#assuming hes telling the truth which i think in this aspect he is

[freakinator]

ros says that she believes that ppl can get respect through both fearful (by having everyone fear her) and loving (by embodying their own hope) means but she feels as though shes been forced into going down the fearful path cause of how everyone treats her

pili then says that this is why he doesnt think he and ros can ever get along cause they have such fundamentally different mentalities cause he thinks fear is the only way to get ppl to respect others and that you cant fix the unfixable

ros tthen reasons that you dont need to fix someone to be friends with them and that nobody has the right to fix others just that if they were nice then they could get along and points out how pangi and pili get aling (also someone else but i didnt hear)

pili then says that pangi respects him cause he knows that he cant beat him and they get along well cause of that, ros then points out how clown is nice and how pili is comfortable with him and pili says he just has a weird obsession with him

pili then says that being nice means that you get stepped on and ros points out that pili saying that implies that he thinks ros is weak which she doesnt think is fair and asked who shes let step on her and pili says he doesnt know

ros then points out the kingdom and how theyre so locked in cause of her kindness, pili then says that hes more of a loner and ros asks wouldnt he wabt to be part of something

pili then says that ros hasnt been gone through what hes been through and that hes cursed with misfortune, ros then says that hes sorry to pili but points out how shes surrounded by death as well but in a different way, pili then says that its different cause ros is still here but all it takes is a creeper

ros then says that pili should start thinking of the present and that pili should start valuing his comrades instead of thinking things like "if flame dies tomorrow im cursed" as an example, pili then reasons that thats the exact reason that he distanced himself from pangi cause he doesnt want him to die

ros then says that if pili needs to kill then the whole realm can help him but pili reasons that the keepers of the realm wouldnt allow it, that foolish was the first and last given death he can have

ros theb says that if pili just opened up to the others on the realm then they could help him, pili then says that he doesnt look for payment wheb hes being helpful, ros then told pili about how happy flame was when pili helped him and pili says he just did that cause he wanted to hang out with flame

ros then tries to relate to pili by saying how she feels useless and pili then says that everyone has their own strengths and intelligences and gives him helping sausage as an example, that his building is equivalent to pilis killing and that building is what makes ros ros and that hes not calling ros weak its just that her strength lies somewhere else

ros then says that even after this conversation whatever hapoens will happen and pili agrees and that hes so excited for clown to kill him and ros asks him why hes so excited and pili excitedly says why wouldnt he, clown is the best fighter and hes gonna get beat and hes gonna get humbled and experience ego death

pili then says that its not cause hes a clown fan, its cause he just loves getting humbled and will always fight the strongest player on any server hes in and ros asks hypothetically what would happen if she was the best pvper on the server and pili replied that he would have to go after her

ros then asks pili why hes been targetting her and pili replies that its cause he was just looking for a way to provoke clown, ros then asks if thats really it that he was just targetting her cause of clown and pili replies theres actually more than that and ros asks for a percentage which is

50% cause of the day 1 bullying

20% cause he was bored

20% cause of clown

10% cause she was just there

ros said okay after each percentage and pili noted that ros sounded offended when he said that he killed her cause of boredom and pili says that he just has a different definition of fun from her and that he knows its messed up and pili says yes

ros theb asked if hes been through therapy and that theres a thing in therapy where the patient reasons out why he wants to kill ppl and asks what he would do if someone killed pangi and he said he would get revenge, ros then asks about bad doing it and pili thinks that thats exactly what bad wants cause of bads actions and that all he wants is his little telenovelas and tells her about bad insinuating that he has a crush on someone cause he made the mistake of saying hes interested in someone and ros asks if thats why bad said that ros should take pili out on a date and pili said yes and expanded on what happened

ros then says that pili desires closeness with someone and that he feels strong emotions amd that he also inspires strong emotions in her (mainly anger and the like) but that while he wants to inspire fear and destruction she wants to inspire hope and protection and that she dislikes pili insinuating shes weak and thats why she keeps retaliating against pili and pili says he didnt even notice that and ros said thats exactly what she meant and pili apologizes then says that he can be too honest or too much of a liar, pili then says to not try to understand him cause of that but ros says that she does understand him

ros tthen says that if theyre gonna continue their rivalry to wait for a week while she continues building the castle which pili was upset about cause he cant wait to get killed and ros says he should make the most of the week and that he should fix things

pili then says that whatever happens in the week is exactly what he wanted and to not worry about him, ros then says that theyll make it a fun thung but also maybe that he shouldnt be killed cause hes on his last life and pili tells her not to worry about it and that they can just kill him if they wanted

ros then kills some mobs and says that death is everywhere and pili says that death doesnt matter until its someone close to you and ros says that pili has done a good job in that respect cause none of the ppl close to him have died yet and pili agrees saying that pangi hasnt died yet then told to ros to be careful about pangi cause hes gone unstable cause of something pili caused

they tthen say their goodbyes and pili says that he cant wait to hate on ros tomorrow and ros remarks on that and pili says that its a good thing cause their rivalry pushes them to their best like batman and joker from the lego series and ros agrees and that shes gonna watch it

they then say their goodbyes fr

[just-trying-to-fangirl-in-peace]

Old wounds (Sauron x fem!Elf!reader)

-> in which you guard Celebrimbor to make sure he finishes the Nine, and he makes the mistake of underestimating the bond you and your husband share

Warnings: evil!reader, some lines about reader being captive and Sauron being tortured in the past, her family being killed, touching of wounds, making out in front of the poor guy you’re keeping prisoner

Note: same reader as the one in Jealousy and Reveal, but works on its own too. Also, I’m no expert in the lore, the aspects regarding reader’s past/powers are just what’s convenient for the fic.

“After all the time I spent watching you work,” you say, leaning against the table, “you truly think I can’t tell when you’re stalling?”

Celebrimbor looks up at you, fingers faltering in their movements with one of the unfinished Nine. It’s terribly unfair, of course—berating him for his slow pace when he is being made to work with a shackle around his wrist, a battle being waged outside and the threat of your husband’s wrath ever looming above his head. Still, you know his patterns, and this isn’t fatigue or nervousness. It’s a misguided attempt at gathering his thoughts, thinking he might stand a better chance at escaping now, while Sauron himself isn’t in the room. Underestimating you.

“This work requires precision,” he says, begrudgingly.

“Celebrimbor...” You tilt your head, speaking in the same manner as a mother scolding a child. “This is not precision. This is lack of care—for your people, whose only hope for salvation is that you do as you were asked and deliver the last of the Rings.”

Your voice sharpens by the end. Celebrimbor swallows thickly, casting his eyes back down to his work in defeat. His focus seems renewed as he tinkers with the Ring, and, satisfied, you head to the balcony to watch the battle unfold.

But then he speaks again.

“You said...”

He stops unsurely when you turn back towards him. It’s irritating that his focus is on you instead of the work, but he begins speaking again before you can complain.

“You said that while you dwelled in my kingdom, awaiting your... husband’s return, under the guise of a mere smith... it hurt your pride to obey my orders.” He pauses, weaving a trace of defiance in his tone. “Yet you seem perfectly content obeying his.”

You know better than to fall prey to the silent challenge in his words. Still, there is a tick in your jaw you can’t suppress at the implication.

“I obey no one,” you say firmly. “My husband and I share in our toils, the same as we will share in the reward.”

Celebrimbor gives you a sorrowful smile.

“That is what I believed as well,” he says quietly. “What Mirdania must have believed. As countless others must have before. Once he has no more use of you, he will cast you aside—and the rewards of your labour shall be his alone.”

He is so sure of his words. He looks at you as though he’s doing you a kindness, as if you need his warning as much as he would have needed one before.

Anger grips your heart. A sudden gust of wind enters the room, blowing out the candle closest to you.

“Do not speak,” you say, cold as the chill suddenly in the air, “of what you do not know.”

Celebrimbor shudders. Most likely he had meant to insist, but your reaction and the darkness in your gaze are enough to quiet him once more, at least for the moment. As he returns to work, the fire within you lessens, melting into a dull ache.

Of course he would assume such a thing. That you are nothing more than another pawn in the Dark Lord’s design, to be moved about as he pleases and discarded in a heartbeat. He doesn’t know the truth. How could he? No one does.

Suddenly, you’re moved to speak.

“When we bound ourselves to one another in marriage, part of my love’s power and might became my own,” you tell him. Your voice is soft, the complete opposite of how venomous it was only a moment ago. Celebrimbor turns to you hesitantly, though he remains looking at you.

“But even before he shared this gift with me, I was not without my own,” you say, proudly. “I was a great healer, you see. With a touch of my fingertips, bones mended, sickness faded, terrible wounds healed... Some said even hearts.” You chuckle faintly. “I don’t know about that.”

For a moment, there is a flicker of light in your eyes, but it dies as quickly as it appears.

“But I know it was for this gift that Morgoth kept me alive once he had slayed my kin. For this, he kept me. For he wished to torment his own to his heart’s desire without leaving them too weakened to serve him after. Without the need to stop. And there was one he loved to torment above all. The mighty Sauron, Morgoth’s fearsome lieutenant, who struck unspeakable horror into the hearts of his enemies...” You close your eyes, voice dropping to a whisper still trembling with the terror of those days. “His screams of anguish were so loud and terrible, they felt like blades in my ears.”

