#but proceeding to defend a character WHO IS NOT A REAL PERSON

[metalcorebarbie]

i do find it so baffling and weird when people start defending fictional characters like they are real people, like, i genuinely do not get the point?

[inbarfink]

Okay, I’ve been considering it for quite a bit and I think that if Tumblr existed in Japanifornia… most of us would probably not be aware of the series’ main characters.

Like, lawyers just don’t tend to be high-profile publicly-known figures. Even within True Crime communities or the coverage of high-public-interest cases, people don’t tend to focus on the lawyers as much more than a representative of the defendant and the legal system as a whole. And yeah, you can say this is just because real-life lawyers are Boring and if they did the kind of Bonkers Shit AA Lawyers do we would pay attention to them… but we do actually have textual evidence that Japanifornia treats lawyers not-too-differently than real life.

Mia’s murder, and probably the uncovering of all of Bluecorp’s dirty dealing, was highly talked about, but Phoenix’s actions in court went kinda ignored. And note that this is the case where Phoenix literally defended himself and broke the Demon Prosecutor’s five years winning streak, and that wasn’t enough to draw eyes to his part in this whole case. 

And that’s also generally consistent with how characters treat Phoenix throughout the rest of the games. By the AJ Trilogy era, it’s clear that Phoenix has made quite a name for himself… in the legal world. If you are yourself a lawyer or another sort of legal professional or just unusually interested in court proceeding, you know the name ‘Phoenix Wright’ 

But if you’re just a regular person who cares about the law the Regular Amount, you probably have no idea who this is.

So I’d guess most of Japanifornian Tumblr would probably be aware of a lot of the cases in the games, especially considering how many of them concern, like, corporate corruption and organized crime and legal corruption and international politics and the entertainment industry and other such stuff that makes it likely to get national/international news coverage. And also so many of them are so bizarre and wacky and are thus prime meme fodder…

But most people wouldn’t necessarily know the name of the lawyer the Nickel Samurai blackmailed to defend him after he ordered an assassin to kill the Jammin’ Ninja, or even how involved that lawyer actually was in Matt Engarde’s downfall.

But there would probably be a small mini-fandom of Tumblrina Lawyers and other legal nerds who are ABSOLUTELY obsessed with the WAA, and trying to collect any piece of info they can find about their adventures. 

(That’s also another aspect to consider, the general public in Japanifornia does not have full knowledge of everything we get to see in the game. News coverage of the smaller cases would be extremely minimal and very regional - and even the bigger cases probably won’t give you a full line-by-line record of everything that happened in Court. Apollo Justice was, like, the Biggest Phoenix Wright Stan in the Universe and he had very choppy and partial knowledge of the Gramarye Trial. We have to consider that even folks who are trying to keep track of the AA Lawyers in-universe would not get the full picture from the media. And that’s before we get into fake news and rumors.)

And meanwhile, the rest of Tumblr would probably treat that Fandom the same sort of bemused delight we give to, like, the extremely dedicated gimmick blogs. Like, you’d probably see less posts about Phoenix and Co. as you’d see posts memeing about the fact there’s a Tumblr Fandom for ‘some random law agency in Japanifornia’, they’d be like five thousands people in the notes going “There’s a Tumblr Fandom for WHAT? WHY IS THIS THE FIRST TIME I’M HEARING ABOUT THIS??” and then one person from the WAA fandom going “NO YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND THIS IS THE GUY WHO UNCOVERED THE PHANTOM HE’S JUMPED OFF A BURNING BRIDGE ONCE YOU LITERALLY TALKED ABOUT A TRIAL HE DID YESTERDAY YOU JUST DON’T KNOW HE WAS INVOLVED”. 

Now, that’s all for the Defense Attorneys. The Prosecutors have a bit more publicity. I mean, Phoenix literally heard about Prosecutor Edgeworth on the news.

But also… I do think this publicity is highly regional. Like, Phoenix ended up stumbling on newspaper coverage of Miles because he lives in the same city as him. I’m guessing that most of the series’ Prosecutors are at least casually known not just to Legal Folks, but also generally to people within Los Angetokyo and people involved in Japanifornian Politics… but also not much outside of that sphere either. Again, the series does establish that they are not that well-known amongst laypeople even when they are famous amongst other lawyers

And are generally recognized by fellow legal professionals and journalists and people involved in criminal activity. So the situation with them won’t be that different than with the WAA, they might be a tad more high-profile, depending on how many Tumblr users are specifically from Japaniforina and wanna make memes about the local politics… but those who will get really invested in their misadventures won’t be that different from the kind of people who’d get really into Phoenix Wright. 

Klavier is the obvious exception. Like most Famous Lawyers, he’s actually primarily famous for something other than law. It’s just that in his case, instead of politics, it’s being a world-famous rock star. There’s plenty of textual evidence that the Gavinners are an actual household name and they’d probably have a pretty sizable Tumblr Fandom, but… well… while I assume any casual Gavinner fan knows that Klavier is also a Prosecutor, I’d guess only the insanely dedicated fans and the Haters looking for something problematic would actually start digging into the records of the cases he worked on. But then again, Tumblr does have a lot of insanely dedicated fans and Haters, so maybe Legal Misadventures Involving Klavier would be kinda mainstream on Japanifornia Tumblr.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Putting aside all of the jokes and technicalities and such…do you think Marinette is a stalker?

Buckle up folks, this is gonna be a long one.

Personal Bias

When I was 14-years-old, a "friend" of mine got a crush on me and I made it clear that I wasn't interested. He then proceeded to follow me around school, often blocking my path so I couldn't go anywhere without talking to him. He knew I was uncomfortable with this, but refused to stop until I got school authorities involved. By the time it was all over, he basically had a school-imposed restraining order where he wasn't allowed to go near me unless he wanted detention.

When I was 16, another "friend" was so upset that I was dating someone who wasn't him that he figured out how to get into my school email and, through that, one of my socials. He proceeded to try to break me and my boyfriend up. He almost succeeded.

When a male friend of mine was around 16, he turned down a girl who had a crush on him. She and her friends proceeded to harass him on a consistent basis because she knew his schedule and used it to trap him in certain spots like when he was waiting for the bus. They wouldn't stop no matter what he did or said. It only stopped when school officials got involved.

When my cousin was in high school, a boy started following her home every day. It got so bad that the cops were called, but they refused to do anything because he wasn't "threatening enough." Her family had to move and switch what school she went to in order to get away from him.

As you may know, I have seen Miraculous. So has my male friend. So has my cousin. We were all some level of fan at one point or another and have talked about the show critically together. Guess who didn't phase any of us?

Marinette.

Stalking 101

Definition One

Stalking is pattern of behavior directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or suffer substantial emotional distress. (Source)

Definition Two

“Stalking is a pattern of repeated and unwanted attention, harassment, contact, or any other course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear,” according to the Department of Justice. Similar to crimes of sexual violence, stalking is about power and control.

Stalking laws and definitions differ from state to state. Stalking behavior can take many forms including:

Making threats against someone, or that person's family or friends

Non-consensual communication, such as repeated phone calls, emails, text messages, and unwanted gifts

Repeated physical or visual closeness, like waiting for someone to arrive at certain locations, following someone, or watching someone from a distance

Any other behavior used to contact, harass, track, or threaten someone

(Source)

Marinette Overview

When I say that Marinette isn't a stalker, this isn't me blindly defending my favorite character*. It's me considering her against the real-life stalkers I have actually dealt with as well as professional discussion on what stalking is and why it happens. When I look at those and then look at Marinette, she just doesn't fit the label.

"Stalker" is not a synonym for "creep." It's a term for specific patterns and types of behavior. When people use the term "stalker" for her, it never seems to come from some deep nuanced argument about her overall behavior. It comes from a handful of scenes where the writers absolutely take her too far. Those scenes understandably creep some viewers out. If those viewers just called her "creepy," then I wouldn't argue against them. Instead, they slap the "stalker" label on Marinette and call it a day without a second thought. I find that incredibly annoying in an analytical context and incredibly unappealing in a writing context for reasons we'll get to at the end.

That doesn't mean that I agree with Marinette's every action. The writers have made her do some extremely questionable things and I'm happy to criticize those moments! But, while I will happily agree that individual episodes take her too far, the overall picture doesn't fit a stalker even if you take things at face value and pretend that nothing is a joke/ignore that Miraculous is a comedy which is not how good analysis works. Ignoring the fact that Miraculous is a comedy shows poor media literacy and is another reason I can't take the stalker claims seriously.

If Marinette is a stalker, then every adult who showed up at Adrien's house in Party Crasher needs to be arrested because wtf were they doing showing up to a party thrown by unchaperoned 14-year-olds? If we take that episode seriously, then it's super creepy! But it's clearly not meant to be taken seriously because this is a comedy. The adults showing up was just done to make Adrien's party seem insane, not concerning like it would be in the real world. If you can wrap your head around that, but you're also trying to argue that Marinette's behavior in this episode was "problematic," then I just can't take you seriously. Pick a lane. Either all of the jokes are serious character beats or none of them are.

Marinette Analysis

To really dig into this, let's quickly look at a few of Marinette's worst behaviors and talk about why they don't set off my alarm bells for her character being a stalker. As we go over these, I want you to keep two things in mind:

stalking is about patterns of behavior not one-off bad choices

stalkers use stalking as a way to control and own their victims

Following Adrien Around

If Marinette were written as a stalker, she'd be doing this on the daily. She'd follow Adrien home every time we see him go home. She'd be at every one of his outdoor photo shoots. She'd transform into Ladybug and use binoculars to watch him in his room. But she doesn't. Most of the time, Marinette is happily living her life while Adrien lives his. She's more likely to watch his commercials than watch him which is not how stalkers work. That is how you write a fan, not a stalker.

There are a few episodes that do have Marinette follow him around, but it's always done as a way to start the plot and never as a fun little character beat like Marinette making Tikki hats. Even then, I think the Shanghai special is the only time when Marinette just randomly follows him somewhere to be with him (it's her most stalkerish moment, imo, but it's quite notably a one-time thing). Most of the time, there's an inciting incident that leads her to follow him for some reason other than just watching Adrien.

For example, Oni-Chan has Lila being creepy and lying her way into Adrien's home, leading Marinette to follow to see what's going on. That's not stalker behavior. That's comedically exaggerated concerned friend behavior. I could see Alya or Nino doing the same thing if they were allowed to be smart when Lila was around.

Sneaking into Adrien's Home

Once again, this doesn't happen in most episodes. I can only think of four out of 125: Chat Blanc, Party Crasher, Oni-Chan, and Gabriel Agreste. In each of these episodes, Marinette sneaks into the mansion - or tries to sneak into the mansion - because of some sort of mission or special circumstances and not as part of her normal behavior. For example, Chat Blanc is arguably the most questionable of these, but it starts because Marinette's girlfriends challenge her to give Adrien a present and not because Marinette just decided to go to the mansion:

Rose: That's it, Marinette! No more picnics, sleepovers, or going to the movies with us until you give him that gift! You made that hat for Saint Athanasius Day, which is today! How is Adrien's supposed to know you're thinking of him on his fifth name's day if you don't give him your gift? Alya: She's right. Today is the day! All the girls except Marinette: Go, go, go, go, go, go!

But when Marinette gets there, Nathalie won't let her in or allow her to wait. Nathalie doesn't even offer to take the gift, so Marinette sneaks in to leave the present behind. Good behavior? No, but not Marinette going to the mansion of her own volition to creep on Adrien. While this leads to the totally creepy pillow sniff moment, that's pretty much all Marinette does outside of leaving the gift. She doesn't go snooping in Adrien's room like Lila does in Oni-Chan because the point of this episode wasn't to make Marinette look like a villain or a creep. It was about punishing Marinette for using her powers to give Adrien a gift with her name on it as that's too selfish, I guess.

In fact, none of these episodes were trying to make Marinette look like a villain or a creep. Each one made her do something questionable, but only so that the plot would work. No present, no Chat Blanc. No party crashing or fake butler disguise and Marinette isn't there for the akuma. When there's no plot-necessary reason for Marinette to be at the mansion, she isn't. That's not how you write a stalker. For her to be a stalker, she needs a lot more Chat Blanc moments where she just sneaks in to leave him things or sniff his pillow. We need a pattern, not a one-off moment.

Having Adrien's Schedule

I know I'd said I'd take things more seriously than a comedy calls for in this discussion, but it's impossible to take this one even remotely seriously. How would Marinette even have Adrien's schedule for the next three years? Where did she get it? How is she keeping it up to date when things absolutely change on a weekly basis? How is anyone missing that this is a joke, especially when you consider how the show writes Marinette outside of this episode (Gigantitan)?

While Marinette is sometimes shown to know about things like Adrien's fencing schedule, most episodes present Marinette as if she's reacting to things that she just learned about. For example, in Backwarder, she freaks out about Adrien going to England with Kagami for a wedding that would have been on Adrien's schedule for months if not years.

Why would Marinette do that if she has his schedule? If she's a stalker, then as soon as she heard about the wedding, she'd be on a mission to find out if Adrien has a date and if there are any threats in attendance. She'd probably even find a way to stop Kagami from going like messing with her food. But Marinette doesn't do any of that. Instead, she's written as if she just found out about the wedding and is making up a plan on the fly:

Marinette: Girls! We have a very serious situation! (The girls are cuddled up in the couch, all of them except Rose looking extremely tired)Adrien and his father have been invited to the Royal Wedding in England this weekend. Alya: (annoyed and exhausted) That's the “emergency’’ you called us over here for on a Saturday morning? (frowns) Marinette: You don't get it! Kagami and her mother are going too! (paces around the room doing dramatic hand gestures) Which means that Adrien and Kagami will be spending an entire weekend together!

