya in the room.

"...You know, Grand Commander,it wouldn't surprise me if he was the type to take the family name. His quirk would help him be quite the remarkable house husband, too-"

"Ahaha please, Trumpet, spare the poor man! He's going to go through enough humiliation in the passing days for a life time, he doesn't need anymore of it thrown behind his back!"

(REBLOGS ARE MORE APPRECIATED THAN LIKES!!! IT'S JUST AS EASY TO REBLOG A POSTAS IT IS TO LIKE IT >:(!!!)

[cursedvibes]

jjk having queer-coded villains seems to be an intentional choice. what are your thoughts on this

Honestly, I think the queer themes and characters we've gotten in jjk are pretty great. Yes, some of them are villains and that is a common harmful trope, but first of all it is not just the villains and second you have to look at how their queerness is portrayed and implemented into their characters.

We have characters like Kirara and Hakari and I think you can count Tengen too, who are queer(-coded) and not villains. Their queerness is pretty explicit in case of Kirara and Tengen with Kirara having clearly transitioned and being some flavour of trans and Tengen also openly stating she's lost interest in gender and is if anything a gnc woman. Queerness is also not their entire character, just one minor aspect of it that is honestly not that important. Tengen being responsible for the creation of jujutsu society and Kirara rebelling against the school and then choosing to aid the kids in the Culling Game is much more significant than their gender. Tengen corrects Yuki about being a man and then we move on, it is not actually a big deal. Yuki is more concerned with Tengen's actions than her gender.

The comment from Panda insisting that Kirara is a guy was weird, but it isn't brought up again, everyone just doesn't gender Kirara when seeing them without making a big deal about how "weird" it is for a presumed guy to have boobs like you might've expected in other pieces of media. The implication here I think is just that Panda hasn't seen Kirara in a while nor knows them very well. The comment was unnecessary in my opinion, you could've shown in a better way that Kirara transitioned, but the way it is treated afterwards makes it better. I think it especially helps that we see Hakari so accepting of Kirara, it is something normal and their relationship is loving. Kirara's gender or presumed sex is no issue at all between them and the other characters just roll with it too.

Same could be said for things like Geto and Gojo's relationship for example, the most prominent example of queer-coding in jjk as is also heavily displayed in marketing for season 2 of the anime. Obvious choice, they are by for the most popular ship and tapping into shipping sells. Their the sasunaru of jjk. I don't think you could call it queerbaiting though because contrary to sasunaru you don't have this "jk they both ended up marrying some random women like the heterosexual men they are" and there are literally no confirmed relationships in jjk anywhere except for the people who are married (and those usually don't love each other). stsg have as much ground to stand on as Kirara/Hakari or Muta/Miwa. They are milking that money cow, but with the way it is handled in canon, it doesn't bother me much ignoring their fanbase.

Another aspect we see in stsg that also applies to how we see queerness in some of the villains is that their relationship (of whatever nature that might be) is there to humanize both Gojo and Geto. There is actually some meaning to it, not just shipper bait or an insane villain being gay and that being included as another aspect of him being reproachful like you see with many Disney villains. Geto's bond with Gojo (and his family) is portrayed as the last bits of sanity left in him and also any criticism you'd leverage against that could apply to Gojo as well, a main character.

Similar with the queerness of the other villains. It is either an unimportant detail of their identity or it is actively used to humanize them. Uraume's gender is purposefully unconfirmed, nobody even makes any assumptions and that fact is about as important as their hair colour. It's just part of their identity, nothing more. It is not portrayed as predatory or used for any "trap" jokes. At least not in canon, the fandom is its own beast and I think their behaviour comes from what they are used to seeing in other media not due to anything done in jjk.

Kashimo falls into the same category of unconfirmed gender. Fans and some fantranslators assume Kashimo is a man based on what they looked like in the past, but it is actually never confirmed in the manga. Neither Hakari or anyone else ever genders Kashimo. There being no assumptions made or their possible gender or androgynous appearance discussed. People just roll with it and it isn't made to stand out in the story. I don't think you can even call Kashimo a villain, more like an antagonist similar to Higuruma was one with selfish morality. Their gender or appearance doesn't play into that at all.

With Kenjaku I guess you could see them taking over Kaori as predatory towards Jin, but it is played different than the common tropes. For one, Jin is as it seems aware of the change, just chooses to ignore it. It isn't played as a "man tricked other man into sex" or "man disguised as a woman", in fact the story goes quite out of its way to state that Kenjaku isn't (cis) male actually. Both Wasuke and Jin address Kenjaku as a women, even when they have suspicions. Kaori stays in some form with Kenjaku, she isn't just a cheap disguise and pregnancy overall is an important topic for Kenjaku both in good and bad ways. When Kenjaku says "thank you for getting along with my son" it is the first big step towards giving Kenjaku more depth than just them being a big bad mastermind. Kenjaku cares in some way for their child and doesn't just see him as a test subject. So the time in Kaori's body clearly had value to them as well beyond just getting a vessel for Sukuna. Same goes for their meeting with Takaba for example, which is the biggest example we got so far of Kenjaku being proven to care about other people and gaining depth through it. Their relationship with Tengen could count as well.

So the queer aspects we got of Kenjaku are there, but they aren't shown in canon to be something strange, quite the opposite usually. I think you see it best when you compare Kenjaku to Orochimaru, who clearly, as stated by Gege too, is a big influence for the character. Orochimaru has the body of a woman in the first part of the series, takes over the bodies of children and shows interest in Sasuke that is often seen as gay. Orochimaru is portrayed as predatory particularly towards children/boys, a persistent stereotype of gay and/or effeminate men as well as trans people. When Orochimaru reveals in the fight against Hiruzen that he inhabits the body of a woman, the characters around are disgusted and not only because this means another person's body was violated, the uncertainty of Orochimaru's gender unsettles them. You see the same thing in Boruto. Multiple characters make mean or disgusted comments about Orochimaru because they can't tell their gender and the whole "are you a man or a woman, a father or a mother" gets pushed a lot, often used as a joke. Mitsuki is being supportive and corrects people, but that doesn't stop Orochimaru's gender being brought up almost every time they feature in the series. "omg I can't tell this person's gender this is so weird and creepy" don't you have more pressing concerns like the fetuses swimming in those tanks or the human cloning?

Compared to that, Kenjaku is handled much better. There is no weird fixation on children, they have only taken over adults from what we've seen so far (due to the size of their brain and it being a real organ I think that is even a necessity) and the bodies are also mainly there for practical needs, Kenjaku isn't shown lusting after them no matter the person's gender. Choso goes from assuming Kenjaku is Yuuji's father to calling them a parent. It isn't commented on, we just assume Tengen informed him. Kenjaku being revealed to be Yuuji's mother isn't shocking because "wtf that's a man in a woman's body", it is more so about the implications of them being related. It is also used to show that Kenjaku is actually not a cis man (everyone at that time even doubting Wasuke uses she/her naturally with Kenjaku not objecting to it despite not really pretending to be Kaori) and by being his mother they have a closer personal connection to Yuuji. The fandom usually puts more harmful tropes into this moment than there actually are in the manga. I'm pretty sure Yuuji was more concerned about Kenjaku actually being related to him than Kenjaku being his mother aka exhibiting a gender he might not have expected. The "my father is your mother that's so mind-boggling and weird" is something that only exists in fandom. I don't see a reason why Choso or Yuuji would care and everyone else even less.

Takaba putting Kenjaku in a nurse outfit is also only portrayed as another fun part of their shenanigans, being neither overly sexualized nor seen as off-putting or weird. I think it was actually put there because Gege wanted to emphasize once more that having a female body doesn't unsettle Kenjaku, they see it as normal. It is part of their identity, but that itself isn't the thing being made fun of, it's a joke about sexy nurses that's detrimental to Takaba if anything.

In the same way, Kenjaku being pregnant with Tengen isn't made a big deal either beyond what it means for the Culling Game or the merger. It isn't a strange pregnant man, just another instance of pregnancy symbolism in this manga where cursed wombs are quite a common thing. And Kenjaku's whole deal is motherhood, birth and pregnancy down to the choice of their name, which is derived from an ambiguously gendered or Virgin Mary-adjacent bodhisattva. These pregnancy themes are shown as both a good thing and a bad thing depending on the context and not on principle as disgusting or bad. Kenjaku's gender fluidity has thematic relevance, but it isn't mocked or portrayed as bad by itself.

Beyond Uraume, Kenjaku and maybe Geto depending on how you look at it, I don't think there are any other queer-coded villains? Mahito was a high school girl for a juju sanpo, but that episode was more wholesome if anything and I think it was just there to show his fluidity in sex and gender. Once again not mocked or brought up as a reason for why he's evil (she isn't even that evil in that high school AU).

So yeah, I don't see a problem here, I actually wish more mangas or animes would portray queer characters this way. Make sure villains aren't the only queer characters, don't make queerness their entire character trait and treat the characters with respect.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hello!

Who do you think this woman is or what do you think it's happening in this scene?

Looking at the forniture Is It only me or does it resemble the aesthetic of Daniel's house we saw in S1?

We know that Daniel remarried twice but we don't know why, so what if the woman here is Alice? We know the relationship between Daniel and her happened around the same time he met Armand, and sincerely I think Armand would kill her out of jealousy (The body is thrown from the roof, kinda disrespectful?)... We also know that Dubai's explosive, and I don't think they would put an unimportant scene of some random woman dying...

What do you think?

Hey!

Mhhh no, I think that‘s a victim at the theater.

The room she‘s thrown down into is the one from the teaser a while back, as was pointed out by Lynneville2 on Twitter.

src

So… sorry, but I doubt it has anything to do with Daniel 😅

[trooperwrites]

Solo Leveling

Enjoyment: 8/10

Quality: 4/10

Link

Genre: Action

Synopsis

Sung Jin-Woo is an weak E rank hunter barely making it in low rank dungeons when he faces a bizarre dungeon which leaves his party mostly dead and him as the only survivor. However, as the old saying goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Sung Jin-Woo has now acquired the ability to level up and he is on his grind to become the strongest hero of all time.

Review

I think this is probably the biggest gap I've given between the enjoyment of something and the quality. Firstly, lets talk about the positives. Solo Leveling has really nice looking art and panel composition. The fights are well framed and executed and everything looks very cool. Secondly, Solo Leveling is a very effective power fantasy. There is just something deeply satisfying about watching this guy level up and seeing the tides of battle immediately be reversed upon his arrival. In a world where good does not always prevail, it is satisfying to read Sung Jin-Woo triumph against what look to be hopeless odds. However, I think in terms of writing on a technical level that make the text worse even when considering genre and the tfact that it is suppose to be a power fantasy.

