#and it's just the general attitude of “you're wrong because i don't agree with you”.

[prodigal-explorer]

listen, I get that you hate Basil, and that's fine. But please, for the love of everything living, watch like, a Basil deep dive or something (I recommend @JJCGames analysis they did a great job) Because oh my gosh you are mischaracterizing him more than the Omori fans that infantalize him and it's actually insane. You can still hate Basil after watching an analysis video, that's perfectly fine, hate what you want to hate. But at least let your hate be accurate 😭 I still don't like Basil that much after watching the vid but at least I'm more on point with my critic.

hey hey!

so i answered one your newer asks which is wayyy more respectful than this one, and i'm just gonna say to clear the air about this one: I DON'T CARE.

you wanna know the beautiful thing about a game like omori and pretty much all fictional media in general? it's up to interpretation! people are going to interpret things in different ways based on their experiences. but the reasons why i hate him are valid. they are not "mischaracterization" just because you personally disagree with them. that's not how opinions work. it fucking sucks when people act super entitled, and pretend that i don't understand the source material just because my opinion is different from what's popular and widely accepted.

why would an analysis video help me? i've watched countless omori videos and all of them are just expressions of MORE opinions!! none of them can be regarded as "educational" because they are all OPINIONS, just like how my views on basil is an OPINION!! wow, imagine the concept of just respecting people's opinions instead of running to the askbox the second somebody disagrees with you.

"at least let your hate be accurate". first of all, it is. i'm not lying when i say my reasoning for hating him. i played the game. i know everything he did, and i personally don't forgive him. plus his fans constantly act obnoxious and annoying and stinky. so there. that's why i fucking hate basil. and i can hate him for any reasons i want to, accurate or not! it's a good thing that, wow, oh my gosh, my reasons ARE accurate and valid!

i know that my opinion is unpopular. i know that i'm gonna get hate. and i get tons of asks and comments and messages that are worse than this one all. the. time. because basil stans just cannot handle the idea that people have different opinions.

just because my opinion is different from yours doesn't mean it's wrong. basil fans need to get that through their heads.

[yuri-is-online]

Soap Operatic Symphony (A Fyuuture Kid AU ft. Scarabia, Pomefiore, Ignihyde, and Diasomnia)

While camping in the mountains during Camp Vargas, you encounter a monster exactly like the one you fought off with Ace and Deuce at the beginning of the year. While trying to fight it off again, a strange portal opens up in the mine and a person jumps out of it to your rescue. He says he doesn't remember much, but it's clear when you bring him to Crowley that this boy is also from your world, despite being a mage, and until the headmage can think of a better solution, he assigns "Yutu" to your dorm.

Something a certain someone has an opinion about.

notes: yeah I have nothing to say for myself, I have other stuff I am supposed to be writing but this wrote itself ok? ok. Anyway this is a future kid au where your son has come back in time to try and prevent the end of the world but mostly to make sure you don't die. You can see this ask for a detailed explanation of what's up with Yuu and my masterlist for other fic. Oh and the other dorms can be found here.

Scarabia

In general, Jamil is going to be torn between being deeply suspicious of the entire situation and feeling like it's none of his business while Kalim is excited to meet a potential new friend.  How they act on those feelings changes depending on who Yutu is trying to interact with.

Kalim- anyone trying to get close to Kalim has to be watched obsessively by Jamil, and Yutu is no exception.  If anything the surveillance is worse due to the strange way he showed up, and Kalim doesn't like it but he understands.  For Yutu's part he seems really receptive to Kalim's efforts to befriend him, which is the furthest Kalim is going to think about it for a while, but he also notices the strange nostalgia and grief Yutu seems to feel when interacting with you and he really wants to help.  He's sure if Yutu would just talk about it, he could give him some good advice.  They get along really well!  But Yutu seems really reluctant to give out personal information… which Jamil really doesn't like. Kalim's sure he doesn't mean anything by it because of how apologetic he is! But he does sort of wonder if he's done something to make Yutu not feel safe around him... it makes him sort of sad.

Jamil- Once he got a look at that portal, Jamil realized that he didn't actually know what it looked like when you arrived at NRC.  He certainly remembers the mess Grim made, but not much about you beyond how confused you looked.  He'll have to ask about it sometime but for now, he's got questions.  Number one: who the fuck is this guy really?  His name isn't Yutu, he sure as shit isn't from your world, otherwise he couldn't be a mage, and his attitude towards you is just suspicious.  He has got to want something, and Jamil is torn between protectiveness of you and his adamant refusal to give himself anymore work.  It doesn't help that Yutu seems very apologetic to him specifically, he swears the kid seems to be apologizing for his entire existence.  It's weird, and he tells him to knock it off because it's not like he's his dad.  For some reason that just makes it worse.

Pomefiore

Vil- Epel is the one to tell him about the monster attack, the portal, and the strange protectiveness Yutu has towards Yuu.  That last thing doesn't bother him as much as you might expect, as soon as he learns that you're from the same world he thinks it's perfectly natural.  Admirable even.  The fake name and desire for privacy doesn't bother him either, as an actor both things seem normal to him.  What worries him is the idea that something very wrong is happening in the background that he doesn't know about, which he makes very clear to Yutu after sending Rook to distract you.  Yutu seems hesitant to trust him, and only offers vague warnings about making sure Yuu stays safe and keeping an eye on Grim.  Well now, they can both agree on that, and wouldn't it be easier if Yutu cooperated with him?  He's not going to take no for an answer.

Rook- Oh?  Ramshackle Dorm has a new member?  What a charming surprise!  He's sure this will lead to many new beautiful experiences.  And he's right!  Yutu is very beautiful, but there's something oddly familiar and yet… wrong about him.  Like he doesn't quite belong here, and not in the same way that you don't belong here.  He looks haunted, his interactions with you scream that he possesses (or to be more accurate used to possess) a relationship that can only have been built over several years.  But you clearly don't remember him, and there's a painful aura of grief in his interactions with you.  He also notices, with a great deal of joy, that the same grief is present when the little one speaks to him.  Just what could that mean? The hunter is in no rush, he'll find out what that means in time, for now he'll keep dropping in unannounced to test Yutu's reflexes. 

Side note: I don't speak French so I don't know if this would be the correct way to say it, but I like the idea of Rook's nickname for Yutu being Monsieur Caneton (Monsieur Duckling), because of how he follows Yuu around. Floyd's nickname I reserve the right to change depending on who Yutu's father is.

Epel- He starts off a hater, I am not going to lie.  Protecting you is something Epel takes a great deal of pride in; he wants to be seen as manly, as the protector, as someone who you think of as cool and trusts to provide for you.  So for a giant portal to open in the sky and drop a new guy determined to protect you from the monsters?  He hates it, he really does, and that's BEFORE Yutu starts living in Ramshackle Dorm.  He's determined to ignore him and not let him into the friend group, which proves impossible because of how Yutu follows you around so fine.  He can sit with you but ONLY IF he accepts that Epel was there first.  Something he's really surprised to see him do?  He should be more suspicious of why Yutu is constantly asking him for advice or acting like he's cool for being so possessive over you but well.  It's Epel he really wants to be seen as cool so he's just not going to think about it.

Ignihyde

Ortho- Ortho wasn't there to see the portal so he can't analyze it, but he can analyze Yutu!  And he immediately finds the Shroud family curse.  How curious, is this something he should tell his brother immediately?  Or should he skip the line and talk to their parents… decisions decisions but he doesn't have to wait for too long for an explanation.  Yutu explains himself pretty quickly when called out and Ortho is beyond excited to learn he's an uncle.  Less excited to learn about the impending apocalypse but he's sure they can fix it if they work together.  Now to double his efforts to get you and Idia together…

Idia- a second person has been isekaid to the NRC oh no.  Whatever will he do?  Well he intended to do nothing but Ortho isn't letting him.  For some reason he seems really determined to get him to hang out with you, almost like he knows about his crush he's been so good at hiding.  He can't complain too much, talking with you is weirdly soothing and much easier than he'd anticipated.  And Yutu's there too he guesses.  Sometimes they parallel play while Idia hangs out with you and that's nice.  It's sort of weird how in tune Yutu is with him though, sometimes he swears they could be related. A thought that Ortho is weirdly determined to encourage, and refuses to explain why... maybe he should be more worried about what anime little bro has been watching recently.