And her plan ends up being to give Adrien a note and hope for the best. Not exactly the obsessive, controlling behavior you'd go for if you were writing a stalker.

This also implies that, at most, she probably knows his weekly routine which isn't weird since that's something he'd talk about to his friends. Like all of Marinette's worst behavior, the "knows his schedule for the next three years thing" was a one-off gag. Please stop obsessing over it. This isn't how characterization works.

(Note from my male friend who I discussed this post with: the line about the schedule did put him on edge because of his experiences, but that quickly passed as Marinette's behavior didn't back up the line from a stalking POV.)

Stealing Adrien's Stuff

I'm pretty sure the only time Marinette steals something from Adrien when she takes his phone in Copy Cat. "I left an embarrassing message and have to delete it" is an established comedic plot that has been done by dozens of shows and not something uniquely chosen for Marinette, but let's ignore that for a moment and pretend that it's a serious character beat and not a comedy doing something silly because it's a comedy and that's how they work.

Even if we remove all that context, Marinette still isn't acting like a stalker. When my stalker hacked into my email, he was doing it in an effort to control me, not to delete an embarrassing message. He read everything he could find and used that to mess with me. It's actually how I discovered he'd done it. He knew too much. Marinette doesn't do anything like that. She deletes her message and then puts the phone back because stealing the phone wasn't about stalking Adrien. It was about fixing her mistake. A stalker would go through the phone to learn everything about her obsession.

Conclution

None of this is meant to say that everything Marinette does is totally fine and I think people are overreacting if her worst moments upset them. I hate many of the choices they've made for her character and think they were total missteps. If a real person was doing the things Marinette does, then I'd be getting psychiatric services involved because this isn't healthy. I could even see it devolving into actual stalking as the early warning signs are there.

However, Marinette's behavior isn't meant to be realistic and taken at face value. She's the fictional star of a comedy where the writers decided to make her failed confessions a running gag so they had to keep coming up with ridiculous situations to put her in based around her crush. That context matters when evaluating her character and deciding if her actions are meant to be as serious as Chat Blanc ending the world or silly as adults at a teenager's party in Party Crasher. For the majority of seasons one to five, it's very clearly Party-Crasher silly. That doesn't mean you need to like the jokes - I certainly don't - it just means that you do need own that they're jokes if you're trying to do any sort of serious analysis of Marinette's character.

I went through several elements of her behavior not to say that she's totally pure and fine, but to show you that people are taking a handful of really bad moments and acting like it's her standard behavior which isn't how large-scale character analysis works. I was also highlighting the difference between a character who is purposely written as a stalker and a character being the victim of a bunch of adult men making massive missteps while trying write a comedy about a teenage girl with a monster crush. If you want to take her behavior seriously in the context of what jokes are appropriate and what ones go too far, then be my guest! But that's not character analysis even if the analysis is focused on Marinette's character. It's a comedy or writing analysis. Any quality analysis of Marinette's character as a whole and how we're supposed to read her has to take the context of her actions into account.

To write Marinette as a real stalker, you have to go a lot further than the writers did. You have to make her worst behavior constant and not just occasional bad calls. You have to make her feel dangerous and change the tone from comedy to horror. You need to have her friends react with concern instead of egging Marinette on or pushing her into situations as if Marinette's behavior is fine. You need to have Tikki being deeply concerned and not just mildly exasperated. Canon doesn't do any of that because the writers don't intend Marinette's behavior to be read as concerning. When you look at the full context of canon, it's glaringly obvious that the problem is that the writers sometimes make poor calls when exaggerating her crush to tell jokes and not intentional elements of Marinette's character that you should take at face value.

Bonus Salt Fic Discussion

I said at the top that I find the stalker Marinette takes "incredibly unappealing in a writing context" and so I'll end with that as that is more nuanced than bad analysis.

Did canon give us a handful of moments that you can really lean on to back a read that Marinette is an unhinged stalker? Yes, it did. I can't say that people are making that shit up. The Shanghai special and Derision are especially solid "proof." Is fanfic often about obsessing over single moments and little details to an absurd degree no matter how insignificant those details are? Yep, I can't deny that either. That's not unique salter behavior.** Does Miraculous have wildly inconsistent characterization for basically every character with more the one appearance, making it so that you have to pick and choose what you're going to embrace as "canon" for you version if you want to be even remotely coherent with your own characterizations? 100%

All of that is why I'm on the record as saying that I get where the Marinette salt is coming from just like I get the Adrien salt and the class salt and so on. It's standard fandom behavior to bash characters you don't like and the salt takes aren't even doing that thing where people make shit up. It's all based on canon because canon keeps making terrible choice after terrible choice! I just don't find it fun because salt fics are all about embracing the worst writing in the show and expanding upon it, which is the exact opposite of what I want to see when I'm reading fic. I read fic to see better versions of canon! I don't want to be reminded of canon's very real problems. Problems I only expect to get worse as time goes on.

I have no doubt that season six will bring with it a bunch of new moments where Marinette and others act terribly. I wouldn't even be shocked if we reach a point where I agree that Marinette's standard behavior makes her feel dangerous because season five's ending certainly set things up to go there. However, for now, the worst label I'd put on her is "creepy" and that's only in the context of specific episodes. Generally speaking, she's fine.

*Btw, Marinette isn't actually my favorite character. My favorites are Alya, Plagg, and Adrien

**As an example of fandom obsessing over a more neutral detail and elevating it beyond anything canon ever dreamed of, I'll draw your attention to the fandom's obsession with Adrien saying that Marinette is "just a friend." I have come across multiple fics that would have you think that's his catch phrase. A pattern which was deeply confusing because I could only recall him saying it once or twice. After some digging, as best I can tell, he says those words four times and it's never even to Marinette's face, which is wild when you think about how many fics have her parroting the line as if he says it to her all the time. I've even had people tell me that he says that line all the time when that's very clearly not the case. I'd say it's weird, but it's probably just a variation of the fact that eye-witness accounts of crimes are notoriously inaccurate. People just don't remember things accurately.

[cherrybomb107]

Okay, so, y’all already know I’m one of “those” Jinx stans(I don’t think she did anything truly monstrous and would defend her with my life). I feel this way for two main reasons: I see myself in her, and my personal biases kick in when it comes to my girl.

Now, I don’t consume fiction to make moralistic judgments of the characters; I’m here to have fun and be entertained. But, because stan culture has affected us all and made fandom discussions so personal and emotionally charged, I’ll bite. There are ppl in this fandom who won’t even call Silco a proper villain because of how nuanced he is. As if two things can’t be true; it is perfectly possible to be both nuanced AND a villain. Yet this same sympathy is not always expressed when talking about Jinx. Why is that?

Answer: misogyny and the demonizing of ppl with mental illness imo. Cause that’s the only plausible explanation I’m willing to accept why so many think of Jinx as a monster for killing cops, gang members, and asshole politicians, yet give all the grace in the world to Silco, who flooded the Lanes with Shimmer, had children working in his factories, was ready and willing to kill Powder before she hugged him, and waxed poetic about revolution when he never had any real plans of helping Zaun. He just wanted to be in charge. Like I said, I don’t consume fiction to make moralist judgments of the characters. But Silco’s actions are WAYYYY worse than Jinx’s, by a long shot.

And to my second point: my personal feelings. Disclaimer: ofc I don’t think killing ppl is right, nor am I an advocate for mindless slaughter. However, that is not what Jinx does. Her views on violence are incredibly warped due to the environment she grew up in. But even still, she NEVER harms innocent, non-combatants, much as some parts of this fandom likes to act like she does. I love the Firelights! I sympathize with their plight! But, they are literally a gang. And the ones that Ekko rolls with(Scar and the others) have inserted themselves into armed conflicts with Jinx before. They have been shown to be willing to use lethal force.

Silco is a drug kingpin. Jinx is his daughter. So no, I don’t think the daughter of a drug lord engaging in armed conflict with gang members makes her “monstrous”. It’s a street fight. Anything goes. If you pull up with bats and fists, and somebody else pull up guns ablazing, I do think that they’re responsible for escalating the conflict. I also think that in a street fight, you can’t pull up on someone and expect them to abide by the rules you set for yourself, yk? To continue this, as I said, the Firelights were willing to use lethal force. In episode six, when they interrupted Vi and Jinx’s reuinion, Scar knocked Vi out cold. He then raised his spear and was about to stab her in the back before Ekko stopped him. They then proceeded to kidnap Vi and Caitlyn. All of this because they followed Vi and THOUGHT that she was working for Silco! Is assaulting, almost killing, and kidnapping someone just because of your suspicions not “monstrous”? Or is it different because the Firelights are the “good guys”?

Now onto the Enforcers. Jinx sees the Enforcers as monsters who killed her parents right in front of her, and brutalized Zaunites all throughout her childhood. I know the show is fictional, but it touches on real life political themes. And our real life experiences inform how we consume fiction. I’m Black, female, queer, and from the US. The Enforcers are incredibly reminiscent of cops in my country. And if you know anything about the history of policing in this country, then you’d understand why I don’t give nary a fuck, nor a shit, nor a damn that Jinx kills Enforcers. Same sentiment applies to the Council. Fuck em🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️

Tldr: I don’t think killing someone is the worst thing you can do to them. It’s about who you kill and how you do it. Jinx quickly kills cops, gang members, and politicians. I never have, nor will I ever, consider her doing so “monstrous”

[beifong-brainrot]

honestly.... kuvira has irl parallels w putin.

I mean yeah I've compared her to Stalin and WOW IT'S ALMOST LIKE RUSSIA HAS BEEN DOING THE SAME DAMN THING FOR DECADES. Like seriously it's starting to feel like fucking groundhog day man.

And look, I don't want to be the asshole who shames people for liking Kuvira. I like a lot of aspects of Kuvira's character.

She's hot, she's charismaric (mainly due to Zelda Williams but yk) and she's a relatively compelling character. People are allowed to enjoy a villain character without endorsing the shitty stuff those villains do.

But there is a distinction between Kuvira the character and what Kuvira represents/the thinly veiled real life ideologies behind her.

Kuvira as a character is interesting, you know? Fun to talk about. Someone who was abandoned at a young age and proceeded to self sabotage her relationships and became a control freak who fears vulnerability due to that. Pretty standard villain shit. But fun, and there's a little more to her.

Kuvira as a representant of real world ideologies carries much more weight. People catch onto her Nazi imagery, but the Soviet stuff isn't as obvious. A lot of western europeans and Americans, the main demographic of Avatar won't immediately clock those influences behind Kuvira.

To those countries, Soviet occupation of Eastern Bloc countries was just the cold war, the red scare, a looming threat that could cause harm, but was at least not capable of influencing their lives too intimately.

While the countries that were under the power of the Soviet Union still have that memory fresh in their minds. Hell, my mom grew up in the PRL, my uncle was a part of Solidarność. People remember that shit it wasn't that long ago. Reading literature from not that long ago like A Minor Apocalypse or Madame feels surreal. When I read memoirs or just heard stories from my older relatives, I could taste the atmosphere of bleakness, distrust and confusion.

So maybe I'm just more primed to notice how Kuvira's actions play into patterns of Russian aggression. Maybe when Western European and American viewers are more willing to give Kuvira the benefit of the doubt, or see merit in her actions, I'm more willing to look at her through the lenses of the ideologies she represents.

Throughout most of the show, we don't actually see that much of Kuvira as a character. She's more a silent, looming villain in the background and due to her more calculated demeanour, we don't get a lot of insight into her personality until the last two episodes. So maybe it's easier to look at her more as a representant of dangerous ideologies than as a character.

Mind you, I don't think Bryke really thought through the implications of giving Kuvira the aesthetic and ideology they did. Nazis and to a lesser extent, Soviets, have become very much shorthand for "bad guy" in fiction. If they had thought this through, I wanna at least hope that they would have handled Kuvira more carefully.

Because by giving Kuvira a sense of moral ambiguity and the clumsy handling of her character, you have dumbasses ob reddit defending her. I'm genuinely shocked at the amount of Kuvira apologism in the tlok fandom.

But that goes back to the Western Bloc viewers and creators not really being familiar with the history Kuvira embodies. Not fully imagining the perspective of for example the people under her rule. Which is a perspective I am desperate to see, filling out the blanks with the history Kuvira draws from.

Most of B4 is seen through that 'outside perspective' of Korra and Republic City. Not unlike how a huge part of the narrative around the cold war and Ussr is the Cold War and how it affected Western Bloc countries.

Once again, the only characters who are actually part of the Earth Kingdom and have some experience with Kuvira's occupation are the Beifongs. But they are dismissed as biased, irrational, agressive or pushed aside when our heroic USA inserts get the spotilight. The fandom despises Suyin, derides Zaofu for not being the perfect victims. A story we see more and more of nowadays.

Suyin is depicted as "white woman liberalism" depsite being a leader of a community based, anti monarchist city which seems to allow it's citizens to flourish as artists and scientists and also refusing to seize power over a vulnerable country to hand it over to a monarchy she didn't support and then wanting to kill a fascist? But "ooooh Zaofu is culty and Suyin is a bit of a hypocrite" so I guess she's worse then the fucking Hitler Stalin lovechild that threatened to lay seige to her peaceful city.

The Kuvira apologism in the fandom does sometimes give me similar vibes to Putin dickriding from Conservative americans tbh. At least that explains it.

The reason I'm so unsettled by so many people being blind to the ideologies and history Kuvira represents is because that ideology is not dead. It seems like a lot of westerners don't really seem to care about it anymore, but Russia is still commiting a genocide in Ukraine. Hell, it seems like people from countries that aren't close to the conflict kinda forgot that was still a thing. People are fucking dying, homes are being destroyed. And you think Russia will stop at decimating Ukraine? They're already hiring arsonists to cause chaos in Poland, they're not gonna stop.