First, I want to talk about the fact that the text spends time foreshadowing things that are never developed. There are two cases that I think best exemplify this. The less egregious one was with the case of the Chinese hunter Liu Zhigang. His abilities where shown multiple times and there were numerous instances where it seemed like it he would become important in the later story. However, ultimately literally nothing happens with his character and he just gets dropped as the later arcs focus entirely on Sung Jin-Woo.

Secondly, in this case of Sung Jin-Woo's romantic interest of Cha Hae-In. Following the Jeju Island Arc, there is significant development of the relationship between the two. It appeared that she was going to his guild and maybe we would get a story arc between the two. However, some other random character ends up joining the guild and no arc happens. What makes this particularly egregious is that the new character that ends up joining the guild ends up being unimportant to the story and she doesn't actually do anything. What is the point of introducing this new characters to the guild if they aren't going to contribute meaningfully to the story. Not only is nothing done with the new character that has been introduced but also this ends Cha Hae-In being meaningful to the story. After this moment, she also disappears from the story and basically nothing happens between the two of them until shortly before the final arc where they go on a date and the epilogue where they are married. Ignoring the rest ending and epilogue for a moment, I'll get back to that at some point, there isn't enough development done between Jin-Woo and Hae-In for me to care about their relationship. They are basically strangers who haven't talked to each other in months by the time of their date. By not having Hae-In join Jin-Woo's guild, what was the point of them getting closer during the Jeju Island arc. She could basically be cut from the story and nothing would change. We lose out on having two characters interacting and developing as characters. Her character just feels like a prop to indulge in the power fantasy of the strong conventionally attractive woman falling for the main character.

This brings me to my other major critique in that Sung Jin-Woo morphs into a story warping character. This isn't true at the start, early on there are a lot of compelling supporting characters with their own struggles and goals but as the story progresses they become less and less important. Eventually, Jin-Woo is the only character that actually matters and the only character with any meaningful development. Hae-In's fate is the same as every other supporting character as they no longer become relevant nor are their arcs developed or focused on; it becomes, in essence, a one man show. This leads into the ending where Jin-Woo resets the world and everyone forgets about the hunters.

This ending is really bad; I really hate the ending. The story basically ends by wiping out every character arc other than Jin-Woo's and resets the world to what it was before the story began. To highlight why I think this story is bad, lets again focus on the epilogue where Jin-Woo gets married to Hae-In. The reason why these two characters had a connection as hunters because they were both absurdly powerful and they were both isolated. They both have dealt with the struggle of being a hunter and the isolation that comes with said power. But this Hae-In is the not same Hae-In that he marries; the Hae-In that he marries is essentially a stranger with no connection to him. However, the failure of Solo Levelling to actually develop any of its side characters means that this is failure becomes blunted. Very few characters are actually different than when we first met them so nothing much is actually reset as all the character development that actually happens is about Jin-Woo.

All in all, Solo Leveling is a very power fantasy to read but it doesn't actually do anything substantive or interesting with its characters.

[cinebration]

Jealous Riddler (Riddler x Reader, Ed Nygma x Reader) [Request]

You said Gotham, right? What about an one shot with Ed (the Riddler)? Maybe Riddler fell in love with a girl first (cause it's always Ed), so he's always trying to get control to go talk with her. And for the first time he got jealous of Ed when she mets him, cause she finds him adorable 🥰 You're totally free to say no, but I really would like to read this 👉🏻👈🏻🤭—Requested by anon

I’m so sorry this request got buried! It’s like…two years old. Agh! But this was a lot of fun and it made me miss Gotham HARD.

Warnings: none

Gif Source: shokihomin

Ed’s head was so far stuck up his own ass that he didn’t notice you lurking in corners. That’s always what it looked like to Riddler as he rode bitch in Ed’s brain, stealing glimpses of you in the peripherals of Ed’s pathetic tunnel vision. Even after he ended Kristen and had nothing to be distracted by but his own misery, Ed couldn’t be bothered to see you.

No matter how hard Riddler fought to take control, he never seemed capable of it whenever you were around. It drove him insane, sitting around in Ed’s head without being able to scream out your name and say, “Hello! This fool can’t find a needle in a sewing kit, but I see you! And I very much want to get to know you better.”

Whenever Ed, the lovesick loser, invariably fell head over heels with some woman who hardly knew he existed, he could never pinpoint precisely what quality or action had made him trip in the first place. In Riddler’s opinion, that was because Ed was so desperate he went tumbling skull over ass after any girl who made eye contact. The behavior was revolting, all the more so because Riddler was stuck watching it happen over and over again.

Riddler, however, knew the exact moment he felt attraction switch into love with you. In the murky peripherals he so desperately stared out of while Ed focused on everything unimportant, he witnessed you nonchalantly steal Desk Sergeant Murphy’s sandwich—the whole kit and caboodle, complete with napkins, pickle, and chips—and deposit it all on O’Reilly’s desk, all without breaking stride. It wasn’t until Murphy discovered the sandwich on O’Reilly’s desk, resulting in a brawl that disrupted the whole precinct and had the inmates in lockup howling, that Riddler decided it was imperative that he meet you.

Two weeks later, he managed to wrest control from his weaker self and immediately made it his first priority to find you. Much like Kristen, you were stuck in a back room with one grimy window and overhead lighting sure to deteriorate your eyesight. Two overhead fans spun in lazy circles, pushing about the humid air but offering no relief.

Glancing up as he approached, you offered a wary smile. “May I help you?”

The question almost stymied him. With a start, Riddler realized he hadn’t decided on what to say or how to approach you. Now that he was physically in the room with you, in control of everything, he found himself hopelessly lacking it where it mattered.

“Hello,” he greeted, flashing his pearly whites at you. Thrusting out a hand, he introduced himself, “I’m Edward Nygma.”

You glanced from his hand to his lab coat and back again, hesitating. “You don’t work with the bodies, do you?”

“Oh, I assure you, my hands are quite clean.”

Skeptical, you shook his hand quickly and repeated, “May I help you?”

Riddler checked to make sure the door was shut before he said, a smile curving his lips, “I saw what you did two weeks back.”

“What did I do?”

You liked to play. His smile widened. “You caused that riot.”

Leaning back in your seat, you folded your arms over your chest, raking your gaze over him. The thrill of finally being seen nearly made him shout in triumph. “I don’t think I know what you mean.”

“You know, at first I thought it was random,” he continued, striding around the corner of your desk and sitting on its edge, forcing you to look up at him, “but the statistical probability of you choosing the right lunch to steal and placing it on the right desk is incredibly low for just random chance.”

Your face remained impassive.

Undeterred, Riddler forged ahead. “Then I recalled overhearing James and Loughlin the day before discussing the tension between Murphy and O’Reilly. It seems the latter had his hand caught in the cookie jar, if you know what I mean.”

He didn’t wait for you to answer. “He’s getting to know Murphy’s wife in the biblical sense. The sandwich was the last straw.” He laughed. “I have to say, superbly done, and with such subtlety! I prefer more theatricality, but the resulting chaos more than made up for the quiet setup.”

Your gaze shifted past him, checking the door, before returning to him. Preening, Riddler all but physically shook on the edge of the desk as he waited for your response.

“It was very gratifying, wasn’t it?” you asked, a wicked smile baring your teeth.

Fire burned hot in Riddler’s chest. “Please tell me you’ve done other things like it and I just haven’t borne witness.”

“Nothing with such fantastic results, but I have plans.”

“I love a woman who plans.”

You arched an eyebrow, your smile sharpening. “Care to make some together?”

~~

It became easier to steal control from Ed and sneak off to join you. At first, all rendezvous occurred in your office, the place being a neutral zone you weren’t yet comfortable leaving. Though impatient, Riddler tolerated your reticence to extend your partnership outside the precinct, biding his time to finally ask you out to dinner rather than merely sharing lunch. Ed would have offered to make dinner, but Riddler had no intention of hiding you from the world when all he wanted to do was shout from the rooftops that he had found a woman worthy of his attention.

In the meantime, you both plotted little schemes to implement around the precinct, trying to create the most unobtrusive plan with the biggest results. It became a game, stretching both your abilities for execution. For Riddler, it required toning down the theatricality and sensationalism; for you, the intended extent of damage.

The precinct cracked down hard on loitering youth, blaming them for the sudden surge in pranks.

Riddler finally worked up the nerve to ask you to dinner, brimming with nervous energy that had him buzzing. He strode into your office, your name rolling off his tongue in a sing-song inflection.

Then he was Ed. No, he was shoved into the back, Ed emerging in his place.

NO!

Riddler watched in horror as Ed glanced around the room, trying to orient himself, a deep frown scoring his forehead.

“Hiya, Edward,” you greeted, flashing that wicked grin that made Riddler want to kiss you breathless.

“Hi,” Ed answered back, hesitating. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember why I came in here.”

Frowning, you rose from your rolling chair. “We had plans.”

“Oh. Did we?”

Riddler shoved against Ed’s control, screaming with rage as he failed to budge him.

“Edward…”

“Um, you can just call me Ed.”

Confusion clouded your face. Riddler bellowed obscenities, dread striking him cold as he watched you withdraw, your expression pensive.

You OAF! His shouts went unheard in Ed’s skull.

“I just realized I don’t remember your name,” Ed apologized. “I’m so sorry about that.”

Eyebrow arching, you repeated it, scrutinized his reaction.

Ed glanced around the room, eyes narrowing as he placed his location within the building. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in the Crime Analyst’s room.”

“Sure you have, probably more than you can remember,” you quipped.

Riddler froze, his attention fixated on you. The corner of your mouth tipped up into a sly smirk.

“Really?” Ed thought it over. “No, I don’t think so.”

“You’re…different than what I was expecting. Or maybe not at all, now that I think about it.”

“I’m not following.”

You stepped into Ed’s space, startling him. No one ever violated his space, only the other way around.

You peered up into his face. “Even your eyes are different somehow.”

“I beg your pardon?”

Snorting, you said, “It’s kinda adorable, actually.”

“Uh…what is?”

You pointed a finger at him, drawing a vague outline around him. “This whole shtick.”

Riddler seized within Ed. Adorable!? He’s adorable!?

“O…kay, you know what? I think I’m needed back in the exam room. This was very…weird.”

With that, Ed scuttled out of the room, taking with him an irate Riddler.

