#also op this is not anything against you!!!

[sevikas-biceps]

Just to add on to this. Someone might've mentioned it in the tags, but I wanted to put my take on this thought.

[TLDR: me agreeing with OP and then explaining something vaguely Marxist lmao]

Do note that the power imbalance is also there. Yes, the two of them have their own views regarding the situation [Vi being accustomed to the reality of things, Caitlyn having to be shocked into experiencing it firsthand (and even then not the whole scope of this systemic issue)]—but their subjective experiences don't change the fact that, from a complete bird's eye view, the conflict of power exists.

We see this multiple times in the show. We see this already laid out for us, in several instances, in Season 1.

In what mad world will I trust someone like you? // Someone like me? You enforcers are all the same: just asshole criminals in fancy uniforms. We're here because I'm hungry. Do you know what prison food is like? No. Of course, you don't. Well, that place does look like it has bodies buried in the basement. // You don't know anything. You know what your problem is? // Please, tell me. // You expect everyone to give you what you want. What is this place? // It's where the kind of people you Topsiders don't wanna think about wind up. I know you have your reservations about me. This only works if we can learn to trust each other. // It doesn't work. It never has. You Topsiders always find a way to screw us. // I suppose Topside is to blame for all your misfortunes. // ...not all of them. // We aren't monsters, you know. We're people. Just like you. // You don't know anything about me. She makes...potions. Helps people here with...with...this. // ...shimmer. Why would you take something that does that to you? // I just...wanted to feel what it was like...to be somebody. To make other people afraid. Let's go. I think Vi would be happy to see a friendly face. // No! You...you go on ahead. She...she knew me when I was still...anyway, I don't want her to see me like this. Just tell her I'm sorry...about everything, okay? You used to live here...who's Powder? // My sister. I thought she died, but, now...I have to try and find her. // How do you know if your sister is alive or dead? // It's hard to check up on people from inside a concrete cell. // What, you don't have parents? // No! They were killed by enforcers. I knew it was a mistake trusting you! // You've been a real picnic yourself. Vi tells me I can trust you. You get a pass back Topside—that's it. ...it's beautiful. // If your people had your way, it'd be rubble and ash. // It's a misunderstanding. They think you work for Silco. // Your people hunt us! Like animals! Silco pays them to do it! // That's not possible. You're wrong. // Say that one more time. Ekko! She believes what she's saying, okay? We could beat Silco with this. // That won't solve things. // Easy for you to say! Your people aren't dying all around you! // Ekko...it's wrong what's been done to you. You'd be well within your rights to keep it. I couldn't blame you. But, if you do, the cycle of violence will never stop. This is our best shot at setting the record straight. This city needs healing—more than I ever realised.

[Whew. I actually had to rewatch several episodes just to get the dialogue IFBJKFBF]

Now, back to the topic at hand.

Let's start with the obvious. Whether explicit or implicit, all of these lines trace back to the systemic oppression being done by Piltover against the Undercity.

Vi was wary of Caitlyn in the beginning because she's an enforcer, and enforcers were the people who'd killed her parents. And it's not just that, either. Vi knew about Grayson and Vander's deal. She has witnessed both Piltie and Trencher working together to keep peace between the two cities. Yes, she'd been angry about it (reasonably so), but even then, she realised why such a thing needed to be done. She was even ready to sacrifice herself just to spare her siblings the inevitability of being the scapegoat. This implies that Vi knew there was at least a good soul out there, a sympathiser—who might yet grant her some kindness on the upside.

But then that sympathy got that very same person killed. And here, we finally know for true that good people don't survive the games of life. You don't get as far as you do in your existence without committing violence. The same also holds true for Vander: her father, who'd shifted his morals and priorities to protect his children; her father, who'd also sacrificed himself in the name of their family.

What does that show her? Being good gets you killed. Being good isn't enough.

Huck demonstrates this incredibly well. I just wanted to feel what it was like to be somebody. To make other people afraid. Prior to his reappearance in Ep6, we don't know anything about him save for the fact that he'd made deals of his own in the Undercity—but this is enough to tell us that he, like almost everyone else, is involved in some kind of illegal business. What does that say? Being good doesn't support your life. You have to tamp down the purest parts of you to be able to survive and thrive. If you're not somebody, if you're nobody, then you're worthless. You die. You're nothing. And everything you do is forgotten.