Tears fall silently from your eyes as you open them, meeting Celebrimbor’s gaze.

“And when silence finally came,” you speak slowly, moving closer to him. “I was brought to his side...”

Celebrimbor shifts in his seat as you come to stand near him.

“I kneeled by his bloodied, mangled form...”

You sit down in the chair next to Celebrimbor’s, voice little more than a whisper as you lean in uncomfortably close to him.

“And as he writhed and moaned in agony... I touched his skin...”

Celebrimbor flinches as your fingertips find a cut on his temple.

“And caressed his wounds...”

You trace the cut with eerie gentleness, watching as blood gathers at your fingertips and Celebrimbor shudders beneath your gaze.

“And took his pain...”

More tears slide down your cheeks as you look straight through the alarmed Celebrimbor, lost in another time.

“And I put him back together... piece by piece.”

Your eyes return to Celebrimbor then, suddenly regaining clarity.

“Only for Morgoth to take him apart again. And again. And again. To punish... or perfect. Who could tell?”

To his visible relief, your hand leaves his face and you pull away, eyes drifting to the Rings lined before him and you.

“I know not how long it lasted,” you go on. “But with time, I realized that he and I—we were not right and wrong, or light and dark. We were both of us slaves. And in that place of bleak despair—”

“A bond was forged,” Sauron speaks—as you and Celebrimbor turn to see he has silently joined you. Your breath catches in your throat as his eyes meet yours and he speaks the words on your tongue, “...stronger than any that ever was or ever will be.”

Your chest aches unbearably as emotion overcomes you. You long to run into his arms, but at the same time you can barely move. However long time passes, the memories take their toll.

Thankfully, your husband comes to you. You look up at him with tear-filled eyes as he lays one hand on your shoulder, the other cupping your cheek with utmost tenderness. Your eyes fall shut, and you lean into his touch, and finally, you can breathe easy.

“Your people’s fate depends on the fruits of your labour, Celebrimbor,” your husband says, frowning deeply as he takes in your state. “How is it then that you still find the time to upset my wife?”

“My most sincere apologies,” Celebrimbor says flatly.

“I have no need of your apologies.” Sauron fixes him with a sharp look. “Only of your Rings. I thought they would be finished by now.”

“I was a bit of a distraction,” you admit, some of your teasing nature returning to you. Your husband’s gaze softens as he turns it to you.

“When are you not?”

You smile then, pressing a quick kiss to the palm of his hand before you stand and will your tears to vanish from your cheeks. Moving with grace, Sauron pulls your chair a little further away from the table and Celebrimbor, and takes the seat himself. He knows you too well to believe your mood has brightened in the blink of an eye, not when the past is as painful a memory to him as well. He tugs at your hand, and you’re all too happy to take his invitation and settle comfortably in his lap.

For a moment, you are alone in the world. You hold each other’s gaze as you put your arm around his neck and he wraps his around your waist, holding you close to him. He takes your hand reverently, bringing it to his mouth to place a most gentle kiss to your knuckles. He murmurs an endearment in Black Speech, so sweet even the foul-sounding language wraps beautifully around the words, and your eyes fall shut in bliss, forehead resting against his.

Your company is completely forgotten as peace returns to you in the arms of your love. That is, until you hear something clatter and Celebrimbor mutters a soft curse. Even then, you don’t even bother to look.

“A most glorious sight we may be together,” Sauron tells him, cruelly casual, “but I must insist that you concentrate on the work.”

You pull back slightly, opening your eyes. At the periphery of your vision, a very flustered Celebrimbor recovers the Ring he had dropped and returns to work—this time, you think, for good.

“Pay us no mind,” you tell the smith breathily, consumed by your husband’s piercing gaze. You touch his cheek, marveling for the millionth time at the perfection beneath your fingertips, and press your lips to his, melting into a deep, languid kiss.

Celebrimbor is wise enough not to disturb you again.

Previous fic with same reader -> Theatrics

Next fic with same reader -> Kill and make up

[ripplestitchskein]

This is one of my favorite moments from the episode. Like from an art point of view the expression and body language is so on point. If you watch this sequence without sound it tells the story just as effectively as the dialogue, so kudos to them. A+ animation.

However, I’ve seen a few people say it doesn’t make sense for Stolas to react like this because he overheard Stella plotting to kill him. Which, I think that scene was more to highlight Stolas’s obliviousness in general more than him knowing she was trying to kill him? But that’s a separate post. This moment though has very little to do with Stolas’s worry over his personal safety or even the assassination attempt itself. He is not reacting to the reveal that Blitz didn’t warn him about an assassin from a place of “I could have prepared myself better with a warning and known what Stella was plotting earlier”.

He’s reacting to it from a place of “Someone tried to kill me and you didn’t care enough about me to even mention it”. The episode is about how Stolas is interpreting and “learning” that Blitz was showing him all along he didn’t care about him, that Blitz just does this to people, that Stolas is NOT special he’s just another in a crowd of people Blitz fucked and fucked off.

That they conveyed so well how crushing this must have been, to learn the person you love and care for not only knew months ahead of that someone was trying to kill you but you factored so little into their thoughts they just FORGOT to tell you? How he realized that he meant so little in the scheme of Blitz’s life that Blitz couldn’t even be bothered to mention it?

So yeah this isn’t a mistake, this isn’t the writers forgetting Stolas already knew, the issue here is not about the assassination at all, it’s about how Stolas is now interpreting this as “Someone tried to end my life and I meant so little to you I didn’t even warrant a heads up about it”. Like, not to be dramatic but Blitz just basically confessed that he didn’t care about Stolas’s existence at all.

We know it’s because of how Blitz sees Stolas as this untouchable immortal figure on high, but Stolas doesn’t see himself that way. He’s very clear he doesn’t recognize his own power and position.

It goes even deeper than that devastating line of thought though. It casts the whole “Am I in danger?” aspect of Western Energy into a whole different light. We interpret it as him not really believing he is in trouble, just mildly inconvenienced and wanting Blitz to play hero for his romantic fantasies. He is kidnapped by someone he recognizes as being a friend of Blitz’s, he calls him to clarify it, Blitz is then “I can’t save you today, my daughter has a thing”. During this point in the conversation Stolas has no idea Striker is sent to assassinate him persay, he thinks he’s just been kidnapped by a friend of Blitz’s. But Blitz DOES know Striker tried to kill Stolas in the past and is a credible threat. In this scene in Apology Tour Stolas finds out that Blitz knew that from the beginning, that he knew that and still couldn’t be bothered to come and was dismissive of it. That’s what Stolas saw anyway. He didn’t see Blitz driving crazy and turning around. He didn’t see his face of worry or regret. So the only information Stolas has now is “I called you telling you I was kidnapped by a man you knew tried to kill me and you said you were too busy. You knew how dangerous he was and you didn’t even care about me enough to help me.”

I’m sure it was a lot easier to deal with and excuse Blitz not being there and being busy when he assumed Blitzø didn’t know he was in real danger, now Stolas knows the truth. Blitz knew the person he identified as having kidnapped him had tried to murder him in the past and it still wasn’t enough to stir Blitz to save him.

Like that’s so fucking crushing? And important. Like critical really.

Like do the Stolas math of “Let me add up the evidence to interpret his feelings” and in addition to all the times he sneered or turned away add in “He knew a person who kidnapped me had already attempted murder and still didn’t give a shit”.

We know that’s not the whole story, that Blitz was worried and did turn around but Stolas doesn’t. This is the whole pattern of their entire relationship. He never sees when Blitz turns around in any context. He looks at Blitz and SEES him, is rebuffed by Blitz turning away and so Stolas looks away and just as he does Blitz turns back to him. It makes me want to claw my face off. This isn’t about the assassination at all, this is about them missing each other yet again.

In my head I think of it like a trapeze act. They each take the swing, they are flying through the air but they aren’t paying attention, they look away and miss the grab and both are plummeting to the ground.

[dduane]

I just read the part where Kirk experiences the Enterprise's point of view in The Wounded Sky to someone else, where she sees the crew as children she is training up to the Great Desire of exploration for exploration's sake, especially Jim. His reaction, essentially: "That was really pretty. ....And then he blows her up."

I hadn't thought about that before! I checked the copyright date, and it looks like The Wounded Sky came out a year before The Search for Spock, so you were writing without knowing that sacrifice would eventually happen.

How did you feel about that? Do you wish that writing decision had been made differently? (If, as a Trek writer, you're allowed to comment on other Trek writers' choices!)

You know, I tend not to think a whole lot about such issues. First of all, because (in the long run) it gets you nowhere in particular that's useful. And secondly, because it's not a thing that, as a Trek writer in any medium except film, you have the slightest power to change.

Now, at this end of time I think we can safely say that no one's going to hire me on to write a Trek film. And also that no one at that end of the creative spectrum is going to pay the slightest attention to anything I say, either. Both of those situations are just What's So, and neither of them bothers me. (Since I have universes of my own to manage at the moment, and that's where my attention properly lies.) So as regards my opinions about other writers' work, I'm pretty much off the hook.

