#all while having crude speech and mannerisms

[delightfuldevin]

Literally my favoritest thing is how the fandom goes back and forth between depicting Pearl as more butch or femme!! I’ll see one fanart of her with a buzz cut and a suit, then turn around and find another of her with a fancy ball gown! The fandom cannot decide what she is and I love that for her she is none and both <3

[thethirdromana]

I feel so conflicted about the Wild Men.

On the one hand, it's a fascinating addition that Rohan has this indigenous population ("Wild Men live here before Stone-houses; before Tall Men come up out of Water") who have a knowledge of the land that the Rohirrim cannot match ("Road is forgotten, but not by Wild Men"), and who have been persecuted by the Rohirrim in the past ("leave Wild Men alone in the woods and do not hunt them like beasts any more").

I particularly like some of the small touches here: the tent with Theoden, Eomer's interruptions and general disrespect, Ghân-buri-Ghân's insistence that he won't be talked over or patronised. I find this all genuinely interesting world-building, and most fantasy, including most deliberate Tolkien-imitators, don't really engage with the political consequences of settler colonialism in this way.

On the other hand... well, there are clear undertones of racism here as there were with the "swarthy" people from the shadows in Gondor. It particularly bothers me that Ghân-buri-Ghân has ungrammatical speech and crude manners, while just about everyone else speaks in much the same standard English and seems to share much the same ideas about hospitality and politeness. This makes sense for neighbours, but less so for, say, Ents and hobbits, two species who didn't even know of one another's existence before the events of LOTR.

I do like that this scene happened at all, but I wish it had been done better.

[metaphorical-goblin]

do you ever think about how desperately Miles probably wanted to be a von Karma

We see him in his first case and everything and he is cocky. He’s young and bull-headed, stubborn, yes, but he’s also the SPITTING IMAGE of Manfred. His outfit and his actions, his manner of speech all mirror him so closely, and while I could argue that this is just a result of being taught by MvK, Franziska is not this same carbon copy, so we at least know it’s not something MvK “requires.”

Imagine with me, a young Miles who works so hard to shape and mold himself into this man that he loves and admires so deeply, someone that Manfred can look at and just say… that’s his son. That this lineup of children is his, that his efforts have been worth it, that he has earned his place.

Imagine a Miles that does not win his first case and is told that he will never be a von Karma, not really, and his crude mimicries are just that: cheap tricks that he used to get on the same level. Imagine a Miles that has to strip himself of everything he has learned so he isn’t “cocky.”

Imagine a Miles who has spent all these years scooping all the “Edgeworth” parts out of him because those made him stand out, made him less of a von Karma, carefully tucking away these things that his father taught him so he could be better—

And even after losing all of that, it wasn’t enough

I don’t know, I’m kind of rambling. Miles and Franziska make me so sad

[writing4funzees]

The boy

"Food here....must eat" whispered the mother, her voice coarse but the tone gentle as always.

the boy was aware that the food arrived, he has seen the tray slide through the little slit in the door that separates him for the world, from people, from everything that seems to him a mere dream now.

"Eat...you be big...my boy" the whispers continued.

"yes...I eat, mama" the boy says, and he gets up to retrieve the usual tasteless meal he ate everyday since...what he felt was an eternity.

He has gotten used to it, as long as he can stop the noises in his stomach. Yet, it is obvious that the food lacks the nutrition his growing body needs; he may have grown bigger than his clothes (or what used to be), but his limbs, once soft and plump, now thin and weak.

He took the stale bread and porridge, and with the help of the dim lighting from the barricaded window sitting high up the wall, he traced his steps back to his little bed, or rather, worn out sheets on the ground, where he sat with his back to the wall, right at the center of his drawings.

Those drawings has been his only company. When he was 4 or 5 years old, he woke up one day and found himself in that dark room. A panicking child that was suddenly ripped away from everyone who loved him, his mother, father, older brother, and two sisters. He cried for days, shouted into the little slit that his food comes through, kicked the walls, screamed his lungs out. Nothing, no one came, no one even talked to him and told him to be quiet.

So when he was exhausted of all the kicking and crying, he picked up a piece of charcoal he found in one of the room's corners and started to draw his family members, one by one. His drawings were childish in style, very crude and simple, and were further from the actual features of his family members, or any human being for that matter.

They had big smiles, a few lines coming out of their heads to symbolize hair, their hands looked like forks, their bellies round and big.

Yet they provided him with an escape, a comfort against his feelings of isolation and abandonment. As weeks, months, and years passed, the real faces of his family members faded from his memories, and the faces he drew replaced them instead. One day, they started talking to him, telling him stories and making him laugh. Now, he even feels their embrace as he lays on the ground, tears running down his pale cheeks. They hold him close every night until he can finally fall asleep.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A scream. Bang. Thud.

The boy woke up, startled, his blood shooting up his veins. He has not heard any sounds but his own and his family's for years.

Something is happening on the other side of the door. He can hear footsteps, murmuring in a manner of speech once familiar to him, but which he does not remember much of.

Quiet.

Sometime, a long time, passed. The boy is still standing there - huddled to the wall where he has all his drawings. His eyes focused on the door, unwavering.

Suddenly, he hears a click and the door opens. He can see a little bit of the hallway outside the room, but no one is out there. No one is coming in the room. Nothing happens.

The boy is now quivering, pressing his back harder to the wall. Oh, how much he wants the door to close again. How much he wants this all to end, how much he wants to hide his face in the embrace of mother.

He looks at his family, who all had frowns on their faces, they, too, were terrified. They turn to him with anxious expressions, and the whispers suddenly overwhelm him.

"Close" he hears a raspy voice coming from one of them. "Now!"

The boy closes his eyes. He hears the fast beating of his heart as if it is in his head not his chest. He can barely move.

It took a while until he gathered the courage to crawl towards the door. He approached with caution, and then when he reached the door, he raised his arm a little before hesitating. His breath is shallow, unsteady. Clearing his throat, he put his hand up again, ready to push the door shut.

But this time, he could not, someone suddenly holds his wrist.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello everyone! this is writing4funzees, and I am here to practice some writing, but also I get sudden inspiration for stories and I am like "I wish I can tell someone about this so they can tell me what they think". So here I am. I am happy to hear your thoughts about this story, and maybe I can continue if it is good enough lol! looking forward to hear your thoughts!

P.S. I wrote this on a spur, so the grammar, and delivery may not be the best, it is more of like the concept that I was aiming for. But I would love feedback on anything as well :)

[larathia]

BSD Manga reread, ch’s 1-10

I’ll be kind and not spam and only post after I’ve reread 10 chapters at a go.

And I’ll use cuts, too. Cos this time THERE WILL BE PICTURES.

Chapter One

* My first thought here is ‘wow, Dazai’s manner of speech is different’. I’m...not sure I can quite place how, and it could of course just be a translator thing, but he sounds rather more refined here at the beginning of things than he generally does later. (I’m not saying he speaks crudely, just...he gives much more of an upper class impression here, somehow.)

And he reads. I didn’t notice this the first time around because - it’s a series about literary greats, no? So of course there should be reading? But on a reread, I’m finding myself going “wow, almost nobody is seen reading.”

* There are three things that happen here, that I think are why Dazai chooses to take Atsushi under his (and, collectively, the Agency’s) wing. Firstly, while alone and clearly afraid of everything up to and including literally his own shadow, Atsushi chooses to save the life of a stranger. (He couldn’t KNOW that Dazai would’ve rather have been left alone. Point is - the kid chose to be kind, in a city that - we are repeatedly told and shown - does not have much kindness in it.) Secondly, on saving someone’s life, and being offered a reward, and while obviously starving, he just asks for chazuke. Which we’re told is basically just a dish meant to clean rice out from a bowl. It’s apparently the equivalent of saving a well-to-do person’s life and asking for a PB&J.  So now we have “kind and apparently humble”. And lastly, and this one seems to be the clincher, Atsushi tells Dazai his story in the warehouse and it’s clear that this boy has nothing to live for, and no one who’d be the slightest bit upset by his death...yet he chooses to live. WANTS to live. And even so, choosing to live and wanting to live, he has in no way ...well. Become a beast.

Contrast ALL of this with what we later learn about Dazai’s meeting with Akutagawa. And with what we later learn of Dazai’s own outlook and inclinations. Atsushi is practically Dazai’s diametric opposite...yet there’s no friction here. No competition, no judgment. Atsushi doesn’t even realize that he’s made a very quirky, and rather dangerous, friend. But because he DID, we have ...well, the whole story.

I would be remiss if I did not include probably the single most ignored bit of canon in this entire series.

The number of people who feel the deep-seated need to ignore or deny this one panel is really kind of amazing, when you get down to it. I just thought I’d mention that yes, Dazai being straight is, actually, canon. Chapter one, never actually recanted or disproved in the text canon. It’s important to remember what is canon and what is fanon. It prevents fandom-related insanity.

ANYWHO. MOVING ON.

Chapter 2

Atsushi’s entrance exam. On a reread, what mostly sticks out to me here is what Atsushi learns about Dazai.

Firstly, Atsushi learns that seriously, Dazai’s suicide attempts have completely numbed the Agency to even the idea Dazai might need help:

Secondly, Atsushi learns that Dazai is very much a trickster entity who might be your friend and might look out for your best interests, but has ZERO problem lying and/or putting you through the wringer in order to do so.

He definitely remembers both of these lessons later. It doesn’t hurt that he gets a lot of reminders.

Chapter 3

* Tanizaki is, genuinely, a pretty nice guy on average, and takes a non-mentorly kind of ‘take Atsushi under his wing’ approach. Sort of senior-but-equal.

* Ah, the famous ‘guess Dazai’s former job’ scene. Now, I get why Dazai wasn’t exactly free to admit it (given all the work the government did to cover up his past) but I feel, on reread, that the fandom should admit Kunikida totally had Dazai figured out. And absolutely deserves the financial reward.

Like, seriously. What we later learn is Kunikida was 100 percent right on both counts - Dazai just wasn’t free to admit it.

He promises he ‘won’t lie’. And...very technically, VERY VERY TECHNICALLY, he isn’t? I mean yes, ‘scoundrel’ covers pretty much the entire Mafia, and ‘shipping container’ would in most cases be considered synonymous with ‘homeless’, so I do feel Kunikida is right to claim the pot. But at the same time, “mafia don” is ...rather above and beyond mere ‘scoundrel’ and ‘capable of living in five star hotels but CHOOSING a shipping container’ is not what comes to mind when one says ‘homeless’. There’s a hell of a lot of nuance that lets Dazai’s assertion that he ‘won’t lie’ technically stand, while at the same time allowing Kunikida to be 100 percent right.

But at the base level I’m going to call this as “the only reason Dazai doesn’t admit to his past here is because at the time he probably couldn’t.” This little pot of betting money never comes up again, but I like to think that when Dazai does finally admit his Mafia connections to Kunikida later on, he hands over the pot as well. (Yes, yes, I know. Fanon vs Canon; this is a guess/hope.)

Canonically, what we as readers learn is yes - Dazai will lie. Context is required to understand why and to what degree, but yeah - Dazai will totally lie.

* And we’re introduced to Higuchi and Akutagawa. And Dazai’s tricks (again). This time it’s the headphones, listening to the transmitter he put in Higuchi’s pocket. And the lyrics to his ‘double suicide’ song, which I suppose we have to figure he just made up on the spot to ‘explain’ why he’s wearing headphones, since just saying “I’m listening to our client on the sly” would ...not come off well with Kunikida after that whole ‘drag Dazai into the closet for a beating’ thing.

* Tanizaki really is a pretty decent detective. And his ability is much better in combat than he thinks; it’s really only down to his Light Snow that everyone came out of their first encounter with Akutagawa alive.

