#Yeah definitely Victim 2.0

[illmoraineakoi]

Alan Becker has me writing fanfic about a glitched up video file.

what the fuck is my life, man

[pleasantspark]

A bout emily In base of her official script she wants more responsability and I believe despite being joy bringer she doesn't take care about traumatized winners so she has very shilder reality. Not matter the canon says I like theory exocists victims od sinners,so adam helps them with their trama, and aslo raphael.

I think both emily and charlie want to be hero because they feel unworting respect their tutor, and redeption is just an excuse. I mean imagine a scene like in mulana(cartoon) charlie admit she did what she did because she wants to feel special , ahero like her parents but she fail(because I'm not believe now extremination gone sinners would attack earth and another rings)

It doesn't really help that case. The point is, we didn't get what were shown. All I see is Steven Universe genderbent in Hell. I understand people make up their own fan theories but that's just fuel for VivziePop to make canon in her show, I don't understand why we weren't given what was advertised and I feel like either we were scammed or robbed.

I mean look at the HB PDF of the Pitch. There was no mention of He-Shall-Not-Be-Named. But that doesn't change the fact the show could've at least stuck with the original script.

We didn't even know Emily was a "Joybringer" until after Charlie and Vaggie was sent back to Hell and she TELLS US NOT SHOWS US she is to Sera.

To me, Emily is just Charlie 2.0. and it's not fair how the characters we are following don't get the proper characterization at all. Other than the fact they either fall into a specific critera in order to make the the show more "well meaning" and "evil"

Yeah females being shown in the wrong even if they aren't is definitely stupid as fuck. Apologizes for the rant I'm not feeling to good and I don't want to talk much about Hazbin anymore I'm starting to believe criticizing every point that's been bothering me is just not it anymore.

I'm a fanfiction writer for fucks sake! So most of my next few posts will be related to my DBZ stuff god I miss it so much.

Also my irratic behavior could be that I'm off my meds. Even though I've been off them for awhile now. Prolly just tired. Posting this and going to bed. Yes it's 2PM EST and I have depression. I don't find joy in this if anything Depression in the helluvaverse makes me even more depressed.

[chickenkurage]

CHAPTER 9..... OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH CHAPTER 9, THIS ONE HAS A LOT MORE TO TAKE IN THIS TIME-

FIRST OF ALL WOAH- THEY ACTUALLY REUNITED!!! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! ALAN ACTUALLY FINDING OUT THAT THE OTHERS KNEW ABOUT DJ SO HE ASKED VICTIM ABOUT WHERE DJ IS TO SEE HIM AFTER ALL THIS TIME!!! THIS IS LIKE THEY ALMOST FORMED AN ECLIPSE BY NOT CHASING EACH OTHER NOW AFTER SEEING EACH OTHER, BUT IT WENT BACK TO THAT WHEN ALAN FLEW AWAY FROM DJ, THE AWKWARD MOMENT THEY HAD UNDER TREE DOES SEEM RELATABLE CONSIDERING HOW IT'S BEEN SO LONG TO THE POINT YOU DON'T KNOW HOW THE OTHER VIEWS YOU AS, DJ THINKS LOWER OF HIMSELF AND ALAN THINKING HE'S STILL WORTHLESS ALL THIS TIME, MEANWHILE ALAN POSSIBLY STILL THINKS DJ HATES HIM FOR WHAT HE HAS SAID SO LONG AGO AND THINKING WHY HE INTERACTED WITH DJ THAT WAY WHEN HE LEFT, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THESE TWO TALK IT OUT OH MY GOSH- AND YEAH VICTIM UH- YOU'LL PROBABLY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ALA- NOOGAI AND DJ'S RELATIONSHIP MUCH MORE LATER ON, OR JUST KNOWING THE FULL STORY ABOUT THEM LATER ON IN THE CHAPTERS BECAUSE IT'S SO MUCH TO BARE I'LL SAY- AND OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH SATIN... OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH I HATE HER ALREADY HONESTLY- I HATE HER VIBES I'M ALREADY HATING WHAT SHE'S SAYING TO DJ AND I HATE HER JUST TOUCHING HIM OUT OF NOWHERE- OH HECK NAH THIS IS DEFINITELY HALO 2.0 FRICK NO- BUT NOOOOOOOOOOO DJ THINKING ABOUT BRINGING BACK HIS FAMILY COULD POSSIBLY MAKE HIM THINK THAT ALAN WILL FIND HIM WORTHY AGAIN FOR ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING- OH DJ.... DJ.... AND NOT THE FLASHBACK WITH DJ TELLING THE STORY ABOUT THE SUN AND MOON BEING SIBLINGS AND THEM LITERALLY ACTING LIKE SIBLINGS BY DJ CLINGING ONTO ALAN, OH GOSH THEY LOOKED SO HAPPY BEFORE WHAT WENT WRONGGGGGGGG- WELL APPARENTLY THE FAMILY WAS KILLED DUE TO RACISM BUT STILL THAT'S EXTREMELY TOO FAR LIKE WHAT THE F*CK??? GEEZ IT REALLY WAS A LOT OF THAT BACK IN THEIR DAYS.... SO THE OTHER DID EVENTUALLY WENT BACK TO THEIR CREATOR WHICH IS A GOOD THING BUT THAT MAKES DJ GO BACK TO HIS OLD ROUTINE BUT WAITING FOR ALAN AFTER HIS VISIT AND STILL THINKING ABOUT SATINS OFFER, WHAT IN THE WORLD IS SHE THINKING??? LIKE WHAT- FOR SOME REASON I'M ALREADY IMAGINING HER AS THE CYAN STICK ALAN HAD BEATEN UP A LONG TIME AGO IDK WHY- OKAY BUT ESPECIALLY DJ'S THOUGHTS HERE.... OH MY GOSH THAT'S A LOT OF DARK AND F*CKED UP THOUGHTS- EVEN WHERE BEFORE ALAN FLEW OFF HE WAS ALREADY THINKING A LOT ABOUT WHAT ALAN WOULD DO TO HIM AND ALL!!! LIKE WHY CAN I EVEN IMAGINE DJ THINKING ABOUT KNEELING IN FRONT OF ALAN WITH A SHARP WEAPON LIKE A KNIFE ON HIS FOREHEAD AND WAITS FOR ALAN TO FINISH HIM OFF JUST LIKE THAT- WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GONNA HAPPEN WHAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

NOW ATG ALAN AND DJ IS REMINDING ME OF THIS AUDIO- "moon tell me if I could, send up my heart to you? So when I die which I must do could it shineeeeee down here with you?" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THEY'RE SICK-

Okay! Let's start Yapping! Yippee!!

There is so many misunderstandings in this chapter, and it's absolutely just...sad. They had each other at arm's length but refused to reach out. DJ did reach out, but Alan wasn't sure on how to react, perhaps in his head he thought DJ was about to punch the living lights out of him and Alan was waiting for that.

Alan was definitely waiting for DJ to burst into anger, that's why he's incredibly quiet, he was waiting for DJ to be angry at him, to hurt him.

Victim most likely would not know right away what Noogai and DJ's deal with each other was, but he might have some theories or some suspicion about them knowing each other or perhaps more than that. As for Satin, Satin is already making a move towards DJ. And her unnerving way of trying to touch DJ, is just utterly disgusting. But she knew she already had him hooked with the promise of revival, the temptation of trying to get who you love back into the land of the living.

And as for the sun and moon, it was utterly just heartbreaking hearing the legend of the Sun and Moon where both of them we're actually siblings and not lovers as some says. And they forever chase each other in the sky.

While the original take on it was, they chase each other for fun, DJ found it sad because forever chasing someone you love is painful for him, that's why he felt incredibly just sad about the story while Alan isn't so interested in it.

Yes, Alan's family was killed by racism, since Alan's wife and his kids are not the same kind as Alan, they were shunned, especially Alan for marrying a different stick than his kind. Because in their time, it is important to note that you can only marry your own kind. (It is almost the same with some religion that they can only marry the person with the same religion)

DJ really does have a pretty fucked up thoughts, and I really can't say anymore to that. The whole fanfic is a pretty heavy baggage for having a summary that is so silly.

DJ has always liked to imagine how Alan would react if he were to die, and he loves doing that to pass time. And I don't know if I should laugh at that or cry.