If I had been on screenwriting duty for that film, would there be things I'd have wanted to do differently? Hell yeah. From the premise up. But the important thing here is: would those things necessarily have worked better on the screen / with the audience? Impossible to tell. And speaking as someone repeatedly given permission to work in someone's universe, the main thing to be aware of is the expectation that your chief responsibility is to do what best serves the characters and the IP of which they're part. (There's a post over at Out of Ambit with a lot more of my thoughts on the subject:)

The other thing to remember is that, though I've worn the Canonical Hat in my time, novel work is by definition non-canonical. Doing it, you are at all times working with the understanding that the licensor rarely views your work as anything better than a corporate side hustle—a way for the IP to make some cash on the side—and will ignore you and the stuff you've created unless given pressing reasons to do otherwise. (Such as when they might make some unexpected money off it... at which point you remind yourself as forcibly as necessary that what you did is Work For Hire; they own it, lock, stock and barrel, and you should not realistically expect to be given any credit.)

And, if you understand the rules and enjoy the work enough, all of this is okay. The reward is not in making a lot of money doing it, or even in having aspects of your work openly assumed into canon. The reward lies in being allowed to contribute to a given universe in public (and, yeah, getting paid for it by the licensor). It's not payback: it's payforward. And you're left an astonishing amount of freedom to bring your vision to that universe. (Sometimes... as one colleague has McCoy say... you have to be "very, very careful" to get away with it. But it can be done.)

The truth is that even in the 1980s, I was sharing this level of playing-in-a-universe with a goodish cohort of editors and writers: a big roomful at least. Now I'm sharing it (retroactively speaking) with hundreds of them. With the best will in the world, even in the 80's the licensors (as regarded film) couldn't have realistically polled/listened to all of us regarding our creative opinions about the screenplay end of things. As for what that'd look like nowadays... I'll leave you to your own deductions. 😏

Anyway, thanks for the question. It's always nice to know that there are people who want to know what you think. 😊

[finniestoncrane]

FINNIE walk with me on this...so for the dirty talk prompts meme...

Maybe Two Face is being a bit down on himself because of his face (which is HANDSOME he deserves BETTER), and female plus size reader tries to cheer him up by saying 🧠.

Then maybe Two Face responds with 📢...

If that's cool 👀👀. 💙💙 You can put anything you want before/after/in between of course. I'm excited to see what you write!!!

Louder

Arkham!Two Face x Fem!Reader, word count: 850 back on my harvey bullshit i fear because having him call me a big beautiful girl has lived in my head rent free since i wrote it down 💙 request info • prompt list • send me a request • kofi • masterlist minors DNI!! 🔞 cw: big, fat, thick used for a plus size reader, smut, fucking, it's sort of mostly verbal fluff really if you think about it u-u

Harvey was consistently the dominant one in your relationship with him. Much the same as he portrayed himself in all other aspects of his life. Which is why it had surprised him so much when you exerted your own power, forcefully grabbing his chin to turn his gaze to you. As confident as he could seem, particularly when his crueller half was fronting, there was a lot he hadn't accepted yet, so much he hadn't come to terms with. So much that ate away at him.

Tiny words, gestures. Comments on how beautiful and soft you were, particularly in comparison to him, as he let his hands skirt over your curves and rolls, fingers sinking into the excess, plush skin as a lustful growl rolled through his throat. The way he would try to keep your eyes on the right side of his face, shirking away if you touched the left, or even looked deep into his permanently exposed eye.

The regret built up intsantly as what was left of his lips curled into a snarl. You waited patiently for his retort. Either a yell, an assertive growl, or an equally terrifying hushed reminder of who was in control. But instead, he had bent down into you, the snarl softening as his mouth met yours, tongue pressing between your lips and swirling round yours.

Bravely, you had lifted your hands to both of his cheeks, stroking them with the same gentleness, the same arousal, the same love you had for both parts of him. And you were rewarded with a frenzied undressing before he laid you down on his desk, papers pushed to the floor, and began fucking you.

Stifling the moans that were scratching at your throat, you bit your inner cheek. You couldn't tell who was just outside the office, and given how loud you thought you might get as Harvey pounded your aching cunt, you assumed people on the streets below might be able to hear you too.

In a rather forceful move, highlighting that your efforts in boosting his confidence had started to bring him back to his normal self, he grabbed your soft chin, letting it rest in his palm as he held your rounded cheeks firmly between his thumb and fingers.

"Louder. I want everyone to know how good I am."

No longer concerned about embarrassing him, about someone overhearing and blowing your supposed cover, you let your wails of pleasure come out. Each thud of his hips against your rear making you groan, always underscored by a desperate sigh and clawing breaths.

"That's it, good girl. Let them know how much you enjoy it."

As though he had caught himself, the way he was unburdened in the moment by his issues with his own image and self-confidence, he stuttered, his hips slowing to a complete stop, his cock still buried in your tensing walls.

"I had no idea that you felt this way... about all of me."

His eyes searched yours for any signs of flinching, a grimace that told him you were lying, that you only held this adoration for the parts of him that were still acceptable to society. But you held strong, truthful, and eased your head up to search for a kiss. His lips met yours once more, soft, despite the frantic fucking of just a moment ago.

"Of course I do, Harvey. Every time I think about you... I get so hot..."

You clenched, muscles tightening around his cock, which twitched in response.

"... and I think about you, both of you... all of you, a lot."

In a rush of what you could only assume was complete joy, warmed by the knowledge that you cared for him wholly, Harvey continued your rough fucking, bouncing your body against him, against the desk, watching you move and ripple with each thrust.

"My big, beautiful girl... let them hear... ah... tell them... tell me... tell us how good it feels..."

A soft moan passed over your lips, but you made an effort to follow it with a louder sound, a guttural groan that led to your words. Mumbled, barely cohesive to your empty brain, but you were sure there were sentiments of how amazing he felt inside of you, riding your patient orgasm through you.

"I'll tell you how good you are... so plush... so thick..."

His voice hardened, sharp, animalistic.

"...plenty for us to grab."

With his fingers embedded into your hips under the fold of your stomach, he pulled you down into him, his sounds matching the pace of his hips, growls and grunts that echoed over the top of yours. But he could still make out the short, sharp, but nevertheless satisfied, whines as he pummelled your body.

"Don't worry, sweet girl... I'll be careful with your soft body... but I think you can handle... hng... a bit of rough, huh? Just a little bit to make you scream louder for me..."

Your eyes flitted towards him, offering him a nod as you bit your lip, drool escaping from the corner of your mouth.

"That's it... louder."

[acesw]

Knowing our Arcanists 4: Dikke

Welcome to entry four of my series: "Knowing our Arcanists"! This is a series in which I introduce and tell the stories of our fellow characters in Reverse: 1999. For today's character we have: Dikke!

Ah one of the first characters hit by the yuri-beam that became very popular in the fandom for her being easily paired with other characters. Her character is pretty interesting, as being one of the vessels of justice and one of the oldest characters in the game. Just wish that her kit was as powerful as her canon, anyway lets get started!

Lady Dikke is a European arcanist coming from the middle ages, born on October 10th. She is the current magistrate and Supreme Chief of the Special Court, and is a very eccentric person who carries out justice in unconventional ways.

Her arcane skill involves an ancient Babylonian soul, who resides in the flaming sword "Justice" and is often depicted as a spiritual claw looming over Dikke's shoulder. While ferocious, it has been her guiding spirit when it comes to doing her job. She states that its sentient, being easily swayed by what it thinks is an injustice. Whether it'd be an action or some believed meaningless rumors, it will respond accordingly.

It can be assumed that this soul is likely based off of Babylonian King Hammurabi, as he is the creator of the law code that ultimately became the law code for others. The code, named after him, is one of the earliest, longest, and best-preserved legal texts made in the ancient Near East.

We don't know too much about Dikke as herself prior to her work, but when she grew older, she first became a chancellor in the (Medieval) Inquisition. Its power started to grow in Europe to carry out cases and trials in place of the secular courts, and when Dikke became bishop, it grew more powerful, gradually prevailing control over the courts and laws across the region.

The Inquisition also had some degree of control on handling the cases of arcanists, both innocent and guilty. While being viewed as cruel and abusive by some, it can't be doubted that it held a special place in the arcanum world. Dikke usually carried out some of these trials herself, providing justice for the guilty and giving mercy for those innocent.

Some time after the Black Death pandemic, Dikke visited one of the villages to investigate the death of a member of a church, conducting a long investigation that seemed unconventional but fully efficient to be able to reach a conclusion.

She found that all the townspeople (including the church) were guilty, as multiple factors led to the death of the church member and the case was silenced further before her arrival. However she carried out no punishment.

At some point, she went to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pamiers in France, and became a magistrate and Supreme Chief of the Special Court there. During this time, she became in charge of conducting retrials of temporal court cases, to prevent wrongful convictions.

