#because other than a whole lot of people in this tag

[harpieisthecarpie]

looking at how Goro Akechi became a foil of Akira Kurusu thru their childhood (attachment styles)

(Content Warnings for discussing all the stuff in Akechi's childhood specifically, bad parenting, neglect, mental illness. Take care of urselves)

waking up to the tags @1derpu2 added on another post of mine about Akechi ("#I don't think I could survive in his position") had me thinking of a 15-16 year old Akechi, and how survival even feels to him.

Because arguably Akechi has been in survival mode since he was born. Even with a mother doing her best to provide, poverty fundamentally rewrites the brain especially at such a young age−

(Tangent: Akechi's dessert blog actually reminds me of Brennan Lee Mulligan during the d20 Misfits & Magic actual play discussing his character [Evan Kelmp, an unhoused orphaned kid] ordering from desserts at restaurants in order to maximize caloric intake for his money bc stuff on the dessert menu actually tends to contain the most calories– ANYWAYS)

–and he also can feel the underlying tension in how his mother is treated, how he himself is treated, how there is no support network for them. I can imagine that's part of the lure of an ensemble kid's show like Featherman: reliable companions who take your hand rather than slapping it away.

I've done a lot of reading into attachment styles and attachment trauma (bc it's interesting and also haha ;] trauma) and it is a really cool lens to view the differences between our two Wild Cards Akechi and Akira.

adding a reblog with an attachment theory rundown! actual discussion of akechu attachment stuff below cut

There is no better fit for Akechi than a Disorganized Attachment style after finding his sole caregiver and financial (his mother) dead by her own hand after years of her focus being split by the work she needed to do for them to afford survival, before being passed around by distant relatives who viewed him with contempt, if they acknowledged him at all.

The world treated him and his mother like vermin, so of course no one else is trustworthy, of course the people who take advantage are evil. Of course everyone takes advantage. Just like his father, who is the root of this whole horrible thing (the thing being Goro's life, the thing being Goro)

His mother left him violently, voluntarily (from his pov, suicide & mental illness are complicated), so he must be someone repulsive. Incapable of being loved. If he wants others to love him, and he must in order to get close enough to his father to kill, then he must be anything other than himself.

One of the symptoms of disorganized attachment and attachment trauma is the inability to regulate emotions, leading those with it to feel things with an intensity they can't control, soothe, or explain that can fluctuate between emotions rapidly.

And doesn't that markedly fit with a kid who has awoken such disparate personas that are both him? His entire relationship with the world (there must be justice but there is no such thing as justice) and his inner psyche does explain why he brings up Hegel. If you have both Loki and Robin Hood inside you, thesis and antithesis, then isn't it a comfort to know their existence somehow makes sense? That you are synthesis rather than just chaos and pain.

Meanwhile, from the little we hear about Akira's parents and how Persona 5 frames the adults around him, the Avoidant attachment style fits best. He is fiercely independent, with such a strong sense of identity despite with the masks he wears for others that he has the true Wild Card ability. He stands his ground with his morals, even when everyone around him is telling him his life would be easier if he gave up.

He has a strong internal moral center because he was never attached enough to his caregivers that they'd be able to influence his cognitive assimilation. Why trust someone's moral judgment when you can't even trust them with your vulnerability?

This is why Akira and Akechi are so fascinating as foils, as rivals, and as people who know each other better than anyone else could. Akechi walks around as a fake, appealing version of himself that Akira sees through clearly. And Akira likes the bitter, vicious, angry version of Akechi because it's honest. That is the underlying intensity of people he knows is hidden behind the masks adults are convinced are their faces. (Where's your rage? RISE RISE RISE)

Akira and Akechi match so well not because they have a hidden ugliness, but because they view the pleasant masks people wear to excuse or ignore injustice as what are truly ugly. And their difference lies in Akira's belief that there is good in people while Akechi's upbringing has him convinced that humanity is rotten to its roots.

And Akechi wants Akira's beating, caring heart between his teeth because there is still a lonely little child in his own chest who loves Featherman and just wanted a better life for his mom. And who won't fucking die, no matter how Akechi tears the world apart to match his perception of it.

Akechi has spent years trying to kill his heart, which has done nothing but soaked his masks in his own blood.

Akira looks Akechi in the eyes, straight through those masks, and steals his heart from off the chopping block. And he keeps it close even as Akechi turns the blade on him in a rage borne of fear.

They're gay as hell thanks for coming to my ted talk. might improve after work

[saejinniestar]

Mr. Steal your Heart

Robber!Alpha!Taehyun x Rich!Omega!Y/N.

Tags: Clueless!Y/N, corruption, they end up getting married in some part of the story, she doesn’t know what cvmming is, she gets naked outside, size k!nk, knotting, breeding, praise k!nk, ab riding, reader is lonely, great ending!

Notes: Robber Taehyun breaks into the home of the rich and lonely omega with his four friends. Says he’ll be right back as he finishes up, keeps coming back while the servants are away. I did some research and looked back on some of the fics I read so if anything is wrong tell me.

For Kang Taehyun, life was anything but easy, having to resort to a life of stealing to make ends meet. His Job? Barely paying him anything. Family? None whatsoever. All he has is his four friends, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Kai and Soobin, who help him on his stealing adventures. Is he Robin Hood? No way, he’ll steal from omegas, betas, and alphas, he’s not picky. He goes into the night and steals from people, breaking in, hearing their scared voices and frantic cries, running away and never getting caught. He’s built a life for himself and a name, now he’ll never have any problems if he keeps this up without the fuzz after him. He repeats this process of waking up, going to work, going back home, taking a nap, then robbing. Nothing changes, his next target is you. He waits until all have gone from your home to strike. All the boys break in, one by one, making sure to be as quiet as possible.