Even those in Piltover knew this. Caitlyn is a glaring example, what with the drastic shift in morals in Season 2; Cassandra is another good model (see this post of mine); Jayce had to adapt to the demands of high society, seeing and acknowledging the points made in Mel's little lessons on politics; Viktor once had to lie low in the Academy, and use subterfuge to achieve even just a fraction of his own potentials and ambitions; the list goes on.

Being good just doesn't cut it. Ekko implies this best: Vi tells me I can trust you. He's mistrustful of Caitlyn not just because she's a Topsider, not just because she's (still and admittedly) largely ignorant of the harsher realities of their cities—but because she'd've been raised on the very same ideals others she knew have also exhibited. What else does Caitlyn know but the life she lived in Piltover? What she knows as 'right' or 'wrong' is vastly different from what someone like an Undercity child would perceive as 'right' or 'wrong'—and being 'good' isn't enough, because the scales of measuring such a thing were already horridly skewed to start.

So, how does this support the idea that there's a pattern of abuse in Vi and Caitlyn's relationship?

The abuse itself starts on the political level. And this is so, because this was the basis of their relationship in the beginning. No strings attached. Get me out of this cell, and I'll give you the clues to your investigation. Lead me to this criminal, and I'll help you find your sister. I'll forget you're an enforcer for a while. I'll pretend you're not a convict yourself. We can work together. Somehow. The nature of their births had already dictated how they were to behold one another in this relationship. It will always hold a shadow over their heads. Even with the deterrent of romance mixed in, this dichotomy will persist.

OP mentions this:

Cait is Vi's only access to safety and food, she's isolated, she has to constantly prove her loyalty to Cait and renounce any ounce of lingering feelings she has towards the only family she has left, she's left in constant state of anxiety because of it.

There will always be a side to Caitlyn that would never understand how life was like for Vi, or for Ekko, or for Huck, or for Jinx, or for everyone else in the Undercity. That's not an accusation. It's just a statement of truth. Even despite the fact that Caitlyn had tried to set things right (evidenced by her efforts to convince Ekko to return the hexcrystal, and later on her talk with Cassandra to speak in favour of their case at the Council meeting), none of that matters because she herself undoes all that she worked for. All that Vi had tried making her see was for nothing.

That's where it becomes abusive. That's where their relationship, past the political layer, gets cruel on a personal level. Caitlyn, even if she didn't mean to do so and even if she doesn't realise it, had taken advantage of Vi.

You Topsiders always find a way to screw us.

Many others have said this in recent posts: it's Us versus Them.

Over the course of the first act of Season 2, we constantly see Vi in Piltover or surrounded by Piltovian individuals; which makes sense narrative-wise, but on a symbolic level also represents her isolation from all that she knew and had been built by (as a person) in her past. There's also an element of grooming present—in the same way Silco had groomed Powder into becoming Jinx. Caitlyn had slowly worn away at Vi (you can argue this as their relationship being developed, but still) and, for better or for worse (worse), trapped her into a situation where her choices leaned only in one direction and one direction only (Piltover or Zaun?).

Caitlyn abuses her power in this relationship. Whether Caitlyn herself realises this or not, whether Vi realises this or not, is irrelevant—what matters is that such a thing had happened at all. Being good fails. You can't have your cake and eat it. Caitlyn has to make the choice: her mother (Piltover), or her lover (Zaun)? Similarly, Vi does the same: her people (Zaun), or her lover (Piltover)?

You can't be good, one way or the other. It's just not enough, anymore. You have to breach something here, you have to commit an evil somewhere there—because being good gets you nowhere. Not when you're at this point of your life. Being good won't help you catch Jinx, being good won't stop the terrorist attacks from happening, being good won't bring your mother back. But being good would just make your people hate you, being good would make you a conspirator to the crimes against them, being good wouldn't sate your lover's need for vengeance.

That's where Vi and Caitlyn's relationship becomes toxic.

