#and he takes his time with his messages like they're very articulate and he also responds to everything

[kvothe-kingkiller]

I'm not the best writer when it comes to writing convincing essays or whatever, but I'm going to give this a go because it's something that I've thought for a long time that I've never seen anyone really acknowledge unless I bring it up first. (also I am sick and don't really want to do much editing here, just rambles, so good luck)

I think that when most (not all, but most) people get salty about 'modern art', they are not salty about the things people think they are salty about. When they say "this isn't art", theres an important bit that they're not articulating. What I think most of them mean is "this isn't art that should be in a museum." "this isn't art that should cost this much" "this isn't art that should be getting this kind of recognition". And there is a huge difference between that and just saying "this isn't art"

Firstly, all of the arguments about why modern art is in fact art straight up....don't apply. They don't address the problem, they don't answer the question. This isn't really anyone's fault per se, given that it is addressing the literal statement, it's just I think most people aren't actually thinking that literal statement.

So then what do they really mean? Like I said, I think they're trying to articulate why they're frustrated that this art is in a museum when "they could do it". So when you say "okay then, you do it" that doesn't address the core issue, which is "but why is this getting recognition for it, and I would get none" because yes, unless they are famous, they would get Zero recognition for it. Nobody would be lining up to buy their art, no one would ask to put it in a museum. Best place they can hope to have this displayed is a fridge door.

When you look at a piece of fine art, most can see the amount of effort put into it. They see how much training it took to get there, they see how much time it took to put those strokes on that canvas and they can go "yeah, that took skill, that took effort, not everyone can do that. it deserves recognition". And a lot of modern art does take skill, it's just skill that isn't easily noticeable to the average viewer, such as rothko's color fields, they do take a lot of skill and effort, you just can't see it if you don't know. But a lot of modern art that people complain about isn't something that has skill that's not recognized, it just requires very little technical skill at all (not a condemnation, btw).

When you're talking about something 'anyone can do' that piece's value is often not a recognition of skill, or even of the message, it's a recognition of a name. It's similar to having a gucci bag because it's a gucci bag, not because you care remotely about the bag. Yes, art isn't displayed because of how much effort went into it, but it's a huge industry that many many people are making money through from sheer name recognition alone.

Like that one painting of that one artist's (I forget which artist and my cursory google isnt finding it, but also its just an example) where it got replicated and sold to a bunch of people for a large amount of money so they could all have something that had a small chance of being a genuine painting by the artist, that's an excellent example of the fact that a lot of the gallery-level art world is Entirely about the name, not about the piece itself. If someone just made that painting but didn't say it could be from the artist, then who cares?

If you go to ringo starr's art website (https://www.ringostarrart.com/) then you can see that some of his work, especially his older work, is of that category of stuff that many people would say "I could do that" to. For instance, these two? 1,400 and 6,000 pounds respectively for a PRINT of these from his website

....okay this one I kinda enjoy.

but still. 2,000 pounds for a print.

All of this is possible because he's ringo fucking starr, he can sell his paintings for whatever he wants. If I tried to sell those for that much, I'd be laughed out of the room. All of it is just clout, it's just how big your name is and how much you can use that as leverage.

This is not to say that other forms of art don't also have this issue, they do, especially with people devaluing creative works so much today. But you could probably get a few commissions if you sell realistic art or do commissions of people's characters, while you Cannot get any money trying to sell stuff like ringos art unless you already have an audience who will buy it.

This does somewhat lead into a discussion of how art curators pick which artists are 'good' somewhat arbitrarily, but that's a whole other post.

Doing art for 'yourself' vs for other people or money is also a whole other post, one which I've actually seen quite a lot on here. But suffice to say if your response to all of this is 'just make art for yourself! Why do you need recognition?' then maybe go find some of those posts. It's not bad to want recognition, and it's not bad to question why that guy is getting much more recognition for the exact same thing you're doing just because he has a bunch of rich friends who are able to host fancy parties and go 'hmm. yes this is good art.' (not that all modern artists had rich friends, but they did almost all get Extremely lucky in some shape or another that led to them now being widely accepted as good artists).

You cannot make a living off modern art unless you're well known, and if you happen to be well known already, you could likely make a living off modern art without having any experience, and that's what a lot of people hate about modern art, even if they don't articulate it. While some would, most wouldn't say "my five year old could do that" to someone's personal piece that they made themselves and hung up in their home, or that their friend made and gave to them. They say that about the pieces bought for thousands of dollars or millions of dollars.

And I don't want people to think that I do hate modern art, I don't (though this is tumblr, so I'm pissing on the poor just by writing this). I don't hate any of the famous modern artists, I don't think modern art isn't art. I do hate the industry that says their art is suddenly worth something just because some rich fuckers somewhere decided they should be, and anything I tried to do in a similar vein, original or not, would be better suited to sit in a coffee shop and continuously marked down and never sold.

So next time you say "so why don't you make it", maybe ask yourself if you would buy it.

[swordfright]

What do you think is your most controversial dsmp take?

I got this ask a while ago and I've been wracking my brains trying to come up with something, but honestly...I don't think I really have many hot takes? At least, not ones that I'd consider controversial. Most of my controversial takes are about fanon/how the fandom interacts with the source material, which I assume isn't what you're looking for (but BOY DO I HAVE A LOT OF THOSE.) I also have likes and dislikes when it comes to duos and shipping stuff, but that's subjective obviously and more opinion than lore interpretation.

I guess if you put a gun to my head, I might say these are my most controversial Actual Lore Takes, but they're not all that interesting imo:

The experiments in the revival lab happened AFTER c!Dream's incarceration, not before it. My understanding is that most people interpret that sequence as occurring prior to the incarceration because...why would c!Dream let himself be locked up, relying on his knowledge of the book to be his life insurance, if he hadn't tested the damn thing out yet?! This logic tracks, but I think you could also flip it to argue the opposite: that he also could have conceivably waited to fully test the book until after escaping. During the run-up to the Disc Finale, c!Dream was incredibly busy with the fallout from Dethronement + Exile + Manburg related stuff etc, as well as busy preparing for the confrontation with c!Clingys, plus arranging the staged finale with Punz. The guy was busy as hell and he was also like...still kinda in the midst of a manic episode. Also, keep in mind that while the book was his life insurance for the finale and its immediate aftermath, he had no idea that c!Sam was going to betray him. Considering all that, I don't think it's inconceivable that c!Dream may not have had time to thoroughly test the limits of the revive book beforehand, and he likely didn't realize quite how vital his knowledge of revival would become during his incarceration period. So yeah. I'm open to either interpretation, but I am partial to the possibility that the Vikk and Lazar necromancy montage happened after the prison era. And the exact date/location of the lab are never specified either, which makes me even more open to the post-prison necromancy option. Not a hill I'd be willing to die on, but a hill I like to sit on and admire the view from.

End of Las Nevadas is the weakest stream of the Las Nevadas series. I found it narratively unsatisfying, and not in a clever way. I don't hate that stream, I think it had some really interesting moments, but overall I'd say its messaging was convoluted and the tension was pretty poorly mismanaged. I'd be willing to go on about this if you want, but I think a lot of other folks have probably already articulated it better than I can. Oh, I'll add that I also have complicated thoughts about c!Slime as a character. Don't hate him, don't love him...but I am puzzled about the role he was presumably meant to play in the story vs. the role he actually ends up playing. I could go on about this in detail but it's late and I'm sleepy.

c!Quackity has very simple goals and motives, but his pursuit of those goals is oftentimes way more convoluted than necessary, which ends up making him read as a more complex and dynamic character than he really is (I like this btw!) Another way to put it would be that Q is not a terribly complex character in terms of motivations and ambitions (dr3 has rly good meta on this btw), but he does tend to needlessly complicate his own life and the lives of the people around him in pursuit of simple goals. I think one of his big failings is that he sees violence as an easy solution to his problems but in reality it just creates more problems for him. It's like he keeps failing some sort of foresight check, over and over again. Take the formation of Las Nevadas, for instance. Most of the country's members were intimidated/threatened into joining, not because they're people Q particularly wants to hang around with, but because they're people Q sees as either strong (i.e. they are capable of contributing to LN) or directionless (i.e. they're in need of an owner a leader.) Quackity doesn't really forge alliances, he just...buys people, basically? And then he's shocked when this backfires. His relationship with Purpled is the most obvious example of this, but also LN as a whole: in LN5 (?), Quackity's angry and offended and hurt that only a tiny handful of people show up to the opening ceremony, even though by all accounts the reason the turn-out isn't bigger is because the server has by this point become a chaotic and violent place where anything can happen to anyone for any reason and most inhabitants feel safer sticking to their own turf...and that atmosphere of chaos and violence is something Q has ostensibly contributed to, even before Pandora. c!Quackity creates a country that no one is truly loyal to, inhabited by people who are closer to employees than allies...and then his solution, when he realizes nobody really gives a shit, isn't to try recruiting people in a more equitable way, it's to bioengineer a slime army. That is insane. That is an insane way to solve your problems. In no way is bioengineering a slime army a normal or well-adjusted solution to any conceivable problem. This is what I mean when I say he's a relatively uncomplicated character who complicates everything - he's constantly jumping through hoops of fire to avoid changing his behavior and taking any kind of accountability whatsoever.

I have tons more takes but they're mostly about silly subjective stuff and/or fanon, so I'll leave that for another day if anyone's interested.