Diasomnia

Right so dragon biology is weird and our knowledge of half fae is very limited.  From how Sebek looks and how Malleus’s birth is discussed, I assume the eggs produced by love is exclusive to dragon fae and other species just get babies in the normal way.  All of that to say:

Malleus- Yutu is an oddity from the jump.  He looks very young, but insists he's around the same age as Yuu, and Malleus swears he feels his own magic is a part of him.  It's like a precious stone has grown some legs and started walking around and talking back to him.  He's a little bit in love, not the same way he's in love with Yuu, but much like a parent would think of a child… perhaps if they get closer he can offer him the night's blessing.  He does seem to be lacking it and that just won't do, something inside him says that needs to be fixed immediately.  Lilia questions him on whether or not he's jealous of how close the little one is to Yuu, which surprises him greatly.  Why would he be- well.  He does wish he could spend more time with Yuu but that sort of envy applies to everyone, not just Yutu.  And none of those guys are so unafraid of him to have made him a friendship bracelet so there. 

Lilia- a mage?  From Yuu's world?  How exciting!  He's very pleased to see how well he gets along with his boys and takes Sebek’s shouting in stride.  It's inspirational how quick he picks up on how gullible Sebek is and immediately starts telling-  well Lilia supposes he doesn't know they're outright lies but the scolding he gets from Yuu certainly suggests they are.  It's all very cute, and something he really wishes he could be a part of, but he knows his time is limited.  He'll just have to treasure these experiences while he's allowed them, something Yutu is very willing to help him do!  What a good kid, he'll have to tell him how proud his parents must be of him.

Silver- A portal, a monster, and a new mysterious person… it's concerning.  Something dangerous has got to be happening with how worried over you this new person is, his name is Yutu?  Weird but then his name is Silver so who is he to judge.  Anyway he introduces himself to Yutu and he asks why he came through the portal and… isn't really satisfied with his answers.  He doesn't think Yutu is a threat, not to Malleus anyway, but there's just something off about this whole thing and it's his task as a knight to make sure the people he loves are safe.  What's that?  Well of course you are one of those people.  You're very important and- why is Yutu looking at him like that.  He's telling the truth, what does he mean that makes it worse? Is it his face?

Sebek- Oh look another perfectly average human who is ok.  He guesses.  Not that he's thought extensively about you personally, only as a precaution to make sure you aren't disrespecting Lord Malleus, you get that right?  Him cornering Yutu with a strained look on his face and shouting at him about how to properly respect Lord Malleus is something he would do to anybody.  It has nothing to do with him assuming that if this person respects Lord Malleus they will be safe for "that human" to be around.  Unfortunately, Yutu is not just anybody and immediately starts yelling back accusing him of disrespecting you.  It's like there's two of them now, just with different biases, rip everyone's eardrums.

[ponett]

Whenever I complain about graphic or dark content in media I watch, I keep hearing people retort with this apparently very popular opinion that people who enjoy comfy, wholesome things are actually more likely to be raging assholes than people who love things like death metal and gore. As someone who seems to enjoy comfy, wholesome things yourself and likely met many others who enjoy similar such things, do you agree with this opinion? If so, why do you think this happens?

So I've been sitting on this ask for like a week, not knowing whether or not I wanted to touch it because it kind of feels like being handed a live grenade

For one, I don't like being pigeonholed as someone who just likes "comfy" or "wholesome" things. Yeah, I enjoy My Little Pony and Animal Crossing. I made a game with cute furry characters and lots of bright colors. I also enjoy things like Berserk and Chainsaw Man and Doom and violent crime dramas and punk rock with vulgar lyrics and porn. Variety is the spice of life

Anyway: I generally don't think it's a good idea to make sweeping statements about peoples' moral or intellectual character based on what genres of story they enjoy, regardless of what direction you're coming at it from. But this is a very leading question that kind of skirts around the root problems

There's frequent (perhaps a bit exaggerated) pushback these days against people who prefer their fiction to be a warm blanket, a form of escapism meant to distract you from the real world. In particular, the dreaded "person who only watches kids' cartoons" is a form of this that gets brought up a lot. I don't think the root problem here is what media people enjoy or don't personally enjoy - taste is subjective, and I don't think it's a moral obligation for everyone to have diverse tastes in TV shows - but I do think some folks should try to get out of their comfort zone a bit more. Sometimes stuff that seems like it won't be for you on a surface level will really end up speaking to you, but you won't know until you give it a shot. Trust me, I've been there many times

It becomes a problem when people demand that media ONLY cater to that "warm blanket" attitude. And I think that's part of the reason why that stereotype you mentioned about fans of ""wholesome""" media being assholes exists. People who view dark or violent content as an inherent flaw because it's not what they like. People who yell at creators when they make bad things happen in their stories, because how dare you do this to my comfort characters? People who say movies should never have sex scenes. People who want "problematic" moral complexity stripped out in favor of black and white moral instruction. People who seem to hate any sort of interpersonal conflict in fiction at all

These attitudes can be the result of many different cultural factors, factors that can't all be traced back to Tumblr or what shows you like, but sometimes it's definitely because of that lack of broader perspective on media. You can tell when someone's opinions on The Right And Wrong Ways To Write Fiction were shaped almost entirely by, like, Steven Universe discourse. (Yes, this is a jab at Lily Orchard.) And when these people are very loud about their opinions, well, it becomes a trend people notice

Like. I don't know you. You sent this anonymously. But when you say you "complain about graphic or dark content in media you watch"... that could mean a few wildly different things! Maybe you're just venting about something that unexpectedly triggered you, and that's totally fine. But the wording could also imply that, like, you take issue with these things being present at all, and that you expect a person who likes "death metal and gore" to be more of a "raging asshole" than someone who likes the "wholesome" things you like. So... well, maybe you're more dismissive or judgmental of things outside your comfort zone than you realize?

Unfortunately, in case it's not already obvious, on the internet this shit quickly becomes a proxy battle over dozens of intersecting cultural issues at once where everyone is kinda just talking past each other. So it gets messy

For example, I have no reason to believe that the people who run the "Wholesome Games" showcases have anything against games that are dark or violent or contain adult themes. (They've outright said they don't. Many times!) But when you see people going "why is Spiritfarer allowed in the showcase? That's a game about DEATH and that's NOT WHOLESOME, why would you make me think about death?" or "Ugh, why does Disco Elysium have to be about a cop? Why can't we apply these systems to a game about a young witch who's trying to find a lost cat in an idyllic village instead?" it... Well, it makes me sympathetic towards the indies who don't feel comfortable with the "Wholesome Games" label and consider it limiting. But it also doesn't make me think that devs catering to a demand for more chill, nonviolent video games are categorically facilitating fascist censorship from the Christian right

It's complicated! The written word is imprecise and the internet is a nightmare

I've kind of gone off on multiple tangents here. Basically: I do think that people can kinda turn fans of "comfy" media or "adults who only watch Bluey" into an overblown boogeyman these days. I think people online generally have a habit of swinging too hard in one direction or another in their stances on certain things, overcompensating based on what group of people online are currently annoying them the most and turning said group into like The Main Problem With Society Today. But I also think that boogeyman only exists because of very real examples of people demanding that everything cater to their narrow comfort zone. Go like what you like, but also, y'know. Don't be that person

[exitwound]

Maybe think about why you care so much about calling gerard way a woman to the extent that you equate it as the only correct way to engage with their work, as if art as well as support for the trans community can’t have value by itself, as if that isn’t the point, not their literal personal internal experience of gender that’s no one’s business, the same way trying to decide if anyone is trans is not your business if that person doesn’t want to tell you or talk about it with you, because it’s gender essentialist, and why it’s so baffling to you that a celebrity in general but especially gerard way might want to avoid labels or this specific type of intrusive categorization , as they have explicitly stated as well as created music that is about the same thing. And shouldnt we live in a world where someone can present gnc, and talk about experiences with gender and with femininity in honest ways, without people not just obsessing over whether that means they’re “really a woman” but outright deciding, and acting like they are. That’s a narrow fucking definition of womanhood. And shouldn't we value that authenticity from people who don’t want to choose a label as much as we do from people who identify in ways they do choose to label, (labels or the lack of btw have never been individual terms but tools for relating or not relating ourselves to the world in specific ways,) Isn’t that a better more open and beautiful mode of creating relationships to each other? Why does gerard need to be a woman to you? Why are you so obsessed with this? Why is transness and queerness and gender nonconformity itself, to you, some kind of item, an object or artifact for distribution upon others — and it is not in fact “creating cisnormativity” to accept the way a person wants to relate their identity to an audience. There are lots of trans women and transfeminine people who are doing everything gerard way is doing for transness and much more. If you want to call someone a woman go call a woman a woman. If you want to celebrate trans joy go celebrate trans joy. Please by all means do I will celebrate with you I am celebrating with you and I am doing it while listening to my chemical romance. So what’s the point in acting like this. I really don't get it. But it concerns me because this isn't the only time I've witnessed this kind of attitude and although its well-intentioned and "playful" its ultimately weird, ultimately harmful. So honestly, if this really feels "low-stakes" to you it might be because you've never dealt with the kinds of situations where the stakes exist, or considered the perspective of someone who has a different relationship to the stakes of your argument than you do.