That's where the abuse sets in.

not to be the friend who's too woke but I genuinely feel that the only reason the fandom has such a visceral reaction to people calling Vi and Cait's situation domestic violence is because Vi is butch. yes, DV is more than just physical harm, it involves repeating patterns of abuse, all of which can be found in their relationship. Cait is Vi's only access to safety and food, she's isolated, she has to constantly prove her loyalty to Cait and renounce any ounce of lingering feelings she has towards the only family she has left, she's left in constant state of anxiety because of it.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

https://x.com/theroyalgrift/status/1856837721270227342?s=46&t=lvH-EVmMs1idCksDLC3Akg

I saw this on X as a rumour, but I can’t imagine this pair being entrusted with military secrets…I also think that Hasno is on a diplomatic/RF type visa and can’t/ won’t be prosecuted for anything while Charles is on the throne. What do you make of it RTA?

It's a really wild and wacky theory and I wouldn't give it any credit.

A couple of reasons.

First, Harry doesn't have a US security clearance so what he knows about the US military operationally is very, very little. He has the same knowledge that the rest of us do who watch the news or who knows people that served, whether actual friends or military people on social media. Harry (and Meghan) don't know anything that could do any damage to military ops. What Harry does know is British Army operations and security circa 2008 - 2014 when he was enlisted, which makes his knowledge dangerous for the UK. Not the US.

Second, look at the language in the actual post. It's incredibly vague:

"a little secret I have been hinting at, leaving breadcrumbs for over a year." (you've been moving the goalposts for people to guess what your secret is?)

"it was criminal prosecution." (what is criminal prosecution? criminal prosecution for what?)

"Will Harry's crimes mean Meghan gets away with it." (what crimes has Harry committed? What is Meghan getting away with?)

"it restricts the type of activity and money that he and [Meghan] have been engaged in." (what activities and what monies are you alleging they're involved with?)

"notice the right wing arrests on the same crimes have been foreign nationals." (what crimes? what foreign nationals?)

"they have also been working with an enemy in breech of the current restrictions." (what enemy? what restrictions?)

"politically this is red meat to the red wave" (WHAT IS "THIS"?)

It tells you juuuuuuuuuuuust enough for the author to take credit no matter what happens. That's why they haven't named specific crimes, specific concerns, specific people. Because they don't actually know and they're just hedging their bets.

What the guy is hinting at is that the Sussexes are in league with the Russians, but he won't say that. He won't say that because he likes everyone hanging onto his word because he's convinced them that he's in the know and that he has insider info.

But here's what you may not know. The public list of people, companies, and countries that the U.S. has sanctions against (aka "enemies in breech of the current restrictions") has almost 800 names on it. (I specify public here because there's probably a classified version too.) And this guy is saying that out of 800 names the US has sanctions against, he knows exactly which one the Sussexes are working with? Then why hasn't he turned that evidence over to the FBI or to NATO? Why hasn't he given it to The Heritage Foundation? Or to a goverment watchdog? Or to the press? Or to Anonymous? If it's really as damaging and bad as he claims it to be, then why is he keeping it a little secret and dropping breadcrumbs for social media clout instead of blowing the freaking whistle and plugging a very big, very bad leak?

But that's just my opinion. Anyone else can feel differently if they like.

[skitskatdacat63]

One makes him up, so the other can break him down.

This is a little terrifying but hello!! Posted my first fic on ao3!! I would've saved the illustrations for the fic's eyes only, but I'm too happy with them haha. Hope you'll still go on to read regardless!!

As always, my thoughts and progress, since I can't help myself:

I'm soooooo proud of these. I never ever really do dramatic lighting, so I'm really surprised that I pulled it off.

It's surreal actually posting this because for a while, I've thought about how if I ever post a fic, I'll have to make illustrations too because I can't do anything not full force. Look at me now! I'm shocked. Also didn't think I'd finish it tonight, but here it sits before you nevertheless(though as always, I'm writing this past my bedtime before class, time efficient as always.) So with that being said, here are some notes, though if I had known I'd be writing this so soon, I would've prepared more lol.

First of all, I hope it's clear both of these are Mark's perception. Gah, the fact that his face is the only one you can see clearly. The first is obviously him unwillingly fantasizing about what exactly went down last night.

Aghhhhh the difference in colors and settings of the two drawings is so important to me. The warmth and intimacy of the bed behind curtains in the first one, and the coldness and openess of the second. It's so clear Mark feels like he's been distanced, like he's been ousted. It's like he's been thrown outside on a cold winter's day, no longer able to feel the heat from the comfortable warm stove inside.

