#but then i think i just have a victim complex and im making excuses for my lack of direction and action

[august--and-everything-after]

Having a real "you deserve all the misfortune and bad shit that's happened to you, and it's your fault that nothing good has happened" moment tonight. It'll pass. But damn, it's making some real good points.

[enby-axels]

probably my most unpopular mdzs opinion ever is that lan wangji is trauma bonded to lan xichen. and i mean that in the truest sense of the term in which a victim feels emotionally attached to their abuser, not referring to the distorted, pop psychology definition of two people bonding because they experience trauma together.

i know people wont like this because they cling to the idea of lan xichen being made of idk sunshine and sparkles. but you can be a superficially nice person and also enable horrific violence; this is literally one of the main points mdzs is making about his character. similarly, you can love someone and want what [you think] is best for them, but also harm and, yes, abuse them. this too is true of lan xichen, who — in his position as his clan's leader — punished lan wangji nearly to death for the crime of protecting the love of his life, who himself was just trying to protect war refugees from collective punishment. and then let his clan participate in the murder of said refugees and also the love of his brother's life. (yall: lwj injured 33 of his clan's seniors! me: and who put him in that position. why were they following him in the first place. do you seriously think he would raise his sword against his own clan unless he had no choice)

and like you can make up a million excuses for lan xichen, tell yourself it wasnt that bad or that it cant possibly qualify as abuse even though there's an established power imbalance and a violent exploitation of said power imbalance which lan wangji is in no position to defy, even by the end of the novel. and im sure lan xichen himself made similar excuses to himself to justify his actions so he could sleep at night, but the fact of the matter is that mdzs the novel is naaawwwwt condoning his actions. there's a clear perpetrator of violence here, and also a clear victim

all this to say that lan wangji's relationship with his clan and his direct blood relations is much more complex than popular interpretations acknowledge. as if this isnt clear enough from him being the second jade, the spare to his brother the heir, the politically less important brother who was sent to the wen indoctrination while his older brother fled, the secondborn son whose truths are repeatedly subordinated to his clan leader's lies. twin jades of lan is an ironic title, in the same way twin heroes of yunmeng is ironic. theyre not twin anythings. they were never equals, in moral character or political power

so yeah, lan wangji does love and has probably even forgiven his brother. but what other choice does he have?

[aleksanderscult]

Hello, I started following your blog pretty recently and I agree with most of what you think. I felt so confused when I finished the books and came on tumblr to see everyone hailing malina as the perfect relationship and I was glad to know that I wasn't the only one who disliked him.

I wanted to ask you something, im not sure if I saw this on this blog, but someone said that zoya is an example of toxic feminism in YA fantasy. Which checked out to me, but it also felt that bardugo added misogyny, feminism and toxic feminism in the SaB series.

Misogyny since alina had to face sloot-shaming in every book (almost entirely by Malyen ugh 😒). I felt that she really tried and suceeded to be feminist with genya, since she actually stood up for herself and had many facets to her personality. She also wasn't an important character just because of her beauty or anything super superficial. Genya IS a strong female character, and she wasn't 'broken' by the king, despite the foul things he did.

But zoya.. my god, I really wanted to like her, but I just couldn't. She is mean and hot headed to the point where I really don't see any redeeming factors to her. I always liked 'mean girl character who isnt as shallow as she seems' in fantasy novels, but she didnt exactly have a redemption arc either. If the darkling had warned her about expanding the fold in the first book, she would have fought for him. I think she isnt a strong female character, but just a girl who is a bully and decided to help mc since the antagonist hurt her specifically. She doesnt even think of the other casualties of novokribirsk. I think the 'break nikolais heart, I'll comfort him and make a magnificent queen' part was a joke, but still....

Please excuse my yapping. I haven't read crooked kingdom and nikolais duology, so I don't know if the characters had any developement since then, so please ignore any innacuracies of this text pertaining to that. Do you have any thoughts on this?

(Do you allow emoji annons? If so, can I be 🎀 annon?)

(Of course I do! You can use any emoji you want and ribbons remind me of coquettish things 😍)

Genya in S&B was my favorite version of her. She was traumatised by the King's abuse, that's true. But she wasn't solely that.

(Here's a meta about that version of her that I once did)

She was very brave, vengeful, intelligent, politically aware, had a sense of humor and was kind. There were different aspects to her personality and wasn't solely "the victim" as many fans of the Grishaverse like to portray her. But in Nikolai's duology Bardugo either forgot how to write complex situations within a court or just doesn't know how to (or it doesn't suit her 🙃).

She threw all the blame to the Darkling (as if he was entirely at fault for her sexually abuse), forgot that Grisha were serfs meant to please and serve the royal family (hence why the Darkling gave her to the Queen) and also forgot how it was the Queen who withdrew her protection and allowed her husband to abuse her. Also, a slight amnesia to how Genya herself decided to stay and take revenge. Essentially, the character became Leigh's mouthpiece to remind the reader that the Darkling is a heartless motherfucker that is undeserving of redemption. How banal.

Now about Zoya. Zoya is the typical female character that we encounter in media nowadays. A girlboss that kicks ass, is rude, has no sensitivity and threatens everyone. Again, cliché. But Leigh broke her own in-universe laws when she gave Zoya the protagonist's role.

Meaning:

The narrative with Alina as a protagonist: "You can't have feelings for your enemy!! You can't be independent! You need to depend on your toxic, childhood friend and...what is this? Power?? You took three amplifiers?? WELL SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR POWERS THAT KEEP YOU HEALTHY AND STRONG!!"

The narrative with Zoya as a protagonist: "Take the amplifiers, take the power to turn into a dragon, let's also have a Saint in your head giving you advice and guess?!? You just got promoted into a Queen and soon enough you will marry the love of your life!! Kudos!!"

That's basically what happened.

It would be an amazing end if only:

- Otkazat'sya didn't hate the Grisha's guts.

- Zoya had the qualities of a leader and a Queen instead of being handed the throne on a silver plate from an illegitimate son who failed in his job.

- The author didn't break her own rules just to prove and show how "awesome" her protagonists are.

- The same author didn't copy paste the storyline of Daenerys Targaryen into Zoya's (somehow she needed to appear cool and sympathetic)

- Half of the fandom didn't hate the primary protagonists now than they ever did before.

So basically Leigh infuriated the fandom even more about Alina's fate when she gave Zoya everything.

