#and she doesn't have to feel conflicted about it

[himbopunk]

for hakim:

the loss of harding and the realization of the loss of varric were a 1-2 punch for hakim. they were the two people there that knew him before anyone else there, they started this together, the rogue squad!! even with neve saying her bellara harding and him started this its like, yeah, but it goes a step beyond that for him w these two, they travelled together for Months, and he knew varric for years before that. (he thinks of isabela, of whether she knows, whether he has to tell her, does everyone know about varric but him?). idk the loss of both are so intertwined to me and while i think a part of hakim Did know i think the denial he wouldve wanted to cling to only made it easier for solas's illusion to settle in. and hes so fucking pissed off for harding, hes glad she at least got to bring back the memory of her people to some extent but she didnt deserve this. he would never take the choice from her if he could go back, its antithetical to everything he is, but she didnt Deserve it. and god does he still feel responsible (it was her choice but if he had been quicker, smarter, would she have had to make it?) especially once he goes and talks to taash. theyre really the only 'family' the other has left. maybe they both got isabela? but still. theyre still grieving their mother, he cant imagine what theyre going through.

which leads into the everyone else of it all. taash is a mess, understandably so, i think emmrich and davrin were the main force of holding everyone together but even theyre falling apart at the seams... lucanis will not leave his side for fear of losing him again if he looks away for even a second, like hes not sure its real, neve is overjoyed to have him back but is scared to hope for bellara as well. (this was already a result far too happy ending-y than anything shed expect, should she hope a second time or should she be happy that hakim is here. if she does hope does she worry about not seeming glad hes back..? idk. she shows it in her own ways but the distance while she 'grieves' bellara is still felt)

i think hakim would love nothing more than to check on everyone else and keep an eye on them but nobody is really letting him, not like before. especially once they hear what happened with the fade prison, what hed been dealing with with varrics spectre... even taash is like dude ive had weeks for this, and yesterday i thought i lost /all/ my family. but today i still got you, stop worrying about me lets just kick blighted god ass already.

for iktom:

i am evil and terrible to him and sacrificed davrin (&assan) despite them being together. only one warden gets to have a new lease on life in this house i guess. i think hes like. absolutely so fucking sick with grief. like, he reasons w it a bit cuz davrin knew the risks, they all did, even before the vg they were both wardens, even if theyd met each other in better circumstances there was the possibility that things would always end up this way but it doesn't make it hurt any less. i think he tries to go to davrins room and nearly vomits off the side of the lighthouse, harding and taash comes and brings him inside the main hall. bellara maybe tells him that theyd been working on contacting his clan, if he wants to meet them after the battle. (also like, assan is not a child he is an animal but i feel like davrins comments about him being their half bird half cat kid and the combination of losing them both adds a level of retraumatizatikn wrt losing his daughter on Top of everything. this will probably lead into some relationship conflict with emmrich in the future but.. not right now)

varric was less of a mentor figure to iktom, they were closer to being peers/just plain old friends. it still hurts, but i think of the blows here its not as much of a gutpunch to him. especially when varric seemed in this nonrecovering limbo for months, like.. i think iktom kinda saw the writing on the wall at a certain point, like sure yes some injuries take time to bounce back from but.. idk his relationship with grief is super complicated but he did get a type of closure with varric that hed never gotten before with any loss hed experienced (or at least from the impression of him that solas's blood magic left in his mind). letting go of a ghost feels a bit different is all.

with the others... i think about lucanis w blighted neve and how quick iktom is to check in on him, suggest she may still be alive and i think he wants to help especially cuz theyre very close friends by this point (and he did think he saw lucanis fall as well i forget that happens right before the fade prison too whoof) but to some extent i think checking on everyone else is a sort of deflection esp with the davrin stuff. taash and harding i think have been taking point in this version of events (bellara and lucanis are reeling from neve, emmrich nearly loses both his partners and drives himself mad on the dagger thing the second he realizes there may be a chance at getting iktom back. for just this once he can defy the inevitable). they kinda clock iktoms thing for what it is, talk to emmrich about it. emmrich and iktom take a moment to themselves which i think emmrich already wanted to do but this kind of makes it Necessary. obviously iktom needs to process still, but that was important for him to have his head back in the game, and redirect his and everyones focus on the new game plan. i think theres a slight bit of concern still in how quickly he tries to bounce back into the offense but.. if there was ever a time for it ykno?

*banging pots and pans together*

Yoo-hoo! People who love angst!