Chapter 4

* Wow. Dazai really did come RIGHT over once the fighting started.

* And we learn that sweet, observant, polite Tanizaki has a really hard ‘cross this and die’ line; Fuck Thou Not With His Sister. Accompanied by impressive crazyface.

* This is also Akutagawa and Atsushi’s first fight. Given that Atsushi’s still reeling from a lot of revelations, he did pretty well.

* And now we, the readers, know that Kunikida was right; Dazai was a scoundrel. A professional and high ranking one. Even so, on reread, it’s this panel that sticks out as “whoa”.

Because while we learn in this chapter that Dazai is ex-Mafia, it’s much later that we learn just what his relationship with Akutagawa was. And how very, very much this single mocking sentence would cut Akutagawa.

Dazai gets a lot of information out of Aku here. But all his actual concern is for getting Atsushi, Junichiro, and Naomi back to base.

Chapter 5

Dude, you totally are. And I think it’s Kunikida’s state of “totally rattled” that really pushes Atsushi to think that the only thing he can do to protect the Agency is run away from it.

We’re then introduced to the Black Lizard, which upsells the whole ‘must run away’ idea, We’re given a brief introduction to Tachihara and Gin, which is at least useful to remember for later.  And we realize that Higuchi hasn’t processed that Dazai is ex-Mafia. (Probably fair, since most people don’t seem to survive trying to be ex-Mafia.)

And Atsushi learns that he doesn’t have to ‘protect’ the ADA. They’re totally capable of protecting themselves, Kunikida’s case of nerves notwithstanding.

Chapter 6

Our introduction to Ranpo. (And Atsushi’s.) And all we get at first is the sheer awe that everyone holds Ranpo’s power in. And a hell of a lot of Atsushi’s “so done with you crazy people” face.

This is very much a ‘Dazai mentoring’ chapter; he’s the one advising Atsushi to watch closely, and he’s the one that pushes Atsushi to take action when the bad cop tries to use his gun on the group. (Dazai’s also apparently pleasantly surprised that Atsushi managed to handle that well, taking the officer down without killing or injuring him or anyone else...but yeah, Dazai’s probably still comparing Atsushi to Akutagawa here.) Dazai’s the one to show Atsushi that Ranpo isn’t using a supernatural skill, too, just his head - walking Atsushi through those details he himself can spot, as a kind of training session.

He really isn’t a bad mentor. But he’s very much a trickster mentor - Atsushi just has the weird luck to be mentored by this setting’s equivalent of Loki. He learns! Valuable lessons! Just...not exactly in an orthodox manner.

Chapter 7

I tend to focus on Dazai, because he’s a character you kind of HAVE to figure out from context (given he’s a trickster, and often, a deceiver), so ...bear with me a bit here.

The first note is the face he makes when Kyouka corners him:

We don’t know exactly why he makes this face at the time, because we don’t get a clear view of what ability Kyouka has...but realistically, this has to just be startlement that the Mafia Really Wants To Talk To Him Right Now. Because...Demon Snow cannot hurt Dazai; she’d be dispelled at the first touch. And ...frankly, Kyouka may be a skilled assassin but she’s 14 and very direct and in a straight up fight I’d put money on Dazai. So when Dazai’s accused of ‘letting himself be captured’...yeah, he totally LET himself be captured. There’s evidence enough to support that. (Now, ask me why Akutagawa SENT KYOUKA, when he knows damn well what Dazai’s skillset is, and I find myself thinking “Aku wanted to see if Dazai would kill her for him, didn’t he.” Akutagawa knows Dazai has no real problem murdering people. Dazai’s tried to kill Aku, after all.

And then we’re back at the Agency, and treated to a reminder that really, Atsushi is the only member of the ADA willing to accept even the idea that Dazai might actually be in trouble, or need/want help.

Sadly...Atsushi is also wrong - since Dazai DID let himself be captured, and DOES kinda have that whole situation under control...but the thing is, no one in the ADA really knows that, or even HAS a way to know that; they’re just (mostly) fed up with Dazai’s suicide attempts.

And it’s not that Atsushi necessarily disagrees with everyone’s assessment? He totally accepts that maybe Dazai did try to kill himself (again), or is in control of whatever situation he’s landed in. It’s just that Atsushi also accepts that he doesn’t KNOW that - and that, incidentally, he seems resolved to interfering with Dazai’s suicide attempts regardless - and so he’ll go anyway. Which makes him utterly unique in the entire BSD setting, when you think about it. Everyone else that has ever tried to keep Dazai alive, has done so for selfish reasons. Atsushi...just doesn’t want Dazai to die. He doesn’t have work for Dazai to do, doesn’t seem to need him for anything...he just doesn’t want Dazai to be dead. Which may be the only reason Dazai doesn’t ever get mad at Atsushi about it.

Atsushi also doesn’t have the slightest hint of self preservation. Which we’ve seen twice now; first with the fake bomb, second against Akutagawa, and now here - and Yosano snags him to go shopping.

For...lemons, among other things...

Given what happens later, I find the bag full of lemons just kind of ...on the nose.

Also. Let it be known that I adore and admire Yosano and this right here is absolutely why.

This woman owns my soul and you can’t get it back from her.

Yosano also wins points for being the first to realize that Atsushi’s power is a little more than just “turning into a big white kitty cat”.That Atsushi doesn’t just ‘heal’. Something more is going on.

This chapter does a lot to introduce Yosano and her basic outlook on life. She’s fearless, resolute, ruthless, and has zero patience for perverts and idiots. But she’s kind enough to Atsushi in her own way - willing, I suppose, to accept that he’s not stupid so much as he is ignorant of protocol.

Chapter 8

Still on the train.

We’re now given a proper introduction to Kyouka. Atsushi, here, has his little epiphany - if he can save other people, then he can justify his existence.

And because he has this epiphany - because he’s brought pain and misery to others due to circumstances beyond his control, but does not want to die - he’s able to push Kyouka into wanting to escape the dark too. Although, much like Atsushi’s first attempt was curling around what he thought was a live bomb, Kyouka jumps from the train.

And Yosano, man, I would just put every panel with Yosano on here if I could, because I adore her so very much in this chapter. Just picture me back in the stands, waving a ‘go yosano’ flag and cheering. She’s awesome. I love her.

Chapter 9

We open on a discussion of Kyouka, and Kunikida being...kind of an ass. Again. Because someone has to say the obvious and unpleasant truth, and that tends to be Kunikida’s job. And Atsushi ...probably doesn’t even realize that he takes a page from Dazai’s book here. It’s much easier to get information from someone who’s comfortable and at ease with you, than it is to beat information out of them. Atsushi saw that firsthand, when he was the interrogation subject back in chapter 1. But Atsushi doesn’t have Dazai’s leverage with Kunikida, and has to pick up the tab himself. And once more, Kunikida lays out the obvious, unpleasant truths.

(I feel like at this point someone should be asking, “If Kyouka’s so clearly condemned, and she’s only been with the Mafia a little while, how the fuck was Dazai able to just walk out?” - not that we get the answer to that for a LONG time...)

That isn’t the question that Atsushi asks, though. He asks a question much closer to the heart of his character:

And ...I want to say that I think this is actually a very central question, at the very heart of the series’ conflicts. Not about Dazai specifically, but why does anyone reach out to help anyone when there’s nothing in it for them to do so?

Look - we know, as of current time (all the chapters since this one, and all the LNs and spinoffs and all that) that the reason ‘why Dazai reached out’ was that this was something Oda asked Dazai to do with his dying breath. Look after orphans. Protect the weak. Why was Oda kind? Because Natsume was kind to Oda, and Oda’s paying it forward.

And why did Dazai heed Oda’s request? Because, ultimately, Oda was kind to him. Kind when it not only didn’t get Oda anything, it actually put Oda at risk and ultimately cost Oda his life. One person was kind to Dazai. They made one request, and that pushed Dazai forward.

And then in turn Dazai is kind to Atsushi. When it doesn’t benefit him to do so, and in fact incurs debt at first - hiding Atsushi from the police, getting him a place to stay, etc. It doesn’t benefit Dazai to do any of this, nor does he require any repayment from Atsushi for it.

Natsume was kind to Oda. Oda was kind to Dazai. Dazai is kind to Atsushi. And now Atsushi, in turn, wants to be kind to Kyouka.

So very much of this entire series pivots on a single chain of kindness.

And a hell of a lot of unkindness.

The story slips back to Dazai, chained to a wall, and being particularly chill about it. You can pretty much tell Akutagawa finds this utterly incomprehensible...but then, his power can’t hurt Dazai, and Dazai truly wouldn’t care even if it could. Dazai mocks Akutagawa...a LOT. And we find out now for certain that Dazai wasn’t just ‘ex mafia’. He’s an ex-mafia don, a leader, executive, and Aku’s former mentor.

And he is merciless. He rips right into any and all aspects of Akutagawa that might hurt Aku, anger him, upset him. You can practically see Dazai smashing little chisels into every one of Aku’s (many) braincracks. And then he adds the finisher, which will take all of Aku’s hurt and rage and aim it at Atsushi:

We know, from later chapters, why Dazai does this. He knows of old that Akutagawa is obsessed with proving himself, and that the only way Akutagawa knows of to do that is attack and defeat what he sees as his enemy. Dazai also knows that Atsushi has the potential to get through to Akutagawa - as well as survive Akutagawa’s power. He’s throwing these two at each other because both of them will learn just as much from each other as either ever could from him, and he’s well aware someone is yanking some strings in the background.

(And I’m pretty sure he really, really doesn’t want to have to deal with Chuuya.)

If Double Black isn’t going to handle whatever the new situation is, then a replacement team must be forged. Despite what Dazai tells Akutagawa here, we know from side media (the Mimic affair, specifically) that Dazai actually thinks well of Akutagawa’s powers. He just doesn’t think much of Akutagawa’s ability to learn to use it effectively.

The scene switches back to Atsushi, being kind to Kyouka. Which ends with Akutagawa kidnapping Kyouka and attacking Atsushi.

Kindness and unkindness. In this chapter, Dazai’s ultimately at fault for all of it.

Such a trickster. So very Loki.

Chapter 10

Junichiro is, again, the gentle/kind member after Atsushi. And Kunikida is, again, the one to lay out unpleasant facts, although this time Ranpo’s willing to help. The ADA are not really a team, at this point - they’re a collection of employees. There’s no expectation of anyone going out on a limb for anyone else.

Thankfully, Naomi - and Fukuzawa - aren’t gonna be having with any of that shit. That Fukuzawa - who’s had almost NO interaction with Atsushi - is willing to turn the whole Agency on its ear on Atsushi’s behalf...says a hell of a lot about the man’s integrity and sense of honor. This isn’t just a ‘collection of employees’, to him. They are his people. That’s how his ability works, how it can help them. “His people” may not yet be bonded with each other, but from Fukuzawa’s position, they are all connected to him. Once they are his, he will watch over them. Which gives us this gem:

And again, this is something that hits harder after you’ve read all the manga, and all the side stuff, and you realize what Fukuzawa is delivering here isn’t a counter-argument. It’s a very personal bitchslap, reminding Ranpo that Fukuzawa has stuck his neck out for Ranpo, especially in their early years working together, and that Ranpo denying aid to another because it isn’t “logical” is basically Ranpo saying that he didn’t deserve help either. There’s...seriously no way Ranpo’s even going to try making that argument.

And then we cut to Dazai’s little dungeon. I think it’s important to realize that the entire interaction was something Dazai expected - and staged. Much like his interaction with Akutagawa before, everything Dazai says or does with Chuuya in the room is designed to get a specific reaction out of Chuuya.

This is the truth - these panels just before Chuuya enters.