They look around, taking things that could be at the back of a person’s memory, things that could get them lots of money, things worth a whole house. He walks up the stairs but then stops, there, at the end of the hallway was a light. He walked slowly, Beomgyu and Kai checking the other rooms. He got to your door, waiting for any sounds. He then took a peek, seeing you get into bed. Suddenly, there was a thud, he saw as you jolted. He ran in, getting onto your bed and holding you down, hugging you tight. He felt you trying to calm down in his hold, moving more slowly. He let out his scent, one he never let anyone smell at all. The scent was strong, a black cherry like scent but deeper, more powerful. He watched as you stopped moving, letting him hug you more. Then, Beomgyu came in, telling Taehyun they got six things and they were ready to go. As he walked out, he turned around to look at you, “I’ll be back darling, wait for me okay?” You nodded, laying back down and watching him turn off your light and close your door. Taehyun, that was his name, Taehyun.

You were different than Taehyun, you were a rich girl who had tons of servants and everything you could ever want handed to you. People thought you were too good for them, too spoiled and probably a brat. This was far from the truth. You were too shy, didn’t go out because of it causing people to think you were a recluse, you weren’t a brat either. You also didn’t have family, they all perished in an accident caused by someone breaking and entering. The only people you had were your servants, working to take care of you and make sure you were safe. They all went back to their homes at night, and that’s how you met Taehyun. You were shocked to see him nonetheless but you made interactions with anyone else, that was your first time. When he told you to wait for him, you did. You waited till he came back again, getting into your house and straight to your room. He hugged you again, letting you breathe in his scent as he praised you for being a good girl for him. He let his friends steal from you, let them take what they wanted, after all, he was a robber, not a nice man. When Soobin went in to tell him that they were ready and that they’d decided to come back again, he joked to Taehyun, “If you date her and marry her, this whole thing would be a lot easier.” Taehyun looked at you, a smile forming on his face, “Gonna let me date you, huh darling, gonna be a good omega for me?” You nodded, feeling him press a kiss to your head. “Be a good girl and wait for me.” And with that, he left.

When you got up in the morning, you got ready and walked down the stairs, suddenly the doorbell rang. The door man answered it, and at your door was Taehyun. The door man was surprised to see someone at the door, he asked Taehyun what he needed. “Believe it or not my good sir, I’m dating the young lady who lives here!” He was even more surprised as Taehyun pulled you into his arms. Your door man then smiled, telling your butler how he was surprised to see you have a boyfriend. Taehyun followed you to your room, locking the door behind you and sitting down on your bed. He then started explaining how things were gonna go in terms of him and his friends coming in. You listened, trying not to miss anything he said. He then left but not before he told you to wait for him. At night, you saw him again, he hugged you, released his scent and pressed kisses to your face. Both you and him were different. While the others he came with were alphas, he was different, a stronger, more powerful alpha, as scientists called it a prime alpha. You on the other hand, were a prime omega, a more submissive version of an omega. According to scientists, only people that were prime alpha or omega could be together and only those types were experimented on, leaving less and less of them in society. You both were made for each other, dangerous yet perfect for each other. Once the boys finished, they left, Taehyun telling you the same thing, wait for him.

A year had passed with Taehyun and his friends coming into to your house and stealing things here and there. His friends were coming to see you, but not to steal, to see you get married to Taehyun. Now that you both were married, they could come whenever they wanted, take what they wanted, after all, you let them do it. Taehyun then came back with his friends one night, coming back to steal once again, Taehyun came up to your room, and then you came out of the bathroom, wearing a nightgown, short and nearly translucent. He pulled you in for a hug, sitting you down on his lap, he kissed you, his lips serenading yours. He felt so accomplished, like he won the lottery. He had the richest girl all to himself, a little omega all for him, and not just any omega, one that hadn’t even gotten her heat yet. His lips left yours, your little pants coming out. He whispered in your ear, “Being such a good little wifey for me, yeah? You’re such a good little omega for me.” He pressed a kiss to your cheek, not stopping his words. “When your heat comes, I’m gonna breed you, give you my pups, gonna keep my cute little wife all to myself, I bet you want that, yeah?” You nodded, letting him suck your tongue as you kissed him, his pants on the floor, your panties half way down your leg and your nightgown pushed up to your chest. He was half way down your collarbone, hands on your chest when Beomgyu opened the door and told Taehyun they were leaving. Your face turned red as you said bye to him, Taehyun only shooing him off and telling him to come next week and that he’d wait for him and the others.

When you woke up the next day, Taehyun was sleeping right by you. his clothes were in your basket for unwashed clothes along with all of your other clothes you wore yesterday. You yawned and stretched, parting your legs, only for you to feel the softness of your husband’s pajama pants on your cunt. You looked down, seeing your nightgown and nothing else. You were embarassed, never realizing you fell asleep like this. You shook it off, pulling down Taehyun’s pants and rubbing yourself on him, trying to feel what you felt yesterday. When Taehyun woke up, he saw you, nightgown ridden up to your stomach, tears staining your cheeks and your cunt on top of him. He moved you off of him and sat up. “If you wanted to do what we did yesterday, you could’ve asked darling.” He pulled off your nightgown, admiring your body in his view. He took off his clothes, watching as you looked at his body. His hands pulled you close to him, sitting you on top of his semi-hard dick. He put his hands on your hips and moved you back and forth, feeling your warmth. You left him mesmerized with your body, how could someone not want a pretty omega like you. He loved the way your body clung to him, never wanting to let go, he also loved the way your cunt drooled for him, telling him just how much you wanted him. When he looked up the tears came back, your body holding onto his even tighter and your hips moving slower. You got up and ran to your bathroom, then after a few minutes, came back confused. He laughed, pulling you closer to him, “Honey, you’re not gonna pee, you’re gonna come, have you never done that before?” You shook your head, watching as his eyes widened. Well, if that was the case, he shouldn’t have expected a freaking nympho like on videos, he instead got an inexperienced, ‘never touched myself before’ omega. At breakfast, he thought and thought, what could he do to make you less afraid of letting go. Your butler then called for Taehyun. He got up and then told you to wait for him.