And about your question if the characters had any development in the later books after the trilogy. I've got some bad news, my friend. 🥲

[doubledyke]

Which are some of your unpopular opinions?

hmm well i don't think most of my takes are that hot tbh. our community here is pretty small so there's usually some overlap with head canons/fanon, etc. most of us are on the same page, or at least in the same chapter lmao. which is great! and even when i see a take i might not wholeheartedly agree with, i feel like it's still added to my subconscious lore to be explored later.

right off the bat, i guess one hot take might be that i find the theme song pretty grating 👀 i skip it every time. it's probably because ive heard it so many times since i was a kid up to now. i don't even really have a nostalgic or sentimental attachment to it at this point.

all my mutuals know this already, but season 1 is my favorite season, which i don't think is the case for most fans. i made a whole long post about that already though.

im already drawing a blank here ummmm

well, i probably have a lower opinion of edd's parents than most people in our little community. realistically it makes more sense that they're simply absent (neglectful) due to their demanding jobs, and that they work hard to give edd a good life, etc. but i tend to view it as more of a malicious, conscious choice. i like angst and drama, what can i say ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

this one isn't really a hot take these days, especially among the tumblr crowd, but i like when edd is portrayed as the morally complex character that he is. i don't think he's all good or all bad. he's way more realistically ambiguous than that. i'd say i do lean towards him being a bit more devious than most though.

moving more into head canon territory here, but

i don't talk about this one a lot because it's totally projection, but i think edd would have issues with alcohol. between his autism, his ocd and his unloving parents, i think he'd hit the bottle a little too hard after realizing how much he likes the way it makes him feel. but he'll work through it eventually don't worry.

uhhhh let's see

again, not a scorching hot take here, but i enjoy edmay, and it's not because i don't want ed to be a "third wheel" (he's lowkey a third wheel in the show, but anyway-), it's because they're cute. that simple. i'm totally cool with ed being asexual, and i think it fits his character a bit more tbh. but i really like may, and i think her experience as the sort of outcast among her sisters is a good match for ed's experience as somewhat of an outcast even among his already outcast friend group. i think they make a very cute, very weird, and probably very smelly couple.

i have sympathy for bro! i think many of us do, but yeah. obviously he's really shitty towards eddy and even the other kids, but you don't just wake up one day and decide to be a "monster". he's clearly got trauma and issues of his own and while that's not an excuse, it's worth acknowledging. i'm fascinated by eddy and bro's dynamic and it's one of my favorite things to analyze and speculate about.

to me, it's likely that eddy would try to date girls in middle/high school, perhaps even beyond. i don't see him and edd even really addressing their deeper feelings until after graduation because of eddy's internalized homophobia and deep-seated denial of his sexuality. he'd still be worried about what people think in that regard. idk, i know a lot of folks see them being together shortly after bps, or even in high school but personally i don't see it. like edd knows how he feels, but he's not gonna push it. he'll let eddy figure it out on his own. plus it's amusing to imagine how awkward it would be for eddy and the poor girls that fall victim to his farce.

you'd think i'd have more hot takes about eddy but i think i post most of my thoughts about him pretty openly lol.

oh, i kinda hesitate to bring this one up cuz it's hard to explain or back up with much evidence, but PERSONALLY, i think eddy is pretty smart. i love to harp on his malapropisms as much as the next guy, and obviously he's immature and all the other negative adjectives associated with teenage boys. but he's very clever and witty, and like most kids with terrible trauma, "wise beyond his years". he's inventive and resourceful. he's good at analyzing people (in some circumstances) and learning what makes them tick. and despite being unable to come up with an example at the moment, sometimes the words and phrases he uses, and just generally the way he talks is more....advanced? than you'd expect from someone who can't spell "respect". i dunno, i'm sure at some point i'll make a long-winded post about this subject but suffice to say, eddy is smarter than he gets credit for.

but yeah nothing super controversial i wouldn't say. i have some weirder headcanons that im sure ill blab about at some point, but for the most part like i said, im pretty outspoken with my eene opinions. thanks for asking!!

[x-neurotoxin-x]

Im about to rant so follow me for a second here. I keep seeing a lot of that "Touya was born evil and showed no remorse for the things he did even as a kid" take like, everywhere lately and tbh the blatant misinterpretation of Touya and disregard of canon aspects of his character about this never fails to get on my nerves.

Obv not in a "he did nothing wrong" way, he obviously did a bunch of things wrong and went down a dark path bc of a mix of circumstances, victimization, and his own decisions- which makes him such a good character because of the fact he was shaped by his trauma but also has agency in his crimes and made choices himself that got him where he is. He's not a good person and having regrets/remorse doesn't change that, but you guys are just legitimately wrong about him not having any remorse and being "born wrong" when in canon it's been a clear point multiple times to show he knows right from wrong to a degree and feels guilt for the things he's done. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Dabi is the only villain that I can think of from the league who shows remorse, and to some degree responsibility, for his actions.

A lot of the "evidence" people provide is stuff he did as a kid, like attacking Shouto and "Terrorizing Rei." Both of these Touya expressed regret about on screen with him venting to Natsuo at night about how he(Touya) was wrong that day(when he attacked Shouto) and Shouto didn't do anything.

He also expressed wanting to apologize to Rei for the things he said literally right after waking up from a coma in a strange facility where he was essentially being held hostage for 3 years. One of the first thoughts he had was that he did "awful things" ane needed to apologize to his mom and the rest of his family. (Which is honestly kind of devastating and says a lot about his character at the time that he was in such a traumatic situation and thought like that. Everything about post coma/teen Touya is so goddamn tragic.)

He projected his anger and pain from his abuse onto Shouto when he got older- I.e. everything he did as Dabi to Shouto; fighting him, trying to kill him, etc all of which was fucked up and he had no excuse to do but he DID show remorse for doing it. Legit the last time we see him he apologizes specifically to Shouto and it appears during the final battle he had a moment of clarity and everything about Shouto sank in- the soba moment only further showing that.

We also see that scene way back where he was remembering what Snatch said about the families of the people he killed, and Dabi showed remorse there too with the bloody tear symbolism.

So I really do not understand how ppl still call him born evil and remorseless when in canon it's pretty clear Touya's always been a very hurt, angry person who did terrible things either on impulse or out of pain and felt regret for it, but kept doing it because of trauma, very likely mental illness, and his self destructive tendencies. He got colder as he got older, but he's shown to be still capable of remorse and critical thought. He's not just evil for no reason without any second thought, he's more complex than that. It all makes him such a complicated, human, and relatable character and boiling him down to "-insert the ablest slur you all keep using that starts with the letter S- with no remorse who was born evil and wrong" is not only starting to stink of ableism but just a blatant disregard and misunderstanding of his character in general.