These ideologies still cause pain and death today. They're not for cheap villains who can be watered down and excused by a sad backstory. And they're certainly not to he excused and supported by edgy fans who somehow didn't realise that the previous show was violently anti fascist.

Love Kuvira as a character, enjoy her, her storylines, her personality. But for the love of God, acknowledge what she represents, who she represents and that it's bad.

Whew that kinda... got a little heavy. I apologise for the rant, I'm just very frustrated. By how Kuvira is woobified and exhonorated hy both fanon and canon, and by current events in the Ukraine and Poland and the rest of the ex-second world countries and the seeming apathy of the rest of the wider world.

Quick note: The terminology in this post may not be fully up to date, since a lot of terms have went out of usage and lost their meaning.

[hand-picked-star]

The 13th Anniversary Arshi Fiesta

Moodboard : Historical AU

Whispers of the heart | Chapter 24

DISCLAIMER: The story is set in the early 20th century. While I have made efforts to capture the essence of the era, there may be inaccuracies as this is a work of fantasy. I do not own the characters Arnav and Khushi, and this story is purely fictional with no relation to any real individuals, living or dead. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.

WARNING: 18+, MATURE CONTENT.

Chapter 24

And at last, the day of prosecution finally arrived. The court was brimming with people.

Arnav as a prosecution lawyer started first, "Your Honor, today we stand before you to seek justice for the countless lives that have been devastated by a criminal conspiracy rooted in greed, brutality, and the complete disregard for human dignity. The defendants in this case are not mere opportunistic criminals. They are orchestrators of a scheme that goes beyond mere dacoity. They preyed upon the innocent, massacred entire families, and took lives in cold blood to satisfy their insatiable hunger for power and wealth."

After a brief pause, he started again, "This case goes beyond punishment. It's about restoring justice for the victims. We ask you to affirm that no one is above the law and that justice will prevail. Thank you."

The the defence lawyer stepped forward, "Your Honor, my prosecutor friend paints my client as a heartless criminal, but we must remember the foundation of our justice system: the presumption of innocence. My client, Mr. Rajjani, is a respected individual who was caught in an unfortunate situation. On the day in question, he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. His presence was purely incidental. The prosecution's case against him relies on circumstantial evidence and assumptions. We ask you to carefully consider the facts and recognize that Mr. Rajjani is not guilty of the crimes for which he has been accused. Thank you."

"Nice speech, Mr. Patel," Arnav remarked with a nod as Mr. Patel concluded his opening argument.

Mr. Patel adjusted his spectacles, a subtle smile playing on his lips. "For you to learn from it, my friend," he replied smoothly, his tone both genial and slightly teasing. A slight smirk curled in the corner of Arnav's lips.

Mr. Kishori Lal Patel was a distinguished and seasoned lawyer, a man who carried the weight of decades of experience on his shoulders. However, it was disheartening that his expertise was being applied to the defence of someone implicated in such grave and serious offences.

Then, the court proceedings began. The investigating police officer, the medical examiners, and the Registrar of Deeds of the Land Registry Office all of them involving the Tiwari case gave their testimony. And then, to everyone's surprise, Arnav called Mr. Lallan as the state witness to testify in the witness box. Mr. Lallan identified his accomplices and confirmed that Mr. Rajjani was also a member of the group. He also told the court about the involvement of Mr.Lala. Following his testimony, the defence lawyer commenced cross-examination.

"Mr. Lallan, why should we believe that you're not lying just to avoid the death penalty?" the defence lawyer began.

"Objection, speculation."

"I can ask that question, Your Honour." Mr.Patel protested.

"Overruled . Please continue Mr.Patel."

"Thank you Your Honour. Please answer my question Mr.Lallan."

"I am telling the truth."

"Very well. The other accused had never seen each other's faces before. Are you certain you saw my clients, Mr. Rajjani, and Mr. Lala during these attacks?" the defence lawyer asked.

"We all have a similar tattoo on our thighs. You can check him too," Mr. Lallan said eagerly, causing a ripple of whispers to spread through the crowd. This was precisely what Arnav had hoped for, and Mr. Lallan did not disappoint him.

As the judge ordered everyone to expose their thighs and reveal their identical tattoos, the case seemed to be nearing its conclusion. However, Arnav requested one more witness to be brought to the stand. He detailed the pattern of the previous cases and the documents collected from the Land Registry Office to link the cases together, a proof that these events were not purely coincidental. Then he asked the sole survivor to testify. Madumati Ji took her place in the witness box and took her oath.

"Madumati Ji, please tell us what happened that night," Arnav asked, his voice steady and commanding.

"Objection, Relevance."

"Didn't I submit the evidences to link these cases together? " Arnav retorted.

"Overruled, witnesses may answer the question."

"Thank you, your honour. So tell us about the night, Madhumati ji."

"Hayree Nand Kishor, That was a horrible night,''Madumati Ji began, her voice trembling. "I heard Khushi, I mean, Sashi Gupta's daughter screaming in her room, so I rushed to see what was happening. What I saw there.." She took a deep breathbstruggling to continue, "Garima Ji was being assaulted by a man."

"Please be clear, Madumati Ji," Arnav urged, his tone firm but gentle.

"He was forcing himself on her,'' Madumati Ji whispered. ''And another man was approaching Khushi. That man was near the door. They didn't see me. So I grabbed the door bolt and struck him with all my strength. When he fell, I took Khushi and hid with her in a crevice in the kitchen. I don't know how long we stayed there until I heard Mahindar Ji's voice."

"Thank you, Madumati ji. Did you see any of their faces?" Arnav asked softly.

"No, Nand Kishor, their faces were covered with a gamcha, but both had a mark shaped like a star on their thigh."

"Did you inform the police at that time?"

"Yes."

"Anything else, Madhumati ji?"

"Yes, the man who assaulted Garima ji was naked. He had a large black mark on his back, kind of a birthmark. I reported it to the police as well."

"Thank you, Madhumati ji."

"Your Honor, this is a copy of the drawing of the tattoo and Madumati ji's statement from 12 years ago." Arnav handed the documents to the court clerk, who passed them to the judge. The picture displayed a pentagonal star-shaped tattoo."The same tattoo our state witness, Mr.Lallan talked about and also present on our defendants' bodies."

"The court acknowledges the evidence. Defence, you may cross-examine," the judge remarked, indicating the defence lawyer to proceed.

"Madumati Ji, let me ask you a few questions. You mentioned that you didn't see the men's faces because they were covered, correct?" the defence lawyer asked, stepping forward.

"Yes, that's right." eyeing him suspiciously. Her voice was steady despite the tension.

"And this incident happened 12 years ago, is that correct?"

"Are you weak in math, Nand Kishor?"

A ripple of laughter swept through the crowd. Arnav ducked his head to conceal a smile, accustomed to Buaji's antics.

"Silence, please. Madhumati Ji, please answer the question."

"Yes."

"You see, Madhumati Ji, memory can be a tricky thing, especially after such a long time," the defence lawyer said, pausing before continuing. "Are you absolutely certain those marks were star-shaped tattoos and not something else? It was dark, and you were clearly scared. Maybe you saw something else. How can you be so sure?" The defence lawyer pressed, trying to sow doubt.

"Objection, leading question, Your Honor."

"Sustained. Counsel, please refrain from asking leading questions."

"I want to answer that question, Judge shaheeb," Madumati Ji stated firmly, her voice unwavering. "Yes, I was scared that night, but those marks are burned into my memory. And that picture in your hand, I drew it, not today, but 12 years ago. I know what I saw."

"Your Honor, while we respect Madumati Ji's testimony, we ask the court to consider the potential fallibility of her memory due to the traumatic nature of the event and the significant passage of time. Thank you. No more questions," the defence lawyer addressed the judge.

"Thank you, Counselor. We will take that into consideration. Madumati Ji, you may step down," the judge said.

Addressing Arnav, the judge added, "Mr. Raizada, proceed with your next witness."

"Thank you, Your Honor. I request that Madhumati Ji be allowed to remain on the stand a little longer to identify a crucial mark for me."

With the court's permission granted, he continued, ''Your Honor, I now ask permission to question Mr. Shyam Manohar Lala.'' Arnav had previously obtained a court order to bring Mr. Lala to the witness box and to restrict him from leaving the province or the country.

As Arnav approached Mr.Lala, the tension between them became evident. He posed a single question, "Lalaji, how do you respond to the evidence implicating you in this case?"

"I am completely innocent, Your Honor," Mr. Lala retorted. "Ramprasad is lying. They sold their lands to me willingly. They are trying to defame me."

"Why would he do that? Do you have any animosity with him?"

"I don't know. Perhaps you coerced him into lying," Mr.Lala seethed at Arnav.

"Objection, Your Honour, Argumentative." The defence lawyer stated firmly.

"Sustained, Mr.Raizada, please rephrase your question."

But Arnav's eyes twinkled with satisfaction, seeing Mr. Lala growing agitated with each passing second. He leaned forward, a smirk curling on his lips. "It is highly inappropriate to accuse a lawyer of misconduct, especially in court," he said, his tone cool and composed. "However, for the sake of clarity, could you please show us your left thigh?"

"Objection, Your Honor. Unnecessary invasion of privacy and improper line of questioning," the defence lawyer interjected, standing up.

"What kind of insult is this, Your Honor? I have no involvement in this," Mr. Lala insisted, stressing his innocence.

"Then why the hesitation?" Arnav pressed. "We only have a doubt. Lalaji, please assist us in clearing it up."

"Objection overruled. Please show us your thigh, Mr. Lala, and help resolve our doubts," the judge ruled.

Upon the judge's order, Mr.Lala reluctantly exposed his thigh, revealing the pentagonal tattoo. This sight sent a wave of gasps through the courtroom.

"I wish I could stop there, Lalaji," Arnav said with a steely resolve, "but could you please also show us your back?"

As Mr.Lala turned and exposed his back, revealing the distinctive birthmark, Arnav's smirk deepened.

"Madhumati ji, have you seen mark before?" Arnav asked Madhumati ji without turning toward her. His eyes fixed on Mr.Lala.

"YES, YES, that's the mark Judge shaheeb. I will never forget this mark."

Arnav turned to face the judge and said, "That's all, Your Honor."

Khushi sat idly at her office desk, her gaze drifting toward the gloomy sky outside. Today, she felt a deep sense of melancholy that seemed to engulf her. For the past few days, she had been experiencing these sudden bouts of sadness, a feeling of wanting to cry that she couldn't quite explain. With a sigh, she picked up the newspaper for the day.

Shyam Manohar Lala, Mohan Rajjani and 7 others Sentenced to Death for Heinous Crimes in Landmark Verdict

The headline stirred a bittersweet feeling within her. She was present in the courtroom yesterday. It was her first time attending one of Arnav's proceedings, and she couldn't help but think she should have chosen a different case for her debut. She would have relished seeing him in his element under happier circumstances than witnessing this particular trial. But perhaps, she mused, it was simply her destiny to see him fighting for her and her family.

She was undoubtedly relieved that her parents' murderers had been brought to justice, but the resurgence of painful memories cast a sombre shadow over her. She knew she needed to go home and rest. The past few months had been difficult for both her and Arnav. It was a relief that the nightmares had eased down a little bit. Despite this, she felt persistently exhausted. She just felt tired all the time. They would stay in the Rajput Haveli for a few days more, as Dewali was this week. Then they would return back to their home.

But suddenly, after few days, Khushi fell ill and caught a severe case of stomach flu. Amma, Babuji, Bua Ji, and Arnav all scolded her for indulging in too many jalebis, rabri, and golgappas the previous day. Despite their concerns, her condition worsened over the next ten days, showing no signs of improvement. The doctor visited today, diagnosing her as dehydrated and advised them to give her more fluid. How could she keep herself rehydrated when the mere sight of food made her sick?

Suddenly, Buaji's shriek startled everyone. "Arey, Manoroma, have we all lost our marbles, Nand Kishor? Payaliya, go ask Hariprakash to fetch Ganga Tai!"

Upon hearing Buaji's words, everyone suddenly turned their gaze towards Khushi. She felt like a deer caught in headlights and managed a nervous smile. In return, they all smiled back at her as well. Though their smiles were well-natured, but they seemed menacing to her. Khushi pursed her lips, feeling her heart pounding loudly. Out of everyone's sight, she tenderly placed her hand on her stomach. And somehow, she knew. She didn't need Ganga Tai, the local midwife, to tell her what was happening.

"Arnav, uthiye na," Khushi whined, gently shaking Arnav from a deep slumber. Her voice was filled with a mix of desperation and impatience.

"What happened?" Arnav mumbled, his voice muffled as he buried his face deeper into the pillow.

"I want to eat jalebis," her voice rising with a hint of excitement.

Arnav slowly raised his head, squinting at the bedside clock. "It's three in the morning, Khushi. Go back to sleep."

"I can't sleep. The baby wants jalebis."

Arnav sighed deeply, propping himself up on one elbow. "Alright, only on one condition."

Khushi's eyes brightened with hope. "Kya?"

"You have to drink a glass of milk too."

Khushi scrunched up her nose. "But milk is yucky."

Arnav gave her a stern look. "Then I'm going back to sleep."

Khushi's eyes widened in alarm. "No, no, no! Okay, I'll drink the milk. Now please, let's go."

Arnav got up lazily from the bed and turned on the light. Khushi, with a playful pout, spread her arms as if she were a child wanting to be picked up. Chuckling, Arnav gathered her into his arms.