She used this to her advantage, as her control of this aspect led to many innocent arcanists to be saved from the witch hunts carried out by humans.

Dikke can be described as a very straightforward and active character, always making it a point to be fair and to be truthful. She never really lies, and continuously works towards carrying out the justice that guides her in every step she makes. Dikke is very insistent on it, and is often reluctant when it comes to accepting a position of power due to its connection with greed.

Despite these, she's not a stone cold person. She'll occasionally have a drink, make a humorous jab about the corrupt and the guilty, and enjoys quiet nights when the day ends with her goals fulfilled.

Dikke's belief in justice aligns with her layered empathy, but she is in no way to consider making an exception. She even tells herself that if she were to carry out an injustice that she too must deserve punishment. No guilty person can escape the blade of justice, neither will the wealthy and the powerful. Dikke will make sure of that.

[dykedvonte]

omg hi if it wouldn't be a bother i'd love if you could expand on your perspective on curly's character representing how patriarchy, rape culture, etc, negatively effect men?

I think Curly is there to represent the idealic person for the scenerior but in a lot of wrong place wrong time and a sort of deconstruction.

Curly’s enabling is never just the “He wouldn’t do that, he’s my friend, I know him.” type. Yes, he is not nearly as concerned as he should be with Jimmy’s behavior but he’s not completely blind to how he can be and is aware that Jimmy is just a guy who had it rough. He clearly is very keen on keeping Jimmy calm for the trip, very accommodating to all of them in a way that he honestly should be but can be used to explain away favoritism. If everyone can get away with a little something than it can then be extended to Jimmy. A big problem of Curly’s is he extends to much curtesy to everyone which a lot of people ignore to just focus on Jimmy and his relationship.

In specifics of rape culture, he’s the sad truth of people don’t immediately cut off the abuser. There is a lot of this in irl cases that can range from the inability to open the selfish not wanting to but here it’s because his relationship with the abuser is also not healthy/abusive, falling into the former with how confined they are despite how it can be seen as bros protecting bros due to how underplayed emotionally unhealthy relationships between men can be. His relationship with Jimmy is not just one of wanting to protect him from himself but keeping him docile, safe to bring around others. There is a tension in almost all of their private scenes where Curly is trying hard to make sure his words are understood and don’t set him off. It’s subtle but real and an aspect of RC that gets overlooked when it’s comes to men coming forward themselves or on behalf of others. The way they can’t directly oppose each other because their safety may be the least of their concerns. They know men and in this case he knows this man won’t target him but the others, especially Anya, case point: not wanting her to tell Jimmy alone.

There is an inherent intimidation that can also happen in male spaces we see Jimmy use due to the specific social condemnation effect he has with Curly. Even if he is a bad friend to Curly, he is a dear friend and a lot of apprehension with men on the side of Curly in RC comes from that social anxiety, that fear and the very real idea you or the person you were trying to help will be further retaliated against/isolated just like we see happen to an extreme in canon. We don’t know how much Curly and Jimmy interacted between the party and the crash. We can assume they didn’t at all or perhaps went on as normal, but we know something changed after the conversation with Anya both at night and in the cockpit.

I think the card being in the locker shows he was gonna make the complaint, taking her ID to get her numbers for the report as it isn’t there before hand. With the recent reblog of how complaints have to be filed, he was likely storing it, possibly it was close to a time he could send something if it was even possible. Though everything was inevitably too late.

Curly is the ideal man on paper in terms of a patriarchal system. In shape, handsome, the top of the pecking order, competent or otherwise on top of his perineal duties. The issue is he is deeply unhappy just as someone like Jimmy who reflects all the negatives. This should be what he wants but he’s realized it’s unfulfilling, boring and he’s given up too much of himself to get up a ladder he doesn’t even remember why he climbed in the first place. He is not keen on keeping that status, I am a contrarian in thinking he honestly didn’t care if the report when on his record, more so he was in shock it happened at all. Didn’t want to believe his friend actually did it and he of all people would have to be the one to turn him in for it. It’s selfish and it’s a personal thought but it’s real. It’s denial because even if you know it’s for justices sake, you grieve the friendship you had and the perceptions that were shattered. It’s not supposed to sound good or noble or kind because it isn’t, it’s human.

All together I think Curly represents a big way these systems negatively affect the men that everyone assume benefits. He’s unhappy with the power he has because it ties him to responsibilities that bring him no fulfillment, he also gets retaliated against by Jimmy because he was never immune and in a way was aware of it. He’s unequipped and nervous to handle such a delicate situation because it isn’t protocol, there’s no protocol. He followed the rules of all the concepts mentioned, trying to do the right and normal thing and it either left him with nothing to show for it or damned him and others in the end.

This is a shorter post than I would write but I just feel like I’ve tackled these aspects so much individually or in lumped together posts that unless it’s something specific I will just create run on tangents.

[shalscumbunny]

I NEED AN NSFW VERSION OF THE LOVELY HUSBAND SHAL please and ty (Thank you for existing btw we need more shal fics and im too lazy to make some)

TYSM FOR SUCH A CUTE WORDS 💝! I was eager to publish this! It is necessary to give love to Shalnark from his most tender and loving side to that twisted and sick side that we love so much.

Lovely Husband NSFW | Shalnark

Wedding night?

🖤 ​​I feel like Shalnark is a fan of fairy tales, so if he didn't get the urge before marriage, he will now (Although the truth is I find it very unlikely that it will hold up if you are not a virgin either, if you are a virgin it will hold up because it will be THE BIG MOMENT, but this will be the decision of the two of you 🫶🏻)

🖤 ​​As soon as you are declared husband and wife and other technicalities during the day, HE WILL REALLY FUCK YOU, and I mean SERIOUSLY

🖤 ​​Shalnark is a simple man, everything about you turns him on and the fact that you are now his wife multiplies him 10000%

🖤 ​​Before it was a “My pretty Y/N is so hot” now it's a “My darling wife is so hot”

🖤 ​​He can't help it, on the wedding night he's just going to throw you into bed and he's not going to care about tearing the dress even if it cost a million, he loves you now

🖤 ​​He loves you and is desperate for you, he can only shower you with kisses on all sides of your face and explore your mouth hungrily while he finishes tearing your dress.

🖤 ​​It's just that ✨You are perfect with the wedding hairstyle now undone and your body naked under him✨

🖤 ​​He can't contain himself, he simply wants to adore, contemplate and love you, he can't help but latch onto your chest and caress your clitoris while he watches you moan and tremble with complete devotion because you are simply a deity that he has to worship

🖤 ​​He loves you, he loves you deeply, he is obsessed with your moans when he goes down between your legs and he becomes addicted to the taste of your pussy (I'm going to add as a bonus that if you wear long stockings he will get harder while he eats your pussy), he's literally rubbing his hard, painful erection against the bed mattress while moaning into your folds.

🖤 ​​He can only tell you how much he adores you, how precious, perfect and sublime you are and he won't stop until you have cum a couple of times in his mouth, becoming addicted to your juices.

🖤 ​​Once satisfied in that aspect, he simply needs to be inside you (If you are a virgin, he will take his time, he wants everything perfect for you, he wants to take care of you, protect you and make you feel good, but since I am too lazy to write, we will imagine that Y/N is not a virgin).

🖤 ​​Shalnark simply fulfilled one of his life goals when he started fucking you hard against the bed, panting like an animal in your ear, gripping your hips tightly and enjoying how you bite his shoulder and scratch his back.

🖤 ​​This time for the occasion he won't play little games (Which he undoubtedly likes) At least on the wedding night he will fuck you until you are stupid, crying and overstimulated, with your pussy sore and overflowing with abundant semen.

🖤 ​​Simply… Perfect

LIFE TOGETHER

🖤 ​​(The truth is that I feel that Shalnark is not someone who gets married without first having lived together, so I will assume it that way) So we will say that everything remains "the same between you" and by the same I mean Shalnark loving you intensely and obsessed with you

🖤 ​​Obviously life with Shalnark isn't all about sex, we already have a “non-NSFW” version of this ✨ so…

🖤 Shalnark is just like a hot teenager, out of nowhere he'll get hot

🖤 ​​He's simply watching you cook, thinking about how beautiful and sexy you are, he can't help but approach you and ask you to go to the bedroom, while he kisses your neck and rubs against you.

🖤 ​​​​Shalnark is not the kind of man who would get bored of his wife, every day he will find a reason to love you or a part of your body that for some reason is more than perfect (He LOVES your body, he will love it forever)

🖤HE NEEDS to touch you, he can't help but glue you to a wall and kiss you passionately while he raises your thighs to his hips and looks at you with deep adoration and desire.

🖤 ​​​​For Shalnark, he applies that he won't stop fucking you until your pussy is the shape of his cock, and you really fit perfectly, your bodies are made for each other ✨

🖤 ​​​​The sex ranges from complete adoration, or just him calling you pet names and enforcing his dominance over you in the cruelest and sexiest way possible.