Tell me what happened when your Rook got back to the Lighthouse after being trapped in the Fade prison and had to deal with the realizing

1) their friend they just spent their whole adventure with was dead

2) Varric was actually dead and they were talking to a magical projection that whole time

3) everything had gone to complete shit while they were missing and their friends were having an extended (but productive) panic attack

[utilitycaster]

Could you give your full thoughts on the Caduceus answer from C2e2? Very curious to hear them

Sure! So to give a quick summary if anyone hasn't watched it, the question was "How would Caduceus and Pike respond to Asha and Trist from Downfall, seeing as they are their gods." Taliesin's answer was that Caduceus would struggle with it and his response would ultimately be that his practice is much more about nature and the ecosystem and natural order than the Wildmother herself, so he'd have issues with his god but ultimately maintain his practice.

First off, I like this, as a person who is religiously observant in many ways but philosophically agnostic; maintaining the balance of nature and providing a means of burial and grieving are important, regardless of whether there is a figurehead representing them. I also think this means that the loss of the Wildmother as a more active presence is something Caduceus will similarly adapt to, as will many other people, ie, the gods being mortal will certainly affect people deeply but the institutions involved will, as we even saw a bit in the C3 finale, remain. This is both true to life, in which multiple religious institutions exist and even contradict and conflict to the point of bloodshed, and there is to my opinion no hard proof of any deity's existence; and also indicates once again that lessening the presence of the gods won't actually fix any real-world political problems and might make some of them worse; on some level it's the kindest solution to the gods and Predathos and immediately emotionally devastating but ultimately merely a mildly negative to neutral effect for the actual people of Exandria and Ruidus other than the jealous types who are now glad that no one can have the toy firetruck if they can't have it.

The second is that it's very funny because Taliesin also described Asha as very much his idea of the Wildmother Caduceus worships! She is violent and hungry and largely merciless; it's just he doesn't like to see what that actually means when she is a person and not an abstract anthropomorphized force! This is unsurprising, by which I mean it's great and entirely in character. Caduceus is really often uncomfortable with the real-world implications or what happens when the tenets of the natural world meet society and people - which is also fun, because that's the whole point of the Wildmother and the Lawbearer's romance and conflict. Caduceus tries to use the idea of nature's presence to get Fjord to stop lying, to which Fjord points out nature deceives all the time. Caduceus is very much a contradiction; a deeply civilized if not very socialized person whose nature-based practice is heavily focused on a very specific facet of other people. He runs a graveyard! I'd also add that for all he says nature is violent, Caduceus late-game is getting very tired of the violence. The Clays also deal with one of the least violent aspects; the slow decay of a ground burial, vs. the Stones and the visceral (quite literally) destruction of air burial or the Dusts and chucking one's body into a volcano. To compare with Fjord, Fjord's deal is "no, I love the sea as a safe place and a home, and also because it can kill you in a thousand different ways without a shred of mercy" and embraces that aspect of the Wildmother (as well as a comfort with violence in society to a greater end).

I would also add that I feel this does also underscore the complete incoherence of Bells Hells' positions at the end (vs, Caduceus feeling inconsistent/a little hypocritical in a way that feels very true to life for people, who are contradictory and a little hypocritical, and wonderfully in character!): we have here a devotee of a god - a devotee who, I would argue, is truly trying to provide a net good to the world and is not engaging in oppression or colonization in any capacity - who both would have been very uncomfortable with his gods' actions in Downfall and distanced himself, and also (per another answer from Taliesin in I think the wrap-up) believes the choice to have the gods take on mortal form is the kindest choice - without that context. It really asks the question "did suppressing the Downfall story accomplish anything than putting Liliana at risk, in the end, or was the motivation behind a lot of the actions Bells Hells took ultimately some kind of weird scrupulosity-driven behavior that didn't actually have any consistent principles behind it other than 'I hope I'm not a bad person', which is an ass-backwards way to behave."

[zengguos]

thinking about lottie's suicidal tendencies kicking in again wanting to be chosen by the wilderness for the hunt, but she doesn't get the queen card.

after that, she just plays the role of the prophet here counting down and showing everyone she is still with them. but, she just plays face which kinda mirrors how she was back home where she played the role of a daughter, a face of someone they view her to be. then when it has begun, she actively doesn't participate in the chase of the hunt and goes to sulk in her little cave to the wilderness by herself, alone in the dark.

where someone once again threatens to end her. she does not actively stop them from trying, but they never go through with it. tormenting lottie more with what she ultimately wants.