Him, being a father hadn't fully settled in yet. Perhaps it was a gradual process, and with time, he would gain the momentum to fully embrace parenthood.

They had returned from the Rajput Haveli two weeks ago. Though Chachu and Chachi had wanted them to stay at the haveli, it was no longer fitting to live there for an extended period after their marriage. Staying there long-term now seemed inappropriate. Instead, they had brought Buaji to live with them in their house.

As Arnav walked through the corridor with Khushi in his arms, this was the third time that week they were embarking on a midnight mission for jalebis. Soon after her sickness subsided, her cravings for jalebis reared their head. The first time, her craving had been for hot jalebis without chasni. The next, she demanded them with chasni and added countless conditions. They couldn't disturb Gauri ji or Buaji, as the thought of waking them up made Khushi tear up out of guilt. So, the only person left to make the jalebis was him. It felt as though she had no affection for him anymore, only her love for the sweet treat prevailed at that moment.

Khushi had meticulously guided him through the process of making jalebis this past week, and now he had become a pro. His once hesitant hands now moved with precision, swirling the dough in the hot oil with confidence, ensuring each jalebi was crisp and golden and then dipped them in the perfectly sticky, sweet chasni.

They settled on the balcony with a small plate of hot jalebis and a glass of milk. She savoured each piece of jalebis with evident delight.

"Wow, these are sooo good, you've learned to make such delicious jalebis," Khushi praised Arnav in between bites.

"Yeah, if I ever fail as a lawyer, I might just start a stall in the market."

"At least you'd have one loyal customer," Khushi winked, offering him a piece of the sweet delicacy.

Arnav caught Khushi's hand, taking a bite of the offered jalebi. His tongue lightly swept over the tips of her fingers, sending a ripple through her skin. One by one, without breaking eye contact, he polished off all the sweet chasni from her fingers.

"Yeah, you were right. Today's jalebis are extra delicious," he said, winking at her. A lovely redness tinted her flawless skin, which looked radiant under the moonlight.

"Are you trying to correct a past mistake?" Arnav laughed, remembering their childhood moment.

"Maybe."

"Or are you trying to seduce your wife, Mr. Raizada?"

"I can't help it. You're just so irresistible," he leaned in to kiss her lips, enveloping her smile with his own. "And so, so, so sweet." He punctuated each word with a press of his lips against hers.

He kissed her some more. At least he could do that, since the doctors had banned any physical intimacy until her fourth month of pregnancy. Releasing her lips, he said, "Alas, all my seducing will go to waste."

"Serves you right. How shameful it is. Now that I'm pregnant, everyone will know what we do...what we did," she whispered, pursing her lips.

Arnav burst out laughing. She swatted his shoulder lightly, then joined in his laughter as well.

Arnav's birthday was approaching next week, and Khushi wanted to do something special for him, despite his dislike for celebrations. Last year, she had cooked his favourite dishes, but this year she wanted to make a more significant impact. After discovering her influence over him physically, she was determined to come up with something that would truly blow his mind.

However, since she couldn't be intimate with him due to the doctor's restrictions, that plan was off the table. She pondered other ways to make him feel special and happy. Her mind raced with ideas throughout the day. She decided she needed to explore the secluded spots of the library and gather inspiration, so she planned to visit the library to search for ideas and find the perfect setting to surprise him.

She wished for a magical box where she could write, "What is another way to make your husband happy physically when you're pregnant?" and have all the answers appear before her. Life would be so much simpler if someone could provide a straightforward solution.

After a discreet search, Khushi finally found a book that seemed to promise answers. However, as she leafed through it, the content was convoluted and confusing, leaving her more perplexed than enlightened. But she was determined to decode those confusing texts.

It was five minutes to midnight on Arnav's birthday. He had a crucial hearing the next day and was working late in his study. Khushi timidly knocked on the door, causing him to look up from his file.

"What are you doing still staying up?" he asked.

"I wanted to wish you a happy birthday," Khushi said shyly.

He crossed his arms over his chest and smiled at her, an amused glint dancing in his eyes as he observed his suddenly shy wife. He raised an eyebrow.

"Happy birthday, Arnav," she said, growing nervous under his silent gaze.

"Why are you so shy all of a sudden?"

"I didn't bring a gift."

He extended his hand toward her. She took it, allowing him to pull her close until she stood in front of him, where he sat. He placed a hand gently over her belly.

"You've already given me the best gift in the world," he said softly.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her stomach after placing a tender kiss there. Khushi's fingers tangled in his hair as she smiled.

"I want to try something. Promise me you won't laugh," Khushi whispered, nervously playing with his hair.

"What?" Arnav asked, intrigued.

"Close your eyes."

Instead of following her request, Arnav frowned, his curiosity piqued. Taking a deep breath, Khushi settled on his lap, surprising him. Her legs straddled him as she lowered herself on his body. He instinctively grabbed her waist.

"What are you doing?" he asked, a mix of curiosity and concern in his voice.

"Kuch nehi," she replied softly, her eyes locked onto his. "I just want to kiss you."

And she kissed him once, twice, three times, her lips soft against his. She trailed kisses along his chin, his jaw, his neck. His stubble tickled her sensitive lips. She gently rubbed the back of his neck, massaging his scalp with her fingers. The soothing touch and tender kisses felt nice to him, too nice actually. Her kisses, he could take, but what was becoming unbearable was the way her body moved against him. He grabbed her hips to still her and pressed his forehead against hers.

"You're doing it on purpose." he whispered, his voice strained. "Don't start something you can't finish."

Khushi bit her lip to hide her smile, her face flushing slightly. "But I intend to finish,'' she whispered back, kissing him again.

Arnav squinted slightly, trying to gauge her intentions as she slowly slid down his body, kneeling between his legs. Her hands rested on his thighs, then moved a little higher, grazing the growing bulge in his pants. Before she could go further, Arnav caught her hands.

"You don't have to," he murmured, his voice thick, his breathing ragged.

"But you want me to," Khushi replied, her gaze meeting his. Eyes sparkled with mirth.

"How do you know?"

"I can see it in your eyes," she whispered. She pressed her lips together, a ghost of a smile dancing on her face.

"Damn it,'' Arnav exhaled, a small smile tugging at his lips. "I've got the best wife ever. Let's go to our room."

She giggled as he pulled her up by her shoulders and scooped her into his arms. He carried her towards their bedroom, determined to finish what they had started.

At the end of next month, La and NK got married. The way they clicked together from the very beginning, it was inevitable that they would end up together. Khushi couldn’t attend their wedding for obvious reasons, but La and NK assured her that they would visit soon. In fact, they planned to enjoy their honeymoon in India. Khushi was over the moon to have her two best friends with her. Over time, NK and La fell in love with India and its people so much that they decided to stay for an extended period to help Khushi with the foundation.

As her dream regarding the foundation slowly came to fruition, she found herself yearning to focus on her other dreams. Khushi had always dreamed of becoming a writer, but whenever she sat down to write, her ideas felt scattered, elusive, like pieces of a puzzle that just wouldn't fit together. Despite having the time, she struggled to find the focus and direction she needed before. Her thoughts seemed to drift aimlessly, and her creative energy, though abundant, was unfocused.

Then came the unexpected news of her pregnancy, which brought a sense of calm and clarity that she hadn't anticipated. Though the first few weeks were overwhelming, filled with a mix of excitement and anxiety. As her body changed, so did her perspective. The life growing inside her gave her a new sense of purpose and a grounding she hadn't felt before. The scattered thoughts that once filled her mind began to settle, like leaves gently falling into place.

The quiet moments, especially in the early mornings when the world was still asleep, became her sanctuary. The ideas that had once been disjointed started to come together.

As her pregnancy progressed, Khushi found inspiration in the smallest of things-the gentle flutter of the baby's movements, the warm sunlight streaming through the window, the quiet moments of reflection. Each day, she would write a little more, her words a reflection of her journey, filled with the raw emotions of impending motherhood. There were days when the physical toll of pregnancy would slow her down, but she pressed on, driven by the idea that she was creating something lasting, something she could share with her child one day.

Writing became a form of therapy for Khushi, a way to process the changes happening in her life. The book she was crafting wasn't just a story; it was a reflection of her own experiences, fears, hopes, and dreams. Every chapter was infused with the emotions she was feeling-the joy, the uncertainty, the love that was growing each day for the little one she had yet to meet.

As her due date approached, Khushi found herself writing the final chapter, feeling a deep sense of accomplishment. The book was a journey, much like her pregnancy, filled with unexpected twists, moments of doubt, and overwhelming joy. When she finally held her first draft in her hand, she realized that the time she had spent writing had not only brought her closer to her dream of being an author but had also prepared her for the beautiful, challenging journey of motherhood.

Her book, once a distant dream, was now a testament to the strength and resilience she had discovered within herself during those nine months. Khushi knew that this was just the beginning of her story-both as a mother and as a writer.

<previous> | <next>

@featheredclover @arshifiesta @phuljari @chutkiandchotte @jalebi-weds-bluetooth @msbhagirathi

[stillness-in-green]

Minor advisor note: Katana Advisor was in episode S7EP15, for a brief still among the Villains captured...except they got his colors wrongs XD You still know its him from his head shape and neckbrace armor/but they still messed up his color scheme.

So I finally had the free time to go dig this episode up!  I had to watch most of the episode to find the shot you were referring to, and then ducked back to the previous episode as well, as I’d always intended to at least watch Scarecrow’s big speech moment.  Unsurprisingly, I have some thoughts.

Firstly, regarding Katana Advisor, I can only laugh and shake my head.  Great job, Bones—add in a brand new shot of people getting captured, but the only established character whose capture might possibly be relevant has the wrong colors, so you can’t even conclusively say that it’s him.  Impeccable work: Net Zero changes to the material.

(I agree that it’s obviously supposed to be him—that neck brace is very distinct—but I elect to ignore the implication because I will take any crumbs I can find that any given distinct MLA character is still in the wind at the end of the series.  Not that I consider myself beholden to the anime’s garbage take on the MLA anyway, but still.)

That aside, hit the jump for the rest!  There’s one particularly big one—a translation error in one of Scarecrow’s lines that in turn drew my attention to an issue with Viz’s translation of the same line in the manga—that I’ve saved for last.

O I enjoy that the anime makes it even more clear that Spinner did not run over any-damn-body.  Like, that assumption was so omnipresent when people were talking about that chapter in the manga, but it never stood up to a close read of the actual details of the art.  Does it make Pig Nose Guy’s crisis of conscience even more obviously dumb and contrived?  Oh hell yes.  But the hospital plot was that anyway, so I appreciate anything that makes it easier to explain why.

O Speaking of the human chain, chatting about the moment with Nal made me realize a particularly egregious thing about the set-up with the hospital.  So like, the medical staff are willing to risk their lives for their patients, right?  To the point that they’ll do a real damn stupid human chain instead of, say, trying to use all the chairs and benches and desks you’d find in a hospital to put together a fucking barricade, all for the sake of making a point?[1]  But you know who very pointedly is not behind that human chain?  You know who we never see a single person inside the hospital trying to defend?  Kurogiri, that’s who.        I guess the doctors just didn’t count him as a patient who needs to be protected, huh?  Honestly, where is the brave whistle-blower hospital admin who’s going to give a bombshell interview about how Central Hospital begged the Heroes and the police to move Kurogiri somewhere else only to be refused, because one of the Heroes is personally attached to Kurogiri, and also because Hawks and Tsukauchi knew that Villains attacking a hospital would do irreparable damage to their cred, and that would be important for legal proceedings in the aftermath of all this?       1: Not at all how this would go in real life, especially given the conceit that the only patients left in the hospital are those whose condition is so delicate that they can’t be moved.  But I guess  Horikoshi was too busy asking his EMT contact about open-heart surgery on the battlefield to think to ask about hospital procedures in the event of an active terror threat.  Also putting together a barricade inside the hospital would imply that the staff believe there’s any chance the defense force, who are outnumbered 75 to 1, could fail, and we all know from BNHA’s endgame that being proactive in the face of danger voids the Hero Protection Warrantee.  Only those who are patient and wait for help to come actually deserve help; trying to help themselves makes them Villains.

O Scarecrow’s first appearance in the scene is so, so funny.  He just floats downward into the frame.  He’s not rappelling downwards using webbing, he’s not climbing down with his spider legs, he doesn’t have insect wings; he just drifts down like he has some kind of flight quirk.  You know, the dude who will be defeated by knocking him off the roof of a tall building.

Why did you think it would help to knock this guy off a roof, Koda?  He can clearly just hover right back up there.  Perhaps his flight operates under similar principles as hot air balloons?  Did attacking him with birds deprive him of most of his gas?

O WHERE IS HIS GODDAMN SALUTE.

THIS IS NOT THE LIBERATION SALUTE.

O I notice the anime kept the scene with the handgun—including actual bullet sounds!—despite the fact that that plot element goes absolutely nowhere, and in fact they also see fit to add police-issue lightning rifles.  (Which, wow, that sure is a choice.  Love to just make police look worse by electrocuting unarmed civilians.  What, they couldn’t get a good supply of teargas ready in time?)

O It is so, so funny to me that the anime has finally, seven seasons in, started to care about dramatic lighting, but they’re stuck with the fact that the hospital attack happens in broad fucking daylight, before the other battles really start mucking with the weather.  They do their best with a bunch of lit fires, using the orange light and smoke to suggest sunset lighting and distant stars, but that doesn’t change the fact that The BNHA Anime Cloudscape is lurking just beyond the haze.