The quote really does remind me of ATG Alan and DJ, they are honestly sick. That even if I saw doodles of them looking happy, it just makes me sad because that isn't the same thing I'm seeing right now XD - S

[fiction-justanotherstateofmind]

Would you mind explaining why some people don't like Allison? And no I don't think she would be good mother, considering she's been dead for a decade and never graduated so yeah definitely don't mind ignoring Jeff and his bad writing for scallison.

Idk if you were responding to a particular post, so I'm gonna answer as if it were a random question.

Actually I don't like Allison myself. I liked her back in the first season: she was sweet, innocent and a good match for Scott. The problem for me is how insane she became after her mother died.

She had never been taught to hunt, had never hurt or killed anything or anyone in her entire life. And yet, as soon as she discovered her mother's suicide, she transformed into a Kate Argent 2.0.

And the problem to me is not even the anger towards Derek, it's the repeated attempted murder of people who had nothing to do with it.

Erica and Boyd were innocent. Apart from the fact that Derek was innocent too, even with all the brainwashing done to her by her aunt and grandpa, if you are not the kind of person who enjoys hunting and killing, you never will be. No matter what they tell you.

I'm not joking, I was (and still am) shocked by the scene of Allison on the bike chasing Erica and Boyd and shooting arrows at them. I watched the scene again just right now and she shot seven arrows at Boyd. SEVEN arrows in the body of a 16/17 year old boy just for the fun of it, because it wasn't even about revenge since according to her Victoria had died because of Derek.

Also, Erica yelling "Please, Allison, stop" and Allison not batting an eye... Chris Argent had to stop her. The same Chris Argent who hunted and killed werewolves all his life, who hadn't had his character development yet, the same Chris Argent who helped his wife commit suicide realized that if he didn't stop Allison, with that one last shot she would kill Boyd.

When she was hallucinating a the party, her other self teased her that she's always yelling for help. You see? It's not revenge, it's always been power.

And what's worse is that she never apologized. Even after learning that Derek had bitten Victoria to protect Scott, she continued to play the victim. She has erected herself on a pedestal assuming the right to judge the actions of others, Derek in the first place.

Somehow in her mind loosing a parent entitles her to get away with multiple attempted murders. She despised Derek from start to finish and she never stopped to think about the pain her family had brought him, and this time on purpose.

And we want to talk about Isaac? She stabbed Isaac several times, and then they got together despite her not really being interested, and it shows in her last words before dying: not a thought, a gesture or a glance at poor Isaac.

And I'm deliberately ignoring her complete forgetting -in the movie- that she was once Isaac's girlfriend and not Scott's.

However, some might say that for some reason she convinced herself that Erica and Boyd were equally guilty of their mother's death and that therefore, in her view, it was right to kill them. Fine, then how do you explain the fact that in the movie, as soon as she wakes up, she doesn't just try to kill Derek but chases, hunts and even tries to kill a 15-year-old boy who is practically not even a real werewolf?

I like Kate for how her character was built, I even like Victoria. I don't like them as people but I like them as villains. The problem is that Allison acted just like Kate but neither the other characters nor part of the fandom see her as a villain.

They did the hunting in the forest (thrice btw: 1) season 2 with Derek and Scott; 2) season 2 with Erica and Boyd; 3) movie with Eli and Scott) for telling us what? That she's a badass, that she's powerful? What is it? A twisted way of saying girl power?

If we don't want to call her a villain, at least we need to realize that she's the female version of Peter Hale (only Peter at least had valid reasons. Questionable actions, but valid reasons). She helps when and how she wants, and especially just to help some specific people: she does it for Scott and Lydia, if it weren't for them, she would never have helped Derek.

She is not good. And we have to come to terms with this. She did wrong things and not only never apologized for it but she never even realized she did something wrong in the first place.

Btw I laugh at the idea that she, 17, (girlfriend of a 30+ man) should be a mother to the boy she tried to kill and almost succeeded in killing his father, not forgetting whose family was killed by her own family members... because if I stop to think about it, it would only make me cry.

So... yeah. This is it. This is why some people, myself included, don't like Allison.

The real question, at least to me, is why some people do like her? She is a Kate Argent evolved into a Peter Hale but praised as a Scott McCall.

Let me know your opinion about it.

[thestobingirlie]

Eddie anon: definitely not what I meant and Eddie is definitely not my blorbo. I just thought that the wording of the anon that you were answering to was weird as fuck. Eddie was hunted for being a freak, even though you can understand where did Jason and the police come from. I just think that that part was actually quite well written, Eddie’s case is supposed to be very ambiguous, and still that doesn’t change the fact that he was hunted by the whole city and Jason wanted to kill him, specifically because he was a freak, and weird, awkward, and confrontational. The Duffers never intended for him to be the perfect angel, he is a fucking drug dealer, come on. The fact that he is not the perfect victim is what makes his character so compelling

eddie wasn’t hunted because he has a bad personality. he was hunted because a girl was found dead in his living room.

jason wanted to hunt him specifically because his girlfriend’s body was so disfigured her own family weren’t even allowed to look at it.

remove the mangled body, and no one would have hunted him.

and yeah, i personally disagree. i don’t think it, or much to do with eddie was well written tbh. it was rushed, his character arc didn’t fit, he went from a bit of a dick and cold to the kids to steve 2.0 with no development. and then died a death that made no sense because the duffers admitted they couldn’t figure out how to make him look innocent.

(also, and this is just me being pedantic, but we only really see, like, one car driving around looking for eddie, which i don’t think is really the whole town, but idk. i hated vol2 and haven’t really rewatched it lmao)

[tinylilvalery]

I rewatched everything before s4, and I honestly forgot how awful t/s relationship was. Directly after s3, most people were in agreement that Tom was in the right for the betrayal, now everyone is revisionist about it. How he never lover her, and only ever used her. How he mistreated her for the past 3 seasons, while she was only ever thinking about him in her own way. And how HE is exactly like Logan(???). I love Tom, and he can be terrible, but I don't think he ever was towards her prior to the betrayal, he was to other people though. He wouldn't have even gone through with betraying her, if she showed she thought about him at all in her plans with her brothers. The only thing I think he was very much in the wrong for, was him trying to leverage a baby out of her before being send to prison. I hate the framing of their relationship this season, because she looks devastated and he looks careless and now he's the bad guy, even though it was the other way around for 3 whole seasons and nobody cared or made cucking jokes about it. I really feel for Shiv cause so much is going to shit rn, but that doesn't mean she gets a free pass. Same thing with how she grew up. I also think it's so weird how people swear up and down that they both never loved each other, even if she had a weird way of showing it. I think both did at one point. We're watching Succession the nuance show, and everyone wants to take the nuance out of it to baby the sibs

I was so pleasantly surprised to read this!

Adding a cut because my reply got very long!

Fucking fantastically stated. I fr don't know what's going on with the Succ fandom this season cos people this time round seem to have zero nuance when viewing the show and have forgotten the past seasons. My guess is a whole lot of twitter folk came over to Tumblr (since they're brain-dead and loud).

I've rewatched the show, like, more then five times at this point, at the least (tbh I've lost track), so I'd say I have a pretty good understanding of it. And the way all the Sh*v stans want to come in and rewrite T/S (multiple times in one season too lol. One second he's Logan 2.0, the next he's Sh*v's equal in marriage and they're THE otp of Succession and the perfect match, the next he's back to being an abusive piece of shit... It's funny, it's almost like their perception of him changes completely due to them being incapable of faulting Sh*v and they have to change his character to ensure she's in the right at all times), they wanna rewrite Tom's character (oh suddenly ALL he ever was, was a money grabbing manipulative asshole that never cared about anyone and wanted to use Shiv. Yep, nothing more to his character ever /sarcasm), and they wanna rewrite Greg (wow, another character that suddenly was only ever a piece of shit, and an annoying one at that... Despite the fact that Greg has been a fan favourite throughout the whole show alongside Tom... Funny that...), it's just funny to me because they're so obviously reinterpreting EVERYTHING about the show to fit this narrative they have that Sh*v is a great person who has only ever been the victim her whole life, who has only ever been devoted and loving to Tom and he stabbed her in the back (which literally isn't true helppp)! And the hatred of Greg and Tomgreg suddenly rising out of nowhere this season was also so obvious as this immature hatred for another character getting in the way of their ship.