she even acknowledges that akilah manipulated her, that she was aware of akilah's plan with animals (nia in a interview mentions that the hunt was to get rid of shauna and lottie). if this is something akilah wants to do and she has that strong drive, that strong desire to let the wilderness within her guide her to murder lottie... lottie would take that. just how lottie took shauna's beating and pressure and travis's failed attempt to murder her for example.

she became "addicted"/"obsessed" with the rage within people that the wilderness masks. them killing her would give her what she ultimately wants. would still let her reach the wilderness because the wilderness is in everyone. but, again, that two half conflict she has, as lottie (not the prophet) it would make everything stop for her and it would be over and she would no longer have the live this painful life of hers.

you can see the pain and conflict within her eyes. she wants to be a sacrifice to the wilderness, she wants to die.

she believes what she is saying, she believes what is happening and what they experienced even when she acknowledged akilah's plan. yet doesn't want to leave and face it, going back to the place that will make it all become fiction despite living in that reality of it. she would rather die in it, in the place that made her feel the most alive. the most herself.

death would be mercy for her.

she wants this to all to just stop for her now.

she wants to have a meaning all the way to death. she wants to be important, seen, accepted all the way to death. she would rather die here than go back to her parents, to her life before where she had none of that what she has experienced and felt out here. she wants her death to meaning something in her life, in other people's lives, than just nothing if she killed herself outside of the wilderness narrative...

why must it be in the wilderness narrative though? because that would lessen the guilt. that would lessen the pain. that would not expose her for how she truly feels because she is so used to hiding it. to try to hide and ignore everything that is apparently wrong with her. and if someone kills her then it must be for a reason, it must be something that is needed, that is wanted. that's why she never stops it and gets them to think about it before they do it.

her personal desire to die masking itself with the need to offer herself as part of the wilderness so she doesn’t need to face the true reason why she doesn't want to go back. the true reason why she feels this way... the true reason why she would rather die.

the desperation and tragedy of death has glorified itself in her mind the longer she has been trapped here. it is sad to see her state of mind deteriorate when trying to protect herself and others, justify, rationalise and reason with these events she is going through too. but, that environmental glorification is clashing with her personal wants. her religious psychosis skewing the meaning of death and the meaning of sacrifice within her mind too — she can't just kill herself now. she needs a reason, a purpose to within this world that has been created now like everyone else that has died unlike before in her previous life. to die here you need a reason, a purpose, an importance that is shaped in sacrifice and honour now. that's why she's upset that she hasn't been picked to die, that she can't just die. the longer they have been in this world, the harder it becomes to rationalise and understand why she feels this way without associating it to the wilderness now. she has always felt this way about herself before the crash too. about her life, about herself, just constantly fighting and hating herself. that's why the wilderness and these psychosis episodes she has experienced have pushed forward all her self harming and destructive behaviours and emotions she's kept so deeply inside too.

the wilderness has become her defensive deflection, her answer to many of her self destructive, self harming and deprecating questions that she's had even before the crash. so, going back is to civilization is worse than death to her, living would become a consistent torture knowing all of this about her and the constant fight she has been having within herself...

and it does become torture for her.

she already knew it would.

you can see her desperation in needing the wilderness to choose her, to accept her. how that rejection of death is breaking her more than acceptance of it. she has always been ready to die. she has always been ready to throw her life away.

she sees death as a kindness.

she sees those that have been chosen to die as blessed, as fortunate. it is a blessing to die out there instead of keeping on living.

the longer she lived the more it tormented her mind deeply (not helped with how the hospital treated her and her experience). see how when she got re-triggered by the whole travis situation, her memory of laura lee became rotted. her whole life was once again destroyed by those who still believed in 'it', by herself that couldn't escape 'it'. all she could do was fall again and hold onto the wilderness delusion because it was the only thing that she felt was real and needed her, that didn't leave her...

until death.

where she was finally free from it, free from herself.

she experienced what she ultimately wanted.

the full acceptance of the wilderness which is the acceptance of death.

callie being the one to kill her again blends the desires between the wilderness and the emotions of the people around her. every single option and moment of death lottie has ever faced happened in that moment. in her childhood home, in front of someone that is a reflection of what she could have been in her teenage life, in front of the wilderness — the back raw wild part of the brain kicking in for survival, in front of someone that was experiencing an array of emotions — the front part of the brain as the mixture of what callie was going through.

it was everything all at once.

it was sad to see lottie once again lost so deeply inside that inescapable winding mind of hers. physically in the place that is considered the deepest part of her psyche. subcomed it everything all in that moment.

and that to the very end lottie was rejected.

a final rejection.

a final ending for her suffering.

but, again that rejection was acceptance to her.

to her it proves that she was finally right about something in her life (even if she is heavily impaired within the actuality of the situation).

it is the acceptance of the wilderness that the prophet wanted, the acceptance of death that lottie wanted.

instead of a push to keep living that laura lee gave her, the reason she became who she was. it was a push she needed to finally die that she felt the wilderness finally gave her, the sacrifice she always wanted her life to be. she has tirelessly been someone people have always sacrificed themselves for — now she can finally go.

love is what made her, but devotion is what killed her is so entwined within lottie's character.

she was always falling, but now she's landed.

it was a full circle moment for her here in many ways.