This becomes extremely clear when the smoke instantly evaporates the red hot second the mob finally stops for good.  Check the before and after here:

Hysterical.  I guess all these people had to do for the light to shine on them was to stop rioting!  Being good civilians who meekly endure their mistreatment and wait for salvation to be handed to them from outside can literally make the sun come out!  Who needs One For All punches to change the weather?  Apparently enough civilians can replicate the effect just by feeling bad enough about themselves.

O I was being fairly annoyed about the BGM scoring Spinner’s internal monologue right before he makes the last push through to Kurogiri.  Like, it was so plainly ominous and scary, emotionally keying the viewer to view Spinner’s reflections as foreboding a horrible change of the tides.  As someone who was mostly grieving for Spinner in that moment, it rubbed me the wrong way pretty badly. 

...And then that music just kept on playing as the POV of the scene switched to Present Mic and I remembered that Spinner’s last push doesn’t actually come until after the incredible bit where Yamada Hizashi confirms that Spinner has been incapacitated and then apparently decides he needs to kill Shirakumo Oboro anyway, just so his existence can no longer trouble their mutual friend.  And that, dear readers, made me way more forgiving of the ominous BGM!

O I would like to give Shimono Hiro, Dabi’s voice actor, a fucking medal for his line deliveries immediately before and after he goes through Kurogiri’s warp.  The laugh when he realizes he’s going to get teleported to his dad is breathy, pervy, a perfect encapsulation into a single two-syllable sound of his deranged anticipation for tormenting Endeavor some more.  Then his, “Otou-san!” as he appears before Endeavor is even better: high-pitched, off-balance, questioning and eager like he can’t believe his good luck.  Truly, Shimono-san understood the fazacon assignment and he delivered.

O The closing sequence is…really strange.  It’s like it’s pretending that it has a visual theme of reaching out to others, hands extended to those in need, and then the viewpoint cuts to a wider angle and you realize all the characters who were reaching out are actually just sinking down through clear water, their arms floating a little above their torsos.  The last shot, of Deku settling to the sea floor and smiling serenely with his eyes closed, is especially bonkers.  Like, what’s the message here?  That no one involved has any agency in what they’re doing, but are just going with the flow established by other people?  Deku reaches rock bottom, at peace with the knowledge that he doesn’t have to try to do hard stuff like “save Shigaraki” anymore because the grown-ups have sorted it all out for him?

I mentioned this in my chat group and Nal pointed me to the lyrics of the song, which use the word rokutousei, “sixth-magnitude star.”  While a bit of research suggests this is actually a not uncommon bit of metaphor in Japanese songs—I found at least five different ones that used it in lyrics, title or both!—personally, I was immediately reminded of Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans’ third intro, Rage of Dust, which uses the same term but with a wholly different emotional tenor, and one that I dearly wish the Heroes could have emulated the energy of. 

The difference is that BNHA’s closer, itself titled Rokutousei, is about the sixth-magnitude star (or rather, the singer who is comparing themselves to it) searching for someone else, with an overarching tone of wistfulness, while IBO’s Rage of Dust is about said star screaming defiance and vowing not to flicker out and die quietly, shouting its existence and will in the face of a system that would as soon grind it into dust without even noticing.  Rather than dust, become stardust, proclaims the song, carrying on the dreams of others.  And that defiance, that refusal to let themselves be exploited by the more powerful figures around them, fits perfectly with the struggles of IBO’s main characters.

And like, okay, sure, Rokutousei having a tone of, “I’ll do it, I guess, I hope, I mean, at least I’ll try, even though there’s such a lot against me, so much so that I’m already feeling wistful about how likely I am to succeed, but at least trying is beautiful and meaningful, right?” is certainly on-brand for BNHA’s endgame and Deku’s failures in particular, but good lord is it ever an odd tone to intentionally strike.

The essential difference between these two sequences: Deku letting himself drift aimlessly, eyes closed, arms lax at his sides vs. Mikazuki stubbornly dragging himself through the dirt with his one good arm, gaze fixed and hand grasping for the giant robot that allows him to fight for his future.

O While I think he performs it perfectly well—indeed, my biased heart found his Yamero, yamero! pretty wrenching!—I still don’t like that Scarecrow is clearly being interpreted by the anime as an older man.  There’s nothing about him that looks especially old, insomuch as we can tell from his physical appearance, and neither is there anything I recognize in his word choice that suggests he’s a crotchety old man, either.  It's a taste call, mainly, but man, I just like it better when he and Spinner and Shouji are all young men with diverging views on their oppression.

O Finally, the sub I watched had a whopper of a different translation of one of Scarecrow’s lines.  @codenamesazanka turned up the raws for me, and we found that while the anime very obviously got it wrong, the Viz translation, too, was pretty eyebrow-raising.  It’s one of those localization moments that leaves with the, “Oh, Caleb Cook, I want to shake your fucking hand….with a joybuzzer,” feeling I periodically had to wrestle with back when I was still doing chapter posts.

The line in question is this one:

Note how blatantly horrible this is, so nakedly manipulative that it stops even being very effective manipulation because no one could possibly say, “Don’t stop to think!” in good faith?  Well, that’s probably because the line wasn’t originally that bald-faced.  Even Translator Sis, who normally more or less agrees with C.Cook’s choices (certainly compared to the fan scanlations!), had a real :grimace_emoji: moment and said it was the kind of translation that could only come from a place of bias against the character.

The Japanese line here is, “Yamero yamero reisei ni naru na!” which would more literally translate to, “Stop, stop!  Don’t calm down!”  The first bit is straightforward: a simple repetition of one word that (particularly as delivered quite well by Scarecrow’s voice actor!) really gets across his desperation and panic that the highly important mission he was spearheading is falling apart in front of him.  It’s much more openly emotional and unchecked than Viz’s, “Enough nonsense!”

The bigger issues is the second part.  Reisei ni naru is basically a verb construction about cooling off, calming down, collecting or recovering oneself when emotions are threatening to cloud one’s judgement—Scarecrow’s line is telling the mob to not do that.  I can certainly see where Caleb was coming from—it’s still a very Bad Guy thing to say!—but there is a clear difference between telling people to not let their passion evaporate and telling them outright not to think.

It feels a bit like a response to a tone policing argument, Shouji begging the crowd to be calm and think rationally because this sort of display of anger isn’t helping.  And Scarecrow frantically tells them not to collect themselves and be rational because what has that rationality ever offered them?  What is it offering them now?  It’s just a prelude to telling them to go back home and endure their pain some more.

In much the same way as the idea of light/shadow/illumination is being argued between Scarecrow and Shouji, similar ideas of emotional temperature are implicit in the kanji used in the characters’ word choices. Netsu, 熱, literally meaning “heat,” is the word Scarecrow uses for the emotions of the crowd, their fevered zeal and passion—Spinner uses the same word later in the chapter when reflecting about how he was swept up by passion and followed Shigaraki. Reisei, conversely, contains the kanji for “cold,” 冷.[2] It's not about thinking or not thinking; it's about ferver vs. composure, passion vs. presence of mind.

2: The same 冷 is the kanji used for Rei's name, incidentally.

Notably, the idea of thinking does come up in the chapter also, and it's very much not Scarecrow telling the crowd not to think. Rather, he exorts them/Pig Nose Guy to think of the mistreatment they've suffered, to think only of that; Pig Nose Guy uses the same verb (考える, kangaeru, meaning to think about, to contemplate, to reflect on) when he replies that he is thinking about it.

Caleb correctly communicates the idea of thinking in that exchange, so it actually reads a bit weird to have Scarecrow, over the course of two pages, go from telling PNG to think to telling him not to. It comes off as Scarecrow's rhetoric failing him so him just desperately flailing for whatever words he can find, even if they blatantly contradict what he literally just said. That instant, hypocritical contradiction is not there in Japanese because he's talking about two different things!

I'm happy to know this—“Don’t stop to think!” is one of the very worst lines in that whole stretch of chapters to me!—but I do wish I'd known it much sooner. I was so cynical about Horikoshi's writing of the erstwhile MLA by that point that it never even occured to me to check the Japanese! So thanks for that, I guess, wild mistranslation by the anime subbers! XD

And thanks as always @shockersalvage for the ask! Who knows when I would have realized, if ever, if you hadn't given me the anime update to go check!

[noir-fem]

PREFACE: this is just MY OPINION on some takes I've seen. This is meant to call out some team black fans who take things way too far and bully people, but I will not condone any kind of bullying or harassment in the comments. We can disagree, we can discuss our disagreements, but what we're not gonna do is bully or threaten people, okay?

Okay.

That being said, this is a friendly reminder that the Targaryens invaded a land that WAS NOT THEIRS then proceeded to take the things that they believed they had a divine right to through force and violence (aka their dragons, which are a metaphor for the weapons of mass destruction used in real wars). This is literally a metaphor for colonizers. GRRM wrote the dance of dragons as an anti-war commentary and made it clear that the Targaryens thinking that they're a divine race who are entitled to do whatever they want at the expense of the common man is a HORRIBLE WAY OF THINKING and this has gone completely over some of yall's heads.

Look, you can like whatever characters you wanna like for whatever reason! Nobody in HOTD is truly a good person, so there's no point in real people fighting with each other over it. But I'm tired of watching team black fans who justify their choice by saying this very thing proceed to bully and harass not only team green fans, but even the team green ACTORS because they don't like what the CHARACTERS did. Like, what happened to all of them being bad people?? And why call REAL people names, harass them, and even threaten them just because of what these FICTIONAL CHARACTERS did????

If it truly doesn't matter who you support because "they're all bad people", then why are you harassing REAL PEOPLE just because they don't like the same war criminals you do? "Both sides do bad things", so what moral high ground do you have over team green fans? One person on here said that some of y'all act like you're actually part of House Targaryen and it's true! If the Targaryens were real people who actually did these things, y'all defending them so staunchly would be worrying to say the least!

I love Aemond as a character, and I can understand his motivation for killing Luke, but I'll never defend him killing Luke because at the end of the day, children getting killed is unexcusable NO MATTER WHAT. I don't want to watch anything horrible happen to Rhaenyra's children any more than I want to watch Blood and Cheese happen to Helaena and her children. I love team green because I think they're interesting characters that I see a lot of myself in and I think that their actions make sense for the time period and circumstances they live in. However, I also look at their actions through a modern lens and would never condone some of the things they've done in real life.

Posting this bc I'm tired of seeing team green fans get called hypocrites while the people who claim to be feminists/progressives worship characters who represent the TOTAL OPPOSITE of feminism without a second thought. I'm tired of seeing certain fans make shitty takes saying that Alicent doing bad things "wouldn't be a problem if she would just own up to it!!", when team black fans go out of their way to justify Blood and Cheese and every other bad thing that their favs do.

Once again, keep the comments civil! if you start bullying or threatening people you're getting blocked and reported :)

[imperiuswrecked]

Hey Anon, I don't give a single flying fuck what some Randos on Twitter believe about the Elena vs Tenoch situation. I only care about official statements, official reports, and making sure both sides are heard fairly, and if Elena comes forward with more to say then I'm gonna listen, but the latest thing she posted doesn't have any new information.

I'm not going to ignore the fact that for years people have been salivating like dogs for a single thing to hold against Tenoch and have been super fucking racist towards him and tried to destroy his career because he's a man of color who is outspoken against racism. So yeah, an accusation like this is their racist dream because they can now harass Tenoch under the guise of standing up for Elena but they don't care about either person.

People shouldn't be nasty towards either of them but they are, and both of them have been getting death threats and a ton of sexist or racist comments and insults.

Whether abuse happened or not, or whether this is a disagreement between Exes I don't know, and searching Twitter to understand more, I do see that Tenoch did support Elena in the past, and she responded nicely and defended Tenoch from racists, however Elena's negative comments towards Tenoch began only this year.

That still means nothing because whatever really happened in private, off line, between two adults is known between them only. Maybe Tenoch is lying, maybe Elena is lying, maybe there is truth there. Maybe Tenoch broke up with her bc he started to gain more popularity due to the WF movie and she felt like she was taken advantage of/abused/preyed on, maybe there was actual abuse she didn't want to speak about before, maybe he broke up with her bc he isn't looking for a long term committed relationship, maybe she broke up with him for her own reasons.

I. Don't. Know.

That is all speculation that doesn't explain anything. Tenoch claims that these accusations started months ago between their mutual friends, people who are friends with both of them not just on his or her side, and in private. Which means if there are legal proceedings going on then we will find out soon enough and if there isn't and they were trying to resolve this privately well, speaking about it on twitter won't resolve anything and it's guaranteed to have the outcome it did bc people online don't care about facts. Elena is free to post whatever she wants on Twitter, and if she has more to say/post then she will on her own time.

I've gotten a lot of Anons these past days and I'm not answering all of them.

I find it really disgusting that people are (once again) treating a ex-couple's issues like a online circus and judging either person, and the way the anti and pro NaShuri shippers have acted is super gross too. These are real people, fictional ships/characters and real people shouldn't be mixed up and acting like you can't ship something or enjoy fictional characters bc of what goes on in celebs lives is weird to me.

If people don't like Tenoch anymore or don't want to support him or watch his stuff or interact with his characters then that's fine and totally up to them.

Unless something new comes up from this situation then I'm moving on because I really do not care what goes on in Celebs personal lives.

[holden-norgorov]

An Apologia to BEFORE MIDNIGHT (2013)

I've just finished rewatching for the umpteenth time the spectacular work of art that is The Before Trilogy, and since I've discovered it I have always refrained myself from writing about it because of my inability to put into words the beauty and the depth behind the meaning that these three films have progressively acquired for me.