[partiallyderived]

-ˋˏ life's too short to hold grudges (pgw)

genre: classmates to lovers au, fluff relationships: park gunwook x gn!reader warnings: n/a word count: 594 words author's note: i thought i would write something light. it isn't all that remarkable, but i still hope you enjoy it! disclaimer: i know none of these people personally, and i am not making any money off of this. title is from a quote in "anne of green gables". also, thank you to moni (@/taerrrrrae) for suggesting i write headcanons when i got writer's block. i appreciate you.

— honestly, the best way to explain your dynamic is to take the example of anne shirley and gilbert blythe from "anne of green gables", only with much less antagonism and outright disdain, because park gunwook is polite enough not to mock your hair colour, so you have no reason to crack the modern equivalent of a slate chalkboard over his head.

— the first time you see him, you think he's got to be a senior — except no, this guy is the top scorer in your class: debate club member, class monitor, teacher's everyone's favourite, park gunwook.

— and for no rational reason whatsoever, you declare war on him.

— it ends up only lasting for a month or so, until the next internal assessment, when you get a higher grade than him in physics, and he ends up messaging you at nine o'clock that night — very apologetically — wondering if you could maybe help him with some of the derivations.

— you tell him to come to school a little earlier the next day, and help him to understand the reasoning behind each step before class, and gunwook can honestly say — this is the moment his little crush on you begins.

— however, your teachers are ecstatic that he has more competition now, and because high schoolers love drama and inculcate it in everything they do, everyone becomes convinced that you two are friends not genuinely, but in some sort of psychological warfare way.

— like you're trying to take him down by sitting across from him at lunch and sending him the notes he misses from class when he's at debate competitions?

— and the thing is when gunwook tries to refute the allegations, everyone seems to think that a) he's being too nice b) he's being too naive and c) (courtesy of ricky, gyuvin and junhyeon from the class above) he should just ask you out.

— it's a little bit funny, how everyone seems convinced that you two hate each other behind your friendly facades, but also mildly concerning — because they're way too invested in something that has nothing to do with anyone but you two. so your genius solution is: spend more time together, in public.

— poor gunwook is about to combust.

— and it is on one of these days — at the library, after school, when you've taken his help to grab the reference books the librarians keep on the highest shelves — that he says, very quietly, "i think i like you."

— and you take it jokingly because what the actual heck who confesses in a library when it is pin drop silent and the librarians are watching and say, "i should hope so? otherwise it would make the past few months really awkward."

— "no, i mean — i like like you. in a romantic sort of way."

— and your very articulate response? "oh. well, uh, i like you too. i was going to ask you out on graduation day, or like, after the suneung."

— and then you both continue on as if nothing happened, because both of you are aware of your need to focus on school. although that's not to say there's any miscommunication — you are aware of his stance on dating now, as gunwook is aware of your stance on dating now, and the agreement both of you have is: you'll be together officially, just without the actual going out aspect.

— it doesn't change much of your daily dynamic, only that people quickly shut up when he walks into class with your books in one hand and your hand in the other.

— power couple. 10/10.

[synnthamonsugar]

1.

On that point on drifter being a reckless flirt and how it's lost in fanon that you added to the ask.

It disappoints me how much that happens, because I think it could be an amazing part of his character to explore when writing fics or making fanart or even just in discussions like these. I don't have the time or the skill to write like that myself, but having a character unable to read his affection in some boy-who-cried-wolf type way would be the type of conflict a good fic could use, even if it's only a short one. People seem to think that by acknowledging that he's willing to be that brash with everyone, especially in acknowledging that he's canonically pansexual, they're going to lose part of the story, as if it's no longer real romance. There are so many interesting interactions that you can get just from that trait, yet it seems to be the most frequently overlooked one.

2.

The other thing that stood out to me in your response was the mention of him being reduced to a derogatory Asian stereotype. I'm surprised that I hadn't thought of it that way. I'm not Asian, so it's sadly easier for me to overlook it. I'm glad you made that point, it definitely puts something to words that had been bothering me so much about the way some people portray him. I definitely see it now thinking about some of the more problematic depictions I've seen of him. I think it's also why characters in other media with similar complexity & personality traits aren't watered down to negatives the way that he seems to be so often.

3.

Allow me to get somewhat off track and into just Drifter and the community for a moment here, because this strings together some thoughts that I already have. And, thank you for your patience in reading all this, I'm glad to have somewhere to put my thoughts. Again, I'm not Asian, so I probably can't articulate this as well as someone who is might, but I'll try.

The critical comments that I have seen about his appearance, though not directly stating race, have sometimes seemed to be coming from racial biases. He's a normal guy. Handsome, even. When people talk about how they don't understand why anyone is attracted to him it comes off strange to me. Sure, he may not be your type, and that's completely normal lol, but to rip on him as if he's particularly ugly is odd.

That, and the naming. When I've read fics related to him people very often switch his name back to Eli. I could be wrong, but I thought the name he had used the longest was Wu Ming? A few fics choosing Eli wouldn't seem weird to me, but the fact that I have never seen one use Wu makes it stand out differently. I may just be overthinking at that point, I don't entirely know, but the more I see it the stranger it seems. I don't think it's wrong to use/continue using Eli, after all it is canonically one of his names, it's just that it's so heavily preferred, other that drifteris shippers liking Germaine because she calls him that.

Again, I think it would be more of an opportunity for character depth, given that he had a lot of foundational (both negative and positive) experiences under that name. Is there lore where he's discussed not using it? Because that may make some more sense.

That may say more about that parts of the community that I've interacted with and the authors that I've read from more than it speaks on issues within the community as a whole. If that is the case, it's on me to find the better parts of it, and I will.

Again, thanks for the space to think aloud. I appreciate you & the others that've read through the other post taking the time for it. I'm glad to be able to have a meaningful discussion about it.

Thanks again for another excellent message. Hope you don’t mind me sharing my thoughts on what you have to say.

People seem to think that by acknowledging that he’s willing to be that brash with everyone, especially in acknowledging that he’s canonically pansexual, they’re going to lose part of the story, as if it’s no longer real romance. There are so many interesting interactions that you can get just from that trait, yet it seems to be the most frequently overlooked one.

Amatonormativity in action! A lot of people conflate flirting, promiscuity, and infidelity — never mind those are three separate things and that the first two DON’T imply unfaithfulness (flirting doesn’t have an inherent sexual or romantic component, someone can have many partners and not be a cheater). So people avoid writing Drifter as flirty or experienced in love because they incorrectly believe that will de-value their OTP.

OTOH I wonder if there’s an element of wanting to avoid pan/biphobic stereotypes of pan/bi people being flirts. Which I consider well-meaning but misguided because “flirtatious” is pretty harmless by the standards of pan/bi stereotypes, because (see above comment about flirting not being inherently romantic/sexual) and also because one example of someone fitting a stereotype isn’t as harmful as a pattern where ALL the characters belonging to a demographic act a certain way, or have certain experiences. Mara is word-of-god bi, has only had one canonical relationship, and isn’t flirty at all (sorry to the Mara/Petra and Mara/Eris truthers, I see the vision but I don’t think there’s even subtext for it, at least not as a reciprocal thing in Petra’s case), and Shaxx who is implicitly bi/pan but whose attraction isn’t a defining feature of his character ... or even really a thing at all excluding a few lore tabs.

(As an aside, I’m going to use this moment to shill for @/phthalology, whose Drifter characterization is some of my favorite of all time and hearkens back to the Forsaken era of Drifter as a frontiersman-meets-showman, someone who is funny without being jokey, someone who wears a mask with little intent to take it off, but is overall deeply human and sympathetic without feeling cloying. I can’t recommend her shippy or gen Drifter fic enough.)

The other thing that stood out to me in your response was the mention of him being reduced to a derogatory Asian stereotype.

When people talk about how they don’t understand why anyone is attracted to him it comes off strange to me. Sure, he may not be your type, and that’s completely normal lol, but to rip on him as if he’s particularly ugly is odd.

I can’t speak authoritatively on this because I am not East Asian nor a person of color but the insults to Drifter’s appearance (when he is – by any measure – a conventionally attractive man) leaves a bad taste in my mouth as well. Especially when paired with the ubiquitous “rat” insult which is racist & xenophobic (used against PoC, immigrants and other minority populations in dehumanization campaigns generally, and against Japanese people in WWII-era propaganda specifically).

And yes, I suspect most don’t use it with racist intent, but people forget that one can be accidentally racist and that accidental racism is still racism – it’s not a world-ending thing, it doesn’t mean a person is irredeemable, make right, stop saying it, and move on. But it doesn’t even make sense as a “neutral” insult. In its common usage, “rat” means “snitch” or “turn-coat”, and Drifter has never told on the Guardian or Eris or Orin or anyone else that I know of so … why “rat”? Who’s he “ratted out”? I wish it and its relative phrases (e.g. “moonrat”) would be retired from in-game/fandom use, but after four years of call-outs I have little hope for change.

As for Drifter’s pseudonyms, I can’t say I’ve seen that much “Eli” in fic (though I also haven’t been keeping up). “Germaine” seems to be the most popular one, though your original point of “why not call him Wu Ming” still stands.

Germaine was the name he went by in his earliest years (first part of the Man With No Name lorebook, when Drifter guarded the settlement of Eaton), so there’s perhaps a good-faith reason that people call him that - it was his “first”, and the name associated with one of the best pieces of writing in the game.

Wu Ming shows up later in A Man With No Name, when Drifter is running a bar at the foot of Felwinter Peak and negotiating with the Iron Lords. Of note, Wu Ming literally means “no name” - I do not speak Mandarin so I can’t speak for the precise connotations of it, but I can see why people who are aware might avoid what essentially means “anonymous”. But I don't know that most people are aware of it, so it's odd that it sees little use compared to the others.