Because not to be dramatic, but these stakes are the same stakes relevant to the literal record numbers of legislation currently being passed in the US using bioessentialism and gender essentialism to install systems of state-controlled gender-enforcing and forced gendering of trans and non-trans gnc children in schools and in healthcare. What you're doing is, if on a small scale, still contributing to the same conceptualization of gender as these laws, and as the people who passed them, even if you're well intentioned and hate the laws, even if your beliefs are reversed, the framework is the same, and that framework is going to empower the dominant culture, not yours. That's how power works. Which is why it's stupid. It's literally just stupid. And it hurts trans people who have had experiences in the real world where people are just as intrusive as you are being about trying to interpret their gender, and you’re no different for trying to clock people. If you don't know the stakes of your words, you should learn them before you use those words. Just because you're in a bubble of people who agree with you and think this is just about being either "right" or "wrong" about gerard way's gender and wanting to be "right" doesn't dismiss you from the meaning of the actual words you are saying and the ideologies informing your beliefs, whether or not you're aware of them, because the rest of us aren't trying to be right, we're not living in a this-or-that world in the first place. Personally I don't know them. I've appreciated & engaged with what they have said about their experiences with gender as well as their art while also respecting their statements about not liking labels, and treated their silence on their own identity as intentional, because I like knowing what words, and the absences of words, mean

[apostacism]

Full respect to Trick Weekes but I don't entirely fuck with the "Solas mirrors" thing. Like that may be the intention behind the writing but from a game execution standpoint, it's just not possible to fully realize. You can be perfectly respectful to him and still have him come at you with "you're the stupidest bitch who ever lived thank you for proving to me how worthless your world is" just by 1) making decisions he hates and 2) not interacting with him very much.

Let's put aside the issue of whether he's right to hate the decisions he hates, because it doesn't matter. From a "ego and pride" standpoint, which is supposedly what Solas is reacting to vs humility, all of the Inquisitor's decisions should be weighted equally. At the end of the day they're making huge decisions on behalf of other people, and there's responsibility in that no matter what those decisions are. There's always some ego involved in saying "I know this is right and so that's what I'm choosing."

So not interacting with him very much. There is nothing inherently prideful or egotistic about not seeking out conversation with Solas or taking him around with you. He clearly has more knowledge about the Breach than anyone else, but there's no particular reason to ask him about elves (particularly if the Inquisitor is one), Corypheus, or himself, for an Inquisitor who doesn't want to get to know him. And not wanting to get to know him is not an unequivocal symptom of ego. Sometimes you don't like a coworker very much and so you nod when you pass them in the halls and are civil in conversation but don't seek them out socially. As far as asking about the Breach goes, you get a Slightly Approves for it, which can be easily outweighed by lots of Greatly Disapproves decisions.

It is easy and very possible to rack up 7 or so Slightly Approves by being polite and humble towards Solas and in general in early cutscenes/conversation, wipe them out by allying with the Templars, and then free-wheel joyfully down into Bitch He Hates by declaring the Inquisition for faith and allying with the Gray Wardens without ever approaching him in a spirit of pride or ego. Solas can easily be the aggressive and argumentative one in that relationship, prompted only by an Inquisitor politely and with great uncertainty making choices he thinks are wrong.

To be clear, I don't think that's wrong or that it makes Solas bad. I think it's perfectly fair to judge someone on the merits of their choices, and that when someone again and again makes choices you think are short-sighted and unworthy of respect to dislike them for that. I think Solas is a thoughtful and compassionate person and I by and large agree with his opinions on most situations. I think there's value in becoming upset with someone who repeatedly acts against your own values, regardless of how nicely they present themselves. But that simply isn't mirroring. That is Solas having a perspective and responding to his own perspective, not Solas responding to the Inquisitor's behavior.

And it goes the other way! I have also played a determined, confident Inquisitor hated by Cassandra for his unshakeable commitment to his path and total lack of regard for her and her opinions who was Solas' best friend because he and Solas always agreed about the right thing to do. It's not about pride and it's not about humility, it's about Greatly Disapproves and Greatly Approves.

And that's just... how approval mechanics work. It's a video game. It would certainly be possible to create convoluted approval mechanics which also interact with your characters' attitude in other conversations, but those are not the approval mechanics that DAI has. It's fanfiction to say that Solas' attitude towards the Inquisitor is a reflection of their attitude towards him. It may be more likely that an Inquisitor who is a self-important dick to Solas also makes choices he hates... it may not. I have no data on how other people play DAI and I could not possibly say. I certainly believe that's what Trick Weekes wanted. But Trick Weekes' intentions are not the reality of the game, and in the reality of the game that premise just doesn't hold up.

[aruanimess]

Hello, Myrtle! 🖤

I hope you're doing well, and wish you a good *timezone*, and don't forget to take care and rest :3

If it's still actual, and only when you have time and more energy, could you please share your ideas of quiet sings of love prompt "i brought you flowers." "for what?" "there has to be a reason?" for AruAni feat. JeanPiku? I'm curious about your thoughts on this prompt, and I hope it'll also cheer you up and bring a smile on your face while working on it (but only when you have more spare time, no rush!)

Sending you many, many hugs and best wishes, Myrtle⊂⁠(⁠•⁠‿⁠•⁠⊂⁠ ⁠)⁠*⁠.⁠✧

Quiet acts of love prompts

Anna!! Such a lovely prompt! I wanted to finish it for the boy’s birthday, but alas… the tiredness won out T^T