Behind him, your laughter echoed.

~~

When Riddler finally wrestled control back, he dragged Ed’s body out of bed at one in the morning, threw on whatever he could find, and stomped off to confront you. He had hacked into HR’s records to find your home address, so he knew where you lived.

Pounding on the front door, he stormed around the small patio, pausing only to slam his fist harder against the wood. He had just decided to break out his lock picks when the door opened and you peered blearily at him through the screen.

“Edward?”

“The one and only,” he declared, baring his teeth. “Open up, will you?”

To his surprise, you didn’t hesitate. Opening the door, you stepped aside in time to avoid him barreling through you.

He didn’t have the poise to wait until the door shut fully behind you.

“You think Ed is adorable? That directionless oaf!?”

Chest heaving, Riddler stood waiting for your response, prepared to shiv you with words, if not a real knife, assuming it was necessary.

Rubbing the sleep from your eyes, you answered, “Yeah.”

He blinked. “Really!?”

“Like a hapless puppy.”

“More like a sniveling worm,” he sneered.

“He’s like everyone says.” You met his gaze pointedly. “And you’re not.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that when you walked into my office and sat on my desk, I was expecting him, not you. He’s the one everyone talks about.”

Jealousy abating, Riddler scrutinized you, an insidious thought pushing through his confusion. “You knew the whole time?”

“No, I just thought everybody else was too stupid to appreciate you. It wasn’t until I actually met him today that it made sense.”

“Oh.” He tried to avoid focusing on the embedded compliment in your words. “But adorable, really?”

“You are too eloquent to keep repeating the same question. Yes, I thought he was adorable. Does that mean I prefer him to you?”

Riddler froze as you hesitated, his stomach an icy ball.

“Of course not!”

Relief coursed through him.

“You’re more my speed,” you said, stepping into his space and running a finger up his shirt. “You shouldn’t doubt that.”

Your finger left a trail of fire in its wake. He stared down at it. “I have no reason to believe you.”

Hooking your finger through one of the gaps between buttons, you gently tugged on it, pulling him down to meet you. “I guess I’ll just have to prove it to you.”

Riddler would never thank Ed for making him jealous, but for a moment he thought about it as he tasted your mouth for the first time.

[doevademe]

I originally had planned for this prompt to be about Percy and Nico remembering they were lovers in a previous life and trying to work through that, but the characters (especially Nico) resisted that plot. Oh well, maybe some other time.

Some other time has come. You can’t just tell us about this magnificent idea and not elaborate!

(It’s the notes from Mixing up the Routine)

Oh, now that takes me back.

Okay, so quick background on my WIPs: I have a lot of them. Some of them transform over and over until they become unrecognizable when I finally publish them. Some barely change and get published with just a few minor changes from their early stages, and some never see the light of day due to plot or characterization problems (or because I know fans would hunt me for sport with some of my more controversial ideas).

My fic about Percico as reincarnated lovers belongs to the latter category. Whenever I try to develop it, I hit a roadblock in either the plot department or the characters remaining in character means the story grinds to a halt. I've tried to rework it multiple times, but I've never been able to get it right. However, if you want, I can give out the latest outline for the story under the Read More, especially since I'm sure I'll never actually write it out.

The conflict starts with Percy and Nico having dreams about their past lives, where they see a person they are in love with (who they are changes a lot each attempt, sometimes they're both men, sometimes a man and a woman, once they were even two women). At first, they think this dreams are random and unimportant, but they are persistent, and once they realize it's their past lives, they become obsessed with finding the other.

Nico theorizes that he's getting these memories now because he's nearing the age when his past life met their lover, and thinks that him having those dreams means they can find each other again. He goes on an underworld adventure, trying to find some way to track his past lover.

Percy, meanwhile, is having an identity crisis. He's falling in love with a memory, while being days away from his wedding with whom he thought until just recently was his one true love, but how he feels for his past live lover... it makes this whole thing feel shallow and petty. He's also sad because Nico has been acting weird, and he knows he won't make it to his wedding, and that just hurts.

Nico appears before Percy the very day he calls off the wedding, and they are both confused. Percy was sure Nico would be away for longer, and Nico believed he was shadow traveling to his past life lover. Nico finally explains his absence and Percy realizes who they are to each other but... he doesn't feel for Nico the same as he did for past life lover, so what gives? Why is that?

Cue an investigation about what's happening, ending up with Percy and Nico realizing this isn't their second life. It's their third. Both times, they have found each other, and their love has made them as miserable as they have been happy. They always end up in tragedy and Percy had decided enough was enough.

It's revealed that before their last life began, Percy lied and said they'll go together like last time, but when Nico jumped into the Lethe to be reborn, and Percy didn't follow. Nico was born decades before Percy because of that. Then, he asked Aphrodite (in some drafts his mother, in other drafts through his father Hermes) to make sure he didn't fall in love with Nico in this life. To block out the feelings.

Once they learn this, Percy is convinced he did the right thing, because what happened to Nico while he was in love with him? Just pain and tragedy. Maybe it's for the best that they remain separated this life, give Nico a full life for once.

And here's where I hit a roadblock, because continuing from this to a happy ending requires Nico to fight to convince Percy they can be together, that this time will be different, but the thing is... why? Why would Nico want to fight for them when he feels like he's the only one with feelings in this life? What argument could be strong enough to compel Percy to undo the block? Only he can unlock his heart. Nico could ask Aphrodite, but that would be no different from forcing Percy to love him. The characters resist this plot having a happy ending, and I want this plot to have one.

So yeah, this is where I'm stuck, and any iteration of the reincarnation has been met with similar issues. I still like this plot a lot, but I really can't make it work, no matter how much I try.

[m3r1m4r5u333]

I've been thinking of how queer-coded Eddie (from 9-1-1) is, and the way his cardiologist (a heart doctor, how symbolic!) suggested Eddie might be repressed and...

Skip this post if the concept of repressed sexuality is uninteresting to you, this is mostly me talking about myself, to spread some knowledge about repression.

Anyway. Since anyone who has read any of my posts already knows I'm unhinged beyond comprehension, there is no reputation to lose here...

I just realized that I keep saying that I think Eddie is repressed and bi, and it just hit me that maybe people don't know what I mean by that? Maybe people don't know all faces of what repressed bisexuality can look like? It's not talked about a lot, I think.

So fic writers of the world, or whoever likes to learn, let me share my personal flavor of insanity - what my repressed bisexuality has looked like at different times!

Ah yes, first stage was Buck. Outrageous, oblivious flirting with anyone pretty... Without any clue that I was in fact flirting with everyone, including other women (I'm a woman). I just thought I was joking, teasing... Until it got just a bit too intense, and I finally went "Wtf. I'm flirting now. Like seriously, to get their attention! This isn't straight. What am I doing?"

And I was definitely nowhere near ready to get out of the closet or act on these instincts, so hey, we enter stage...

2. Repressed - and aware of it. Yes, may sound bizarre. To make things even more bizarre, when I say I started to repress my behavior... I don't mean just around women!!

By that time I had a lovely, open-minded friend group, I'd always been into queer rights etc. So I definitely felt like this wasn't really anything I should hide, or be ashamed of...

But I still grew up religious, and even though I left religion behind quite early in my teens? My family didn't.

So I wanted to come out. And was scared to come out.

And somehow... The longer I stayed silent, the more the mask of conformity started to suffocate. It disturbed me, to have people think I was 100% straight.

I started to feel like I was betraying my people, other bisexuals and queers in general, by conforming, and slipping notice under the cover of heteronormativity.

I thought, why should I talk about the men I like... if I can't also talk about the women I like. It just means I'm shoving myself deeper inside the closet!

So my logical solution to this problem...

Was just stop talking. Of anyone! I became this sexless creature, no flirting, no admiring comments, no dating, nothing. Even if someone made a comment about a random person on tv... I existed in a cage, not wanting to comment on anyone's attractiveness. Simply because it felt like betrayal to talk about some part of my identity if I could not talk about all of it.

So to summarize: while it's true that some bisexuals hide under the blanket of fake straightness, and some will actually also pretend to be fully gay or lesbian...

Some of us just attempt to disappear off the map completely, and show no interest to anyone at all.

That doesn't btw necessarily have anything to do with our fantasy life - that may still be rampant. Or equally repressed in some way or another!

And we may also act differently around different people. But not necessarily. It can feel awkward or scary or "unimportant" to come out even to fellow queer friends.

The point is... There are many kinds of masks. Repression is a freaking chameleon. Everyone does it differently, even the same person can do it differently with different people, at different stages of life.

And btw, unbecoming this self-made onion of a person can be annoyingly slow and difficult. Personally I'm still not done untangling the mess I am. But maybe getting there!

[eclipsecrowned]

For any of the deen dee ocs in any combination: // anonymous

due to the number of prompts (which i love, not going too bonkers but still giving e a wide array to work with) i'm putting the questions themselves under a cut and answering each with a muse chosen by a random generator. page stretcher under this readmore, consider checking it out on my blog.

What plot points would change due to the inclusion of your character in canon?

None, she's ostensibly a trophy in Orin's bedroom :)

Realistically, though? If there was another prisoner in the Goblin Camp, a beautiful and feral woman wrapped in several lengths of chain waiting to be uncovered by the party? I mean, you have a genuine Evil companion even in a Spare the Grove route, the Lady MacBeth and fierce angel of death in one at your Tav's ear. She unsettles. Other Companions probably aren't too fond of her. Maybe unimportant NPCs start dropping after long rests -- or maybe Miruna paces the camp at night, praying to deaf gods for the patience the player shows her. Perhaps a final battle plays out differently, with two Chosen against the player, vying together for dominance of the Brain, or perhaps she is only staring in shock at the body of a former beloved, then looking to the player wordlessly, begging with her eyes that they not leave her as this man did.

The player having the chance to mold Miruna. For acceptance or rejection of her to change the shape the narrative takes, especially into Act 3. The player has multiple ways to interact with her that will shape her ultimate fate, whether with disdain for her Urges, support for her redemption, or agreeing with her stance that 'I am not evil, but the demands made of me are.' Does the player believe in second chances, or is there a point their tolerance of her runs out -- after a particular scripted death, after the reveal of her history, in a Temple where she is killed to stifle her dark father's influence on the world, or in the end, where the player can no more ignore what she is or the damage her choices have wrought?

What changes do you think would be made between your muse as they exist in your head vs how they would be treated as part of canon?