Eli is one of his more recent pseudonyms and the name that Orin knew him by. I suspect this name goes overlooked by the fandom because the content it was in was cut from the game; you’d only know of it if you read some of the old Gambit Prime lore tabs on Ishtar Collective.

All that being said, I think there’s a lot of interesting, overlooked story potential exploring his different names. Or just like, encountering people from different eras of his life and being called different things. (IIRC, Saladin called him Wu Ming when they met which was a cool throw-back and a good example of this idea.) If I had to hazard a guess, a lot of recent writing leans into Drifter "settling down" so I suppose the people writing those kinds of stories don't want to lean into his past as an itinerant wanderer of many names.

[adragonsfriend]

On Writing Ekkreth Stories

So you want to write an Ekkreth story, but it's not working. You can't figure out how to start, it doesn't sound right, it just doesn't feel like Fialleril's do.

I am obviously not the expert on this, but I've have seen one or two people comment on Biting His Own Tale that they struggle to write Ekkreth stories and/or think mine are neat, so I thought I'd take a stab at writing a guide/conglomeration of tips I've figured out.

(This is also intended as an exercise for me to articulate why I make the decisions I do as a writer, because I think that's a good thing to do once in a while, so spoilers for my fic, Biting His Own Tale)

Connect to "Real" Events

Reading Double Agent Vader the first time (it was one of the first Star Wars fics I ever read), I was instantly enamored with the Ekkreth stories. I wanted to read them, understand them, write them. Problem being, no matter how long an hard I thought, I couldn't come up with a single idea. It felt like Ekkreth's tricks were all way too clever and neat for me to ever come up with something comparable and the style was so cool and mysterious that I didn't know how to copy it.

Then I committed myself writing Biting His Own Tale. I started writing down notes and then drafting my main story, and the ideas started pouring out. I had two different ideas for Ekkreth stories to go along with Glittering Chains, I had other ideas for other sections as well. Sometimes the ideas for Ekkreth stories influence my main plot--the story of Ekkreth being beaten inspired both This Story Can Kill You and the section I'm currently posting.

I am echoing Fialleril when I say I don't really think it's possible to write these stories without having some "real" fictional events to relate them to. So pick a fic idea you've always wanted to write, and start writing it. Personally, I'm kind of obsessed with time travel fics. You probably don't even have to actually write that fic, just starting to plot it out will give you ground to stand on.

The Moral of the Story

Ekkreth stories have a point. They're not historical tales meant to accurately recount a true event, though they may do that too. They're not novels, meant to entertain, though they may do that too. They're not comedies, meant to make you laugh, though they may do that too. Ekkreth stories have messages for the Amavikkan people who are telling them and listening to them and creating them.

What do Amavikka people in general need to understand to survive?

What do your characters need to understand to survive?

Are your main story characters living up to the lessons and values of Amavikka culture, or are they failing to do so?

What is the point of your main story? Why are you writing it? What do you want your reader to learn from it?

The intersection of these answers is where your story's moral lies. In Glittering Chains:

Amavikka people in general need to remember that no matter if their depur sometimes appears nice for a moment or favors them over other slaves he is always cruel, and he'll never make them free.

Anakin needs to understand that Ventress is keekta-du and therefore a fellow slave. He also needs to be reminded that all Sith apprentices are slaves to their masters in some way or other. This understanding will influence how he interacts with both Ventress and Dooku later on. Slick needs to understand why the way he went about trying to free himself was cruel to his brothers, and that while Ventress could not help him, Anakin can.

Anakin is living up to the role of Ekkreth by recognizing both Ventress and Slick as fellow slaves he can help. Ventress is very explicitly failing by continuing to follow Dooku's orders and refusing to think on Anakin's warning that Dooku has not freed her. Slick was failing by dooming his brothers for his own freedom, but is moving toward Amavikka values by taking Anakin's offer to help free other slaves.

My point with Glittering Chains was to clarify Slick and Ventress' decisions, and to force Anakin into having a more complicated plan than just "kill Sidious and all the Sith," because I think it's important for him and the audience to consider redemption whenever there is the opportunity.

So my Ekkreth story needs to be about Ekkreth guiding someone to realize they are keekta-du and then show that person deciding to do something about their situation once they understand it.

Figuring out the moral of your story early will help you figure out its structure. I knew I wanted my story to talk about being keekta-du, so I came up with a situation where I thought someone might become keekta-du (a sex slave convinced her owner loves her), and from there I came up with the mechanism of Ekkreth's trick (Ay'leli has to be the one to steal the keys because she has access to Depur's quarters), and Ekkreth's method (getting Ay'leli to empathize with her fellow slaves by getting her to care for one child). From there, I thought up some symbolism that fit both the situation and the moral (Ay'leli is going to have to steal some keys, so there needs to be some chains for her to steal the keys to. Also, Ay'leli's chains are prettier than the others, but just as strong).

Doing it this way, you can get the thematic and literal elements of your Ekkreth story and your "real" story to overlap in interesting ways, because the thematic elements are most important, while the literal elements can, ultimately, be whatever you need them to be. For an example of a connection of literal elements from Fialleril, Ekkreth steals pieces of the actual moon while Anakin steals the death star plans, a connection which comes directly from the "That's no moon," line in the Phantom Menace.

Doing it this way, with the moral first, you can get the thematic and literal elements of your Ekkreth story and your "real" story to overlap in interesting ways, and this kind of connection can also help justify why your Amavikka character would be thinking/telling of this particular story in their real situation.

I promise you your thoughts about how the world works, and how people should act, and what we should value are important and valuable and interesting. You can and should write about them if you feel driven to.

Values you're passionate about are far more fertile ground for cool world building and deep metaphors than quirky world building and random metaphors are for good values.

(P.S. This is not to say it can't ever happen the other way around, it absolutely can.)

(P.P.S. It's okay if you pick your moral and then you realize it needs to change after you start writing. This happens to me all the time, that's why it's called a first draft.)

Consider the Medium: Oral Storytelling

This is a lesson straight from the mouth of my epically cool high school humanities teacher when we read the Iliad. Other real examples of the things I'm about to talk about include the Vedas and aboriginal American stories, so they're not unique to European tradition. When a story is being told outloud, the listeners have to be able to keep track of who is who and who is doing what, and they can't go back and read a section again like you can with a written story. Also, in oral traditions, stories are passed down by memory, and repetition makes memorization easier. We are writing our stories down, but both of these circumstances must still affect the way we write them, if we want them to sound like they are from an oral tradition.

Clarify speakers often, and do it before they start speaking/acting rather than after or in the middle of their dialogue to avoid the pronoun game even more than you would in other writing you do.

Refer to characters the same way multiple times. Their titles can be quick ways to give your audience information about them.

Consider how your words sound. Words that sound good and share a rhythm and vibe are easier to remember. There often multiple different epithets for the characters in the myths to help keep the meter of poetic sections.

Read your story out loud! This is how Ekkreth stories were meant to be experienced. Better yet, have someone else read it out loud and listen for places where they stumble. If you're not comfortable reading aloud, or you don't have a private space to do so, you can use text to speech to listen to it.

Prototypes have to be tested by the people who are going to be using them, in the way they are meant to be used if they are to become useful to those people. You can treat your stories the same way.

Real World References & Questioning your Muse

Consider fairy tales, religious stories, poetry, children's books, bedtime stories, etc. What tools to they use?

What parts of them sound the best? (Do they repeat certain phrases? Do they rhyme? Are they written in meter?)

What kind of stories to they tell? (Are they complicated or simple? Are they super realistic, or kind of mystical?)

How do they introduce characters? (What do they include descriptions of? Physical traits? Character traits? Actions they often take? Their role in relation to other characters?)

Does the character's reasoning always follow real world logic? (If they do, how does their world influence the way they act? If not, what rules are they following instead?)

Ask all the questions you can about setting, characters, plot, style, etc. The answers to the above questions with regard to Ekkreth stories are, as I see them,

There is lots of repetition of descriptions and titles. There is repetition in structure where there is repetition in the story (if Ekkerth asks five different animals for advice, they will ask questions phrased in similar ways, and get responses phrased in similar ways). The beginnings and endings of each story have several repeated phrases, lending a sense of familiarity no matter how wacky the middle gets.

The stories are relatively simple. Ekkreth is going along, finds Depur has done something bad, Ekkreth does something to fix the bad thing, the people run away, Ekkreth taunts Depur and then flies away, this story can save your life.

Characters are introduced by their names and titles and something of the way they act. Ekkreth is trickster, sky walker, wandering traveler; no chain can hold them forever. Depur is the master, the slave owner; he is Ekkreth's enemy. Leia is elder sister, mighty one, Ekkreth's daughter; she can endure anything.

The character's reasoning doesn't really follow real world logic. Otherwise, Leia would just step on Depur in every story. Otherwise, Ekkreth's tricks coudn't work every time. Otherwise, there's no way Depur would be that dumb every single time. They are following a set of rules that teach the lessons and values of Amavikka people while acknowledging their limitations. They can't kill their owners, so Leia can't kill Depur. There are always small opportunities to defy Depur, so Ekkreth always has another trick. Every depur is both cruel and prideful in someway, so Depur will always be fooled by flattery.

Looking at real world examples can also be the inspiration for the structure and plot of your story, Ekkreth's tricks (heist movies might be good for this), or characters (there's a Norse myth about Loki catching a fish which inspired the way I wrote Umakkar).

Try mapping out Kadee's favorite story, "Depur's new clothes." See what changes happen when the person trying to sell the Emperor intangible clothes isn't a random tailor trying to make a fool of him, but instead Ekkreth trying to free the people from Depur. How would Cinderella's story change if instead of a girl looking for a night of freedom from her awful family she was Ekkreth disguised to get into Depur's party? Are they there to steal something? To trick Depur into marrying them? To distract him from the people escaping out the back of his palace?