One day, his friends came again only this time, not to steal, to visit. They came in, saying hi and giving you a hug. They had suggested a picnic outside in the garden, hoping to get a good talk about the next time they’d come and steal. You went and got dressed then came downstairs and outside into the garden. They all gasped when they saw you, a pretty little sundress, with matching sandals and as your skirt flew up as you ran, one of Taehyun’s favorite panties hugging your hips. They all watched as you sat down, sitting close to Taehyun. You said hello and talked with them, eating the small sandwiches the chefs made for you guys. Suddenly, Beomgyu got an idea, he whispered in Soobin’s ear who then whispered it to Yeonjun who whispered it to Kai. Once Kai whispered it to Taehyun, a grin erupted on his face. “Honey, they’d like to see your pretty body, see how lucky I got, is that okay?” You smiled at them nodding, you stood up, removing your sandals first. Then, Taehyun helped you with your dress, folding it and laying it down on the picnic blanket. He removed your undergarments and then sat you down in his lap. The boys looked at you in awe, in surprise and shock. Taehyun parted your legs and spread your lips open. A flurry of compliments started coming from the boys, you smiled and giggled, happy to how pretty they thought you were. Taehyun helped you back into your clothes as the boys watched. Then, they helped pick up the picnic blanket, plates and cups and brought them inside. Then they all said goodbye and to wait for them.

After the boys came that night to steal, you wondered when they’d just come to visit, not steal. They said it would happen more often since they told you they were done stealing. They threw a small party and they laughed and talked to each other, you saw how happy Taehyun was, then he told you, they finally got the house they wanted and everything else they needed. That’s why they stole, so they could get the house they wanted. You were happy for them, dancing along with them. The next day, you and Taehyun went to the garden to have a picnic. You were enjoying your cake when your body started to feel hot. Taehyun came to your side, lifting you up. You had a fever, your body was hot. He brought you to your room and pressed a kiss to your lips as he sat you down. You went back to his lips, kissing, whimpering, pressing further down on him. He pulled you off, laying you down and telling you that you were sick and your heat was coming. But the bad news for Taehyun was that he was going to stay holed up in his room tomorrow, due to his rut. Now, he didn’t know what to do. He told you that he was getting your food, coming back with a dish full of food. He helped you eat it, putting the spoon in your mouth. He took care of you throughout the day and once it was time for you to sleep, he got you ready and laid you in bed and he got ready himself. He laid down next to you and told you to wait for him in the morning.

When he woke up in the morning, a sickly sweet scent flooded his nose. He felt hot, he felt the dizzying feel of someone on top of him. There you were, naked and rubbing yourself on Taehyun’s abs. You were riding his abs quickly and messily. Your eyes were glazed over with a dazed look, your head was very much clouded, only thinking about pleasing your alpha and getting bred. Taehyun on the other hand, only wanted to keep you bred, keep you with him always, have you stuck in that horny haze, have you stuck on his knot forever. You were perfect, kissing, moaning and whimpering, all for Taehyun’s eyes only. He got up and laid you down, trying to stop you from grinding on his dick. His fingers went in easily, the slick you were releasing made it easier for him. He opened you, his fingers spreading you for the main course. There you were, wanting him endlessly as he took out his fingers. He took off his clothes slowly, making you lose your mind as he took each piece of clothing off. There it was, very big and couldn’t possibly fit in your tiny hole. He pressed you against the pillows as he entered you, trying his hardest not to push all the way in. The way you felt wrapped around him, your walls warming him up immediately. Slowly but surely, he bottomed out, finally reaching the end. It all felt so sweet, the way the tip of his dick kissed your cervix, the way you looked so blissful underneath him. He was moving fast inside you, making sure to leave no spot untouched. “You’re being such a good omega for me, keep being good for me, keep laying there and looking pretty.” You were out of it, clinging onto Taehyun when he hit your cervix. He felt as your cunt squeezed him, came all over his dick. “Good girl, did such a good job for me, ngh, never wanna pull out.” As he felt your insides hugging him, he never wanted to pull out, he wanted to stay inside you forever. His inner alpha was yelling at him to mark you up and claim you, keep you in his arms, your scent was already enveloping him anyway. He was close, his teeth were on your neck, barely biting your scent glands. The second he released was the second he bit you, your arms tightening around him and your sounds got louder. His knot was so close to your cervix, keeping you filled with his release. "Honey, how did that feel, huh? Bet your little cunt loved it." He pressed kisses to your face as he reached over and grabbed a towel to clean you up with. He got you dressed and let you take a nap, he'd be back for more, just wait for him.

The next few days were filled with more moments like these, after all he had to help you with your heat and you had to help him with his rut. You did it each and every time, in the shower, where Taehyun could just kiss you and knot you, in the garden, where he could see your body in the sunlight, even in the library, where he'd have stuck on his knot and he'd read you a book. Soon, your heat was over and so was his rut. In the morning, you were filled with disappointment, that meant Taehyun wouldn't touch you anymore. You shook your head and grabbed Taehyun's hand, moving your nightgown and pulling off your panties, you slipped one of his fingers inside. It felt good but not good enough so you slipped two fingers then three. You looked down, his hand was getting wet with your arousal and his fingers were inside of you. You moved yourself against his hand, humping it desperately. You looked at Taehyun then pressed your lips against his, moving lower and lower to his neck. When Taehyun woke up, you were there naked, teary eyed and his hand was dripping with your releases. He wondered just how you got this way and how you managed to not wake him up. He then felt his neck and lips were wet, your lips were wet too. He called out to you, and scared you, you didn't expect to see him wake up. You pulled out his hand from inside you, shame painting your face. He brought his fingers to his lips and licked them, your sweet taste on his tongue. He then got up and got dressed, he went into the bathroom to get ready. He then got out, "Why aren't you getting ready? We promised the boys we'd see their new house remember?" You jumped and got up, nearly tripping over your clothes on the floor. Once you both were ready, you got into the car and your driver drove you to their house. It was big but not as big as yours. Once you knocked on the door, Beomgyu opened it. The boys were excited to have you both over. You guys started off with talking, eating and then dancing. You all had fun at their new house and stayed till night. You both got out the door to head to your car when Taehyun told them to wait till you guys came back.