I agree with what you said about Tom and the baby. I think he genuinely would have loved having a kid with her once, but yeah, the timing of wanting one so badly before he was going off to prison? It was definitely to secure a place in her life, cos he even says in 4.7 that she wouldn't have his baby cos she never thought she'd be married to him for more than four years, which shows he's always feared her leaving him, and so a baby would have been a way to keep her committed to the relationship. And I hate that. Women being reduced to Baby Machine is fucking revolting and it's one of the things that makes me the most angry in life. So I do hate Tom for that and honestly, Jesse Armstrong too for making Sh*v pregnant when we all know she didn't want that, and so her pregnancy is so out of character (this is something I've seen in multiple shows. Career driven or otherwise independent woman who states throughout the whole show she doesn't want to get pregnant, and then last minute she gets pregnant. What??? ENOUGH). BUT ALSO LIKE, people forget Tom felt the ONLY way to secure some sort of loyalty or devotion from Sh*v was through a baby. He didn't feel like he had any options cos Sh*v was SO indifferent to him going to prison. She didn't gaf and moreso other characters remarked she even seemed happy about it. I'm not saying he was right in trying to pressure her into pregnancy, he fucking wasn't, but yeah, maybe people should think about how Tom was being slowly marched to prison and Sh*v in his perspective was doing NOTHING to help him or at the bare minimum even comfort him (cos that's what you do as a partner. It's funny people tryna heckle Tom after that 4.8 Tomsh*v interaction and his lack of sympathy considering how little she gaf about him going to prison and actually told him off for coming to her for comfort). Like,,, what does it say about the state of their relationship that that's where he was at.

And yeah dude, the whole thing about framing and a free pass. Look, in a way yes, but I guess when it was edited they didn't think that fans were going to have such strong amnesia to the Tomsh*v relationship throughout the whole show? Cos idk how else to defend it.

Cos, you're right, she doesn't get a free pass, and that finally came through in Tom's behaviour in 4.8. Tom who has had endless forgiveness and love for her throughout the whole show and was the kicked dog as a result, suddenly is just devoid to her now. I think it all caught up finally. This is the result. This is the sum total. Sh*v cares rn because she is fucked up rn about Logan's death. Tom has been her support for years now and she trusts him to be the only one close to her when she's in a bad place. But now he doesn't even want to be (because when she's not in a bad place she doesn't care about him) and she hasn't really had her brothers as support (her own choice because of her guilt and distrust for them) since she started conspiring behind their backs, so who does she have for support?

I think it's all crashing down around her (her father - her god, the king - is dead and she's not coping with the grief at all, she has no alliance with her siblings to make something with them, she has no position at Waystar and ATN, she has no familial support cos her family is also her work, and now she has no husband who was also her work).

She has NO support network. And THIS is the tragedy: she put herself here. Not because she's so great and everyone screwed over poor Sh*vvy. No, the fucking heartaching tragedy is that she isolated herself, because as a result of her upbringing, she was taught to trust no one, not even her siblings. She was taught that personal life was nothing compared to business life, so she put all her eggs into that basket, and now all those eggs are broken and she has no support network to go to now that she's so fucked up. So that's the tragedy for Shiv to me. She's reaping what she's sowed. She didn't question Logan's values and instead adopted them and this is where they've gotten them. It's rough cos I've been in the same place in life where I've isolated myself and have ended up with no support network outside of my family, so when that too went fuckup, there was no one, and it feels like the world is crushing you. So it's the same with Shiv. She has no one now, and that's fucking sad, but there's no free pass here, cos this is the bed she made and now she's gotta lay in it. The only thing she can do is realise that when you isolate yourself like this and shame your own emotions, this is where you end up. Alone and choking on everything you pushed down without understanding of how to cope and no help from anyone. But who knows if she will, cos she'd have to admit she's been wrong about living this whole time, and that's a little ego death in itself.

And yes,,,, lastly I'm so fucking bored of people babying the sibs. Jfc they're all ADULTS. ADULTS.

[lovecolibri]

SaL anon here friend and Happy Premier Day 🎉🍸🍸!!! Putting the drinks in there because honestly if we're lucky we'll get a few funny bee moments in between Gerrard being awful (and also supposedly funny?? who TF wrote that??) but aside from that this is all just setup for the Athena thing which I agree is 🙄 and while I'll be happy if we get Bobby stealing Hotshots props to rescue her, I don't need any more police centered storylines on my firefighter show so alcohol will likely be involved as I grit my way through it.

Anyway that was certainly an interesting interview to drop before the premier 🤨. And look, if people couldn't figure out the writing has been on the wall for BT-2.0 since the hamster wheel talk and Buck AGAIN having to chase after someone he was interested in I don't know what to say. But even if that hadn't made it pretty obvious to me there is one important point that is more obvious. While I can't trust Tim not to tell a ridiculous doppleganger storyline, I can't trust him to have the protagonist of the racist, misogynist captain plot to be an actual victim of his racism or misogyny instead of a white man, and I can't trust that he'll give us more emergencies than police cases this season, I absolutely trust Tim is an egomaniac who won't ever let go of his own ideas (see LS last season). And sticking Buck and Eddie together at every opportunity is his idea since 2x01. He could have backed off KR style last season but he didn't, he doubled down and can't even get through an interview without saying their names together. Whether we get Buddie canon or its platonic soulmates forever there is no separating these two, they will always be each others most important person (along with Chris of course), period. And TK-2.0 isn't going to fit in (or any other LI but definitely not the male version of Taylor Kelly).

So yeah let's try and enjoy some CGI bees, firefam shenanigans when Gerrard's back is turned, and Bobby going through it trying to apply logic to TV (how meta of you Tim!!). Cheers my friend, as always see you on the other side 🥂!!

Hiiiiiii bestie!! We made it!!! I was just in the DMs with someone else talking about how (as of right now) I'm expecting less than nothing from this bees-as-a-distraction-from-the-cop-storyline-like-s5-zoo-animals, but also the Buddie/Gay Eddie stuff has been SO LOUD, that I'm currently on the line of low expectations but excited instead ofoverly nervous. Which is good because I'm a tummy ache girlie and skipping dinner because a show is stressing me out is both ridiculous and an unfortunate fact of life 🤷🏻‍♀️

My main gripe with this Athena storyline is that some of her BEST moments have been when SHE is saving lives during the disasters and I wanted more of that! I really liked the cruise disaster for the Bathena teammates stuff, it truly was just missing having a full episode of the 118 there and doing rescues. Tim needs to remember disasters don't need to be plot-heavy, they need to be about the disaster and the rescues that happen in it! And it's frustrating because we have SEEN them do it!

ANYWAY

That was absolute facts that Tim wants to get his own way and also wants the accolades Buddie will get him so that's actually the thing I'm least worried about! But everything else...yeah 😬 We shall see! If nothing else the cast is excited and we got a Buddie hands-on-knees pic.

Cheers, bestie! See you on the other side!

[adhdtsukasa]

i can't believe we're still having this discussion in the year 2024 but here we are and i dare to say that if you think tenma parents are bad parents, then you don't think about saki's place in the story in the slightest. dare to say you don't even care about saki at all, even though these are harsh words to throw around.

it's way more complicated than just simple "yay" or "nay" but even if we have to think about it like that, they're still more on the yay side — because tsukasa was loved. was he neglected and did it very likely fuck him up a lot? yeah, pretty much. but does he blame his parents about it? nope! because, unlike some of the people, he cares about saki and knows it was all for her well-being, that she had no way to stop her highly dangerous illness that put her in the hospital for a FEW YEARS!! from happening, that their family was just victims of unfortunate circumstances. did he deserve better? that's also a yes! but "there definitely was something more to do than just leave him alone for so long" and "tenma parents aren't these awful abusers some people portray them to be and they certainly don't want their son to be dead in a row just because they weren't able to be here for him" are statements that can coexist.

and if you're well aware that tenma parents are good people at heart AND you make them horrible just for the sake of an angsty au (which in most cases just results in mafumom 2.0 being born) then you're so weeeeeird and i don't want you around me because why the hell would you do that!! what is the reason!!

[writingforatwistedworld]

Ahem ahem Feel free to delete if it's forbidden to do this. I swear making you add a rule against this isn't my aim imma just a tinny bit worry that I won't have the chance to ask a continuation for this ask before a long time. But I understand if you don't want this to set a precedent. I wish to continue the player is a Disney princess ask but with different boys this time.

Could I ask how would Malleus/Kalim/Azul react to a player that is the definition of a Disney princess ? Animals flocks to them, they sing and dance, they're sickeningly sweet, pure and naive, and to top it off they're Neige level of beautiful and charming. The whole Disney protagonist™ package, of which everyone know that they should be in RSA.