Use references. Study them, copy them, improve them. In exactly the same way a visual artist must observe real humans to learn how to draw humans, you must observe real fairy tales, folk tales, movies, religious stories, poetry, books, children's books, songs, bedtime stories, etc, to learn how to write your own.

Repetition, Repetition, Repetition...

Repetition is a tool of meaning in any kind of story. The things a storyteller chooses to mention more than once, the things they return to again and again, build meaning and change it with every echo. I've talked a bit about aesthetic repetition (repeated titles, names, phrases), but not about thematic repetition. Making these match up is one of the greatest tricks you can play as an author.

Knowing the intended moral of your story is going to come in handy here. It is repeated at the end of every Ekkreth story that "this story can save your life," not just because it's a good line, but also because that is what Fialleril considers the essential message for Anakin, every slave on Tatooine, and us, the audience.

In my story Elder Sister, Umakkar asks Leia three times, “Who are you, who would stand in the path of the storm?” not just because she keeps standing there, but because it gives Leia the opportunity to change her answer time. Her changing answer shows her figuring out her own identity through the trial of outlasting the storm, and it also displays what I believe is her most essential trait: the strength to endure.

Stories are something you can add to your main story to repeat the themes in the main plot. As Anakin defies Sidious, Ekkreth defies Depur. As the scanner comes to Tatooine, Ekkreth delivers the wisdom of the animals to the people. As Pooja interprets a secret flower language to save the rebel senators, Queen Polana uses a secret flower language to warn her people.

Like wearing the right color shirt can bring out the color of your eyes, the right Ekkreth story is a chance to echo the point of your main story, drawing it into the light.

Review the Source Material

Go back and read Double Agent Vader again, with a critical eye. Pay attention to the way mythology is woven into characters understanding of the world and their emotional journeys. Leia musing on how Ekkreth reminds her of Torhu, one of Alderan's spirits, was a big inspiration for me in writing Rex thinking of Anakin as being like a sea monster. Neither Rex nor Leia is Amavikka or even close to as deeply entrenched in their respective mythologies as Anakin is (his narrative is almost always accompanied by an active story being told whereas they mainly just think about their mythologies), but even they are actively using mythology to interpret their real world.

Also, I meant what I said about listening to Ekkreth stories aloud. There are wonderful podfics of DAV by @darlingsweet that can help you get a feel for how Ekkreth stories are meant to sound.

Finally, Commit to the Bit!

When fics have their own plot and then randomly mention "blah blah blah Ekkreth! blah blah," it actually tends to take me out of the story rather than drawing me deeper in. It's a distraction. It makes me think, wow I should go reread DAV again instead of this.

It's much the same form of imitation that makes a lot of sequels fall flat--where the creators knew they did something good with the original, but failed to appreciate what exactly it was, and so end up including all the surface elements without creating depth (think a lot of Disney's Star Wars content: lots of flashy lightsabers, big space battles, anyone can have the force now, not so much for consistent themes, or the Pirates of the Caribean sequels [or for an even worse example, the Avatar the Last Airbender movie]). It's saying, "Well whenever Fialleril wrote the name Ekkreth it gave me lots of feelings, so I'm going to also write the name Ekkreth in my story. That will cause people to have feelings about my story." I promise you, it won't. Not on its own.

Where Fialleril's writing excels most is in making the mythology matter to the characters. Making it affect the way they think and act. Anakin takes responsibility for his actions and turns his back on Sidious twenty years early, without Luke or anyone else around to guide him towards doing good because of these stories. That is the singular, most basic, and most powerful premise of DAV. It is an argument, not just for the power of Amavikka culture in Anakin's situation, but the power of storytelling and beliefs in general.

Writing full Ekkreth stories is much, much harder than including surface level references. I absolutely do not claim to have mastered any of these tips, my own stories are all works in progress, but effort and connection are the cost of depth, and depth is what creates all those wonderful and terrible feelings you feel when you read the name of Ekkreth.

In Conclusion

These are, so far, my guiding principles when I write Ekkreth stories. I hope they are interesting, and helpful to someone. They are also, I hope, applicable to any story that tries to intertwine myth with reality. Please feel free to add/argue anything I've missed, I'm sure there's lots, especially with the number of people who have taken to interacting with Fialleril's mythology.

(P.S. Obvious disclaimer, but this is the internet: when I say things like "Fialleril does blah blah blah because...," I am guessing. I'm not in their head, I've just read lots of their fics and posts. I'm interpreting the data I have as best I can, and then phrasing my guesses very confidently.)

(P.P.S. Happy Christmas if you celebrate, happy holidays to everyone else. All the holidays I've ever heard of, religious and otherwise, have fascinating stories behind them which you can analyze in depth, if that's anyone else's idea of holiday fun.)

[rubykgrant]

These are only a couple years old, but with how MUCH I've drawn of them since, and how many things have changed, these feel like they're from decades ago! Well, these were the first really concrete story-related pictures I made with the RVB characters... the first batch is everybody taking off their helmets to listen to messages left behind by Epsilon; the beginnings of me playing around with how I wanted them to look without the armor (except for Lopez, because he IS the armor, being a robot and all). I haven't really changed the way they look so much as I've gotten BETTER at how to articulate the lines and shapes for them. Also, they're all crying because Epsilon got VERY sappy. He figured he wasn't gonna deal with the after-math, so why not just get all honest about how he feels (also, how Alpha felt too). Next bits are the comics, in which the characters process what they all heard, and what it means for them... in particular, Grif finally tries to just plainly state his feelings to Simmons, and as usual, they are NOT on the same page. It goes right over his head. Kai doesn't want her bro to give up yet, but unfortunately, he would rather bury his head in the dirt than EVER try that again. These look PAINFULLY wonky to me now, I couldn't draw that stupid armor, I STILL can't draw that stupid armor, but now I'm better at... translating a simplified version of it? Anyway, they look like Amongus blobs here, and I hate it, but I'm proud of myself for pushing through all the way to finish them! This isn't the end of their fun little story though, I continue with much more fun times for them all in store. This all began because nonsense about potential for the characters, both angsty and happy, was filling up my head, and I had to pour it out before my brain drowned~

[shortpplfedup]

HI ! Another thing I really like about A Boss and a Babe - and I only put my finger on this with Friday's episode -, is how they're all a mix of strong and vulnerable at the same time. Often in BL, i feel like one of the main pairing is strong and in a 'rescuer' position, and the other is in constant need of help (which is fine, it's just the fact that it's such a pattern that i have issues with). But here Gun is the boss, but also an awkward loner and Cher provides him with human connections and blasts through his defenses. Cher is a bundle of constant cheerful happiness, but also still grieving his high school love and finding support and comfort in Gun. Jack is protective of Cher and is someone he can turn to, but also has depression and issues of his own...

They all have areas where they're strong and areas where they need each other, in a pretty balanced way and i love it so much !!

Every character feels so recognisably human to me, like they're all trying to do their best and sometimes they need help and because they care about each other they will help each other. Also, this show is so much about learning to ask for help when you need it, realising you don't have to do things on your own because there are in fact people who care about you and will help you if you ask. This show is the exact opposite of the trope where people insist on taking burdens onto themselves, it utterly rejects that idea, going so far as to put words to that effect in its characters' mouths at basically every opportunity. Cher, Gun, Porsche, Jack, Zo have all expressed this sentiment out loud, it's not some hidden message, it's screaming out. Tian didn't ask for help and she died because she thought she had to carry her burdens alone. Thoop is heading in a bad direction because he won't ask for help or accept it when it's offered. Gun and Thyme's friendship shattered because Gun wouldn't accept Thyme's help and froze him out, treating him like a resource instead of a partner. Any trauma or conflict in the show is about people feeling like they are or were shut out from helping the people they love. The show has made its mission clear: people need people, and there's nothing wrong with that whatsoever.

This is why I love Gun and Cher, and the gamer gang, and the office gang, so so so much. They lean on each other. They have learned or are learning to say 'actually, I'm not ok, and I could really use your help', and understand that admission, that lean in as a springboard to action, however small. Because it often doesn't take much to make people feel better! The show foregrounds the choice to be good to the people in your life, which is so often taken as a given or held up as a virtuous standard. Instead it says this is not an inherent thing, it's a choice you make and keep making. It's love as an action word, not a feelings word. The love story at the centre isn't some inevitability of chemistry and biology, it's about deciding to be good to somebody, and having that lead to developing and deepening a relationship. It's why Cher's continued confusion about his feelings for Gun makes absolute sense to me. Everybody tells you love is hearts and flowers and fireworks, and it is, but it doesn't always start that way. The butterflies in your tummy and the electricity under your skin and the romantic notions in your head, sometimes that just builds over time. Sometimes, you just start out by being fond. And that can be so confusing because that's not what you're supposed to feel, right? It's supposed to be intense, right? Your head should be full of this person and nothing else, right? And for some people it is like that. And for a lot of people it's not.

I don't know if I'm making any sense because this show warms me up from the inside and articulating why is a very feelsy and not as cerebral experience...lol. But then this is a very feelsy and not as cerebral show!

[flockrest]

wow. finally here to talk about my take on forms of rito languages!! it's a doozy, folks. there will be four i'll be exploring: rito script, rito shorthand, rito key, and birdsong. all under the cut, so here we go!