I mean. Canon for 3 already soundly nuked my PC's narrative from orbit. His wife was ousted from the party and her character butchered in the aftermath, his post-game adventures were routed by the canon GW settling down in the Gate, Ismail just cannot catch a break. And to top it all off, the novels keep trying to make him some basic white boy named Adrian or something? Wild.

Jokes aside, if Ismail was treated as the canon GW/Bh**lspawn, I think canon would definitely whitewash him -- but not in the traditional sense. I think his being a True Neutral who only really makes a stand in the face of great evil (such as his father) and otherwise believes in balance would be a little too spicy for the era of game he existed in. He'd get a nice new paint job over his morality to be an In Name Only Neutral. He'd also likely get mischaracterized from the straight man of the party off of which his Companions can shine to a willing buffoon alongside his sequel besties Haer'Dalis and Jan.

Knowing Bioware in that era, he's a white guy, too.

God help me I fear what his romance with Vi would be made into. From a genuine respect and sympathy to 'I Can Fix Her' bait or a young guy who got caught in the talons of an sexy sexy but oh so evil seductress. Comments by returning companions in 3 that his son was the only good to come out of that union or something equally insulting to the Ismonia dynamic.

What would their haters dislike about your character? Is it a petty complaint? A mischaracterization of the character or their intentions? Are they just a woman in a largely male-centric series?

Gruff, not conventionally attractive, not romanceable by the majority of players' (cis dudes) Tavs... Aurelia'd get the Astarion treatment where people probably need to sit down with haters of a certain degree and go 'no put in words to me what about this character makes you uncomfortable, show me on the doll what aspects of her character are so viscerally repugnant to you.'

People could be petty, racist, misogynistic, and lesbophobic in a single swoop. Instead of someone with flat affect who is clearly teasing half the time, she'd be taken for a stone cold bitch who is needlessly cruel to companions. Everything she does is the worst. She's a cheap Lae clone. Her pragmatism is evil rather than practical. Her neutrality is evil, actually. Fandom has already proven that a canonical Druid talking about the element he works with is so annoying and cringe and they're aiming that at a white dude. Aurelia would get it worse for talking about nature. The thing she also protects as a Ranger. Her habit of slapping nicknames on her Companions? How disrespectful. Also her hitting on Lae'zel/Karlach/Shadowheart/the PC is clearly predatory and uncalled for. She's literally as bad as Cazador for being open about her attraction/appreciation for women. Also her being half-Gur is just crudely shoehorned in and for fake woke points.

She was also totally the last character developed and it shows in her writing. Clearly just there to meet a quota. She's just so annoying. Ignore that if she were canon she would definitely not be a last minute addition and have a clear arc/narrative to accomplish in addition to helping the PC beat a brain into submission.

What controversies/drama would your character incite in fandom?

I have briefly touched on this before, but unless someone was playing teen Tav or followed the HC that Lae'zel is also incredibly young, Sybelle is the youngest member of party at a stated 20. No problem, right? She's a professional in her field and by the standard of her society and race is a grown adult. Any greenness is actually the result of being a reclusive academic for her entire coming of age, not of any inborn immaturity/innocence/childishness related to her age, and damn sure not as a result of her autism.

Good luck convincing fandom of any of that, however.

She's 20. If you ship her with any character beyond Wyll (canonically ~24) or Lae'zel (fanon early twenties) then why do you support grooming/exploitation of children? Shipping her with Gale/Shadowheart/Karlach is right out unless you want the discourse of all discourse -- and forget about shipping her with Halsin, Astarion, the Emperor, or any character with an extended lifespan and centuries of life experience. And sure, people are allowed to be uncomfortable with age gaps, or to not want to see certain characters shipped for any reason. But there'd be a lot of unnecessary moralizing around someone, say, preferring to see Gale and Sybelle's dynamic as mentor/mentee or father figure/heartwarming orphan. It's not just that someone doesn't like the ship when romantic or is discomforted by a different read, it's that the ship is predatory and only backed by degenerates.

Also she's autistic, so she's so babygirl and a sweet bean and if you even think of 'sexualizing' her by acknowledging she is a grown adult who is capable of feeling sexual or romantic attraction, then you're some kind of pervert. I mean, she's never been out in the world before! What a wholesome innocent baby. Not a single sinful thought behind those big baby cow brown eyes. There's not a chance she's actually interested in living life rather than reading it and making a double entendre at the player about anatomical studies -- No, wait, go back, delete that footage, you can't sexualize an autistic child of 20, the devs are perverts too --

Also she's of Shou descent, so any attempt to depict her as an attractive young woman is fetishizing her. I'm too white to get into this except to say I have seen some friends on the dash grump about how my peers in fandom like to gatekeep how characters of color can be portrayed even by those of shared background. And I just know Sybelle is not getting out of that hellhole unscathed.

Are there ship wars? Are they a popular character to ship, or the kind of character that gets shuffled off and away from shipping for whatever reason?

I can see the many branching paths off of this. Roxelena is a big tiddied bard who is both poor little rich girl and desperately seeking purpose. She's so latchable for Power Fantasy Self-Insert types to push their fav they're projecting on towards -- imagine the edgiest straight guy trying to write fic where Lena is the standard hero reward to a wildly OOC Percy or Artemis type.

On the other hand, she's a big beautiful woman so she's automatically a fat slag to most. There's definitely a contingent of fandom who oh my god just didn't realize that they didn't write Lena into their shipfics, or into any fic at all! It's totally not fatphobia gaiz! She's just such a girlboss that doesn't need a disgusting man! Ignore the fact she's pretty open and available sexually and easily distracted by men's asses!

On my mutant third appendage, the back and forth about her sexuality. To wit, Lena is bi, and was initially designed as a ship oc for a genderfluid PC in a certain piece of media. But she attended an all-female bard college where she remains infamous for her... plucking techniques, shall we say. She's also not conventionally attractive, so she must be a lesbian. But wait, what about her being bi? Well, she's not actually attracted to women, because she flirts with a character who is masculine -- even if more in the way a peacock is masculine. She's straight. But what about her being bi? This point can no longer be heard over the screaming match between the other two.

In like actual real life Lena 'fandom' I think Pupper is aiming for her to be part of a Half-Orc/Tiefling sandwich, while I paid him actual legitimate money to draw the other party Tief touching her boobs. Vote now for Team Mollena or Team Fjorlester.

How does fandom characterize/mischaracterize your characters ship in fanworks?

So here's the thing. Unless the party -- be that in tabletop play, as a Companion in 3, or played in a podcast -- were to go to Evertide for some reason, Mystery's canonical partner will never be seen. She's not a ghost in the narrative, dialogue allows Myst to talk about her and their daughter and get a sense of her history with him, but she's never present in it, either.

Canon would likely state she's a human, she and Myst arrived as outsiders to the city around the same time, and he gave her a post at his shop to get her out of a life scrubbing chamberpots. They've been together for over a decade now and have a daughter to show for it. He's out in the world trying to find whoever tried to hurt her in an attempt to rob the shop several years ago. There's a bit of an age gap between them, but he'll note that their experiences measure up when tallied.

This would give fandom a lot of ground to play with or ruin. Is she a former Adventurer herself? A farm-girl come to the city to make her fortune? A traveler who fell on hard times? How does this reflect on her dynamic with the worldly and charismatic Myst? Is the age gap significant and shift the perspective of the ship as equal, no matter what Myst says, or is it negligible and Myst is only being self-conscious about his own mid-life crisis? Does the fact he was once her employer change the power dynamic inherent to their interactions, and does it become better or worse depending on where the age gap falls? Does his refusal to marry her or recognize her as anything beyond 'partner' denote a mutual doffing of convention, or hint at a deeper hesitance to commit or even a questioning of the relationship, and if so, is he the one resisting, or her?

The gamut runs from 'old married in every way but ceremony couple who tease/fuss but are clearly devoted to one another' to 'wife guy myst and his sweet younger housewifey' to 'myst is a bad bofriend actually and his partner is a victim of that power imbalance' to 'they're actually qpp life partners and just happen to share a kid.'

Be honest. What song is playing over an AMV/tiktok of scenes between your character and their love interest?

I spun three times and landed on Lena each time. God Himself is trying to get me to shame myself on a public platform. Fuck it. Mollena hours.

Angstier ones that acknowledge canon/his fate probably go feral for Francesca. The themes of loving despite the imminent heartbreak, the determination of love in every life, the attestation that love was worth any pain, it'd all play wonderfully over animatics or beautifully edited fanart compilations of Lena not just with Molly but his... Other halves, as it were.

Her being a bard, I can see bardcore covers being popular for both of them. I keep thinking specifically of that one cover of Willow. The idea he's this enigmatic force of nature that dragged her out of her sheltered existence and gave her a taste of chaos and adventure. I beg of thee please, take my hand, foil my plans, thou'rt my man...

[itsuki-minamy]

GROUND ZERO: FRAGMENTS

CHAPTER 8: WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS

* List of Chapters

Translation: Naru-kun Raws: Ridia

That day, that time... the night before. Niki Fushimi was drunk in the entertainment district.

Shimohaneda Kabata is a city located on the southern edge of Tokyo, bordering Kanagawa Prefecture. If you go down one station, you will cross the Tama River and enter Kanagawa Prefecture.

"Excuse me for a moment."

The woman got up from the couch with a lazy attitude. With lipstick on her lips, she put a small cigarette in her mouth and lit it with the match that was on the table.

The man whose wife had been crying just now was standing in the bathroom. The man was Niki's partner, but all he knew was his name, "Sarashina". They approached him at the first bar and the conversation became animated. Niki, who was already drunk at the first bar, entered this shop when Sarashina gave him a ride.

If he was invited, he used to follow them without refusing. He wasn't trying to pry into the kind of place he was going, or whether the person he was talking to was trustworthy. A few years ago, he met Kisa at a party where someone asked him to come along.

After being born as a baby, humans seem to adapt to society by expanding the world towards themselves, parents and families, nurseries and schools in the process of forming their identities. In the process of growing up, Niki did not experience the "expansion of objects of interest". He did not arouse interest, emotion and therefore motivation in anything, including himself.

He could clearly recognize what he perceived with his five senses. To Niki, though, all of that was dry and unimportant.

Except for one thing that piqued his interest.

"Hey, client, is it true that you have a five-year-old boy? The client you brought in was talking about it earlier."

"Hmmm. That's right."

With a slurred response, Niki slid off the couch he was lying on to the floor. A high-end suit jacket and a fancy tie that Sarashina had taken off were hanging on the couch diagonally across from him.