🖤 ​​He can simply try his best to give you as much pleasure as possible or keep you kneeling on the floor and sucking his hard cock while he smiles at you and plays with the control of the vibrator stuck in your pussy and making you a stupid slut

🖤 ​​Just Shalnark pounding inside you as he whispers how bad you have it, how perfect your pussy receives and squeezes his cock and how he's going to leave you dripping cum for days.

🖤 ​​Of course we also know that he is an obsessive controller, so you are going to have to get used to having cameras in the house and in all parts of the house (Even the bathroom) because Shalnark HAS TO know what you are doing.

🖤 ​​Obviously the cameras are for security (He is a highly wanted criminal and has to make sure that no one does anything to you) but… it is not a white dove

🖤 ​​If he went on a trip with Gen'ei Ryodan he's going to miss you, (Think of this poor 24 year old muscular baby who is 180 cm tall and has a criminal list longer than Santa Claus's gift list 😔), who will simply step away from his criminal friends for a while to masturbate while he sees you taking a bath live, milking his balls that are filled with thick cum when he sees your beautiful figure on the screen covered in water.

🖤 ​​He likes you to know that he is watching you, no matter how good a husband he is... HE LOVES HAVING CONTROL OVER YOU (Little things about manipulators ✨)

🖤 ​​You are taking a bath and you see how a red light turns on in the camera, you know that he is watching you, you have gotten used to a point where it even excites you and you can't help but turn to the camera and start caressing your clitoris with a finger and pinching your nipple with the other hand while looking at the camera, it counts as a kind of challenge to him, you know that it will cost you a hard fuck time as soon as he gets home but you simply can't help it because you imagine him hiding in a small space, pulling his cock, smearing the cell phone screen with his semen while he pants and grunts your name (Which has really been happening).

🖤 ​​We already talked about it in the non-NSFW version, but he LOVES dressing you and one of his favorite parts is choosing your lingerie (Shalnark loves his wife dressed in pastel pink and this is not up for discussion) He loves putting you in the most feminine and revealing lingerie he can find, tight and barely covering what is necessary, when he is shopping he can't help but imagine your embarrassed face when you try on that lingerie that barely covers your nipples and leaves your areolas visible.

🖤 ​​He loves to put necklaces on you, especially those pompous pink ones with a medallion, that medallion says “She belongs to Shalnark”

🖤 ​​If you are not kidnapped, you probably have a cell phone (Which is obviously tapped) Shalnark knows who you are talking to, what you are talking about, what applications you use, what web pages you visit (It is his controlling nature, how can you blame him 🥺)

🖤 ​​As his possession and wife, he has to know everything about you and he does, your family, your friends, your enemies, your blood type, any health problems, exact measurements of your body and above all, your weak points.

🖤 ​​He knows the speed with which you like your clitoris to be caressed, how much to suck on your nipples so they don't hurt, the rhythm that makes you stupid when he starts pushing his cock inside you, what part of your ear to lick and nibble to melt you, he seriously knows EVERYTHING.

🖤 ​​Speaking of possessiveness, now that you are his wife (And if you are not kidnapped) he will not think too much about decorating your neck and/or other part of your body with hickeys that show that he is your only owner when you go out, if he sees that the mark is disappearing will make you another.

🖤 ​​Although if you are kidnapped he will do it anyway, he likes to see your body adorned with small bruises and bite wounds (His favorite part is the sides of your neck, shoulders and your breasts, especially the areola).

🖤 ​​You are his, if he sees another man with his eye on you, he won't mind kissing you in public and touching you inappropriately in order to demonstrate the obvious (If he bothered you a lot and you reproached him, he will think twice before coming back To do it)

🖤Although it is a canonical fact that that man's hours are numbered (Because for Shalnark it is like killing a fly)

🖤 ​​Lastly, Shalnark is not a selfish lover, he will always try to make sex something that you also enjoy, since as his wife it is the least you deserve.

Thanks for reading this horrible shit 🖤✨

NO NSFW VERSION, would u like another character?

[lucystark12]

what are you thinking, finn wolfhard?

everything i'm about to say aligns with my finn wolfhard is a genius agenda.

it was just made apparent to me that not only did finn wolfhard film it 2017 before season two, but he filmed his scenes as boris in the goldfinch literally DAYS before filming season three. this is extremely hard for me to conceptualize. but it also makes me think about finn wolfhard himself who obviously knows the truth about mike wheeler's sexuality. if byler is as deep seeded as we want it to be, odds are that finn knew what was up from the beginning. which makes a girl think- did he know the same about richie tozier when he first played him in 2017?

lets look at richie a bit.

richie is obviously gay. i will not be taking arguments on this. i'm reading a reddit thred right now where people are debating it and i'm like- are you kidding me. but he wasn't gay in the source material. stephen king has stated as much in a vanity fair article. though he calls andy muscetti's choice "genius" (which it is, btw), he makes it clear that it wasn't his intention. it's explicitly clear in it chapter 2, and being wired like a byler shipper, i was able to suss it out in the first movie, but was that andy muscetti's intention to begin with?

there are many ways this change can be interpreted. assuming that it wasn't something that was explicitly written into the original character description for richie in the first movie, you could see this as something that was put in as a sign of the times, a statement if you will. it chapter one was written in 2015-2016 while we were still under obama's presidency, one that saw drastic improvements for the quality of life of a gay person in america. it chapter two was written during trump's presidency and could have been trying to brand itself as a statement of sorts. i only say this because as far as i can find (and PLEASE tell me if i'm wrong) there wasn't nearly as much evidence hinting at richie's sexuality in the first movie as there is for mike or will to use a relevant example.

the idea that finn wolfhard could have gone straight from it filming (summer of 2016) to stranger things filming (early november 2016) just having played a character who he knows was in the closet and in love with his best friend in the 80s could open up new interpretation to mke in season two. oddly, the reason i bring this up is because richie tozier to me is the mirror image of a kid i was friends with in middle school. they acted the same, they even weirdly looked and dressed the same. the only time i've ever made the comparison between middle school kid and mike wheeler was during season two, specifically in the scene where max leaves them the note, which leads me to believe that he could have carried other things over from other aspects of the it production.

season two isn't what really concerns me though. i'm looking more at season three. the goldfinch only moved to production in albuquerque in april of 2018, which is obviously where finn wolfhard filmed all of his scenes. however, stranger things 3 started production on april 23rd, 2018, which means there might have even been crossover between finn's shooting dates if not at least a very short gap of time between them. it chapter 2 was filmed that same summer likely with some of it's own crossover with stranger things three dates. finn wolfhard's lack of scenes in the second movie are probably what made this possible, but the scenes that he did have tackled very delicate topics that had to be handled with care. most actors get their scripts for minor roles like this a few weeks out from filming, which means that finn could have had his scripts for it chapter 2 that very explicitly make it clear that he's gay during filming for stranger things 3.

so here he is with one gay character right before season 3 and one right after. he knows how to handle these things, which means that every move he's making, especially in season three, is most likely intentional, especially if he knows this far in advance about mike's sexuality. i think it's totally feasible that he does. i'm fifteen and i understand what was happening between byler during the fight scene, finn was sixteen and, being a part of this show, probably understood what was going on too even if he wasn't outright told. doing justice to a season like this when he was also having to figure out scenes like the boreo taxi scene or the arcade scene with henry bower's cousin or r + e was probably at the forefront of his mind.

in conclusion, i just have one question:

what does this mean, finn wolfhard?

[alexglitches]

Li Jing's Parenting Analysis

A parenting analysis for Li Jing!

I know the seasons been out for a while now, but still putting it under the cut for spoilers

Okay, third analysis about Li Jing, and this time, it’s about his parenting style.

One thing people seem to dislike about him is the way he treats Nezha, despite being his father, and the common argument from people who dislike him is that he is an abusive father, which actually isn’t the case at all.

Sure, there may be some neglect on Li Jing’s part sprinkled around, but that’s more of him just focusing on his job rather than being intentionally abusive.

Parenting in Chinese culture is very different in western culture, and I believe that LMK Li Jing is a well written representation of said parenting skills.

In Chinese culture, parents are all about encouraging their kids to improve and do better, but they don’t praise their children for it, instead they would say something along the lines of “this is good, but you could do better”.

Because of this, and due to culture clash, many westerners believe that the parenting skills of parents in Asia, especially in China, could be considered abuse, and while there are many factors that can make this type of parenting as abuse, this isn’t necessarily the case for most families.

Li Jing’s parenting falls in line with this style of harsh parenting, the type of parent that wouldn’t praise their child, and will sometimes take the opposite side of their child in a fight, however, the Chinese style of parenting is much more “actions speak louder than words”. While Li Jing won’t expressly tell Nezha how he feels, he will show it in little ways (example, Li Jing putting his hand on Nezha’s shoulder, as well as his small smile at the end of the season).

And on the topic of Li Jing and Nezha’s moment with Li Jing telling Nezha how proud he was of him, I think I should bring up how stressful situations bring out the truth in people. And it was especially stressful for those two, because not only was Li Jing put through a ringer of emotions with switching sides and finally understanding what Mk and the others were doing, the world was also about to end, so of course he’d want to get in his final words to his son and how much he was proud of him and his work.