[swissikssswissiks]

We have to talk about Jutty Taylor!

We all know what's going on on the internet right now. i'm talking about the unpleasant incident with Jutty and i want to speak out about it. I have spent a lot of time trying to understand the situation and form a certain point of view based on the information I already have. and I have read a lot of posts by inadequate people in which they try to cancel JT with bullying, sarcasm, insults and even death wishes.What is wrong with you guys? Instead of looking up a little more information and thinking, you say Taylor is a pedophile, use aggression, and spread misinformation. Many people in general stupidly follow the crowd without hearing any facts or evidence. You are so easily fooled, you believe anything and don't even bother to check it out. Have you ever thought that he may not be guilty and you are now literally ruining his life with your despicable behavior? It's easier for you to write a few insults and cancel the person than to start thinking straight. There have been revelations on Grace but you ignored that. Jutty apologized, but you ignored that too. This young lady provided no hard evidence, moreover, she was even turned down by the police, but you still don't care.

Anticipating your negative comments, I'll tell you that I am not saying he is innocent. I simply don't have the right to say so, but neither do you have the right to say that he is guilty, to call him a pedophile, much less insult him?I urge you to stop this madness as soon as possible and come to a neutral side at the very least. You can't imagine the pain your sarcastic and angry remarks are causing. And if one day it turns out that JT is really not at fault, all the responsibility will be on you. Let me say a little about the victim. I would feel sorry for the girl if the incident actually happened, but I am not sure if her words are true. Again, she hasn't provided any evidence. Some people have even found out that the picture she posted doesn't belong to her at all, and her friend who was supposedly with her on the day of the incident and witnessed it is silent. It's a strange situation, but what's most strange is that the fandom believes her without reason. How do you know her account isn't actually a fake? I also want to say that I think the "always believe the victim" rule is flawed, and in some cases, completely wrong. What makes you think a victim can't be prone to lying? Anyone can lie for certain purposes.

I have to mention the other band members who have been hurt by "fans". Who doesn't know, Liv and Per(and Hayden, as I remember) also received condemnation in their direction because they are friends with JT and support him. What is wrong with you guys? Why does the aggression go beyond one conflict and affect innocent people???? This is outrageous. They are friends with him, which means they know a lot more about JT than the rest of us, they know the truth, that's why they support him. And personal lives of band's members are none of your business. Stop being disgusting and don't insult innocent people.

I urge you to refrain from aggression and hatred, which is already too much in the world. Adhere to neutrality in this situation and stop acting like creatures. Be reasonable and kind people, not tactless, stupid, fierce and disgusting freaks.

Peace and love to all!

[fancyfeathers]

Reading your post about Injustice, I started wondering if some of the kids had their own version of themselves in the Injustice world.On the other hand, I imagined Supergirl and Superman meeting, and Songbird worried about trying to get her out of there, because Superman immediately recognizes her and doesn't want to let go of his otherworldly daughter.

Burn It All Down

Injustice AU

Only a few of them exist and or are still alive in the Injustice universe…

Firewall is the first one to be alive in this universe, but his sister is dead, she died because of the Regime, when it was taking over the world. Firewall felt betrayed that his own father would become a yellow lantern after they lost her to this conflict, she never became Blue Lantern and instead she is six feet under. Due to his sister’s death, Firewall joined the Insurgency with Batman, using his coding and hacking skills to help launch cyber attacks on the Regime, after all his sister would have never stood for this. Though eventually he would get caught while he was being a distraction so the others could get away, and he was caught by his own father no less. He was locked away, imprisoned in a high security facility so he may be rehabilitated and there is not even a single light bulb or wire in his cell that he could turn into a bomb to use to try to escape, just concrete walls, a bed, a bathroom, and a very locked door which only opens when he has a visitor since they slide food through a slot, and even then the only rare visitor he gets is his dear old dad, coming to check to see if he’s ready to do the right thing and the answer is always no.