Sitting on the floor he reached for the glass on the low table. Hesitantly, he shook the glass with his finger. The surrounding glasses were also caught and fell, and the marble table was wet with alcohol diluted with ice.

"Are you okay? I'll get you a new drink."

The guy immediately ran over and knelt by the table. He put the glasses on a tray.

"What will you do next?"

"I'll leave it to my brother."

"Then let's do something interesting."

He wore a dress shirt, a black tie, and a black vest with a boy's uniform, but he was a young man with hair dyed bright pink from the roots. In a nonchalant tone, he was holding a bottle of shochu and a bottle of beer in his left and right hands.

"How old were you when you had the child? You're still young, aren't you?"

"I was nineteen."

"That means you're in your twenty something years now."

"You're young."

The guy poured two types of alcohol into a glass with his skillful tricks.

"You're young too, aren't you?"

"I'm baby-faced. I've been in this industry for quite some time."

"Manato looks like this, but he's over thirty."

The woman who said that was in her mid-thirties, she was not young. Her long curly hair was luxuriously pinned up on top of her head.

The cabaret club on the outskirts of the city, where each table was separated by a U-shaped couch, was filled with vulgar talk. A stream of purple smoke rose from the yellowish illumination.

"I'm guessing he was given birth to by a random woman, you dumped her anyway. Client, that's what you seem to want to do."

"Ruriko-san is the one who was discarded in that situation. Yes, it's a way of drinking taught to me by a visitor from abroad."

The glass slid cleanly across the wet table and settled in Niki's hand.

"I have not abandoned her, I am well married and I love my wife. My wife, the president. Besides, my son is the most beautiful in the world."

He drank about half the glass in one go. The champagne of shochu and beer stirred in his brain and made him dizzy. He fell on the table with his head on the side.

"Ah... I hope to see you soon... my cute monkey..."

He dipped his cheeks into the puddle of alcohol on the table and muttered that with his tongue trailing.

"If you have such an important family, don't drink in a place like this and go home. I'm starting to want to go home and see my daughter."

"Ruriko-san is really preaching when it comes to children."

The woman's tone took on a serious preaching tone, while the boy's was flippant.

"It's still useless..."

"No, is there a reason you can't go home?"

"I might get bored if I see his face every day. Even the most interesting thing in the world might get bored me if I paid attention to it every day."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

He tried to tilt the glass with his cheek on the table, but his fingers were shaking. The liquid that didn't fit in his mouth wet his chin and dripped over the edge of the table.

"Client, are you taking medication? You are angry, right?"

"Drugs? He'll make you feel a million times better than that."

A month has passed since he saw Saruhiko's face. The inside of his body was dry. No matter how much alcohol he drank, he couldn't quench his thirst. His consciousness was hazy, his throat ached and his body was sending serious danger signals.

"I'll see the monkey after I have reached the limit of my withdrawal symptoms, so I'm going to climax... Seriously, I'm freaking out..."

++++++++++

He woke up with a thud.

He felt a strong source of light and heat beyond his eyelids. Something other than the cold marble table touched his cheeks, something rough and hard.

When he opened my eyes, he was outside. He was forcibly grabbed by his collarbone and lifted up by the summer sky piercing high. Immediately after that, he was struck in quick succession by the sensation of floating and falling, as if he was being knocked down to the ground.

"Hmm... where am I...?"

The voice stuck in his throat was hoarse. When he tried to get up, his whole body cracked in pain. In particular, simply putting too much effort into his stomach caused severe pain as if he was holding an iron ball to his stomach.

It was the seat of a wooden bench that he was resting his cheek on. When he rubbed his face at the red stains on the wood, he could feel the coagulated blood sticking to his temples and the corners of his mouth.

He didn't even know where he took off his shoes.

A glass bottle was suddenly delivered from the side.

"I'm thirsty."

A man sitting in a row of benches said that bluntly. With a long beard that covered the lower half of his face, he looked like a bum, but only the jacket he wore over his shoulders was disproportionately good.

Niki reached for the bottle without hesitation. He looked at the label on the square bottle of whiskey and put his mouth on it.

"What is it? It's water."

He took a sip and groaned.

"Because I put water in the bottle I picked up. Let's add a few drops of sake."

On the tips of the homeless man's emaciated ankles, there were familiar sharp-toed leather shoes.

Niki looked down at his feet, which were only wearing socks, but without saying anything in particular, he placed them under the bench and sat back down.

Beyond the clear sky, heading south, for a moment, he saw some kind of light. The sun was shining elsewhere. It wasn't even the moon. Like the flame emitted by the lighter of a hot air balloon.

Without further thought, he purred and drank water.

The high-pitched voices of the children resounded in the sky. Children gather around children's games, such as slides and swings, and their mothers take care of them. Only the area around the bank with Niki and the homeless was avoided.

At night, it was a small park surrounded by trees in the middle of the city, which became a busy entertainment district. Next to the entrance facing the street, there is a public toilet and a phone booth with a green phone.

Last night, in the shade of the trees, he could see the multi-tenant building where the store was located. He appears to have fallen asleep in the park a stone's throw from the store. Tenant signs protrude from every floor of the reinforced concrete exterior wall, but the neon tubes that gave off a garish pink and purple glow last night are now dead in broad daylight. He didn't know if it was last night because his sense of time was gone.

"Ah, you really were here, Client."

A figure stood next to the bench with a calm voice.

He was wearing a hoodie and a black mask, but his pink hair peeked out from under the hood. It was the boy from the night before, Manato.

"I got a call from Ruriko on my pager saying you were sleeping here. I've been wondering since I closed up shop this morning. He was a weird guy, and he hit you a lot. Are you okay?"

Having said that, he looked like he was last night drinking at the store.

"Ruriko-san."

As Manato said that, a mother who was standing by the gym turned around.

Her long, curly hair from the night before was tied up in a simple bun, and her makeup was light, but she was the woman in the store last night.

Ruriko smiled at Manato, who waved his hand and waved back, then quickly turned her eyes back to the jungle gym. A girl who could be her daughter was climbing a jungle gym.

"Yeah, this. It's mostly empty, but just in case. I hope you're happy to come back with just a brand name wallet."

Manato opened the leather wallet and gave it to him.

As he looked at the wallet on his lap, the memory of last night vaguely revived due to its slow effect.

Sarashina didn't come back to the table like that. Looking at his accounting, he was billed 300,000. There were no credit cards or cash in his wallet. Sarashina disappeared after taking out the contents of Niki's wallet, leaving behind his jacket and his tie.

He recalled how a physically strong man dressed in black appeared from the back of the store, was beaten and kicked, and was thrown out of the store.

The homeless man was looking at Niki's wallet. All that was left was a phone card anyway. Niki tossed his wallet on the bench next to him.

"It's a gift for the water."

The wallet itself was worth a reasonable price. The homeless man quickly stuffed his wallet into his jacket pocket and brought their foreheads together like a hug. When he looked back at him, he wondered if it was also something that he threw away along with Niki, it was the jacket that Sarashina had left behind.

He also lost his mobile phone, but it never came back.

"Client, the shoes and accessories look expensive and you seemed to be doing drugs, so they must have been duped. Be careful who you go out with and what stores you go into."

"Don't do drugs."

"Are you kidding me? Did you just do that? You suddenly broke a beer bottle and hit a black suit. If you hadn't acted violently, you wouldn't have been hit so hard."

"Is that so?" His memory of that part had slipped. "Could have been fine."

Niki's childhood was manic. He was restless all the time, making loud noises and destroying everything he could find.

When he entered high school, he became very depressed.

He skipped high school and studied abroad. While studying abroad, he fell back into an extremely manic state, indulged in debauchery at the invitation of his fellow players, and stopped attending university lectures altogether. With no hope of graduating, he was expelled and taken back to Japan.

"Ah, did you want to die? Then, I understand."

"I don't feel like dying at all. I have a wife and a son who love me."

"I don't quite get it. I thought you were the kind of person who wanted to destroy everything, but you say you love your family."

He squinted at the dazzling light that filled the open air and took in the idyllic landscape of the park. A girl slowly climbing up a jungle gym was crouched in a place that was not very high. Ruriko encouraged her daughter who was crying and looking back.

Another boy smoothly overtook the girl and made it to the top with no problem.

"Mom! Look!"

The boy let go of his hands and proudly greeted his mother.

But, the jungle gym suddenly shook vertically.

The boy's body was thrown into the void without resistance. He heard the cry of his mother.

"Eh?"

Immediately after Manato was shocked, the tremor reached Niki and Manato's feet. It was a huge vertical swing, as if a giant grabbed the edge of the ground and rolled it up. The bum fell off the bench next door. Niki's butt also bounced off the bench seat.

"An earthquake?!"

Manato crouched down and gripped the edge of the bench.

The launch itself lasted less than five seconds. In that short period of time, the earth trembled and the iron jungle gym, slides, and swings were distorted into a shadowless figure. All the children were thrown from the playground equipment, and all the mothers around the playground equipment could not stand up and fell.

The children began to cry as if they were on fire.

"Gish..." The warped jungle gym made an eerie noise and tilted further.

"Ruriko! This way!"

Manato raised his voice. Ruriko's daughter clung to the bottom and luckily avoided being kicked out. Ruriko, who had been on her buttocks, stood up as if repelled, grabbed her daughter from both sides of her, and pulled her out of the jungle gym.

Behind Ruriko, who started running with her daughter on her chest, the jungle gym tilted at a fast pace. Immediately after Ruriko caught up with Niki and Manato and covered her daughter, it completely collapsed as rolled a large amount of sand in the park.

Ruriko raised her pale face and looked towards the park that had changed the peaceful landscape of the day.

"The earthquake just now...? I've never seen an earthquake like this before..."

The launch didn't come after the first, but the remnants of the tremor still crackled in the air.

The road outside began to roar with the sirens of ambulances and fire trucks. Trees surrounding the park had also snapped or fallen from their trunks. Buildings emitting black smoke and buildings with collapsed exterior walls could be seen beyond the crooked trees.

There were also cracks in the walls of the multi-tenant building where Manato's store was located. The cabaret club sign on the 7th floor came off the wall, collided with the consumer finance sign on the 6th floor and they both fell. The brand name product recycling store sign on the 5th floor was covered in snow. There was a sign for a ticket shop on the fourth floor.

"Mom, what is that?"

The daughter supported by Ruriko's chest pointed to the sky over her mother's shoulder.

Manato's eyes traced in that direction and reflected a red light.