Mark was probably assigned to Seb bcs he has a much greater appreciation for the Spanish etiquette, which Seb has very little interest in. He'll abide by it when he absolutely has to. But he's just a very non-typical Emperor. People find it charming so it's not a public death sentence for him, but it is an issue. Thus, Mark there to keep him in line. Though important to note that when Fernando, who has an equal if not greater respect for the showmanship of etiquette, realizes Mark is interested in that as well, they start warming up to each other.

The inherent disrespect of Fernando just. Throwing Seb's clothing onto the floor. Meanwhile he probably took like, 20 minutes folding his up(that's what Seb was gonna tell Mark at the end of the fic.) Borderline ripping off Seb's clothes only to edge him. Its not even like the ripping off the clothes is because of passion or anything, he's deliberately being an asshole. Don't worry Nandl, Seb's turned on by it!

So sorry to marknando fans if their dynamic feels like a complete 180 haha. Its not like I'm like, they actually hate each other!! It's just their relationship under completely different circumstances. They're like two dogs in a dog fight, they don't have any real reason to hate each other, but they're put against each other regardless. They don't understand their hatred, just know that they have it and that they're supposed to have it. The inherent hatred the mistress has for the spouse, and vice versa. If they actually were able to talk without barriers, they'd realize they actually get along pretty well. They kinda just hate each other because of their respective relationships to Seb. And then there's Seb who's mostly completely oblivious to his effect, though of course plays with it a bit.

Seb's marriage completely recontextualizes their relationship in Mark's eyes. Though there's something incredibly sado-masochistic about the way he can't blame Seb for it at all. He's a loyal dog after all. But when it was just them, he was obviously Seb's main companion and lover. Seb definitely slept with people on the side, but Mark brushed that off: 1. Bcs its very period typical. 2. He was the main, they were the side, what more needs to be said! But now *he's* the side piece, and is left wondering if their relationship was down to proximity alone. Not to pull a Mark and completely excuse Seb, but it's not. Just very different perceptions of love and relationships. And again, as I've mentioned before, he was raised to always be the most important person in the room, so he obviously has very different understandings, especially since he's always the center.

NANDL!!!!!! In my Habsburg book I've been reading lately, they randomly referred to one of them affectionately as "Nandl" and it's stuck in my head ever since. Can we start a movement to canonize that as an official Fernando nickname? I'm sooooo fond of it, I litrally ended the fic that way just so I could shoehorn that nickname in.

Speaking of the ending. It was really tough, I almost wanted to have Fernando burst in, looking for his ring, and then coming across whatever that is. But I didn't want to disrupt their movement anymore, it felt cruel. Though shame I couldn't mention that the reason why Seb's pants are nowhere to be found is because Fernando accidentally put them on and didn't realize till he was out of the room.

[moongothic]

You know when I originally suggested that maybe Dragon is the one who gave Crocodile his scar and/or took his left hand --if only because [Dragon not recognizing the big scary man with a baby when he was supposed to go see his wife, assuming the worst and acting accordingly] would make for an A-Class tragedy and great fucking drama (something which I would expect to see in One Piece)-- I wasn't fully convinced with the idea, I just considdered it just another option on What Could Have Happened between those two to get us where we are ...But the more I think about it, the more I've started to kind of believe it. And for two key reasons, first being kind of everything we know about Whitebeard, and the second being the basic logistics around the suggested scenario to begin with

By which I mean; if Dragon had indeed gone to see his wife so he could deliver their newborn baby to Garp, but instead came face-to-face with a man he had never seen before but who just happened to have the exact same and very specific facial scar as his wife and/or the same god damn hook... Like I can't say he SHOULD be able to recognize Crocodile instantly, but also, surely either of those features would make him stop for a moment think and/or talk before he'd jump into action, let alone if the man had both the scar and the hook. Of course, there is an argument to be made that maybe Crocodile had a smaller hook originally that no longer fit on his wrist after getting jacked so maybe Crocodile just wasn't wearing any hook at all, and a missing limb isn't an unusual disability on its own, at least not enough to faze Dragon. And who knows, maybe the two were supposed to meet on a dark and stormy night, in which case between the low light and the rain it could've been hard for Dragon to see any scars on Crocodile's face from a distance. These are both reasonable arguments, absolutely. But, as I have mentioned a few times before, sometimes the path of least resistance might be the most likely option as far as story speculation goes. If Crocodile had both his hands and no scar on his face, then Dragon wouldn't have had any way to immidiately and instantly recognize Croc (aside from his fashion sense) as he would've been missing (what we would now considder) his most distinquishing features. Which would it much easier for Dragon to jump into action and attack the strange man without a second thought.