Self-aware au

I do not take any responsibility for you reading this no matter which age group you are from

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, kidnapping, manipulation, religion, unhealthy relationship, hints at war, poison, overall just toxic relationships

Azul Ashengrotto/Kalim Al-Asim/Malleus Draconia-Player is the definition of a Disney princess

First of all, it's bad for his business

Imagine, all kinds of animals in a place that serves food (and I am not talking about beast men)

Not exactly hygienic...

But outside of that?

Sign him up!

You are just so easy to *cough* manipulate *cough* protect

You really are the ideal target for his manipulation

And worst of all?

He doesn’t even realize what he is doing

The second you seem to distance yourself he a internally panicking and asking you “if his company is so unbearable”

And thanks to you being so naive you don't snap at him but rather think that he is nothing else but hurt

Yeah, he is hurt... you “monster”

And don't even get me started about how things go once he witnesses the encouraging side of every single typical “goody two shoes Disney protagonist”

Oh boy, you are stuck

And if he can't manipulate because this has gone on for so long that this has become normal for you and you don't even realize it anymore that something is wrong?

Well it seems like he needs to roll up his sleeves and get to work like the sea witch did

Tho is a world with Alchemy and you can't tell me the judges over there don't have regularly cases in which a family sued someone because their member is the victim of a love potion

I would like to say that we now have two cinnamon rolls but no, we only have one

And it's not the one who is rich... I can already see the luxurious imprisonment...

Ok but there you are, putting some animal which was just walking in the parade he just held (Jamil is about to cry because of the work in that corner over there)

That was when it was even more over for you

Of course everyone knew that the kind Overseer was going to their school but actually meeting them was another thing

But there you are, right under his nose

Oh dear Overseer, how radiant you are!

It is as if he is someone lost in the desert and you are the Oasis he is seeing in the horizon

Yeah, he whipped for you

But that also means you need protection!

As much as wholesome Kalim usual is, he has experienced attempted assassination even from his closest family members so... at least we can somewhat see where he is coming from

Suddenly Jamil isn't only preparing food for the heir of the Scalding Sands but also for someone who is considered holy in some places

(Believe me when I tell you, his hands were shaking when he was putting the salt into the food)

And whoopsy, seems like he has prepared a room too much, do you want to stay

Yeah... you aren't leaving that room is all I can say

But hey, you are probably one of the safest people in their world... at least until the Valley of Thorns hears of this...

Are you seriously asking? Of course this would end in a tragedy (at least for you)

Ok, what do we have? Oh? A dragon and oh? Literally Aurora 2.0??!

Ok so, the first time you two met he would have probably thought that you are Silvers sibling or something by that by seeing that the whole forest is following you

But nah, he is literally in a religion that is about you so that was until you turned around and he saw your face

Cue one of the few times his chin hit the floor

He probably also accidentally slipped out his tail

But ok, you just made the literally fifth most powerful person in this world "a bit too interested" in you, so what?

I'm telling you “so what”, you, my dear friend, are about to be treated in a very luxurious manner

In other words, one kingdom, one room, a ton of followers who are capable of living very long

Nope, no way out, only one way in

But of course you wouldn't just run away from those hopeful eyes, staring with excitement up to you without blinking

Even if you had enough one day and couldn't take it anymore you wouldn't be able to escape

Malleus made sure himself that you can't escape him no matter what

You know that voiceline which says “easier than spinning threat”? He about to repeat what his ancestor did

At least his tail is nice to pet... cool and smooth

But yeah, prepare to sleep a looooong time

[stackslip]

 @lykore replied: It’s like mappa said? Yuuji 2.0? Okay

yeah i’m genuinely intrigued to see how general opinion on denji is gonna shift as a character, bc like before the anime dropped a shitton of people misinterpreted but everyone recognized that on a surface-level, he feels v different from “regular” shounen protags. now that he’s been kinda tamed and toned down in how abrasive and violent he can be and made that much Cuter, i wonder how people are going to interpret his actions? i’m already seeing takes on how when he becomes chainsaw man he’s being “possessed” because he’s too cute/soft in his human form to be the manic demon who slaughters zombies so easily lmao

also i was expecting csm discourse for sure but i’m definitely not fond of the newest dichotomy in discussing denji--either he’s an abrasive horny boy with no brains haha loser, or he’s a poor little puppy who isn’t ACTUALLY horny or abrasive he’s just Sad. that’s.......... such a disservice to him as a character. he IS abrasive! he’s violent, he’s socially stunted, he can be genuinely pathetic, he acts like--well. like a teenage boy who grew up alone in violent and traumatic circumstances! i feel like people are now recognizing that he’s a victim of abuse, but they’re completely glossing over ugly or “weird” aspects of him in return and turning him into that golden retriever trope.

btw this isn’t an anime-only thing, but with the hype surrounding the anime lots of folks have turned to the manga and are now going around all like “no actually denji has never really been horny, and any batshit and self destructive behaviour is either non existent or just him being a Poor Little Boy”. man please let him have his layers. denji is SUCH a fascinating character, he’s so layered and raw and fun, i’ve been bawling about him for ages, i’m SO excited to talk about him with new people........ eh i expected discourse/misinterpretation. i’m just gonna hold my boy and find the real big brained folks who compare him to gideon

[genoc1d3r]

my turn to cry - thoughts on 3-1b

ok this has actually gotta be my favorite chapter cause holy shit so much stuff happened.

I played the Alice/kanna route and afterwards I watched a vod with the reko/shin route in which ranmaru and naomichi died before the banquet, so BIG SPOILER WARNING FOR BOTH ROUTES

Mafia Princess Sara??: Ok so first off, back in the beginning of 2020, I had a theory that Sara was a mafia heiress and that the death game was supposed to be something to “prepare” her. And that her memories were wiped or she was initially supposed to be kept blind to this whole thing (In 3-1a when everybody saw the consent form for the very first time everybody felt a sense of deja vu, except for Sara. Because why would they need her consent when she is the sole focus of the game and it’s all for her) This theory was mainly supplied by my confusion surrounding the hiring of Kai, cause why would mr Chidouin hire a former assassin to protect her?? How did he even know Kai??? But yeah, the whole thing with Shinobu Gokujo and deciding a new don through a death game just adds a lil more validity to this theory.

Sara’s real father: I also had a mini theory that Gashu Satou was her real father, but that was mostly cause of their hair color and how it would def make Sara’s hair color make more sense genetics-wise (but kai has black hair, so its most likely that his mother had black hair, which would also disprove this mini-theory but yk im not here to prove it just talk about it). And that Gashu knew of Mr. Chidouin and gave Sara to him, and it would also explain why mr Chidouin chose Kai of all people to look after her and why Kai could only watch her from a distance, in case she realized the truth that he was her brother/half-brother or something. 

GREENBLINGS CANON AAAAAAAA: I love this, I love this so much oh my god. Now I can replay and cry after 2-2 cause nankidai hates us :’). I dont have an issue with this specifically, I’m just a bit bothered by how the whole thing went. There was some buildup yea, and the cg with kanna, kugie, and shin was amazing. And that lil bit about nice hallucinations made me tear up a bit. But, then everybody kinda just moved on? and idk this whole chapter was a fuckign roller coaster I could barely keep up.

Autistic Gin <3: I’m autistic myself and I have seen many characters who are autistic-coded or exhibit many signs of autism but have never been straight up confirmed (Ex: Vera Misham from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney). And even then, these characters usually share similar personality traits like being aloof and reserved. So it’s nice to see that Gin is representing autism in a relatively realistic manner with his hyperfixations, vocal tics, and issues with socializing. Even after nearly dying like 17 times he’s still doing well and I genuinely wish for his survival and happiness.

Ranmaru’s death: Both of Ranmaru’s deaths, (if you or if you don’t fail the electricity absorption minigame) the death feels so... off? I was really attached to him as a character, yet his death didn’t impact as much as Joe’s or Nao’s did. During his Banquet death, one second he had his really cute smiling sprite but then whoops oh no guys weird drill screw thing kills him (again). I still can barely comprehend it because it all just happened so fast. Like no cg or anything. I was honestly kinda disappointed. The “delayed” one does a better job at his death scene, but again, it was wayyy too quick and completely dismissed as everybody just moves on to defeat Maple 2.0. I at least would’ve appreciated a better transition than Midori just saying “well anyways–”

 Ranmaru’s extremely quick descent into madness in the shin route: I actually liked this idea of Ranmaru willing to go to such extremes for Sara. However, theres barely time for any of this to develop? Like again, everything just happens so fast??? I would've definitely liked if there were little hints around before the body discovery that ranmaru was gonna do something like this, just a little time for development would really be cool.