"Wow. What is it?"

Manato moved his hand to his chin and murmured.

Niki slowly looked up as half of his buttocks had slid off the bench.

A gigantic object suddenly appeared in the void. In the southern sky, it was the direction where he could see the light that he mistook for a balloon burner. A pillar-shaped object engulfed in swirling flames connected the ground and the sky.

The clear blue summer sky reflected the color of the pillar and was eroded by the color of blood.

"What's that...?"

"Was it really an earthquake? It's like the end of the world."

In contrast to Ruriko's trembling voice, Manato's voice was stunned, but there was something lurking in his voice that seemed to anticipate something.

It seemed that the mobile phone was getting difficult to connect. People flocked to phone booths and the lines were growing fast.

"Yeah... it's the end of the world... oh..."

The homeless man sitting in front of a bench knelt while he looked at the southern sky.

"Oh, it is the wrath of God. God has judged. I hope the stupid humans perish!"

He picked up a bottle of whiskey, which was just water, and danced out into the middle of the park. With Sarashina's jacket and Niki's leather shoes. Spinning around like a girl in a fairy tale who can't take off her shoes.

The children cried when they saw the pillar of fire. The mothers were shouting the names of their children.

People were cursing because their phones couldn't connect. Many people were running to the phone booth in a hurry.

A man whose heart was beating at the beginning of something extraordinary. A scared woman. A madman who toasts and dances.

Niki stared at the various reactions of the people in the park with emotionless eyes.

There was also an ugly human pattern unfolding in front of him. A strange sight that rose beyond the sky. The tragedy that was occurring just below that sky.

Nothing aroused Niki's emotion.

There was nothing there to move Niki's emotions.

The ringtone began to play in the pocket of Manato's hoodie.

"Oh, manager... Yes. Yes. I'm safe here. Ruriko-san is close now. Yes. See you."

Manato calmly ended the exchange and hung up the phone as he ignored the damn queue at the phone booth.

"It seems like the PHS tone is more connected. I was lucky I haven't switched to a mobile phone yet."

"Lend it to me."

Niki grabbed Manato's wrist, who was holding a small stick-shaped mobile device. Manato was slightly surprised by the sudden movement.

"Go ahead. Do you want to contact your family?"

He handed it to him.

He entered a phone number by pressing the number pad on a mobile device that fits in one hand with the thumb. Tsu, tsu, tsu, after an inorganic sound wandered looking for the destination for a while, the calling sound began to sound safely.

"Yes. It's Fushimi."

When the call was cut off, a professional female voice answered.

"Kisa-san. Where is the monkey today?"

There was a moment of surprise when Niki suddenly spoke, and then a high-pitched voice returned.

"I don't know. It's Sunday, so he's not home. I'm going to board now, so I'll hang up. Wait a minute. What was that? Aren't you coming back?"

Kisa's voice grew distant, and he could hear the rapid conversation back and forth. Kisa's voice came back on the line with a sense of bewilderment and tension.

"Something happened in eastern Japan. Thanks to you, I'm stuck here."

"Kisa-san, aren't you in Tokyo?"

"I'm going to Los Angeles from Kansai airport via Seoul, but today's work has been cancelled. Where are you now?"

"By the way, what about the monkey? Is he really home?"

"I'll check with Nishida-san. Should I call this phone back? I've been waiting. I'll call you back in five minutes."

The call was cut off. The line at the phone booth continued to grow, but the Manato PHS rang within a quarter of an hour. During that time, Kisa collected as much information as she could about the disasters that had occurred in eastern Japan.

A large explosion occurred somewhere in Kanagawa, and an earthquake was observed over a wide area of ​​eastern Japan. It was reported that the entire Kanagawa area could be devastated.

According to the housekeeper, the earthquake was felt around Tsubakimon's house, but it wasn't severe enough. She saw Saruhiko in the house fifteen minutes before the earthquake occurred, but she noticed that he had run away from the house about five minutes before the earthquake occurred. He must have gone for a walk in silence as usual, and the housekeeper did not rush to find him, thinking that he was a smart boy and that he would come home alone.

"A five-year-old boy doesn't go far in fifteen minutes. At least he wouldn't have been in a place where the damage was so bad. However, Nishida-san is worried about his house, so he will go out today from work."

"I'm going home, I..."

"Are you worried about that child? I made arrangements with the dispatch company to send a representative immediately, and the area around Camellia Gate is safe. The transportation network is now paralyzed. I can't go home soon. It would be foolish that you suffer a secondary disaster. In the event of a disaster, the smartest thing to do is not to run blindly home."

"No way!"

Niki suddenly screamed.

The voice organizing the correct arguments on the phone suddenly stopped.

"I'm going home. I have to see the monkey's face."

Kisa hung up before he could get his voice back.

"Are you going home? In a way, you're a father."

Manato, who received the PHS, shrugged between admiration and boredom.

"It's obvious. Anyone who becomes a father is like that." Ruriko looked at Manato and said to Niki, "Come back whenever you feel like it."

"Well, I don't know if I can continue with the business."

Manato put his hand to his forehead and looked out of the park.

The building in question was in a partially destroyed state. Signs on every floor had collapsed and most of the exterior walls had collapsed, exposing the steel frame.

"It's my rule of thumb, but I've never met a person as a customer "again". Even if you hear the news, he's already dead. Goodbye, take care of yourself and go home. If possible, may you be in good health for forever."

++++++++++

When he started walking in the direction of Camellia Gate, the railway was at a standstill and he couldn't even hail a taxi. The city was full of people acting the exact opposite of what Kisa called "intelligent behavior".

Eventually, the railways in Tokyo seemed to be restored, but he kept walking and in the end it took six hours to get to his house.

He was dizzy because he had only drunk the water the bum gave him six hours ago. He fell against the heavy door and managed to make a hole and roll inside.

He lifted his head as he knelt down. The dim light from the chandelier that did not reach the ground dimly illuminated the entrance hall of the atrium.

As he traced the stairs in front of him with his gaze, he saw a small figure sitting on the edge of the bottom step in a compact residence.

Nikki got up slowly.

The figure was the first to notice that Niki had returned home. The usual reaction used to be to run away, but this time he didn't run away and he was looking at him with round eyes behind the tortoiseshell glasses because of the smallness of his face.

"Are you lonely, monkey? What are you waiting for? Why are you lonely?"

"...Frankenstein."

Saruhiko opened his mouth vaguely.

"Hmm? What did you say?"

"Could it be that you're dead...? Did you die from an explosion...?"

"Eh?"

Saruhiko's eyes turned to Niki's feet.

Those were the feet that had been walking on the asphalt for six hours without shoes. His socks were torn and his toes were badly scraped and bleeding. The hem of his leather pants was also frayed. He still had blood on his temples because he hadn't washed his face since he was beaten in the store last night, and his clothes were a little dirty.

Frankenstein, he agreed with that. He didn't know where Saruhiko got that knowledge at that age.

"Oh, yeah. There was a big explosion today, right? It shook everything. Were you scared?"

Saruhiko shook his head once.

"No way."

"Did you see the huge pillar of fire? Didn't you get scared?"

"I could see it. It didn't scare me at all."

"I see. I was very close to the explosion. So, as the great monkey detective deduced, I died."

Niki spread her hands over his head and showed himself.

"Really...? Did you really die?"

"Oh, so I'll be going to the afterlife soon. Well, in sixty seconds."

Saruhiko's eyes widened. The light from the finely crafted chandelier shone brightly in his eyes. The color of spongy blood inhabited his pale cheeks.

It was clear that the light of hope had shone in Saruhiko's world.

"I came to see the monkey before I went to the other world. So please show me your face up close one last time."

Nikki turned around. Saruhiko hesitated a bit and covered his lips.

"Ok. No, I'm about to disappear. Look, my hand is transparent. You can see it, right?"

Saruhiko showed interest and lifted his hips off the stairs.

"I'm about to disappear! Hey, let's hurry up!"

He fixed his gaze on Niki's outstretched hand, pulled on his socks, grabbed the railing, and lowered himself closer to him. He stopped at the same height as Niki, who was waiting below, and grabbed Niki's thumb and little finger with both hands.

Immediately, his face changed.

Gyu-gyu, he squeezed him a few times to make sure he was real. "Understanding" spread across Saruhiko's face. His face, which had been glowing with hope for a moment, suddenly stiffened and repainted with despair.

"You're not dead!"

Saruhiko let out a hoarse cry and released Niki's chest. The recoil made his socks slip and he landed on the steps behind him. Niki didn't resist and fell backwards into the hall.

"Gyaahahahahahaha! No way! I'm sorry! I was kidding!"

Loud laughter echoed from the vaulted ceiling.

He came home feeling a bit regretful for not having "prepared" anything for that day, but he suddenly thought about it. Anything to scare, annoy or despair the cutest monkey in the world.

However, today seems to have been the best day to return. It was worth waiting until today to "give up the monkey" until he fell into the final stage of withdrawal symptoms.

At the edge of his field of vision, Saruhiko scrambled up the stairs on his back and escaped to the second floor. He couldn't help but laugh at how unnecessarily funny he was.

"Die, die! I'll die laughing! Ahahahahahahaha!"

On July 11, 1999, Niki Fushimi experienced an unprecedented disaster that affected the entire Kanagawa prefecture, outside the disaster area. But that in itself did not arouse any emotion in Niki, nor did it have any effect on him.

The man lived without mixing with the ups and downs of destiny that secretly moved the Dresden Slate.

[twopoppies]

I saw someone on twitter ask a good question but no one answer and was wondering if you could shine some light because you are very intelligent with these things! If the beards shine such bad light on H&L especially Olivia and Louis re having F with a one night stand, why don’t they just leave them single?? People still speculate they’re together when they’re in ‘relationships’ so why not protect their images??

Hi love. Well, the answer is actually different for both of them, IMO. I think it’s been proven over the years that having a “good” image is less important to Harry’s label, than having an image which gets everyone talking about him. Debating about whether he’s queerbaiting or queer or a home wrecker or a slag or on drugs or super regimented and healthy etc etc etc keeps people talking. The idea that Harry sleeps with literally every person he sees, has fueled tabloids for more than a decade. That means people are talking about him, paying attention, know who he is etc.

He was actually publicly single for a long time between Camille and Olivia. Holivia is clearly different from any of his beards before because it’s become about so much more than just showing that he dates women—whether all of that was intentional, or because of Olivia’s machinations, is unclear. But if it wasn’t working on some level, I think they’d find a way to end it sooner, rather than later.