And this interaction truly is a work of art, because Chuuya may not be on Dazai’s level intelligence-wise, but he’s not actually stupid. He knows what Dazai is like - he just isn’t quick enough to avoid the traps. It’s like knowing a magician isn’t REALLY using magic, just sleight of hand, and maybe even knowing how one or two of the tricks work, but being absolutely fooled by all the others.

You’re not wrong, Chuuya. And frankly, your observations are just as valid for Dazai-now as they are for Dazai-in-the-mafia. But the minute you said “I don’t know what you’re planning”, you should’ve realized you’d already lost. Even Atsushi can pick up on that much.

The chapter ends with a lot of hustle and bustle at the ADA, and ultimately, Ranpo being nudged into giving the ADA directions. The rescue is on.

Next up will be chapters 11-20 :)

[bllsbailey]

9 Things the Left Hates About Trump - a Thorough Debunking

So, recently, I drafted a piece questioning why anyone would vote for Kamala Harris. In the spirit of fair play, I thought I would do something similar for Donald Trump. But let's call this one "Reasons to Hate Trump." (Or "Reasons the Left Hates Trump — and Why They Miss the Mark.") 

1. He's Rude, Crude and Socially Unacceptable.

It's kind of hard to deny this. He is obnoxious, and he is crude. He tells NATO allies to their faces that they aren't writing enough checks and haven't been for some time. He also tells the Washington Press Corps that they are biased, unfair, and a bunch of Democratic Party Throne Sniffers. Anyone who witnessed the last debate is aware that this is true. However, Trump is like McDonald's. You get the same hamburger on the West Coast that you do on the East. No matter where he is, he's always Trump. He is what he is and makes no apologies. You may not like him much, but at least you have to admit that he's authentic, and you know where he stands. If you know where he stands, you have the information to cast an informed vote for him or somebody you like better. You don't have to sift through a mush puddle of political verbiage to pull out what he really thinks.

Contrast that with Hot Sauce Hillary or the KamalaFlipper's phony accent she reserves for black audiences (when neither the Indian nor Jamaican accents will do). These professional politicians tailor their speech and mannerisms to the people they address. They think they are being clever when they do this because they think you're ignorant. And if you're ignorant, they just might collect your vote in one little section of the net that they cast far and wide as they try to be all things to all people.

2. He's a Racist. I don't know if he is a racist. I'm not sure that he is, given his track record of assistance to the black community. He's said some dumb stuff (the New York Times has a list of them here), but I tend to look more at what politicians do rather than what they say because people say a lot of stuff. Donald Trump has bad-mouthed anyone and everyone he believes done him wrong. Black, White, Brown, or Purple. I once had a friend whose father was a shop work boss when TWA had their repair hub in Kansas City. He was known as hard but fair because he would "chew out a white guy as quickly as a black guy." I can respect someone like that.

During his presidency, Trump's economy had knocked black unemployment down from 9.6 percent to less than 7 percent by the time COVID lockdowns began to happen. Real median income grew by 7.9 percent between 2016 and 2019. His First Step Act regarding prison reform had freed thousands of blacks from jail, and he increased federal funding to black colleges and universities by 17 percent (over $100 million in real dollars.) If he is a racist, he's not really presenting as one, as far as I can tell.

And Joe Biden has his own sins, so if you don't like Trump because you think he's a racist then you have to find a way to square up Diaper Joe's unpalatable comments about certain groups as well. If you don't believe that, then you ain't (fill in appropriate adjective here.)

3. He's a Misogynist. As above, he could well be. His "grab'em by the......" comment isn't defensible. But his court case with E. Jean Carroll seems dubious to me because it was a simple matter of he said she said, and had about as much substance to it as the Kavanaugh accusations. However, he does seem to have a practice of hiring qualified people for jobs in his organization, and many of them have been women. A 2015 article in the Washington Post says as much. And while not entirely complimentary to Trump, it does establish the fact that he acknowledges and rewards the abilities and merit of female employees. He says stupid and inartful things about them, but he also says stupid and inartful things about men. So is he a misogynist or just an a-hole?

5. He's Hitler. Hideki Tojo prosecuted Japan's wars against other Asians and Western powers for four years as Prime Minister. He was brutal enough to be tried and convicted as a war criminal and executed in 1948. Benito Mussolini was an absolute dictator who is credited with the founding of Italian facism. He prosecuted wars against Africans in Somalia, Ethiopia and Senegal. He was hated enough to be executed by his own people in 1945. Adolf Hitler prosecuted wars against most of Europe and Russia. His brutality is well known and he's considered The Great Monster of the 20th century. Rumor has it that even Stalin has to give him his daily sponge baths in Hell.

However, what separates Hitler from these others is the intentional massacre of the Jewish population in Europe. The SS, the Final Solution and Auschwitz are his fingerprints on history. He's known for little else. Now if you think Trump is Hitler, your knowledge of history comes from Pokemon cards, cereal boxes and Joy Reid. And you should be ashamed of yourself. Why does the left choose Hitler instead of these other two? Because most people never heard of them but everybody knows about Der Fuhrer. So they repeatedly label Trump Hitler so you associate all things Fascist with him. Which is not only false but evil.  

Progressives in the media and political office (Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Clair McCaskill, CNN, MSNBC, James Clyburn, AOC...et.al.) either call him Hitler outright or compare him to Hitler as a tool of persuasion. And also because they just plain hate his guts and they can't call him a literal piece of crap on TV. Recently Trump said "We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country."  And the media lost its collective mind. Echoes of Hitler they said. The word "vermin" dehumanizes political opponents, they said. Sort of sounds like the words "parasite" or "blob" the Left uses to identify unborn people so they can dehumanize and eliminate them, don't it?

Well, maybe Adolf used similar language but I bet he also said "I need to use the bathroom" too. It doesn't mean that anyone asking for the lavatory or using the word "vermin" to refer to someone else is a Nazi. And for whatever it's worth, I really don't want communists, Marxists, fascists or radical left wing thugs to be anywhere near the levers of power in my country either.

If the Progressives are looking for an appropriate wall to stick the dirty sock of HitlerHate on, they don't need Trump. They'll find it right in their own circle of friends. See Hamas, see the  #Fromtherivertothesea guys. Calling for the extinction of a people and using violence and coercion to enforce it means there is very little daylight between themselves and the Nazi SS. But for some reason, Progs ignore this. And it speaks more to their low character than anything Trump has done.

6. He's a Nazi. (see above.)

7. He's an Existential Threat to Our Democracy. The Left keeps repeating this and has been doing so for quite awhile. It's like one of their academics dropped the word "existential" in a white paper and the next day they all began using it. It sounds so intellectual! So analytical! So....like..Einsteinian!  Maxi ne Waters likes to say this big word, but I'm not sure she could tell you what it means. Anyway, the gist is that Trump is so bad, he will bring down the country because he's just...so...Orange.

Ok, I think this goes beyond hyperbole and maybe they really think he will destroy "our democracy" as we know it. But what is our democracy as we know it? Well, a democracy is rule by simple majority which can lead to the tyranny of the majority as written about by Alexis de Tocqueville in his work "Democracy in America." But, we're not that. We're a constitutional republic. This means that we operate on the principle of representative government. It will be extremely unlikely that one person is going to be able to assume power like some medal-chested strongman in Uganda. Lots of checks and balances to shove out of the way first. However, if you can do something to change the representative part, say import an entirely new population of voters without the consent of the citizenry because you believe they will vote a certain way, well then you kind of have a real live existential threat to the country. 

So if you're going to say that Trump is an existential threat to our democracy, I'm going to raise you and say that Biden, Harris and Mayorkas are far greater threats to our constitutional republic. And l call.

8. He's a Liar. They're all liars to some degree or another. The contest is about whose lies are bigger. Trump might lie about the size of his rallies or that there is a 75 percent chance your child will go missing on the New York subway if travelling alone, but Joe Biden lying about having zero business dealings with The Smartest Man He Knows or Kamala Harris lying about no US troops in harms' way is demonstrably worse.

9. He wants to be a dictator. Trump said he "wanted to be a dictator only on day one." This is analogous to the common statement  "If I were King for a Day" that anybody and everybody has made at some time or another to describe what they would do to fix something in a perfect world. "Day One" is also a reference back to Biden issuing a bunch of executive orders on his first day in office. Presumably, and I think accurately, he meant that he'd undo a lot of those orders. I don't think he meant that he wants to do a Castro. 

On the other hand, if you want to talk optics and dictators, Biden's infamous speech at Independence Hall...with the Red Glow Background...the silhouetted Marines at attention...and the shrieking about MAGA fascists as he looked to the skies with raised fists....at Nacht...sure looked a lot like 

I'm just saying....

Dan Zoernig is a commercial photographer, retoucher, and illustrator in St. Louis, Missouri. Earning a degree in History/Political Science from Rockhurst University, he has been commenting on social and policy matters since the early 2000s.

[basicsofislam]

ISLAM 101: SPIRITUAL LIFE AND PIETY: Part 2

Believers as They Stand Before God

The believer is one who believes and trusts, one with prospects for a secure future who is trustworthy to others. S/he is a monumental figure marked by a special distinction imbued with contrasting colors, one within the other. Throughout their lives, believers bind all their actions to the consideration that God is watching them; they always act in a refined and courteous manner-whether in the presence of God alone or in the company of others-which is enviously admired by all. Their feelings are vast and deep, and they stand with politeness; good conduct, respect, and kindness are their main attributes. Even if their lives are at stake, or they face oppression or slander, they never deign to behave crudely and act only in lawful self-defense.

Believers are exceptional, for they display an elegance and profundity that arises from the awareness of their status as servants of God-they are as kind as much as they are cautious, fully conscious of what they say and do; they avoid frivolity in all matters while maintaining calm and lenience with a generous heart open to all.

Believers have hearts that are rich and spacious—with room and prosperity enough to welcome all, offering bowls of love and embracing others with compassion. They share the blessings of their closeness to God with those with whom their paths cross, and strive to inspire their souls. One can see them at times joyous, even intoxicated with dreams of the day they will encounter the Real; other times, they are anxious in fear of the Divine, shivering in the thrill of such a splendid reunion. They see through the mist and smoke of hatred and revenge; they do not feel the thunder, gusts, and waves of jealousy or slander that hit their soul and disperse, nor are they depressed by palpitations from the misery caused by adverse circumstance.

They are in a lofty Presence, and all incompatibilities are deleted from their imaginations and thoughts-their hearts, spirits, and feelings are purified and clear. Verily, there can be no other condition for those who cleanse themselves of impurities several times a day. There can be no rips in the canvas of their graceful souls as long as their inner spheres have been filled with bliss that descends from beyond; their behavior corresponds to the affluence and wisdom thereof. Their path is well-set, their destination lofty, and none of these are to be bartered for. With a commitment to their faith, they acknowledge the great ones as great, and the smaller ones as a rose to be smelled with compassion. Everything is classified properly in the taxonomy of values.

Believers maintain their distance from plans and projects that are unrelated to their high ideals, confusing thoughts that do not ultimately lead to the Supreme One, profane behavior, or empty words and considerations. They are active in thinking when they are silent; their speech is remembrance and all of their outward and inward faculties are locked onto the One. They are complaisant, as deep and pure as an angel ready to soar. Their motivation is head-spinning but respectful toward the Exalted Station to which they have turned; they are judicious enough not to prioritize their personal plans or projects as high as an ideal. Their eyes observe the horizons; their endeavors are powerful enough to pierce mountains. Believers are men and women of insight, and while they are stimulated by an intense desire to introduce the beautiful patterns of belief to others, they are also aware of the necessary subtlety their works involve.

