#again i must emphasise OUT of context
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la-cocotte-de-paris · 2 years ago
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Me when a man tries to hit on my gay ass:
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chokifandom · 1 month ago
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—☆ 11. hint
prev // masterlist // next
tw: mentions of kidnapping? but not serious, videogame violence, v*lorant
note: tumblr keeps screwing with my post formats im so sorry! anyway just some context if you missed reading the intro chapters (lunchly ambassadors and mikage corporate slaves)— nagi and hiori happen to be online friends on discord but don’t know each other's real identities (until this chapter, anyway) (also nagi's discord username is a sekiro reference đŸ€­) also expect a few more written chapters i think because we're lowkey nearing the end...
wc: 745
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seikiro today at 8:45 pm
valo?
bluesadist today at 8:47 pm
ooh someone’s back from the dead
sure, be there in two
———
the light from nagi’s pc is the only source of illumination in the dark room. a half-eaten cup of instant noodles sits on the side, long gone cold. he aims and shoots, seemingly effortlessly. the kill counter goes up by one, and he swears can hear you talk about how you’ve always hated shooter games as you look over his shoulder at the game he’s playing.
but you’re not there.
it’s been a few days since you’ve been over at his place— well, since he’s even seen you, actually. he’s expectantly glancing at his phone, waiting for it to light up with a barrage of notifications from you, but it never comes. in that one second window of distraction, blood splatters all over his screen and the words ‘you died!’ flash in big red text. he groans and leans back into his chair. what am i doing wrong?
“i dunno, you seem pretty distracted today,” an airy voice rings through nagi’s headphones. had he said that out loud? nagi switches to spectator mode, choosing the point of view of his teammate bluesadist. “we finally play again after what feels like forever and you’ve devolved to this? i’m hurt.”
“huh?”
“are you okay?” bluesadist asks. “you keep dying, that’s very unlike the pro-gamer seikiro i know.” he adds, a tease to his words. nagi thinks about how his online friend’s accent sounds very much like yours, and he’s missing your presence all over again.
“i don’t know, sadist-kun.” he emphasises the nickname as a retort. he always thought bluesadist’s username was hilariously edgy, and never held back on expressing his feelings regarding the same.
“you don’t know how you feel? alright, this is definitely not the seikiro i know.”
“no, no, i do,” nagi answers after thinking for a moment. “i just don’t know what to do about it.”
“do you wanna uh
 talk about it?”
“eh, it’s not that big of a deal
 there’s this girl in uni i’ve been playing stardew with but lately she’s been ignoring me. i don’t know if it’s something i did but i wish she would tell me.”
“oh, so THAT’S what you’ve been doing all the while you were away!” bluesadist laughs. his laugh is just as airy as his voice, nagi thinks. “never thought i’d see the day you’d get hung up over a girl, sei-kun. she must be pretty cool.”
“she is.”
“well, i don’t really have much advice but i do have a friend who tends to get pretty avoidant. there’s a good chance it’s got nothing to do with you at all, so you could just wait until she gets out of that phase,” he pauses for a bit. “or you could just be straight up with it— sometimes they just need a little push.”
‘ynniechan is online!’ a steam notification pops up on the corner of nagi’s screen. he clicks it without hesitation, and it takes him to her profile page. ‘now playing: minecraft.’
“speak of the devil, she just came online—”
“oh, she’s online—”
“eh? you know my friend?” bluesadist jokes again. nagi thinks about how you’d have a similar response.
“sorry, what were you saying?”
a pit of doubt churns in nagi’s stomach. he momentarily wonders if bluesadist is— nah, incredibly low chance. he knew that bluesadist was from the same city as you
 but that doesn’t mean anything. “well, i promised her i’d play minecraft with her tonight so i guess i gotta go.”
“wait a sec, sadist-kun.” it was a pretty baseless conclusion— a hunch at best— but nagi clicks on the mutual friends tab on your profile. and sure enough, there was only one profile on the list, and it was none other than bluesadist. “ynniechan.”
“huh? what are you
”
“check her mutual friends.” nagi’s smirking. hiori does, and the pieces finally click in his head. a light gasp resounds in nagi’s headphones.
“so YOU’RE —!”
the sound of laughter finally fills nagi’s room for the first time in a week. maybe you’re not so out of reach at all.
“don’t worry about it at all, nagi-kun! wait, can i call you that?”
“well, i don’t really care, whatever’s fine,”
“well
 all i’ll say is, you gotta corner her down somehow to actually make progress. good luck, nagi-kun! i’ll be leaving now.”
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dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram · 3 months ago
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I mostly agree with your anon answer.. but I think a little grace might be needed here..
"I don't agree that Liam never got the chance to make amends. He chased Maya with an axe four years ago - he had a chance every day. One of Liam's last acts was to not pay sex workers."
and he did get sober in those four years. he did. he shared his days he'd been sober with people. im not sure if people thought maybe he's not allowed to relapse? but he did try.
"I would only ever talk about amends in a context where someone who had done harm had started towards accepting that harm and stopping."
he was sober for a while. and he did apologize publicly for a lot of public mistakes.
idk if his current girlfriend alleged any abuse. he was trying.
he did relapse. for who knows what happened behind the scenes. and we will never know. but he did try.
There's a lot here anon - and I think we disagree about quite a bit.
I do think you are projecting onto me something I didn't say. You seem to understand me as saying that Liam never took any steps towards amends. I didn't say that - I have no way of knowing if he did or not.
And in response I'm aware I'm going to be quite harsh - I'm going to say things about Liam that I know some people don't want to hear, but I think are true. I do unfortunately think it's necessary. I do think myths about abuse do harm and I want to make sure that there is an alternative voice out there. I think it's only possible to extend grace once the truth has been acknowledged. I don't think grace can be used to obscure the truth - or pretend we know things we don't.
I couldn't post this without saying how much I disagree with your model of addiction and abuse. You treat addiction and abuse as if they were the same and should be treated in the same way. I strongly disagree and think this does a lot of harm. I think you do this in two different ways - the first is that you treat them as literally the same thing - and the second is you use the same model.
Throughout this you seem to be treating evidence that Liam was sober as evidence that he was not being abusive. You are treating them as the same first step. They're not the first step. They're not the same thing. There are many people who are abusive to their partners when using drugs and alcohol and treating the substances and not the abuse as the problem is an approach that puts everyone in danger.
The times when Liam was sober are not evidence that he was making steps towards amends. They're not evidence that he stopped abusing women he was having sex with. The idea that Liam was only abusive towards women when he was using substances is comfortable fiction that fans are telling themselves. Not only is there no evidence to support that fiction. There is evidence that it isn't true. There are scenes of emotional abuse in Maya's book where Liam is not depicted as using any substances.
*******
To turn to models of addiction and abuse, if I had been talking about addiction and sobriety - I would agree with pretty much everything you say here. (Although it did make me have a whole lot of other thoughts of how to talk about sobriety - without adding pressure or devaluing the lives of addicted people. But that's a question for another day).
I think a model of addiction that emphasises trying, and is very accepting of relapse is very important. I know that a lot of models of addiction treat addiction and the harm that people do to other people while addicted as the same thing. I understand that may sometimes be important for the person making a recovery. However, models that work for the person who is making a recovery can be really dangerous if it's adopted as the model the rest of the world must take.
If someone who hit their partner stops, recognises that they've made amends doesn't hit their partner for months and then hits them again - their partner is still bruised and the psychological impact on safety is even larger -
I have one final point and it's about your use of the word trying. I think the assertion that someone who has been known to abuse partners is trying not to be abusive - is one that needs substantial positive evidence. It's not something to assume - or to suggest casually (particularly not on the basis that a current partner hasn't publicly spoken about abuse!). Importantly in order to know that someone's trying - there has to be some evidence that they've started to accept that they've done harm and understanding and address that.
I don't think we have any evidence that Liam was working at not being abusive to the women he was having sex with (we do have evidence that he worked on being sober - like I say it's not the same thing). I think we have the opposite - his emotional abuse of Maya long outlasted her relationship. The last thing he did was not pay sex workers. We have much more evidence of continuity than anything else.
I think there is space for grace - once all this has been acknowledged. I think there are two sorts of grace here. One is about our own ignorance: Liam may have taken steps that we did not know about. The other is the hope that the future brings - if he had lived there he would have had many more opportunities to change.
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transmutationisms · 2 years ago
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I feel like this is likely a bat to a hornet's nest topic but I deeply respect your takes and thoughts overall a lot so here goes: I really appreciate that the show frankly goes out of its way to not pathologize its characters and lets the audience sit with them in the context of their own lives. So I'm kind of baffled that so much focus is given to "diagnosing" them in fan discussions, the vast brunt of which Kendall gets. I don't understand how you can watch this show and understand him as someone who's been heavily abused and had his reactions to being abused weaponized against him and come away being like "wow it's so cringe he acts like that, he must have a brain disease and is just too stupid to understand that. every action he takes is because he is manic/depressed/letting the disease manifest. if only he took the good moral Legal drugs that I do instead of the ontologically bad ones that are Illegal and for dirty addicts. hopefully one day he will Get Help and Receive Treatment so he will be more palatable (no whatever he's done up to this point doesn't count because it didn't work which must inherently be due to his own moral failings)." How did a show like this attract so many Reganites??
bat at a hornets' nest yes. yeah i've said before that i dislike diagnosing fictional characters as a general rule. it's tautological ("they do [x] because they have [y], and they have [y] because they do [x]") and abrogates further analysis of their motives or the meanings of their actions. and it's doubly irksome to me with succession, because unlike a lot of tv, i genuinely don't think that it's written within the weltanschauung of dsm neurobio determinism. ie, it's not a show where the answer to "why did he do that?" is ever supposed to be "his brain is just like that"—these actions are supposed to mean something about what the character wants and needs, and the effect of the capitalist milieu on those things. it's psychological, not psychiatric (& of course, psychoanalytic approaches are common in formal literary studies, whereas blunt psychiatric diagnosis is decidedly less so).
with kendall's drug use there are some particularly irritating ways this all plays out. i've been fiddling with my own reading emphasising the context of logan's demands on kendall and the construction of bourgeois masculinity, and have tried to place kendall's drug use as a response to neoliberal control mechanisms Ă  la deleuze or foucault. i could certainly be challenged on elements of this reading, but what i see on this website is generally just an endless slog of very biomedicalised reads that seem to have no awareness of the particular historical and social baggage present in that model. i do agree there's an element of reactionary DARE-esque moralising going on here (stg if i have to read one more post written by someone who, like, has never so much as met a coke user and thinks all drugs instantaneously give you irreversible morally weighted heart damage, lmao), but it's honestly not just that.