Abuse is much more complex than just ‘this parent doesn’t treat their child right’. There’s a lot of things that go into what abuse is and how it affects everyone. Li Jing was in a stressful situation, the world was ending, he was acting as the Jade Emperor at the time, and he had no idea what the full story behind it all was since Nezha actively kept said information from him. We have no idea how Li Jing acts outside of this stressful situation, so we can't jump to conclusions and assume that his parenting is like this all the way through.

(And a bit off topic, in the story of JTTW, Li Jing and Nezha are constantly working side by side, whether it’s fighting with or against Wukong.)

So to make a long analysis short, while Li Jing won’t outwardly say anything to Nezha, he has those little things that make it shown that he cares. And while there are aspects of culture clash between Chinese and western parenting, it doesn’t mean that Li Jing’s parenting style is abusive. As well as how abuse is much more complex than is shown to us in the show.

I think we need to remind people that LMK is a kids show, and the show is literally rated for ages 8 and up. It’s not going to show any heavy content that is darker for the demographic it’s made for. Yes, writing angst can be fun, but the show won’t do that, since it’s technically for kids.

[anghraine]

I think I've talked about it before, but there's a pretty beloved book!Darcy line that's ... maybe not objectively misread, but often read in a very different way than I interpret it:

"But your family owe me nothing. Much as I respect them, I believe I thought only of you."

I've seen this interpreted as a romantic concession that Darcy's love for Elizabeth and concern for her were his true motives for intervening with Lydia. Less often, I've also seen it read much more uncharitably as an indictment of his principles—he only cares about this whole thing at all because Elizabeth does and he cares about her, so it's ultimately selfish.

And those readings (which are ultimately related) do make a certain amount of sense if you analyze the quote by itself. He outright says he was only thinking of Elizabeth! Yes, this is in specific reference to her family, but still, he's pretty clear that his true motive was Elizabeth's peace of mind.

In this case, his claim to the Gardiners that he was principally motivated by his sense of guilt over Wickham would simply be a lie—perhaps a benevolent one to protect Elizabeth from feeling pressured, perhaps a necessary one in the circumstances, but still not an actual motive and not truly an aspect of his character.

Interestingly, though, when Elizabeth receives Mrs Gardiner's account of the Lydia affair in her letter, she does not doubt that Darcy was telling the truth about his motives, even if his feelings for her also affected him:

he had liberality, and he had the means of exercising it; and though she would not place herself as his principal inducement, she could perhaps believe, that remaining partiality for her might assist his endeavours in a cause where her peace of mind must be materially concerned.

Elizabeth is in a lot of turmoil and uncertainty at the time, so it does make sense that she might not fully realize, or dare assume, that she really was his primary motivation—even if it means that she's largely wrong about him all over again.

...except, a mere two sentences before Darcy says "I thought only of you," he says something else that's often excluded from the romantic (or anti-Darcy) use of the original quote.

"That the wish of giving happiness to you might add force to the other inducements which led me on, I shall not attempt to deny."

So in this very passage, he says that he had other motives than Elizabeth's happiness, but that the possibility of making her happy strengthened his other motives. That is quite similar to what Elizabeth concluded when she read Mrs Gardiner's letter (even the phrasing is similar). She did underestimate the strength of Darcy's feelings during that whole phase of the story, yes—he certainly feels more than "remaining partiality." But she's not getting him fundamentally wrong at this point.

I think that, like Elizabeth, Darcy did feel guilty about Wickham (both of them disproportionately to their actual culpability, IMO). I think that this really was a driving motive for his intervention with Lydia—first in trying to get Lydia to leave Wickham, and secondly in arranging the marriage. Of course, his feelings for Elizabeth would strengthen that drive, and did! But I don't think he was mostly lying to the Gardiners or that Elizabeth's analysis of his actions and character were all that wrong this time.

IMO, when he says he was only thinking of Elizabeth, he's speaking specifically in the context of her attempt to voice the gratitude that her family (allegedly) would feel if they knew the truth of what he had done. He respects them as human beings at this point, but he wasn't acting for the sake of the Bennets as a group and doesn't feel like they really owe him anything. The only person he was particularly motivated by was Elizabeth. He also doesn't want her to feel like she owes him something, but if she's going to thank him personally, it should be for herself alone; anything else is kind of wrong and fake.

In that sense, he was only thinking about her—that is, as opposed to thinking about other people. But given his longer speech, in which he explicitly says he had other motives, Elizabeth's happiness being the only person's he was really preoccupied with doesn't prevent him from having more complicated, abstract, layered motives overall. It can be romantic without necessarily being simple.

[crossdressingdeath]

I finally figured out why Vivienne rubs me the wrong way. To paraphrase she is a lottery winner telling the underpaid workers that capitalism works.

As throughout the Dragon Age series we see how circle fails mages (In Orgins there is books about blood magic in hopes of catching desperate mage in the act of a crime, Awakenings the templars setting a entrapment for Anders despite being a grey warden and then there is Kirkwall).

Then in the game in which mage independence is a big issue our only circle mage perspection that is a main character is Vivienne who is fine with the current system. As Vivienne will tell us the player that while the system has flaws overall is fine. Which is really ridiculous considering the last game.

What Dragon Age Inquisition needed was a Kirkwall mage who saw the worst of the circles to be a counter argument that the circles are flawed

And what I mean by Vivienne being a lottery winner is that her position is almost a miracle. As while a young mage in the circle she had to be powerful enough to be allowed to do her harrowing but also not too powerful to make the templars afraid (as I believe it is implied that mages that are too powerful are nipped in the bud in Orgins), then in a party she is charming enough that a noble takes a fancy to her which then allows her to charm the Empress and gain political power.

All of these aspects feels like sheer luck. So when Vivienne tells me the circle works I want to eat my face in frustration as I remember Jowan and Anders and Hawke's parents desperately trying not to be in the circle.

(Sorry for the rant)

I think Vivienne is ultimately a very notable victim of a lot of DAI's poor writing choices. Both in terms of character writing and in terms of the overall themes.

See, DAI doesn't want us to get any perspective that doesn't prop up the Circle and the Chantry. It doesn't want us questioning the necessity of either institution. It's not just Vivienne; think back on the mage characters we see in DAI, the ones that aren't in the Circle mostly just don't talk about it. Not even Quiz, and if Quiz tries to argue that the Circles aren't great the Circle mages go "Well you're wrong because it was great for me" and Quiz isn't allowed to say anything back. See also Minaeve going "Well the Dalish are shit and the Circle is great because the Dalish threw me away and the Templars rescued me and that doesn't contradict anything in the preexisting lore and also it definitely doesn't say anything about the Chantry that my clan couldn't support an additional mage in their life on the run and also I'm just going to blindly assume the Templars were telling the truth" while Lavellan is forced to just stand there, smiling and nodding and not arguing back at all even though they logically would. DAI needed a counterargument to the "Circles are good" argument, it needed a character who'd seen the worst they had to offer, but we were never going to get that because DAI didn't want it to be a debate. It wants us to blindly agree that the Circles are good and mages wanting freedom is bad. Which is a wildly stupid decision but someone made it anyway!

DAI also does not like character growth. Not in the slightest. The most DAI's companions get is their character growth popping in all at once in Trespasser after a full game of them being completely static. Just like how Sera refuses to acknowledge how awful she's being to Lavellan until Trespasser where she suddenly asks how they're feeling about the Evanuris stuff without using it to make them feel like there's something wrong with them for having non-Andrastian beliefs or how Dorian defends slavery and then that's quietly never acknowledged again until he mentions in Tevinter Nights that "someone he met in the south" changed his mind on the subject or how Cullen... is Cullen, you're never allowed to challenge Vivienne on her beliefs because if you did that then she might change and grow as a person and DAI does not want to deal with that. Especially not when challenging Vivienne means challenging the argument that the Circles are The Best Option. Poor Vivienne gets hit hard by DAI's refusal to accept that the Chantry's bad and the fandom does not want to side with them, she's probably the single biggest piece of collateral damage to DAI's bad choices.

And the thing is it's not that Vivienne doesn't know she's lucky! It's not that she doesn't know the Circles fail people! She recognizes there's a lot of flaws, and she does genuinely want to improve things for her fellow mages! Her intentions are good! Plus honestly if you work to get her approval up she's actually one of the better companions in terms of how she treats Quiz (seriously, look at some of her high approval conversations, she cares so damn much) and she'll defend even companions she doesn't like from unjust attacks (she's got a very good banter with romanced Dorian about how she got a letter from a magister she knows somehow about how disgusting Dorian and Quiz's relationship is and basically told him to fuck off with that). Vivienne really does care and really does want to make things better, she's just been so poisoned by her life in a world very heavily controlled by the Chantry and the Templars that she can't see past their way of doing things. The problem isn't that she doesn't see how lucky she is; she knows she got a lucky break that a lot of mages don't get (although it's important to note that she didn't just get lucky, Vivienne absolutely worked her ass off to get to where she is), and she knows that not everyone could get to where she is even if they'd gotten as lucky as she did. What she misses is that you need to be insanely lucky just to be more or less content in the Circle, never mind happy or powerful. Lucky enough to escape the worst of the Templars' abuses, lucky enough to be in a decent Circle, lucky enough not to be too weak or too powerful, lucky enough to get a manageable demon in your Harrowing, lucky enough to be the sort of person who won't be completely miserable trapped in one building your whole life... The thing Vivienne misses is that she got out, she doesn't have to spend her whole life in the Circle praying the Templars are good to her, and that's not an opportunity a lot of mages get no matter how smart or skilled they are. It drives me nuts, because if we were just allowed to push her to see that her story would immediately be so much better. As it is it's a lot of potential and a strong start that never really get paid off.