Believers make their brief lifetimes long enough to build this world and to invest in the next. They do not waste even the smallest of the many innate blessings bestowed upon them; they do not busy themselves with useless things that promise nothing for this world or the world to come. They can give away all that has been bestowed on them for the pleasure of the One while scrupulously making sure a single penny is not wasted. They pay strict attention to righteousness and to what is lawful and what is forbidden. All that they do, they do within the framework of raising the glory of the One’s name, so that all their actions become heavenly waterfalls and rivers. They live cautiously and thoughtfully, searching for possible means to convert one drop into an ocean or claim the sun with an atom. They strive to eternalize transient things.

Believers love for the sake of the One; they breathe love and kindle love all around. They rush to stop tears and agony, they apply antidotes to pain, they transform weeping to laughter, moaning to praise, and storms of fire to breezes of pleasure. They scream to stop the screams of the world and their tears flow like rivers. They develop self-esteem only if it means something to others, thus preferring “us” over “me.” They are not selfish but altruistic; they have not drowned incorporeality, but are soulful and absorbed in the truth that lies beyond. They do not allow their hearts to be hidden in their bodies or their spirits trampled under their corpses. They seek prophetic dignity and protection from sin. Champions of discipline, believers are content with the pleasures and tastes within the lawful domain—they outperform their carnal selves and sensuality, reach the respective horizons of their spirit and overcome each obstacle with one single move, God willing.

Believers are so firmly determined to represent good conduct and prevent mischief and hideousness that they race beside the angels, who say, “All-Glorified You are (in that You are absolutely above having any defect or doing anything meaningless, and Yours are all the attributes of perfection). We have no knowledge save what You have taught us. Surely You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.” Such believers never abuse the blessings that are innately bestowed in contradiction to the purpose of their creation; they are loyal and God honors them with His company in turn.

Existence per se is a trust to every individual, and it is to be equipped with noble human values. Aspiring to Heaven, having the capacity, realizing the method to attain the same, and potentially being able to encounter the beauty of the One-these are each a trust bestowed to human beings in order to set them on the path determined by the Almighty Creator. Committing sins, straying from the path, and leading a life of sensuality are treacherous acts that crush such innate blessings; they delight the devils and embarrass the residents of the Divine Abode.

Believers of mature faith use their initial gifts as a means to attain further blessings of servanthood to God, His proximity, and His good pleasure, as an indication of their true identity. Those with weak or nonexistent faith cannot comprehend the gifts or their meaning, and thus cannot benefit from them in the course of belief, divine knowledge, and love; they will be deprived of secondary and eternal favors.

The latter group not only neglects the afterlife, but its constituents are discontent in this life as well. They must endure many additional problems and their lack of faith leads to depression. They destroy their own peace with hysteria and paranoia and transform this world, which is an aisle to the illuminated realms beyond, into Hell. They cannot truly love others; they hate them and hatred is what they receive in return. They agonize with avarice and lament with longing for what they cannot obtain. They tremble out of fear of death and undergo many tribulations in order to live longer, frequently leading to health problems and mental disorders. White becomes black, good becomes bad, and vice versa. Those who do not think like them are enemies and traitors. Nightmares of betrayal engulf their sleep, causing even more suffering, as the seeds of the Hell in their conscience bring about the experience of the actual Hell in advance.

True believers, on the other hand, ameliorate each favor in abundance, like an ear of grain-producing as many as seven, seventy, or seven-hundred more grains. Each of these favors becomes a staircase ascending to the One, a ramp to attain His good pleasure. Then believers march to their destination together with the inheritors of the Heavens.

[dialovers-translations]

Which DL character do you find the hardest and easiest to translate? One thing I love about the game is the variation of each characters speech manner which reflects their personality. I really enjoyed reading your translation notes about the slangs and figures of speech they used so thank you very much for adding those!

Level 1

・Kanato: Closest to 'textbook Japanese' you will find in DL. Uses proper grammar and very little to no slang.

・Laito: Not quite as polite as Kanato since he uses colloquial expressions (short forms of verbs/etc.) but he also does not use a lot of slang or anything.

・Azusa: Also uses colloquial/short forms of verbs but his sentence are usually very straight-forward and since he talks so slowly, I can basically just translate while he's speaking. :p

Level 2

・Shuu: Shuu doesn't use a lot of slang or anything, but he's lazy even when he talks, so he uses a lot of short sentences where you - as a reader - need to fill in the blanks. This can be tricky for beginner learners who aren't yet accustomed to the context-heavy structure of the Japanese language.

・Ruki: He speaks very clearly and does not use any kind of slang, but he does use more advanced vocabularly and also tends to...ramble, lol. His dialogue can really feel like it just keeps on dragging on forever, which can be very overwhelming for beginners.

・Kino: Generally Kino is quite easy to understand BUT if you are someone who is not very well-versed on video games/video game-related vocabularly, then some of the things he says may leave you puzzled. He likes to talk about everything as if it's a game after all. :p

Level 3

・Kou: Generally Kou is pretty easy to understand but every now and then he'll throw you for a loop and use very specific terms/slang words. (The kind of slang you'd expect from a Japanese teenager)

・Shin: He has a few quirks to his speech pattern and he also likes to use sarcasm/rethorical questions which aren't always easy to grasp when it's not your mother tongue.

・Reiji: Even though Reiji does use keigo (unlike Ruki), I do find him relatively easy to understand because he also talks in a very calm and clear manner. Keigo is usually something taught in textbooks as well so those who learnt Japanese in a class might actually struggle less with Reiji than they do with Ayato & Subaru.

・Ayato: Even though Ayato has a very crude way of speaking, he is also a big dumb dumb so his vocabularly is pretty limited. With this I mean that he uses the same words/structures/phrases over and over so once you learn those, it gets a lot easier to understand him.

・Subaru: Similar to Ayato. Uses a lot of slang and crude language, but he likes to repeat the same phrases too so once you get a grasp of that, you're good to go.

Level 4

・Yuma: I struggled SO MUCH with Yuma's dialogue when I first got into DL. :/ Whenever I had to translate a drama CD and it had Yuma in it, I instantly broke out in a sweat. This guy not only uses a lot of very specific slang, he also tends to mumble a lot and doesn't articulate the best. ^^;;

・Carla: Complete opposite case here. Carla does not use any 'slang', but his speech pattern is a mixture of modern and old/classical Japanese (kobun). Some of the words he uses (e.g. kisama) have changed meaning over time so this can be very confusing to those who are not aware of their original meaning. On top of that, he also uses a lot of very advanced vocabularly. > < It's especially tricky when translating a drama CD because Japanese is filled with homophones so trying to look up words based on sound alone is very difficult.

---

Gonna tag a few fellow (DL) translators below because I'd actually love to hear other opinions on this as well. :D

@kyouxa @raburabusama @tournesolia @knight-queen

[ac3id]

—trade offer. | 18+

-pairings: tomura shigaraki x f.reader x dabi

-about: your boyfriend is losing interest in you, he likes the high of meth better. his dealer seems to have taken an interest in you and he's planning to give shigaraki a huge discount for the price- that he lets him have sex with you.

-warnings: noncon, violence, name-calling, mentions of kidnapping, mentions of substance use. shigaraki being a cuck, both of them are really mean bastards

-word count: 2.2k+ | not edited.

navigation

a/n: hi besties im back with a new proper fic woohoo welcome me back, say it. send me reqs ~3`

Your vision was a little blurry as you woke up feeling like your brain was filled with fog. You tried hard to think in your half-conscious state, recollecting everything and exactly why you were waking up with such a mind-splitting headache.

They came back to you in fragments, you remembered going out with your boyfriend for the first time in months and nothing more than that.

You woke up in a dimly lit room which you recognized to be your boyfriend’s. Along with the general confusion swimming in your brain, two distinct voices chirped louder and louder. One of which was easily your darling man’s, you heard it every day. Sometimes it drove you mad and sometimes you blushed frantically like a schoolgirl over it. The second voice was much deeper and rough, there was no doubt that you had never met this man before.

Slowly, you sit up on the bed, finally catching sight of the two sitting and surrounding you on both sides of the bed.

To the right of you sat the new man, he was thinner than your boyfriend but his much more chiseled and attractive face made up for it. He had dark black hair with his roots sitting in snow white, his eyes were bright blue.

You felt entranced by them not only because of how beautifully the blue glowed; but also because of all the sinister predictions, you could make out of them. Just a quick glance at this man and you knew he was going to hurt you.

“Your bitch is up,” his words are cursed- vulgar and derogatory. His expression matches the manner of his disrespectful speech as he fawns upon you with a crude smirk on his face. He stalks you like a predator, you can slowly see how his hands from his side start falling next to your legs. He has no intention of letting you leave.

Shigaraki turns around, there’s still a second when you can see the shock on his face but it disappears right after.

“Tomura, what the fuck? Who is this guy?” you ask, moving towards your boyfriend, away from the handsome man sitting on your boyfriend’s bed.

“I’m his dealer,” it took you a while to realize but the locked up, heavy smell of weed that filled the room was nearly impossible to miss. You looked up to stare at your boyfriend right in the eyes, his frosty, white hair fell over his face framing his pale skin.

He looked beautiful, he always did. Even with his scars and his chapped lips which sometimes felt like sandpaper when you kissed them, you still found him enthrallingly attractive. But no amount of his ethereal beauty was going to cover up his intoxicated eyes which peered down your own.

He was high. Was he even in his right mind?

“Can you ask him to leave?” you grabbed onto your man’s shoulder, holding his arm tightly while frowning at the man sitting across to you. You were still wearing the black dress which you had worn to your date with Shigaraki, it was a beautiful dress falling till your knees but it was also quite fancy. You wanted to take it off, and your makeup. You just wanted to rest.

“I ain’t leaving sweetheart,” he clapped back, this time he was really getting on your nerves. If Shigaraki wasn’t going to, you would kick him out. He climbed up the bed, crawling closer and closer to you. Confusion and anger got the best of you as you screamed at him

“What are you doing? Can you please leave-”

Shigaraki slapped his palm on your face, shutting you up. His palm rested over your mouth firmly while the other climbed up your neck holding you tight from behind.

“This is why I did not want her to wake up, why didn’t you add the pills to her drinks, Dabi?”

Shigaraki hissed, glaring at Dabi who just chuckled. “I wanted to hear her voice, you know, their screams are what gets me going.” he shamelessly confessed.

Your blood ran cold as it all began to settle in, you didn’t get time to scream, cry or fight because Dabi was already over you. He held your arms above your head with one hand, holding them tightly together while the other ventured to explore your body. His hand felt you up through your dress, softly rubbing on your tits and smoothing over your thighs.

‘Dude, help me out here. Rip this shit off her.” Dabi ran into some trouble trying to rip your dress off,

“Get the scissors,”

“Hurry up!”

“Can’t you wait for a second?”

“The deal is off if I don’t get to enjoy this properly just so you know.”

Their voices faded in the background, all you felt was the frantic beating of your heart and the weight of the man sitting on top of you. Unknowingly you felt tears falling down your face and yourself screaming for help.

“Shut the fuck up!” for the second time that night, Shigaraki slapped you again. This time he grabbed your face, squeezing your cheeks while lifting it up to his face. Your neck arced and hurt, tears falling down even more vigorously now.

“Stupid bitch, just get over it. Stop being a fucking prude. I don’t care too much about you, let him have his way- I pay way too much for his shit and if letting him fuck you gets it to me for half the price, I’m gonna let him do it.”

Unease fell over the room, everyone froze. No one expected Shigaraki to lash out like that- ever. His eyes were wide and an ugly frown covered his face. He looked angry, almost as if he was about to bite. You shook in fear, tears still rolling down the sides of your face but you did not scream anymore. You wanted this to get over with.