i think most of the time when people do this they're not trying to be reactionary or regressive, and often they not only don't believe themselves to be moralising affective distress, but actually think the dsm diagnosis is the way to avoid that type of moralisation. this is essentially the "it's a discrete disease entity, so they have no control over it and can't help it, so it's not their fault" argument. in practice this fails on many levels. for one thing, it often implicitly assumes that 'ending the stigma' requires any kind of mental disability or affective distress to be treated analogously to physical disability or illness, as though those latter are not also consistently stigmatised and moralised—because ableism is actually more complex than that and has to do with the fact that capitalism values people on the basis of the 'use' it can make of them and their bodies, etc etc. it is also, again, a wildly decontextualised understanding of affective distress, the reasons why people use drugs—including in a manner that feels compulsive and out of control—and so forth.
i'll add also that wrt succession, i actually do see a LOT of pathologisation thrown at roman as well, and more than an incidental amount directed at connor, tom, shiv, and logan. which is to say, i don't think this is solely about people's discomfort with addicts. there's a broad tendency among fans, echoing the even broader social tendency, to see medical diagnosis as personally liberatory, and medicine and psychiatry as passing 'objective' judgments that are necessary in order for a person to 'get better.' this is essentially positivism and is very much a status that the medical profession has fought to obtain (in france you can trace certain 18th-century discourses on national decline, aristocratic luxury, and the corrupting influence of the city -> the birth of clinical medicine after the first revolution -> social hygiene and the pathologisation of the parisian urban poor -> the third republic's 'physician-legislators' and the general class status and professionalisation of medicine; i know less about the gory details of the american and british cases simply by dint of what i do professionally).
we tend to forget these histories when talking about science; it presents itself as a set of timeless, incontrovertible truths that are simply waiting to be uncovered, and we have entire industries of science communication and journalism that propagate this view. which is to say, circling back to succession, i don't believe that most people diagnosing and pathologising these characters are trying to be reactionary or are aware that there are reactionary and moralising elements inherently built into these discourses. i think they're largely people who have not been given the tools to see alternatives, like the perspectives dominant in the history and sociology of science, which are very much kept paywalled and inaccessible on purpose because this is profitable for the academe.
this type of popular literary analysis is simply not going to go anywhere as long as this is still the status and the moral resonance of medicine (and psychiatry by extension because it gained its professional independence without sacrificing the appeal to medico-scientific epistemological authority). i don't think succession viewers are any more or less prone to this type of thinking than the general population they exist amongst. i firmly disagree with this attitude, obviously, and like i said, i don't actually think succession is written 'psychiatrically,' which cannot be said for all tv lol. but i more or less expect to encounter this type of deference to medico-psychiatric judgments in 95% of social interactions and contexts, again because of a combination of institutional control of information, other forms of inaccessibility, and physicians' and psychiatrists' advocacy for their own class and professional interests, both historically and ongoing today.
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forget-me-maybe · 2 days ago
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WIP WEDNESDAY
thank you for the tag @honeybee-bard <3
tags for @lemonsrosesandlavender @faetouchedfool @scandistar if you want to share anything <3
mandatory yap time:
today i've been ignoring my responsibilities and been hacking away at the draft for next chapter of you keep showing up.
my fingers are itching to share some of it so i'm just gonna do it.
the smug bastard is back in the fucking building again.
fret not, i have not given up on bullying him. he's just getting a break.
and please don't come for me at my complete lack of knowledge on how to play chess.
out of context this whole thing might not make any sense, but it will. i hope.
this is quite spoilery so read at own risk.
let's go!
Raphael has, with almost full certainty, come to the conclusion that the little mouse isn’t playing any games with him at all, especially not after watching the mental fistfight going on behind her eyes when she made her completely uncalculated move on him. 
He could practically smell the arousal, it had been straight up delicious. 
And desire, that’s just one of his specialities. 
It’s his turn to be the spider in the web now. She’s still unpredictable, of course, a creature of instinct. As much can be gathered from the moves she makes on the lanceboard. She barges head first into every trap he sets for her and then mumbles foul curses as he strikes. 
But, he can work with this. He’ll be careful, if he pushes too hard she might shut him out. But just enough, and he’ll have her wrapped around his finger in no time. Then, he’ll
 Well, he’ll figure that part out later. 
She chews on her lower lip as she watches the board. If his calculations are correct, which of course they are, he’ll have the little mouse in checkmate within five or less moves. He’d have to get almost stupidly sloppy if the little mouse is to take any of his important pieces. 
The little mouse’s shoulders slump more and more with every one of her pieces he collects, part of him almost wants to take pity on the woman, now running her hands though her hair. 
“You never got the chance to answer my question before,” he says, the little mouse doesn’t look up from the board. “What other thorns does this rose have?” 
“Can’t play lanceboard,” she says, moving her only remaining tower and taking one of his pawns, looking up at him with a confident smile, as if his knight won’t take it out in a couple of seconds. “Can’t play any instrument either.” 
“No?” Raphael says, eyes set on the little mouse as he strikes on the board. “I would assume that would be a part of a noble upbringing like yours.” 
“You’ve done your homework.” 
“I research my investments.” 
“Waste of time.” 
Raphael chuckles. 
“In your case, my dear, very much so.” 
“As is this game,” the little mouse mutters, the reality of her demise growing clearer to her as he sets up for his final blow. 
“A game between friends and stimulating conversation.” Raphael says, arms spread wide to emphasise his point. “I must argue that your idea of time wasted does not match mine.” 
“You wouldn’t do this unless you got something out of it,” the little mouse says, giving him a pointing look. 
“And what, mouse, am I getting out of this?” he asks, voice low and rumbling. 
The little mouse swallows, before worrying her lip between her teeth. Steady now. 
“Something you want, I assume,” she says. 
“And you don’t believe it could be mutually beneficial?” 
“It could be.”
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ya-boi-haru · 11 months ago
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I did a thing...
I'm no writer, but inspired by my Coffee shop au (linked) i did a little sample piece for funsies/writing practice... idk what will come of this but it was fun and interesting to get back into actually writing a fanfic piece again...
(context at the end)
Bars always seem to be a completely different atmosphere when it was day time.
All you could hear was the rustling and clinking of staff putting away the new merchandise or cleaning the equipment and the hum of the air conditioners. The faint scent of sanitizer mixed with alcohol hung in the air, strong enough to tell that the surfaces had just recently been wiped down.
As he sat patiently at one of the empty tables, Centross’ eyes glazed over the figures and trinkets that surrounded the bar. He could tell each one had been placed carefully and each section had its own theme. The tables and booths had a more ‘on deck’ feel. Pictures of great ships and sea creatures hung along the walls, surrounded by ropes tied and hung from the ceiling like shrouds or fishermen nets. The wooden tables were decorated with small ships to hold up the menus and the chairs had an aged leather look to them, which were surprisingly comfortable. The bar itself had a large, long statue of a dragon, made of a seaweed green glass displayed against the back wall, surrounded by the shelves of various amounts of alcohol.
The more you looked the more you saw, but unfortunately Centross didn’t get to look around much more as Kai, the owner of Sea Dragon, came out from the staff only doors. He stood up to meet her, extending a hand to introduce himself.
“Hey, you must Kai. I’m David, it’s nice to meet you” Centross was a little nervous. It had been a while since he was considered for an interview, he even had to buy a new button up shirt since the old one was worn out and faded.
“Yeah, I know who you are” Kai responded, her tone not doing a good job at hiding her snark and her, a bit too firm, handshake was not helping either.
“Oh, right, I guess you would after reading my resume” He tried to brush it off and lighten the mood, thinking he was just being paranoid about the way she was acting.
Kai gave a hum and the forced smile made Centross think it was meant to be a laugh. “So why do you want to work here, David?” She asked, cutting straight to the point.
Centross took a breath, trying to let the advice Wolf had given him and their practice questions come back to him.
“Well, I do have experience behind the bar, honestly, I’ve grown to love the work, it keeps me on my feet. I’m fully licenced, I have-“
“Yeah, yeah I’m sure your credentials and achievements are very nice,” Kai interrupted, “What I meant was, why here at the Sea Dragon?” she clarified.
Centross gave an apologetic look, as he stumbled to correct himself. However, while trying to come up with an answer, he noticed the daggers Kai was glaring at him.
“Have I done something to upset you?” Centross asked defensively. Gee, he had just met the woman and she acts like he spat in her face.
Kai barked a laugh at his question, looking at him with disbelief, her last bit of professionalism, now washed away.  Seeing Centross’ face made her realise, he really did not know.
“You still don’t do your research do you?”
Ok, now Centross was really confused. “Are you
 not the owner?” he tried.
Ocie chuckled again. “I’m Kai. Kai Feywild”
Realisation slowly set on Centross’ face. “F-Feywild?” Ocie nodded. “As in
 Strawberri Feywild- oh fuck!”
“My sister” Kai confirmed, as Centross dropped his head into his hand in defeat.
So, this wasn’t an interview, it was an interrogation. God, how the hell did he not know this!?
“Hey man, ill give you this: I’m impressed by the fucking balls you have to come in here, asking me for a job, after you did?” Kai, pointed her sharp nails at him to emphasise her accusatory tone.
“Listen i-“
“No, you listen,” Kai snapped. “I’ve worked my fucking ass off to get this business up and running and I’m not going to let it all go to shit because a deadbeat, drug pusher wants to get back in to business!”
“I’m not- we didn’t-“ Centross let out a frustrated groan, running a hand through his hair trying to find the words. “Look, that was a long time ago, I’m sober and clean and it’s not like I was the one making it-“
“No, apparently you weren’t, you’re just the one who insisted on selling it with my nephew and making my sister your dealer!” Centross gave a defeated sigh. “The only reason I called you in was to make sure you weren’t going to start this shit with me or my Strawberri again. She’s been through enough”
Centross took moment to answer, all the previous interviews and questioning coming back to him like a montage of fails. He knew he wasn’t going to get on her good side, maybe ever, but especially not right now. He had been through this enough times to know when it wasn’t working out.