RITO SCRIPT

i believe this would most likely be cuneiform in nature, if only due to the constraints of rito morphology. i doubt they have any innate, very fine motor control in their wings ( "hands" ) given how big their feathers ( "fingers"? ) are, so impressions and/or inked signs that can be made with wedge-tipped styluses seem a little more logical than the more motion-heavy strokes needed for, say, something like hylian script — which they still use around the village for the sake of non-rito visitors ( notably carved into wood ), but many rito are better readers than they are writers of hylian script! not all, but that's the general trend!

okay, now...i am not a linguist. but i'm thinking the old system ( like. prior to, during, and a little after dineli's time ) was more logographic, and was used way, WAY less than rito was spoken. over the millennia, through language contact ( especially applicable to the rito, who were traditionally nomads and a bulk of whom are still travellers by nature ) and the natural evolution of their spoken analogue, rito script has developed into more of a logosyllabary! still used notably less than its verbal equivalent, but not to the extent of back then; all fledglings in rito village are taught to a decent level of literacy now.

i don't have a physical demonstration in mind because i don't have the brain juices for creating a whole conlang...but i want to emphasise that this script is reflective of spoken rito, which is a tonal language ( THIS IS IMPORTANT ) and not alphabetical.

RITO SHORTHAND

rito stenography of rito script! finds even rarer cases of use than its longhand, but that's just how it is with most shorthands, isn't it? penn is especially proficient in this — his draft notes for reporting are exclusively in this shorthand. makes it harder for those who might want information when he isn't willing to give it to read, and speed is a critical thing when you're on the field! also his notebook is tiny. his pen when it's in his "hand"? tiny. he is not writing longhand in that thing.

i have a more concrete image in my head about this system! it's primarily informed by and based on modern musical notation!! it would still vaguely resemble rito script ofc, but i think this would be neat given how music-entrenched rito culture is...and it's fun to think about possible uses for it as a code! is it sheet music or a message? it will be obvious to rito ( even to those unfamiliar with shorthand, if only in that "huh, this does not read like music" sense ), but to most non-rito? a mystery they don't even realise is a mystery slkfjkdf

RITO KEY

separate from any scripts; this is nonverbal rito communication! misleading title, i know ( <- weak for connecting music to the birdies in any way i can ). their signed language, so to speak, in that words and meanings are conveyed through manual/physical articulation rather than verbal — but there are still some vocal aspects to it as well? very little, and less defined in that it's just like...whistles, trills, warbles, and other actual bird noises ( almost dipping into birdsong ). these aren't necessary most of the time; they're used to accentuate or clarify signs, not outright replace them.

i like to think that their signs, when grounded, place heavy emphasis on wings, shoulders, head positions, etc. there's not a lot of individually bending wingtips/"fingers" — "hand" movements are mostly ( but not all ) fully splayed or fully clenched, if that makes sense? and facial expressions would be very important too, as it is with most signed languages.

and signs when flying...i'm thinking maybe flight patterns? possibly whole flight motions? this is where the vocal side of rito key might really come into play, but again isn't strictly necessary — especially if you're a good flier. does convey less specifics than its grounded form though.

most grown travellers and warriors know rito key. it's a useful language to learn! can offer the advantage of subtle but active coordination on the battlefield and such.

BIRDSONG

this is, essentially, "birdspeak". natural language of birds, including rito! penn proved that rito can speak to birds to such a depth that they are his primary informants, and even though literally nothing in the game indicates this is a universal thing, i am RUNNING with this tidbit and saying yeah. this is an inherent thing for the rito. not in that they're born with an automatic understanding of it, but in that it's the easiest thing for them to learn. like their first language! do you see my vision? do you see it! i get to decide this, it's my sleepover!! ( affectionate )

this is much more simplistic than any other language a rito would know; there are no specific words that would equate to specific meaning. it's all ( bird ) sounds! no nuance to this language. it's very direct, straightforward, and in-the-moment. a major case of interpretation =/= translation, which is why an actual rito language naturally arose sdlfsjdfk

[lamphoera]

i'm sure the fsn fanbase has had this discussion countless times already but i think the problem with characterizing shirou as a simple misogynist and leaving it at that is that it takes about two seconds of effort to see that 1. his misogyny is pretty shallow and he barely believes any of what he says and 2. it's a very revealing character trait when it comes to what it tells us about how he actually thinks

his remarks to saber come across to me as, more than anything else, a defensive reaction to avoid confronting his own self-sacrificial behavior. an overarching point of saber and shirou in fate route is that they're incredibly similar people; by making a mental division between himself and saber through a familiar lens (as in "she's a girl and i'm a boy and that means We're Just Different" which is a pretty unremarkable thought process for a teenage boy circa 2004) he tries to justify why his discomfort with her martyr complex is correct while his own is fine (saber also has this mindset with shirou but from the "as knight and master angle" although she's merely stubborn about herself and not disrespectful to shirou because her assessment of their standing is pretty much correct). if he engages with her life and ideals as a peer instead of as something that doesn't relate to him then he'll be forced to truly think about what it means to take responsibility for his own, which is... his whole character arc? both shirou and saber have to grow a sense of self-respect and meet each other on the same level to accomplish what they really want.

i won't say the writing is perfect about how it handles gender or that there's absolutely nothing to criticize about the ways it utilizes gender to articulate its message, or that it's wrong to think shirou is an annoying character for Being Like That, but i think it's impossible to appreciate fsn on more than a surface level if you decide to write off shirou entirely as a character there just to facilitate the story. that said, the point here is that i think the writing in fsn is incredibly empathetic to its female characters and places them on the same level of importance and humanity as its male characters (something i cannot say about f:z...) and the divisions it likes to bring up between genders are mostly to just subvert or break them down in order to serve its humanistic themes. shirou is a deeply flawed but at the core incredibly caring person with an idiosyncratic perspective and the vn doesn't hide it at all; that's what i think is fun about him

[sukodus]

An smau or crack fic about a bizarre BlaBlaCar/Waze pool/Uber Pool/Lyft Line, where all the passengers although primarily strangers or unrelated, hide loads of conjoined lore among them (including them all or about two people at least). The bigger the car, the better and the crazier. Nobody makes it to their destination sane. They exit the car more confused, more in disbelief, and with zero closure. Someone hands over a five-star review, but it’s unclear whether it’s a threat or just sheer relief at being alive.

CAST IDEAS:

The "Not so Stranger" Duo: These two are playing the long game of “I don’t know you”—until they reach a boiling point and the past starts bubbling up. They’ve been silently throwing daggers, annoyed by every little thing about each other, until finally, the gloves come off. They've got history, a shared past, or maybe some deep secret. Also, they are most likely going to reveal their connection at the worst given moment.

The frantic one: They're desperate to get to their destination. Although bubbly at first, each toll booth, every red light will torturously reveal an almost borderline manic person, who is anxious about their arrival. And just as you think, "Could they be any more over the top?" they hit you with the twist: their ridiculous but totally valid reason.

The Lovably Clueless Duo: Ah, budding romance. Only, these two are painfully dumb about it. They're vibing with each other in the most awkward, bumbling way possible, missing every cue imaginable. Flirting? Barely. The rest of the car knows they’re into each other, but watching them not realize it is both infuriating and hilarious.

The Quiet One: They're barely present in conversations, and when they do say something, it's cryptic and barely sensical. But—and this is key—everything they say eventually means something. It's not clear when or how, but their strange, soft-spoken comments will come back to haunt the group later. BONUS: They're so shy that they articulate very badly, or take lots of time thinking how to write something.

The inquisitive Driver: They're constantly trying to spark conversation, but in the most uncomfortable way possible. Harmless, sure... but as the story unfolds, it feels like their probing is a little too on the nose for some of the passengers' liking. Truth is, he is just trying his best to overcome his social anxiety and bad at reading the room tendencies by choosing to drive for other people, and is just trying his best to provide a good ride for his travelers. Prior to the ride, they’ve probably watched one too many true crime documentaries and are now convinced that this ride is how they’ll meet their doom. Might also have a strange collection of items in their bag, like emergency snacks, pepper spray, and perhaps an actual GPS they keep checking to make sure they aren’t being taken to some remote location.

EXTRA IDEAS FOR GROUP DYNAMICS:

The Ex-Criminal Turned Life Coach: This person swears they’ve changed. They’ve done time, turned over a new leaf, and now they’re all about self-improvement, growth, and motivational speeches. But there's this constant sense that their past is right behind them, lurking. They drop vague hints about their time in prison, only to follow it up with advice like “I learned in solitary confinement that you have to love yourself first before you can love others.” BONUS POINTS IF THE CRIME HE COMMITTED WASN'T EVEN THAT BIG OF A DEAL. But nobody truly bothers to ask until an anticlimactic point in the story.

Throughout the ride, almost every character at some point is under suspicion. The suspect could be anyone—and as they text, side-eye, and gossip through their phones, the group chat becomes a breeding ground for wild accusations. The characters start sending private messages to each other, forming alliances or throwing others under the bus in the most passive-aggressive ways possible.

The unexpected connections that keep surfacing along the ride. Somewhere in the chaos, a shocking revelation emerges: two people in the car actually went on a terrible blind date years ago, or maybe one of them is the ex of the driver's cousin, or they all once attended the same wedding but didn’t realize it.

Someone is off, and they must try to prove their points about their weirdness and assumptions, while said person does not find out. Hence, the passengers must find a way to find past their phone numbers with each other, with a driver that is almost militant about not letting people use their phones. As soon as someone pulls one out, they awkwardly clear their throat or, worse.

This story was ideated by me alone, but as I'm quite bad at the piecing everything together part, I've decided to give it away to someone that might be better at treating this idea with the care it deserves. Of course, if used, it would no longer be mine, but still, I'd love to keep track of the story if it ever gets moulded into something good! So, if you want to use this idea, do not only tell, but also tag me to give credit, but also so that I can see how it grows!