Apollo was alive, a member of the Insurgency when he was finally old enough to help fight, but he died in the same way Green Arrow did, killed by Superman while he was trying to stop him. Blitz was alive as well, a secret member of the Insurgency, smuggling information to them, but after she found out what happened to Apollo and saw that her own father joined the Regime that was responsible for his death, she pulled the trigger on herself…

Huntian is alive, but he is not Huntian, his birth family never died, he was never raised by the Amazons, he is just some law student in Maine with not a clue of who or what he really is.

Then Pisces, he was similar to Firewall in the sense that he revolted against the Regime, but the mix of being a run away Atlantian Prince and being a part of the Insurgency does not end well. He knows that if he is caught he will be severely punished, maybe like what happened to Billy Batson, but if he is going to die he is going to do die his way. He sacrifices his own life when helping Firewall as being distractions to buy the others time to run away. No one knows the truth of how he died, a small but lovely funeral was held for him in Atlantis as he was still a prince and he was always loved by his parents no matter what he did.

Songbird and Hex are alive as well, but she is not Songbird, in fact she was never a Wayne, and likewise Hex never became Hex and isn’t Zatara’s son. Songbird’s mother died in Metropolis that day as well before Bruce could get her back and before he ever knew they had a daughter together. She was orphaned and raised by relatives who raised her how her mother would have wanted, with her never finding out she is a Wayne, let alone the Batman’s daughter. Then Hex’s birth parents managed to stay together due to the lack of conflict due to the control of the Regime, so he is just out liking his life as a completely normal person.

But then on the reverse side of that, when the crew gets pulled into the Injustice universe from their own, it’s like they found the missing pieces to their puzzle except those pieces were taking from a different box. Like the team splits up to see what is going on since they were in one world one moment and then they have no idea where they are the now, things look familiar but they feel all wrong, and this goes for when Songbird and Supergirl meet Superman.

They meet this universe’s version of Superman when they are tracking down the villain that they were fighting when they got dragged into this world, hoping to find answers but only to find this world’s version of Kal-El with his hand wrapped around the villain’s neck, strangling them. It is even too much for Songbird and she has the mind to grab Supergirl’s hand to try to sneak away from the scene but of course they get caught because the second he hears even a heartbeat from one of them he turns his head about and the villain is released and he is just staring at Supergirl, he looks like he is about to cry as he flies down to her…

“You… you have your mother’s eyes.”

Meanwhile during what seems to be a touching moment, Supergirl sneaks off to check on the villain, but they don’t have a pulse at all… their Superman doesn’t kill, no matter what, something was wrong. Superman doesn’t even get another second to process that he is seeing a version of his unborn daughter since…

“Supergirl we have to go, now.”

Supergirl knows Songbird who is not the type to mess around, so when Songbird tells her something like that in that serious of a tone then something is very wrong. The moment Songbird reaches out to grab Supergirl’s hand, she is grabbed and tossed to the ground by Superman and Supergirl can hear her partner’s bones crack and something flips in her because she punches Superman across the face, completely pissed off.

“You don’t get to touch her! What the hell is wrong with you!?”

Supergirl just pushes him out of the way before flying to Songbird’s side to help her and make sure she is alright. It is obvious the look Supergirl has in her eyes, he has seen it a million times before, it’s love, completely devoted love. Just like the baby that was taken from him is all grown up and out of his grasp… he hates it.

[misterbenzadrine]

simon elroy, my beloved

this isn't really groundbreaking insight but i just felt the need to rant about simon today bc he is truly my favorite character of all time.

like i love characters that are obsessed with the people they care about to a fault, like they actively put themselves at risk for the people they love most (abed nadir, demetri alexopoulos, dipper pines, richie tozier, etc.)

but all those characters have their own lives of course. abed, demetri, dipper, richie, and all the others have their own ambitions independent from the others. just barely (bc they're so codependent) but it exists. they also all have their own boundaries, which makes for great conflict. things they aren't willing to do, even for the people they love.

but simon is just so omg ?? his love for maddie is so pure and strong. and the writers were cooking so hard with maddie's s1 finale monologue bc yes ! that's exactly simon ! he loves her literally unconditionally !

and yes, it's a character fault for him, he's willing to go so far for maddie that it hinders his own life sometimes. but that's what makes him so great (sad but great)

he doesn't expect her to do anything for him, he doesn't think she owes him for all he does, and he doesn't expect her to feel the same way about him. he is all in on making sure maddie comes first, making sure maddie is happy, making sure he's doing all he can to make her feel better on his end, to help her in any way he can.

and that's so incredibly sweet and we don't talk about it enough like ??

and that s2 finale made me so genuinely confused but god if the romeo and juliet trope doesn't get me every time

the angsty "ooh you just missed them" trope is fantastic. (thinking about the book of life. and friends. and read it and weep. and scott pilgrim. and can't hardly wait. and free guy. and 13 going on 30. i could go on forever really)

anyway all this to say, i really like simon and i cannot wait for s3 bc i live for angst

[supermarine-silvally]

Yara, did you attend the Reverie?