“I know you probably don’t want to hear it, so ill spare you the details. But believe me when I tell you I am not here to start that again. The Ominous Coffee Bean is gone, it crashed and burned before it could even get off the ground, I wouldn’t even know how to get access to that stuff again and, again, even if I did, I wouldn’t know how to make it, that was Icarus, testing out their fancy chemistry, nerd shit and it failed miserably. I spent my time getting sober and clean, just like the others and I am trying to do better, Kai, but I no matter what I do, no one will even give me the time of day – which is understandable I guess but” Centross took a breath, feeling like he was just wasting breath at this point. “I truly am just looking for a job, a fresh start. Bills can’t pay themselves and I can’t keep living out of my boyfriends’ pocket. He’ll deny it, but I can tell that I’m just weighing him down. He deserves better than that and I just want to at least help him”
Kai took in everything he had said and Centross could see her processing, it all. She’d look him up and down and down at her hand, then back to him, the gears in her head turning trying to decide her next move.
Centross knew what it would be. Fuck, he should have just left as soon as he learned she was Strawberris’ sister. Maybe he can try his luck elsewhere, surely there’s somewhere that his reputation hasn’t touched.
“Alright,” Kai simply said after a long moment of silence.
“Alight?” Centross repeated, waiting for her to add on.
“You will be working the floor and are also on washing duty. You’ll start with four days a week for a trail to see if you can handle it and to see if you’re a good fit here. After that time is up, we’ll see how you’re doing and that will determine if you can stay and maybe we’ll talk about you working the bar. How does that sound?” Kai listed her conditions firmly, leaving no room for negotiation, her eyes never leaving Centross a she spoke.
Centross stared back, not processing what was happening.
“Wait, you’re
 You’re giving me the job?” he asked, almost like he didn’t trust what he had heard.
“I’m giving you a chance. Do not make me regret it” She warned.
Centross had to contain the smile that seemed to spread on his face, releasing a breath of relief as the weight on his chest lifted just little.
Holy shit, he fucking did it.
-----------
So for some context, Icarus, Centross and Easton tried to start a Barista place together called The Ominous Coffee Bean ("the name will get people curious about it") and Icarus tried to do their thing of infusing flowers into tea. Little did they know that Delosperma Cooperi can be toxic, like a bad drug or alcohol when extracted/infused. They told their business investor (they found online) about their new drink and and Centross received an email back encouraging them to keep selling it and they could use Strawberris flower business to get more of the flowers in.
They were eventually got investigated and they all got arrested for selling of narcotics and Strawberri got done for suppling.
Icarus made first bale, an anonymous pay to bale *and* hush money.
Kai had to come down from a couple towns over to bale Strawberri and Easton out and thankfully they were all given the bare minimum punishment due to bale + they didn't know the extremes of what they were actually selling and their investor couldn't be tracked.
All four did get put on a probation and Icraus, Centross and Easton had to attend clincs to get clean and to help go through withdrawal. Centross made bale late as Rae had to scrap together enough money and even ask his Uncle for help to get him out.
Icarus got hush money, Easton was seen as "the poor kid who didnt know any better" and Strawberri also left in the dark. Centross basically got the short end of the stick and his reputation wasnt good.
---
idk i was just playing around with ideas for Ominous Bane equivalent??? its still a W.I.P but let me know what you think????
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lovewillthaw-j · 4 months ago
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Part 2
Just this week, I was discussing with another fan about the score by Christophe Beck and I re read some old interviews. (I may not have read this one before)
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Beck said that in early iterations of the film "we all went a little bit too far", referring to the dark elements in the film. Watching the film today end to end on the big screen after so many years, the film really IS quite dark. There is quite a lot of death in the film, from the brutal battle, to the fact that each of the four elements were trying to harm them on the first encounter (Elsa vs Gale, Bruni and Nokk, and Giants vs Anna), to the genocide that King Runeard attempted. Nokk, in particular, tried to drown Elsa on screen. That's really dark. And of course, Elsa dies and Olaf dies.
Seeing it for the first time in a while, now I can really see why and where they added in many comic moments to break up the dark elements. A lot of Olaf and Kristoff. Unfortunately, Kristoff is relegated to comic relief in F2. His big number Lost In The Woods is hilarious (poor Jonathan Groff, he put in so much effort but the result is that people just laughed harder)
This leads me on to my next point. There's no denying the flaws in F2. I was a mad fan initially, angry that F2 didn't win Oscar for best animated film. Time has passed and I've come to see many flaws in the plot and (this is subjective) flawed decisions made by the creators like the sister separation, Queen Anna, Elsa riding off to Ahtohallan in the last scene (to be isolated again? Why?) The purpose of me saying this is to emphasise how watching it on the big screen really helps to cover the flaws of the movie. I think the creators set out to stun and wow the audience with amazing animation and music, and they succeeded in that. The plot is problematic and I can say this now. (I'm still a fan!! Don't get me wrong) but perhaps a lot of said flaws are also me overthinking, taking things out of context and viewed in a narrow way? Agree to disagree.
Inevitably, the discussion leads to Frozen 3 predictions. Do you know, way back in 2020, I made a statement a couple times, when I spoke to F1 fans who didn't like F2. I said, respectfully, perhaps, if there ever is an F3, I as an F2 fan will be critical of F3 and thus, I respect their views. I didn't think it would ever happen but now I find myself in that situation! I am really wondering what will happen in F3. And 4. What new story is there to tell that is worthy to be on the big screen? We have already had novels and countless post f2 story books. I really fear that they will have to retcon things we have all cherished for more than a decade, in order to tell a new story. (the same could be said of F2. Many F1 fans hated the parents but F2 repainted them as victims themselves. That certainly ruffled feathers. Oh, and Pabbie. I still dislike him for what he did to little Elsa. But F2 showed him in a sympathetic light. Pffft.)
Elsa must have a big dress change and big song. How are they going to pull off a third dress change? (answer - maybe there won't be one?)
Someone dies in every Frozen movie. Anna, Elsa and Olaf have all died... So is it Kristoff's turn??? It would be weird for F3 to focus on Kristoff because he's always been the side character. Frozen has always been about Elsa and Anna.
The return of Hans is problematic. Some think he will come back with fire powers. Or that he will drain Elsa of her power. I don't like this direction, it's too superhero for my liking. We have Marvel and MCU for that. With the problematic introduction of the four spirits in F2, Elsa has unlimited power at her aid that she can summon by thought. I actually predict that the four spirits will not feature in a major way in F3 because they have shot themselves in the foot in F2 by not explaining much about the four spirits and making them voiceless. Explaining them in F3 may water down the legacy of f2. I know I said I wouldn't dwell on flaws but why is bruni so cute? It doesn't make sense! He's thousands of years old right??
Also, by the end of F2, Elsa herself is literally god level. She exhibits powers that are pretty amazing - how did her dying breath magic manage to GPS-locate Anna in a deep dark cave, produce a statue of runeard killing the leader, that could even TALK?
Will the Northuldra feature in a big way? I don't know. Gut feel is no.
Will the parents be alive? I really don't know if that would work out, plot wise. Agnarr would be horrified to learn that his father was evil.
Frozen II big screen re-watch (part 1)
I had the privilege of watching Frozen II today on the big screen. I'm on a short trip to another state and for some reason, the cinemas there are doing a re run of F2. Boy, was it an emotional trip for me! I felt like I relived 5 years! I last watched F2 on the big screen in 2019 (pre-pandemic). F2 caused me to join Tumblr in Jan 2020 and it's my first ever Fandom.
F2 is definitely much better when you watch it on a big screen. The experience is just so much better. 1) the animation looks so good bigger. You can see micro expressions in the character's faces. The special effects are awesome. 2) the audio experience is so much better with good speakers with bass and surround sound. Both of these make it easier to not focus on the plot flaws.
I teared and teared throughout the show. You must understand, although my blog is quiet now, I was madly in love with F2 in the first year of my blog. Besides making hundreds of gifs, I also wrote essays on locations, the plot, the themes in F2, Elsa's powers, Anna's love, etc. I'm also a musician and the songs and score mean so much to me. I recorded myself playing the piano and guitar to Elsa, Anna, Iduna singing, analyzed musical motifs, made some discoveries of my own (Hansorcery most importantly), made a cappella versions of songs and some humorous mashups.
It was really a trip down memory lane today. I reminisced over scenes that I have giffed. Giffing is a process that makes you really familiar with the scenes as you go over it multiple times till the crop, timing and colour is just right. I was a noob when I first started, and I learnt along the way with help from friendly fans here. I was reminded of those scenes that took my breath away, scenes that made my heart go "awwww", scenes which are funny, scenes which have been focal points of my analyses. I remembered my boobs analyses (lol about how I ogled them for research), Elsa's see through back of travel gown, tender sister moments, cute Bruni gifs, beautiful scenes of the girls, my transition gifs of Elsa riding on Nokk, raw animation, and the list goes on.
I remembered all the music, music which I listened to countless times till I dreamt the music in my sleep (I kid you not, this is a thing that happens to me). I remembered my hair standing during the creepy scenes - the ship scene (on my very first watch I was so worried they were going to reveal the dead bodies of the parentsđŸ˜±) and Olaf dying scene (the 6 notes motif is sooooo creepy you know something bad is going to happen). I felt the power of the fight scenes between Elsa and Gale and Elsa and Bruni and Elsa and Nokk, and Anna vs the giants. I teared at the tender sister scenes in the bedroom and outside the ship. And I teared when Elsa gloriously outran the flood and stopped it with her mighty wall of ice.
I was enthralled by the songs once again. Especially the big three songs. Into the unknown, especially when Elsa steps into the magical forest created by her magic. Show yourself is all about Elsa, Elsa is sooooo gorgeous in that entire song, from her tied back pony tail look to her hair down look to her dress transformation. And for The Next Right Thing I felt how crushed Anna was and how Kristen Bell cried for real in the song as she recorded it. I teared as Olaf died in her arms and that was the moment Anna realized Elsa was dead too.
(I have more to write)
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onewomancitadel · 1 year ago
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I think more specifically on the 'not owing comments to a fic author' topic is that I feel like politeness rituals serve social function for a reason, and sometimes we need those emphasised, but I don't think comments themselves constitute a politeness ritual (not even kudos, really, though that's a good way to show appreciation not out of obligation). If wanting comments is a consequence of community-seeking, obligation really can defeat that purpose. Obviously that's not true for all politeness rituals: when I ask how someone is, I want to know, and the human outreach of interaction itself is like... the point? But I think fandom (and creative work) is a much more specific context.
This is the happy middleground, I think, because if I were obligated to leave comments, are you so sure they'd always be of a positive nature? If I am obligated to leave comments and in addition to that, they must be positive, then how do you know I'm telling the truth? Then it won't be worth it. It won't mean anything, not truly. I think concrit on request is a different topic but it does enter into the equation because what justifies fanfic being about enjoyment is that it's community-building, but how can I have community-building from obligation?