And then there's Whitebeard. Whitebeard, who was kind of famous for stomping rookie pirates only to invite them to join his crew as his "sons", but who also had a weird thing about not having women in his crew (his nurses aside), because he believed "women do not belong on a battlefield". For one, that actually kind of supports the "Crocodile is openly trans" theory because, again, how the fuck would Croc have been pre-t AND stealth as a Wardlord getting his shit kicked in by Whitebeard? Like it's not impossible, as we have discussed many times before (and that is not the point of this post!!), but once again it would be easier to just assume Crocodile was still living as a woman at this point in time. And indeed, that could answer the question of "why would Whitebeard not invite Crocodile into his crew to be one of his children like Ace and everyone else?". If Croc was still living and presenting as a woman at this point, Whitebeard would not have even wanted him in his crew. (Sidenote but since Whitebeard seemed to have no issues with Jinbei hanging around the Moby Dick despite being a Warlord I don't think Crocodile's Shichibukai status should've had any impact on WB's ability to invite him to his crew. To be fair though, Jinbei did join the Shichibukai much later so it is possible WB could've just changed his position on the subject over the years) And that leads to this question; if Whitebeard has that kind of views on women, then would he ever go as far as to severely injure and scar (someone he viewed as) a woman right on their face? With an attack that could have very easily chopped Crocodile's entire head in half like a god damn burger bun if he weren't careful? Do you think Whitebeard would have chopped Crocodile's left hand off and left him permanently disabled if he viewed him as a woman who shouldn't be a fighter to begin with? Yes, to be fair, we do not know the circumstances under which Crocodile challenged Whitebeard into a fight and what kind of a pirate Crocodile had been up until that point, what his reputation had been and if he had done anything in particular to invite Whitebeard's wrath (much like Kid and Barto with Shanks). Like for all we know he could've done something truly heinous and fucked up enough that Whitebeard thought teaching him a lesson was justified.

Just, looking at all of these notes together, I can't help but to feel that it's actually very plausible Dragon could be the one responsible for one of Crocodile's injuries if not both (if Crocodad Real).

[scholar-of-yemdresh]

r/fantasy recommend books other than by the same 7 cis white guys challenge: level herculean.

It's genuinely disgusting to me how myopic their recommendations are. No wonder we keep getting posts asking for books with good female characters or POC or Queers because the image of fantasy you project is cishet dude mantasy slop where women are rape doll incubators(the more underaged the more "realistic") and poc/queers are more mythical than dragons.

I swear to God if I see one more neckbread bleating about The First Song Of Wheel Storm Name Winds Law by T.R.M McWhiteman I'll b*mb an orphanage.

Seriously if the only "zomg must read most epicest bestest fantasy everrrr!!!" Are ALL the SAME cis white men, your reading tastes are shit, your literature pallet is unrefined to the point of non-existence, you have no idea what you're talking about, you have no ability to give actually good book recommendations, you're just shovelling the same mantasy slop that the ur-neckbreads shoved at you, your recommendations are bad and you should feel bad.

Are you giving worthwhile recommendations that fit the brief or are you just throwing your uwu favourite books at a person, damn the fact that it doesn't fit or might even be the exact opposite of what the OP is looking for? Hmmm???

[earthmoonlotus]

:/

[lord-squiggletits]

"Rodimus is a better Prime because it didn't hurt for him to bond with the Matrix while for Optimus it did" headcanon/theory my beloathed.

One day I'm literally gonna snap and make a whole post addressing why what's wrong bc I'm tired of the inaccuracy and tired of ppl not understanding the Point TM of IDW and its version of the Matrix/Primacy and even more tired of people putting down Optimus in favor of Rodimus by essentially arguing that being unworthy means you deserve to be punished/put in pain bc you just weren't good enough to hold the Symbol of Ultimate Authority

[scaryscarecrows]

Around two AM, Antoine's half-startled awake by a sudden warmth against his chest. Because it's two AM, his brain doesn't catch anything. It goes, Shaun musta hadda nightmare, bummer kiddo, and then it checks back out.

Now, come one PM, his brain is a little more online.