I don't think it's necessary to say, but what I've listed are nothing but suggestions that should be treated as such. There are no imperatives when it comes to world building and cast making. Feel free to make this story your own! And if you've come this far reading, thanks a lot for giving this silly plotting a chance!

+ Credits to @roseschoices for the divider!

[fic-over-cannon]

hiii sunnie!! i hope your day has been going well!! i just wanted to thank you again for the self ship asks you leave in my inbox they're always so creative and fun to work through they make my day really <33

i also want to know a little more about your own self ships so. about jaysun, what's a favourite literary work or piece of media that gets both of you going insane? a book or a movie or something that makes you want to tear your hair out with how good it is and make some time to consume it and dissect it together?

and for sunford, what's a place that's very special to you two? like maybe because of a memory you shared there or somewhere you dream of visiting someday?

hi ariel!!! i hope you’re having a wonderful week 💕 i love reading all about your selfships. these were such wonderful questions, i had the most lovely time thinking them over

when it comes to books, jason is sat and reading eros the bittersweet by anne carson and the paradise by emile zola with me. eros the bittersweet is technically an adapted phd on love and desire in classical greece but it’s one of the most interesting books on love i’ve ever read. my personal copy is annotated to hell and back, and it’s that copy that i give to jason to read. he adds his own notes and thoughts to it and we trade it back and forth until it’s basically unreadable. i could talk about it for ages, and i think jason would end up getting so emotional about love being described the way she does. just, desire being found in the distance between the boundary of yourself and your lover, a distance you endlessly reach out across looking for connection. nothing to do with deserved or earned, simply existing as naturally as you or any other person. reading this book, to me, is an endless revelation of things you’ve sort of half understood in the back of your mind but can’t quite articulate. i feel like i’m not doing justice to it at all, but jason would listen to me ramble about it anyway. now the paradise, this is a book that i drop into jason’s lap and wait for him to come find me when he’s finished. i think he’d look at the plot and the setting and see so many parallels to his own surroundings. he’d take the message about the inevitability of consumerism and commercialization devouring the lives of the people it exploits and take it as a challenge.

when it comes to movies, well that’s a little trickier. i live and breathe film at uni, and jason very kindly listens to me ramble about whatever it is that i’m studying this week. the significance of sound in this particular movie, the postmodern critique of queer history in that film, how the director of this new one is clearly obsessed with bazin’s realism. i drag jason through my new queer cinema phase, and it’s not really his thing but he likes watching me get animated, hands waving and eyes bright.

this next answer is a little long, so please bear with me 😅 but there’s this place i grew up going to as a child in my grandparents’ hometown. it’s the kind of town that’s nestled between the sea and mountains — not the barren rocky kind, but the type of mountain that’s thick with trees and greenery. to get to this place, you have to drive part way up the mountain on a winding road that frequently has warnings for wild boars roaming. when the weather’s right in the early summer, fog builds up at the top of the mountain, thick enough that you can’t see the bottom anymore. it’s an entirely different world up there, cooler too without the sticky summer heat. when you get to the top, that’s where the onsen is. the building is surprisingly new, glass wall windows and high ceilings. it’s one of the bigger bathhouses in the area with a little food stand and more than one sitting room. i think just the whole concept of onsen and public baths is so foreign to conrad and it takes some convincing to get him to come. but he’s here to meet my family and it’s just something we do here, like going out for coffee or to a neighbourhood barbecue. it's after, when we're sitting on the raised tatami platform in one of the sitting rooms, that's special. his hair is damp and curling around his ears, towel around his neck. he's staring off to the side, where the old timers are watching sumo on the television without sound and toasting each other with perspiring beer cans. there's an uchiwa fan in his hand, one i made him bring because he's not used to the heat and choking humidity. conrad enjoys himself more than he expected to, out here in the middle of no where in particular. out here, he's not conrad oxford, he's little sunnie's trophy boyfriend that gets introduced to every person over the age of 65 by her grandparents who are so pleased to show him off. he's trying so hard to adapt and fit in even though he was clearly so uncomfortable in the beginning and it's in that moment that i know he's in this for the long run. it's such a small thing, isn't it, being willing to learn and participate in the little rituals that mean something to me but i think it's one of the grandest declarations he could have made. this place is special because it's where we both knew we were committed to every part of each other, even the bits we didn't understand yet.

[mostly-comfort]

i was a little shy and indecisive in my previous ask ^-^' whoops haha i had REALLY better make a decision or you'll be pushed for time more than you probablynalready are ^-^'

if there is still a slot available, could i please request a lil halloween doodle of my boi pete?

his profile is linked in his fic masterpost, shifting phases, which is linked in my masterpost over on my sideblog @emcscared-whumps

it has a few references included, but i can send more specific ones and answer any questions later on if you need (and in that case, how would you prefer to receive them? is tumblr dm okay?)

and then, could i also request some info and refs on your boi?

thankyouuuuu, have a happy halloween :)))

it's np!! i only have 2 spots filled so far, this'll be the third (i decided to have 5 spots total)

i read through his profile (love how detailed it is!), and i was wondering if he has regular teeth or not? ik some ppl like to give their mer/mer-like characters sharp teeth, or fangs sometimes

also, i noticed in one drawing, he has white streaks in his hair! is that later on or would you consider it to be part of his default appearance?

i realized u can't dm sideblogs, so i can message u with my main or keep using regular or private asks, whichever u prefer!

u just opened up pandora's box by asking me abt my sad boy [rubs hands together]

unfortunately i don't have any refs beyond what i drew, but he just has typical vampire traits (red eyes, claws, very pale, etc)

in my universe, vampires are more biologically plausible, so they have adaptations and they're mostly limited to what's natural. they aren't immortal, can't turn humans into vampires, etc. though it's not completely realistic, otherwise this story wouldn't exist lol

vampires can live to 1000 years. they're hardy, they can take injuries that would be fatal to a human (though they feel just as much pain), and are difficult to kill. yet that's exactly the problem for our unfortunate guy :)

hunters imprisoned and tortured him for over 300 years, never granting him the mercy of death. he's now merely a shell of who he once was, and he has no memory of his past or who he was (and honestly, i don't know either lmao)

as you may know, being tortured for centuries leaves irreparable trauma/mental damage, not only making him lose his memories but rendering him incapable of fending for himself. he can barely function, can hardly say anything other than apologies or pleas, etc. i think his brain has even lost significant mass (i have no idea if this is even possible but let's go with it lol)

in present day, he's out of there and with a caretaker, though i'll share more about that later, or if i ever get around to writing his story lmao

personality

he's perpetually nervous, which is the understatement of the century (ironic)

very conditioned, struggles to articulate sentences, or just thinking in general

obedient, quiet, timid ofc. as time goes on, he becomes curious, likes being in nature

extremely dedicated to caretaker, probably to the point of unhealthy codependency

appearance

longish, messy, black, wavy hair

red eyes, slit pupils (they can dilate like a cat's)

pale skin

wears a tracking collar

vampires rarely scar, unless the injury is repeated or severe enough. so of course he has a deep scar on his face from when the hunters forced him to wear a silver muzzle pretty much the whole time

also has scars around neck, wrists, and ankles from wearing silver cuffs/collar

scarred, crooked fingers

fun facts

he thinks of himself as an 'it' for a long time, even though caretaker doesn't think of him as such

his behavior is quite instinctive/creature-like. he scents, he likes climbing trees, sitting in the moonlight, bringing back leaves, twigs, feathers, etc

fuck it, vampires can purr. if u couldn't tell, i'm heavily inspired by cats lmao

when he learns to read again, he develops a liking for stories

has issues with feeding, tries his best to hide his fangs, really he just has problems with everything that makes him a vampire sadly

[catboyebooks]

happy belated birthday hinata also the year changed or something. before i get into the chapter 5 closing thoughts stuff for real, there's a moment i skipped over for brevity when summarizing that i'd really like to circle back to and post screencaps of. for context, this is during the final morning on jabberwock island, after hinata leaves his cabin but before going to the restaurant. you can go around knocking on the other cabin doors, and knocking on a dead person's door — with the exception of komaeda's, that just gets you some internal narration from hinata about what the video message might be — will produce a dialogue box full of glitch text. it looks to me like these are echoes of what they might have been thinking in their last moments, or what little can be taken from their minds when they're comatose and "dead" in the virtual world. i think it's worth taking a look, and also this is something that really stuck with me from when i first got into sdr2 so i've been wanting to talk about this for a while. here's the screencaps:

this first one is ibuki's, obviously. i don't know what's going on at the beginning of this (23目?? that's a lotta eyes) but i like the emoji use

koizumi's. seems like the guilt about the whole twilight syndrome thing got to her more than she let on

tsumiki's. while viewing this message those black spots pulsate and nearly blot out the whole screen. i had to time this screenshot

this one is nanami's. not that that's surprising given she put the konami code in here

saionji's, showing off her two main passions in life: her girlfriend, and killing insects

peko's. this effect, with the screen breaking into tiles and falling apart, is used repeatedly throughout this section of the game to show how everything's glitching and breaking down. like the emoji use again

imposter's. i don't know what the numbers mean, if anything, but i think it's interesting how the "fate of the togami clan" bit (pertaining to the fake identity) is easier to make out than whatever that is about "guide you" at the top.

gundam's. he's... strangely correct about the dying twice thing? since his "death" was VR and he will presumably have to die in real life at some point also?

hanamura's is exactly what you'd expect. he's thinking about the diner and about his mom.

nidai's... i'll let it speak for itself

this made a very vivid impression on me back when i first got into sdr2 and i'm struggling now to articulate what about this got me. part of it was probably that i felt vindicated that i'd guessed the VR twist (at this point, while it's not been explicitly confirmed, it is very very obvious that that is what's going on — i'm going to talk about that more later), and i think that... prompted a genuine emotional reaction in me, realizing that this could mean those characters aren't really dead. that, at the very least, echoes of them still persist. and obviously we get a lot more of these echoes in the subsequent scenes, something i'm also going to talk about more in another post, but this is before the dead students begin showing up and interacting with the group. this is the first hint that everybody might not be dead, and a notable spot where the cracks in this reality show.

hinata has no reaction to any of these messages, btw. it's unclear whether he's even able to perceive this or if this is solely for the player.