So like, it feels like there are two camps, once again, which I don't really agree with. Lol! I think it's partly a consequence of trying to deconstruct basic building blocks of fandom. Fandom is community and sharing interests. Go where you may and find what you like, and stick around for what you do and leave when you want. It doesn't need to be more complicated than that.
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knoxvilleforever · 2 years ago
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Overheard - Johnny Knoxville x Reader
here’s a little something that’s been floating around in my head today
You could hear your heels clacking against the floor as you descended the stairs, trying to smooth down your dress and hoping you look up to the standard of one of these fancy parties.
It wasn’t the first time you were attending an event as your best friend Johnny’s plus one, but you never got used to the level of primping and preening that came along with them. Of course Johnny and his Jackass cast mates were never ones to bother too much about that aspect, but you often felt the pressure.
A bundle of nerves sat at the very pit of your stomach, thinking about the effort which had gone into your appearance and who you were really trying to impress. Your hair, your nails, the new shoes you had to buy to match your purse, and of course a dress which held you in at all the right places and emphasised your figure.
If truth be told, it wasn’t only the pressure of the event which made you go through all of this. It was the man whose arm you’d be on for the majority of the night. You desperately wanted to look good for Johnny’s eyes, but they never seemed to quite see you in that way.
As you neared the door you caught on to the hushed conversation, and curiosity got the better of you to stop just short of entering the room. Most of the Jackass crew were lounging on Johnny’s couch, whilst Johnny waited for you to finish getting ready.
‘Really man? You’ve never thought about it?’ You heard Steve O’s voice as you stayed at the edge of the doorway, being careful not to move and have those heels giveaway your hiding spot.
‘What, you think I would have? Have you?’ You couldn’t mistake your best friend’s voice, and you furrowed your eyebrows as you tried to follow along.
‘Uh, yeah!’
‘Duh!’
‘Of course! She’s hot!’
You couldn’t work out the chorus of voices which had just sounded, but the pit in your stomach dropped a little lower when you realised they must be talking about a girl. More specifically, a girl for Johnny.
‘She’s not your best friend!’
Oh.
You didn’t know what to think as you realised you were the topic of conversation this evening, but you needed a little more context to work out if this would be good for you, or very bad for you.
‘Dude, have you seen the two of you together? You can’t have known someone that long and not wondered what it’d be like.’
‘Wondered what?’ Johnny’s voice sounded exasperated at Steve O’s response.
‘Y’know, dating.’ You heard Chris chime in. ‘Or, kissing. Or, the sex, of course.’
‘Will you remember who we’re talking about here? It’s Y/N, I’ve known her for years. We’re friends. You don’t think that’d be kinda weird?’
‘A really good weird.’
Your mind was conflicted as you tried to pick apart Johnny’s words. He didn’t sound convinced that even going on a date with you would be at all appealing, and the word weird made your heart drop. You figured nothing had happened all these years for a reason, but your stupid crush had never gone away.
At least you hid it well.
‘Man, she’s totally into you too.’
Oh.
Maybe not.
You felt your cheeks heating up at the mere thought of anyone knowing about your feelings for Knoxville, let alone his friends practically spelling it out for him.
Wait a minute, you’re into him too? Too? Does that mean some part of your feelings are reciprocated?
‘She is?’ The tone in Johnny’s voice had changed, and you couldn’t put your finger on what it held now. You wanted to say hopeful, but you really had to push down the hopes of your own which had started to rise.
‘Uh, yeah!’
‘Duh!’
‘Of course, you’re hot!’
At that you checked the time and realised you were teetering on the very edge of being late for this event, and it kicked off your nerves again.
Waltzing into the room trying to display a casual demeanour, and not that you were trying to piece yourself back together after what they’d been talking about, you found a group of men staring at you in silence.
‘Are you ready, Knoxville?’ Your tone was light and when you drank in his figure wearing a suit, you gulped and realised it was going to be hard pretending you weren’t into him all night.
Or maybe you didn’t have too.
Because that same figure you were staring down, was currently trailing his eyes over your form. And the look on his face was priceless.
‘I’m, yeah. I’m ready. You look, I mean, wow.’ He was on his feet quicker than you realised and despite your heels he was still towering over you.
‘I hope that’s a good thing.’ You smiled as you looked up to him, that overheard conversation giving you a boost of confidence. That and the stuttering mess you’d got Johnny in.
‘Oh, absolutely.’
‘Uh, yeah!’ You heard Steve O call out in the background, ‘you look so hot!’
‘So I’ve heard.’ You smirked as you looked at the rest of the boys on the couch, turning to leave the room with Johnny not far behind.
‘You heard?!’
That same chorus of voices sounded behind you as you linked your arm with Johnny’s, wondering where you’d end up after tonight.
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rancidpancakebatter · 2 years ago
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Grip Tape-Chapter 2 [P.P.]
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Pairings: Peter Parker x AFAB Reader
Summary: Peter offers to teach you how to skateboard and who are you to say no? This is a pre-bite fic so we get to enjoy Peter Parker in his full Dorky Display.
Word Count: 2.3k words
Content: MINORS DNI: 18+ Swearing, Marijana Use, Underage Drinking, Bullying
( Previous | Chapter List | Next )
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Chapter Summary: You have lunch with Peter and you set up a time for your first lesson.
A/N: I forgot to mention this before but this is my first fic ever. It means a lot to me that after a few hours I had over 20 notes. I know some people may not think that's a lot but that's a HUGE deal to me. Thank you all. If you would like to be tagged in future chapters let me know!
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You walked to your locker in the opposite direction, hyper-aware of your pace. You were almost running and only slowed down after getting a warning glance from a social studies teacher you hadn’t yet had the pleasure of learning from. You reached your locker and pulled out your new board and a grocery bag with leftover Chinese from last night. Your dad always ordered a la carte so you had a big thing of fried rice, orange chicken, and dumplings. You realized that you would have to heat them up before you met peter. 
You rushed to your favourite teacher’s room, they always let you use their microwave. You tore the metal handle off and popped those suckers in one at a time. Miss Ritter seemed to notice your bouncing leg and new toy. 
You were staring at that spinning white box, willing it to heat up faster. 
“(Y/n),” You stopped, turning your head to the sound of your name. Ms Ritter was looking at you with an amused smile, “you’re bouncing, hon.” 
You brought your gaze down to see that your leg was indeed bouncing, shaking the desk you were sitting in while you waited. 
You chuckled weakly, it was more air than joy. “Sorry, ma’am.” 
You stilled your leg and saw that nearly seven minutes had passed. You didn’t want Peter to think you were standing him up. Can you use “standing up” in this context? It wasn’t a date, you guys were eating lunch together, at school. The beep of the microwave jumped you from your thoughts and you rose to retrieve the last to-go container. 
Ms Ritter chuckled again, “Who is it?” 
You looked at her perplexed, “Who is what? In the microwave?”
This received a full-on laugh as you continued to grow more and more confused. You moved to pack up the boxes in the bag before going back to the cart that the microwave rested on. Below the humming box of radiation was a little cubby with plastic silverware. 
“Who is it that has you all worked up, dear? It must be someone important for you to be this frantic.” 
You scoffed at her accusation, “I am not ‘frantic’” you brought your hands up to emphasise the air quotes, “and there isn’t anyone.” 
Ms Ritter only raised her eyebrow. As a high school teacher, she hears bullshit on a daily basis and can call it faster than a seasoned referee calling a penalty in a hockey game. 
“Oh yeah?” She quipped, “How many forks are in your hand right now?”
You stopped as you realized you had grabbed two, you continued to place them in the bag and loosely knotted the top. “Is it a crime to grab an extra?” 
Ms Ritter rolled her eyes before waving her hand to the skateboard resting against the desk. “And this new hobby is completely your own and not influenced by anyone at all, huh?” 
You huffed again, “Is it so wrong to try new things in high school? What’s wrong with skateboarding? It’s good exercise and it's better for the planet!” 
You were quite exasperated, throwing your arms up at the end. Ms Ritter threw hers up in an act of surrender and turned her chair away. You took the opportunity to race out of the room. 
You opened the doors and were hit in the face with a very cold wind. There wasn’t any snow or ice yet but the leaves provided a similar slippery blanket. You pushed forward and as you turned the corner you began to hear the familiar sound of plastic slowly being worn by the pavement. There were gaps of silence followed by a harsh smack and more grinding. You watched quietly as he did tricks that you recognized but couldn’t name. 
You spotted a bench behind him and decided to skate by him rather than walk, just in case he hadn’t seen your skill that morning. When you moved past him he stopped and you waved, smiling at him as you approached the bench. As you sat down Peter hopped off his board and made his way to you, jogging. 
“Hey, glad you could make it!” You chuckled, still unable to meet his gaze, instead, choosing to busy yourself with the bag that read 'thank you' down the sides. Peter sat down and rested his board along the side of the bench, just as you had.
“Did you already eat?” you asked him, ready to invite him to eat your lunch.
When you looked up at him you wished you hadn’t. It was cold outside so his face was a little red and he was breathing hard from all the energy he was exerting before. It was a look you didn’t mind on him and you were pushing back thoughts of other scenarios that would leave him with the same countenance. You cleared your throat as your eyes darted back down to pull out the boxes, feeling your face warm. 
Peter rummaged through his backpack before responding, “No, I was waiting for you.”
Your heart stopped. He seemed unsure that you would show up in the first place but continued to wait for you just in case. 
He pulled out a brown paper bag with grease stains on the bottom and you bit back a laugh at how stereotypical it appeared.
“What have you got there?” You asked, eyebrows raised. 
Peter chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck as he opened the bag.
“My Aunt May is trying to clear out the fridge so it’s a bunch of leftovers: meatloaf, mac and cheese, and under-seasoned vegetables.” You chuckled at his lack of enthusiasm towards his lunch and he laughed as well. 
“Well if you want,” you began, drawing his attention from his sad sack, “You can split my lunch with me. It’s also leftovers but it’s Chinese take out and it’s warm.” You dangled the extra fork in front of him, taunting. 
Peter put his hands up in the same way Ms Ritter had and leaned away, “No, I couldn’t possibly. That’s your lunch, I shouldn’t-''
You cut him off by grabbing his wrist, turning it so his palm was face up. You placed the fork in his open hand and curled his fingers around it awkwardly. He couldn’t take his eyes off of where your hands were touching his. He felt his face warm and prayed you wouldn’t notice. 