[n1kepkat]

REIGEN ANALYSIS!!!!!

So first of all. Let's define Reigen’s role in mob psycho 100, he is mob’s “mentor” despite being a complete fake and scammer, but mob being a naive child, follows him anyways. It's painfully obvious that Reigen is just using him, which serves as comedic in the early setting of the show, but as one of the main characters it's no surprise that his intentions and his relationship with mob change. The morality of his character is more on the ambiguous side, he’s not an explicitly evil villain, but despite being on the “good” side, he is not a very GOOD person, at least in the beginning. But his actions are at least in some ways excusable, which is what makes him such a well written character. For example, he is pretending to be a psychic and scamming people, but TECHNICALLY he isn’t because he does have a psychic with him, and he is doing what people ask of him, so is he actually considered a scam artist?? Another example, he may be lying to mob about being psychic, but the advice that he gives to him about “being psychic” is genuinely helpful and is exactly what mob needed to hear. And he is a genuinely good influence on Mob, even despite the obvious deceitful layer on top of everything. However, it is sort of stated at the end that deep down Mob knew the whole time that he wasn’t a real psychic (when the part of mob manifested from his powers says “that man is a fraud and you know it.”). This brings me to the most important aspect of Reigen’s character, his relationship with mob and the separation arc. At the beginning of the show Mob sort of blindly follows what Reigen tells him, believing everything without a second thought. He bases his entire “I won't use my powers in daily life” morality on what Reigen told him when they first met. Mob keeps this type of thinking throughout the entire show, because even though Reigen was sort of just talking out of his ass when he told him those things, it was genuinely what Mob needed to hear. You would assume that Reigen would be a horrible “mentor” for mob considering that he isn’t psychic, but as the show goes on you start to really understand that he is actually the perfect one because of that major difference. Reigen Arataka is a very bland average man, a commoner if you will. He doesn’t understand anything about this psychic stuff (E.G when he says at the end of the show, “when it comes to this psychic stuff, I really don’t have a clue.”), so giving mob a different perspective on his life was just what Mob needed to live life to the fullest. Reigen had told him, quote unquote, “Listen. Just because you have these psychic powers and abilities, it doesn't make you less of a human than anyone else. There are people who are fast, people who are book smart, and people with strong body odor. Psychic powers are just like that, like any other ability. You must embrace that ability as a part of yourself and continue to live positively. Afterall, the truth behind one's charm is kindness. So just be a good person, got it?” Obviously, at this moment Reigen was just trying to get this little kid to leave his office, but those words became the cornerstone of the entire show. This different perspective presented to mob was what helped him develop the way that he did. By this, I mean that without Reigen he likely wouldnt see himself as an actual human being and might even see himself like he was MORE than. We see this example plenty of times throughout the show: for example, teru. His entire 180 character arc thing was based off of the fact that he immediately assumed that he was better than everybody because of his powers. He had never got an average person’s perspective on life, so he hadn’t understood how he should view himself and others.

urmm ahh part 2 coming soon

[chippedshake]

Ponyboy's narration pt. 2

Okay so.

I was going to make one post about all of the characters from the Outsiders as narrators but then I started with Ponyboy and saw it was too long a post. Then I started writing Ponyboy in two parts: how he influences the reader and what could've brought him to being an unreliable narrator, but I started with the how and saw it was too long a post.

So this is the second post about Ponyboy’s unreliable narration

This is the post where I talk about how Ponyboy influences the reader (i.e. what tehcniques he / S.E Hinton uses to change the reader's perception), and now this post is about what aspects of his personality brought him to be an unreliable narrator.

Just as a warning: almost everything I'm about to say is subjective (although heavily based on logic) and based on the way I interpret a character.

So without further ado:

What has brought Ponyboy to be such an unreliable narrator?

First of all, we have to consider that Ponyboy's only human. As I mentioned in my first analysis, I wouldn't be able to recite the conversation I had with my friend at the bus stop this morning, much less one from several weeks ago. When Ponyboy writes his English theme, it's been at least a couple weeks since Johnny and Dally died (I saw a detailed timeline somewhere; if I find it I'll link it), so everything has a certain degree of uncertainty.

But that's not the interesting part, because not all first-person narrators are known for being unreliable, while all first-person narrators have this degree of uncertainty that comes with everything being a recollection of facts.

I think that Ponyboy's unreliability can be boiled down to two main points: low self-esteem and struggling with social cues.

Struggling with social cues is a bit simpler to explain, so I'll start with that.

As I said in my other post, Ponyboy states his opinions as absolute facts. But often his opinions are misguided: he thinks Dally doesn't love anyone, and Darry doesn't care about him, both of which are eventually proven wrong. Those are both conclusions he got from taking interactions at their face value, not realising what the other two were thinking.

Darry yells at me? He must hate me. Dally doesn't show his love? He must not feel it.

Since the narrative corrected him on a couple times he failed to read social subtext, we can't assume he's right the other times he tells us what a character is thinking with absolute certainty. He could perfectly well be wrong, only he hasn't been corrected yet.

This is most evident with Johnny.

I think everyone in the fandom pretty much agrees that Ponyboy mischaracterises Johnny, portraying him as much weaker than he really is.

Some examples of Johnny's characterisation:

He was the gang's pet, everyone's kid brother.

...

"Me and Johnny'll come," I said. I knew Johnny wouldn't open his mouth unless he was forced to.

...

Then for the first time, really, I realized what we were in for. Johnny had killed someone. Quiet, softspoken little Johnny, who wouldn't hurt a living thing on purpose, had taken a human life.

I'm not saying that Ponyboy is 100% completely off when he characterises Johnny because that would be stupid. I have no authority to say he's wrong because Johnny doesn't exist and I don't personally know him.

I do however think that Johnny isn't exactly like Ponyboy says, simply because he was proven wrong with both Darry and Dally, so I have no reason to believe him about Johnny. It probably holds a nugget of truth, or is a reasonable misinterpretation just like Dally and Darry, but isn't the complete truth.

Now this is bridging into full-on speculation territory, but I think that Johnny changed how he was around Ponyboy. As someone who is currently sixteen and has an almost-fourteen-year-old little brother, I am not my real self around him. Of course, the situation is different, but I think that when you interact with someone younger than you, there is a conscious or subconscious filtering process.

Johnny might be quiet, but being quiet doesn't have to mean being the gang's pet or everyone's kid brother. Ponyboy probably misinterprets his silence for a sort of weakness or softness that I personally don't think is there.

Does that classify as a tangent? I think that classifies as a tangent. Idk guys I just love Johnny. I should dedicate a post just to how characters are mischaracterised and how I think they really are.

*adds to drafts*

Anyways...

Where was I?

Right, Ponyboy not understanding social subtext and social cues.

Basically, I think that there's a lot of times where he thinks someone means one thing and he's just drastically misinterpreted what they mean, only he never realises he's wrong. Not all that deep.

Now for the good stuff: Ponyboy's low self-esteem.

Why do I think he has low self-esteem?

Because I have low self-esteem and project onto my favourite characters

For a variety of reason, really. First of all, I have never met a teenager that is genuinely not insecure at all. Everyone’s uncomfortable with how they look and insecure about their abilities, and I think every teenager would be a very unreliable narrator as well as an insecure one.

And, well, Ponyboy is at the very least humble because

I get put into A classes because I'm supposed to be smart

It drives my brother Darry nuts when I do stuff like that, 'cause I'm supposed to be smart; I make good grades and have a high IQ and everything, but I don't use my head.

Ponyboy, at least at the beginning of the book, only ever says he's "supposed to be smart", not that he's actually smart. Cherry says he's smart. Darry says he's smart. Soda says he's smart. But Ponyboy never says he's smart.

Now, there's a lot to be said about how Ponyboy views intelligence (writing one post just brings me to fifteen other ones I want to make), but I think that even assuming he views intelligence as a negative trait, there are lots of ways to say "I'm smart", at least one of which shouldn't remind him of the negative connotations. "I'm good at school", "I'm school smart"; if he wanted to avoid saying "I'm smart", there were other ways.

 There was another column about just Darry and Soda and me: how [...] I made the honor roll at school all the time and might be a future track star. (Oh, yeah, I forgot — I'm on the A-squad track team, the youngest one. I'm a good runner.)

Ponyboy only ever tells us he regularly makes the honor roll and might be a future track star when it's absolutely indispensible. He doesn't like to brag about his accomplishments, much like someone who doesn't think they're important accomplishments.