"It should provide some satisfactory entertainment for him-- at least for a little while. He'll mostly just be annoyed about having to find another gloomy castle to live in."

Ask Yara (or any of my OCs) anything!

[royalarchivist]

Jaiden: Cucurucho, you have a lot of power, right?

Cucurucho: ...I don't know. Maybe.

Roier: Ah... Yes, you know, don't act like a dumbass, you have it. You have it, man. Eh?

Jaiden: Is there a way for us to protect all the Eggs? Do you know? I don't want anything to happen to the Eggs that happened to Bobby.

Cucurucho: Ha ha ha

Roier: WHAT? [Smacks Cucurucho]

Jaiden: [Bops him] Headpats.

Cucurucho: Maybe.

Jaiden: [Continues to bop him] Headpats. C'mon, I can get it out of you! Headpats! Chin scratches! Belly rubs!

Roier: [Joins Jaiden in bopping Cucurucho, chuckling and laughs]

Jaiden: Yeah? He's comin' around!

[Jaiden and Roier both laugh]

[geeangrey2004]

im going to respectfully disagree. Mafuyu's story up to Sayonara Persona is about how the mother that Mafuyu remembered, the warm mother who cut her apples into rabbits when she was sick, never existed.

The whole second arc was about how Mafuyu's love for her mother was blinding her to the truth that she was being hurt. Guiding a Lost Child to What Lies Beyond showed us the version of Mafuyu's mother who manipulated and guilt-tripped a very young child because the child wandered off. A parent who loves their child deep down wouldn't pull the "Good girls don't wander off and disobey their parents. I guess you're not a good girl then" schtick that Mafumom pulled. A parent who loves their child deep down and just doesn't know how to show it wouldn't enter their child's room without permission, search through the files on their computer, throw away thier belongings without their input, issolate them from their friends because they're "not a good influence", encourage them to issolate themselves under the guise of "picking friends that will challenge you", destroy their belongings, and withold affection if the child doesn't meet their expectations or do what they want. This very conflict is why KAITO manifested. KAITO represents Mafuyu's repressed anger at her mom for what she's doing, given a voice. Let me ask you this: would a child with a loving mother feel the need to hide that she skipped her practice test to the point she nearly had a panic attack when she thought her mother found out? Would a child who knew that her parents would love her no matter what go to the lengths that Mafuyu did to hide her bad test score (that wasn't even that bad btw, it was just not normal for her)? Would someone whose parents didn't remove their affection at the slightest displeasure cave to their parents' whims the second their mother made the implication that if the child chose the wrong thing, then they would be displeased?

Mafuyu's mother is also described as cold by characters who aren't Kande. Mizuki feels uncomfortable listening to how Mafuyu's mother talks to her while on Nightcord during the main story, and Ena mentioned that she was cold when they were talking on the phone in Hope Will Someday Go Beyond the Morning. That entire arc built toward Mafuyu *needing* to run away for her own survival.

The point about Mafumom expressing remorse now that Mafuyu's gone also holds no water. She's both trying to get her husband on her side and mourning the loss of control over Mafuyu. Everything in all of her interactions with Mafuyu was about control. She kept saying in Reeling in the Lights that she didn't know why Mafuyu ran away, that she didn't know what started the fight. She lies in Immiscible Discord about how Mafuyu's laptop was destroyed and what she was even doing in Mafuyu's room in the first place. I don't doubt for a second that she's lying about missing Mafuyu and regretting how they left things so that she can send her husband to set up a meeting between her and her daughter.

Even after that arc, the effects are still felt. Mafuyu has panic attacks at the thought of having to go home and face her mother. She has recurring nightmares about what happened with her mother. Meanwhile, her mother is still trying to manipulate her father to her side. She's not some poor, misunderstood mother who loves her child deep down. The rhetoric of her actions being for Mafuyu's own good was something that she said to justify her abuse in Mafuyu's head, so that she could keep control. If anyone deserves a redemption arc less than Harumichi, it's Mafumom purely because the story spent so long explaining to us how horrible she actually is. It falls back on about three arcs of established story to redeem her, and on top of that, reinforces the narrative that you have to forgive your abuser if you want to heal.