Dabi did not waste any time, cutting the black dress off you and throwing it across the room. He let go of your hands, trusting you wouldn’t struggle anymore- even if you did, Shigaraki would take care of it for him.

He left you bare in your bra and panties, stepping back to admire your almost naked body. You noticed a huge bulge forming in his jeans, and from the corner of your eyes, you could see your boyfriend in a similar condition. Your hand rode up and down, trying to cover up your decency but it only rewarded you with a groan of annoyance from your boyfriend.

He grabbed your wrists, pulling them over your head once again leaving you squirming in embarrassment.

“Don’t you get it? Just play along. Get this over with already,” he said.

Dabi chuckled, he leaned over with his hands touching all over your torso before finally resting on your tits. He said your name, dragging out every letter.

“Did you know your boyfriend was this much of a cuck?” Shigaraki growled again. He watched with anger in his eyes as Dabi’s fingers cupped around your chest. Feeling and squeezing you over your bra before ripping it off your body in an animalistic force. It drove out a little cry from you, which he seemed to enjoy. He marveled at the sight of your tits jumping free, licking his lips as if he was about to devour a delicious meal. But he paused.

“Shigaraki,” he started. Your boyfriend turned to him,

“What?” he asked, impatience riding his features much stronger now.

“Can you leave the room?” The request was small and simple. Dabi wanted your boyfriend to leave the room in which he railed you like a beast, it was logical that he did not want your boyfriend to see you in such an intimate position with him. Dabi was speaking from the goodness of his cold, bastard heart.

Shigaraki thought for a minute. Turning to you and back to the monster at the front, he was not proud of what he was doing. He did not even like or respect Dabi enough to let him do this to you, but he did not have a choice. He was addicted to drugs which only Dabi could give to him, there was no other supplier in the town. He did not want to waste all his earnings on it either, the white powder was expensive and he was being met with an amazing offer.

Shigaraki had known for a while that he was no longer a good man, he did bad things, unforgivable things; just like right now. But he also realized that he did not care and yet the thought of letting Dabi fuck you like his own toy irked him.

When the dark-haired man asked him to leave the room, he wanted to punch his stupid smug face but that would be way out of line. His pride was too much, there was no way he was going to leave the room, he was not letting Dabi use what belonged to him.

“Fuck off,” the much bigger man pushed Dabi off you, taking his seat instead. A flame of jealousy burned inside of him.

Familiar hands started groping your body as you felt your boyfriend pinching and pulling at your tits before sliding them down your panties.

“Man, this was not the plan,” Dabi says, his voice is pissed.

“The deal was you get to fuck her- I never specified when or how. Wait for your turn.”

Dabi thought to argue, his mind going back to the day he had reached a glimpse of you on Shigaraki’s phone. He had you as his screensaver, a cute thing to do as a couple but- you were naked with his cum dripping all over your tits and a lewd smile stretched over your face. Not to mention the cheesy cat ears and the bell choker you were wearing to please your man. It was enough to leave him curious and wanting a taste.

Before he could start thinking, your cute moans started to fill in the room.

Sigaraki’s long fingers circled around your tiny clit, pleasuring it all in the right ways, he looked up at you as he sucked on your nipple murmuring about how cute and good you were acting for him. His dick got harder and harder at the sound of your moans, and he grew restless.

At this point he did not care that there was another man in the room with a raging hard-on, Shigaraki was only thinking about reaching his own ecstasy.

He unzipped his pants, letting his cock hit your stomach with a slight slap. It stood tall, pre-cum oozing from its frustrated tip, begging to be buried inside your tight cunt. His fingers came down to move the wet fabric of your panties aside as he shoved his cock inside your cunt, finally catching his relief. He bit down on your nipple, a little too harshly while humping your body like an animal in heat. Dabi was still not fine with this, he wanted to negotiate on letting him use you first but as your moans grew louder and the way your tits bounced with each thrust, he gave up. He chose to stroke his dick while waiting for Shigaraki to finish.

Your boyfriend’s hands left your burning hips as he felt himself come close, his hand crawled up your body before circling around your neck. His cock was still hammering down your tiny cunt, making you squeeze around him for all he’s worth. He could see the way his cockhead made a tiny bulge in your stomach, it just made him hornier.

His grip around your neck tightened and his pace became slower, he was close and he planned to enjoy the sensation while looking down at your strained face.

“You enjoying this? Never knew you were such a pain slut.” your pussy clenched harder at his insult making him scoff. With a loud cry, you creamed around him, squeezing him leaving him completely off guard. He came right around you, spurting thick, hot ropes of cum deep inside of you, filling you up completely with his essence.

“Open your mouth, whore,” he said with his hands leaving your neck. You still feel his semi-hard cock nuzzling inside of you, the feeling was foreign. You open your mouth under his command, keeping wide and steady for him. He pulls out of you, his cock dripping with his cum mixed with your juices. He leans over, his eyes staring down a scandalous aura engulfing them. The smirk he sends you is hard to not notice as he spits in your mouth before shoving his cock down your throat.

“Clean it up, babe,” he says with false affection.

Besides you Dabi watches everything, his eyes fixed on the way your messed up cunt drips with cum. He wants to fill you up next

Climbing up the bed he did not wait for Shigaraki’s approval before he shoved his cock into your ruined pussy, inciting a loud moan from you.

Shigaraki didn’t stop him from ruining you even more. After all, this was a one-time trade offer he couldn’t miss out on.

[maoam]

I mentioned earlier Kishimoto using body language used in Japanese theatre, so I gathered some pictures to show what I mean.

I have to mention Naruto's master Jiraiya, whose design, antics and speech are all based on Kabuki. Jiraiya's rough, broad and bombastic way of speech and body language is a style used in kabuki for masculine, heroic characters. These type of characters take a lot of space and use flamboyant and exaggerated, even aggressive body language.

I have seen a claim that Naruto is the "opposite of traditionally masculine" because he's flamboyant while Sasuke is traditionally masculine. Sorry but that's not what Kishimoto was going for:

He draws Naruto in a similar manner to Jiraiya whenever he wants to bring “Kabuki” into Naruto’s character. Notice the crude facial expressions, the face paint and the same, reoccuring hand move.

Jiraiya and Naruto’s sage mode “makeup” is also a nod to the exaggerated face paint used by these hero characters in Kabuki plays. Which is why it makes perfect sense Naruto is wearing the intimidating “hero makeup” when arriving as a hero to save everyone.

So what about Sasuke? Sasuke's look is more soft, fluid and not exaggerated (including facial expressions). I don’t bother with too many individual pictures so that this doesn’t become too long but Kishimoto spends time portraying Sasuke as poised and graceful in comparison to Naruto’s brash and exaggerated appearance.

Here as well you can see Naruto’s body language being the same type of brash and exaggerated, taking a lot of space, while Sasuke is calm and beautiful and expressionless. . Sasuke is the yin to Naruto’s yang.

But nowhere is Kishimoto’s intention more evident than in this illustration he drew in 2018.  Here they are complete opposites. Sasuke’s stance is graceful and closed, his back is straighter and his shoulders are down. Naruto’s is more assertive and open (arrogant). Sasuke is delicate looking, feminine (has some makeup), his build is slightly smaller than Naruto’s (look at the wrists). Sasuke uses the back of his hand to hold back the sleeve, unlike Naruto. Sasuke’s face is smaller and more slender than Naruto’s while Naruto’s features are squarer and not polished. Even the patterns and colors of the kimonos follow. Sasuke’s blue and white symbolise calmness and passivity, Naruto’s colors and patterns symbolise aggression and war (notice the lighting and thunder clouds). The sheer attention to detail!

I don’t think this illustration is much talked in western spaces (?) but in jpn fandom this was definitely noticed and there was some talk about Sasuke’s “feminine aura” when this was released, and that Kishimoto always draws him so beautiful. The contrast between the two of them is interesting, and in my honest opinion ignoring Sasuke’s traditional beauty and grace, as well as Naruto’s brashness, is missing a part of their characters and their relationship.

[shihalyfie]

i'm not sure if you've answered this in the past but this is a bit of a goofy thing, which adventure/02 characters do you think would swear

This is actually a more difficult question than you'd think because of the fact "swearing" works somewhat differently in Japanese than it does in English. By a certain point of view, some of the characters already swear quite a bit:

The words "kuso" (roughly equivalent to the English "shit") and chikushou (around the line of "damn it") are "crude words you use to curse when frustrated at something or someone", but unlike their English equivalents, they're not considered taboo to use in kids' media, so characters like Taichi and Daisuke actually use them quite a lot. They're the kinds of words that children using might be mildly scolded for if they use it in public in front of adults or in polite situations, and adults will use them as their usual swear words as well, but they're more "crude" than "taboo". There are other words that toe similar lines of being used in these contexts but not necessarily being full-on taboo; "shimatta" can mean anything from "oops!" to "damn it!" depending on context, and "kono yarou" can be anything from "how dare you" to "you bastard". All of these are already used quite copiously in Digimon. (There are words that are taboo enough that they come off as extremely offensive, but even adults don't use those very much.)

Because Japanese has a lot of strict regulations in terms of speech politeness levels to the point it's baked into the grammar, and because fiction especially has a much larger variety of speech patterns than is actually used in real life (using most of the speech patterns found in fiction would be likely to get you pinned as "talking like an anime character"), it's possible to get a similar effect as swearing just by messing around with the politeness levels and speech styles. Takeru suddenly dropping a few levels down in 02 episode 19 isn't "swearing" by any stretch of the imagination, but the slap to the face it causes for anyone used to his usual speech style and manner of carrying himself certainly has a similar vibe to if he'd just broken out a swear word. Another example of something like this is when Jou tries to break up the argument between Taichi and Yamato in Adventure episode 7, and once he completely loses his composure he uses the aggressive first-person pronoun "ore" instead of his usual "boku", and while it's not as strong as the Takeru example and maybe wouldn't be as far as equivalent to swearing, it accomplishes a similar effect of the shock value of someone slipping into saying something more drastically aggressive when frustrated.

So I suppose the question here would be whether the kids would swear if they were speaking English. I think the fact several fan translators have already resorted to using things like "hell" and "damn" at times (mainly because they know people looking at Digimon fan-translated content are likely adults, and English "censored swears" tend to sound really cheesy and out of place) kind of proves that they would at least do that, especially characters like Taichi, Yamato, and Daisuke who use the aforementioned not-swears quite often. I also wouldn't put it past Sora and Miyako; Japanese gendered language unfortunately prevents them from using the above words, but their general demeanor, willingness to drop honorifics depending on context, and use of anta suggest they'd be willing to speak a bit more roughly in English. Characters like Koushirou, Mimi, Hikari, and Iori are an obvious no, although Koushirou and Iori might slip into it if sufficiently frustrated (I can't see Mimi doing it even if she's upset enough, she's too consciously "princess-like" for it, and Hikari just doesn't seem to have it in her nature). Jou actually speaks quite casually despite his rule-bound nature, so he's an edge case, but I imagine he wouldn’t be immune to it. Takeru is the type to only ever slip into it when he's really mad (like in 02 episode 19). Ken's speech pattern is between Takeru's and Daisuke's in terms of aggressiveness, so he'd use it often when against enemies he dislikes, but not copiously in casual conversation.