“Please Peter,” you pulled your face into the best pout you could manage, “There’s no way I can finish this all on my own, plus I brought an extra fork.”
Peter’s face was deepening in its crimson shade and his heart was pounding. You were looking at him in a way that his body couldn’t help but respond to. Your big doe eyes boring into his, you were still holding his curled hand with both of yours and he loved the feeling of it. He closed his eyes tight trying to force perverted thoughts out of his head. He took a deep breath and composed himself. Being a teenage boy was very hard. 
“Fine, fine, but only because you literally twisted my arm.” You smiled brightly as you began to open up the various containers. You tried to eat slowly letting Peter get as much as he wanted, he was very hesitant to 'take your food' no matter how much you insisted you were fine. You ate mostly in silence with small bouts of small talk: What did your schedule look like? Do you like your classes? Etc. After 10 minutes you announced that you were done and went to throw your fork away in a nearby trash can. When you turned back you saw Peter was examining your board in his lap. 
You sat back down, suddenly feeling very shy. You hoped it was a good one but you didn’t even know what that meant. There were so many brands, colours, and shapes.
“I like your deck, it’s pretty cool.” The deck you picked was simple. It was pink and it had the women’s restroom logo on it. 
You informed him that it was a Girl Board, “It was either that, hentai, or weed.” 
At that, Peter laughed, “Yeah that seems about right. Are you not a huge fan of Hentai and weed?” 
He looked at you from the side, still facing your deck. You blushed a little, I mean technically Peter had just asked if you watched porn.
“I’m not really into hentai no and I didn’t feel like getting suspended for having drugs or anime titties at school.” 
Peter seemed to nod his head considering what you had said. “How long have you had it?” 
You scratched the back of your neck, you had to be very careful with what you said next. You couldn’t lie and say you had had it long because it was obviously new, but you didn’t want him to think it had anything to do with him.
“Uh, I got it a few months ago, a birthday present from my uncle. He took me to Vans and let me pick out what I wanted. I only started riding it last week though.” 
You hoped it was a believable lie and Peter seemed to buy it. “What took you so long to get on the saddle?” 
He shook your board for emphasis and you giggled. “Well I was scared, I’m not exactly the most graceful, and I didn’t have anyone to teach me.”
Peter could not have been more delighted at your words. He could teach you. He had been riding for years. If he offered and you said yes then he could spend more time with you. Now he just had to offer, that’s easy, just ask. 
“So how have you been learning so far?” He smiled as you told him youtube and your driveway was the best you had at the moment.
“Show me what you got.” 
At his words, you froze. You could go forwards and stop, that’s it. Also, you didn’t bring your protective gear and you didn’t want to hurt yourself in front of him and embarrass yourself. You turned your head to tell him you couldn’t but he was giving you that reassuring smile you had seen so many times before. His nose was scrunched in such an adorable way. You want to smooth out the wrinkles but you also want them to stay forever. His eyes are what sealed your fate, once again Deimos’ and Phobos’ gravity pulled on your heart and you couldn't say no. 
You stood up and he walked with you, “I don’t know any tricks, I can just go forwards, that’s it.”
Peter smiled and told you it didn’t matter. You placed the board down on the ground, too afraid to do the drop-in thing you usually do, and pushed off. You went forward before stopping at the end of the courtyard pavement. You then stepped off and turned around now sailing to Peter. He watched with his index finger and thumb cradling his chin as you went, pretending to study you very carefully. You stopped again in front of him before stepping on the end of the deck to bring the front into your hands. 
You manoeuvred it until you were holding it by the middle before throwing your arms up into a wide shrug, “I know, I know, not all that impressive.”
Peter hummed as if in deep thought before speaking in a silly British accent. “I don’t know, considering it’s only been a week you seem to show great potential. You have outstanding balance and that, as you probably already know, is of key importance. It’s very hard to teach.” 
You giggled at his antics and he began to cut up too. He dropped his hands to the side and looked down. “No really though,” he brought his head back up to meet your gaze, “You are pretty good. If you want, though, I could teach you some tricks and stuff.” 
He gestured around with his right hand, his left placed in his pocket. He did this a lot and you always loved it. He was very animated and you found it endearing. 
You were so lost in everything that is Peter Parker you almost didn’t process his offer. “Uh, yeah, no, that would be great, yeah.” 
He smiled and pumped his fist. You couldn’t help but giggle. What a beautiful noise that was. Peter was conflicted, split between not wanting to make anymore a fool of himself and wanting to do anything to hear that again. He settled himself, clearing his throat as he returned his hands to his pockets. “So, uh do wanna...after uh
but only if you want to...but if you want I could
uhhh
” You giggled once again. 
There was something that was just so effortlessly calming about this boy. Everything he did made you feel warm. You’re pretty sure that he could tell you he was an active criminal and you would forgive him on account of his warm brown eyes and fluffy hair. “I work until seven on weeknights but I’m off Friday and the weekend.” 
Peter rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat again as if that could clear out such a poor excuse of a sentence. He gave you a tight-lipped smile as he nodded his head. You took that as a yes to an unasked question and began to gather your things, “Great, you can take me home Friday”. 
He looked up with a shocked expression that melted into a soft smile. He watched you walk back into the school as the lunch bell began to ring. 
The rest of the day you couldn’t stop smiling. Peter was going to teach you how to ride a skateboard. You sailed through the rest of your day just thinking of that sweet, tall, boy and excited for all the time you would get to spend with him. 
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shinygoku · 3 years ago
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Thomas and the Meta Misreads
I seem to have been cursed/blessed to adore characters who are either completely slept on, or are the mascots and heat sink for any criticism, which is often unfair, at that! In the case of Thomas, every other day I seem to see some horrible slander or low effort posts talking smack about him and that really sucks.
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There’s the matter that RWS and the Post Clearwater TVS are quite different beasts, the show peeling away to do it’s own thing as soon as s3 starts and being the “Main” thing people think of with the series. And s3 onwards Thomas is not the same character and personality.
RWS and s1/s2 Thomas is one of my favourite characters in anything, he’s a feisty little guy who can be rude and callous, but is also hardworking, dutiful and with a soft side to a few characters he’s close to and some spare charm to humans. Basically, a Jerk with a Heart of Gold 💛
There’s other facets and context sensitive elements, but that’s the gist of his character and it’s one I find very appealing.
S3 and the rest of the show stick an oar into this by making him blandly nice and cheerful, stripping him of the nuance and depth that his fussy side gave 
however, when they do make him act harsher, there’s no context and it comes across as immature and annoying cause it’s otherwise out of the blue. And forcing him into more episodes because Mascot when he’s just blankly grinning do nothing for him.
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He seems to get more flanderized and even blander as the show goes on, and while Brenner sometimes gets things bang on, other times the attempt misfires and forgets Context and History. Lost Treasure forgot he’s responsible and wouldn’t try to shift the blame on others, he’d own up! 
The Adventure Begins, or rather The Adventure Retcons, strips his entire history so he can be the Newbie Underdog; instead of him being on Sodor helping to build the Railway, and then being stuck shunting at The Big Station, where he gets restless and longs to break free and “see the world”. The Branchline part is also borked big time -- In TAB, the Ffarquhar line is presented like a reward for Thomas helping James a week after arriving, but that’s not right! Thomas earned it after years of work and more time at Wellsworth, saving James was a cherry on top, not the whole cake!!
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BwBa is of course The Worst, and part of that is yet again wiping his Traits away to enable a dumb ass story. They seem to have taken his “See the World” desire completely at face value, ignoring the context I just covered. But even worse is that the saga starts with him just ditching his work and his home on a dumb impulse, which he would Never! Again, he’s Dutiful and thinks Ffarquhar is the Railway’s backbone, he’s dedicated! And he’s no longer stuck at one station with big jerks as he was when he expressed his frustrations. Context matters!!
So, yeah. The TVS and Specials dropped the ball multiple times and that’s made him look way less of a nuanced character than who he is under Awdry’s pen, and as portrayed by s1 and s2. Oh, but there’s still a bit of an annoying habit of people to overemphasise the RWS version’s Jerk Moments and make him out to be worse than the likes of Gordon or James, which is unfair but a classic Fandom Type Error. Again I must emphasise he has sweetness too, and character growth. And I love him so much, man, he’s a multifacted little dude and he deserves to be treated as such!!
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blackswaneuroparedux · 4 years ago
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Michelangelo’s The Risen Christ: Discovering the sacred in the profane.
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The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.
- Michelangelo Buonarroti
While a visit to Rome’s grand squares like Piazza Navona is at the top of everyone’s list, there is much more to the Eternal City. The Piazza della Minerva, is one of Rome’s more peculiar squares and is a must-see for lovers of Bernini’s work.
As one of the smaller squares in Rome, Piazza della Minerva holds some interesting sites. Built during Roman times, the square derives its name from the Goddess, Minerva, the Roman Goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare. During the 13th Century, the decision was made to build a Christian Church on top of what was once a square dedicated to a pagan Goddess – and so the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva was born, a beautiful example of Gothic architecture and Rome’s only Gothic church.
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In fact this is the only Gothic church in Rome. It resembles the famous Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. There are three aisles inside the church. The soaring arches and the ceiling in blue are outstanding. The deep blue colours dominate the structure while the golden touches promote the intricate design. There are paintings of gold stars and saints. The stained glass windows are beautiful too.
In the centre of the Piazza is an elephant with an Egyptian obelisk on its back, one of Bernini’s last sculptures erected by Bernini for Pope Alexander VII and possibly one of the most unusual sculptures in Rome. There are several theories which aim to decipher Bernini’s inspiration for the sculpture, some of which point to Bernini’s study of the first elephant to visit Rome, while others point to a more satirical combination of a pagan stone with a baroque elephant in front of a Christian church.
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Tourists flock to see the elephant but more often than not they miss out visiting an almost forgotten marble masterpeiece by Michelangelo himself inside the church. This controversial statue has resided in the Santa Maria sopra Minerva Church in Rome for almost five hundred years. Indeed The Risen Christ by Michelangelo is one of the artist's least admired works. While modern observers frequently have found fault with the statue, it satisfied its patrons enormously and was widely admired by contemporaries. Not least, the sculpture has suffered from the manner in which it is presently displayed and from biased photographic reproduction that emphasises unfavorable and inappropriate views of Christ.
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Around 2017 I was fortunate on a visit back to London to see once again Michelangelo’s marble masterpiece, The Risen Christ, which was being displayed in all its naked glory at an exhibition at the National Gallery.