[trainwrecksys]

ok!!!!!!!! i am!!!!!!! going to just say it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! long long post ahead!!!!!!!!!

yes i look like an out of touch stan with a victim complex for one character when i draw no one but bentham in my fanart and completely ignore everyone else to feel sorry for him and yes i am aware and no i dont know if anyone else sees this in me or im just paranoid but bro i am annoyed with myself !!! i hate how stannish i am sometimes because yes bentham had every reason to be called evil but yeah i had a good few reasons to have a complete breakdown when i read that in the book !!!!!!!1 too much writing under the cut about a lot of stuff that is in my head and needs to get out for better or for worse idk

i have made a severe and continuous lapse in my judgement and i do not expect to be forgiven but genuinely the way me being a stupid shameless stan can come off to others even subconsciously is actually important because it makes me look like someone who would see a situation like the bentham siblings' in real life and side with the STRAIGHT WHITE MALE who has made more than mistakes and hurt people in moments of heightened emotion (end of library of souls)- but like not in defense of bentham for ONCE IN MY LIFE everyone feels emotions everyone gets hurt and he had a right to not be perfect after everything he went through but that doesnt mean hurting people is the course of action and bro i have completely ignored that and skirted around it for two years and IM NOT GONNA KEEP APOLOGISING FOR MAKING THIS TOO LONG BECAUSE IT BLEEDS INTO REAL LIFE AND I REALISE HOW MUCH OF A STUCK UP DICK I COULD BE NOT ONLY ABOUT THIS BUT IN GENERAL LIFE AFTER I READ THE BOOKS AND GAINED AN ATTACHMENT TO BENTHAM

the stuff im talking about is honestly mainly between me myself and i and most of the art i post is him either chilling or feeling a bit sad but the way i completely ignore miss peregrine's issues and betrayal to focus on how oh so hurt and betrayed myron was like there was no reason he was exiled

like yes years in a big mansion with three people to keep him company in the middle of devils acre with no way to resolve his trauma can do shit to someone but what about years feeling his sisters guilt, BASIL????? what about how she mustve felt after both her brothers DIED due to their own hubris???????????? what about how she felt she was a bad sister when she literally had to be like their mother with all the baggage she had then actually mother children while thinking her slightly better brother might have been getting better with him saying he was gonna give them info on caul only to see him SIDE WITH CAUL when he had just done something that COULD HAVE HELPED HIS CAUSE and then spitefully capture her and lead them into the mouth of hell OH MY GOD

and how jacob and emma had to deal with his bullshit being all "lets talk over tea!" and waiting for when it was right in the exposition to tell them who he fucking was, then telling them he BASICALLY KILLED JACOBS GRANDPA while giving excuses and them finding out later on that hE KEPT THE SUUL FOR HIMSELF?????? i made some bullshit reason up why he did that for my headcannons but lets be real the only reason they could have at least imagined was that he was planning on using it in the library. the information betrayed them either way and to alma again it was only a stab in the gut because he hurt a guy who was basically her son

overall hes not some aesthetic victimised pookie bear hes a more than flawed man who only did some things to mend his image and cant be excused for what he did and this whole post was basically me shouting at myself

[dracocheesecake]

THOUGHTS ARE BREWING ABOUT REWRITING KFP4

Brace for impact cause I’ve been ruminating for weeks on how to redo it because like, there’s so many directions you could take it. BUT IM THINKING OF AN INTERESTING WAY TO REWRITE THE CHAMELEON AND AUGHHH I MUST BLAB

Cause obviously it’s a bullshit thing that her excuse for being evil is that she wasn’t allowed to know kung fu because she’s too small. We all know its dumb with Shifu, Mantis, and literally Master Chicken existing. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT ISNT STUPID? The womanly coded rage of “I don’t need to be good, I need to be GREAT” and like sure its not like a characteristic of female rage but when that thought process is within a woman it takes on a whole different kinda tone compared to a man. Miss Chameleon who, while living in a universe where there isn’t really overt sexism, still feels overlooked by all the men around her.

In my rewrite of her story, not only would she have known kung fu, but she would have been a master herself. But her problem (like the running themes of all the kfp villains which ties her to the bunch we’ve seen already) is that she wants for more than is her lot in life. Her flaw is that she can’t live in mediocrity. She can’t accept that the skills she has developed are the best she’s ever going to get. Especially when it’s not garnering the same attention from others the way Master Ox or Master Bear have. It develops this intense superiority complex and innate jealousy within her that she feels she pales in comparison to her colleagues. Which leads to her trying to copy their styles. It doesn’t work, people shame her for trying to be a copycat.

So, she tries a different approach, and see if there’s any new skills she can develop. And wouldn’t you know, she’s heard of all the tales of Master Oogway and his spiritual powers and you know, he invented Kung Fu and is known and loved far and wide, so he had to have done something right! So, she tries to learn chi. She fails. Or, in her mind, she fails. It’s not as strong as she wants it to be, again, working but living in mediocrity. She wants to stand out, she wants to shine.

So, Master Chameleon disappears mysteriously from the kung fu world. Nobody knows where she went or what happened to her, but her village checked her training grounds and all of her pupils (the iguanas/lizards we see fighting for her) are just. Gone. Deserted.

That’s when she pops up in Juniper City. A place that doesn’t know anything about kung fu or its masters, a city she can make entirely for herself. She presents herself to the government/council, introducing herself as the solution to all the crime running rampant through the place, and proves herself by actually showing off her intelligence and skills at apprehending and beating the criminals. It’s not long before she’s hailed as a savior to the city and has the council paying tribute to her and building her her own fortress so that she can train others (in reality, she makes her training intentionally too cruel on the people in the city who volunteered to learn to discourage them so she could sweetly suggest she ask her pupils back at her side) to defend the city more strongly.

She’s basically the kingpin of the city now. She’s manipulated the council into doing whatever she wants. And all along she’s making deals with the criminal overlords for more money and glory and such. The only ones who don’t bow to her is The Den, due to their structure being more familial rather than hierarchal. They fought a lot because of this power struggle, and similar to that drabble you wrote, The Chameleon would be brutal, taking the lives of their friends and such, to the point where the neutral point is Han taking what’s left of his community under ground to keep them protected, and Chameleon considers them too puny to waste her time when she’s got bigger goals.

Namely, Zhen. Zhen was a consequence of all the fighting done, the last victim from The Den so to speak. Only, the little fox wasn’t killed. Similarly to the movie, Chameleon notices her drive and skill and decides she’s worth the time to apprentice, and she needs something to busy herself with, because in the meantime, she’s basically inventing sorcery.

Using chi the way it has been used didn’t work for her. But she heard through the grapevine about Po’s battle with General Kai, how he perverted chi for his own gain, which gave her an idea. She wasn’t going to do it the way Kai had, she didn’t just want the power of their energy, she wanted to take everything from everyone who thought they were above her. Their soul, their skills, their everything. This thought process leads to her true plans and motivations: to be the only kung fu master.

She’s still having some troubles working out the kinks of her sorcery while she trains Zhen, grows close to the little fox. Only, Zhen isn’t like her other students. She’s trained them to be competent, sharp and know their jobs, but Zhen was pushed farther, and took things farther. And once again, that burning jealousy took root in Chameleon as she saw her pupil flourish more than she originally thought capable. There was pride of course at first, molding Zhen to her ideals and image. But the fox turned from student to competition as she began to experiment with her own style. In turn, Chameleon experimented on her. Zhen wasn’t expecting it, but when called to her, Chameleon threw her beta tested move at her…and it worked. That trick we saw in the movie, only it took everything from Zhen, and by the end of it…there was nothing left of her. All of her spirit, skills and even appearance was given solely to the Chameleon. She can only shapeshift into the people she’s absorbed in my rewrite. She hadn’t fully expected it to work, and a small, miniscule part of her felt guilty for doing that to her dearest little pupil who trusted her so blindly. But it opened a gateway for her.