But this time I'm going to try to say something for the sake of those who believe the screenplay to have failed in portraying Jesse and Celine’s personalities and gone out of character in this third installment – which I feel particularly compelled to defend as it's, in my opinion, not only the best entry in the trilogy, but also one of the best movies ever made, significantly thanks to the way the couple's characterization brilliantly builds up on two-decades of long cinematic work and collaborative effort and climaxes with an egregious payoff. I hope that reading about how I interpret the way Before Midnight blends in perfect harmony with Before Sunrise and Before Sunset may at least partially redeem the film for those of you who were left dissatisfied or disappointed by the decrease in naive idealism and dream-like romance.

WARNING: Detailed spoilers of all three movies under the cut.

Even though I think it’s quite easy at first to find a bit jarring the evident, apparently sudden change in Jesse and Celine's dynamic – reacting with a kind of discomfort that is clearly something the screenplay wants to induce in the audience, which is not accostumed to revisit Jesse and Celine after they have spent almost a decade together and studying each other inside out – I also think it quickly becomes clear that what Before Midnight aims to do, with regards to characterization, is to take all the most irritating and unpleasant shades Jesse and Celine had always had within themselves, whose seeds were planted and indeed palpable, albeit romanticized, in Sunrise (despite both characters trying their best to keep them hidden beneath a deeply self-conscious need to foster the spark of their newfound connection and perform the attraction/seduction role-play) and aptly watered in Sunset, and throw them full-force to the viewers’ face, challenging their ability to still feel invested in the couple by appealing to the idea that even our favorite, most beloved people in the world can intimately be ugly, paradoxical, occasionally toxic as well as endearing at the same time, because that’s a hard truth about human nature and “this is real life, it’s not perfect but it’s real”.

To demonstrate that their characterization is actually coherent with everything that came before, I challenge you to think about Jesse and Celine in these terms: Sunrise makes it clear that they are both smart college graduates, fundamentally contemplative and opinionated intellectuals (or at least, proto-intellectuals) who share a hardwired desire to shape the world around them with their thoughts and ideas and an idealist outlook on the universe, time and the human condition. The trilogy explores, among other things, the way they react to the realization that the universe, time and the human condition can’t conform to their idealistic vision, but that they themselves have to find out how to conform to the universe, time and the human condition. What deeply sets Jesse and Celine apart, then, is the direction they decide to channel the resentment and deep-seated unfulfilling dread steaming from this bitter realization towards.

Jesse directs it towards himself, which turns him into a depressed writer who is never going to be satisfied no matter what happens into his life. In Sunset, the movie starts with Jesse talking about how everything is autobiographical and proceeding to announce the concept of his next book, which happens to feature a totally depressed guy whose dream is riding motorcycles trough South America, being a lover and adventurer who finds happiness “in the doing, not getting what he wants”, but who is instead “sitting at a marble table, eating lobsters with a beautiful wife and everything that he needs”. Later on, at the Parisian café, Jesse rants about being unable to be “in the moment”, about not enjoying any minute of his best-selling book tour and about how Buddhists may have a point when they talk about freeing themselves from desire – which Celine aptly identifies as a symptom of depression. And while Sunset seems to want to make you think that Jesse’s depression may stem from his unsatisfying family life, even hinting at the idea that Celine may be the cure to his condition, Midnight slaps you hard in the face and awakens you to the reality that even though Jesse did get what he wanted, he’s still more depressed than ever – in fact, it clarifies that Jesse’s depression is existential. Celine herself outwardly calls him out on it after he relates an anecdote about the twins fighting over a trampoline, when he refers to pettiness, jealousy and selfishness as “the natural human state”. He seems to quickly scrape her comment off in the moment as one of her exaggerations, but later on admits to his accuracy when he tells her, in the last scene of the movie, that he has struggled all his life connecting and being present with those he loves the most. Which brings us back to Sunrise and his confession about being an unwanted, neglected child who eventually kind of adjusted and took pride in viewing the world as “this place where I wasn’t meant to be”, or to the acknowledgement that he is sick of experiencing his life from his own point of view (“see, I’ve heard all these stories, so of course I’m sick of myself”). I truly believe, during the car ride at the beginning of Midnight, that Jesse is thinking about the same words of his father’s that he was confessing to Celine in Sunrise, when he says, talking about his own absence from his son’s life, “This is the one thing I promised myself I was never going to do, and now I look up and I’m doing it”. I really think it often goes underappreciated how tragic Jesse’s character actually is. The point of his character is that his own childhood abandonment trauma colored his conception and experience of the world, and about how that adds up to his intellectual inability to find peace and contentment in the moment, and about how both aspects flow into apparently inescapable patterns of self-repeated misery. He’s not just depressed: he’s doomed to depression. And the truth the movie points to is that, ultimately, Celine can’t change this foundational aspect of Jesse’s nature. She has, to an extent, to learn to live with it and accept it.

On the other hand, the same intellectual resentment and unfulfilling dread that Jesse directs within himself, Celine aggressively projects to the outside world. If Jesse is fundamentally depressed, Celine is fundamentally angry. Sunrise does a masterful job at carefully planting the seeds that testify how Celine is, at her core, defined by her anger, while simultaneously never allowing for that anger to truly come to the surface and take the audience out of the otherworldly romantic idealism of their night in Vienna. She talks about the unfairness of being unable to complain to nice and supporting parents; she says that everything pisses her off and proceeds to list several examples; she thinks it’s a healthy process to rebel against everything in her life right after admitting that she has been raised happily, loved and wealthy and doesn’t even know “who or what the enemy is”; quite revealingly, she tells an anecdote about a professional shrink experiencing her anger to the effect that, after a single session with her, she had to call the police in fear that Celine might actually carry out the story about killing her ex-boyfriend that she had written as a consequence of her morbid obsession with him. And maybe most importantly, the palm reader makes explicit to the audience what ends up being the central theme of Celine’s character in the trilogy: “you need to resign yourself to the awkwardness of life; only if you find peace within yourself, you’ll find true connection with others”. Sunset dares to shed quite a bit of the romantic aura that Celine was wrapped in during Sunrise where, despite all of this, she still managed to resemble a Botticelli angel, and lets her anger manifest more vividly in several moments. “The world is a mess right now!” she shouts right before a bitter political rant. She’s also deeply resentful towards Jesse who, despite her statement in Sunrise about not wanting to be “a great story” or a male fantasy, has basically decided to spectacularize their night together and sell Celine’s most intimate side to the masses. This is why Celine proceeds to lie about not remembering them having sex – she feels like Jesse has stripped her of agency and control over herself and officialized to the world a one-sided interpretation of their encounter – so she wants to reclaim ownership and hurt him at the same time (“knowing his weak points, what would hurt him, seduce him” she told him in Sunrise while talking about her habit of studying her boyfriends in order to grasp how to manipulate them). The existence of this fictionalized version of herself out in the world that she didn’t consent to, along with the death of her romantic outlook on life that prompts her notorious rant in the taxi, only makes it easier for her to allow her deep-seated anger to bubble up and start defining her. Which brings us to Midnight, where that anger is so consuming that it ends up being directed also at herself (she resents herself for failing to live up to her own expectations of both motherhood and feminism, and for letting herself be consumed by anger). She engages in a lot of borderline toxic behaviors – parental alienation (she sabotages Jesse’s ability to talk to Hank twice), false accusation and public shame (she mischaracterizes their conversation in the car at the dinner table and exposes Jesse’s private fantasy) and generic hurtful insults. Her problem with Jesse’s monopoly on how the world perceives her is as alive as ever, and she makes it a matter of relative status in the relationship. And last but not least, she also resents the world – and men – for women’s unjust impossibility to avoid having to make compromises that motherhood (or largely, the female condition) imposes on them, leading them to sacrifice leisure time or renounce to opportunities that our modern, fully technological world increasingly abounds with. In the same scene, in the hotel room, where Celine calls Jesse out for being depressed, he accuses her of seeing anger as a positive means to deal with life, and despite her refusal to concede the point in the moment, she ultimately admits to it in the last scene of the movie (“I’m an angry person and I hurt my kids, my work and everyone that I love”).

In a nutshell, we could sum up their characters as follows:

JESSE: idealized, intellectual approach to the world --> finds out about world’s imperfection --> blames himself --> existential depression.

CELINE: idealized, intellectual approach to the world --> finds out about world’s imperfection --> blames the world --> existential anger.

Particularly interesting, in this regard, is the role each of them plays in establishing the kind of path the other ends up taking. Jesse ultimately allows his depression to take over him as a consequence of Celine's decision to miss their agreed-upon second encounter six months after Sunrise, whereas Celine ultimately allows her anger to take over her as a consequence of Jesse's decision to circumvent her previously expressed wish and publish a book about the night they spent together in Vienna. In a way, they both sealed each other's existential fate in their quest for the connection they had once shared.

So, once you peel away all the layers in their characterization and identify the root core of their motivation, choices and actions, I don’t really think it’s possible to argue that they are out of character in Before Midnight. In fact, it feels like a perfect follow-up to its predecessors, designed to force the characters to confront the origin of their unhappiness and realize that they are not meant to be each other’s salvation. Just as Celine is going to have to accept Jesse’s depression as something he’s never going to be able to fully part with, Jesse is going to have to learn to deal with Celine’s unhealthy relationship with her own anger (“I’m not asking you to change, it’s called accepting you for being you”). This is where Ariadni’s words come to mind as the testament of the film – “this is what fucks us up, right? The idea of a soulmate coming to save us from taking care of ourselves”. The point of the movie is that Jesse can’t save Celine from herself, and Celine can’t save Jesse from himself – that real love, which is to say real life, is not about that.

Another quite common form of criticism that I don't get is the annoyance at the movie being willing to occasionally be critical of feminism, or explore perspectives outside of the feminist lens – particularly with Jesse's character, whose detachment from and derision of Celine's overstated feminist apologia apparently strikes to many people as a betrayal to his characterization in the previous installments. But first of all, I don’t think there's any evidence that Jesse was ever portrayed as a feminist in the previous movies – and even if he had been, how can a change in one’s own ideology or outlook on life through an eighteen-years-long experience result in an “out of character” portrayal? People change. Ideologically and politically, I’m almost a completely different person than I was three years ago. Does that make me out of character? I don't think so. But that said, many seem to move from the assumption that Sunrise and Sunset were feminist movies in the first place, which I also disagree with. In Sunrise itself, when the topic of gender comes up for the first time between the two, Jesse points out the paradoxical nature of some common female behaviors and raises a biologically-rooted counterpoint to Celine’s obviously University-derived socially constructivist outlook. Nothing about that screams “feminist” to me.

On a sidenote, though, I find incredibly illuminating Jesse’s response to Celine’s rant about female sacrifice in the hotel room scene. He sharply brings up her privileged upbringing (she actually spent her whole childhood “travelling around the world while her father built buildings” and was raised “with all the freedoms he had fought for”, as she herself said to him in Sunrise), which starkly contrasts both with his own childhood of neglect and psychological abuse and therefore with her feminist axiomatic ideas of male privilege and female oppression, and then he mentions a specific historical male-only obligation (the military draft) to swiftly rebuff her claims. She calls him an asshole, but has no real counterargument to throw back at him other than some mockery. This writing choice was actually so clever that I had to pause the movie a moment and think back about Jesse’s character. Then it occurred to me: Jesse’s been divorced and likely lost custody of his son after a strenuous legal battle with his ex-wife that both he and Celine refer to multiple times during the film. He had to spend years travelling back and forth trying to escape the dreadful destiny of turning into his own father and dealing with a progressively litigious ex-wife who apparently exploited Celine’s pregnancy and the notoriously skewed U.S. legal system to make Jesse’s attempt at remaining present in his son’s life extremely difficult – all of this while still managing to maintain some kind of sympathy from the viewers, who know she’s been wronged and cheated on by her ex-husband. The screenplay of this movie is excellent to the point of being able to condense into a single line a character’s entire lived experience and approach to things. That amazing line from Jesse about the “trenches of the Sorbonne” not only reminds the audience that he’s not a feminist; it also reveals that he’s quite versed in (and therefore accostumed to) anti-feminist talking points. Which is incredibly accurate and realistic for an American man who has found himself having to deal with custody issues – as Celine rightly points out, “I guess judges assume that women have the mother instinct”.

The fact that Jesse’s lived experience makes him critical of feminism doesn’t mean that Celine’s own lived experience is invalid, though – nor does it mean that the movie itself is anti-feminist. And there lies the brilliance of the film. Celine’s deeply-held feminist views are still entertained and tested in their validity. She is allowed to be a feminist through and through and voice her ideas, often with incredibly powerful weight and resonance – in fact, two of Celine’s best and most poignant lines in the whole movie are "The world is fucked by unemotional, rational men deciding shit" and “You know what I love about men? They still believe in magic”. Most of the film's detractors just seem upset that those ideas are not presented by the movie as golden nuggets of truth that shouldn’t be subjected to scrutiny or falsification, or treated by the screenplay as axioms that should automatically be taken for granted by everyone. I also think having Jesse laugh at Celine exposing her worries about rape to be, once again, incredibly realistic – it highlights how there will always be some level of incomprehension between the sexes, and how men will never be fully able to put themselves in women’s shoes when it comes to truly understand and empathize with that kind of fear and vulnerability. It basically testifies men’s impossibility to live the female experience.

Moreover, the same detractors that lament their disappointment at the “lack of feminism” in the movie also seem to take umbrage at Celine being portrayed as profoundly human in her complexities, which strikes me as quite the paradox. Women can be as toxic and problematic as men, albeit often in different ways. It’s Celine’s own imperfection that truly makes her a great female character. The argument underneath this criticism seems to be that a female character who engages in problematic behaviors drawing from the ugliest side of human nature does a disservice to feminism – which I guess you might think, if your feminist belief assumes that only men can really be toxic and problematic with the other sex purely out of selfish reasons. It’s quite clear to me that a socially constructivist perspective on life and the world is informing these people's judgment on the movie and the characters, whose raw realism and unfiltered humanity they seem to find ideologically inconvenient.