This was another version of this great sculpture that no one has got round to covering up. It has just come to Britain. Michelangelo’s first version has been lent to the National Gallery, in London, for its exhibition Michelangelo and Sebastiano del Piombo in 2017. It came from San Vincenzo Monastery in Bassano Romano, where it languished in obscurity until it was recognised as Michelangelo’s lost work in 1997.
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I found it profoundly moving then as I had seen the other partially clothed one on several visits to the church in Rome. It has always perplexed me why this beautiful work of art has been either shunned to the side with hidden shame or embarrassment when it holds up such profound sacred truth for both art lover or a Christian believer (or both as I am).
Michelangelo made a contract in June 1514 AD that he would make a sculpture of a standing, naked figure of Christ holding a cross, and that the sculpture would be completed within four years of the contract. Michelangelo had a problem because the marble he started carving was defective and had a black streak in the area of the face. His patrons, Bernardo Cencio, Mario Scapucci, and Metello Vari de' Pocari, were wondering what happened when they hadn't heard for a while from Michelangelo. Michelangelo had stopped work on The Risen Christ due to the blemish in the marble, and he was working on another project, the San Lorenzo facade. Michelangelo felt grief because this project of The Risen Christ was delayed. Michelangelo ordered a new marble block from Pisa which was to arrive on the first boat. When The Risen Christ was finally finished in March 1521 AD Michelangelo was only 46 years old.
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It was transported to Rome and this 80.75 inches tall marble statue was installed at the left pillar of the choir in the church Santa Maria sopra Minerva, by Pietro Urbano, Michelangelo's assistant (Hughes, 1999). It turns out that Urbano did a finish to the feet, hands, nostrils, and beard of Christ, that many friends of Michelangelo described as disastrous). Furthermore, later-on in history, nail-holes were pierced in Christ's hands, and Christ's genitalia were hidden behind a bronze loincloth.
Because people have changed this sculpture over time; many are disappointed with this work of art because it is presently different than the original work that Michelangelo made. The Risen Christ had no title during Michelangelo's lifetime. This sculpture was given the name it has now, because Christ is standing like the traditional resurrected saviour, as seen in other similar works of art.
It was in discussion with an art historian friend of mine currently teaching I was surprised through her to discover the sculpture’s uncomfortably controversial history. There is no doubt Michelangelo’s marvellous marble creation has  raised robust debates about where beauty as an aesthetic sits between the sacred and the profane. And nothing exemplifies that better than the phallus on Michelangelo’s The Risen Christ.
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For the majority of its time there, however, the phallus has been carefully draped with a bronze loincloth - incongruous at best, and prudish at worst, but either way a less than subtle display of the historic Church’s discomfort with the full physicality of Christ.
Indeed, it is worth noting that this attitude prevails, at least in some sense, into the twentieth-century: the version of the statue in Rome remains covered to this day, and much of the critical attention the sculpture has received after Michelangelo’s death has been grating. Romain Rolland, an early biographer, described it as ‘the coldest and dullest thing he ever did’, whilst Linda Murray bluntly dubbed the work ‘Michelangelo’s chief and perhaps only total failure’. But Michelangelo himself saw no such mistake. The censored statue seen in Santa Maria sopra Minerva is what we might call his second draft.
It’s interesting to note that when artist was originally commissioned to sculpt a risen Christ in 1514, he had all but completed it before realising that a vein of black marble ran across Jesus’ face, marring the image of classical perfection which he so wished to emulate. It had nothing to do with the phallus. Furious, Michelangelo abandoned this Christ - the one I saw at the National Gallery - and began again. Even given a fresh chance, he chose to retain Christ’s complete nudity.
Why was this of such importance to Michelangelo? Why did he so strongly wish to craft the literal manhood of Christ, as never depicted before? Part of the answer may lie in his historical context: the Renaissance in Italy was driven in the part by the remains of Roman antiquity discovered there; study of the classics became commonplace, and scholars tended to consider the Graeco-Roman world as a cultural ideal, with ancient art in particular being emblematic of a lost Golden Age. Famously, classical sculpture was almost always nude.
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In his interview with The Telegraph in 2015, Ian Jenkins, curator of the British Museum exhibition “Defining Beauty: The Body in Ancient Greek Art”, attempted to explain this tradition. ‘The Greeks 
 didn’t walk down the High Street in Athens naked 
 But to the Greeks [nudity] was the mark of a hero. It was not about representing the literal world, but a world which was mythologised.’
We see evidence for this trend in Greek literature as well as sculpture: Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, considered by some to be the earliest known works of Western literature, were likely written between the 8th and 7th centuries BC, but their setting is in Mycenaean Greece in the 12th century. The Greeks believed that this earlier Bronze Age was an epoch of heroism, wherein gods walked the earth alongside mortals and the human experience was generally more sublime. In setting the texts at this earlier stage in Greece’s history, Homer echoes the belief held within his contemporary society that mankind had been better before (what we might now call nostalgia, or, more colloquially, “The Good Old Days syndrome”). There is a real feeling of delight present in the distance Homer creates between his actual, flawed society, and the idealised past.
Indeed, it calls to mind a line I once read in an introduction to L.P. Hartley’s The Go-Between, by Douglas Brookes-Davies: ‘Memory idealises the past’. Though modernist texts such as The Go-Between problematise this, in antiquity it was not only commonplace but celebrated to look back to a more perfect existence and relive it through art. The very fact that Michelangelo abandoned his sculpture after years of work on account of a barely noticeable flaw in the marble is evidence that he, too, was striving towards the classical ideal of perfection. ‘Unfortunately,’ Hazel Stanier has commented, ‘this has resulted in unintentionally making Christ appear like a pagan god.’
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This opens up another question – why does such a rift exist between the way ancient cultures envisaged their divinity and our own conceptions of a Christian God? Why are we not allowed to anthropomorphise the deus of the Bible in the same way that the Roman gods were?
Christ, of course, makes this somewhat confusing, given that he is described in the Bible as ‘the Word made flesh’, a physical and very human incarnation of the spiritual being that we call God. Theology tells us that he is fully human and fully divine, and yet the Church have excluded him from many aspects of life that a majority of us see as typifying a human being. Christ has no apparent sexual desires or romantic relationships, and though not exempt from suffering, he does not play any part in sin (which, as the saying goes, is ‘only human’). I think that the enormous controversy caused by films such as The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), which explore the possibility of Jesus having a sex life, is reflective of the possibility that - though in theory the Christian messiah is fully human - we feel significant discomfort at the notion that he may have explored particular aspects of the human experience.
Purists and the prude and liberals rush to opposite sides of the debate. If purists run one way to completely deny Christ had any sexual desires or even inclinations as all humans are want to do, liberals commit the sin of rushing to the other extreme end and presuppose that Jesus did act on sexual impulses simply because it was inevitable of his human nature.
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I think the truth lies somewhere between but what that truth might actually be is simply speculation on my part. It doesn’t detract for me the life and saving mission of redemption that Jesus was on - to suffer and die for our sins as well as the Godhead reconciling itself to sacrificing the Son for Man’s sins and just punishment.  
Of course, it is well-known that the classical gods had no qualms about sexual activity. It is difficult to make retrospective judgements about citizens’ opinions on this but, as it was the norm, we might assume that they felt it was rather a non-issue. I can empathise with some critics who reason that the Christian God is not entitled to sexual expression is because of the traditional Christian idea that sex is inherently sinful – that original sin is passed on seminally and so by having sex we continue to spread darkness and provoke further transgression. It is from this early idea that theological issues such as the need for Mary to have been immaculately conceived (she was not created out of a sexual union, much like her son) have stemmed. But here - the immaculate conception - the critics are profoundly wrong in their theological understanding of why God had to enter the world as Immanuel in this miraculous way.
Some Christian critics - and I would agree with them - assert that the vision of a naked Christ might make a powerful theological point in a world where sex still carries these connotations. They rightly point out that clothing - and I might extend this to mean the covering-up of the sexual parts of our body - was only adopted by humankind after the Fall, the nudity of Christ is making a statement about his unfallen nature as the second Adam. In other words, Christ has no shame, because he is sinless and has no need for shame. Perhaps what Michelangelo intended was actually to disentangle nudity from its sexual, sinful associations, instead presenting us with a pre-lapsarian image of purity taking the form of the classical Bronze Age hero.
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There is another, less theological explanation for the sculptor’s obvious use of the classical form. It reminds us of a time when gods walked the earth alongside us, when they were fully human – us, only immortal. Maybe he wanted to emphasise that fully human aspect of Christ’s being. Questionable as much of their behaviour was, the classical gods were certainly easy to identify with. For Michelangelo, this may have been his own way of embodying John 1:14 in marble: ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us’.
It is here critics may have gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick with The Risen Christ when they point out the odd proportions of the figure: that it has a weighty torso, or the broad hips atop a pair of tapered and rather spindly legs, or even a side or rear view of the figure that show Christ’s buttocks.
For a start, this ungainly rear view was not supposed to be seen. The statue was meant to go in a wall niche, so that the back of the statue was hidden. Michelangelo of course knew this, and shaped the statue so that it would appear well proportioned from the front. If we view the sculpture from the front left, perhaps its best side, then Christ is no longer a thickset figure. Rather, his body merges with the cross in a graceful and harmonious composition.
The turn of Christ’s body and his averted face suggest something like the shunning of physical contact that is central to another post-Resurrection subject, the Noli me tangere (“Touch Me Not”). The turned head is a poignant way of making Christ seem inaccessible even as the reality of his living flesh is manifest.
We are encouraged to look at not Christ’s face, but the instruments of his Passion. Our attention is directed to the cross by the effortless cross-body gesture of the left arm and the entwining movement of the right leg. With his powerful but graceful hands, Christ cradles the cross, and the separated index fingers direct us first to the cross and then heavenward. Christ presents us with the symbols of his Passion – the tangible recollection of his earthly suffering. Behind Christ and barely visible between his legs we see the cloth in which Christ was wrapped when he was in the tomb. He has just shed the earthly shroud; it is in the midst of slipping to earth. In this suspended instant, Christ is completely and properly nude.
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We must imagine how the figure must have appeared in its original setting, within the darkened confines of an elevated niche. Christ steps forth, as though from the tomb and the shadow of death. Foremost are the symbols of the Passion, which Christ will leave behind when he ascends to heaven.