Honestly, his initial, not-awake assessment still applies. Kid's tired. It's been. A long few years.

Which is why he's not entirely kidding when he warns Jimmy not to wake his ass up. He does have a knife under his pillow--it's not paranoia, it's practicality--and Jimmy knows he does. And quite frankly, Antoine's also tired, and not really feeling up to either restraining the boss from murdering Jimmy (accidentally or on purpose) or doing the job himself. He's comfy, risk of Riley shattering his spine aside, and sleep has been a rarity lately. When you get down to crunch time on ops like this, eight hours are for suckers. Jimmy's probably only awake because his blood is half Sketchy Green Drink.

Jason wakes up to breathing and for three terrible seconds thinks, God how long has he been here what's he done to me please no--

Wait.

Wait, wait. There's multiple people, which is not unheard of but is also not typical. At least, not without chuckles. Joker's goons suck at shutting up. Okay. One point in the What the Hell box.

He's on a bed. That's point two. Decent thread count in the sheets, smells like Tide, firm-but-not-too-firm mattress. Hotel?

Everything hits him at once after that realization and he finally shudders back to reality. Gotham. Out of Gotham. Some hotel in fuck knows where. Domino's delivery. Everyone had, at some point, been watching something about the most venomous animals on the earth, but now he hears what sounds like QVC. He's curled into a ball, fingers fisted in something soft; t-shirt. Someone's got a tight grip on his sweatshirt and there's another hand flung haphazardly over his shoulder.

The deep, rusty-engine breathing a few feet behind him is Ages. The hand on his shoulder is Dylan--it's too small and tense to belong to anyone else. If he moves, it'll probably smack him out of reflex. Drouot's the one gripping his shirt; probably for the best, because it feels like if he rolls backward he'll fall. Whacking his head on the nightstand or the gross hotel floor is not something he needs right now.

He should move. Dylan's reflexes are good, but Jason's pretty sure he can untangle himself enough to disappear back to his room.

But.

S'just.

He's safe. He's comfortable enough. He's got people he trusts between him and the entrances to this room, and damn if he's not still reeling from...from, frankly, everything.

Fuck it. He has no idea what time it is, he's still knocked on his ass from Scarecrow's shit (three days, four, six? what day is it now, has he lost time again?), he's safe enough.

He curls into a tighter ball out of habit more than anything--yep, there's the smack--and sighs. To hell with it. He'll deal with the consequences later, but he's not moving.

[ozymoron]

starting to think this website is bad for my mental health.....

[dreamytfw]

Online queer spaces stop being okay with biphobia I am fucking BEGGING you

[camila-tyrell]

Same! I never voiced my support of Narcissus because I only have a shallow knowledge of Greek mythology and might be missing details/themes common in Greek mythology that more knowledgeable people understand. But I also never understood why he was considered a bad/unloving person for not wanting to be in a romantic relationship with others? Like he had friends, & family so he was obviously still building relationships with others. If anything I always found Echo creepy and stalkerish (doesn't help that pretty much every painting is her rubbing up on him or creepily staring at him from afar). Why is he not allowed to live his life the way he wants it? Like op said, he might be rude but it didn't seem like he was a bad person at all (also he might have gotten harrassed by people so often, similarly to women nowadays, that his first defense might have been rudeness to get them to leave him alone faster, and I don't see a problem with that at all.) I always felt sorry for Narcissus. I understand the story is supposed to be a warning against being selfish, prideful, conceited, and not caring about others etc. and that him falling in love with himself and wasting away is divine punishment for that. But I can't help feeling that it feels like it's written by some ancient incel who wanted to shame others into giving the "good guy/girl" a chance. I know I shouldn't be using very modern morals to judge an ancient text, and I'll say it again I have very shallow knowledge of Greek mythology so I might be totally wrong, but I can't help but wonder why he would be punished for the crime of not wanting to be with someone? Didn't his own feelings, wishes, and desires matter in the choice of deciding whether he wanted to be with someone or not? He was punished for not forcing himself to have feelings for/be attracted to randoms who became obsessed with him & his beauty? Why? That wasn't his fault. He didn't owe them a chance, and the randoms didn't even love him either, they hardly knew him they just thought he was beautiful. Also the ending doesn't make him look bad either, because while he dies from staring at his reflection until he wastes away, this is understood to be a divine punishment/curse (depending on which versions of the story you read). So it's not even something that he does to himself, or that is part of his character, but rather that other forces at play do this TO him, as punishment/curse. So rather than looking like a shallow man that died because he couldn't stop staring at himself, he seems like a tragic victim who died from other's need to possess him, no matter his own feelings or thoughts on the matter, and from other's need to punish him for not returning suitors feelings. Idk, I need a more knowledgeable Greek mythology reader to explain to me why it's Narcissus that is punished and the punishment seems to be deemed right by others, because I just don't get what he did wrong. I do think it's a Greek tragedy, but I see it as Narcissus being the victim in that tragedy, not Echo.