What grinds my gears is what when people say that the reason Kana5 is bad due to it trying to make Mafumon sympathetic.

A couple have even gone as far as saying that Kana5 is as bad as Toya5 for the same reason and I-

Look. I deeply understand the idea of abusers being more complicated than simply “evil trash” is hard to comprehend. And I may sound insensitive but,

They need to grow up. They should not let their biases cloud their judgement and assume something is bad just because a piece of media has something they personally don’t like

the difference between harumichi and mafuyumum is their awareness.

harumichi - fully aware of what he is doing, fully aware his son is his own person and does not stop him despite heavy disapproval

mafumum - completely oblivious to what she is doing to mafuyu, projecting an idealised version of mafuyu onto her (and possibly an idealised version of herself)

harumichi working toya to the bone is him applying how he learnt to toya. the intent was not to physically/emotionally harm toya but that is what ended up happening (physical exhaustion is to be expected, he should not have forced toya to keep working but he deals with the same so he probably doesn't think it's a big deal). that said, he is fully aware of the fact he is taking away from toya's childhood, and admits this in concerto that toya's life was not "normal".

mafumum is entirely unaware of her abuse to mafuyu. this is repeatedly made clear in events post sayonara persona. mafudad relays to her what mafuyu tells him and she's incredibly distressed to learn that she'd been hurting mafuyu and she doesn't know what she did wrong. she can be manipulative, but she's not aware that she's being malicious, she thinks she's genuinely doing what's best for her child who she loves. there's also some context clues such as her young age compared to other parents, the fact she doesn't have a job and the fact she's at a lower social standing to her husband that suggest she may also be projecting the life she didn't get onto mafuyu.

harumichi being given the attempted sympathetic backstory doesn't work. he is neglectful towards his son, but is slowly easing out of these ways a little bit. toya has already begun to make ammends without the need for making harumichi sympathetic. he's a bad parent who did a bad thing knowingly.

with mafumum it is justified. in her first appearance, we see her from the biased viewpoint of kanade, who sees her as a cold and neglectful parent towards mafuyu. however from mafuyu's pov, she is a loving mother who is misguided in how she shows this love. this is what unreliable notes is about. mafumum is a bad parent who did a bad thing unknowingly. she is sympathetic because she is a troubled mother coming to terms with the fact she ruined her child's life.

both characters are loved by their children by virtue of them being their parents. the story is going to convey that no matter how bad they are as people. yes, forgiving abusers in fiction is overdone and to some degree unrealistic, however we do not yet know if that is where the story will go. all we know is that there will be a reconciliation. but even if mafumum specifically gets forgiven, it would not be unjustified. i feel like the first impression we get of mafumum from Kanade POV left a strong impact on a lot of people that they can't let go of. the whole point of the current arc is to let that go. the game builds her up as this malicious antagonistic force so that it can deconstruct that when we get to see her from an unbiased POV. she's not a villain like many people make her out to be, she's a human who made a mistake. a very bad and very big mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. she is a loving mother who fucked up really badly because she was too obsessed over perfection to actually see her daughter for who she is.

if the writers try and make us forgive harumichi though fuck them he fucking sucks. like i feel like toya will because he's like that yknow but i don't think the audience should feel sympathetic towards him.

[bixels]

What did/do you like about Pharah?

Uh, gameplay-wise, I really love characters in shooters who rely on three-dimensional movement techs. Chaining together hover and jump to stay in the air for as long as possible and keep momentum is so satisfying, and picking enemies off from the sky made me feel like a bird of prey. I was a good Pharah main.

Story-wise, there unfortunately isn't much to canonically go off because Pharah is so underutilized and neglected. Her personality's pretty boilerplate "heroic hero" (she's literally inspired by Captain America).

But it's the crumbs/bits and pieces that I really latched onto. Pharah's a confirmed lesbian; her short story with Baptiste implies she harbors a crush on Mercy (fucking thank you.). She's biracial Egyptian/First Nations. She has major mommy issues, having grown up both admiring and resenting Ana. She's the bridge between Old Overwatch, inspired by the idealized heroes who surrounded her childhood, and New Overwatch. She's one of the only inter-generational characters in the cast; someone whose experiences span the gap, which is why I seriously believe Pharah would make a great main character.

There isn't much to go off of, though; she's a very uncomplicated character (she's a soldier for a private military corporation, lol.). But that just means she's a blank slate character, so I've seen fanfic writers run wild and create some really interesting takes on her. My favorite interpretation of her's a dense, herbo gym-bro type (a lot of her liens are about work outs, exercising, and playing sports) who's easily excitable under her seemingly self-serious, armored visage. We see how she tends to gloat and hype herself up when she's on a streak too, so Pharah definitely has a competitive and boastful side under her more professional and militant performance.