And yeah! I won’t go into everything because I’ve talked so very much but omg I needed to get this out. And it’s necessary, because there are two running themes with kfp villains: they are greedy for more in some twisted goal, and they end up hurting somebody very close to them, there’s always betrayal somewhere. Tying that into her story makes her feel like she’s an actual villain of this universe in my head.

(Sorry this took so long to answer I had to get my thoughts together because OH BOY-)

Holy smokes this is all genuinely so, so good and a hundred times better than what we ended up getting. Because first of all: you turned the Chameleon into a character, instead of just a villain. Not to mention you gave her a motive that gives her complexity and makes her actually interesting (and the audience can't justify, but understand why she's doing what she's doing!). AND YOU MADE HER SCARY! An actual, serious threat! That imagery the description of poor Zhen's fate this conjures is spine-chilling. I wouldn’t mind seeing this version of the Chameleon on screen!

Also the way it actually follows the lore and continuity of the previous movies in a way that makes sense! The running theme of "being the best you you can be"- in this sense, her version is a twisted version of Po's journey; wanting to be the best version of herself...at the cost of all others! I could go on, but yeah this is an awesome rewrite idea!!!

[emtmercy]

to be clear i do not care if someone stans lestat or whatever i like him myself i know he is pretend <3 but the allergy to even acknowledging his behavior as it is presented to us is just strange! im not saying lestat is an abuser therefore the show is eeeevil for making him a complex/sympathetic character. people who commit abuse are complex and sympathetic in certain circumstances in real ass life! “abuser” is not some ontologically evil category of person destined to do harm forever. “victim” does not mean faultless angel incapable of harm. i think it does the show a disservice to gloss over those themes in favor of well theyre just monsters its not the same. which is once again. literally what santiago (bad guy) says at the trial. also episode five had a domestic violence warning. also louis jumped lestat because he laid hands on claudia. imagine me saying all of this in a spirited but friendly tone of voice by the way i have no beef with you personally

Actually the episode very much premiered without a domestic violence warning and they added it after because people were mad. know your history before being obnoxious online

You’re again still missing what I’m saying

I’m not saying it is only not the same because they are vampires you are unwilling to contend with what I’m actually saying

I am saying harm and abuse aren’t one and the same

Lestat and Louis did great harm to each other. Period. You are interpreting my refusal to incorrectly assign real human labels not represented in this show as a refusal to acknowledge wrong doing on Lestats part and those are entirely separate things

Lestat did bad things to Louis. Louis did bad things to Lestat. They both had to make amends. That is not what abuse is.

Abuse is a cycle of violence with very real specific attributes not present in this narrative

You decided Lestat was an Abuser (TM) in season one because of a fundamental misunderstanding of the material

The show is based around the concept that happens between the first two books which involves the reveal that Louis has been running from his own culpability and thus unable to heal

And again, victims do not share responsibility for their abuse in real life!! I refuse to cede to you that victims are equally responsible for their abuse, and this show is presenting them as equally responsible for this shit show relationship

And I don’t need to argue with you about whether abusers are “ontologically evil” in real life. That’s fully irrelevant. I am saying in real life abuse there isn’t mutual responsibility for the abuse. And the show is very clearly presenting us with the idea that they were equally culpable for what happened hence the reveal with Louis beating his ass

Hence the Louis apology. These writers aren’t stupid.

And yes Louis jumps Lestat for laying hands on Claudia and then lays hands on Claudia himself because in reality it’s not about her it’s about him and Lestat

Not all harm has to be about abuse/victim

I agree that the harm between them was real and not excused because of vampirism. Your desire to slot me into the role of Santiago is not representative of what I am saying despite your commitment to imagining what I am saying. I am saying that not all harm, and yes especially magical harm, is not equal to human ABUSE. Harm can matter and not be an abuse cycle: I truly feel you may not understand that abuse is a cycle of behavior and specific dynamic and not just anytime someone does something cruel or bad

I’m not flattening the show by not applying these very specific real human dynamic labels to this relationship. You are flattening the show by being unwilling to engage with where the story is taking us and the way in which the portrayal from season one has been revisited.

I’m trying to explain to you that they’re not in an abuser victim dynamic in the human sense im not trying to tell you that none of it matters and no one possesses culpability

I don’t believe the writers chose to have the season end with Louis apologizing to his Abuser

It ended with Louis apologizing to a man with whom he had a mutually destructive relationship in which they both harmed each other

I’m not saying a vampire character on IWTV can’t be an abuser in the traditional sense, I’m saying they’ve gone out of their way both to have Lestat and Louis own their behaviors and harms and also not assign them that very real and specific role of Abuser and Victim

When I discuss Louis’ behavior I am not implying victims are angels. Im saying a mutual fight started by Louis isn’t an instance of ABUSE of Louis

Lestat acknowledging his harm is not the same as slotting it into this dynamic you clearly need it to be in

I simply don’t believe the writers are trying to write a story about forgiving and marrying your abuser

Its about mutual forgiveness of two flawed people who mutually harmed each other

Which is not what an abuse dynamic is

Like honestly your interpretation is rly sliding into a place that is offensive to victims and survivors

[godsdefect]

9kay take my headconshjm. it's so hot outside. I'm eleting. I'm melting. I feel like an old man how the hell do I do things on this sight without looking like an idiot

ALSO I WRITE FANFICTION. GIVE ME WHUMP IDEAS. GIVE ME ANGST IDEAS. GIVE ME ANY IDEAS. I'LL WRITE THEM. I'LL WRITE THEM FOR YOU!!!!!!!!! I HAVE NOTHING TO DO!!!!!!!!

SORRY FOR PUTTING A THIRD WALL OF TEXT HERE BUT I'M SHAKING IN MY BOOTS WHAT IF THIS DOESN'T COMPRESS AND IT JUST CLOGS UP THE TAGS????? GUYS IM 𝘊𝘏𝘖𝘒𝘌𝘚 𝘖𝘕 𝘛𝘌𝘈𝘙𝘚 I DOTN WANT TO BE ANNOYING 𝘌𝘟𝘗𝘓𝘖𝘋𝘌𝘚 𝘈𝘕𝘋 𝘛𝘌𝘈𝘙-𝘐𝘕𝘍𝘜𝘚𝘌𝘋 𝘎𝘖𝘙𝘌 𝘍𝘓𝘐𝘌𝘚 𝘌𝘝𝘌𝘙𝘠��𝘏𝘌𝘙𝘌

- Trauma. The shit that he went through wasn't going to let him live the rest of his life peacefully, and a constant reminder of his trauma was the tremor he gained in his hands. Along with the tremor, little aches and pains would form in places like his back, legs, hands, just really anywhere and it would bug him to no end. His hand writing would change as well as his art style, but eventually he'd learn to navigate around it. The tremor would obviously worsen with anxiety attacks and nightmares. Speaking of nightmares, he would be embarrassed to admit he still has them pretty regularly, and he'd need about an hour to properly calm down after having one.