He tends to devalue his own accomplishments and strong spots while exacerbating others'. (heh did you see that I used exacerbate in a sentence and it sounded natural)

We've all laughed at how much he waxes poetic on Soda's looks, but that is an example of him bringing attention to someone else's positive traits while mainly paying attention to his own flaws. He criticises his own looks in the opening monologue while constantly complimenting Soda's. He says he has a good build but he's still small for fourteen and talks a lot about how much muscle Darry has.

That isn't to say he doesn't criticise other people, he does, but he's constantly comparing himself to others and using their virtues to point out his own flaws in the most teenager form of self-hate I've seen.

I think the most interesting and possibly compelling argument for Ponyboy's insecurity lies with how it ties into the narration.

Ponyboy tells us that Steve, Dally, and Darry hate him at the beginning of the book. He thinks that three out of six people in the gang hate him.

That's nice.

Now, Dally and Darry are proved to actually care about him, but with Steve we're just left with the original assumption.

Let's take a look at the evidence, shall we?

I liked Steve only because he was Soda's best friend. He didn't like me — he thought I was a tagalong and a kid; Soda always took me with them when they went places if they weren't taking girls, and that bugged Steve.

...

Steve shook his head. "Me and Soda are pickin' up Evie and Sandy for the game." He didn't need to look at me the way he did right then. I wasn't going to ask if I could come. I'd never tell Soda, because he really likes Steve a lot, but sometimes I can't stand Steve Randle. I mean it. Sometimes I hate him.

...

Steve flicked his ashes at me. "What were you doin', walkin' by your lonesome?" Leave it to good old Steve to bring up something like that. 

That's it. That is all the evidence we have that Steve dislikes Ponyboy.

Ponyboy's opinion when he's introducing him, a supposed "look" (might I remind you that we've established that Ponyboy cannot read social cues), and Steve being... worried about him? In a way Ponyboy doesn't like?

Where have we seen that before?

(In case you haven't figured it out: that's exactly what happened with Darry)

And every other time Steve appears, there is absolutely no reason to think he dislikes Ponyboy. They seem friendly even.

Am I saying Steve is never annoyed at Pony? Absolutely not. If my best friend's little brother tagged along to all of our hang-outs, I'd be pissed off too. But there's a big difference between not wanting someone three years younger than you to tag along when you hang out with your best friend and genuinely hating them.

But if you have low self-esteem, you look at any signs of someone being lightly annoyed at you and take that to mean that they hate you (speaking from experience).

What this means for the storyline is that Ponyboy will undermine his own abilities and give the impression that his relationship with other people is worse.

So, in conclusion, Ponyboy is an unreliable narrator because

He's only human and can't be expected to remember everything perfectly

He is very, very bad at reading social cues and understanding subtext, so these are often mis-explained

He has low self esteem and therefore undervalues his own virtues and assumes other people have lower opinions of him

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

https://www.tumblr.com/raven-at-the-writing-desk/765084948516503552/maybe-we-simply-underestimate-how-difficult-and?source=share if i'm not mistaken Jamil idk in what book i think 5 mentions smth about how different his and Jade UM are, but on my opinion imagine this irl if someone tells you to jump you'll probably do so bc in your perspective is smth easy but if someone tells you to give them the most honest true or a piece of your mind you will filter it or even lie some people spoil it and say something they're truly thinking yeah? after that they're usually more careful around the person that made them spoil those thoughts which is how Jade's UM probably works he doesn't like telling you his UM bc if you knew this random person is smooth and makes you feel safe enough to tell them a piece of your thoughts even when you know they're dangerous as hell you will be wary you will try to held your thoughts tight to you

[Referencing this post and this post!]

Aaaaah, you’re talking about 6-60! The way Jamil describes it, his UM, Snake Whisper I refuse to call is Snake Charmer allows him to “control […] a target’s will.” Jade’s UM, Shock the Heart, differs in that is useful for “[extracting] very specific information from a target.” They’re both magic that manipulates the mind, but specialize in different aspects of it.

I think an issue with comparing the jumping to confessing is that jumping is a very limited example of what Jamil’s magic can do (whereas a confession covers a large span of information). Jamil has a LOT more range than that, and seemingly no limits imposed on him. He even suggests that he could achieve the same results as Jade if he uses Snake Whisper or gives orders in a certain way. So… Jamil’s UM still comes off as purely better than Jade’s. It can just be so much more.

How far could Jamil take his commands? I feel like there should be a ceiling to what Jamil is able to get others to do if there’s limits to what Jade can make people confess. Like, what if something really strongly goes against someone’s moral compass??? Is Jamil still able to order his victims to like… go to ANY extreme if he wanted?? Including murder?? Surely at some point the target’s will would kick in and push back against Jamil’s control??? And how is Jamil able to get the subjects under his thumb again after they’re already cognizant of his UM? Shouldn’t they be able to better resist him…? But no, apparently his UM hurts them if they put up a fight?? Again, this is something Jade lacks. I feel like Twst should have just said “it’s harder for them both to successfully recast their UM on the same people after one use”; this would make sense (because targets would be more wary of making eye contact with them) while better equalizing the two spells. You would be equally as unlikely to trust someone who makes you speak the truth to them as much as you are someone who makes you act as they command.

The other thing is, I think we’re assuming a lot of energy and effort is put into retrieving information (which may very well be true!), but we’re also assuming that forcing others to act a certain way is less demanding of energy and effort. I feel like that isn’t the case at all. Yes, finding secrets in your memories, filtering them, and sharing takes considerable executive function to achieve—but so does planning movement and behaviors, then executing them. Your brain and muscles have to coordinate to figure out what you’re going to do and say… as well as what to NOT do and NOT say. This, too, is also filtering and refining, and it’s just as complicated as the systems involved in Jade fishing for the truth.

Lastly, I also feel like sharing usually hidden details isn’t an absolute; it could be dependent on the circumstances such as emotional state. For example, if you’re charged on anger or sadness, you may be more loose-lipped than you would be at a neutral state.

Those are my thoughts, anyway ^^ Very interesting stuff, I can’t believe we actually haven’t talked that deeply about this topic until very recently (ie this month)!

[aleck-le-mec]

It's wild to me how some able-bodied people only think of disabled culture as a concept and they haven't ever actually experienced it. To me the biggest tell that somebody has never experienced disabled culture is their lack of knowledge about something I call Societal Manufactured Disability Theory.

This theory posits that an aspect of disability is manufactured by societal norms, stigmas and labeling.

People with disabilities like myself will tell you that people do treat you differently based solely upon the fact that you are disabled. When my hand writing is too messy to read do to Dysgraphia people assume I'm not trying hard enough to be neat, and if I'm lazy enough to slack with hand writing I must always be lazy. When I tell people I have Dyslexia they think I'm less intelligent, unable to read or incapable of understanding the written word. When I tell people I have a connective tissue disorder which is an invisible disability they think I'm a liar, scheming to take resources away from "real disabled people".

The societal norm here in America is to push forward, laziness is not an option we see it repeatedly in the rhetoric surrounding young people. News sources constantly talking about how "no one wants to work these days" or "young people are taking everything for granted".

There is a huge stigma around having Dyslexia that most people don't notice. In American society where we have a 79% literacy rate it is expected that you can read, so when you can't or you have trouble people think you have a lower IQ. Dyslexia can be genetic so I'm actually a fourth generation Dyslexic from my dad's side with all of them men being the ones to pass it down. My dad has always said that my great grandfather had no support for his Dyslexia, nobody cared and in fact the term Dyslexia was only coined in 1887. When my dad went to school they attempted to alleviate some of the symptoms of Dyslexia by making him watch his hands as he crawled on the floor, believing that the root of the problem was in a lack of eye coordination. To this day I and many other Dyslexics will avoid talking about our diagnosis because of the stigma behind it. I have had many experiences in my life where as soon as people learn that I am Dyslexic they assume that I can't spell anything or that they need to read everything to me. That's what stigma does, it makes people hide away just so they can live in peace and be respected.

It is extremely common for people with invisible disabilities to be labeled as liars, this is mostly due to a lack of education and representation. The general public's idea of disability is limited, but the truth is that disability is one of the most dynamic aspects of human beings. Invisible and dynamic disabilities make up the majority of disabilities; in fact, 1 out of every 3 Americans is in fact disabled. When people see me, a young, healthy-looking man, they never think I'm disabled. If I tell them I am, they may think I am lying. People generally do not like liars, and having such a label attached to your name can be detrimental to your social integration.

You can see that none of those setbacks I mentioned are symptoms of my disabilities. The perceived deviance, stigma, and labeling are not things you'll find on a medical report. However, they do harm me socially and potentially medically when it comes to stigma; these things disable me. Thus, part of my struggle as a disabled person is manufactured by society itself, in the norms we hold and the way we treat others.

I have come to that conclusion repeatedly, as have almost every other disabled person. It's a conclusion that is often reached in the community as a whole. However, it is in able-bodied culture where these stigmas, labels, and perceived attacks originate. So, if someone is completely averse to accepting the Societal Manufactured Disability Theory, it suggests that they have probably never fully been a part of any aspect of disability culture.