Louis’ situation is just entirely different. He’s had a beard for so many years as a way to just take him out of the game. He was initially “taken”, a stay at home guy who likes to hang out with his girlfriend. Meanwhile Harry was shown jet setting around with celebrities and being linked to all sorts of fabulous women. Obviously they’re not gay and definitely not dating. Right?

Then Eleanor was dumped and a bevy of women were used to set up the “party boy Louis” image so the idea that Louis would get a random girl pregnant would make sense. But the way they made Louis a womanizer was so different than with Harry—for Louis it was just night after night of clubbing and leaving with random girls (often more than one, all nameless “unimportant” women). It wasn’t to make him look like a rock star. It was to make him look like someone who was on the verge of being out of control. Then babygate landed. This time it seems to have been designed to humiliate him, punish him, and drag him down.

With Louis, the efforts to make him look straight always seem more to do with hurting him and separating him from Harry. With Harry, it seems more about making him look desirable and someone to talk about. Whatever the reasons are, it’s gross and dehumanizing and I fucking hate that it’s still happening.

[licncourt]

hey, do you know of any posts that discuss the racism throughout the series a bit more deeply? someone just shared a post from Rice's facebook dated around 2014 about how the QoTD movie sucked but one good thing was that Akasha was played by "a lovely black woman" since fans of color had felt "left out". i think that shows interesting self-awareness and growth, but i'd like to know more about the portrayal of characters of color over the decades, and how it improved (or didn't)! Tysm in advance!

There's been lots of discussion of racism in VC over the years, but I don't know of any posts that specifically break that down the way you're asking. I can talk a little bit about it though!

Spoiler warning for anyone who hasn't read the books!

Racism is pretty present from the beginning of the series. The first part of Interview with the Vampire takes place on a plantation and that's fairly controversial in itself. The decision to make Louis a plantation owner and the way that subject is handled is a point of contention among fans in general, but that's not really what you're asking about, so I'll discuss it another time.

What's important here is that it's the first time POC are present in the series and while the treatment of them as little more than props makes sense, unfortunately, for the setting, Anne Rice has never been known for her excellent views on race/treatment of characters of color, so it becomes more uncomfortable on a meta level. I think the best example of how this expositional element tips over the edge into something more is with Lestat.

While he's largely the villain of IWTV, the account Louis gives of his cruel treatment of the enslaved people on the plantation is very unsettling when you consider that Lestat is the protagonist by the second book and this particular issue is never addressed in AR's attempts to retcon him into a likable, sympathetic anti-hero.

The Vampire Lestat introduces the characters of Akasha and Enkil, ethnically Iraqi characters residing in Egypt who are also the oldest vampires in the world. A famously insensitive element of VC is what exactly being an elder and/or more powerful vampire entails appearance-wise, namely being bleached white skin regardless of the vampire's original race or ethnicity. I think it's pretty self-evident that having vampires become paler and paler as they grow more powerful is not a great story element to have in the first place, and it's not one that was ever changed between the 80s and the 2010s. This phenomenon affects a significant chunk of the black, MENA, and South Asian vampires in the series.

(There's also some odd white-washing of the characters Maharet and Mekare, pale redheads of Mesopotamian origin? I don't think it's explained why this is the case. When I first read QotD, I assumed that they were Celtic because of the description, but no, not the case.)

Queen of the Damned is probably the worst of the trilogy as far as making it obvious that AR had some antiquated ideas and prejudices about POC. I'll talk about specific characters in a second, but a running theme in this book is "the East vs the West" in terms of morality. "The East" is characterized by the narrative as barbaric, materialistic, and regressive in contrast to "the West" which is philosophical, enlightened, and has "no place for evil" (that's a real quote).

It would be one thing if these views were expressed by characters we're supposed to disagree with, by the one who pushes these ideas most of all is Marius, a character who is very clearly presented as one of the wisest, most intelligent, and most admirable of the vampires. It's not hard to tell based on the books as a whole that AR had a serious hard-on for "Western culture". It permeates every book in an increasingly obvious way.

As for characters of color, a few are introduced in QotD. One is largely unimportant, Davis, but he's a random vampire gang member. The ones I want to talk about more are Khayman and Azim. I don't have much to say about Khayman other than I enjoyed him but his part is fairly small and then he's killed off in his next appearance so....

Azim is...more unfortunate. Even though he's only around briefly, the stereotypes are off the wall. He's an Indian vampire who lives in a Himalayan temple where he's spent centuries posing as a god and glutting himself on the blood of worshippers. The book describes him as being practically swollen with blood and dressed in lavish Oriental silks, the stereotype of an arrogant Eastern decadent who then fools the naive mountain people into sacrificing themselves. Ultimately, he's too consumed by gluttony and greed to be terribly powerful and is killed easily.

Next up is Tale of the Body Thief, and boy, it's a doozy. Without explaining the entire plot, the consciousness of the mortal Englishman David is swapped into the body of an Indian man. This body was stolen from its original owner by the antagonist of the book, but this is the form David resides in for the remainder of the series.

I think most people would see the metaphor for colonialism pretty easily, the body of an Indian man taken, inhabited, and used by a white British man with no regard for its original resident. Sadly for us, AR gives no indication of understanding the optics here and seems not to see an issue with this.

Even worse in some ways though is the way Indian!David is described. It's so fetishistic sometimes it makes my skin crawl. Lots of focus is on his skin color and "exotic" appearance and this continues pretty much for the rest of the series. It's very uncomfortable and it didn't stay in the 90s just like the skin whitening didn't live and die in the 80s.

I'm not going to spend too much time on the three Mayfair crossover books (Merrick, Blackwood Farm, and Blood Canticle) because they all have very similar issues among them, but I do want to talk about the witch Merrick. She has the makings of a very cool character, but instead she's just a disappointing stereotype of a black/mixed woman. She uses her (rather racially-coded) magic to draw Louis and David to her at which point she continues to hold Louis in magical thrall in order to brainwash him into turning her (non-consensual blood drinking/sharing is explicitly analogous to rape according to AR) and entering a romantic relationship.

Again, this doesn't look great. It really mimics caricature of a black seductress who takes advantage of a helpless white man and pushes the idea of black women as aggressive, materialistic, and hypersexual. The treatment of Louis in this book is awful, but the writing of Merrick as a character is quite offensive as well. Yet again though, she's killed in the next book.

If we're keeping count, this is the sixth named character of color I've mentioned so far who is killed in the course of the books, so all except one gang member and Indian!David. A vast majority of POC in VC before the 2010s are killed off. I think I've listed all the named characters of color up to Blood Canticle/2003, and only one (a gang member) survives to the end of the series. Proportionately, the deaths of POC FAR outweigh those of white characters.

Things change somewhat in 2014 with Prince Lestat and it's widely speculated that AR's son, an author as well, was somewhat involved in trying to rectify the racism in the books. Whatever the case, the more egregious examples taper off here and there is far less discussion of Eastern barbarity, the moral bankruptcy of inner cities, and "Bedouin caramel skin". That's not to say it ends though.

A larger cast of ancient vampires are introduced in this book, including characters of color like Seth, Teskhamen, Arjun, Gregory/Nebamun, and Fareed, all of whom are, you guessed it, white as marble. Something else that's never remedied is the total lack of black vampires. Most of the characters of color are Egyptian/MENA or South Asian, even at this point and it stays that way. Black VC vampires are still unicorns. It might just be Davis (nearly irrelevant as a character) and Merrick actually. If I'm forgetting someone, please tell me though!

There's also an unfortunate characterization of Arjun as violently jealous and controlling, particularly towards women, as well as scheming and manipulative, two prolific stereotypes about brown men. At this point you shouldn't be surprised to find out that he is also killed, in this case by Marius, AR's wise ancient Roman Aryan sage. So that's fun.

As far as I remember, Gregory, Seth, and Fareed are largely fine? Nothing crazy that stood out to me as far as race, at least not enough that it's coming to me right now.

So yeah, 2014 sounds about right for that Facebook statement you mentioned. If she tried at all, it would've begun around that time. I hope the attempt was genuine because it was certainly an improvement, but I guess I struggle to give her the benefit of the doubt after...so much shit. I hope that was helpful!

Edit: I've been informed in the tags that Avicus might be black? Someone else is saying he's just burnt. Idk. AR has too many OCs, that woman is killing me

[arcadianambivalence]

Les Mis Letters - 1.2.1 - The Evening of a Day of Walking

Book two, at last.

Our boy is finally here! 

That’s right, after fourteen chapters setting up the Bishop and the town, we finally meet our protagonist, another mysterious man, one who receives no name until the host of the inn spits it out ignominiously. 

While the Bishop was introduced directly in the first chapter, Jean Valjean’s introduction is all about showing instead of telling. This man 

Has walked a long way to this mountainous town instead of riding a horse or taking a carriage

Has shorn hair that’s starting to grow back

Has clothes are ragged, but a bag that is new

These are all clues that – after fourteen chapters about the Bishop – may seem unimportant at first glance.

The man is clearly thirsty, hungry, and cold, but the host lies and says that the inn is full, to which Valjean asks to be put in the stable for the night. Here, Hugo makes a Biblical allusion to another traveler denied room at an inn, who makes a bed among the animals for the night. But even that is denied to Valjean when he is driven into the street.

Back in the first chapter, Hugo made a note about how in little towns:

“There are many mouths which talk, and very few heads which think.” 

Now we see it in action. 

He tries to find shelter again, this time at a pub. As before, the landlord is initially welcoming, then when word reaches him of Valjean’s identity, he turns cold. This time, it’s a fishmonger who tips him off. Again, there’s this Biblical inverse. There are no “fishers of men,” just a fishmonger tossing a man in need aside.

(Translation note: The translation I’m reading has the landlord initially greet Valjean as “comrade.” Meanwhile, the innkeeper is deliberately linked to Napoleon. It seems that neither live up to their ideals – or professions.)

Next, in a scene laced with irony, Valjean asks to sleep in a prison for the night–and is denied again. Why? Because he has not been arrested. 

Reading this, I am reminded of how even today, you hear of people committing petty crimes just for shelter. Prisons guarantee a bed and three meals when the rest of the world does not. It makes me wonder, what has truly changed since Hugo first wrote this book?

Valjean is denied again, this time by a family, when he asks to sleep in their shed for the night. Not even under their roof, but in their shed. Realizing that Valjean is “the man” the town’s been talking about, the father of the family threatens him at gunpoint.

“For pity’s sake, a glass of water,” said the man.