[heretherebedork]

(Omg sorry misfired the previous message!) I just wanted to say that, while I know we are only on episode 2, Takara kun to Amagi kun has been so adorable!! Really brightens my Friday mornings. It makes me think a little of Tossara in that it is very soft, very communication focused (even if they have obviously a lot more trouble articulating stuffs but they are also so young so that tracks) and so far with pretty minimal conflict - which I absolutely love.

Also can I give a little shout out to Katori? He's there looking like a classic megane character with his class-president look but he is at least as silly as Amagi (their scene on the roof with the "take two" was just so funny). And he's here connecting the dots regarsing Takara like a *champ* love to see it.

It truly is such a darling and wonderful show. So sweet and full of that awkward communication of the very young and that absolute fear of his own sexuality that has shaped Amagi so thoroughly into the shyness he's experience, that shame about any feelings he has about him. Oh, it aches but it's also cute because he is so young and he is so sweet about it and Takara is trying so hard despite himself and his own fears and his own insecurities.

And it just makes them even sweeter because they both want this and they both want it to work and they're both struggling at the same time and growing at the same time.

We got to see Takara realize he has to talk and Amagi be the one to clam up when before it was exactly the opposite in a lot of ways, though Amagi does absolutely seem to be under the impression that Takara should just know even though he also knows that he can't just know and it's so cute.

It's good they're so young, honestly. This plot just wouldn't work if they were any older.

[ruki--mukami]

Just wanted to say that I love you writing style. Not only how you depict Ruki and how you build interactions around him but literally the writing style: the choice of words, the flow of text, how you play with words...

I wish I could create something similar...

🧩 Awwww, Anon, that is so sweet of you. Thank you so much for the kind words from the bottom of my heart. It's messages like these that really help my motivation.

WARNING ⚠ LONG RAMBLINGS AHEAD:

Honestly, I just write Ruki from how I imagine him to be in my head. It's very fun to write for him because he's one of the more "proper" DL boys, not only in his mannerisms but also his way of speech from time to time. He has his moments where he is formal, but then he also has his moments where he loses his temper and drops the proper speech, which I find very fascinating. Interacting with so many intricate OC's who arguably have more development than Ruki himself has also stretched my way of thinking quite a bit. It's thanks to them that I have to imagine him in scenarios I never would've dreamed of, but being the Ruki fanatic that I am, I absolutely love love love seeing him thrown in new situations.

Might I add, it also helps that I'm a native English speaker and I've pretty much been exposed to all kinds of writing styles from birth, so there's that too. I only feel the need to add this since I notice much of the DL community is from all over the world, and most people who do happen to write phenomenal English, despite it not being their mother tongue, have to go out of their way to interact with English material most of the time. Not trying to use this as a bragging point or anything, but I thought it'd be good to disclose that I know the language like the back of my own hand at this point, so it definitely takes me less effort to apply what I learn since it's the only language I know fluently. I also really like to show certain idioms, large vocabulary words, and figures of speech through Ruki as well. He's a smart man, so he's the perfect character for me to practice new words I learn which I am very thankful for.

Another element I find interesting about roleplaying as Ruki is that it allows me much room for artistic liberties with his character. The only content we have for his "English" speech would be translations from the original Japanese script. Other than this, the only official English localization I can think of for DL would be the English dub of the anime, but we don't talk about that fiasco on this blog. In the anime Ruki has a very cold, yet proper demeanor (e.g., "There will be consequences," or "I am mystified by you"—they're kind of "big" ways of talking, if that makes sense?) but here I try to take it a step further.

Aside from DL itself, if I'm being transparent there are also a handful of other characters from other franchises who I take lots of inspiration from when writing for Ruki. Some notable ones who really inspire me are Goro Akechi from Persona 5, and many Fire Emblem characters such as Leo, Berkut, and Hubert. Even King Arthur from Merlin (BBC) has inspired me with his way of speech, haha. As you can see, Ruki really acts like royalty sometimes...

Okay, sorry for the long rambling. I want to wrap this response up by saying: Of course you can create something similar, Anon! Writing is not only something we are forced to learn in school to interact with the real world, but also a creative outlet and hobby for us to express ourselves. Whether it's with Ruki, DL, or even another franchise, I'm sure you can improve your own writing style and create something fantastic. Practice, practice, practice. Don’t forget to take breaks from writing and read a lot too. That's a secondary reason why I run this blog. To practice my own writing and stay in touch with articulating my own thoughts creatively. Since I'm not in school anymore, the only other writing I do outside of this blog is my work emails and direct messages with friends. That's it. Not much room for creativity and thinking outside the box because with those, I am forced to write either professionally or casually. However, thanks to Ruki, I can write things I would never say in real life, hahaha. 🧩

[kitkatopinions]

I feel the need to hear your opinion on this since this is something I've been thinking about recently, and it's how crwby handles complex relationships/abuse in their show... It's infuriating.

I can't tell if they genuinely think they are writing this in a good way or if they know they're half asss-ing it and don't care since the fandom will eat it up anyways. Two big examples that come to mind for me in the last volume are emerald & cinder and whitley & jacques. In both instances the the victim never gets a moment of closure or a moment of breaking away from their abuser, nor are either victims allowed to show any sort of 'hesitance' (for a lack of a better term) related to their abuse.

Emerald (despite being all over cinder before Midnight), just conveniently forgets about her for the finale. Same for whitley. He just completely forgets about jacques (the man who manipulated him from birth) the moment weiss hugs him. On a shallow level, watching a victim pay no mind to their abuser is satisfying, but it being so immediate is just unrealistic and takes away from the pain that we are supposed to think these characters have suffered.

One of the worst things about suffering from abuse is how is affects the victims even when they have left the abusive relationship, but crwby seems to want to erase that completely from characters who should experience that for plot convenience.

It seems like the lesson learned from this is "if you were abused, just get over it and be convenient to our heroes or else!" And it's pretty gross imo.

Thoughts?

I thought that I would put these two asks together and take this opportunity to talk about the abuse victims in RWBY and how they're handled. I've tried to think long and hard about what to say about this, because this is an important topic to me and something that's personal for me. I'm an abuse survivor, but I have a complicated relationship with that part of myself and I'm never really comfortable talking about it much. But despite the fact that I've experienced abuse, I recognize that I'm not a professional sensitivity editor, not a therapist, and not someone who's studied the effects of abuse.

I'm simply writing this based on my own feelings and what I've picked up witnessing other abuse victims discuss their own feelings about abused character. There will be RWBY criticism below the keep reading. Please keep in mind that I'm not speaking for all abuse survivors and am only trying to articulate my own feelings in regards to this issue.

The first thing to note is that there isn't one, correct, right way to write an abuse victim in my opinion. Lots of people have different reactions and responses to abuse, the way they were abused is often also different, causing different reactions.

In the first anon, it's noted that Emerald and Whitley both seem to move on from their abuse quickly and with very little effect on them or their stories. Many abuse victims put their experiences on the back burner or 'in a box' to deal with later, or mask and pretend that they're alright or that their abuse just didn't happen. Some of them let their feelings or their anger simmer over time. There are also abuse victims who do just... Move on with relative ease. I'd imagine that's very rare though. (again, I'm not not an expert or any sort of psychologist.)

In the same way, an abuse victim becoming an abuser in their own interactions is something that one hundred percent happens. Cinder, Salem, Adam, and even Blake and Winter have all acted in abusive ways towards the people around them (though obviously Blake and Winter acted much less abusive than any of the villains mentioned.) It might be very hard for abuse victims to not fall back into those patterns of abuse that they've suffered, especially if they go through it at an early age. I'm not very comfortable talking about my own experiences, but myself and my siblings have all had to fight down toxic, hurtful traits that we picked up either through emulating or through survival. And it's hard to do that. Portraying characters who have been abused that lost that fight and might have abusive tendencies or slip themselves is - to me at least - sometimes even helpful in working through my own feelings.

And there are definitely one hundred percent abuse victims who feel like the way they were treated is deserved, that they 'earned' it, that they must 'make up for it.' Oz is in this category. There's nothing wrong with the concept of a character who feels responsible for their abuser or the hurt their abuser has caused to others, there’s nothing wrong with a character who tends to act as though everything is their fault and who thinks very poorly of themselves.

In theory. But the problem is that in application, there are a lot of pitfalls and struggles that come with writing for abuse victims. Understanding, thoughtfulness, and care are not the RWBY writers’ strength, and any time you portray real life issues that strongly impact the real life people involved in them, you have to be aware and careful with the messages you’re sending. This is obviously very important when someone writes for any minority or oppressed group or the issues that they face, but it’s also important to remember when you write for abuse victims, because they do have stigmas around them and deal with stereotypes and harmful portrayals as well. Let’s look at what I consider some harmful or hurtful pitfalls when it comes to abused characters.