Now, if you happen to be thinking about the English language's infamous F-bomb, this is really in the range of personal headcanon now, but my personal biggest candidates for this are Ken, Daisuke, Taichi, and Yamato. I imagine Ken would only bring it out rarely when really bringing out the spite against someone who's done something disgusting to deserve it, or when really, truly upset. (Sora and Miyako might also be in this territory, and Takeru in the “extremely upset to the point of losing emotional composure” style as well, but I’m not quite as sure about them.) Daisuke and Taichi would bring it out uncommonly when something's caught them sufficiently off-guard, basically being the type who don't intend to overuse it casually, but still keep it on hand for when they need that extra impact. (In the case of Daisuke, this is especially because he's the one most often portrayed as good at English, and we also know he begins his business in the US.) Now Yamato, on the other hand, is definitely the crude-mouthed emotional fuse bomb who’d break the word out without much restraint -- and while I imagine all four of them wouldn't start using it until they reach a certain age, Yamato definitely feels like he'd be the one to start doing it earliest.

[ssweetleaf]

she — g.w

pairing — ginny weasley x fem!reader

includes — sexual content, dom/sub dynamics, brat tamer ginny, thigh riding, degradation

a/n: this was a little rushed, i’m sure you can tell, but i hope you enjoy. :)

—

It was a heavenly sight — with y/n’s heat pressed firmly against the taut thigh underneath her, rocking her hips back and forth, trying so desperately to keep her rhythm steady.

Ginny was coaxing y/n’s movements with little pushes of her palms, every once in a while circling her puffy clit with a calloused thumb — lips quirking to a smirk whenever the poor girl would buck and falter.

“Such a desperate little bunny, aren’t you, poppet?” Ginny cooed, tapping the pad of her finger mockingly against the girl’s chin. “Humping my thigh like that- not a thought in that little head of yours, hm?”

Y/n was clawing at the hands that held her, fingers wrapping tightly around Ginny’s wrists, whining so pathetically when the fabric of those jeans dragged against her puffy folds — the washed denim soon adorning a darkened patch of arousal.

“Touch me.”

Y/n’s speech was slurred, drawn out by a long whine and her lips turned down into a pout — trying so hard to sway her dominant.

Ginny smiled, one that was so assertive and sinister.

“With an attitude like that? I don’t fucking think so, little girl.”

She was quick to snap, eyes swarming with instensity, hooded and glimmering with superiority. Y/n was completely and utterly under her control. So, Ginny squeezed her throat, fingers and a single thumb pressing so delectably against her neck and y/n squirmed from under the pressure. Their lips were inches apart, smoking eachother’s breaths and the submissive’s inhale faltered and hitched inside her throat.

“Brats like you have to earn their right to cum by doing the work themselves.” she breathed, sponging a kiss to the side of her mouth - still smirking.

“It must be hard for you, right, baby? Doing so much work?” Ginny continued her mockery. “My little pillow princess always gets what she wants, hm? It’d do you good to learn some manners and realise I spoil you rotten.”

Soon, they were kissing — mouths open and connected by strings of spit, so intoxicating and it had y/n’s eyes rolling to the back of her skull.

Y/n was sobbing once she pulled away, her eyes glimmering with tears and her pussy glistened with each push of her hips. Her folds were sliding crudely, the image so obscene and she wondered how Ginny could get her so wet.

“But it hurts.”

She was already on thin ice, though her ungrateful demeanour continued and she whined at the burning of her thighs — all from the constant humping against that damn thigh.

“Another peep from you and I’ll have you over my lap— then I’ll show you what really hurts, fuckin’ whore.”

Ginny smirked once again in the triumph of getting y/n to shut her mouth, and all that was heard was her laboured breaths and the scratchy fabric between her thighs.

Though, the quiet didn’t last long.

“I’d like to see you try.”

—

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[nerdwhoauthorinserts]

More soulmate nonsense, haha.

Soulmate mechanics:

After your 18th birthday (Or equivalent), your soulmate’s voice becomes your inner voice, your inner monologue. (Not just accent and general voice sound, but how they would say something, the slang they use, etc.)

Trigger warnings: Extremely brief mention of a bad homelife/abusive home, mentions of drug lords and drugs, lots of swearing.

It was a fairly difficult thing for Loki to get used to. They expected many things, but this particular speech pattern wasn’t one of them.

One moment, they were using slang, crude language, and swears as casually as one’s own name. The next, flowery language and poetic descriptions, easily equatable to something Loki might find in a poetry book in Asgard’s palace library. It was difficult to discern when and where the change in tone would take place, but it was always without warning.

‘A beautiful star-filled sky, as if fireflies danced in the endless expanse beyond. So wondrous, it makes the mind curious as to how many unexplored worlds and interesting cultures could be out there. If only there were time to dedicate to such a venture.' Flowery language like that, which could then, for seemingly no reason at all, turn into: ‘That fucking horizon is beautiful, holy shit, my guy!’

As crude as it was, sometimes Loki couldn’t help but snicker at how the voice would translate their thoughts. Sometimes it’d say the most ridiculous and out of nowhere things from the simplest ideas. ‘She’s parading around like she’s Aphrodite. But... come on, with that shade of green, plus the orange? She looks like vomited up baby food.’ “*Snort*” “Are you alright, brother?” “*Throat clear* Yes, I’m fine...”

They had to admit, some of the slang they used became fairly endearing after a while. ‘Ya’ll’, ‘Honey/Hun’, ‘Dude’, etc. At one point, Loki even caught themself nearly using one of those in a conversation. Thankfully, though, they caught it before they said it out loud. ”As much as I’d love to join you du- uh, *ahem* my friend-” ‘Jeezus crispy! You almost embarrassed the fuck out of yourself!’

In the end, despite how annoying the crude manner was at first, Loki grew used to it, and eventually, some of the little verbal quirks became endearing.

‘Your soulmate must be a fuckin’ weirdo if they talk like this. Just imagine how awkward it’ll be for Odin and Frigga to meet them, woof. ...But regardless, ‘weird’ is something you’re considered too, are you not? So maybe that isn’t so bad.’

Meanwhile:

Blake found the inner monologue in his mind very comforting. ‘I wonder what kind of person could be behind such a lovely voice?’ He put a lot of thought behind that, especially after he realized how prim and old-fashioned they spoke.

Reading poetry, or any book, really, was something he enjoyed greatly, even before his soulmate’s voice arrived in his mind. But, that inner voice only made it better. 

Blake actually kind of liked how it would hiss in such an aggressive tone when he got angry, as well. It almost made him feel like he wasn’t alone. ‘Fools, barbaric fools! How they could possibly say they ‘love you’ when they so readily harm you only the all-father knows. They don’t deserve you, not at all.’ ‘Hearing’ things like that always made him feel a bit better about the abusive home he was born into.

Blake assumed that his soulmate must’ve been a massive mythology buff like he was, or perhaps was even a Norse pagan, considering how often he seemed to reference Norse myth in his casual speech. *Lighting strikes a few feet away from him* “By Heimdall’s eyes! That almost hit you!”

Sometimes he’d even entertain sillier ideas, especially after news about Steve Rogers returning. ‘Perhaps my soulmate is one of those ‘men out of time’ as well?’ or even, ‘Maybe my soulmate is even a god? That could explain why they always make reference to them.’ But, Blake knew the odds of having such an unnatural match were slim. It was far more likely that he was just an average Joe who enjoyed mythology. 

Hell, with how his life has been going, Blake was surprised that he even had a soulmate. ‘Why would someone like you ever be chosen by anyone, much less a god?’ It was thoughts like that which hurt him to ‘hear’. Though, in the back of his mind, he knew they weren’t really saying it. It was just simple intrusive thoughts. ...But it felt like so much more coming from that voice.

But later...

‘These mortals are nothing. Not but bugs to be crushed under your heel. Show them and your beloved ‘father’ what you’re capable of!’  “An ant has no quarrel with a boot.” “Are you planning to step on us?” ‘Fool doesn’t even realize the fire he’s playing with. What a fucking moron.’ His thoughts manipulated by the mindstone, those thoughts translated through that voice. Loki probably should’ve realized something was wrong when he heard so little of that slang and casual attitude they were so used to. But there was just enough of that crude language and simple manner at times to keep their guard lowered. Not to mention, the mindstone itself keeping him from realizing what it was doing.

‘That man was an innocent person caught in the crossfire. If it weren’t for you and that drug lord, he’d still be alive.’  “I can’t just sit by when someone ended up killed because of me.” “It wasn’t your fault, it was his. Right now, you need to stay low, or he'll target you again!” ‘He doesn’t understand. Of course he wouldn’t, how could he? You have power now, avenge that innocent stranger and stop him before he harms anyone else.’ That voice behind his motivation only strengthened his resolve. He would put that man, ‘Cortez’, behind bars for killing that innocent truck driver, and for trying to kill him. Of course, that only left the task of finding him.

Loki was imprisoned within the helicarrier, while Blake was discovered by Nick Fury after taking down a rogue group called ‘the drug lords’. (Barely managing it, but doing so nonetheless.) ‘That mindstone was a joke. Let’s hope that you never see it again. ...Though the staff was very snazzy.’ Nick offered Blake, aka Copycat, (And his cat, Austin.) a place in SHIELD, possibly even as an Avenger! Of course, Copycat went with him right away. ‘Finally, someone recognizes you for your clear talents.’

But then, something weird happened. Blake heard from Thor about his brother, and out of curiosity, went to see them for himself.  “So, you’re the famous Loki, then?” That voice immediately made Loki jump. He turned, to see him standing on the other side of the glass. “Gotta admit, that outift... nice.” Normally, Loki would’ve responded with a simple chuckle and some comment about flattery, but that voice gave them pause. ‘Holy shit. No way, that can’t be him, can it?!’ “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. ...Jee, I’m not that scary, am I?” ‘Oh god, that’s definitely him. SHIT, why did this have to happen now?!.’

‘Are they alright...?’ “It’s you, you’re my destined, aren’t you?” Copycat’s eyes instantly widened when he heard that voice. ‘Is he your destined? No, they couldn’t be...could they?’ The fact that that word ‘destined’ came up in both sentences made Blake’s breath hitch. Loki immediately stood from the chair at the back of their cell, they walked up to the glass, neither breaking eye contact.

“Oh my god-” ‘Oh my god-’ ‘It’s them.’     “It’s you.” It was almost like they finished each other’s thoughts.

[amateur-deductions]

Baselines

So getting back on track with some original deduction posts, let's start with an introduction to baselines, what they are, why they're important, and how to make and use them

/W H A T I S A B A S E L I N E

As deductionists we are able to tell when people lie to us, figure out the context of conversations we're not able to hear, work out relationships between people just by looking at them, and even predict the future actions of people days or weeks in advance, and one of the most powerful tools we have to do this, and more, are Baselines

A baseline is simply the outline of patterns in behavior and thinking an individual displays while in a specific mood, or to be exact, while experiencing a specific emotion. Baselines are something we notice unconsciously all the time, whenever we notice someone is angry, or upset, or happy, that's us reading this person's behavior and knowing what emotion it associates to. On the other hand whenever we have a feeling that someone's acting weird or not being themselves, that's us noticing a change in their behavior, and not being able to recognise what feeling the behavior displayed is related to. Being able to consciously draft out a baseline for a person allows us to utilize it to deduce this person, past the conclusions we would naturally reach if we just rely on our unconscious recognition of these behaviours

/ I M P O R T A N C E

While idle, or in a neutral mood, an individual will speak, behave, and think in a specific manner, the key to make a useful baseline is to take in these ways of speaking, thinking, and behaving, and consciously associating them to the mood the person is in. For example, let's say when a person is feeling happy or excited they tend to bounce their leg up and down, the pitch of their voice goes up slightly, and they shift to a speech pattern that includes a lot more stuttering. Taking conscious note of these behaviours will allow you to recognise these feelings without needing to talk to the person in the future.