Anyway, I hope you like it :)

~~~

“N— no, that’s just wrong.”

“Pshaw, no, it’s not. It’s perfectly reasonable actually!”

“I’m sorry but I can’t get behind this. You can stretch the definition, sure, but still it doesn’t apply. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not stretching it, I’m following it to its logical conclusion.”

“No. I’m sorry, Pieck. I disagree.”

Jean enters the kitchen. His pajama shirt is buttoned wrong and he must have opted out of shaving for the day because his patchy stubble is clearly visible. This is what vacation Jean likes to do then: sleep in and skip shaving, thinks Armin, lamenting the fact that in all their years of friendship this is the first time he glimpses this side of him. 

Pieck leans back in her chair, craning her neck to spy at Jean’s ass while he fills up a mug with fresh-brewed coffee. “Babe,” she says in a sugary voice. “What do you think? Is cake a sandwich or not? I’ll give you a hint. The answer is pretty… sweet.” She winks. Or blinks. Both eyes close at any rate. 

Jean narrows his eyes as he sits with them at the table. “What are you guys going on about?” He slurps his coffee loudly. 

His former zeal returns with vengeance. “That’s another issue actually. Sandwiches are generally savory.”

Pieck grins like a lazy, smug cat. “Have you never heard of an ice-cream sandwich, Armin?”

Rats. She has a point.

Jean sets his mug down with a decisive thunk. “This debate is stupid.”

“No it’s not!”

Pieck and Armin glance at each other in surprise. In their affront, they both spoke at the same time. They giggle at their own silliness. 

Pieck recovers first. “No, but really. It’s two pieces of bread-like substance with filling between them. It’s a sandwich!”

“No, no.” He waves his index finger at her. “That’s stretching the definition. A sandwich is framed by two pieces of bread. Period. Not bread-like. Also, you may have noticed the operative word ‘two’.”

“Are you guys seriously gonna keep at it?”

Pieck huffs. She picks up her fork, cuts a bite of her piece of… well, cake, and shoves it in her mouth. “You and your definitions,” she teases as she chews.

Armin sits up in his chair. “Do you want me to bring out the dictionary?”

“Please don’t,” says Jean. 

With a theatrical eye-roll, Pieck tilts her head. “It’s not about the dictionary! This is language in action! Expanding on the meaning of words as needs arise.”

“So you agree it’s expanding on the meaning?”

“I’m only pointing out that dictionaries are not necessarily updated on current vernacular.”

“But no one uses the word sandwich to refer to cake!”

“Not with this attitude, they don’t.”

Thankfully, the back door bursts open, and his glorious girlfriend walks in to save him from her best friend’s deranged ramblings. 

Honestly though, sometimes he thinks Pieck is just messing with him. She likes to debate him on the silliest, most inane things imaginable. After a short period of continuously getting involved in ridiculous arguments, he refused to engage her any longer, but then she started baiting him. She'd open with the most outlandish of claims and then proceed to defend it to the death. He simply had no option but to set her straight. And thus they have found themselves debating whether cake was a sandwich on the very first morning of their vacation, while Jean was still asleep and Annie out for her ritual jog. 

Along with a gust of crisp wind, Annie steps inside. Her cheeks have a healthy flush to them, from the exercise or from the springtime chill or both. She’s wearing a loose top and knee-length bloomers. On her side, she’s holding something obscured by the folds of her clothes. 

Armin tilts his chin up in a silent plea for a kiss. She indulges him, dropping one swift peck on the corner of his lips. Preoccupied by her closeness as he is, he hears more than sees something soft landing on the table in front of him. Annie draws back and turns around, already too busy pulling a loaf and a jar of jam out of the pantry to make her breakfast. Armin stares at her strong hands as they work on her food.

A low whistle penetrates the Annie-induced fog in his brain. It’s coming from Jean, who is glancing meaningfully down. Curious, Armin follows his gaze. 

There on the table, right between his coffee and his plate, sits a small bouquet of bright yellow flowers. More than a little taken aback, Armin nudges the bundle with his pinky finger. “What’s this?” he asks Annie. 

Annie’s spine stiffens noticeably. The tips of her ears are turning red. “I brought you flowers,” she murmurs while spreading butter on a slice of bread, avoiding his eyes. 

He blinks. “For what?”

A tiny irritated shrug. “There has to be a reason?”

Armin is shocked speechless. He takes the flowers in hand and twists them around to examine them from both sides, as if this will reveal to him their secrets. It’s six flowers in total, he notes, chrysanthemums if his memory serves. He digs his brain for their hidden meaning. What is Annie trying to tell him? His mind provides several answers: longevity, amity, joy; but also the death of a loved one. He shakes his head, frowning. No, Annie is not well-versed in flower symbolism, that’s his brand of madness. Still, what could this mean?

While Armin is struck dumb by the bouquet, Pieck most certainly is not. She plops her elbow to the back of her chair and looks at Annie with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Oh, come on, Annie-Honey. You can’t just show up with a bouquet,” the way she pronounces the word should be outlawed, “of all things and not share what’s the occasion!”

Annie pivots to face them. She leans against the kitchen counter, balancing her plate in one hand. “There’s no occasion,” she insists, and, before Pieck has a chance to question her further, she shoves the entire slice of jam-slathered bread in her mouth. She chews obnoxiously. 

Little does she know, she’s only riling her up with her refusal to answer. Armin glances warily between his girlfriend and Pieck, but it’s Jean who speaks next. 

“No occasion?” he muses, an extremely judgemental eyebrow tilt is accompanying his words. “I’m quite positive—nay certain—that gifting your significant other flowers is generally motivated by something. If not to mark an occasion, then perhaps to express some tender feelings?”

“Oh, baby,” Pieck mock-laments, “you shouldn’t be neighing like that.”

All levity bleeds out of Jean’s face. He pouts sullenly. “You and Connie should have never met.”

Pieck grins and blows him a kiss. Then, her attention zeros in on Annie. “But really, Annie, don’t be shy, is it because you loooooove him?”

Armin’s heart is hammering in his chest. He should interfere, he thinks, step in and get them to stop with their teasing. But in truth he wishes to hear Annie’s answer as much as them. This gesture… It’s so sweet, so romantic, so uncharacteristic of Annie, it makes him want to howl from happiness. 

Annie is scowling. The food in her mouth is no longer filling her cheeks. Chewed and swallowed, warm in her stomach, it can’t provide an easy out any more. And Pieck is watching her like a hawk. 

She sighs. “I passed by a vendor,” she says. 

“And?” urges Pieck. 

Annie casts a glance at him and meets his eyes. He doesn’t know what she sees in his expression—longing, embarrassment, tentative hope?—but her face softens. Her lips curve minimally in a fond smile. When she responds, it’s to him and him only: “And they reminded me of you.”

Armin gasps. The scent of pollen hits the back of his throat and he sneezes loudly. Then, he sneezes again and again and again, a proper sneezing fit. Jean is there, grabbing the flowers away from his nose. Annie is to his other side, rubbing his back with a small gentle hand. Pieck is chuckling, but her eyes hold a sympathetic warmth. 

“You’ll kill him with your bouts of romance, Leonhart,” chastises Jean. 

Annie’s palm on his back freezes, halting her caring petting. Her hand slips on his shoulder and then away. Oh no. Armin can’t have that.

He grips her fingers tightly before they vanish. With the other hand, he takes hold of the bouquet from Jean and brings it beneath his nostrils, taking a long showy whiff. 

“No, she won’t,” he says to Jean. Then he beams up at his beautiful, considerate girlfriend, who melts at the sight of his smile. “And if she will, I’ll die a happy man.”

[olderthannetfic]

I found myself rereading an old discussion about AO3 commenting culture (ye olde "Authors aren't owed comments" vs. "Readers aren't owed fic either" wank). And you know, it strikes me that a lot of the drama in such discussions is rooted in the fact that people only ever seem to engage with the worst things the opposite side says. And of course that leads to miscommunication, because the extremes are not generally applicable to most people.

Like, for instance. Someone going "I comment so regularly I practically gave myself burn-out commenting". Authors complaining about people who act entitled to stories aren't talking about you, I promise. They're talking about people who genuinely can't be bothered or go on flippant "Why don't you just write for yourself?" rants, while still enjoying other people's work. Ditto on the other side: people get offended at being called entitled authors, but odds are good the person isn't referring to you, who would simply like to not shout into the void, odds are good they're referring to the asshole authors they've met who'd throw hissy hits over comments that weren't phrased exactly to their liking, because yes, people like that do exist so it's simply flat out wrong to say "Just comment, authors are always happy to see comments, no matter how short! :)"

Also, a particular comment jumped out at me:

"It's not a consumer's job to compliment a promote an artist's work"

I generally agree that acting like people are owed comments is useless and stupid, but if I had to pick a phrasing that sums up my misgivings about common commenting culture, it's this. So many people seem to act like authors are getting a paycheck for this and don't need any additional motivator.

The other thing that bugs me is when people talk about all the reasons they don't comment (low spoons, anxiety, tired, etc.), but ignore the fact that authors have to deal with all of the above, too. And not just in fanfic. It seems any time there's any kind of social conflict being discussed (like, say, replying to a friend's messages in a vaguely timely manner) a ton of people will trot out excuses for why they can't do [insert what's generally seen as the vaguely courteous thing to do], but inadvertently act like that makes them special and like they're the only ones who have these legitimately valid excuses.