Taehyun was happy but even happier today when he got you four boxes and put them on your bed. You liked getting presents and seeing that he got you them made you happy. You opened the first one, a pink diamond collar with his name on the diamond tag. The next one had a small, pink and white, silk nightgown, the third one had a rose quartz tiara and a scepter with the same crystals, the fourth gift had white gloves in it. He helped you put the outfit on and then laid back and looked at you. You held your scepter in your hand, a shy look on your face. "You look so pretty, darling. My pretty princess." He pulled you close to him and sat you down in his lap. You whimpered as he sat you down, he lifted your nightgown and saw you wearing nothing underneath. "Pretty princess wanted me to see her princess parts too, huh?" You nodded, holding onto him as his fingers entered you. You looked down at his lap, his dick getting harder by the second. You thought for a minute, how could someone like you get a man like him when no one liked you. Tears started flowing down your cheeks as Taehyun stopped and looked up at you, "Hey, what's wrong, darling? What's got you all teary eyed?" He held you close as you cried on his shoulder. Then Taehyun heard kids from outside your window talking and calling you a recluse and made fun of you for being a brat who was too good for the world. That made you cry even harder and Taehyun got up and got to the window, he opened it pointed his finger at the kids, then held up his old water gun. The kids ran away, screaming bloody murder. He walked back to you, "That ought to teach those kids to mind their own business and not make fun of you." He pressed a kiss to your forehead. He helped you get your clothes back on as he told you he'd get you lunch and to wait for him.

It had been years since Taehyun first met you. Shy, submissive, you. It was then that he realized, you were the one. He never once looked back, he knew that stealing from you was a good idea or else he would've never met you. You were his precious omega and he was your handsome alpha and your lives were perfect. Today, he was with you, holding your hand as you both walked through the garden, smiling and happy. He let go and ran to get a flower he grew for you. Once again, you waited for him because you knew what he'd say, to wait for him.

Taglist: @filmnings, @yeoningz, @beomiracles, @dawngyu, @yunverie, @liverspaghett

[tookishcombeferre]

Thanks for the tag @shychick-52

So, this, I've thought a lot about actually.

The whole Protector sublot both does and does not make sense to me. I've watched it all the way through twice now, and I really, really don't like it. (Personally.)

My personal issues with the Protector subplot are as follows:

I dislike the fact that it encourages secret keeping from trusted adults (Mom, Dad, Aunt Tilly, Mr. Cedric, etc.) which is something that the show actively states is wrong in the previous episode about Gnarly and the Fliegel. ("The Fliegel has Landed" is one of my top 5 episodes, right up there with "Substitute Cedric" in terms of life lessons taught and their importance.)

I dislike the fact that it makes all the adult characters feel really stupid and flat as characters. They have absolutely no, to use a DnD term, passive perception - apparently - because they never notice Sofia is missing. They're all completely incompetent, and it makes no sense.

I just have an absolute personal disdain for the way Sofia is treated by the Protectors. She is *not* a teenager. She is not a mini-adult. Sofia is 11 ... 11 and 1/2 at the most, and Chrysta treats her like she's a minimum of 15 or 16 and I hate it.

However, my primary issues, as a parent, are with points one and three.

Someone. I do not care who. From Sofia's initial trusted circle should be with her in the Mystic Isles. Mom. Dad. Cedric. Tilly. SOMEONE. (Who is not an animal.) Should be with her to supervise.

I know the show spends a lot of time establishing Minimus as a guardian of sorts. He's really protective. He's safety conscious ... HE'S A HORSE. A smart horse. But, he's a horse.

I cannot describe to you how WITH Miranda I am with every. single. word. that comes out of her mouth in the finale I am. But, I am. I am with Miranda 3,000%.

Trust me when I say Squish and I will be having a long talk in the next couple months about how Sofia made some BAD choices about not telling her family about Prisma AS SOON as she was encountered. Prisma should have been the FIRST thing Amber and Sofia were talking about at the dinner table, the first thing Sofia was talking to Cedric about the next time she visited the tower, and Baileywick should have been on HIGH ALERT for any sign of her. Period.

There is no way Sofia should have been keeping her Protector status from her parents and trusted inner circle. Nope! Nope, nope! Bad writing. Terrible writing! No thanks. Don't like it.

And, I suppose, if the Protectors actually treated Sofia like a child in school, someone who was *learning* how to adventure and not actively putting her in danger, it might not be so bad. But, the first thing Chrysta does is like basically feed Sofia to polar bears ... so like ... I don't exactly trust these people's judgement. Nor do I trust them with the life and emotional well being of an 11 to 12 year old kid.

(Again, I am speaking as a parent. Y'all are free to feel however you want about the Protectors, I just ... I hate them. I'm sorry. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that I also had a lot of responsibility heaped on me by adults who I was supposed to trust at a young age so it just hits me in a sore spot? But, oooo I just cannot *stand* them. "Get this by sunset." "Save us Sofia, you're our only hope!" "You have to help us!" "We're basically minor gods, but we're helpless!" ICK! Major ick!)

And, before anyone asks the difference between the Protectors (specifically Chrysta) and Cedric?

He's actually useful! He actually teaches Sofia useful skills! What does Chrysta do other than complain about stuff and tell Sofia to do better without showing Sofia anything? SOFIA HAS TO TEACH CHRYSTA HOW TO TEACH!??! Like, what? Excuse me???? Huh??? What are we doing here? This is a show for children! Please, please, I am begging you! Let the adults have at least one competent bone in their body. It will not detract from having the child as your main character. I promise.

Meanwhile, Cedric taught Sofia and the rest of her classmates better in one class period than the Good Fairies did in like 2 whole years! And that's while he was still "evil!" (And strapped to a chair.) Like, hello?? (Maybe the real lesson is just that fairies are just notoriously bad teachers? I dunno.)

So, like, yes, Chrysta improves as a mentor. Fine. I'll give you that. But, she still treats Sofia WELL more like a peer than a mentee. And, I'm not super comfortable with that? I don't like the dialogue between them. I don't exactly know how old Chrysta is supposed to be, but she's definitely older than Sofia is. Maybe she's supposed like an older teen? I'm not sure. But, I do not like the way that they're coded as equals. There was a clear and distinctive barrier between Cedric as Mentor and Sofia as Apprentice literally from the episode in which she was called that onward. And, while Sofia is CALLED a trainee by Chrysta. That is NOT coded into their relationship in the same way it is in other relationships Sofia has in the show.

And, I. Do. Not. Like. That.