Mr. Policeman/Mr. Tazuna???: After I finished, I actually looked on the wiki to see if it said anything about his son that he mentioned and I found this: 

But yeah thats cool

The thing about Q-taro: I’m gonna say it now, I’ve liked Q-taro ever since the aftermath of 1-2, and Q-taro haters have added absolutely nothing to this fandom. Everybody saw him as a child-hater, I see him as a guy who’ll do anything to survive and succeed. I mean that wish is kinda what got him into the death game. And yeah he did try to leave that one time, but that’s what getting thrown into traumatic killing games does for you, most people don’t want to die, they want to live, no matter what it takes. We can’t all be the main character and choose to cooperate with everybody and be the “good” person in that situation. Even Sara has those extremely selfish moments and those intrusive thoughts of winning and leaving. 

This whole thing should also be applied to Ranmaru. Ranmaru has gone through so much shit in such a brief amount of time, to the point where he was considering to/actually kill people to escape with the one person he trusted in this hellhole. In that situation, Sara’s kinda at fault here, cause without Joe she’s lost her sense of morality which resulted in her becoming selfish and well... honestly kinda toxic. This emotional manipulation is really what set Ranmaru off, however it was 100% his decision to fucking kill somebody and murder’s bad. Still love him though.

But back to Qtaro, I really enjoyed the extra substance given to him in this chapter, it’s nice to see the development from being selfish to feeling deep remorse to protecting the dolls of the first trial victims, most notably Mai. As he completely forgives her for stabbing him. The chapter did a great job at fueling my already intense love for Q-taro (and it actually convinced my best friend who claims to hate Q-taro with every bone of her body to like him too!) I also love the father-son dynamic between him and Gin. I find this relationship to be really important cause Gin’s father is an abusive alcoholic and Q-taro’s an orphan who’s never had a proper role-model in his life. So it’s beautiful that despite not having anybody there for him when he was younger he can still be a good figure for another child.

Predictions/hopes for the next part: 

I just want to see whether Shin already knew about Kanna being his sister, and if he doesn’t I want a reveal. Right. Now.

A Ranmaru/Joe/Q-taro/Kai/ “Hinako” revival, p l e a se  they died so soon

More info about the people involved in the Hades Incident/Shinobu Gokujo

More info regarding Meister

Sara going on Maury

Who tf is “Hinako”????

I really hope that there isn't any specific good/bad ending. Like I want every ending to be equally bad and good yk? like equal consequences and good stuff.

Yo wtf happened to Sara’s mom?? Is she gonna come back and play a more important role in the story?? Are her parents gonna come back as floor masters???

I want things to actually change  depending on whether you picked Alice or reko, cause so far they’ve played extremely minor roles.

[i3utterflyeffect]

no yeah i'm 90% sure what he's doing qualifies as cyberstalking. i was looking for like, stuff on the legality of what this guy is doing and this is from the wikipedia

Cyberstalking is a technologically-based "attack" on one person who has been targeted specifically for that attack for reasons of anger, revenge or control. Cyberstalking can take many forms, including: 1. harassment, embarrassment and humiliation of the victim [...] 3. harassing family, friends and employers to isolate the victim 4. scare tactics to instill fear and more

A number of key factors have been identified in cyberstalking: [...] Encouraging others to harass the victim: Many cyberstalkers try to involve third parties in the harassment. They may claim the victim has harmed the stalker or his/her family in some way, or may post the victim's name and telephone number in order to encourage others to join the pursuit. False victimization: The cyberstalker will claim that the victim is harassing him or her. Bocij writes that this phenomenon has been noted in a number of well-known cases.

Gender-based stalking Harassment and stalking because of gender online, also known as online gender-based violence, is common, and can include rape threats and other threats of violence, as well as the posting of the victim's personal information. It is blamed for limiting victims' activities online or driving them offline entirely, thereby impeding their participation in online life and undermining their autonomy, dignity, identity, and opportunities.

By anonymous online mobs See also: Networked harassment Web 2.0 technologies have enabled online groups of anonymous people to self-organize to target individuals with online defamation, threats of violence and technology-based attacks. These include publishing lies and doctored photographs, threats of rape and other violence, posting sensitive personal information about victims, e-mailing damaging statements about victims to their employers, and manipulating search engines to make damaging material about the victim more prominent. Victims frequently respond by adopting pseudonyms or going offline entirely.[26] [...] In doing so they dehumanize their victims, becoming more aggressive when they believe they are supported by authority figures. Internet service providers and website owners are sometimes blamed for not speaking out against this type of harassment. A notable example of online mob harassment was the experience of American software developer and blogger Kathy Sierra. In 2007 a group of anonymous individuals attacked Sierra, threatening her with rape and strangulation, publishing her home address and Social Security number, and posting doctored photographs of her. Frightened, Sierra cancelled her speaking engagements and shut down her blog, writing "I will never feel the same. I will never be the same."[26]

Corporate cyberstalking Corporate cyberstalking is when a company harasses an individual online.

Motives for corporate cyberstalking are ideological, or include a desire for financial gain or revenge

so yeah what he's doing is almost definitely illegal and someone should REALLY fucking sue him

I THINK THEY NEED TO ADDRESS HIM FOLLOWING HER TO TWITTER?????????

[cadopan]

Arsenal’s player ratings for Chelsea vs Arsenal Vitality Women’s FA Cup Final (3-0)

i mean, where do we even start with this… off the top of my head, several blurbs come to mind:

How Arsenal crumble when facing a proper press

Basically 'Arsenal v Barca' 2.0, Manu pulls a masterclass while everyone else goes missing

Arsenal well and truly kicked out of the sky and sent back to the ground

Jonas disasterclass yet again in selection and game management (Jordan Nobbs his latest victim)

i’m rightfully going to rag on Jonas but let’s be real, the players are in every way responsible for this too. they looked mentally off it from minute one, and never did they show that they were truly up to fight for it. even coming back after half-time, when they were miraculously only down a goal and could very well wrestle their way back, there was just no spirit, no intent. the amount of back passes and wasteful dilly dallying along the backline when we’re chasing the game made me want to light a fire under their asses.

we’re wondering what on earth happened, given the promising run of form so far, but i feel like they are too. practically the entire team went on a holiday today (and i don’t mean in a good way, like when they don’t have to do much because we’re dominating games), i mean they were literally not present. which is unthinkable in any match against Chelsea, let alone a friggin Cup Final. Chelsea were far and beyond the superior side today; deserved winners and more on them below but really, Arsenal lost it for themselves, more than anything.

Starting XI: Manu — 7/10. the only one in the team who showed up today: the only one. she gave absolutely everything she could and deserved so much better. you could say the team let her down today, because she actually gave them a fighting chance by keeping the scoreline 1-0 at halftime. beyond the fact that she prevented it from getting embarrassing in the Final, at Wembley Stadium mind you, the quality of save after save she made... Arsenal is so blessed to have her. Noelle — 3/10. the entire backline had a shocker today, her included. Sam Kerr (and basically all the Chelsea forwards) were getting so much joy running down her side and making strides toward our goal. and she offered nothing in attack to support Beth, for the number of times she was caught out of position.