I have to say I’m also baffled by some people's characterization of the argument scene in the hotel room as “boring”, or an example of “classic middle-aged couple problems" film. It’s anything but, in my opinion. I find it some of the best cinema I have ever seen, with directorial choices, a screenplay and acting performances so high-ranking and engrossing that I was left mouth wide open, with so many shades and aspects that I’d never seen any other “marriage movie” seriously bring up, let alone face. I could never give justice to the excellence of that scene with words. Similarly, I’m stunned by the recurring claim that the dialogue in this movie feels forced and pretentious, given the fact that this is uncontestably the less philosophical, more grounded script of the three. Even though I also don’t agree with those who claim that Jesse and Celine were ever pretentious, I can see how Sunrise could definitely give that impression at specific moments – though the actors’ chemistry and talent were always able to hide any artificiality as much as possible. But Sunset and Midnight particularly flow with such a spontaneous and natural rhythm, as well as flawless acting expertise, that it almost seems a criminal act to press pause during the film. This specific claim seems particularly paradoxical given the fact that the same people who complain about this simultaneously express dissatisfaction with the absence of the kind of idealistic, philosophical talk that the characters had with each other when they met for the first time – which could have easily sounded pretentious if it had been delivered by lower-skilled actors. As if, by the way, the lack of that kind of magic between the two wasn’t completely intentional and exactly the point Midnight is making, particularly when it comes to what Celine laments as her own forced sacrifice of existential discussions in favor of seemingly unending, practical maternal tasks. This is a movie where Jesse says that he misses hearing Celine think, and Celine replies that her thoughts now smell like shit. Not only is the Leopardi-esque “Death of the Illusions” one of the main themes of the film, it’s also an inevitability in the relationship between two formerly idealistic intellectuals who now have to deal with their own existential dread while at the same time raising a family together and being deprived of the luxury they used to have of closing the world outside of their time-constrained connection.

About the ending scene of the movie, I admit that it had to grow on me. On my first watch I didn’t really know what to think about it, mainly because I was still recovering from the brutality of their fight in the hotel room. But the more I rewatched the movie, the more it made sense, and now I find it not only extremely fitting but also kind of brilliant. The couple’s destiny is also once again left up to interpretation and not at all cemented in a definite trajectory like I've often seen being implied. At the same time, the trilogy comes full circle by having Jesse impersonate the time-travelling role-play that won Celine over during Sunrise, and consequently by evoking in the audience a comparison between the state of Jesse and Celine’s relationship now to that of the German couple who, likewise apparently in their 40s, had prompted Celine’s decision to change seat in the train and sit opposite Jesse, reinforcing that very idea of “awkwardness of life” that the palm reader advised Celine to resign herself to in order to find true happiness. As such, the ending solidifies the idea that genuine relationships take work to function, and that true happiness has to be found in carrying that work out ("in doing, not getting what you want"). Jesse realizes this and demonstrates that he’s willing to do the work to rekindle a kind of spark and magic that can exist outside of the transformative influence of time. Celine also eventually acknowledges this, and closes the film showing her own willingness to put in her own share of the work. "It’s not perfect, but it’s real."

Overall, this movie is a masterpiece, a milestone in romance and independent cinema and, as far as I'm concerned, the bar that any film intimately interested in the exploration of the human experience and the creation of solid characterization has to outdo.

This trilogy is History, and as such I will forever treasure it and pass it on. Thank you Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy for such a gift. Ad maiora.

[mana-jjk]

spoilers for freaky (2020), slight spoilers for jjk characters?

tw: death mention, serial killer movie xoxo, there is blood and murder but this is also jjk so side eye, and bullying of course because it’s yuuta idk

watched freaky last night because i'm in love with kathryn newton and physically could not stop thinking about yet another inuokko au

nerdy okkotsu yuuta in the festival planning committee who everyone walks all over because he learned to defend himself.

his only close friend is his childhood friend rika and his more recent friend, maki, who he met after she yelled at a group of students trying to offload their work on him, then proceeded to yell at him for not standing up for himself, then yelled at the bystanders staring at them

he isn’t the most popular at school, with students like kashimo constantly ribbing on him, and teachers like naoya (my favorite person to be on the chopping block) always doing his best to publicly humiliate him.

his home life isn’t the worst after moving in with his new guardian, gojo, even if he enjoys telling him to do inane and strange things like joining him to do food runs at 3 in the morning or going to a musical on a festival yet not even removing his sunglasses. yet he can’t help but to feel a strong obligation to the man who took him and his sister in. it’s no small feat to take in the teenaged orphan, several times removed, cousins in on such short notice. that’s why whenever someone asks him about his next steps after graduation, it isn’t something he can easily answer.

just like he can’t really honestly answer why he joined the festival planning committee, specifically when it comes to explaining why he hangs around the garden area, has been caught staring at maki’s friend group several times, and why he’s always taking as much work as possible.

while he may be a lowly base volunteer, there’s always a chance to interact with the quiet and kind student secretary of the committee, inumaki toge.

his crush on the violet eyed boy is an open secret, especially between his friends who are always trying to convince him to say something. yet the most courage he could ever summon was slipping a poem in his shoe locker then proceeding to avoid eye contact yet still sneak glances in their english class. it’s a little too easy to convince himself that the one time they made eye contact and toge smiled, it wasn’t directed at him.

of course that changed when a serial killer stabbed him in the shoulder and the next day he woke up in an abandoned building surrounded by jars filled with brains and an excessive amount of dismembered body parts.

he screamed a little. maybe a lot.

navigating life in the body of kenjaku, even for a few hours, is the most distressing experience of his life, and he did in fact cry a little when megumi’s dogs tried to bite his face off and nobara threw a cup of boba at his face.

meanwhile, kenjaku in yuuta’s body has attempted to stab his sister (and was intercepted by gojo who had an alarming lack of concern), stole gojo’s leather jacket and practically burned yuuta’s sweater vests, brushed off both maki and rika despite the respective threats and confusion respectively, flirted with toge in the middle of class while ignoring utahime’s incredulous face, and may or may not be behind the disappearance of more than one student and teacher.

after scaring the crap out of rika and maki, and also getting the crap beaten out of him, the real yuuta hesitantly agrees to get yuuji, who’s guardian is an officer (nanananamin lol), nobara who was with her girlfriend by default, and megumi (who they didn’t want to leave out), and panda (who knew where kenjaku and the other committee members were), in on what was happening.

thus the shenanigans of the movie ensue, featuring:

• yuuta kind of admiring how kenjaku styled his body but being a little mortified too

• gojo talking to yuuta through a changing room door (100% fucking with him) while he’s hiding from the police

• yuuta and kenjaku trying to convince toge that they’re the real yuuta while toge is slowly backing out of the room

• “I Am Not Yours” poem scene that yuuta memorized because he’s a simp “I am not yours, not lost in you. Not lost, although I long to be.”

• kenjaku tied up in nobara’s apartment - “why is yuuta tied up in our kitchen chair?” “…i’m straight.” “you are a lot of things but straight is not one of them.”

• “let’s kiss when my hand isn’t bigger than your face.”

•yuuta finally growing a backbone and getting his man

idk just see my vision y’all and agree with me immediately

[overtaken-stream]

C0ok Me a Meal, Make Me Starve.

Akutsu Nagisa x Gn!Artist!Reader

This goes out to all 5 Akutsu fans bc I love jerks. + It's been a while since I've read Ao Ashi and I apologize for any mischaracterization. Akutsu is one of my favorite characters in the whole wide world of sports manga/anime. Also, it's a self-insert which I feel slightly embarrassed about and It's my experience as an artist. If you find any pronouns that aren't gn please feel free to correct me.

Warnings: Negative self-talk, artist pain, art block(?)

He's somebody that you would consider closest to you, an individual who one would not consider describing with pleasing words, he looks ragged like a cheap brush on all sides sealed with plastic and packed in a tight box, his personality dry, in need of honey water. The long lips spew honesty like no man you've seen, it drags the pigment picked by the brush across a thin paper, dooming it to dissolve under the colors.

He carries no kindness in him. Is what one would say, without knowing more than the outer layer of the said individual. You on the other hand would say that he emits honesty with no kindness. Some would describe truth without empathy as brutality.

His rugged exterior is a shell that you're able to barely imitate on a piece of paper, the pencil sketches of the defender (that are nowhere near good enough compared to the real example) cover the pages of a notebook, messily erased pencil routes divide and combine to create what you consider to be the best replica among other failed poses and portraits that're left unfinished.

You sit alone on a bench, outside the practice domain of footballers, with knees touching under the uniform as the gentle breeze of spring dances in the meadows, carrying with it the sounds of laughter and gazes of interest, all directed at the field where ball means the world to boys with big ambitions.

Among them lies the prey to your infatuation. Your observing eyes are left overlooked between the other groups crowding around the fence, it lays low as the sportsmen exercise, and the scratches of pencils go unheard by anyone who isn't looking directly at them.

Erasers are doing a poor job of concealing blunders, little missteps that continue to pile up as time passes and whistles blow. They stay, becoming a part of something you never wanted it to be a part of, unnerving eyes stare at the scratchy lines. The sounds around you flatten, continuing as the pencil rests between your fingers, shouting comes from behind the fence signaling the start of the game, however, the world is subtle, and blurry colors of the background slowly disappear from your view, until the notebook and you remain. A notebook whose pages contain countless figures of one particular fellow, in all the directions you could manage to witness. A slow sigh leaves your lips as you turn the pages.

One page;

Two;

Three.

The ringing in your ears picks up its intensity, heartbeat fastens.

It's hard to put the feelings into words, the bubble of disdain that engulfs you only shrinks as you think. Why is it that you are lacking? Was it the months that went by with the notebook collecting dust on the cover? Forgotten on a shelf with the same pencils that await you? Was it the texture or have you finally reached the deep end? Is it alright for you to blame the school for your idleness?

The tip of the pencil drags down the side of the paper, it leaves a lame stripe behind.

Are you an artist? If you are, then why can't you draw a line? Why is it so hard to even the space between the eyes? Why is the jaw drawn the way it is? Why is it that cheeks seem high and mouth too low? Why the thick lines? Why are those ugly features consistent in your art while the beauty and inspiration of others, that you try to sow in your style always fade away?

You conclude. Akutsu is beyond your skills to portray, even if he was the person who pushed you out of your art block, who motivated you to pick up the pen again, who you proceeded to sketch when the lesson was too monotonous to pay any attention to. He'll never know of your thoughts, you hope he'll never know, after all, Akutsu was never one to meddle in others' privacy too much. There's a line friends don't cross and Akutsu makes sure to never stay too close to it, for too long.

There should be boldness inside of you, and ambition to pursue art more, but the countless lessons and rules of reality, of adulthood leave no fuel for effectiveness to take place. Your notebook eats away at you, spitting nothing but guilt on the way, years of work and practice are slowly slipping through the gaps of muscle.

It's painful losing yourself, betraying it for something you're not even sure brings you happiness on this planet. It's a simple wish to be bold, more angry, like Akutsu, to prove something and be someone who does one thing expertly. but it seems so far away from you, who did nothing as the light of ambition gave out somewhere along your development.

You wish you had a heart like Akutsu, forever shackled by hobbies he'll never get tired of. But as always, there is a welded fence in between, keeping a distance, thus forever dooming you to goggle over a man you admire.

Is it love? Why does it not feel like it? Are you in love? No... Or are you? It's a question you will not know the answer until you spend more time with the fellow. Even then, you're certain of the rejection. This one-sided obsession will only be a negative trait, that will prove just how unacceptable your behavior truly is. An eerie attitude towards (who you consider) your friend, could only give birth to a quicksand of shame that'll swallow you whole before ever confessing your feelings.

A loud chatter of voices infiltrates your depressive bubble, slowly yet sharply passing by your eardrum until the gloaming atmosphere you got lost in fades away. With no extra weight, the air seems easier to take in. The colors slowly bleed back into your vision as the wind blows gently across your school uniform.

With a clear head, you stare at the unfinished draft presented on the paper, all with shaven heads and tense looks. The silhouette of number four adorns their chests and stretches over the fold of a football uniform like a prize, all in different positions. Where you're sitting, everyone would guess his identity. Nervousness aside, you should leave before anyone calls you out for being a creep.

Even if you forgot to take into account that the crowd has disappeared, only few remain to watch the players do their post-game stretches, you're unsteady, fearful of the hidden eyes. Gathering the energy to stand up and trying not to mind the electric pain that sprouts through your knee is becoming harder and harder to conceal every time you stand, legs demand exercise but your hands hold the evidence, persuasion of a dream you're trying to relive using the digits you were born with.

By the time you close the two halves of the notebook a hand lands on your head, it relaxes between your hair, heavy and bigger than average, their fingers are separated, thumb lands on your temple as the middle finger touches your forehead from behind. Its grip strengthens for a couple of seconds before letting go of the pressure and tension lifts off of your shoulders, the rough grasp it had left behind slightly messy strands for you to fix. You can't bring yourself to correct it.

``Where do you think you're going?`` The flat voice would send butterflies in your belly if it weren't for the expression adoring the holder's face, stable and shielded, anger is nowhere to be seen. You scramble for words to answer him.

``Don't tell me you were leaving.`` Because of course, you would forget that the reason why you were here in the first place, was to wait for him. He with a blue uniform and a heavy bag on his shoulder that has nothing but hard work to show.

His long eyes stare down at you with sharpness, awaiting your answer.

``I was... Trying to stretch my legs, I spent a lot of time sitting and watching you... A-and your team play y'know.`` so much yous in one sentence. How does The Akutsu deal with you...?