“A shot from my gun!” said the peasant.

Again and again, he finds no shelter, not even in a doghouse. Finally, he tries to sleep outside a printer’s shop when a good woman passes by and gives him four sous and some advice. She points to a familiar building, the Bishop’s home.

If you’re reading this book for the first time and don’t know where it’s going, this chapter must seem like an oddity. Up until now, the reader’s focus has been on a Bishop, his mysterious backstory, his home and garden, his words and deeds–then suddenly some random man wanders in and takes over the plot. Here, Hugo raises question after question about the man.

Who is he? Why is he here? Where is he going? Why are people afraid of him? Where will he sleep for the night? What does he have to do with the Bishop?

The good woman has given us an answer to one question, at least, and knowing what we do about Monsieur “Welcome”, we know he will be a just man, as the previous book named him.

[queenseneca]

Oh GOD this was a disappointment. And yeah, spoilers or whatever. I don't really care.

Get it out of the way, this was not the Knuckles show, this was the Wade show. Too much Wade. Too much. Way too much. It's annoying. Look, I liked him in the movies, he did a good job there because he wasn't the main focal point, and in the first couple episodes I could excuse how he acted.

But no. OH NO. After episode two, he just got so bad. Taking the spotlight from, frankly, the MUCH better character. Episode one set a perfect precedent for how the series could have gone. But nope. They threw it all away.

Then by episode five, they've literally made Knuckles a side character. In the show that's NAMED AFTER HIM. Oi vey.

This really should have just been named Wade. But no, if they named it that, it wouldn't get the people watching it. Because no-one likes Wade. He's a side character; keep him as such. He went from ok in he movies, to tolerable in the first two episodes, then 3-6 he became full on egotistical.

I wish Knuckles had been the main character. I wish he'd been given the spotlight. I was so looking forward to it. I was looking forward to watching something about him, learning about him and how he interacts with the world, how he comes to terms with his inevitable home in Green Hills. I wish he'd had more interactions with Sonic and Tails. But they're thrown out after episode ONE. After that, it's random unimportant person after random unimportant person. Seriously think this show had been written and voiced by AI. Because it's just that bad.

And I haven't even gotten to the lackluster villains. I know they're supposed to be important and everything, raise the stakes, but they're really not. Just generic "bad British woman and coloured man to show diverse cast". I mean, they literally tossed a man, who was white and blonde, into the Mushroom planet with no reason whatsoever than political stuff, I'm sure. And they tarnish the good name that Jim Carrey made playing as Robotnik. Even if he isn't in the show (thank god), they treat him like he's nothing more than a commodity, someone to link to every bad thing that G. U. N does.

Oh yeah, haven't mentioned that yet. They're using THAT G. U. N. Y'know, the one that's supposed to be super powerful and secretive that, for hopes of Sonic fans, will be treated with respect in the 3rd movie? The one that offed Maria Robotnik and drove Gerald crazy and started Shadow's entire character arc? That G. U. N. They aren't even given that much screen time. Two episodes, then they're tossed away until episode five. And the woman is all "oh woa is me, I wasn't listened to because I'm a woman and the place I work for is misogynistic and I was given a desk job to keep me safe waaa"

And the ending. Oh boy. Ok, to put it in simple terms, I'd call the ending of season one (and hopefully the series), stupid. For 6 episodes, they had a chance to grow genuine chemistry between Wade and Knuckles, to give them a chance to get along. To give them a reason. And you'd think with a series like Sonic whose games are rife with dark and mature themes, they'd explore it. But nope. It's just the first movie, remade with Knuckles and Wade, but done so much worse. The Jewish stuff wasn't important. The dad abandonment wasn't needed. It's important to Knux, I know, but Wade didn't have to have it too just to find a way to relate.

And guess what? His dad is another white blonde man! Because they're just the devil in the media these days! I'd say he's British too but it doesn't contribute to the story. He's treated like a narcissist, an uppity person (like apparently all people are when they're repeat winners in a certain sport or game). god forbid a man be proud of himself.

They also did that one scene from the Sonic movie where they faked Knuckles' death, and Wade made an attempt to stand up but failed because he's a useless character. Then he said some stupid crap that he apparently "learned", even though he really didn't.

Shit like this makes me wish that the movies didn't exist.

0/10, don't recommend.

Please, for the sake of your sanity, don't watch this. Or if you do, have a pallet cleanser handy. (The jokes are awful, you'll definitely need it)

And for the comments that'll say it's for kids, the characters use a huge amount of swear words, so that rebuttal holds no ground.

[watermeloncholycucumbersome]

Day 108 of Writing Something Everyday

(365 Day Challenge)

I feel like I'm doing way too much today yet there's still a part of me thinking I'm the laziest pos on the face of the planet.

I hope I can get out of this funk..

Church lady is denying another girl access to me so she can get items I offered to her to send away to her family in the Philippines.

Apparently that's unacceptable and I can't help or talk to ANYONE unless it's through her. Gross, disturbed behaviour for a 70 something year old woman.

Shame on her..

I just added a bunch of stuff on facebook marketplace to sell today, I'm sick of waiting for help.

I'm never going to get it at this rate. I'm dragging these big pieces of furniture around by myself, trying to sell everything I own. I'm made feel like mine and my mom's personal items are worthless because I can't barely get anyone to come get anything or inquire even. Some of her stuff was lots of money and me asking 10 for a 20 dollar item and so on should be great, but it's not.

It's so hard to clean all this up by myself and store things for people who may or may not come when they say they will or ever.

But you have no choice, you need the money. So you live on a whim of hopefully they respond or show up.

I'm in this get rid of everything mentality and I think it's a good thing. I feel like shits going to hit the fan at some point here and I might be forced to leave my apartment. Last thing I want is a bunch of bags/boxes of garbage to drag around with me, you know?

Less is better in the long run. Only keep what's important, the rest is unimportant.

If I don't hurry up I overthink too much and it gets overwhelming, so throwing stuff out on these days is great because you finally get it done. It just sucks that I finally get the energy to get up and accomplish something. Especially going through my mom's dresser as I just about lost my mind the last few times I went near it. I finally did it and this woman won't drive this young girl a few minutes to pick up a small bag from me because I told her I didn't want her signing me up for programmes at church that I wasn't even aware of I was being signed up for?

How is that fair?

What did the young girl do?

How is this a Christian woman??

Making a young girl suffer because she wants to punish me?

Wretched horrible woman..

Sad part is this will hurt me more because these are people who have been kind to me and she's hurting them now to get back at me because she's a baby and has unresolved issues that she needs to stop putting on others.

Grow up and take responsibility..

Why does a 31 year old woman have to teach her elders common sense and decency?

I guess these bags just sit here tonight then, but I guess I cleared out mine and my mom's dressers today so that's good - still sucks though.

What is wrong with this world, ugh...

I have to clean this apartment up and get this room set up so I can advertise I need a roommate. I have nobody helping with this, everyone talks a big talk until something really has to be done and you see their true colours. I've asked everyone church wise and even at my apartment building - guys want sexual favours and the women are either older or crippled. I literally contacted a random dude on Facebook for help and

Every

Single

One

Of

Them

Agree

Then

Make

An

Excuse

Last

Minute

Nobody follows through so I guess it's just me literally on my own now, so much for if you need me call me. Nobody responds to me any way.

Kinda scary thinking about a stranger living in your house with you to be honest, but I have no choice.

All of this will be done because I figure it out and do it though, I don't have any hope help is coming in the form of people any longer.

~Jenni

[adollt]

ME2

OK to be fair jacobs loyalty mission is quick and fast its the fact that hes a fucking POS who took advantage of his position to outcast males and keep a haram of woman, and you might ask "well how does that work" cause they shipwrecked (a massive frieghter not for landing) on a planet thats uninhabited, their food stores are shot and so he kept the processed foods for himself and the crew that survived. and made the rest of the "unimportant" crew eat local food that made lost brain cognitive functions, in turn making people really really stupid. and he banished all the males, and kept all the woman. yes its implied heavily. I wish the fanon ending was true, coulda talking him into Heroing himself. but dude has no fucking emotions after it all. its just not very satisfying of an ending, and all that just ... feels kinda forced on by the writters I mean Its just a way to go with a story IG. just wasnt very satisfying as I was more interested in Wrex holding off the outsiders before we finished off our talk

BUT ANYWAYS, HOLY SHIT LAIR OF THE SHADOW BROKER IS THE FUCKING BEST GODDAMN DLC FOR MASS EFFECT AND I FINALLY PLAYED IT. I love going Renegade Shep for a majority of the game, why should I care if you have a 1 mother you plan on killing. the mission before jacobs I literally killed 304,942 Batarians in one move, and you think I wont shoot some random woman to kill someone so deadly? im not a cop, imma fuckin specter and were gonna blast you

There was like another boss fight earlier but not as good as the Spectres I thought was gonna be a cool fweind, everytime she went and hid away and yelled she was coming down I was in the power wheel so it froze in this section (miss me photo)

b-b-b-b-b-but why are you working f-f-f-f-for cerburus t-t-t-t-heir twaitors

and so we got onto the ship, this fucking Lightning Chucker 3000. looked sick as hell (sorry forgot to get photos) this is finally where my Insanity Vanguard is unleashing, were launching into the fray pumping shotgun blasts AND using grunts move on myself to get super shields has made my survivability 200 times higher, I didnt even know that was a thing in this game and I would say without that buff Vanguard is stuck being a gimmiked Soldier

we found liars friend that she made after we fucknig blew up (he also helped saves us from me1 - me2) where he recovered our body with liara and gave them to Cerberus. hes a bro, I call him "Oil Slick" cause hes got a beautiful bald drell dome on him. But enough for .... our home boy, we needa bust him outta his Electric chair and to do that we need knock all power ya. so we confront the pussy faced "shadow broker" what an interesting species and what a POS one at that for murdering humans when we were barely getting off our rock in massacre's. Liara calling him out as a slaver kidnapping him as a literal war trophy / pet is all that hes worth anyways. So we started fuckin blastin. HE FUCKIN KNOCKS THE FUCK OUTTA OUR BOY GRUNT FOR THE ENTIRE FIGHT AND THEN WE GO INTO HAVING TO FIST FIGHT THE MFKER, i shoulda recorded it. BUT FUCK IT WAS SO COOL TO SEE VANGUARD SHEPARD FUCKING THROWING 1 2 WITH SOMETHING BIGGER THAN A FUCKING KROGAN

man shepard, is the best character in gaming. hands down.