Lotte — 2/10. ah, Lotte. definitely one to forget for her. might it have been the occasion of everything? she just seemed completely out of her depth today; could not contain any of the opposition attackers defensively, followed by a slew of errors when she was on the ball. it’s still very early days for her as she steps into bigger responsibility (both here and with England), so hopefully she takes something from the experience. i’m sure everyone is rooting for her to come back stronger. needless to say, the absence of Leah Williamson in defence was equivalent to losing about five players in my opinion. Jen — 3/10. starting off the player ratings with defenders is never great when the team just suffered a battering because there’s barely any positives to write about… but yeah, the lack of CB depth is glaring. she was getting exposed time and again together with Lotte, and her lack of speed when making recovery runs is going to lose games for us, especially big ones against quality forwards just like the way it went against Barca. there was a moment when she was jogging back towards a ball while Fran Kirby was baring down on her with pace on her wheels and she so very nearly was robbed as the last man, i had to look away. that dangerous tackle on Kerr in the penalty area too, she’s lucky the ref played the advantage because that was almost certainly a penalty and another goal conceded. Steph Catley — 4/10. was most concerned about her before this game, but she actually did the best out of the backline (given, everyone else was terribly poor) because she got up the pitch a few times which contributed something to Arsenal’s lifeless attack. still, anonymous when it came to defending which is unacceptable because that’s her main job. i’m a broken record at this point, but again, Jonas f-ed it up by not putting Katie at LB. Katie probably would’ve provided more fire in that defence and at least offered more tenacity in stopping wave after wave of Chelsea attack. Lia — 3.5/10. nothing much to say besides really poor overall. i think today was the nail on the coffin that she really suffers in ball-handling when faced with a good press from the opposition. in the first half, almost nothing was progressing beyond her which resulted in the forwards being totally out of the game, and she wasn’t winning any defensive battles as the deepest midfielder either. deserved to be taken off at HT but i also think she could drop to CB now since that offers her a bit more time and ease when she has the ball and her long distributions are pretty good. (at least better than what we have atm, in the absence of Leah)

Frida — 3.5/10. sad to say that it her worst game so far in an Arsenal shirt. i’d chalk it up to inexperience (like Lotte), and it was the mix-up between the both of them that set Kirby free for the first goal so that maybe played a part in denting her confidence from the start. although really, her biggest strength is her ball-winning ability and physicality to boss the midfield but none of that was seen today. she couldn’t offer anything going forward either, and every play from her seemed frenzied or ineffective.

Kim — 5/10. mm, the only one in the midfield (of the starters) who actually had some sort of presence. but didn’t see enough of the ball throughout the game, and Arsenal were badly missing her key passes and line-breaking movement that could set up Miedema or Mead to have shots.

Katie — 4/10. kept really quiet by Erin Cuthbert, and the most impactful things she did in the game was fouling people. also, she needs to be taken off set-pieces because what was that free kick in the first half?? and her corner deliveries were lacking too, as all of her set-pieces have been since the last few games. got a bit more involved when she swapped sides with Beth somewhere through the first half, but she was one of those players that would’ve been expected to do more.

Viv — 3.5/10. she certainly didn’t see a lot of the ball, but even in the moments that she did, we can’t really deny that she was off it. either bad decision making (shooting with about 10 Chelsea defenders in front of her), or wasting/losing the few chances she got in good positions. her first touches were particularly poor, i must point out. it is really quite a damning stat that Arsenal didn’t register a single shot on target the entire match, but it can’t all be blamed on her because the entire team was performing abysmally.

Beth — 4.5/10. the one in the forward line who was trying the most to make things happen (ie: take on defenders, make darting runs, send crosses in), but she too spent large periods out of the game because most of the action was happening on the other end of the pitch. her expression at the end in the huddle was really gutting, i really hope she presses on and keeps her great form going because she’s such an important cornerstone of the team and one of the most consistent performers so far.

Subs:

Mana — 5/10. should’ve come on way earlier (ideally at HT) or even started, because she’s actually capable of holding up the ball and beating a press, which Frida and Lia were both massively struggling with. she brought some life into Arsenal’s attack with classy turns and touches on the ball but really, what’s the point in all that when you’re already 2-0 down and just passing the minutes till the final blow? Kim and Mana actually got into some good positions to try and receive the ball between the lines but none of the defenders seemed intent on finding them in the buildup, instead just whacking long balls over their heads for the Chelsea backline to easily repel.

Caitlin — 4.5/10. don’t really think she affected the game much after coming on, but given the circumstances that would be a tall order from any of the subs. she was more direct with cutting in and posed more of a threat on the left side than i had seen all game though. generally, i rate the subs lower than the starters (unless they assist/score or have a considerable impact) just because they play shorter minutes, but in this case the performance from most of the players in the starting lineup was so shocking that the subs actually get a better rating for "less damage inflicted".

Keets — 3.5/10. came on and the first thing she did was jump into a challenge and get herself booked, which wasn’t a great introduction and it did nothing for the team either. she should’ve been brought on way earlier too imo; there were some tired, frustrated legs out there and her pace could’ve injected some energy into Arsenal’s forward movement.

Simone Boye — N/A. in the 89th minute of the game, Jonas makes a centre-back substitution when we are chasing the game 3-0??? explain this to me because i didn’t understand it while watching live and i still don’t understand it on hindsight. regardless, i think she should be given a chance to start the Barca game because our two CBs today were really bad and both should be benched if we had the options.

Jordan — N/A. as we all know, she didn’t get any minutes today but i’m including her because not giving her even a single minute was a decision. and it needs to be talked about. this just sent my opinion of Jonas to rock bottom, tbh. aside from what Jordan offers from a tactical standpoint (elaborated below), it’s just awful that she wasn’t brought on at all. in a Final — one of the most important games of a player’s career that she’s well-deserving to be a part of. and it wasn’t even a case whereby it was difficult to fit her in with the substitutions; all the outfield players were having a mare and justified being brought off. it just hurts my heart thinking of how disappointed she must be, given that she hasn’t had the best of times with the national team either (injuries, then Sarina incoming). she really can’t catch a break with these managers, huh. and!! what he said about her “playing a very important role for us in December”? cut that bullshit out. 1) it’s December now. 2) if he’s alluding to managing minutes and load, it still doesn’t make sense because some of the others are still going to be playing game after game like Kim. maybe it’s something we aren’t privy to, or something he’s seen from her in training because i can’t for the life of me find any other logical explanation to how he managed her today.

Bonus:

Jonas Eidevall — 2/10. wrong starting lineup and game plan, subs too late, pointless or purely wrong. he ticked all the boxes in a grand failure of tactical decision-making today. the only reason he isn’t rated lower is because the players took some of the heat off him by doing just as poorly today.

i had an ominous feeling about this midfield trio before the game started, and hated to be proven right but these aren’t the right choices when playing against relentless opposition who close you down in a flash; you need players who can beat a press and have good close control. that means either one of Lia/Frida (for defensive security), with one of Jordan/Mana (for creativity) to go with Kim in the middle. i don’t see how Jonas can’t see that.

in a snippet of his post-match interview he said something along the lines of “we didn’t have enough quality in our passing game,” um, hello? Jordan is a great and accurate passer who would’ve almost certainly elevated that situation in the middle of the pitch. I really can’t get behind someone who has clear options laid out on a plate in front of him but refuses to take a pick.

and i think i highlighted this in my player ratings for the Barca game as well, but insisting upon a 4-3-3 against quality opposition is a risk, because the forward 3 will end up isolated and out of the game if control of the midfield is lost. and that happened today, again. you really have to be sure that your passing game and ability to knock the ball around is excellent like prime Man City currently, for that 4-3-3 to work. which is why the way Emma Hayes set Chelsea up, even though it was unfamiliar to the them, in a 4-4-2 (back three w/ Cuthbert tucked in as right-back when defending) really gave them that defensive edge and locked Arsenal down.

Referee — 5/10. i’m not really going to make a point about Cuthbert’s handball for the penalty shout, because we got away with a whole lot too. Katie could’ve easily been sent off the way she was recklessly flying into people and Jen Beattie definitely took Kerr out in the penalty area with that late challenge. Arsenal lost the game with no one really to blame but ourselves.

Overall: I think I’ve gone on long enough about Arsenal’s shortcomings and failure to turn up today, so now onto how Chelsea came in with the right game plan and executed it to perfection. Both sides were similar in the sense that they favoured defensive security over creativity in midfield (Ingle > Ji), but the difference was that Chelsea actually had the players to carry that out on the day. Chelsea out of possession were organised and compact. Hardly any space offered to Arsenal players in the final third, hence they couldn’t make progressive ball-carries or weave passes through the defence. Arsenal wasn’t helped by the lack of creative players, but everything was moving too slow to begin with and not enough movement to offer options, so Chelsea could cut off their passing lanes very well. suppose everyone thought the omission of Ji was a curious choice, but Emma Hayes got it spot on because Ingle was vital in dictating the space between the Chelsea defence and midfield, and she was winning second balls and making interceptions left and right.

conversely, Arsenal’s two CBs looked to be in no man’s land and far apart most of the time, which just left gaping holes for Chelsea forwards to drive into. if Chelsea were were clinical and wanted to be more ruthless, we could’ve gone to double digits easily and i’m not even exaggerating. if the Barca defeat in the UWCL was a reality check in the grand scheme of things, today was akin to grabbing their head out of the clouds and yanking the team back to the ground. losing to the current best in the world is one thing, but such a mauling by our main rivals and the team we’re supposed to be challenging for the league title is just unacceptable. i don’t want to go overboard with speculation over certain players’ futures, but they need to bounce back asap, even if not with an immediate result but performances as a whole need improving.