Now Mercy? Mercy is a real complex character.

[myrkulitescourge]

imo karlach’s soul coin usage seems like it should have been a little more significant than it was.

she only ever really stops to consider the magnitude of burning through a person’s soul for power during an origin playthrough—otherwise she rationalizes to the player that they’re doomed anyway, and if using them gives her an edge in combat, why not use them for good instead of leaving them to be used by evil? the dialogue with lann tarv in act 2, where he tells the story of each soul he's handing over to her, tries to humanize each soul coin, and still she doesn’t really budge and disapproves pretty heavily if she's told no in regards to using them.

it just seems like something that could have caused some kind of conflict between her and wyll, given he sold his soul to a devil in dire circumstances and takes issue with the player for sleeping with mizora, because she 1) is mizora, and 2) similarly expends tormented souls during her romance scene, even if for a different purpose. but it just... never really comes up?

i love karlach. but that seems like it should have gone Somewhere, from a writing standpoint? karlach values wyll as a person but is willing to use currency forged from souls like his for the sake of a temporary power up. she knows the soul is consumed when she uses them. that whole exchange with lann tarv is there to emphasize that every soul coin she destroys was a person once. but it all kind of loses narrative purpose if this combination of factors doesn't mean anything? karlach doesn't change at all in her willingness to use soul coins, no matter what the player says or how much she cares for wyll.

idk. missed opportunity that wyll doesn't have any dialogue about this, of all things.

[the-lark-ascending69]

Unpopular opinion but Steve telling Nancy he would date Robin if he could is creepy as hell i wish we talked about it more

[rorydrawsandwrites]

Watched Chalupa's sequel vids about The Princess' Jewels yesterday (because I love (vicariously) experiencing cringe)

Honestly, if the story just owned up to her villainy, I'd probably like the protagonist. I too have a feminine piece of turd named Rosie who's a spoiled rich brat and collects pretty men like toys. She deserves to be put in a gigantic blender and she's my special little darling. Let your female protagonist be a piece of shit that's acknowledged as one by the narrative and I'll be on board

[heytheredeann]

“Yes, there is a place where someone loves you both before and after they learn what you are.” ― Neil Hilborn

[fromtheseventhhell]

No offense but trans-masc/trans-man headcanons about Arya are so incorrect, I'm sorry. I can't even take them seriously considering this fandom's desire to separate Arya from girlhood/womanhood. I would love it if people would stop trying to divorce female characters (and real women) from their identities as women just because they aren't traditionally feminine.

If we're talking about actual good-faith interpretations, ones that actually work with how Arya is written, then trans-femme is a much better fit. Arya has never had the desire to be a boy or be seen as one, she is fiercely insistent on her identity as a girl and corrects people several times, she doesn't consider herself a "real" Lady because she's not one in the same way her mother and sister are (!!!), she has self-esteem issues from her looks and ability to perform feminine tasks, she actually spends time pretending to be a boy but never considers herself one or enjoys doing it, as time progresses she loses the ability to pass as a boy (!!!), etc. Look at the material!! There's so much there to discuss from that perspective! Arya's non-conformity and how that fits into a society with such strict gender norms is fascinating and there's a lot to discuss there, but calling her trans-masc is one of the laziest interpretations to come up with.

[franeridan]

thinking again about how in trigun 98 they had nick kill someone with the face of a child posing as an orphan for vash, and how in tristamp they had him kill a child in the body of a monster who had no choice in what had been done to him, and how instead in trimax nick for vash kills a man who'd approached vash for a death match, who'd demanded to either kill or be killed, a man nick had given vash a fair chance to fight and win against and who nick would have left alone hadn't said man attacked vash when his back was turned after the duel was over and done with, a man who'd been one step from possibly seriously harming vash hadn't nick stepped in. and about how after in all three versions vash yells at nick for it, but only in trimax nick tells vash that he's lucky he's there to play the devil for him so that he can stay a saint, and only in trimax in the arc right after vash ends up thanking nick for killing for him and protecting his home when vash couldn't because of his own morals, and only in trimax in the end when nick isn't there to play the bad guy for vash he ends up being right, and vash ends up having to dirty his hands himself to protect what he loves - while both in 98 and for now tristamp vash stays a saint until the end, and that fight they have ends in itself, and the only lesson it leaves you as a viewer is that nick is jaded enough to kill a child