- He's a doodler. Usually his surroundings fall victim to being sloppily sketched into his case book or stranger's passing faces, but he takes a particular liking to drawing flowers. He likes the way the petals unfold, and this is totally not giving me an excuse to say that his favorite flower is starfighter lilies.

- Cole has a slight ick for needles. It won't freak him out too much if he has to hold a syringe or look at one, but for him to see one and knows it's going in him always makes his arms go stiff and look the other way. The pinch of it always makes him want to grit his teeth together. Syrettes especially freak him out.

- Malewife. He loves doing tasks around the house, especially doing dishes or doing laundry with his favorite outfits in them. He's found that he enjoys much simpler jobs or assignments outside of work hours due to how complex and stressful his job as a detective can be, along with cleaning and how it helps clear up his head after a long day.

- Favorite food. When people ask him if he has a favorite food he always writes off the question with a “I don't have one” because he doesn't like giving out personal info, he wants a thick emotional wall between most people in his life that he thinks keeps him safe. But I've deemed that this man has to have a simple but interesting choice of favorite food, and I've decided that to be waffles. Connected to his childhood, hard to mess up, and tasty with a few simple ingredients. He appreciates the recognizable flavor with such a humble breakfast meal, also likes them with nearly gross amounts of syrup and strawberries. No other fruit than strawberries or he can't look at them the same when they're on his plate.

- Love language is gift giving and physical touch, if coexisting in the same room doing your own thing can count as a love language, too, then count that in. Explanation on gift giving, he doesn't like directly giving the gift to his partner with the item in his hands, moreover just leaving it somwhere subtle until his partner finds it and gets surprised by something sweet. Even little things like a neat trinket he found he would bring home, maybe leave it on the nightstand of his partner's as a little way to say ‘this reminded me of you’. Explaining the physical touch thing, it has to be a certain degree of it. Touch that just confirms that someone's there, not too attention catching but just there. Also, the thing about just coexisting in the same room, it has to be somewhere he considers a safe space. His office, for example, is very very sacred to him, and when he lets someone in there to dawdle it's more of like a declaration of trust. The presence of the other would definitely soothe him and he'd stay silent, but it's still a huge milestone in the relationship he would have with someone, whether friend or romantic partner.

- How he sleeps. Usually Cole is so wound up tight that half the time if he has the whole day to sleep he'll only take a light nap before trying to do something productive around the house, although he could have the place bleached and scrubbed down twice and he would still clean it again if he had time. He generally loathes feeling lazy or unproductive to the point that he works himself into oblivion, driving to spouts of burnout/autistic burnout and general uninspiration. When things like that come around, his body moreover forces him to do things like sleep in, which is usually the only time he's ever brushed shoulders with REM sleep. Okay moving onto sleeping habits, he would definitely be a light sleeper and find himself drooling onto his pillow obnoxiously often. When he goes into deeper dozes you could throttle him and he wouldn't even feel it in his dreams. It's silly but it's a lighter side to how hellish it is for him to get some real rest.

- Cole's stance on religion. He used to be religious, but that was only when he was a kid. By the time he was a teen he just couldn't grasp that there was some big man in the sky looking down on them, it felt impossible to connect to Christianity in any kind of way. White noise was only ever heard when he asked God about something, and the first and last time he ever went to a priest about something like that he was told that he had done something wrong and that God was punishing him for it. This would obviously break Cole's heart as a young boy, but no matter how hard he tried he'd never be able to force God to acknowledge him. So he'd just give up. Religion after that would be kind of a sensitive topic for him, but he'd still say he was Christian in fear of being berated. His stance on firmly not being religious would further solidify when he was fighting in the war and as a last resort would pray to God to save his men only to see them get killed and think ‘no loving god would do this to his creation’.

- Cole gets really bad homesickness. Ever since he got home from the war leaving home would never be the same for him, especially now that he practically sees his home office as a refuge. Leaving home for work or anything like that wouldn't bother him the slightest, but being away from something he holds so near and dear to his heart for a few days would make him feel like he constantly needs to puke or that the air is unnecassarily suffocating.

- Cole is a silent crier. He will actually just sit on the edge of his bed and stare into nothing until he either wills the tears away or they just fall down his face. He’d probably just scrub them off with his sleeves and sniffle a bit before shaking himself out of it and distracting himself with work or liquor – maybe even a task around the house. He was raised thinking that the “boys don’t cry” stuff was real n all, which is really unfortunate, I feel like he would need to catch a break sooner or later or else he’ll have a breakdown at the slightest inconvenience.

[junjiie]

can i hv a little more about that mark murder plot.. :o

STOP IT WOULD BE SOOO i dont hv any concrete ideas they were js turning in my head like a washing machine.. but i will yap semi in depth for you now because im bored and may want to expand \(>o<)ﾉ 

semi-big apt complex.. someone’s just been pushed down the stairs or off the roof if we’re going crazy extreme. it’s not a particular big building but it is kinda fancy (ground floor is a lobby type fancy..) and everyone is SHADYYYYY like not strangers from hell crazy but they still have things they’re not telling anyone.

police wrap it up as an open-shut suicide but mark wld fs not believe a bar of it 😭 he’s close to the victim—as in, knows that they’ve got enough people in their bad books that would take it a step further and kill them. he starts subtly poking around, making excuses to try and get into the apt the victim lived in to try and find further evidence and asking questions as inconspicuously as he can at tenant meetings.

speaking of the tenant meetings.. GOSSIP GALOREE they are talking all kinds of shit ant the victim and making the wildest things up that he might even get a bit confused—like yes he doesn’t actually believe victim was killed by a ghost that they’d angered by moving into their old apt but still.. What if..

he starts to think he’s getting somewhere, maybe finds a phone wedged under their mattress and breaks open even more leads, talks to even more people who knew the victim, etc etc. he starts calling himself marklock in his head it’s so serious at this moment. until he finds something that makes him think he’s gone too deep—messages mentioning him. pictures, texts, notes, whatever. he knows they’re about him, and it scares him SHITLESS.

he’s no doubt been working with ( ) this whole time (mayb they also know the victim? started off as awks acquaintances but now they’re partners in crime-solving, or something) but this is when he cuts them off. he’s scared, he’s paranoid, and maybe this is all a ploy? maybe ( ) is who did it?? ( ) used to know where mark kept his spare door key, but now when they go to check he’s removed it. they carry on separated.

until mark goes even further, despite how scared he is, despite how he can’t take five steps down the street without looking over his shoulder, despite how he can’t say hello to the man in the lobby these days because he’s too paranoid, and finds exactly the same things to do with ( )—msgs, letters, etc. they might be next as well. and he’s just pushed them away, blocked their number, and sealed himself off. shit.