Why was Michelangelo compelled to portray Christ completely naked in a way that was bound to trouble some Christians? It was not out of a desire to blaspheme. On the contrary, this genius – poet, architect and painter as well as the greatest sculptor who has ever lived – was not only a faithful Christian but someone who thought deeply about theology. You can bet he had good religious reasons to depict Christ in full nudity.
But it would be complacent to think there was no tension in showing Christ nude. The fact that The Risen Christ in Santa Maria still has its covering proves how real those tensions are. The fundamental reason Michelangelo could get away with it was that he was Michelangelo. By the time he created this statue, he had the Sistine Chapel ceiling (with all its male nudes) under his belt and was the most famous artist in the world.
For centuries, the faithful have kissed the advanced foot of Christ, for like Mary Magdalene and doubting Thomas, they wish for some sort of physical contact with the Risen Christ. To carve a life-size marble statue of a naked Christ certainly was audacious, but it is also theologically appropriate. Michelangelo’s contemporaries recognised, more easily than modern viewers, that the Risen Christ was a moving and profoundly beautiful sculpture that was true to the sacred story.
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mikkaeus · 4 years ago
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lads I am feeling FRAGILE
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With æ‰§ć­äč‹æ‰‹, WKX is quoting èŻ—ç»Â·é‚¶éŁŽÂ·ć‡»éŒ“ (Book of Songs). The context:
æ­»ç”Ÿć„‘é˜”ïŒŒäžŽć­æˆèŻŽ æ‰§ć­äč‹æ‰‹ïŒŒäžŽć­ć•è€
No matter what happens, I made you a promise: To take your hand in mine, til death do us part [T/N under the cut, though I’d like to add here that in a modern context these lines seem to be ubiquitously taken as romantic. The original meaning is disputed whether it’s lovers or comrades-in-arms. At the end of the linked article, the author quips “some people may say there is an easy way to resolve this conflict...” (ćœ“ç„¶ć•ŠïŒŒæˆ‘çœ‹ćˆ°æœ‰äșșäžșäș†è°ƒć’ŒäșŒè€…ïŒŒèź€äžșâ€œæˆ˜ć‹â€ć°±æ˜Żâ€œæ‹äșș”“恋äșșâ€ć°±æ˜Żâ€œæˆ˜ć‹â€ïŒŒæć‡șäș†â€œćŸșć‹æƒ…â€œçš„èŻŽæł•ïŒŒèż™äžȘ昛

)]
Some thoughts on this, mostly derived from this meta (in Chinese)
1. The second, unsaid half of the line is äžŽć­ć•è€, which is more literally â€œgrow old together”. In the face of ZZS’s mortality, with their time together feeling more measured by the day, WKX must feel that he dare not say these words out loud. YBY is allegedly coming with help, but WKX has already been disappointed once, on that night where it seemed like the sky and the heavens were crying with him as well. No cure is guaranteed - the only thing that is certain is ZZS in front of him now, happy and laughing and telling him that he has a home here. So, instead of alluding to promises neither of them can keep, WKX instead continues with 材看äș‘舒, saying that he’ll enjoy these days as they are, and appreciate the simple joys of life: lying back on the grass to watch the clouds unfold, his lover’s hand in his. (I really like how this parallels the â€œlife is just three meals day” sentiment they toss back and forth throughout the show.)
2. This has to be taken in the context of the whole conversation on names they had. WKX is responding directly to ZZS’ initial toast, quoting how WKX explained his name back to him (ć€©æ¶Żć­€éžż 无æ čèĄŒćźą). This is WKX’s line with the characters for “Zishu” bolded: æ‰§ć­äč‹æ‰‹ïŒŒćçœ‹äș‘舒. I just think it’s neat that while 歐 is literary â€œyou”, it also emphasises that the â€œyou” here is ZZS (unlike Youku with the â€œa” lover stuff*). Also, the second half rly gives the vibe of the Person A, looking at the stars: wow so beautiful / Person B, looking at Person A: yeah. [since it’s sit (材) and watch (看) the clouds unfold (äș‘舒)/Zishu (舒)]
*[More ramblings about Youku’s translation choices & general translation stuff under the cut]
For Youku to add “lover” in there is certainly... a choice. On one hand, the translator went ALL IN with making explicit the romantic connotations of the poem. On the other hand, generalising it to â€œa” lover makes it somewhat nonsensical and gives me vibes of “ah just two bachelors, staring into each other’s eyes across the table because they’re not gay, just waiting for young maidens to come sweep them off their feet”. Edit: I just realised the first time he says it in this scene Youku uses â€œthe” instead, but IMO this is still very impersonal. It feels like he’s parroting a history book. This is the reason I completely missed even the â€œlover” bit the first time around bc i was like right theyre just quoting poetry again lmao
T/N: 1. æ­»ç”Ÿć„‘é˜” is literally “life and death, separated and reunited” (ć„‘é˜”=犻搈). 2. ć•è€ might sound familiar if you kept up with shl concert shenanigans. Heizi laoshi said 焝èŽșä»–ä»Źç™œć€Žć•è€ and then everyone proceeded to collectively lose their minds. 3. I translated as â€œtil death do us part” because â€œgrow old together” just sounds so bland and I wanted to bring in the marriage connotations that ć•è€ has. idk if it’s too much localisation though 😔
Biggest shoutout to Sabina on twitter!! their livetweets (in Korean) are where I initially learn about these things. the lines contain multitudes! tweet abt the scene in question
Some evidence for the solid romance/marriage connotations so yall know im not just pulling stuff out of my ass:
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If you’re still here, I’m going to take advantage of the read more to keep rambling, so
I think this is a GREAT example of how translation is so contextual & dependent on interpretation (especially literary Chinese, which as my friend said, is a whole fuck). If we were going with the ~soldiers~ meaning of the poem, I’d translate it more like
No matter what happens, we swore an oath To go hand in hand, until the end
Although that discards the 老 aspect of it, which I’m not 100% on what the poet was trying to say with that ngl but I guess it could be like â€œwe swore that we WOULD make it out of this battle to grow old together”. Which obviously doesn’t work with â€œuntil the end” because that’s so fatalistic, but brain zero cannot think of nice way to translate surviving
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gottawriteanegoortwo · 4 years ago
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I for one would love to read where Damien spends the day with Wilford and sees the parts of William that Wilford still has but also see the parts that make Wilford wonderful all on his own, I can't to read it and since it was written by you I know it will be awesome.
@mrsdanieljackson

 Well then. It’s certainly very lucky that I started typing something kinda along those lines out while waiting for my laptop to run some calibrations this evening, so it was a surprise to see this ask!
(Click here for William and Dark, if you haven't read that!)
Context: Before Damien was released, I used to write a Dark that had Damien fully conscious and trapped in the back of the mind. The last time I wrote this scenario (which you can find here with a better explanation of the Dark!), it had a scene of confrontation between Damien and Wilford, so this ought to be a little better.
“ you’re shivering. here, take my jacket
 ”
Word count: 986
-
One moment, Damien was in the stilled moment of darkness that was his eternity. The next, Damien was blinking himself into consciousness on the floor of the break room with five men peering down at him.
"We're sorry!!" One of two identical men in sky blue shirts wailed.
"Jim and me didn't know a weather chart would do that..." The other identical man whimpered.
"Would you two be quiet?" The man dressed like a doctor snapped. "The last thing we want is to provoke him."
"Ehhh, it might be too late for that" A man dressed in a neat black suit and glasses shrugged. "I mean, Dark is a not-human something-or-other. Blinking can anger him."
"The Host interjects to remind the others that there are more important matters to be concerned about. Mainly, the sound of someone frantically running down the corridor and entering the room with -"
"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Damien flinched at the outburst. Four of the men stepped back to let the new voice approach, while the doctor began recalling the events. Apparently, Jim and Jim (not at all confusing!) had accidentally summoned a demon in the break room while practising their lines for a weather report. Dark, who had merely stepped in to make coffee, fought the demon and dispersed it before it could escape. Damien was pulled up to a sitting position, but the world spun before his eyes. It was noticed.
"Can y’all, like, fuck off fer ten minutes?" The voice closest to Damien was a saviour that brought the sweet bliss of silence. Once the door closed, Damien finally lifted his head to see his rescuer.
It was Wilford. Damien only recognised him because of the strong love seeping through from Dark. It was the first thing he knew about this new world, but he was almost sure that Wilford looked like William. But
 No. That wouldn’t make sense. The accent wasn’t right. It must be a coincidence.
"Can ya stand, sweetheart? I wanna getcha sittin’ down." Damien nodded and clambered onto his feet with help from Wilford. Once sitting, Damien became the focus of Wilford's fussing. The reporter incessantly checked every part of Damien's body, making sure that there were any other injuries. He waved a finger in front of Damien's face to make sure there wasn't any loss of focus.
"D'ya remember what happened?" Damien shook his head.
"Ya know who I am?" Damien nodded.
"C-can ya talk?" Damien hesitated, then nodded slowly in guilt.
"I -" Oh dear. Damien's voice didn't sound right at all. He didn’t want to cause Wilford more stress by telling him the truth, but opting for silence seemed to be a bad decision. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't worry you like that." Wilford's eyes widened, and Damien was fearful that the other realised this wasn't Dark. Wilford reached out and placed his warm hands on Damien's cheeks. When Damien's body involuntarily trembled in response, Wilford's expression turned more sympathetic.
"Thought so. Yer shivering. Here, take my jacket."
"But you -" Damien was interrupted by Wilford reaching past him and tugging a magenta suit jacket off the back of the chair. Damien swore it wasn't there when he sat down. He thought it better to accept the jacket without doubting his sanity, pulling it closer to him the moment it was put over his shoulders. "Thank you
 I can't shake this chill
"
"Ya get like this when ya use too much of yer spooooky energy." Something that was further emphasised by Wilford dramatically wiggling his fingers with a tone of voice William definitely used before while making a joke. Damien snorted, which spurred Wilford on. "It's true! Ya act all serious and whatnot but ya shiver when ya use too much power. That's why I'm here. I'm yer personal body-warmer."
Damien’s gaze dropped to the jacket. He knew Dark loved Wilford, and he could see it was reciprocated. If this really was William in a new life, he didn’t want to cause distress and possibly strain the relationship with Dark. William was his friend. Even after everything, he’d support William and his happiness. As much as he would like to enjoy the day of freedom, there was something more important to do.
"Then, might it be possible to avail of the body-warming services?"
Wilford's face lit up as he placed his hands on Damien's shoulders. Damien blinked, and found himself sitting on a couch in another room with Wilford beside him. Then, he was snatched up and placed on Wilford's lap.