His eyes close before letting out a loud sigh. Akutsu must be annoyed, in his shoes you would certainly be if a friend almost left and forgot about you.

``C'mon, let's go.`` His voice is much softer as your eyes watch him turn without looking back, however before he can call out once again, you follow after his lead, walking just behind him. Akutsu was never a patient man.

You stare at his back as you always do, wondering, eyeing. If only he knew how much you think of him every day, dreaming about scenarios that have almost no chance of coming true, with a speedy heart and red hue to your face. Maybe he knows but doesn't tell. In that case, you're thankful for his company, you merely wish you had the bravery needed for this type of stuff. Tolerance if your specialty.

His broad shoulders stop and so do you.

``So.`` confusion overtakes your features as his face slowly turns back to you, a soft grin in tow.

``Where to now?``

Oh. You were the one who wanted to go somewhere weren't you? The amount of time it takes for you to open your lips for an answer, his eyebrow is already raised. You just keep digging your own grave.

Even trying to remember it is difficult, the title of the place is blurry, and the way to it is unreachable. How irresponsible of you.

``I... Forgot, the places name...`` Embarrassment is an emotion you know inside and out. It's a word that describes all of your interactions outside of family members. It's what you feel as you watch his small smile die. You turn to another word that has made home in your vocabulary.

``... I'm sorry.`` disappointed is what you are, in yourself. Surely Akutsu must also be let down, the time you guys spent together is becoming rare these days, and memories are coming to be cherished.

``You seem out of it today, you're alright?`` Akutsu has never had a filter.

``Oh, yeah, it's just...`` That you have been crossing my mind for a couple of days, you are all I think about as I draw a male figure, you are making me blush each instant I replay our moments together where you showed me little bits of yourself.

The excuse that stumbles out of your mouth is a lie you don't even believe in.

``You're a terrible liar.`` Neither does he.

``...`` A sweat travels down your cheek, carrying with it a shiver that dismisses comfort, the color red blooms over your face.

``... Sorry.`` You wonder if you can love someone despite feeling uncomfortable with yourself.

``Stop saying sorry. It's getting on my nerves.`` Barely are you able to hold in another apology as chasms of anxiety overtake your mind, swiftly seeping into your fingertips and making them shake with heartbreak. His harsh words are no foreign from a jab in the heart, making the muscle twist itself as your ribs fail to defend it from your mind. Your tongue is dry, lips are fixed in a line. So ruthless.

As always, you don't have a tongue, it's deep in your stomach somewhere hiding from the real world.

A soft exhale is heard as he straightens his back.

``Have you eaten yet?`` His eyes turn to the road ahead before continuing to move, your body moves along with him, never showing the hurt his harsh demeanor brings. Your silence is accepted as an answer.

``I have some leftovers we can eat.`` He always has ingredients lying around waiting for you to come over so they can be cooked. Never can he find any leftovers to warm up and eat. It's a harmless lie, a manner he developed when you slipped into his life. A simple gesture that he only shares with you. Seeing you enjoy his cooking is pleasing.

``... Alright...`` He doesn't want you to hide away, doesn't want you to apologize for being messy and clumsy. It's a dance he knows by heart, a dance you are not even acquainted with.

He hopes that someday you acknowledge it.

[cyberfunsupporter]

AUBY THOUGHTS💥🎉‼️

how i feel about this character

this is so evil of this to be a question. if i could cremate my heart id do that and thats how much i love aubrey ok. i am sick… she is so misunderstood. nobody gets it. like oh my god. she’s perfect. also she’s a lesbian. and she has bpd. and she’s better than you. and she’s actually a really kind person beneath her mean girl front so it doesn’t make sense when people dumb her down to an insensitive, cruel person… she’s not that at all!!! she’s genuinely kind and wants peace! she wouldn’t just be angry and cruel??

all the people i ship romantically with this character

kim and honestly i’m a heavy monoshipper on that… genuinely don’t think omori’s a game for shipping whatsoever EXCEPT for kim and aubrey because that’s the only one that really makes sense? like of course aubrey would wanna date somebody… and kim’s her best friend and the only one she really Trusts like that… it just makes sense 😭 however for sunny and basil they’re not in the proper mental space for that and then like. kel’s gay idk and who’s he gonna date if not sunny 💀 who. isn’t ready to date. and also kim just seems to understand aubrey in a way that is meaningful to a girl who has been abandoned and abused/neglected her whole life!!! and of course that’d turn into something more. it’s real to me

my non-romantic otp for this character

MARI. even when mari dies she’s still there for aubrey, much better than everyone else tried to be, and aubrey loves her so much and still makes time to see her… it’s just a really sweet gesture to me and shows how much she really misses mari and valued her friendship while mari was alive you know! like fawk. that was her older sister figure!!! aubrey didn’t really have a family growing up so mari was able to be that for her and it made it so special and 🥹 augh. best friends. i can’t talk about them for too long without getting emotional… but they were best friends. they’ll always be best friends even though mari will forever be 15 and aubrey will keep growing up 💔 mari’s still her best friend

my unpopular opinion about this character

was she a bully to basil? YES. i won’t deny that. but is she a bad person, or even really a mean person? fuck no! and i DO excuse her bullying basil!!! what she was mad about he didn’t do but when you really think about it he’s kind of terrible 😭 yes maybe he was 12 but when i was 12 i didn’t think hey lemme fake this girl’s suicide instead of calling for help… and then he proceeded to keep it a secret + have sunny keep it a secret too and like😭😭😭 it’s all basil’s fault dude it’s crazy… id bully him too bye. also aubrey apologized as best she could for the later stuff, people always talk about forgiving basil for his arguably more shitty actions than being a high school bully but they’re so quick to condemn aubrey for ?? mishandling the pain she’s been battling her whole life (that basil made 10x worse mind you)… and you want me to forgive basil and defend him from her… get serious like she’s 16 hdhfhdhdj this isn’t even everything i could say but i need to CALM DOWN

one thing i wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon

she beat the shit out of basil in 4k hyper realistic animation

[mysterycharacterflowers]

Round 1; A bouquet of rainflower, green carnation, camelia, nightshade, mulberry and purple lilac Vs Red Anemone

If you know who they are, or are pretty sure of it, please don't tell until this poll has ended!

First, let's talk about the bouquet of rainflower, green carnation, camelia, nightshade, mulberry and purple lilac

Meaning and why they were chosen: Rainflower- meaning: I must atone for my sins/I love you back. Reason- He tore the entire universe apart and put it back together wrong. Permanently warping and altering reality itself, this of course being a pretty big sin. But he did it in order to save the man he loved, a man he still wholeheartedly loves and adores, yet can no longer even interact with. Serving as a living reminder of the choice he made. Green Carnation- meaning: love between two men. Reason- He is BIG gay. His love for another man re-wrote the whole universe. Camellia- meaning: Unpretending excellence. Reason- This character is a literal genius. An expert in mechanical and biological science, he is objectively too smart and much too qualified to be employed where he is. He is the first- and only- person to have ever performed true necromancy. Nightshade- meaning: Silence or falsehood. Reason- He avoids and even outright lies to the people around him. Especially the love of his life. This is because the knowledge of his actions is enough to physically unmake a person. Mulberry- meaning: I will not survive you. Reason- He lost the man that he loved. And rather than learn to grieve and cope with the loss, learning to survive without the man he loved, he instead decided to alter the fabric of all reality just to revive his love. Purple Lilac- meaning: first love. Reason- He fell in love with hsi best friend since childhood. Every choice he has ever made has been for this boy. Even the choices this character Description: He is an extremely intelligent man. Skilled in both engineering and medical science. He quite literally discovered a way to tear the universe apart and rebuild it- warping and damaging it irreversibly in the process- just to save the man he loved. He then proceeded to constantly ignore and avoid the man he saved, as he couldn’t bring himself to look his greatest sin in the eyes. He was raised Catholic and I’m 85% sure his mother is a serial killer. He loves video games, and is an absolute fucking DWEEB. He is the ultimate failgirl. He is not a good person, he trapped the man he loved in a veritable purgatory- where is is technically neither living nor dead. He IS trying, just maybe not hard enough.

Check their post here

Now, let's talk about the Red Anemone

Meaning and why this flower was chosen: I think its deliciously ironic as this flower represents luck, and greatly resembles the flower they went to pick for their sister! Before falling of a cliff in the attempt. but instead of dying his brain was transferred into the body of a super panther (hard to explain) and later joined there sister in fighting evil Nazi's! Which also fits very well, as Anemone's other meaning is a protector against evil. Description: A defender against evil, this flower is a bit ironic with how unlucky this poor guys life has been. A real softy with a bit of a bite, he fights evil science experiments in the dead of night with the rest of his family.

Check their post here

[ginger-futch]

Poor Quill is going through it, so I'm posting my own thoughts on the situation. I know it's not Poppy related, but I figured some of my younger followers could use the lesson in fandom etiquette.

It is never appropriate to respond to perceived digs at your favorite show with racism, transphobia, cyberstalking, or threats to a person's life or livelihood. It doesn't matter if it's the most progressive, flawless show in creation in your eyes, there is no justifying acting like a rabid monster just because someone doesn't share your opinions of it.

Criticizing media is not a life or death situation; nobody is going to die because someone on the Internet doesn't care for your blorbo. Blorbo is a fictional device, they don't actually exist in real life, their honor doesn't need to be defended at risk of life and limb. And the average popular media creator does not need and should not have a vicious cult of personality attacking anyone who doesn't like their work or voices concerns about their behavior.

There was a good reason I left that fandom. Despite the media in question being lauded as a progressive milestone in adult animation, a lot of the fans were disrespectful, immature, and openly bigoted. I had to leave two Discord servers because of the fans' behavior. I posted a drawing of the one character that one person decided looked "wrong," and then proceeded to draw over my work while adding an ahegao face to "fix" it. I called someone out on posting a blatantly transphobic meme and got ignored. Any time anyone had a dissenting opinion, it got shot down with prejudice, even if it wasn't even negative. Not to mention, the behavior of the creator herself, being extremely transphobic, mistreating staff, and encouraging people to attack anyone who disagreed with her behavior or her work.

And Quill hasn't even voiced any opinion of the show, good or bad, in months; it's the HHB fans who keep bringing it up and antagonizing him, purely because his work also includes a unique interpretation of Christian mythology.

Basically, if you don't like what a person has to say about a media you like, just block them. Don't make a fuss about it, don't go "Ooooh, you're evil and bad for thinking that, so I'm going to put you on a list!" Just, ignore them and leave them alone.

It's not healthy to be attaching yourself so deeply to a piece of media that you feel any criticism of it is a personal attack. I know it's tempting to get into Internet fights for the satisfaction of ripping somebody to shreds, but trust me when I say that entrenching yourself in pointless internet arguments and harassment campaigns will not improve anyone's life, especially not yours. I wouldn't say I've harassed anyone myself, but I did wind up subjecting myself to months if not years of circular arguing with a 26 year old man as a teenager because I didn't like his crummy grimdark recursive fanfiction. Do not dig yourself into a hole like that, it won't go anywhere but down.

Anyways, be nice to people. Especially trans people, they already have enough bullshit to deal with.

[apieters]

The Princess and Her Knight

In This Scene

In the backstory to my Fanfiction project, Swashbucklers of the Magic Kingdom, André Caron is Princess Cinderella’s oldest human friend. As children, they would play in the woods next to the Chateau after Cinderella finished her chores. André was always a gallant knight, and Cinderella was his lady. He was the first person after her father passed away who treated her like a Princess.

One day, a young André saw Cinderella with a bruise on her arm, and when he saw Lady Tremaine raising her cane threateningly when she came out to berate Cinderella, he knew exactly what had happened. Wielding his wooden sword, he defended Cinderella from her stepmother’s strike and then proceeded to break Lady Tremaine’s fingers, hammering down on the screaming woman’s hand with blow after blow until her fingers bled. He was quickly arrested and given a severe flogging in the Place de La Cathedrale, in the middle of the French district, until the Archdeacon of Notre Dame cathedral put an end to the boy’s punishment. All the while, André shouted at the top of his lungs that Lady Tremaine beat Cinderella, and that he wasn’t sorry for what he’d done. In the end, it was André who got what he wanted: Lady Tremaine never laid a hand on Cinderella again—and even if she wanted to, her fingers could not physically close around the cane again.

In time, André grew up, first captaining a privateering vessel with his best friend, the tyrannosaur Chris Carnovo, then earning a commission as an officer in Prince Henri “the Charming”’s household guard, specifically his Black Hussars. André became captain of the regiment and served as Prince Charming’s bodyguard for many years.

He reconnected with Cinderella as a young adult as she and Prince Charming were falling in love (it took a lot longer in Real Life than in the movie). At first, André did not know how he felt about his childhood friend falling for another man, but realized that what he felt for Cinderella was something more like a brother or a loyal knight. He then actively helped Prince Charming and Cinderella meet, and when Lady Tremaine tried to object at their wedding, André’s cold glance and drawn sabre was enough to make her think twice and let the marriage proceed.

Cinderella continues to value André as an old friend. She is fond of saying, “A proper princess needs a Prince, but a proper Princess also needs a Knight. The two are not necessarily the same.”

Behind the Scenes

I’m trying to actually draw some of the Disney characters who play a prominent role in my story, and Cinderella is one of them. The composition of the drawing came quickly, but it sat on the back burner for a while until I got around to inking and coloring.

I sometimes choose my HEMA swords based on my own fictional characters, and sometimes I arm my characters with swords I own in real life. André holds my Kvetun Easton Gymnasium Sabre (Mk 3) in his hands.