Are the abused characters treated as the victims they are? If the abuse a character faces is treated as comical, treated as unimportant, or treated as deserved, that’s an obvious major flaw. Sad to say, but RWBY does not pass this. On two separate occasions, a character is hit by someone close to them in a way that clearly causes them some pain, with Blake hitting Sun across the face for following her, and Winter hitting Weiss for answering a question incorrectly and again for failing in her training (I tend to be more sympathetic towards Blake’s situation, as it is more gray with her clearly thinking Sun had stalked her which is a clear trigger from her own abuse, but this is an explanation, not an excuse and the fact that it was framed as funny rather than something Blake shouldn’t have done and should apologize for is the problem.) They also do not treat Ozpin like the victim when Qrow punches him in the face, having no one call Qrow out for it and having him never express guilt or try to apologize for it. Yes, I know Ozpin had retreated, but they never showed Qrow even make an effort to get Ozpin to come back so he could apologize. . They also ‘redeem’ Hazel and give him a ‘partially right’ storyline despite his openly beating Ozpin, unfairly blaming him for the death of his sister, and insisting that Ozpin deserved to be tortured. On top of this, despite having been horribly abused by the SDC, Adam isn’t treated with even an ounce of sympathy or understanding and Jacques Schnee and the SDC is treated like a more comical-ish nuisance in season seven and eight. This is greatly flawed. Hitting someone because they lied to you or kept secrets from you is not okay, hitting someone because they said something you don’t like is not okay. This should not be treated as funny and it shouldn’t be treated as the fault of the person who was hit for not being a good enough friend.

Are the abused characters mostly villains, when the heroes have never faced it? The reason for this is obvious, although it’s valid to have a villain be an abuse victim, it’s never alright to villainize abuse victims. Making the majority of your bad guys abuse victims and your good guys have positive relationships is in my opinion, harmful. Point for RWBY, this is not the case for their show. Mercury, Salem, and Cinder on the bad side are all abuse victims with Raven being a possible, but unconfirmed abuse victim as well. While Weiss, Blake, Ozpin, and Whitley are also abuse victims, with Qrow and May both being possible, but unconfirmed abuse victims, and Winter and Emerald are both abuse victims who were on the side of a villain and then turned good.

Is the abuse more severe in the ‘bad’ characters and lighter in the ‘good’ characters? If the abuse that the good guys faced is mostly lighter things and the abuse that the villains suffered is worse and more severe, that might send some bad messages that people who suffer more are automatically worse people, or ‘unsalvageable’ or ‘too broken,’ as opposed to the people that ‘there’s still hope for.’ Unfortunately, I think RWBY is almost a tie? We’ve never seen Weiss or Emerald suffer more than a hit, we don’t know for sure that Whitley or Winter were ever victims of physical abuse. Ozpin and Blake’s abuse is worse, however, as they are hunted down by their abusers who attempt to murder them, make them suffer, and hurt their loved ones. They also were heavily emotionally manipulated and victim blamed by their abusers. And on the villain side, Mercury was beat by his father who hated him and stole his semblance (an extension of your soul, I believe, in canon,) and the abuse led to the loss of his limbs. Cinder was forced to work hard labor by her abusive employer and the ‘stepsisters’ treated her badly, and she was physically electrocuted. We see her abuse extend to Salem using her Grimm arm to hurt her, copying the effects of the necklace. Adam was also a child laborer who worked in terrible conditions who got his face branded by his employer, in the SDC, which had to have been anti-faunus charged due to his bull horns. We don’t see Salem ever physically abused, but know that she was mistreated, isolated, and neglected by her ‘cruel’ father. So it’s not quite a tie, there are more severely abused characters amongst the villains than the heroes, but this is close enough that I don’t consider this much of a strike against them.

In the villains, is the abuse they faced given as ‘reason’ for their villainy? As I said before, villainizing abuse victims isn’t the way to go. A good way to avoid this - I think - is not have abuse be the sole reason for someone’s fall into a life of crime or cruelty. This is something that RWBY... Fails at imo. When showing us Mercury’s backstory, we’re introduced to him through seeing that he had just killed his abuser who cost him his legs, and then gets recruited by Cinder who at the very least likely emotionally and physically abused him the same way she did with Emerald, leading to the conclusion that the only reason he’s there at all is due to abuse. However, he’s just a teen and it’s possible that (like Emerald) he’ll be redeemed. A much more condemning story to talk about is Cinder’s. After people had been clambering for a Cinder backstory since volume three, RWBY finally showed us one. But it doesn’t include Cinder meeting Salem, why she joined her, her proving herself, none of that. Instead, Cinder’s backstory was entirely focused on her abusive situation as a child, entirely focused on her suffering. Cinder killing her abusers and then killing the teacher who decided to arrest her for getting herself out of her abusive situation was portrayed as the only needed backstory, the explanation to why she’s a power hungry, abusive, cruel, selfish, and just plain evil person. ‘She was abused’ is the explanation for why Cinder is where she is and why she is who she is in RWBY. That’s highly problematic to me.

In the heroes, are they “the Perfect, Sanitized Abuse Victims?” As I said before, there is no one type of abuse victim, but if someone has several abuse victims and they’re all either submissive, sad, and self-doubting, but gentle and caring and soft or dropped their abuser like a hotcake and never looked back, never seem affected, never really talk about it after they left... That’s bothersome to me personally. Measuring how RWBY is in this particular subject is... A little harder than I thought it would be. Let’s start by looking at the most prevalent abuse victim, Blake. She’s one of the reasons why this is hard to gauge, because for the first five seasons, Blake was deeply flawed and clearly affected by her abuse in ways that made her ‘unappealing.’ Blake was cynical, stubborn, cold, hard to get to know, she didn’t trust easily, she lashed out at her friends regularly, ran from her problems, made choices for her friends, and had a very negative self image. This didn’t stop her from being a good character and friend with a lot of good sides, too, and she had real, important friendships. This was - to me - a really great portrayal of someone clearly affected by their trauma, with lots to work on, who was still a good person. Some of her faults and problems started to get resolved in a natural way through her journey with Sun in volumes four and five, but when season six came around, many of Blake’s other traits suddenly vanished. No longer stubborn, independent, or cynical, and no longer standing up for herself, or really displaying her temper or hardheadedness or her struggles with getting to know people... Blake became more submissive, sad, self-doubting, but gentle, caring, and soft. Sigh. As the first ask mentioned, Whitley and Emerald both seemed to drop their abusers quickly the second they were removed from their lives again. it’s also worth noting that Whitley was treated with nothing but coldness and contempt by Weiss until he ‘proved himself’ by doing something selfless. Weiss did more or less drop Jacques the moment she left her house in V4, only mentioning him or her experiences when she’s using it to talk about Blake, and when she confronted him again in V7, she did so as someone who is proving she no longer cares. Ozpin seems to be the only one still unable to move on from his abuse and the ‘unappealing’ abuse victim. The first anon is right, there’s something satisfying with seeing an abuse victim move on like their abuser didn’t matter. But when almost all your abuse victims do, and one of the only other ones is turned into a submissive and soft support based / romance based character, and the only really ‘unappealing’ abuse victim is someone we’re supposed to see as ‘gray’... There’s something off there, in my opinion.

Were the abuse victims treated respectfully and thoughtfully by their friends, and if not, were they portrayed as wrong? This probably isn’t something that really even needs an explanation. Abuse victims should be able to set their own boundaries and tell their stories only when they want, when they feel comfortable, Their friends should be understanding of this and not force anything from them. In the case of Blake and Weiss, this is handled really well! Their friends let them talk about their experiences in their own time, and they’re understanding and validate their feelings when it comes up (much more common with Blake than with Weiss, who like I said, seemed to move on from her dad quickly after she left.) However, when it comes to Oz... This is all wrecked. Although unintentional (no one knew how deeply tied up with Salem Ozpin was or how intimate the memories they were going to watch were,) our main characters still forced Ozpin’s deepest and most personal secrets out of him in a fit of upset while he was tearfully begging them not to. He was forced to relive his most traumatic experiences in hi-def with other people watching with him, all his secrets and all his abuse wrenched away from him in what was clearly a very painful way. And then no one showed Ozpin even the slightest bit of sympathy or understanding for what he’d gone through, and no one ever apologized for what they had forced him to relive. In fact, Team RWBY were clearly displayed as in the right, and Oz was displayed as completely wrong for not trusting them implicitly. He had to apologize to them, which they acted begrudgingly accepting of as if they hadn’t shouted at an abuse victim after forcing him to relive all his worst experiences.

Are some abuse victims portrayed as bad for things that other abuse victims aren’t portrayed as bad for? Like the second ask says, in RWBY, Cinder and Mercury are treated as villains for having killed their abusers and Cinder is almost arrested for it, it’s considered a step in the direction of their villainy. But Blake is (rightfully) treated as the victim who was forced, who had no choice, who just wanted the abuse to stop. This is hypocritical and fundamentally flawed. I think this is a reflection of the fact that Cinder and Mercury are meant to be ‘bad’ abuse victim, who had violent tendencies and anger issues, and were already featured as bad guys before their backstory’s dropped, whereas Blake was meant to be a better abuse victim who (by season six) was starting to get written as a soft girl who just wanted to help her friends.

All in all, although there’s some things that I think that RWBY did well enough, I definitely think that I would consider their portrayal of abuse victims to be lacking. This is just my opinion and the way I feel about the writing, but there are a lot of ways to look at it. I think overall, I just really wish that the RWBY writers had been a little more sensitive and spent a little longer focusing on the character arcs involved in abuse recovery. (There’s still a chance for Whitley, Weiss, and Emerald to get more focus in volume ten, though, so long as the writers don’t timeskip!)