Is it just me or like… Narcissus didn’t do anything wrong? He’s a prideful asshole but he never hurt anyone, when he was hugged by Echo he was rightfully scared and disgusted bc he doesn’t know this woman and she low key tricked him into thinking he’s called out to his hunting partners, when he told Ameinias to fuck off he was unnecessarily cruel about it but he has every right to do so, besides who’s to say that Ameinias wasn’t being a creep to him to the point that Narcissus hoped that sending a sword would force him to take a hint? it’s not his fault that Ameinias decided to curse him then kill himself in front of his doorstep.

Sure ig he could be less “rude” when rejecting ppl but it’s so weird reading about him and seeing how him rejecting countless suitors was portrayed as a bad thing, even tho he’s fully in his right to do so. Kinda ironic seeing a male character’s consent being disregarded as much as female characters.

[snickerdoodlles]

hi I'm the anon that hates the kinn is a cheater trope lol

you're so lucky to have not come across fics like that bcs I unfortunately have. thank god I didn't read it but I saw the summary and it already made my blood boil cause our lovesick puppy kinn WILL NEVER DO THAT. And tbh, i feel people who write kinn as a cheater just doesn't understand his character AT ALL and just sorry, plain lazy writing, and just use the cheating trope as an excuse make their fics "interesting" or "exciting"

sorry for this 2nd entry I'm passionate about this and I hate when they make kinn some cheating asshole when he isnt!! he has TONS of issues but surely cheating is not.

oki promise I'm done lol 🤸‍♀️

(prev)

😂❤ lol no worries, you're good anon.

like. i don't want to just straight up complain about the concept? ultimately, cheating Kinn isn't for me and i'm going to scroll past it. but there's all sorts of reasons for why people might be drawn to those types of stories and fic is ultimately more about using characters like barbies. i do agree with you in that it's not a characterization/action i see in Kinn's character and it's not a type of story drama i'm drawn to in general, so i'm personally going to mute or exclude tags. but people are going to play with characters in every way and that's the cool thing about fandom, and i'm happy they're having fun in their corner while i stick to mine 👍

[hauntingblue]

Kaido lore?!

[aq2003]

oh btw i get even more why brennan (like me) clocked sophomore year fabian as fucked up and sad even if some of the other pcs were like "what are you talking about dude" . it's because the basic core theses of fabian and leiland eftbk as characters are actually pretty similar

[peridots-pixiwolf]

[Start ID. A few uncolored sketches of a humanoid robot, with a head resembling an old tv and insect-like antennae, against a blank background. Their body is drawn in red, clothing in blue, and markings in green. They are more or less facing forward, though its upper body is twisted slightly to the side, so they’re looking somewhere above their raised arm. It features a number of markings, including icons for its favorite games, various hearts, and two across its chest that resemble stylized mastectomy scars. The robot is wearing a bandanna and a button-up shirt, but their body is visible underneath the lineart. End ID]

"the act of comparing autistic people to robots or depicting them as cold, emotionless, or subhuman is overused and problematic, robots/aliens shouldn't be the only characters we can relate to" and "ok but bots are cool and i wanna be one so bad" are two statements that can and should coexist

[moongothic]

God I wish I could remember what Oda once said about mothers in One Piece... I can't remember if it was about Luffy's mother in particular or moms in general, but he essentially joked about how you'd have to be A Really Horrible Mother to allow your child to go off and become a pirate (dangerous business no loving mother would allow)

And just... My vague memory of that comment is living in my head right now, because truly, if Crocodile somehow is Luffy's mom, truly nothing would make him a worse mom than

Literally trying to murder his child and beating him to near death multiple times the first time they actually meet

Going so far to stop being a mom that he became a dad instead