Chrysta is dismissive. She's arrogant. She's mean. She's not likeable. She actively blames Sofia for stuff that isn't her fault. I mean, dang, I wouldn't blame Cedric for getting into a fist fight with Chrysta just for putting Sofia though more than half the crap people put him through his whole life.

And, yes. These are all things that Cedric also can be and was throughout his redemption arc, but he is also shown over and over again to be equal parts protective and caring as well as being a mean and arrogant. Chrysta is just ... not protective or helpful.

Sofia ends up saving Chrysta well more than Chrysta ever saves Sofia. For being on the side of good, Chrysta is not very willing or able to care for Sofia, emotionally OR physically, and that's something that I just ... I can't stand. If they were going for mentor foils? They failed. Epically.

Chrysta as a character is cool. I just can't stand her as someone who is supposed to look out for Sofia because she doesn't. Like, the whole episode they're in Wei Ling? Chrysta is basically gaslighting Sofia about not asking for help until Sofia tells her off! UGH! I just ... I'm sorry! This is a sore spot for me. You stepped right into one of my pet peeves in writing for children.

It all boils down to that I just don't like what message it enforces. What the writers set up with Cedric is that he's crotchety but there is good in him, and when push comes to shove, he's going to stand up and protect the people he loves. He deeply cares about Sofia. He really wants to be good more than bad. He's just a little turned around about how to get the respect he deserves as human being. Sofia is helping him get there through her child-like hope and, really, just being around him. Truly, he's kind of like Carl from Up. He just needs another human being to bring life back into his life. Cedric likes mentoring Sofia, and there's a well established distance and boundary between them. In many ways, Cedric is doing a lot of his own development behind the scenes, Sofia is just there accompanying him on the journey. (Honestly, the Carl and Russell metaphor isn't a bad one for the two of them.)

With the Protectors, by contrast? From the moment Sofia appears, that boundary just isn't there. They immediately are willing to take her on as a near adult trainee. They put her with a trainer who clearly expresses contempt for her IN FRONT of them. This trainer is actively prejudiced against Sofia as a person, and this trainer treats Sofia, not as a child, but as a peer. In many ways, Sofia acts as an ACTIVE, not passive, catalyst for Chrysta's development.

And, I'm just NOT down for that. I'm not about it. It's not in my spirit.

There is a big difference between using life experiences and wisdom to help someone process what they're living through - what Cedric does for the class with "The Sorcerer's Secret" song - and what Sofia ends up helping Chrysta to do in getting her Fairy Wand. Big Difference. HUGE.

So, again, Squish and I will be having LONG chats about why it's important to evaluate these kinds of relationships. Healthy relationships and boundaries with adults. Because, the Protectors? That's NOT it.

There should be a firm line with all the adults involved in Sofia's life telling her "NOPE. Sorry. No more. Not because of anything you did, but because this never should have happened in the first place. This is not your circus. Not your monkey. Not your problem. You are done in the cupcake war. The end."

Sorry if this was rambly and disjointed. But, darn. This hit in a place for me. I do not like this arc. I like it less each time I watch it.

If Cedric hadn't saved her in 'In Cedric We Trust', Sofia would have been seriously hurt or worse by Prisma! That's proof that she has no business being a Protector at her age, let alone the ONLY Protector of the EverRealm!! What if such a thing were to happen again post-series- bested by an enemy or even just getting injured by pure accident, with nobody around to help (well, I mean, normally she'd usually have Minimus or Skye with her, but still)??

That's why I totally think Cedric should have been her magical bodyguard, like I discussed in this post.

@tookishcombeferre @bettathanyou @fantadym

[runninguplenorahills]

It’s canon that Will fell off his bike once and broke his finger.

[dreamsy990]

hi i wanted to draw my own au so have a snippet of scene i rewrote like 12 times and will likely rewrite again

[conundrumrespeculis]

tags by @briarmoon1015 #Barry’s trauma and depression after his death and rebirth has undoubtedly changed him #I’m glad others have picked up on it #and I honestly am here for it #we have gotten some excellent writing exploring how his trauma has reshaped him as a person #it’s very intriguing #I’ve seen a lot of people not adress this and it becomes a little annoying #especially when talking about silver age comics #Barry’s changed as a character we got to understand that not everything he did in the silver age he would do today #context is also really important and a lot of people tend to ignore it lol#either way though #I’m super interested in seeing more of Barry’s family having to adress this change #it’s part of why I hate Barry’s retirement that happened recently #please adress his depression before we write him out of stuff lol

Okay this is a Wally post but I HAVE to talk about this. He literally has his entire life growing up changed when he comes back to life!!! He's been reshaped by childhood trauma that previously didn't exist.

He's literally a different character. He's literally a different character and everyone pretends he's the same guy which INCLUDES everyone who knew him and remembers him before time reset and stuff but also that man is probably ignoring some of the differences.

I would not be surprised if he looks back on his memories of things that happened once upon a time and doesn't understand why exactly he did those things.

I have admittedly not read NEARLY as many modern comics with Barry in them than Silver age and heck, even bronze age! But he just. He's so alone in modern comics, when one of the fantastic things about him to me originally is he's such a friendly guy???

In the death of Iris West arc he literally makes TWO whole new friends one of which was AFTER his wife died!! His wife died and he was still out there making friends!!

And in the silver age he SO often had a friend he knew from something or other showing up as part of the plot. He was the guy you went "Yeah that makes sense" when he knows some astronaut or fashion designer or something because he's friendly and just.

Modern Barry is inherently isolated. Which is what Eobard planned all along with rewriting his history and I can respect that but STILL. I cannot name a single thing where he was making friends or knew a guy.

He has old friends and family he's somewhat estranged from to varying degrees at varying times but he doesn't have anyone new.

Man has no social life it reads like!!!

The only modern comic I can name where he feels at all like the friendly guy he originally is is in the Voidsong mini-series which I don't even know if that's main canon??? (it's a lovely story btw. fantastic friendship focus.) And that's him and Aquaman becoming friends!!!

Hey...

Has anyone considered the thought of like. Maybe some of the anger Wally displays towards Barry is because he came back from death a different person kinda?