shit indeed!!!! shit fuck we’re really in it now!!!!!! he stews over it, still too stubborn to actually reach out, and stays digging. and finds even more on ( ). so much that it’s practically crystal clear the next body they’re finding at the bottom of the stairs or dead on the pavement is theirs. it’s past three in the morning when he makes this discovery, and he’s delirious as he books it out of his apt over to theirs. he knows where they keep their spare key, too—but the door’s already cracked open, and he’s fearing the worst, but tries to stay as silent as possible as he walks in and grabs a knife from the block as he goes. for protection.

which.. he’ll definitely need. walks into the living room with the window overlooking the city—the one he once loved to admire the view from, inbetween trying to solve the murder that got them there in the first place—to find ( ) being held against it, the culprit at their neck. he screams, ( ) screams, the culprit turns and it all really goes to shit. there’s yelling and he drops the knife or cuts himself and maybe ( ) too and it’s all just so dark—and then, the glass smashes. and it’s not him or ( ) that’s just fallen out of it.

it’s almost like a rerun of the months before. open-shut suicide, mark and ( ) putting on their best tearful performances and pretending they begged the culprit not to do it, but they just hadn’t listened. no one took any notice to the forgotten knife shoved under the sofa cushion, and they all just tried to move on.

the aftermath: mark and ( ) dump their phones, pack their things, and move the FUCK out of that apt complex! hopefully in the next there’s no murder, no secrets, and no need for spare keys—they live in the same flat, this time around.

[forcebookish]

i haven't watched the new episode properly yet but omg so furious - if they decided within a week to cut out that scene then why put it in the preview? where are all these topmew haters getting to jojo from?? is it just twitter? im genuinely so devastated for them they deserve so much better. can't help but wonder what got cut that we don't actually know about too. legit boiling idk if i can watch the new episode rn im honestly tempted to get twitter just so i can support forcebook with this show 😭 how can people hate them this much?? i don't see forcebook/topmew fans out here dragging firstkhao and neomark through the mud??? ive gotten 10/10 bored of particular sandray and i really hate ray bc i have dealt with a horrible destructive violent addict so he is a triggering character (it's mostly horrible to see fans glorify that behaviour) but im not out here screaming at them to cut the actors scenes im just is it ok to cry about this hahahahaaA

cry it out, dude. it's fucked up the way they treat our boys.

i think it's twitter and youtube (i think it was you who i talked to about a yt commenter being a dick to me because i had the gall to ask why there was no forcebook footage in the last bts?😒). and yeah, even with p'jojo's explanation for why it was cut, it doesn't matter because mew was at that level of anger throughout the episode anyway. all it did was take something away from foxmochis and topmewists when we're literally begging for crumbs. and like you said!!! we're not bashing any actors, we're not complaining about screentime, we're not making shit up about the story or the characters - we're the ones who have been having a good time, even when there are characters that we hate, it's not the story that we're complaining about.

I MEAN NOW IT IS, but this was a uniquely bad episode lol

but certainly not the actors! there have been MULTIPLE people saying that they wanted topmew to be minor characters just so that their faves could have more screentime. all i want is for forcebook to be in a drama on their own without any of these other fucking "fans" going out of their way to bash them. and it's always, "why are foxmochis so defensive?" "tomafoxes have a victim complex." "gmmtv shows favoritism to forcebook." LIKE EXCUSE ME??? it's like they live in an alternate reality designed just so they feel better about hating on two perfectly lovely, talented guys and some of the kindest people i have ever met in a fandom space ever.

and honestly, i never thought i'd say this... but i do recommend getting a twitter account. i got mine just to lurk and see what forcebook was up to, but i've gotten in the habit of sending them tweets about how much i love them every now and again when i see something heinous or am just thinking about them. they get flooded with shit they don't deserve, and honestly? it makes me feel better too, knowing that i'm pushing back against the wave. who knows if they see it or understand it, but at least it's out there.

if they didn't need all the support they could get, i'd probably stop watching at this point (or at least pause), because it feels like we're being fucked with at this point and that our voices and viewership don't matter :( but they need us! gmmtv isn't going to do their job, so we have to do it for them!

thanks for popping in!❤️‍🩹 it took me a long time to respond to this so maybe you've already seen the episode but good luck anyway, pal. it's kind of a slog lol

[woomycritiques543]

I really hope they don't turn the 7 archangels into just some random assholes.

If anything I hope they don't make the 7 archangels at all because it would be confusing about what their roles are and they'll just turn them into just entertainment factor and to make hell's royal family look like good people

Hrm...

Seems to be the case so far seeing how Adam is in charge of the exterminators and such, when they could have easily.... I dont know.... had made an actually nuanced villain? What's with this series and giving their characters victim complexes while making the "villains" as generic and predictably evil as possible unless they also give them victim complexes or Sad Backstory 2.0? It becomes too predictable in my opinion, both with Stella, Adam, and to an extent Valentino.

I know I know, not all villains "need" depth, but in a show about being "nuanced" you'd think that there would'nt be so many pitty parties and black and white morals slapped onto both shows. That- and all of the baffingly toxic messages slapped on top of it.

Really not looking forward to Adam (unless ironically) so far....

Also, using him to manipulate people into not listening to anyone with concerns about Hazbin Hotel's body image by using your headcannons that Adam is "fat" (when theres legit no actual proof of this since he's wearing a giant coat.)? Are we really going to use headcannons to be that petty people? You're almost in your thirties- what are you doing?! Lmao! Hell, the only reason why, knowing Hazbin, the show would do that is just to either make jokes at the expense of his weight or to show how "diverse" they are while having the only actually plus size character be the villain. It's such a stupid excuse to cover up criticism- and of course, Spindlehorse liked the post with the manipulative speech because they the fuck not, not like they've been shutting down criticism and emotionally manipulating their audience since day one! Why actually try to be phyiscally diverse as an artist when you can have other people do it for you, for background characters- because only twinks and 80's barbies allowed for your ocs! Oh yeah- and like the post of people trying to manipulate people by labelling the skinnywashers and the people with reasonable critiques as the "same" people. Because of course try to manipulate people into invalidating people's concerns- because as we all know, Vivziepop is our lord and savior, she is our god, and if you say anything that isnt praise im going to send my freinds after you, and laugh at you for crying about it- because fuck empathy too, your soul, your very being, belongs to Vivziepop! Submit. 😃 /j

[redheadbigshoes]

Not for nothing, I respect your blog a lot and your stances on things but even if someone says something you don't like I don't really understand nor respect wishing them literal physical harm?

This is pertaining to the person comparing biphobic with everything else or whatever.

I think a lot of lesbians who are not, in fact, masculine, don't understand how gross bisexual women tend to treat us. And before you think im myself biphobic, I was deeply in love with, had an open relationship with, and married a bisexual women, and she wasn't like that, but that doesn't mean I haven't had some seriously disturbing shit come out of bi women's mouths who have treated me like I was a hetero cisman. There's anger in that. Imo more lesbains need to realize that masc presenting people are constantly disrespected, and we have a right to be angry with the people who are repeatedly doing it. And if it is continuously done by the same type of people, then how is it biphobic to just want to stay away from that? And i equally don't deserve to be told something really bad should happen to me because of my anger of how I've been treated.