Of course this seems like something you won't have much use for in deduction, but let's scale it down a bit, let's say when this person gets angry they tend to use the word "like" more in sentences, starting them with this word and slipping it in the middle of sentences more often. Or let's say when they get mad they tend to cover their mouth with their hand, very lightly and almost unnoticeably, almost while supporting their head with their hand. These are very subtle, slight details that are connected to an individual's state of mind, and they themselves might not notice them, which means they essentially serve as lie detectors for whenever this individual tries to hide their emotions. Not only that but the more information you can gather about the patterns in behavior of an individual in a certain mood, the more you'll be able to navigate information about them, going as far as predicting their actions hours or even days in advance by knowing how they will react to certain situations and what extremely specific actions they'll take.

/ H O W T O M A K E O N E

Baselines can be created for every emotion an individual has (preferably the 7 main emotions at least), allowing you to recognize when this person is feeling these emotions and adjust your deductions to fit the baseline of their current state of mind. Very crudely speaking, you're essentially creating an instruction manual to how someone behaves when feeling any emotion, down to the most trivial and minute of details

An ideal baseline includes everything an individual does all the way from posture and minor twitches in their body to words and expressions used, and slight changes in the pitch of their voice. Some examples of what you should add to a baseline include (but are not limited to) the following:

Patterns in gesiculation and facial expressions

Common remarks in conversation

Common words and expressions used

Usual pass times and hobbies

Length of sentences and reponses

Feelings towards themselves

Feelings towards others

Tendency to lie

Links and to relatives and friends' personality types

Insecurities

Common reactions to topics they feel strongly about (reactions to topics they feel anxious about, or that trigger fear responses, or topics that make the person excited or happy)

Etc.

/ H O W T O U S E T H E M

Once you have a decent baseline on a person, once you've established how they think and behave in relation to what they're feeling, and you can identify these behaviors and connect them to the current emotion, you can start paying attention to deviation from baselines. A deviation from a baselines is anything you might observe that doesn't fit a baseline for the current state of mind of an individual. A deviation is nothing more than the person switching between feelings and emotions, essentially jumping back and forth between two or more baselines. If you take into account the information you've collected on an individual and their baselines it'll allow you to notice subtle changes in mood, which will help you almost literally see a slow transition between moods as they're happening, and act accordingly. Not only that, but when faced with a gradual change in mood you'll be able to notice it and therefore to predict how this person will feel and act in the near future

As i mentioned in the beginning of this post, everyone establishes baselines unconsciously, the difference between a deliberate one and a naturally derived one is the detail put into it that allows for a conscious practical use. But the fact that everyone establishes these unconsciously will allow you to shift your own baseline consciously to bring out reactions you may desire in other people

That's it for this post! if anyone has any questions or comments about this or any other deduction topic be sure to send and ask and i'll answer it here. More posts are coming soon so stay tuned for those, until then, Happy Observing!

- DV

[iamthenightcolormeblack]

Impressions of Bride and Prejudice (2004)

I finally watched this movie as it is currently free on YouTube! It's a really interesting "modern-day" adaptation (specifically a Bollywood musical) of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice which takes place in Amritsar, India, London, England and California, USA instead of the English countryside. It stars Aishwarya Rai as Elizabeth Bennet (now Lalita Bakshi) and Martin Henderson as Mr. Darcy (William Darcy).

Names:

Bakshis = Bennets

Jaya Bakshi = Jane Bennet

Lalita Bakshi = Elizabeth Bennet

Maya Bakshi = Mary Bennet

Lakhi Bakshi = Lydia Bennet (Kitty isn't included here)

Kholi Saab = Mr. Collins

Balraj = Bingley

Chandra Lamba = Charlotte Lucas

Kiran = Caroline Bingley

Darcy's mother (Catherine Darcy) = Lady Catherine de Bourgh

The Casting:

Aishwarya Rai as Lalita Bakshi. She's captivating and beautiful as Lalita, with intelligence and wits to match. The film understands why Elizabeth Bennet is one of literature's greatest heroines: she has a lot of self-respect, speaks her mind, and refuses to compromise on her values. What's most important is that she achieves the balance between the two clashing cultures: she cares about her family and respects Indian traditions yet is also a strong individual who keeps her dignity.

Martin Henderson as William Darcy. I don't like that Darcy is an American in this movie because (in general) Americans are usually less reserved than British people, so it takes away a key part of Darcy's character (his repressed emotions). He's much more sympathetic than book Darcy because he seems to be more open-minded towards Indian culture the more he learns about it (unlike book Darcy, who is stubborn and insists that his "good opinion once lost is lost forever"). In the book, Darcy's pride has several characteristics (belief in the correctness of his opinions, belief in his social superiority, bad treatment of others he thinks is beneath him). I don't like how the film simplified his pride into imperialism/ethnocentrism, which he lets go of pretty quickly. Plus his "rudeness" can easily be perceived as discomfort in a new cultural environment because he hasn't been exposed to Indian culture, whereas in the book it seems to be intentional (and Darcy acknowledges to Elizabeth that he was taught to treat others beyond his own social circle meanly). Overall I had rather too much sympathy for him because he's too easy to read; he's experiencing a lot of culture shocks which he isn't prepared for, and his imperialistic beliefs (which come from his mother) don't help. One of the reasons book Darcy is interesting is because he's mysterious; his emotions remain hidden and the only sign of his growing love for Elizabeth is his staring at her. This Darcy is just a typical white American boy who is in love with a woman far superior to him in terms of intellect and cultural awareness.

Nitin Ganatra as Kohli Saab. Mr. Collins is one of my favorite cringe characters ever and never fails to disappoint. In this movie, he's an accountant who lives in the Beverly Hills area in Southern California and is very arrogant because he thinks he's a big shot living close to celebrities in a one-of-a-kind colonial home (when in actuality he lives in a cookie-cutter house in a suburb). He peppers his speech with Western slang to show off how "American" (and thus wealthy) he is, yet still clings to outmoded beliefs that women should be submissive housewives. He represents the very worst of Western culture in that he's materialistic and looks down on Indian culture as beneath him. In his quest for riches he has lost his Indian identity and become greedy.

Notable Scenes:

The first dance. Balraj is happy to have fun and show off his awesome dancing skills. Darcy, meanwhile, observes that the mothers are eyeing Balraj for the marriage market and is worried that his friend may be trapped by gold-diggers. He's clearly uncomfortable and out of his element here, so Kiran helps translate the songs for him. It's interesting seeing Kiran as a translator here because it would explain why she's one of the few people Darcy hangs out with; she's a cultural intermediary here to help him acclimate to a strange new environment.

Darcy snubs Lalita. This part in the book where Darcy insults Elizabeth by proclaiming her "tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me" is significant in forming Elizabeth's hatred of Darcy. Not only is he impolite in refusing to dance with Elizabeth, he also shames her by criticizing her looks. In the movie, Darcy excuses himself from dancing with Lalita by saying that he's busy preparing for a conference (in this version, he's a rich businessman who operates luxury hotels). I wish they had kept the original insult in because without it, Lalita's dislike of Darcy has less merit. While it was impolite of him to not dance, he did use a proper excuse and didn't insult Lalita, so unlike in the book, it doesn't make sense why she would hate him so intensely after that one meeting.

A Marriage Has Come to Town song. In this song-and-dance number, Lalita and Jaya are preparing for the wedding to Balraj. The whole town is excited for the wedding and Lalita wonders if life for a woman is all about getting married to be a mere wife: "It seems they had nothing in their lives before today / and why are they so happy to give a daughter away."

Darcy and Lalita conversation #1: Lalita points out most Amritsar residents can't afford to stay at Darcy's luxury hotels; Darcy says standards are necessary, justifying the high price. Darcy says he finds arranged marriages strange and "backwards," hinting at an affinity with Lalita as they are both "romantics." Lalita, still thinking that Darcy is attempting to insult Indian culture, says that arranged marriages have evolved and may not be so evil as he thinks it is.

Lalita and Darcy "accomplished woman" scene. So they have the part from the book where they have Darcy's unrealistic list of the characteristics of his perfect woman and then it becomes a culture clash. Lalita says Darcy's whole hotel business is imperialism (the tourists visit without appreciating Indian culture and the jobs created only benefit the well-off). Darcy replies: "But I'm not British" ("American exceptionalism" is just another form of imperialism).

Dinner with Kohli Saab. I love watching all the "Dinner with Mr. Collins" scenes from all Pride and Prejudice adaptations because it reveals Collins' great arrogance in assuming himself to be of greater importance than he is, as well as his bad manners. This movie does not disappoint; Kohli Saab literally eats with his fingers, shoving rice into his mouth while talking at the same time. Meanwhile, he spews out misogynistic views of women, stating that he came to India to find a "traditional" wife who will serve and obey him; after all, there is "no life without wife." He notes that the Indian-American girls have "a conceited sort of independence" (not what he actually said in the movie, this is a quote from the book which really fits here) and that some of the Indian-American girls "have turned into the lesbian." Lalita later recalls that watching Kohli Saab eat is like observing "a Jackson Pollock painting."

"No Life Without Wife" song. An accurate reading of Kholi Saab: he's "crude and loud" and came to find a wife by flashing his "green card, new house, and big cash." The song reveals what a hypocrite he is; he's lonely and pathetic because there is "no life without wife" yet he won't respect his wife as his equal. I love the "Kohliwood" fantasy sequence where Lalita pictures herself unhappily serving Kohli as a submissive wife. After the song ends Lalita imagines herself marrying Wickham in the English countryside before it turns out Darcy is the groom; she runs away from him.

The Cobra dance. Maya shows off her dancing skills in an awkward dance. Kholi criticizes Indians for being "unsophisticated" (what an arrogant person) while Darcy, in a change of heart, praises how highly they value family.

Kholi's proposal. I love how he tries to train himself to power walk because it's trendy and before proposing stretches himself clumsily, knocking over a pot (he definitely isn't husband material). Lalita mocks Kholi's obsession with physical health, pointing out that many people are physically healthy but don't exercise their minds.

Visiting Kiran. Kiran is arrogant and takes the Bakshis over to her fancy apartment where the mother tries and fails to show some cultural knowledge. I find it interesting that the movie made Lalita and Kiran foils of each other. They are both intelligent women who are "multicultural" in that they can navigate both Indian and Western culture, but they use their cultural knowledge in different ways. Kiran uses it to belittle others and demonstrate her own superiority, while Lalita uses it as a means of gaining respect for herself and others.

Darcy ends up on the same airplane flight as Lalita. This is a cute scene where he gives the first class seat to Mrs. Bakshi just so he can sit with Lalita in economy class (he's totally in love with her!).

Kohli Saab's epic house tour. Love how he pays great attention to the jet tubs and the closets.

Meeting Darcy's mom. She's totally ethnocentric and possibly racist. The first thing she asks Lalita is "tell me about India" and she expresses her disappointment at Darcy's decision (because of Lalita, it's so obvious he's in love) not to buy the hotel in India because "everybody has their hand on India these days" (brings to mind spheres of influence/colonialism since the mother sees India as a place to make a profit). Then the mother reveals that she really isn't interested in India and only knows about its stereotypes: "well, with yoga, and spices, and...wonderful Eastern things here there's no point in traveling there anymore." Meanwhile Lalita retorts that "people haven't stopped going to Italy because Pizza Hut's around the corner."

The first proposal. Darcy's conflicted feelings for Lalita are effectively summed up (perhaps better than in the book, where he begins well but ends with a long account of the inferiority of Elizabeth's connections): "he loves her in spite of the fact that he tried to forget about her, he still wants to marry her in spite of the fact that his family (specifically his mom) will disapprove." Unfortunately, the emphasis on the social inferiority of Lalita's family is left out; Darcy doesn't say anything else until Lalita claims that he thinks her family is inferior and blames him for separating Jaya and Balraj. I don't like this because it seems like the separation of Jaya and Balraj was the only reason Elizabeth rejected Darcy. Also Elizabeth's admission that she did try to overlook her prejudice of Darcy doesn't make sense, because only after the first proposal does she do so.