This started in one place and led to another, sorry. I guess I'm just frustrated with the Tumblr mental health culture of "I have a semi-specific reason I struggle with this so I'm not even going to try". I think people overcompensate too much for "Just don't be disabled!"-style ableism and swing too hard in the embraced helplessness direction.

Back to fanfic, every time I see the "I can't do it because of X" thing in the context of commenting, I can't help but think of how many authors also deal with depression, anxiety, self-esteem issues, low spoons, etc. and how easy it would have been for them to give up, but they got through it and posted the fanfic anyway, and how often they're then met with silence because the prevailing attitude among their audience is e.g. "I read this before bed and was too sleepy to comment, and too forgetful to comment the next day". I think about some of the fic I've written, often fic written when I maybe should have been doing something else, or fic written at the cost of sleep, or hyperfixating at my keyboard for six hours instead of going for a nice hike with my family, and it's hard not to get a little bitter, you know? Talking about legitimate reasons for why commenting is hard just so often comes across as "You're free to make sacrifices to write the stuff I read, but I won't make any"

I also feel a bit bitter that it's impossible to even discuss these things in a vacuum without someone going "Discussions like this are why I've stopped commenting", as someone inevitably will in the notes of this post. "Just shut up and make your Content(TM) and don't complain about anything", is what it feels like.

--

The entire phrasing of reward and owing is stupid.

The reality is that lots of people won't produce work unless they feel like someone cares. No amount of moralizing or excuses will change that.

It's also the reality that posting to the masses on AO3 or tumblr will result in maybe one like or other interaction per hundred hits if you're really, really lucky. The rate has never been much better than that, and it never will be. It's often very much worse.

If one personally wants to encourage people, sure, go out and do that, but any call to action that ignores the above two realities is like fighting the tide.

I do think "It's not my job to promote you" typically comes up in the context of meltdowns about letting artists "languish in your likes" instead of being reblogged onto your actual blog and/or contexts where the artist/author/etc. is selling their work.

Here's the thing: people who never comment do not count.

They think they're part of a community. They're not. If you don't participate, you're a ghost.

When some author moves to a more enclosed space, a lot of people who saw themselves as part of something are suddenly left out in the cold, wondering why. But the fact is, if you don't pay the entry fee of socializing with others, you're nobody to them.

The entitled randos don't matter. If they bug you enough, take your toys and retreat to a discord with your friends.

[badsweetangel]

im relatively new to your page (i love it btw!!) so im not sure if you've already answered a question like this, but im shooting it anyway

what do you think it would realistically take for someone to get close to henry bowers? in a hypothetical where pennywise and the general plot points around the IT don't exist, or even if they do. i haven't been able to answer this question myself without my own headcannons/biases coming into play, so i'd love to hear what you have to say, you always have a lot of interesting analyses that i love to read :3

What a good question!

First, I think it has to be someone who is problematic or at least doesn't show signs that she is visibly uncomfortable with the boys' attitude. I think this because both in the book and in the movie, it is shown that even though there are members with moral contradictions (in the book it is Victor and in the movie it is Belch), they still do what Henry tells them.

I think this point is crucial because Henry will not tolerate someone telling him that he is doing things wrong. The best proof of this (in the movie) is when we saw in IT Chapter 1 that Henry cuts Ben's stomach and Belch shows a sign that what they are doing is not right and Henry shuts him up. While I know this is after Pennywise took control of him, I think that Henry would not like in general someone telling him what to do.

So, thinking about it, I think that a "good girl" or "good boy" will never approach someone like him. Even if that person did it and it worked, that person wouldn't be a good guy/girl anymore, because they'd have to visibly agree with all of his/her shit.

So, if you're a troublemaker, chances are good that you won't get bullied. Nobody wants to mess with someone like that. That's a plus. However, if you're not a troublemaker, but just a person with questionable morals, you need to find a way to not get bullied. If other kids find you a perfect target for bullying, you're screwed. Henry will think so too. He'll approach you to bully you, and that's not what we want.

At this point, that's the basics of getting close to Henry (whether it's for a romantic relationship or being a friend).

Next, I think, would be getting into the gang. Being a troublemaker is a direct pass to the gang; so, if you're not, the quickest way I can think of is if there's someone running from Bowers' gang and you stop the guy so Henry can catch him. When you do this, Henry will be confused, he doesn't understand why you would do something like that. If you tell him that you had a problem with the boy too, he will understand. From there it's just a matter of time.

Regardless of whether you are a boy or a girl, they will treat you the way they treat each other. So, if that is something that bothers you, you should just accept it.

Now, up to this point you are already their friend.

The next thing is if you want to get closer to Henry, much more than the other members of the gang, it is through small subtle compliments. This doesn't have to be extremely obvious. Just say things to him at the right time. Henry is constantly being looked down upon by his father, he needs to feel power, he needs to feel that he is worthy. This will work if you are a girl. But you have to be careful that the other members don't make your compliments seem self-serving. So they should be directed only at Henry and at just the right time. If not, he won't like it either. If you do it right, he will start looking for you to flatter him.

If you're a boy, it would work to be an extremely loyal member of the gang. He'll ask you for help with things around his house and everything in general. He'll obviously be using you, but you'd be spending more time with him and that would make you closer.

We know that if Pennywise is there, the end will be lethal for everyone. However, if he's not there, I can see the Bowers gang drifting apart as the years go by, as it always happens with friends made at that age. But I do believe that this friend who became close would be with him (if he doesn't move to another city). I can see Henry falling into madness anyway, because of his father. We know that the Pennywise thing was just a trigger. However, I think that maybe he'd just be one more broken adult with rage inside him and his life, with violent tendencies and toxic relationships. You'd be there with him. Both with ruined reputations and uncertain futures. A little distressing, I know. But Bowers' life wouldn't be easy with or without Pennywise.

These are my thoughts for now, I hope I answered your question! As always, this is just my analysis!

[burst-of-iridescent]

I saw your response to the previous anon. even if we assume that you are right about KA (you are wrong, but I don't see the point in arguing with you), there has never been such a lot of negative interaction between Aang and Katara as there was between Zuko and Katara. Katara threatened Zuko with death and was literally going to leave him to die (and Zuko remained alive only thanks to Aang), and Zuko betrayed her trust and literally said that he did not understand why she was angry with him (although Katara explained to him the reason for her anger a minute ago) and then, according to Katara herself, forced her feeling that she has no choice. I hope you understand that "a partner who respects her, admires her, supports her, cares for her, and loves her just as much as she does him" is pure fanon, and none of this is in the canon (neither in the show itself, nor in post-canonical things)? it's normal that you ship zutaru, and you can read and write as many fanfictions as you want, where Zuko loves Katara, and Katara loves Zuko, but the truth is that the canonical Zuko, the real Zuko, was never in love with Katara, he chose another girl for himself, and had a child with another gir (Mai actually) whether you like it or not. Just like Katara chose another man for herself and lived with him for many decades, gave birth to three children from him. You may think they made a mistake, but it was their choice, and canonically they never considered each other as likely partners. It's weird that you can't understand in any way that canonically there was never anything between Zuko and Katara.

what a pity that avatar: the last airbender ended ten minutes into the southern raiders episode. what a pity that katara never told zuko that she was ready to forgive him, that she never hugged him tenderly, that she never joked with him, supported him, comforted him, and agreed to fight by his side. what a pity that zuko never took a lightning bolt to the heart to protect her, and that katara looked shocked and terrified at the sight. what a pity that she never yelled his name, forgot the incredible danger she was in and tried to run to him and help him. what a pity that katara never took down a firebending prodigy at the height of her power and then rushed to zuko's side and cried when she was able to heal him.

what a pity that they didn't end the show with a beautiful, strong, intimate friendship that provided the perfect foundation for a romance to develop.

i'm not sure if you're aware that fictional characters usually undergo something called development, where they adopt different attitudes, behaviours and feelings from those they held before. i love that katara goes from threatening zuko to fighting for zuko tooth and nail in the finale, because that is called change, and growth, things that are generally considered good and necessary within character arcs and relationships - but i understand you may not be familiar with those concepts in romance, given that you ship kat.aang.

literally said that he did not understand why she was angry with him (although Katara explained to him the reason for her anger a minute ago) and then, according to Katara herself, forced her feeling that she has no choice