Good for all the feminine presenting wlw who don't get told to be abusive or aggressive to get attention. You are not a truly safe place if you continue not to understand this and bash other lesbians for feeling what they absolutely have a right to feel and labeling it as being biphobic. Being angry about how the same group of people treat you doesn't mean you're suddenly phobic about them.

You’re saying “even if someone says something you don’t like” as if it’s about someone simply not agreeing with me about like food taste. You don’t seem to understand (or at least seem to ignore) the fact that it’s about other people’s existence, that person didn’t simply not agree with me, they didn’t simply say something I don’t like, they compared bisexuality with straights and cis people as if bisexuals were the oppressors.

You don’t respect wishing someone harm but you don’t care about someone being openly biphobic?

Just because some bisexual women don’t respect you for being masculine doesn’t mean all of them do that. You’re generalizing a minority and that is pretty shitty. Imagine if it was a non-lesbian generalizing masculine lesbians? I bet you wouldn’t like it, but still you do the same.

“Before you say I’m biphobic” right after you generalized a whole sexuality lol and then you used as an excuse having had a relationship with someone who was bi… You know how that sounds? It sounds like homophobes trying to excuse their homophobia by saying “I’m not homophobic I even have gay friends”. That’s not an excuse.

Having had bad experiences with someone from a minority doesn’t excuse you to generalize them, even if you’re also part of a minority.

Being angry about people being shitty to you is not the same as being biphobic (or whatever other prejudice) to them. You can fully be angry with the people who harmed you without generalizing the whole group.

Me calling out biphobia doesn’t mean I don’t listen to masculine lesbians. Leave your victim complex and your biphobia out of my blog. You don’t make a difference.

[averysmolkirbo]

Since im working on my fic, id thought id share this other thing i made. I meant to make it an objection.lol, (thats why it's simple) might still do that, but im gonna have to get home first to do that.

I dont have an AO3 yet (i havent written fics before) so the story'll be below the cut.

Its a little wrightworth thing (with some bonus franmaya) its the first thing ive made so lemme know if you like it!

[Courtroom, ~8pm]

"Alright. I'm here, what did you need so urgently that it required me coming here now, at this hour?"

"Huh? Edgeworth? What are you doing here?"

"Oh don't play dumb, you said you "urgently had to tell me something at the courthouse"

"When did i say that???"

"Franziska spoke to me earlier today that you apparantly 'Had to tell me something'. What even is it anyway?"

"I never said anything like that to her. Maya said she wanted me to come to the courthouse for some reason."

"And... you believed her?"

"What? Yes, of course i did! And so did you!"

"You thought she had gotten herself arrested again didn't you?"

"Well, that thought did cross my mind, but really i came because i was sorta bored all alone at the office."

"Hmph. I fear we have fallen victim to some kind of ... practical joke. If you dont have anything else to say, i'll be leaving now."

"No wait, I- I actually do have something to tell you."

"Really? Are you in on this absurd joke too?"

"No, no! I just.... had something i was gonna tell you about the next time i saw you... and you're here already.... so......"

"Alright then. What is it, Wright? Please make it quick. I'd like to get home.

"Oh? What's got you in a rush?"

"I didn't come here to be interrogated. Get on with your question, Wright."

"Ok, just curious.... (Why is Edgeworth acting so strange? Its later than he'd normally be at the courthouse, but its only around 8pm....)"

"I'm just tired, alright?"

"[I thought he didnt want to answer?]"

"What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh, uh, sorry. Well not to be rude but you look... tired-er than usual?"

"More tired."

"Fine, whatever. You look 'more tired '."

"That's why i was leaving."

"Well what made you so tired to start with, then?"

"I happen to have some very important and complex cases right now. There. That's your answer, anything else?"

"[I swear i'm about to begin seeing things...]

"Hehe, that's me when i take 17 benadryl and i start seeing the hat man."

"Excuse me, Wright, i didn't quite catch that last part. THE WHO?"

"Not The Who. THE HAT MAN."

"THAT'S NOT WHAT. I. MEANT."

"WHOM IS THIS HAT MAN?"

"THE MAN WHO SHOWS UP WHEN I TAKE 17 BENADRYL. KEEP UP, MILES."

"You are absolutely, IMPOSSIBLE. Do you know that??"

"ive been told that a number of times...."

"Not to mention- why on EARTH are you taking SEVENTEEN BENADRYL? No wonder you're hallucinating."

"Idk, 2 just doesnt work for me. Especially if im already sick. Besides, arent those labels just suggestions anyway? Whats the big deal if i take a few more than intended?? I need it!"

"S-SUGGESTIONS? SUGGESTIONS?! "

"I'm gonna take it by your reaction that they arent suggestions?"

"SUGGESTIONS FOR LIVING."

"Calm down, Miles, its not that big of a deal. See, i'm fine. I havent died yet. ive only done it like 3 times or something."

"IT'S- I- I wonder what goes on in that head of yours sometimes."

"haha, this is nothing, ive done worse. Like when i got charged for murder and then ate at a glass necklace to hide the evidence."

"I would be shocked right know, if i was talking to literally ANYONE else right now. But since im talking to you, Wright, i'm not the least bit suprised.

"Let me guess, in true Wright fashion, you escaped with few ill effects from this most foolish behavior?"

"Haha, how'd you know?"

"I think i only had a stomach ache, but that also mightve been what i had for lunch that day..."

"Of course.... What sort magical force do you possess that allows you to be so... immune to harm?"

"Is it perhaps the work of that magical charm Ms. Fey gave you?"

"The magatama? No, dont think so. I think all it does it let me see people's secrets..."

"Well there has to be some secret to your invincibility."

"I don't know, maybe im just lucky?"

"I'd say "Lucky" people can't fall through a BURNING BRIDGE into FREEZING RAPIDS and end up with NOTHING BUT A COLD!"

"AND "NORMAL" FRIENDS DON'T FLY 14 HOURS ACROSS THE WORLD JUST TO MAKE SURE SOMEONE'S OK BUT YOU DIDNT HEAR ME BRING THAT UP, DID YOU?"

"I TOLD YOU, THAT WAS DIFFERENT! LARRY TOLD ME YOU DIED!"

"ok, yeah, fair point. But you of all people should know not to trust Larry."

"Would you have prefered i hadn't believed him??"

"If you're going to be bringing that up, then i'd say that i have some 'decisive evidence' makes you a hypocrite."

"Uh-huh. Sure, tell me what this evidence is then, Edgeworth."

"You changed your college major just to "save" me. Whatever that means. I'd say a "normal" friend wouldn't do that ..."

"I was already considering changing majors after the whole murder trial thing, really.

"Now you're just making up excuses. Ms. Fey already told me about the trial where her sister defended you and your sudden interest in law."