Barca, if they were watching, were probably licking their lips in anticipation of their visit to the Emirates because with what we saw today, another crushing defeat is just round the corner.

oh, MOTM goes to Sam Kerr because her two goals were just sublime quality but really, the entire Chelsea team were terrific today. particular shoutouts to Jess Carter (initially thought she would be the weak spot) and Erin Cuthbert, they didn’t give the Arsenal forwards an inch today.

[three--rings]

Hi! Hopefully you haven't been asked this before and I missed it. If so, apologies. But I wonder if you have extended thoughts on the ending of 2ha? [SPOILERS] My partner and I thought it felt rushed, like the falling action after the climax was super short. There wasn't enough reassurance and peaceful affirmation after seeing so much death, especially MoRan 2.0's. We wanted to enjoy the HEA (and kind of expected the consensual sex scenes to outnumber the dubcon/rape). And then the last chapter was so, so bleak. It might have been a translation issue, but the narration seemed to suggest that nothing that happened mattered. The systems that created the Butterfly Beauty's slavery are still in place; the characters will die and their stories will be forgotten. Chu Wanning and MoRan don't get to reunite with their loved ones, Chu Zun is *still* waiting for his wife & son, and Xue Meng is "left behind," though it's a little more hopeful since he can form new relationships with the Mei Hanxue's and Jiang Xi. [/END SPOILER] Thank you for reading, and again, would love your thoughts! :D

Warning: 2HA SPOILERS!

So I will say that I definitely didn't have this reaction, per se, to the ending. I did, to be fair, finish the book rather late at night so my memory of the last chapter is slightly fuzzy.

Definitely endings are tricky. Especially in such a long book. I don't think that any book is ever going to give you a conclusion that has as much happy/settled time as the time of struggle. That's just not in the narrative structure of a novel. Which means sometimes, yes, we don't get a lot of time to see our characters actually happy.

Personally, one thing I would have liked would be to see more of Chu Wanning and MoRan and TXJ in the extras. I could have done with a little more quiet domesticity from them. More negotiation of how they work out the remaining issues they have. But I have to settle for fanfic for that, and I don't think that's a bad thing. Meatbun gave us enough to indicate the shape of their lives, indication that they FIND happiness and contentment, even if we don't see all the details on the page.

For me, the climax of the novel is in the last scene before the rift is closed, before TXJ's death. The climax is in CWN giving TXJ his unconditional love and saying he has no regrets. It's the forgiveness of TXJ's crimes by the victim of those crimes, the triumph of unconditional love. As well as the self-sacrifice of TXJ for the rest of the world.

After that is just the confirmation that Mo Ran gets to come back to life and they get to be together.

The final chapter is a bit of a sad epilogue, or at least a wistful one, but I think it's one that appeals to me in a way that I might not have appreciated when I was younger. Because, yeah, bad things have still happened, people have been lost, and those who were left behind, who survived are still grieving. Xue Meng lost his parents and he's struggling with becoming a sect leader, but you get the sense that he IS learning. That he will eventually be good at it. And that he will eventually (especially with the extras) have a relationship with Mo Ran and CWN again.

But it's the still leaving room for grieving that I feel I appreciate more as a middle-aged person than I would have when I was young. Because I've lost a parent. I've lost friends (both to death and to just the separations of life.) I've very nearly lost the love of my life and partner. So I appreciate the realism of not everything being fixed. Of there still being loss. Of characters having to go on and learn to live with their grief. Especially after such a dark and painful story, that feels right to me.

And also, in terms of all the flaws of the world not being fixed...no, they aren't. There are still very unfair systems in place. Inequality still exists. Injustice still happens. BUT there are indications that things are a little better. The big bads have been defeated. The most deceptive sects have been taken down, and it's indicated that there isn't a divide between the upper and lower cultivation sects anymore. And that Sisheng Peak is going to eventually be the predominant sect, along with its philosophy of helping the less fortunate out of duty.

So those are small changes, but they're still positive ones. And honestly, that's as much as I feel any human can ask for. It's very realistic to me. That you strive with all your might and at the end of your effort things have just changed SLIGHTLY for the better. Or maybe things are just as bad as they were but you prevented them from getting worse. That's...that's the kind of thing that happens in the real world. It's not...as satisfying as we might want. It's not an escapist fantasy of fixing the world. But what our heroes get is the person they love, time and space to be together, and slight progress in the right direction. They get not having made things worse. Triumph over their own worst potential (in Mo Ran's case.)

And honestly, a quiet place to be happy with the person you love and value the most in the world is about as much as any of us can ask as a happy ending. I know it's certainly MY happy ending. (She says, from her small home in the woods that she shares with her husband and their 4 cats, isolated from any family and a good distance from most friends.)

It's a theme you see a LOT in danmei, I think. That one person is enough. That finding small personal happiness is enough. That the systems of the world go on and you can't make big changes but maybe you change small things for the people closest to you and that's enough.

And I wonder, if that's a cultural thing. If the resonance of that message is greater in a Chinese context. And if Americans (in particular) are more inclined to expect "We Changed The World" happy endings. Because that's our own national myth. The world was wrong before us and We Made It Better by inventing democracy and saving the world from despots, etc. (Which myth continues into the present in the form of every war we get involved in.)

And sometimes those endings are awesome. The power fantasies of saving everyone and everyone getting a happy ending and ending the reign of the evil and ushering in the age of Goodness and Light. But we also need the bittersweet endings. "The world was saved but not for me." Or we won the battle but the war continues. Or "I've done what I can the rest is up to others." Those are the endings that teach us how to keep going in real life, I think.

[itsclydebitches]

Since the RWBY: Fairy Tales official trailer just dropped, I wanted to take a quick second to comment on the resurgence of the “Jaune is related to Salem” theory. Standard declaimer before continuing on: yeah, it could be a total coincidence. It’s a theory for a reason. However, the basic evidence we’ve got so far includes the similarities in their symbols (with Jaune’s potentially being simplified over generations), Tyrian’s comment about Jaune being interesting to him (and what does Tyrian care about other than anything and everything connected to his Queen?), as well as a couple of circumstantial things like the blonde hair, Jaune coming from a powerful line/having an uncommon amount of aura (stemming from remnants of humanity’s original magic?), and even the writers’ tendency to put Jaune at the forefront of the action. Making him related to the big bad would be just the kind of focus-heavy, angst-inducing choice I’d expect for his character, based on previous history. 

So the theory is definitely a thing, I’m just... struggling to make sense of it? Outside of that evidence, I mean. This is simultaneously a “I don’t think RT has thought this through at all” argument as well as a “If someone can make sense of this with the lore we’ve got, please feel free.” Because first of all, that symbol is a part of Humanity 1.0, a civilization that was wiped out entirely by the Gods. Salem and Ozpin are the only surviving members and yes, they go on to have kids, but all four are killed in their fight. Based on Salem’s disgust of humanity, I can’t imagine she went off and had different kids with someone else  — the entire point was that only she and Ozpin, the “pure,” magical people from the original version of humanity, are capable of creating a “superior” world. There’s likewise the heavy implication that she’s spent the majority of her time in her grimm world post-fight, leaving only occasionally to do things like snag Tyrian (if she was ever there herself at all and not just, say, using one of her jellyfish grimm to communicate). As both Ozpin and Qrow establish, she changes from being a part of the world to instead manipulating it from the shadows. There’s a reason why no one else in the world knows about her, a reason why her arrival on the whale is such a game changer. 

Which I think just leaves the time when she and Ozpin were playing God. I suppose it’s possible that Salem re-introduced her family’s (?) symbol to humanity while ruling them, making Jaune not a biological descendent, but rather someone descended from Salem’s influence and teachings. But... why? What little we know about her story is that her evil father locked her up (potentially using the Relic of Choice? I’m unsure whether that’s a normal crown or not). So why would Salem re-introduce a symbol that, as the trailer reestablishes, is associated primarily with her imprisonment? Something something redeeming a family name like Weiss? But everything with Humanity 2.0 happened post-grimm pool. A destruction obsessed Salem shouldn’t be thinking along those lines. 