it is usually good to provide this little thing called evidence when carrying out analysis.

that is hard to do, of course, when you have none.

You may think they made a mistake, but it was their choice and canonically they never considered each other as likely partners. It's weird that you can't understand in any way that canonically there was never anything between Zuko and Katara.

in case you don't know, zuko and katara aren't real people with free will. their choices are made for them by writers whose job is to make those choices make sense within the scope of their own narrative arcs, and fit the themes and messages of the show. when they fail at that job, audiences are perfectly within their rights to recognize that and examine what could have been done differently.

just because something is canon, that doesn't mean it's immune to criticism. of course i know katara canonically got married to a.ang, and that zuko chose a different partner. that doesn't automatically mean those are the right narrative decisions because - and this may come as a shock to you - engaging critically with media also means looking at the ways in which it fell short and how it could have done better, and the romances in atla are by and large one of its major shortcomings.

[blubushie]

It's bitching hour I see, don't mind if I join! A lot of the TF2 fandom (mostly just Tumblr/Twitter parts of it) seem to be huge pussies about shipping. There has been talk about straight Pauling ships already and this falls under it too. TF2 fans on here seem to just fear being slightly unconventional with ships, no age gap more than 5 years or so, only the three most popular ships or else eat dirt, no straight Pauling ships, what do you mean bi people exist? It's stupid. You like a ship that isn't fucking red Octoberfest? Starve! Nobody will write or draw anything for this pair for months! Like a ship that's slightly controversial within the fandom like basically any pairing with an age gap, classcest, M/F Pauling ship, anything with pyro in it (also dear god this fandom treats pyro like an uwu baby that doesn't know sex when the guys a full grown pyromaniac with a job! He's mentally ill not a fucking child!! Sorry for side tangent) will get your head stuck on a pike ffs. I remember when I joined I really liked the popular/non problematic ships too but the attitudes of some people smh. TF2 side of Tumblr please get a bit more open minded with what you ship or just leave the people who ship unconventional shit alone. I know there's a line that 90% of the fandom won't cross and it's for a good reason imo (talking about incest ships here) but a relationship with an age gap of more than 10 years is not on the other side of that line, have fun and explore silly relationships with these fictional characters for once!! Let me have my toxic yaoi and toxic yuri in peace :(

Also I'm sorry about putting this long thing in your ask box, this escalated quickly

Agreed fully and also I'm gonna say something that's gonna rustle a lot of feathers–

People love SniperSpy. It's generally accepted that Spy is somewhere in his 50s to 60s, judging off Scout's age alone, and with SniperSpy he's sleeping with someone three years older than his own son.

And there is a absolutely nothing wrong with this when both parties are consenting adults. What I have an issue with is that I've seen a lot of people who ship SniperSpy then get on the arse of MedicScout shippers because Scout is "too young" for Medic.

My question is why? Why is it ok to ship Sniper, at 30, with Spy, a man at least 20 years older than him, but it's not alright to do the same with Scout, who's 27, and Medic, who's probably about 20 years older than him? Why is that? Why do you have an issue with one and not the other?

And it comes down to two things:

1. People think Scout looks too young. Which, I'm sorry, but at someone who's 5'2" and looks about 16-18 at all times (depending on whether or not I shave) despite being 23, fuck you. You do not get to decide if someone's physical appearance is "mature enough" when that person is a fucking adult. Get fucked.

2. Ableism. Scout is notoriously immature and often acts like a teenage. HE IS ALMOST THIRTY YEARS OLD. Maturity/behaviour ≠ age and the funny part is that these are the same people who tell you not to infantilise autistic people for perceived immaturity but then go on and infantilise A MAN WHO IS ALMOST THIRTY because he acts immature. Practise what you preach or get fucked.

People NEVER do this with Sniper and I'm not sure if it's because Sniper looks like he's 40 or because he acts like he's 40. But I'm inclined to think it's the latter, because people often do this with Pyro too as Pyro also often acts childlike.

So hey, if you do this, check yourself. Cuz you're probably being ableist. Ask yourself why exactly you think an almost thirty year old man can't have a romantic or sexual relationship with a man older than him when they're both mercenaries on a team of hired killers who kill people and break things FOR A LIVING. Are you normal about neurodivergent people? No, are you really?

[the-bloody-sadist]

Hello! Fellow yanagihara hater here. Please share more of your views on a little life i beg because that book was so promising with its themes goddamn but then the writer had to fuck it up -

OH NOOOOO THE CHANCE TO BE A HATER WHATEVER WILL I DO.....

THANKS FOR ASKING.

I'm really glad to hear from someone who was also angry at the book and its author! I tend to be more bothered than usual when any form of media is popular for so-called "trauma representation", held up as a classic, etc., and then when I consume that media, I find out that the way it's written is more of a pretentious normie's view of "suffering", which, in my opinion, is disgusting. NOW. PLEASE BE REMINDED THAT I HAVE STRONG OPINIONS, AND ALSO TAKE THEM WITH A GRAIN OF SALT, AS I'M PARTICULARLY TRIGGERED BY WHAT I FEEL IS HORRIBLE TRAUMA REP. And a second grain of salt, too, since I did NOT read all of A Little Life (because I got too angry, knew exactly where it was going, and said FUCK YOU YANAGIHARA, I'm going to watch a video essay breakdown of the plot instead so I don't kill myself), and also watched behind the scenes interviews that made me hate Yanagihara even more.

If you're curious what video I watched that broke down the plot and confirmed all of my expectations on this book, it's here! I remember not agreeing with a lot of what that YouTuber said, because some things are silly to complain about in fiction and I don't believe in the whole "sexual abuse should not be shown in graphic detail", which I think was part of his discussion?? Bad memory, sorry. What I think is ugly about the book is the pile-on of RIDICULOUS amounts of trauma for Jude, to a degree that makes it a parody, almost comedically, of real trauma. From a writer's perspective, I'm furious at the way she used it and the way it succeeded at it's one job--NOT to help people understand the effects of trauma and CSA--but to make them cry. It's cheap, it's gross, and it casts all of Jude's trauma (for me) in the light of "this author was proud of herself for how much she could stuff into one boy just to make SURE you were devastated, while paying no special attention to make sure these traumas were handled with care". It's enraging to see how low the standard is for professional books that A Little Life is held up the way it is.

Now, don't get me wrong, her prose, while bogged down by excruciating and needless detail a lot of times, is very engaging. It's part of why I was so mad that it failed in the most important areas. I wanted it to be good! I really did! And I loved Jude, he would've been a wonderful character if not for her amateur decisions. Had she picked one or two traumas to focus on, created a realistic background for him, and had his death make for better impact and purpose to the plot, I'd probably have the book on my shelf as a top ten. But instead, I listened to her speak about how she did ZERO RESEARCH ON TRAUMA for Jude, apparently doesn't have trauma of her own that she's referencing (because then, no matter how much I disliked it, I would be more forgiving if she's pulling from her own experiences), and just...is so FLIPPANT about how she wrote it. Plus, in my personal opinion, I don't like her attitude in general. She comes off like a cringe edgelord for the slop she wrote, and I know so many authors who aren't even professionals that write trauma WORLDS better than she ever could.

Also, I'm so sorry, but the COVER??? What a perfect representation for the book, honestly. That old photo of the dude making an expression of pain that looks fake as fuck to me, just...eugh.

You know those gacha life cringe videos where the characters are all gory and talk about fucked up shit that happened to them, but it's extreme and ridiculous? That's what this book felt like once it dove into Jude.

When I write my own characters, I try to pick a single trauma for them and a couple coping mechanisms. It's important to me that one trauma isn't just tossed in there without regard for how much it changes someone's life, behaviors, and thought processes. Other traumas exist, of course, but they fit within the theme for what the character will represent. And I think it's important to have characters around them that will balance that trauma, a caretaker, a friend, and some sort of hope. Even if it might be true in real life that some people do have out-of-this-world experiences of trauma, there's not a lot of ways to correctly convey that in fiction without coming off as silly or over-imaginative. It quickly feels like the author is jerking themselves off in how "good" they are at making characters suffer, when for me, it's about how good they are at portraying how even a "small" trauma can affect the character deeply. I respect it more when media explores the subtle aspects of trauma, incorporating multiple side-effects instead of just one. Again, I know not everyone is as picky as I am. I'm trying to have more grace for what others think is realistic, but A Little Life is WAY over that line. Whenever I read or watch something that has overdone, overdramatic, or unrealistic depictions of trauma, it's intensely triggering, and sometimes I've become suicidal for like a whole week afterwards LMFAO, so I'm super passionate about this subject, and I think it's because I'm both a writer and a trauma survivor. Having CPTSD and watching shit like Bungou Stray Dogs get praised for "good PTSD rep" with ATSUSHI????? Straying a bit from the topic, but I lose respect for anyone who expresses that opinion.