He had an entirely different upbringing and went from "Knows a Guy" (that's so many of his old stories it's fantastic. Why does he know the local gorilla actor? He's just like that) to being isolated and alienated and then also had depression on top of that.

Imagine your dad comes back from the dead after leaving you with such a dark and thick shadow to crawl out of- that he only comes back AFTER you crawled out of- and then he's not even the same guy. He's not even the man that you remember because not only have you and everyone else built him up in your memory but half his life before becoming a hero was different.

And then. y'know. The whole "accidentally trapped most of the speedsters in the speedforce" thing. And also depression can change a person. And- there's a lot okay??

Barry after Flash Rebirth and especially after the new 52 reboot is a very different character to how he started/the man Wally knew as a kid and even now like. They look the same age??? Sometimes??? that's gotta be weird. I know they're speedsters but STILL...

...

Uhhhh anyways

TLDR: Some of Wally's anger at Barry is because he's irrevocably no longer the same as he was before his death

[the-bitter-ocean]

(Taps the mic) Black (or just in general non white) Isabeau. Like if you agree. Can anyone hear me. Does anyone see the vision.

[the-sussy-imposter2]

I thought Will would like messing with louise sometimes. Louise doesnt seem to like his sense of humor, though.

(Characters are will and louise from @peachnewt 's story, getting in deep !!)

[thegreatyin]

And thus, with the passing of 24 hours, Caeru's ambition truly comes to an end. Major Nemesis spoilers below the cut- we're talking endgame ambition business here. Mostly on a character RP front.

The Doomed Scientist made quite a few... choice decisions, in the end. Killing Cups once and for all, recording his story as one of grief-

And sparing what little remained of Mr Mirrors, leaving it free to roam Parabola as it sees fit.

Some of them, he can explain. Others, he's still left to feel... discontent.

Cups needed to die. That much was certain from the start. It was a tyrant, as all Masters are, and complicit in the bargaining and eventual destruction of four (potentially five) cities, as all Masters are. It was an obstacle. A murderer. A petty monster that felt no remorse even on its deathbed, and it went out of its way to ruin multiple lives just because it felt owed its own sick and twisted idea of revenge.

It killed his first love. It looked him in the eyes and he knew what it had done and he knew from the start it was going to die.

Perhaps, in the end, it knew too. And yet it still pleaded, and wanted to live, and-

It made a bargain.

A bargain Caeru didn't take.

Not because he didn't want to. Gods, he wanted to. He wanted it. He wanted it more than anything else in the world. To have Greylu back, to give him the gift of life, of love, to show him the wonders of the Neath and the beauty of the correspondence and all of the people Caeru has met and loved and found home with along the way-

But. He couldn't.

Because Cups was a monster. And no matter what, it deserved to die. And he could not, in good conscience, allow it to live.

Even if sparing it meant everything he's ever wanted.

So he's left here, now. With a bloodied traveling coat, and a bloodsoaked knife, and a favor finally fulfilled.

And nothing to live for. No resurrected lover, no charming visits to Helicon, no slow dances in the living room, no memories to rebuild and lives to live and he won't live again-

Nothing. All he has is a coat born of obligation, not to his love, but to people he's never even met. To lives he's never even touched. To a paramour, still alive, with hair of rose-pink, who doesn't even remember her own brother's existence.

Cups didn't die for Caeru's sake. Cups died for the sake of all who wanted it dead. For the revenger's court, and the ghost screaming in his ear, and the reckoning that will not be postponed indefinitely.

And Caeru, who acted as a tool to carry out their wills? Who all but betrayed his own lover, just to satisfy a cause he never knew existed?

All Caeru is left with, is regret. Regret-

-And grief.

[ceasarslegion]

Oh, boy! @general-luce @justfortalkingtofriends @onwardsandfourwords

So i should underline that I don't know exactly where this started, but I have a few personal theories based on what I've read of his and his online presence.

For those who don't know, years and years ago, when Twitter was still Twitter, SK had made a public statement regarding the then-new wave of book banning in the US where he said that if your school bans a book, to go to the nearest public library or book store and find out exactly what it is they don't want you to see and make your own conclusions. In this he included a graph of all the usual suspects of alt right Christian eye lasers: the hunger games, to kill a mockingbird, 1984, Harry potter, etc. JKR responded to this by saying that SK was one of her allies and said something to the effect of "im so glad that someone in our circles still has common sense" because she had equated his statement about how banning books is always bad regardless of what that book is to mean he was supporting her personal views. SK responded with a short and sweet "trans women are women" and then posted a screenshot showing she had blocked him. Objectively funny interaction

My personal theory is that this is where it all started. Because you don't exactly see the whole interaction if you follow someone and they never reply to the last thing someone said to them. If radfems had only seen the one sided view of SKs words through JKR, then they would naturally assume he was on their side.

But ever since then, there's been a weird... spike of radfems in the tags for SK works. Most notably, I've seen them hanging around the tags for The Shining, Carrie, and most often, Misery.

For those who don't know the book plots of these works, The Shining and Carrie focus a lot more on the systemic misogyny aspect of the abuse that Wendy and Carrie White face than their film adaptations do. Wendy is lulled into learned helplessness by being totally financially dependent on Jack after he saved her from an abusive family life, essentially meaning that she traded one abusive situation for another. In Carrie White's case, she's described explicitly as fat and unconventionally attractive for a young woman, which is portrayed as the main reason that she is abused by the other girls in school, and why pig's blood specifically was chosen to dunk her with at the prom. And a HUGE difference between book and movie in these ones is that in the books, SK's women have a lot more personal agency over their actions and are a lot less passive than they seem in their movies. Wendy is way more gung-ho about self-defense against Jack and Carrie White owns her psychic powers more; they drive their own story and actions rather than being people those actions happen to.