Plot Changes. The major plot points are all included but the "order of events" has changed:

Lalita and Darcy become friends and she meets his family before his disastrous first proposal. There's a montage where they are traveling alone together, visiting the Grand Canyon and sharing a moment on the beach. I don't like this change because Darcy's separating Jane and Bingley wasn't the only reason Elizabeth rejected him, it was because she hated him (arrogant, proud, doesn't treat others nicely). By showing early on that Darcy is a good person, Lalita's prejudice against Darcy makes less sense because she now has a glimpse of Darcy's true character which in the book doesn't happen until the Pemberley visit.

Their early friendship disrupts Darcy's character journey because it reduces the significance of the first proposal to his character development. In the book, he doesn't start to reform himself until Elizabeth tells him that he needs to behave in a "more gentleman-like manner."

The first proposal is the consequence of all the miscommunication and false perceptions affecting Elizabeth and Darcy, and it motivates both characters to change. Elizabeth rightly scolds Darcy for being inconsiderate; he did the proposal for the selfish reason of purging his feelings so that he wouldn't have to suffer anymore and assumed that she would say yes. Elizabeth rejects him because of his rude manners and lack of consideration, and his defensiveness (where he portrays himself as the victim of feelings and implies he's such a good boy for wanting to marry her in spite of her horrid family) doesn't help. After realizing the extent to which Elizabeth hates him, Darcy writes The Letter to set things right, and Elizabeth realizes that she is not the best judge of character. Thus, giving us a fuller picture of Darcy's character and letting him charm Lalita before the first proposal reduces the significance of the event to the plot and character development.

Wickham and Lakhi have a connection early on, making Lakhi's attempted elopement inevitable. Right after the failed first proposal, Lakhi runs off with Wickham and Lalita and Darcy find out about it at the same time that Darcy comes to apologize and tell Lalita that Wickham is bad. I love that Wickham was punished really badly; after Darcy fights him, he gets slapped twice, once by Lalita and the second time by Lakhi. Even better is that Lakhi doesn't end up with Wickham.

Themes

The film uses the culture clash between India (Eastern) and Western cultures to examine what makes a good marriage.

Indian culture as presented by the film is more collectivist ("we" over "I"). It also promotes traditional gender roles, with women expected to be "meek and submissive" wives. In contrast, Western culture in the film is more individualistic and aspirational (careers and love are possible). But at its worst it condones exploitation of others for profit and cultural intolerance.

In the book, there are different kinds of "culture clashes:" traditional nobility versus new money (the Bingleys made their fortune in trade and Caroline is hoping to be an accomplished woman to make up for this), country versus city (Darcy offending Mrs. Bennet by claiming that the society is "confined and unvarying") and arranged versus romantic marriages.

The misunderstandings that propel the story (Darcy's dismissing of Elizabeth as "tolerable," him falling in love with her even though she still hates him, her belief in the legitimacy of "first impressions") are emphasized through the culture clash. Many of the conflicts in the film are a result of cultural stereotypes and conflicting beliefs.

Interestingly the film doesn't resolve the question it raises of how best to appreciate India and its culture. Lalita raises a lot of points about not oversimplifying Indian culture to a few stereotypes, but one could argue that India as represented by the film might be stereotypical. With the exception of the resort scenes and Goa beaches (which are tourist traps according to the film), the scenes in India heavily emphasize the "developing country" aspects of India with lots of pastoral scenes (cows crossing the road unharmed, farmland, dirt, shacks, dirty motorcycles fighting each other in traffic). Plus the "culture" as represented by the film's dance sequences seems to be the dominant Hindu culture with lots of elephants and saris and curry. Yes, I know this film is a romantic comedy, but the assertion that India is a complex, diverse country is contradicted by what we are presented. Presenting the rustic aspects of India would explain why the characters want to get out of India and go to the richer Western nations, but it harms the premise of the story that we shouldn't judge based on first impressions because the India scenes seem to confirm a Westerner's stereotypes of India (exotic people living in a primitive land).

Changing views on marriage: In the film, as in the book, we are presented with traditional and modern views on what makes a good marriage. Mr. Collins' marriage represents the traditional view in which marriage is a practical "economic proposition," much like a business deal where the marriage is made for the securing of material wealth and happiness comes last. Lady Catherine and other members of the aristocracy view marriage as a means of producing heirs (and bringing large amounts of money through dowries) to keep the property (source of power and wealth) in the family. The modern view of marriage is a partnership of equals who love and respect each other; happiness rather than material wealth/power is the priority. It threatens the power of the traditional nobles as it provides the potential for social climbing. Finally, it becomes another part of the culture clash, as it also ties in with the Western value of individualism, putting it at odds with the more collectivist Indian culture as presented by the film.

Elizabeth and Darcy in the book and in the film are united by their belief in a marriage based on love (the modern view). In the film, Darcy says he wants to look forward to starting each day with his wife, while Lalita says she wants a man who is a romantic and respects her for her mind. For instance, Elizabeth states that "only the deepest love will induce me into matrimony" and that Jane and Bingley should have some time to get to know each other before being rushed into marriage. To Elizabeth, mutual love and respect are essential for a marriage to succeed.

As for book Darcy, when Caroline catches him admiring Elizabeth and asks if he will marry her right away, he jokingly rebuffs her for making that assumption: "A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment. I knew you would be wishing me joy." Significantly, he mentions love needing to come before marriage, hinting that he shares the same belief about respect (admiration) and love being necessary for a good marriage. In fact, a big reason he separated Jane from Bingley was because he feared that Jane did not love Bingley in return. In short, love in marriage is just as important to Darcy as it is to Elizabeth.

Conclusion:

Bride and Prejudice, as shown by the title, focuses heavily on the theme of marriage and uses the culture clash between India and the West to emphasize the importance of first impressions in our treatment of others.

Even if you aren't into Pride and Prejudice, the movie is worth watching for the Bollywood dance sequences. I also liked the songs because they effectively developed the marriage theme.

The characters are mostly true to the book, except for Darcy, who isn't proud enough and is quick to reform his character.

Last but not least, the real villains of the story were imperialism and ethnocentrism.

Tags: @thatvermilionflycatcher @appleinducedsleep @princesssarisa

[sokkagatekeeper]

what do you mean when you say that zuko is a pessimistic idealist and sokka is a pessimistic realist? i love your analyses and i’d love to hear more of your thoughts on that!!! (also love how you say sokka and zuko are perfect for each other because they’re both grumps lol)

i do not remember saying that however it does sound like something i would say lmao. i think what i (would) mean with the statement “zuko is a pessimistic idealist” is that he grew up... idk if unappreciated is the exact word, but in the militaristic hypermasculine society that valued traits that he did not have in comparison to azula, zuko was always at a disadvantage and he had to run for it, sometimes make rash decisions as they were the better/only decisions he could make at all in order to be appreciated and most times it did not pay off which resulted in the entire mess that is zuko’s personality. for all of this, zuko has a tendency to see the worst part of the situation he’s in (coming to mind atm ‘it blew up in my face — like everything always does!’ ‘this city is a prison’ more or less?), so in other words he’s grumpy and kinda sour as hell, all the time.

but at the same time, zuko has a certain... idea of the world, a kind and caring heart, a strong sense of justice, an overall vision for a world that’s good. when zuko comes to understand the fire nation is actually actively pushing back this vision, and he practically immediately turns away from its ideals and pursues a philosophy and a group that actually fit his ideas of what’s better for the world. zuko spent three years at sea looking for a myth, in hopes that finding it would finally put an end to his suffering, making him and katara the only people in the world who truly believed the avatar was still out there. zuko is always expecting everything to blow up in his face like it often did throughout his childhood, and he sees the worst part of the situation before anything else but he always pushes back to make it better, or to what he believes would be making it better.

my favorite example of this is during the blue spirit after zuko finds out zhao got the avatar before him, and he gives iroh a speech about how all hope is lost for him and he will never ever have love honor or happiness ever again, and about five hours later he’s behind a theatre mask with two swords against the world rescuing the avatar just so he can capture this avatar himself in the future, while also letting him go afterwards because it’s not honorable to take him in the easy manner he could take him at that precise moment(???) and that was just nuts. therefore pessimistic idealist.

on the other hand there’s sokka.

sokka is a pessimist through and through, a serial complainer, a paranoid neurotic strategist. sokka grew up in disadvantage to the rest of the world and overshadowed by a his little sister — not because katara was a bender and sokka was not, but because katara was the last bender they had left. i’ve talked about this before but basically it’s no wonder katara is a solid optimistic idealist with all the hope and faith and determination in the world while sokka is a pessimistic realist and pragmatic depressed cynical bastard. presumably his village but also sokka put himself at disadvantage. it is safe to assume sokka sacrificed his own uhh. hope? naivetè? innocence? for katara to keep hers and in order to protect her better — after all katara is the last southern waterbender, their collective hero, and you can’t have a hero with no hope, you can’t have a dead hero. and also sokka is an eldest sibling, it’s instinctual.

now don’t get me wrong, sokka has a huge heart full of love and devotion and wonder. he is an inventor, an artist, a scientist. sokka is filled with ideas, but he is always waiting for the lowest blow, he is always waiting for a disaster to happen (and with a good reason!). sokka believes optimists are liars, he thinks destiny and fate is more or less bullshit, he has a pragmatic and careful approach to almost every situation he’s presented with and even though he has a clear sense of morality, he is willing to make certain sacrifices as are the demands of war – where zuko is willing to save zhao without hesitation, who tried to kill him multiple times and whom he had been fighting not one minute ago, for example.

sokka wants the world to be a better place, and at the same time he has little trouble turning away from people who aren’t in any immediate danger even if they are suffering because he has more pressing matters at hand (the painted lady), he obviously would want the avatar to come back and save them, but aang being a complete stranger signaling to a fire nation ship is most definitely a valid justification for sokka to banish him (the boy in the iceberg/the avatar returns i don't remember lol). among many many many other situations in which sokka is technically right, even if it doesn’t fit other characters’ idealistic views or it doesn’t make for a good story, sokka is the realist they all need in order to survive.

also i admit ‘perfect for each other’ can be kind of a stretch and i believe that it being because they’re both grumpy is kinda reductive since that can also be the basis of mai and zuko’s relationship and we all know what i think of those two aksjaks (this is NOT mai slander. # mai deserves better 2k21). however i do think sokka and zuko fit together because they have different types of emotional constipation and they actively push each other to be more balanced in order to reach to the other. sokka wants to believe deep down, and the fact that he is in a story even if he doesn’t really believe it plays its cards sometimes which translates into the universe’s obsession with sokka, and zuko is destiny fan #1 so he can give sokka an overemotional speech once in a while that sokka will ruthlessly dismiss and dismantle verbally but that at the same time will warm his heart and help him loosen up on his scheduled cerebral to a default existence on the long-run; zuko needs grounding once in a while which he usually got from iroh or at the very least iroh made an attempt to get through him, and sokka is intellectually crude enough to give zuko a reality check while making himself understood and because of their shared wavelength he can do this without crushing all of zuko’s hopes and dreams in the process.

they are also two eldest siblings one with depression the other filled with rage and they are the only real ‘pessimists’ in the gaang, so while yes, zuko will take action to solve problems he will also complain about it forever more and he can do that with sokka. together they can yell at god, complain about jocks, complain about prescriptivists, bond over their very niche taste in art that nobody ever understands, and absolutely tear apart everything that doesn’t fit their competence standard (it’s a very high fucking standard, those are two grumpy neurodivergent people) among many other grump-activities that seem to make them miserable but that actually serve both of them to validate their annoyed kind of love for the world and it makes both of them really happy :)