Maybe there’s a way to piece this all together, but if the theory does hold any weight, I’m afraid it’s going to come about through some ridiculous, story-breaking means. She did have a random kid and no one knew about them, surprise! Or One of her kids actually survived that attack, unknown to Ozpin (or it’s another evil secret) and the Silver Eyes gene just skipped Jaune, though he could have been a SEW to boot. Etc. etc. something that just makes the viewer go, “Huh?” What makes me have so little faith is that this is precisely the sort of work (or rather, lack of work) we saw last Volume with Summer. Salem has been conducting grimm experiments no one knew about and our protagonist’s mother was definitely a victim! sounds all too similar to what’s going through my head regarding Jaune. RWBY is getting more and more carefree with tossing out any crazy idea that pops into their head. There’s a massive grimm soup that breaks Atlas’ defenses and does nothing else. Ironwood goes stupid and threatens to bomb his own people to, uh, rescue his people. The latest grimm is a Silver Eyed faunus underneath who reveals what really happened to Summer. 

Something something Jaune is Salem’s descendent, never mind how little that makes sense, or how little setup there’s been for such a reveal. 

Even if RWBY did manage to pull it all together, it’s going to put Jaune right back under the spotlight, once again giving him a more important role (even if it’s only thematic) than the title team. From what I’ve seen, that’s what most of the fans discussing this theory are concerned with. Not just that the explanation will be flimsy (we’re getting used to that, sadly), but that it’ll lead to another arc that takes us further and further away from the show’s original premise: telling the story of these four girls fighting the good fight. Jaune is an important side character, but his importance shouldn’t outweigh the impact our four protagonists are having (or not having...) on this tale. 

[thegreymoon]

Oh, yes, absolutely! 100% agreed on everything.

Like, yeah, Shi Mei 2.0 > Hua Binan 0.5 all the way because he did repent after all and did release Chu Wanning to try and do some damage control. It's too little too late, but he did try so I guess he gets a point there? Also, he was not the one who actually tried to follow through with outright raping Chu Wanning, so he gets another point for that. But like you said, the bar is extremely low. Will he eventually find peace and gain redemption after a lifetime of penance? IDK, possibly. Will he be a force of good going forward and have a positive influence on the people he meets? IDK, maybe.

Shi Mei is difficult because his thinking is so rotten and twisted, and he is so vengeful, but assuming he did see the error of his ways, he may try to change as a person. And I think it is highly likely that he will be going forward in the same way as Mo Ran, checking his more violent, selfish instincts with What would Chu Wanning do? He is off to a pretty dramatic start, literally cutting off pieces of his own flesh to heal others, so he is definitely taking his penance through sacrifice seriously. I would even say he is suicidal and that the death he has chosen is a slow one, intended to maximize his suffering for the benefit of the lowliest layers of society that he had previously looked down upon. One could look at this as peak selflessness, but it could also be peak selfishness? Like, is he doing this for his own benefit and hoping to salvage his soul if he suffers enough? Or does he no longer care about himself and is just there to give away all of his body and soul piece by piece to mitigate some of the evil in the world? I think that this is the key of whether or not he will eventually be redeemed. If it is the first, there will be no redemption, because his motives are ultimately selfish, but if it is the latter, then maybe? It is very interesting to me that the first people he chose to help were those kids from the start of the book who were skinned alive by the evil cultivators and forced to wear a bear skin. It is not even his own evil that he is trying to alleviate, but the evil of others, which is maybe an indication that he is on the right path, because he is choosing to mitigate all suffering, not just the stuff that is directly related to him.

But, yeah, while I can't see Chu Wanning ever forgiving him, he definitely will be wracked by guilt. I can also see Chu Wanning blaming himself more than he blames Shi Mei. While I do believe that Mo Ran may eventually get to a place where he can forgive himself, I don't think Chu Wanning ever will. There are so many layers to his guilt. Starting from what was acknowledged in the book, such as when he says that one of his disciples going off the deep end for him might have been a coincidence, but that two (out of three, LMAO) meant that the fault lay with him. He definitely feels like he failed both Mo Ran and Shi Mei and while he may understand that Shi Mei made his own choices and had deep-seated issues that predated him, he will always wonder if he could have done more, or if he should have done things differently, and not just in the sense of not saving Shi Mei from himself, but also in failing to protect Mo Ran from him.

Chu Wanning knew that there was something off about Shi Mei but he chose not to interrogate it further. He chose to take him in, trust him and take no precautions against him, which is what ultimately gave Shi Mei an opening to do what he did. I think if Chu Wanning had been his ultimate victim like Shi Mei had originally intended, it would have been easier for him to come to terms with, but Shi Mei planted the flower into Mo Ran, who was not only an innocent swept up in the collateral damage, but also Chu Wanning's favourite person. His lack of precaution not only doomed Mo Ran, but also everyone on Sisheng Peak. Not only can Chu Wanning not forgive Shi Mei for that, he can never forgive himself. In addition to not listening to his instincts and failing to protect his loved ones, he would also feel guilty that he did not do things differently with Shi Mei (even though there was nothing he could have done) to steer him away from this horrific path. Also, we have that whole ingrained cultural belief that the sins of the disciple fall onto the shoulders of the teacher because he failed to teach them properly. I don't see Chu Wanning ever shaking that responsibility.

In addition to all this, Chu Wanning's feelings towards Shi Mei were complicated and he was already full of self-loathing because of this long before all the revelations. He must have loved Shi Mei dearly because he literally raised him from childhood. Mo Ran came to him when he was fifteen, but Shi Mei was there much earlier. He was very much a child when Chu Wanning took him in. There is no chance that Chu Wanning didn't love him deeply, just like he loved Xue Meng. Maybe even more so, because Shi Mei was an orphan, marginalised and helpless (or so he thought). But then later, when he was older, he was so jealous of him because of Mo Ran. So, so, so jealous and he hated himself for that. I have to wonder how many red flags regarding Shi Mei's behaviour Chu Wanning forced himself to overlook because he thought he was prejudiced because of his jealousy. How many sleepless nights has he spent post-canon wondering if he would have been able to see things, and stop things, if he had been clear-headed about Shi Mei? It was his responsibility, after all, and he failed.

So, yes, while Shi Mei was definitely the primary culprit and it is insane to blame Chu Wanning for not doing more when he literally did everything in his power, including tearing his soul to pieces, I don't think Chu Wanning himself will ever let himself off the hook.

Every once in awhile I’m reminded that Shi Mei exist and that I hate him :) like dude had his reasons but 🤷🏻‍♀️ I simply do not care about him at all 🙅🏻‍♀️ he went way past the line of things that I’m willing to forgive with Mo Ran (Who is my favorite baby) and he doesn’t even accept that he’s responsible for all the bullshit that happened in the first world, and is like kind of blaming Mo Ran? And that enrages me so much :)

I mean, I have stanned plenty of villains in my day and yes, as a villain, Shi Mei is very well conceived, but I just don't like him, nor do I find him appealing as a character. While, yeah, his grand plan was horrific, I can get behind wanting to kill your oppressors so that your own people can live well, especially when massive trauma twists any ethics and morals you might have. But I find him so slimy as a person. CWN did everything right by him and Shi Mei supposedly "loved" him, yet his plan to repay him was to rape and mind control him and turn him into a weapon of mass destruction. He directly led to the deaths of XZY and Madam Wang, who also did right by him. What he did end up doing to Mo Ran is so horrific. I love that Mo Ran ended up being one of his own, to drive home the point of just how wrong he was extra hard. I wish Hua Binan had known and I hate that he got to die still feeling self-righteous about his actions. The special cherry on top of it all was his "but it was TXJ who killed them, why are you angry with meeee???" 🙄🙄 At least Shi Mei 2.0 gets to suffer with the full knowledge of what they did for the both of them. And, yeah, I know many people see Shi Mei 2.0 as the less evil and less responsible one (I don't, but that is beside the point), but even so, if he is to find repentance, he must know the full magnitude of what he has done and suffer under its weight.

One thing I love about 2ha is that repentance does not automatically mean forgiveness or absolution. A great example for this is Huaizui. Yeah, he repented, yeah, he tried to make amends, and yeah, in the end he even started to make amends selflessly. But he never got absolution either from Chu Xun or Chu Wanning and his soul was still doomed at the end of it.

I very much believe that victims have the right not to forgive the people who abused them and furthermore, that the expectation of it shouldn't be there to begin with. I don't think either Mo Ran or CWN will forgive Shi Mei simply because he hurt not only them, but the people they loved the most in the most horrific ways. Will he be able to repent and find peace on his own? Maybe, but I honestly don't care care what happens to Shi Mei in the end. If he is able to repent and save his soul? Good. If he is not? That is also good.