In the case of Misery, you can take that and multiply it by 100. A brief plot summary for those who don't know is that Paul Sheldon is an internationally famous author who made millions off of his victorian period romance/drama novels featuring the character Misery Chastain. He kills her off in his recent book because he's tired of being defined by what he terms as trashy romance books and wants to be a Serious Author. He gets in a car wreck and breaks both his legs, and a former nurse named Annie Wilkes drags him out and nurses him back to health. She claims to be his biggest fan and worships the ground he walks on, until the last Misery book releases and she reads her death. She keeps him locked up and tortures him into writing one last Misery novel just for her where she gets resurrected and they all live happily ever after. That's a very basic version of it, but just know that at one point she chops his foot off with a rusty axe for trying to escape and runs a rookie cop's head over with a lawn mower for trying to rescue him, and the only reason she doesnt shoot Paul in between the eyes and then herself is because he hasnt finished her book yet.

Annie Wilkes is also not described as the most attractive person in the world. This is not for any physical features beyond what you would expect from a book written in 1987, this is a combination of how Paul is a bit of misogynist with mommy issues that he ascribes to women as a group himself (heavily implied that his mother used to emasculate and beat him as a child), and how Annie doesn't take care of herself. She's described as gross more than ugly, like she doesn't bother to shower and leaves greasy dishes behind for weeks to grow mold and rot and Paul can smell it on her breath, or hear the rats scuttling in the basement. She was once also on trial for murder in Denver after a strange amount of NICU infants died under her care as a nurse, but was let off for lack of evidence. She's also very religious but in the way racist republicans are religious, so she essentially kills people and thinks it's justified because they were wicked and deserving of damnation. Many things can be read into there with the earlier things I mentioned.

Anyway, Annie has been... I don't know if "reclaimed" is the best word to use? She's been somethinged by radfems. I think most of us with basic reading comprehension can grasp why Paul's character would not exactly describe Annie in the most respectful or best of lights, considering she kidnapped and tortured him, kept him drugged up, killed a bunch of babies, forced him to write a book for her, chopped off his foot, locked him in a cellar with rats, and horrifically murdered the man who tried to rescue him. The TERFs do not grasp this very well. A common theme you'll see among them in the SK book fandom is that Annie Wilkes did nothing wrong and Paul deserved his torture and should've been murdered at the end of the book for his pretty run of the mill milquetoast 1980s misogyny. And that the way King describes Annie is in itself misogynist for describing a kidnapper and torturer in a negative light. There's many who have voiced that they actually felt bad for Annie by the end of the book and described King as "verbally battering" her. As if a few mean words towards again, a kidnapper and torturer as described from the POV of the guy she is kidnapping and torturing, are worse than the kidnapping and torturing.

There's also a few slurs within the book. I want to heavily underline here that these were dropped within the context of showing the flaws of the characters who said them in a horror novel, they weren't just thrown around for the sake of it. For example, Paul introduces a new black character in the book he writes for Annie because his characters go to Africa looking for an experimental cure for Misery's condition and most people tend to not be white in Africa. Annie actually likes this character a lot, and still very casually and without hesitation refers to him as the N word, which in the context of an otherwise relatively relaxed scene, is meant to make the reader flinch and feel uncomfortable, which draws attention to how Annie's poisonous worldviews infect the way she thinks of even the people she likes, reducing them down to inherently inferior even when they hold positive positions in her head. Also, someone like her is not exactly going to realistically use PC language. The discomfort is the point and it's additive to the novel at large. This is of course taken as though King himself approves of the use of these terms despite being vocally anti-racist and portraying racism as an element of HORROR, ie, something to be HORRIFIED by.

So here's some examples I found after 5 minutes of scrolling the Misery tags to prove I'm not fucking with you:

Why are the Stephen King tags so full of terfs when the man himself has been vocally pro trans and told JKR to fuck off

[holocene-sims]

just a guy and his snowpal ⛄❄️

[the-insouciant-scientist]

what are hyakinthos's thoughts on the boatman and the slow boat in general?

Ooh, taking a quick sidestep from the rest of the ask game asks to answer this real quick! Short answer: a little complicated but generally friendly! Long answer: Gotta give some backstory first, bear with me. I have been thinking so much about belief systems vs established canon. Canon says that every human who dies regardless of belief (there may be nuance I'm forgetting but I'm in full speed infodump mode rn so that's a problem for future me) goes to the Far Shore. I say that's... kinda bleak? Also I'm just not a fan of stories where there is only One Real Belief and the rest are played off as silly distraction or whatever, but I digress.

A lot of his everything is based around the idea that both belief and proper death/burial care are important to get people to the afterlife they're meant to be in. Ritual makes all the difference between going to the Far Shore vs the Fields of Asphodel, for example.

His Boatman is Charon, or at least accepts the name. Hyakinthos has a working relationship with him and has probably taken up the oars at least a few times, especially for people who need the extra care in getting to where they need to be.

There's respect there, but there's also a certain... I'm not sure I have the words for it. The idea that death in the Neath is uncertain in so many ways (whether it'll stick that time, whether the person will make it to their afterlife or if they'll slip between the cracks and end up in the wrong place, etc) can be... discomfiting, to him. So while he does hold the boatman in high regard, there's always some little uncertainty there.

(Every so often, by their standards at least, Hyakinthos will bring him a very old obol. The Boatman will always refuse it. This is a ritual of its own. They'll sit for a while and talk anyways, and then part ways afterwards a little lighter.)

[riiviir]

fanart is so hard to draw. stupid characters having stupid details that are out of my stupid comfort zone AAAAAGH

[just7frogsinapeoplesuit]

I was so focused on everything else that that didn't even occur to me lmaoooo... That would explain why I found Orlok's voice so laughably uncomfortable. He's the only one with an accent. Which adds an entire layer of "foreigners are violent savage rapists" racism to his character (and completely explains all the other ways they changed him!), and in a film theoretically set in the area his accent is supposed to be from that's. Extra bad. Jfc no wonder I hated him so much. They really removed the antisemitism and went "but we still have to emphasize the xenophobia somehow or he won't be scary!"

Re: your tags, I'm starting to feel somewhat vindicated by the positive reviews because the things I have mostly seen talked about are:

- The sets/clothing/social constructs/occult lore are very historically accurate

- Eggers blended bits of the original Nosferatu, the 1979 film, and the original Dracula novel and fans liked that

- Lots of thinkpieces about Eggers' process and symbolism

- We see Orlok's dick and his voice is racist scary

Things I have not seen talked about:

- The writing was good

- The editing/pacing was good

- The characters are good (I have seen zero character analysis about anyone other than Ellen on here, the character analysis website that isn't basically "so I think Eggers' intent here was...")