Anyway, as a closing opinion, Yanagihara just sounds like a teen fanfic writer who crams their story full of misery and thinks she's done a great job just because there was a lot of it and people went “aww, so sad”. It just felt like trauma is a spectacle for her, not a crushing psychological experience.

I already feel misunderstood enough, as is. I already feel like my trauma has been disregarded by anybody who hasn't shared the same type of trauma. The last thing I need is confirmation that it'll continue to be misunderstood because of media depictions like A Little Life.

THANKS FOR LETTING ME RANT, ANON! I hope I shared a lot of the same things you felt about the book!! I don't think I said everything as well as I wanted to, but I pushed the book out of my mind as much as possible after getting triggered by it, so I can't recall all of the details in full clarity. LMAO...

MUCH LOVE TO YOU!! And to leave on a positive note, I recently watched Room (with Brie Larson) and it was one of the BEST realistic representations of trauma I've seen in a LONG TIME. So that was nice!! It's in my favorites list now and I recommend it to everyone so you don't have to think about A Little Life anymore 🫵😡

[thewhumpcaretaker]

In the JW world what do you think is the general attitude of assassins, the High Table and so on toward psychiatry? I feel like they would totally dismiss it…they’d consider it pseudoscience for ordinary sheeple. Because otherwise they’d have to admit that pretty much everyone under the Table has some kind of personality disorder, PTSD, family issues, sociopathy etc. And they’d much rather think of themselves as superior to the rest of humanity, rather than inferior or damaged. So they have surgeons and probably physical therapy and so on, they’d be fine with self-medicating with alcohol and recreational drugs…but no shrinks, and you’ll get scornfully laughed out of any Continental bar if it gets out that you’re seeing one. Wdyt???

I've thought about this quite a lot (not because I've imagined giving every single one of my JW blorbos therapy or anything hehehe) but I mostly agree. I do think it's probably considered very shameful and isn't something most of them would even consider. But I think it's not so much that they see it as pseudoscience, rather an admission of weakness. I can't imagine it's common to admit to any illness within the High Table (anything more chronic than a bullet wound at least), because there's such an effort to hold onto power. If you're ill, then you're not in top form and this is a good time for an assassination attempt or for others to question your fitness to rule and start massing a mutiny against you. In the case of emotional vulnerability, that would include an opening for emotional attacks. I don't think the Table members are above sending hate mail or intentionally triggering someone's phobia or substance abuse issues as a form of punishment/manipulation. Psychological vulnerability is just one more thing that can be used against you in a fight.

On top of that, there's the confidentiality issues. A therapist holds knowledge of all of those psychological pain points, and a lot of people would want to buy that knowledge for a handsome price or torture it out of them. Imagine knowing how to make John Wick or the Marquis de Gramont have a breakdown at exactly the right time. Their enemies would definitely want that info. I think all assassins and especially Table members are taught not to reveal that much about themselves to anyone, because it's a security risk. So if you talk to a therapist, it's seen as reckless and foolish.

And then finally, I agree that they pretty much all have issues, and were raised by people who have issues. So they were taught that their issues are normal, and would have to admit that the way they were raised was really messed up if they're going to change. That's hard to do. This quote really sums it up: "they’d much rather think of themselves as superior to the rest of humanity, rather than inferior or damaged." When seeking help feels impossibly dangerous, and it would mean condemning your entire way of life anyway, it's easier to just pretend that nothing is wrong and that the dysfunctional parts of one's life are actually the superior parts. Therapy is for other people. Weak people. People who don't have bigger concerns, like staying alive and ruling. That's the average High Table stance, I think.

[trillscienceofficer]

I feel like apart from what you said about B'elanna being interested in men only under some dubious consent scenario, whatever she had going in previously to Voyager and being in DQ was trying to be as normal as possible for her father's validation, whether she realized she was doing it or not. And besides, she only ever had a good relationship with people who didn't seem to ever be a possible partner for whatever reason. She's very lesbian coded to me for that.

(In reference to this post)

Man, you're so right. B'Elanna doing things with the perspective of pleasing (the imaginary perfect version that can do no wrong of) her father is a really good observation here. Her stint at Starfleet Academy comes to mind (John Torres was supposed to be a Starfleet officer, according to a deleted line from “Barge of the Dead”), but it's definitely not the only example of this tendency. So much of B'Elanna's life is conditioned by what she thinks he would do, even if I don't think she realizes it (she only starts having dreams of her childhood after discovering that she's pregnant etc); in a way B'Elanna has always been trying to recreate a version of her family where through her hard work and determination things won't end the way they did for her and her mother. I totally agree that her sticking with Tom for so long, despite his behavior and despite so many examples of their early attraction being due to alien crap and/or that declaration of love extracted in a near-death situation, is a symptom of that abandonment trauma as well. I think this is true even outside of a lesbian B'Elanna reading, but it certainly adds some weight to the argument as well. I mean, I know that "lesbian with daddy issues" (hate the term) is kind of a cliché but then again it's not like this was in any way intentional, and as I mentioned reading B'Elanna as a lesbian makes everything that happens to her on Voyager even more brutally heartwrenching.

And you're again right about her choice of potential partners, even the fact that she and Tom started flirting a little when they already disagreed on a lot... can be very easily read as 'I find this guy irritating so I must be secretly attracted to him' which, well. I know from personal experience it's one hell of a mind-trick for closeted lesbians. Her supposedly 'Klingon' attitude towards romance is very significant here imho. Why would B'Elanna lean into her Klingon cultural roots in just this one case, when more often than not she's ashamed of them (and I'm not saying this shame is 'good' by any means), if not because it gives her the perfect excuse to realign her feelings with heterosexual expectations?

Truly the more I look at it the more I can read reluctance and coercion and trauma in B'Elanna when it comes to her sexual relationship with men in general and Tom in particular. There's nothing intentional here of course (just the usual trouble Trek has with answering the question 'are women people?', compounded with and made worse by racism in B'Elanna's case) but the show lends itself well for a lesbian B'Elanna interpretation. And again, the thought that she might be a lesbian... makes all that happened to her on Voyager even more transparently horrifying.

[halfetirosie]

⚡️⛈️🔥I'M HAVING A CONNIPTION🔥⛈️⚡️

(Scales 08 - 10 React-os!)

Maybe if I scream at the screen loud enough, the characters will listen to me!

1) (⊙ᗣ⊙) YOU GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!!!!! 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY DESPICABLE.

YAKUMO IS GOING OUT OF HIS WAY TO SAVE THEM---UNDENIABLY A GOOD/KIND THING, AND THEY'RE SEEING IT RIGHT BEFORE THEIR EYES---AND THEY STILL WANT TO FUCKING MURDER HIM?!?!?!

THESE UNGRATEFUL PRICKS?!?!?!?!

THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH SWEAR WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TO EXPRESS MY RAGE!!!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

THESE BITCHES LITERALLY WANT TO STAB THE PERSON PROTECTING THEM WHILE HIS BACK IS TURNED?!?!?!

@#^$$%^@@?!?!?!!!!!!

*static*

🎶 Do to the author's over-immersion into the story and subsequent excess amount of anger, we are experiencing technical difficulties. Please wait for us to fix the problem. Thank you for your patience. 🎶

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*static*

These bitches are not "driven by fear," they are driven by their selfishness. It's so fucking unfortunate, because their actions make it seem like the way Kuya reviles humans is completely correct.

Yes, these particular humans are definitely worthy of Kuya's insults and cursing. But they do not represent all humans. Despite that, I know that this situation is just going to reinforce Kuya's group attribution error---he'll see this village as representative of humanity as a whole, and this, reinforce his general hatred of all humans. 🤦‍♀️

2) I am disgusted.

Kuya said the magic word---selfishness. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

These two-faced shitbags are so ungrateful.

First they try to bite the hand that feeds them, but as soon as they get a hint of vulnerability from Umi, they latch onto it to take advantage of him again. AS IF THEY DIDN'T TRY TO KILL A PRESUMED MERFOLK [just like they had already done in the past], LIKE, FEW MINUTES EARLIER.

The manipulation is OFF THE CHARTS.

This is a textbook abusive relationship.

3) Okay, I'm getting the sense that Umi is in a Quincy-esque situation.

Like Quincy, he's protecting the village because of some sort of promise with a now-deceased member of that community. (Yes, I know that in Quincy's case his friend later told him to forget about that promise, but my point still stands.)

Of course, unlike Quincy, Umi was never a part of the community himself, and he doesn't have much affection/ investment in the current community. (I don't think him saving the child in an earlier chapter goes against that idea. After all, it's a basic moral principle to protect kids.)

And look, I get it. Whoever he made a promise to was extremely precious; even more so in the context of a yokai's long life.

HOWEVER, THESE BITCH-ASS VILLAGERS DO NOT HAVE ANY REAL RESPECT FOR MERFOLK---OR FOR NATURE IN GENERAL.

Quincy's old tribe aren't particularly nice to him, but since they respect nature as a whole, they don't try to FUCKING MURDER HIM. They leave him be.

But this village??? THEY ARE SCUM.