"I’m glad ya asked I wasn't gonna letcha go back ta work after all this. So get comfy an' build yer strength back." Warm arms wrapped around Damien and kept him close as Wilford relaxed into the couch.
Damien ignored the wave of guilt for avoiding the truth. This was the right choice. If Damien could build up energy by letting the body rest, then Dark could regain control. But as he sat there, he could feel the influence of Dark bubbling to the surface again. Surely Dark wouldn’t mind if Damien indulged in this moment? He never had the opportunity to pursue a romantic relationship while alive, and this may very well be the only time to experience something like this.
For once, Damien decided to be selfish as he cuddled in closer. The action was rewarded with a kiss to the top of his head. Damien knew he never felt so safe before. A brief pang of regret for never confessing his feelings to someone hit him, but he forced it aside as Wilford adjusted his hold and encouraged Damien to rest his head against the reporter's chest.
It wasn't long before the past life dozed off. He knew it would be back to the space he was trapped in after this but
 it would be worth it for a moment of knowing what it was like to have a lover in your life.
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cai-magica · 3 years ago
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So, Magia Record season three amiright lads??
I'm still trying to collect my thoughts, but overall I think it was...fine. I don't think it deserves the amount of hate it's getting, mostly from those that play the mobile game, but I must emphasise that the mobile game has never been available in my country; I've never been able to play it, so I'm missing a vital piece of context to the series. The strong negative response may be totally justified, idk.
I agree that more could've been done to flesh out a lot of the characters (Kuroe was done so dirty and didn't receive anywhere near the development she deserved, Alina just felt annoying, and Yachiyo and Iroha didn't really stand out much to me even though they're meant to be the main protagonists??) And I agree that the ending honestly felt kind of hollow (things just straight up go back to exactly how they were, so many sacrifices made and yet overall nothing changed; magical girls still bear the burdens of their fate, they will fight for their wishes and their principles only to inevitably either die in combat or succumb to despair, and what remains of their life energy will be used by Incubators to offset the entropy of the universe for a bit...all the efforts the protagonists and antagonists made throughout this series kinda just became irrelevant??) Not to mention I'm pretty pissed that they killed off the only disabled character; as an ambulatory wheelchair user just like Nemu, it feels frustrating that the only representative we get is killed off once again.
However, as a stand alone spin-off timeline, I honestly thought it was alright. It introduced a lot of nicely fleshed out characters with interesting storylines (Tsuruno, Sana and the hospital trio stand out to me in particular) and some genuinely interesting concepts; I like that it wasn't just Madoka that attempted to implement mass systemic change, I like that we get to see others before her try (and fail) to develop an alternative to the Incubator's system in order to alleviate the suffering of magical girls everywhere. I loved seeing the cooperation and genuine friendship between Madoka, Sayaka and Homura in season two, it was wonderful to see those three being able to work together and be genuinely hopeful for the future, even if only for a little while. I also really like the aspects of social class they briefly touched on and I wish they'd explored that theme more.
So, overall conclusion, I think the series was fine. I think there are many elements that could've been improved upon, but as a stand alone series I genuinely think it's an alright watch.
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paradife-loft · 5 years ago
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why the nie sect leaders’ inevitable death by qi deviation isn’t (just) about the sabers
(now at AO3!)
So, okay, this is a meta I’ve been working on/wanting to write/dropping hints to various people about now for quite a while! I think it’s significant thematically to some of the main questions MDZS/CQL asks, about cycles of justice and vengeance, the tension between personal agency and aspects of a situation outside one’s control, and good intentions often not being enough on their own, particularly to forestall problems resulting from imperfect or fatally flawed means to an end.
As a fantasy story, I think one of the strengths of MDZS/CQL is how it uses magic to reflect aspects of its thematic questions in certain cases as literal external forces, events that exist in a format outside just a character’s internal journey. The metaphors and proper social and personal orders these characters live by, have very real physical consequences in the world that result from the existence and manipulation of magical/spiritual energies.
And to my view, the part of this that I want to make the case for here, is how this relates to the Nie sect’s cultivation practises, and why I think the clan’s history of leaders succumbing to instability and qi deviation is a more complicated interplay of a few different factors, rather than just an externally-imposed illness whose source is purely their saber spirits.
* * *
Like, okay. The characters and narrative do, in fact, spend a lot of time discussing the Nie sect leaders’ early violent deaths in the context of their sabers’ spirits becoming angry and aggressive and affecting their mental and spiritual stability. So it makes sense to focus on those actual items as the essential reason behind why they qi deviate and end up dying the way they do. But there was something
 logically unsatisfying to me about the idea that just the number of edges on your bladed weapon would make such a difference that sword spirits (also generally used for killing! because they’re also deadly weapons!) are apparently morally neutral but sabers, on the other hand, just Cannot Stop with the killing once they’ve gotten a taste of it.
But if you take an experimental step away from the idea that sabers must somehow be Inherently Different from swords in their response to violence - what possible explanations are left? Or, asked a different way - what makes the Nie sect’s ideological cultivation focus distinct from other sects’? The Lan focus on regulation and self-restraint as the path to goodness; the Jiang focus on self-knowledge and following what you know as right even against difficult odds; the Jin seem to emphasise value in beauty and unique rarity
 and what the Nie seem to place the most value on, is dispensation of justice and abhorring evil, even to an extent that refuses attempts at compromise.
The only problem is, the justice that they (and plenty of others) seem to focus on most often, is justice for capital crimes - paying with a life for a life - and no matter how righteous and justified the motives, what this still ends up with is a spiritual path that spends a comparatively awful lot of time on seeking others’ deaths. And we see, throughout the story, more than one thematic hint that this is maybe not the best method for moving toward harmony or immortality.
Lan Qiren’s impromptu quiz of Wei Wuxian when the latter is fucking off in class. His example problem specifies the resentful spirit was an executioner in life (societally-sanctioned to kill others for heinous crimes), and Wei Wuxian notes that one who’s killed so many is a very likely sort to become a resentful corpse; meanwhile his many victims also remain tethered to cycles of vengeance and anger, able to be easily stirred up into a force of resentful energy that would target him if their corpses were disturbed.
The dialogue between Wei Wuxian and Fang Mengchen in the Burial Mounds after the attempted siege turns into the major sects being saved from a trap. It’s all very fine and good to hold a grudge, to see a lack of justice for a harm that can’t ever be undone or repaired when the one who caused it gets to be alive and well (or even not!), but as Wei Wuxian says - what are you going to do about it? It’s so easy for there to always be a wrong that needs righting (in a real or alleged guilty party’s blood). But will it get you anywhere? Can a person, can a society, mete out justice or vengeance once and have that wipe the slate clean, or will the wound reopen again and demand yet more suffering? Where does it end?
The discussion about the Nie’s ancestral saber halls with Huisang, where Wei Wuxian notes that the method of suppressing the saber spirits edges rather close to demonic cultivation. In literal terms, that question seems to be directed at the actual use of evil individuals’ transforming corpses to contain the sabers’ power. But I think the entire conversation, and Huisang’s need to swear them to secrecy and enlistment as backup if other clans find out and get angry, contains a certain amount of thematic subtext reflecting not just on the saber tomb itself, but the Nie clan’s cultivation as a whole. These are significant and revered family heirlooms, not easily or justly discarded, but maintaining them isn’t without cost, and the spiritual fallout rests on the edge of a knife, needing the perpetual presence of an evil to fight to remain in balance: the saber tomb is both the literal and metaphorical end result of the clan leaders’ cultivation path.
“But why,” you may ask, “if the principles underlying the Nie sect’s whole culture have an edge that’s sharper and more harmful to the user’s qi than other cultivation philosophies of the rest of the sword-using sects, do we only see “death by qi deviation” as an issue for the sect leaders, and not more widespread among a larger portion of the disciples?”
And that’s where the “(just)” part of the title of this post comes in, because that aspect is where the difference comes down to the sabers - or, specifically, the named sabers that have spirits of their own. The spiritual sabers aren’t bloodthirsty and excited to haunt and/or kill people right out of the gate, but rather, as Huisang explains, they become restless after spending their wielder’s lifetime destroying evil. A cultivator and their spiritual tools develop a relationship over time, as their cultivation is practised and refined - they bond, they recognise one another, and crucially, they seem to be able to share a kind of spiritual feedback loop, with the energies and intentions of one connecting to and ideally bolstering the strength of the other. The Nie clan in general seems marked by particularly strong relationships between individual cultivator and weapon, considering the sabers’ refusal to allow a clan leader’s descendants to inherent them, and both the circumstances of Mingjue’s father’s death and his own trauma reaction to that death.
So in this case, the illness and eventual qi deviations the Nie clan leaders suffer, the way the saber spirits come to weigh on their minds and emotions, make sense to me as a confluence of the particularly close bond and almost spiritual symbiosis between wielder and weapon, and the particular subject of emphasis that the clan leader lives by in how they train with and use that weapon. Focusing on justice as killing, as violent destruction of evil (the last resort one should aspire to after other solutions have failed, per Lan Qiren’s lesson), may not be the most spiritually healthy in any circumstance, but it’s only when you have half a lifetime’s worth of a mental feedback loop between you and this external, semi-sentient part of yourself that’s reinforcing the spiritual toll of that path, that you actually end up with a resulting qi deviation and death.
* * *
So, anyway, I do want to be clear having put forth this argument, that my point here is not to condemn the Nies, nor for that matter blame the sect leaders for their own deaths - that’s very much not in line with how the text itself displays flaws and virtues as two sides of the same coin (at times divided only by the context around them), and shows how destructive consequences can result from the best of intentions. For that matter, each major sect has unquestionably valuable basic principles at its heart, and just like microcosms of any culture, society, or group, displays instances of those principles being distorted, misaimed, or taken to extremes in ways that cause disharmony and pain to those in their path.
I think the way it plays out for the Nie clan just interests me in particular because of the way their uniqueness in cultivation method plays such known havoc with its members’ bodies and minds, and the way it straddles the divide between upright and demonic cultivation. MDZS asks, I think, more questions than it offers definitive answers to, and a significant one of those is, even if vengeance, even if death-as-justice is righteous, where do you balance all the harm done to others (up to and including) the justice-seeker in deciding whether to continue down that path of action?
And if it’s the Nie sect’s spiritual focus in combination with the spirits of their sabers that wear down a slow stream of damage to their qi, rather than simply the external threat of the sabers alone - that seems congruent, to me, with the suggestions offered elsewhere in the story.
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