- The film was overall enjoyable to watch

Like. It's getting praise, but I think it's one of those times where a movie has enough hype, production value, superficial meaning, and comparisons to past versions that makes it a good movie to talk about despite not actually being a good movie to watch. People have a lot to say about the bits that interested them, but nobody is praising the script as a whole. If this was an un-hyped independent film with no explicit relation to the Nosferatu story I don't think people would be talking about it at all.

Saw the Nosferatu remake and it was. Bad. Like exceptionally bad. It is an hour longer than the original and yet we get less information about the characters, setting, and vampire lore. It's baffling that they achieved this. I can, however, see exactly why the script was greenlit. Studios love a cash grab like "what if we remade the original vampire movie but this time it was really a sex thing".

Points in the film's favor:

- The actors all strongly resemble the actors from the original with the exception of Count Orlok but I will get to that later and the costuming is beautiful.

- The sets and a number of whole scenes all resemble the original, as does most of the plot.

- The choice to have most of the nighttime scenes be in black and white was a nice touch.

- All of these are about how it relates to the 1922 film not because I was watching it intending to compare the two but because mimicking the aesthetics of the original aside from Count Orlock dear god is the only thing it did well.

Everything else:

- The film begins with a short scene of young Ellen gyrating on the ground and moaning while staring into the camera in a deeply uncomfortable way before abruptly cutting to the the start of the story. At least they were up-front about telling us that, yeah, we made the sex part literal.

- The acting is bad. The dialogue is bad. We know practically nothing about anyone at basically any point in the story. William Dafoe is the sole exception but he's just a side character.

- There is no sense of time, the pacing is atrocious, and there is no suspense at any point.

- But the suspense music does not stop. It's there to tell us that we are supposed to be Experiencing Suspense.

- This is because, in addition to bad pacing, they removed basically all the exposition and several scenes that help establish suspense and mystery like the ghouls and the vampire book.

- They did, however, add several scenes that are clearly just an excuse to see a boob. We only see a single boob at a time until the final scene, though, which I imagine they thought made it tasteful.

- One of those scenes is villagers bringing a naked girl on a horse to a grave and then stabbing the person buried in the grave, who appears to have been alive. Is there more than one vampire, then? If so, why are they only afraid of the castle? Why is she being presented like a sacrifice when they were just going to kill the guy?

- They waffle between trying to be period accurate and throwing in dialogue that does not fit the setting (like "why is Knock tied to a chair in the basement we are a modern facility" my guy it is 1838 we just talked about the humors tied to a chair is gentle)

- A significant part of the film is spent establishing that Ellen is under the sway of the vampire and has been since childhood, and that it's definitely a sex thing she kind of wants. This is not done well and she is, in fact, unconscious for the majority of the film, but it's at least clear that's what they were going for.

- Thomas meets Count Orlok and immediately becomes a terrified mess for the rest of the film. There is no buildup or even a clear reason, it just happens the second he arrives.

- When he wakes up with a feral-looking bite mark on his chest he immediately assumes it came from the count, the guy he is doing business with, and not one of the count's four enormous dogs. He has not read a book about vampires in this version. There is no basis for this.

- He finds out Orlok sleeps in a crypt because he's frantically trying to escape the castle but then spontaneously breaks a lock to go down into the basement and takes the lid off a coffin. Again, Thomas knows jack shit about vampires. There is no reason for him to do this.

- Orlok's goal from the beginning is to dissolve Ellen's marriage and live with her, I think? He makes Thomas sign some paperwork in a magic vampire language legally selling her to him? The question marks being because this is barely touched upon.

- Okay, so. Count Orlok. Where to start. Christ.

- Count Orlok is one of the most iconic horror characters of all time. It would be very easy to alter his design so it remains recognizable while also no longer antisemitic. You would expect that, in a film clearly trying to match the aesthetics of the original as closely as possible, they would do this.

- They did not do this.

- He has a mustache.

- He has a thick bushy mustache.

- He is Buff and Large and not very pale and also not trying to hide the fact that he is visibly rotting.

- He speaks like someone doing a bad impression of Nandor.

- He is also dressed like Nandor.

- The mustache is brown.

- We do not, at any point, clearly see his fangs.

- We do, however, see his dick. Because he sleeps naked.

- He gyrates sexually while sucking blood out of people's chests.

- Did I mention they gave him a mustache.

- We see relatively little of him anyway. But most of the shots show his mustache more than the rest of his face. Or maybe I was just too distracted by it to see anything else. He has a mustache.

- William Dafoe's character (who is not in the original) is introduced when Ellen starts having magic seizures and then the plague happens and we spend a bunch of time playing Supernatural Medical Mystery Solvers. It's the only part of the film that feels somewhat cohesive and Dafoe is great which, ironically, creates a lot of dissonance between the scenes he's in and the rest of the film.

- The "plague" is not just vampire bites, though. It's also people randomly oozing and vomiting and, in one case, ripping off their own bodice so we see a boob. Why and how? Who knows. But there are lots of rats.

- Two of the four(?)(iirc) people we actually see Orlok kill are small children which is definitely A Choice given how explicit they've made it that Blood Sucking Is Sex. He's killing them to upset Ellen, by the way, who has received an ultimatum that she has three days to willingly fuck him or he'll kill the whole town.

- The climax (ha) of the film is, of course, the butt naked Count drinking Ellen's blood from her chest while they have sex. There is a lot of moaning involved. The long, slow pan-out shot from above his gross dissolving corpse body splayed over her recently-deceased but exceptionally perky breasts is at least reasonably artistic.

- Overall, significantly, devastatingly worse than if they'd just taken the general idea of the original and done something completely new with it. The 1922 film isn't great by modern standards but it has a lot of charm and historical value and the plot actually holds itself together. If you have never watched either and are interested, definitely make it the original.

- He has a mustache.

[velvetjune]

the chapter songs in Alan Wake 2,, flawless

[danzainosolitude]

Once again I read fanfiction that seems to have been precisely written to deal psychic damage to me.