JUST RUN, UMI!!! I'm sorry, but your friend is long gone. No amount of love for the deceased should bind you to a community that abuses you.

☠︎☠︎☠︎

4) LISTEN TO THE GRUMPY OLD MAN!!! HE ISN'T EVEN WRONG THIS TIME!!! 😭😭😭

THIS VILLAGE IS NOT WORTH IT!!!

Maybe, if their attitudes had changed from the past, they might be.

But they haven't changed. They are still evil.

5) WAIT A DAMN MINUTE---

So, you're saying that the promise wasn't indefinite?

And Umi doesn't necessarily go out of his way to do extra shit for this village---since the relic is almost out of juice???

THEN WHY ARE WE EVEN STILL TALKING ABOUT THIS?!?!

It's not like the villagers are facing certain death here. THEY CAN JUST FUCKING MOVE TO THE MAINLAND!!!! Sure, they'll probably have a tough time adjusting to a new way of life + finding new was of subsisting, but they'll be fucking FINE!!!

6) See, I agree with Yakumo here. Not all humans are bad, and I'm sure that whoever Umi made a promise to was a great dude.

I know I'm just repeating myself at this point, but the evidence is undeniable; UMI'S HUMAN DOES NOT REPRESENT THE NORM ON THIS ISLAND.

🔥🔥🔥 THIS VILLAGE IS HOT GARBAGE!!!! 🔥🔥🔥

7) Just when I think this story can't get any darker---

Bruh. BRUH. 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢

Do ya'll realize the implications of this?????

Think about it; the merfolk and the humans were NOT friends in the past. They were strangers, and the human villagers massacred the merfolk and stole their land.

Meaning that this relic was never meant for the humans. A merfolk gave their life to make this relic for the benefit of their fellow merfolk, but the humans stole it.

Meaning that these despicable humans, on top of murdering the merfolk, have been desecrating a merfolk artifact for generations.

8) ---BITCH?!!!!! 🤬😡💢🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪

THIS SHITTY LITTLE RAT SECRETLY FOLLOWS THEM, EAVESDROPS, AND IS HAPPY TO HEAR THAT UMI WOULD HAVE TO FUCKING DIE IN ORDER TO SAVE THEIR SHITTY LITTLE ISLAND?!?!?!?!

WHY THE HELL ARE THESE TWATS SO EAGER TO MURDER MERFOLK ALL THE DAMN TIME?!?!?!?!

I DON'T GET IT!!!! HOW CAN A WHOLE GROUP OF PEOPLE HAVE SO LITTLE HUMANITY?!?!?!?!

AND WHY THE FUCK IS UMI STILL JUSTIFYING HIS PROTECTION OVER THEM, EVEN WHEN THE CONDITIONS OF HIS PROMISE ARE BASICALLY ALREADY OVER?!?!?!

💢 (╯🔥 ᗣ 🔥)╯︵ ┻━┻

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

....

I have a REALLY BAD FEELING. I really hope I'm wrong, but I feel like Umi might actually sacrifice himself for these ungrateful, hypocritical, revolting scumbags.

And if he does, well....

Idk man, maybe I'll just have a heart attack and die.

😤😤😤

End of report

[thatswhatsushesaid]

all my irreverence and shitposting aside I am genuinely alarmed by two trends I'm noticing in the mdzs fandom, tho this can obviously apply to other fandom spaces too:

younger fans (under age ~24) in general (as in I know this won't apply to everyone, don't @ me) seem to struggle with critical analyses of the canon if the analyses in question are longer than a handful of paragraphs. I understand the value of being succinct where possible since that helps with clearly communicating an idea to an audience. but there is a significant difference between presenting a succinct explanation of a complex idea, and presenting a shallow misrepresentation of a complex idea because you haven't taken the time to carefully read the source material and then think about it before drafting your response.

there's a big problem (again, predominately among younger fans, or at least those who publicly display their age on their profiles) in certain corners of this fandom with conflating a fan's sympathetic reading of the antagonist characters (e.g., jin guangyao and jiang cheng) with that fan's real world attitudes around such issues as violence against women and children, sex crimes in general, and class consciousness.

like. case in point, I just erased over half of this post because I anticipated that many people would skim over 60% of the content and jump straight to the angry keymashing. but it's worrying to me that this is most prevalent among younger fans because you guys are the ones who are up and coming in fandom spaces. you're the ones who are going to be driving these conversations. isn't it important to you to be sure that you are understanding what someone else is actually saying to you before you decide to tell them why they're wrong?

genuine request: can we collectively agree that no one in the mdzs fandom actually thinks rape, murder, corpse desecration, or child abuse is okay? can we collectively agree that, when a jgy or jc 'stan' attempts to contextualize jgy or jc's actions within the source material (or dares to draw a narrative parallel between jgy or jc and wwx), what we are not doing is trying to diminish the seriousness of rape, murder, corpse desecration, or child abuse in the real world?

if we can just reach some kind of mutual agreement on this point specifically, maybe we can move on from kicking this fierce corpse of a horse and start talking about, idk. the novel.

[francesderwent]

(Ask 1/6) Just wondering what, in your interpretation of guilty as sin?, implies that ts isn't comfortable with her fantasies in any moral or ethical sense ? I think the song is a total jam but I'm not seeing the evidence and I'm curious about your thoughts. 1. She defends herself pretty strongly in the bridge (famous turning point/revelation of the "truth" in her songwriting) "what if I rolled the stone away," <escape/reject the repressive attitudes that link these thoughts & actions with guilt

"they're going to crucify me anyway" <if the resurrection imagery wasn't enough, now drawing an even stronger parallel between herself and the most Innocent Victim in all of history while doubling down on the "resurrective" action of her rejecting this moral judgement and choosing the fantasies because she sees it as a "judged if you do, judged if you don't" situation. Basically "I haven't done anything wrong (I haven't even touched this guy, it's all in my mind) but they'll 'crucify' me no matter what I do, so might as well do what I want," 2. Pair that with "what if the way you hold me, is actually what's holy" and "they don't know how you've haunted me so stunningly, I choose you and me, religiously" Seems to make a pretty strong case for "I make my own 'religion' and its you&me/the love that i am chasing" (a theme painfully evident in so many of her songs as she lives out the eternally true "our hearts are restless until they rest in You") The "they don't know" also speaks to an attitude of "it's unreasonable and a mark of not understanding me and my suffering that someone would say I'm guilty of something/should change what I'm doing" 3. Putting all that aside, even the use of the question mark in the title and the repeated "how can I be guilty as sin? (implied answer: I'm not guilty)" seems to strongly indicate the theme of rejecting the guilt that has been "forced" upon her. Now, is ts comfortable/happy in this song, no, I would completely agree she is not! She is desperately pining for this man and wants to be with him so badly--she is obviously suffering, but, from what I can see, it seems to be stemming basically from her unrequited love, not a discomfort with the fantasies themselves. Hope tumblr doesn't eat any of my asks, sorry this turned into a veritable novel lol

thank you for taking the time to write the novel!!

okay so just as a general disclaimer I think "guilty as sin?" as a standalone song is on SUCH thin ice haha, it only becomes faintly valid in the light of the whole album. but I'm gonna give a real response as best I can:

I think the turning point moment or revelation of the bridge isn't actually about the shallow fantasies that the rest of the song entertains at all. the bridge is more real than the rest of the song because it's her contemplating actually leaving her current relationship. "what if they roll the stone away", in my interpretation, is her admission that this relationship has become a tomb, that it's killed her. but if she rolls the stone away and steps out of the tomb, if she dares to rise up from the dead (again), the public backlash will kill her, again, for daring to leave another unsatisfactory relationship (for daring to demand marriage actually!!)

this is just reiterating the same point but I think you're right that this is another "my religion is me/us/love" moment, but I think it's not about the fantasy. I think "I choose you and me religiously" is her making an act of faith that they're really going to be together soon, and what she's choosing is to try to make it happen. I think that's why she repeats "am I allowed to cry?" as the very last line of the song, because she's asking if she's allowed to cry about the dissolution of a relationship that she chose to walk away from.

I read the title differently! I think the implied answer to the question "without ever touching his skin, how can I be guilty as sin?" is "I don't know--but I am." she doesn't want to feel guilty, cites reasons why she doesn't think she should ("there's no such thing as bad thoughts"), but keeps circling back. after the turning point of the bridge, Taylor often changes a few lines of the chorus to reflect the revelation, but in this song the chorus doesn't change--it actually goes back to the first, darker, less sexy version! and every time she still has to ask the question "how can I be guilty as sin". she never gets to escape the guilt.

it's also just very interesting to me that that line is the title. the song could've been "only in my mind" or "things we never did" or "our tryst", which in many ways fit the vibe of the song better, but it's not. the song is named not for the delusion she's chasing, but for the gut reaction she can't get rid of. she calls the fantasies "fatal", she says falling back into the hedge maze is "a way to die". she hopes they're magical, "a vow we'll both uphold somehow", but I think she can't quite ignore the reality that it's a vow she's speaking alone, in the middle of another un-vowed relationship. there's a question mark on it because she doesn't want it to be true, and also because the whole song is a hypothetical ("what if he's written mine on my upper thigh", not "he's written mine" etc).

in the context of the larger album, I think it becomes pretty clear that she thinks giving in to the fantasy destroyed every reality she had. it wasn't harmless, it wasn't romantic, it wasn't fated or magical, and it wasn't real. so if the song is saying, rather desperately, "how can entertaining these thoughts be really bad??", the album answers "look around at the wreckage of your world and your self-image and your idea of love"