"Well... well.... WELL I LOVE YOU!"

"I LOVE YOU TOO!"

"What?" (shit. The jig's up.)

"What?" (oh god. I cant believe i just said that...)

"You... uh... you say something, Edgeworth?"

"No. Did you say something?" (Oh god, he definetely noticed... think of something-)

*maya pops up from out of nowhere*

"HAH! Gotcha, Nick!"

"Aah! Maya??? What are you doing here?? How long have you been here?!? I thought you left?!"

"Ive been here....The entire time. >:3"

"Was this some kind of elaborate scheme to get us to admit our... feelings?"

"Maybe >:3 , Franziska didn't think it'd work"

"Wait, Franziska was in on your little... scheme??"

"Oh yeah, this was actually all her idea. I just lured you here, haha."

"Wha-"

"Hahaha! You guys should've seen your faces!"

"Yea.... thing is franzy said it was 'getting too hard to watch you two lovebirds pine for eachother all the time'"

"WHAT? What pining?!"

"Nick, have you even ever SEEN yourself after a trial with Mr. Edgeworth?? You always look like your crush just asked you out to prom or something!"

"I-I do?! I mean... um... No i dont..."

"You might be great at bluffing, Nick, but you're the worst liar ever! Even Pearly can hide things better than you!"

"E-even Pearls??"

---

[Defendant Lobby, ~8:30]

"We should go back to the office now, Maya. It's getting late."

...

"Hold on a minute, Wright, before you go.... is what Ms. Fey said true? About you after a trial with me?"

"I guess.... it is, heh."

"Really? You... really feel that way?"

"Of course! Its ok if you dont-"

"Don't try to act like you aren't the same way, Miles Edgeworth!"

"Hi Franziska! Glad you could make it >:3 we're just getting to the good part! I told you it'd work!"

"It-it seems it has, Maya. Thank you."

"And for your information, Mr. Phoenix Wright, this foolish fool feels the same foolish way about you as you do about him. He's an absolute fool at trying to hide it."

(Did.... von Karma just stutter when she spoke to Maya?)

"I- Hmm...(Oh. There's no point anyway... its already out...)"

"I didn't know you felt the same way, Edgeworth."

"Speak for yourself, Nick! You two are the most open books since... since... forever!!"

"How long have you been trying to get us together??"

"Well, initially i wanted to give you two lovebirds time to do it yourselves, but-"

"It was absolutely unbearable watching you two foolish fools around each other."

"Yeah.... franzy originally wanted to just whip it out of you but i covinced her to try my plan first.."

"Ummm... Thanks?"

"You know i'm still open to doing so, Mr. Phoenix Wright.

"Ok! Ok! Sorry!"

"Wright..."

"Yeah? What is it, Edgeworth?"

"Would you perhaps... care to have dinner with me? Now? My treat."

"Oh, I would love to! How about we bring Maya and we all get burgers?"

"That sounds.... Wonderful. Let's go."

"YAY! Burgers! Let's go!"

----

bonus franmaya thing:

"Are- are you and Franziska together, Maya?!"

"I saw her blush while talking to you, and she didnt even call you by your full name."

"Duh! Why else do you think she lets me use a pet name? You know not every couple wants to wait 15 years to confess to each other ... right, Nick?"

"I just thought that she would be the last person you'd want to be with. She did try getting you convicted of murder, remember?"

"Franzy's actually way softer than you think, but don't tell her i told you that."

"Besides, Mr. Edgeworth did the same thing and YOU still love him!"

"That was different! He was my childhood friend and he probably didnt have a choice on who he prosecuted then. Also, Edgeworth has never whipped me to unconciousness before. Or at all."

"Oh yea, i remember that, franzy told me it was one of her favorite moments ever in court. But you also cant tell her about that either, or she might reenact a version 2"

(Maybe stop telling me all your relationship details then....)

"Why did she like it so much?? (is franziska a sadist??)"

"You know what, actually, im too hungry to argue right now... lets go."

"Good choice Nick, lets go get some burgers!"

============

[abra-ka-dammit]

in the most publicly familiar story of Lot, the men of sodom sought to rape the "male" angels (in appearance only, as angels do not have sexes. oh but let's not mention THAT or we might get too woke about gender,) who visited Lot and Abram, and somehow christians interpreted that as Gay Is Bad, and not Rape Is Bad. As a woman, this should trouble me--and it very much does.

because i guess never mind the fact that he offered them his virgin (many translations of the original word insinuate they were CHILD) daughters to rape instead, ~because the wickedness of that city had overtaken his mind~. Apparently that's acceptable sinfulness, being under the influence of a wicked city and all, bc he was not punished for that. despite the fact that his was not a gay offer, it was still the influence of sodom's very bad gayness tho. funnily, none of the other men of sodom, who may have been fine before they were also impacted by the wickedness and became (gay) rapists, did not get this opportunity for redemption.

later Lot fled the city and his wife got turned into salt for looking back instead of just fleeing as commanded. then later, wifeless, he himself raped his daughters--or, per the bible, they were like oh no theres no men to marry now :( we better fuck daddy so we can have babies and continue the family line :(( guess we better get him drunk and fuck him because it is way more important to us to bear offspring than it is the fact that having sex with ur own dad is bad and wrong and really gross. oh also we DEFINITELY came up with this idea ourselves and it wasnt just Lot's later victim-blaming excuse for how his daughters both got pregnant living with only him. Clearly they got him drunk on purpose and then seduced and forced themselves him, and he didnt just get really drunk and horny and the only vaginas around happened to had sprung from his late wife's womb so he said fuck it and jizzed in his own kids. because he was a holy man, he would NEVER!!

I doubt anyone ever heard the girls' side of the story. Or cared to, because pfft, they're just females.

so the man who offered his daughters for rape, and slept with them himself, creating incestuous children, was The Good Guy of the story and Gays Were The Villains. tho suppose it tracks, given the christian-catholic complex has made it clear they see no problem with sexually assaulting children. you only need to look at the numbers; it's sickening what these Holy People we're meant to trust are doing. but the fact they wanted to rape a MAN is the sin, guys, just remember. THATS the point of the story. god hates fags, he burned them for wanting to stick dicks in male assholes and not the rampant, violent rape apologist mindset. also fuck women who dont listen to commands amirite guys lululul

i'm just saying. if you are a christian woman. and you hear these stories. youre told Lot did these things to his daughters, that the wife was killed for something that wasnt even a sin or harmful in ANY way but only for "disobeying", then youre told Lot is the good and righteous person. how can you stomach that? how can you nod along and go like oh yes the fact that gays and women are the problems in these stories and not the reprehensible actions of the male protagonists makes total sense and i believe it entirely. yes, women are so bad and naughty and need their daddies and hubbies to keep them in line, and make sure they get married and have babies like good girls, i totally agree. kick my ass bc i disobeyed you, husband, the bible says its fine bc im lesser than you :) I'm fine with that :) i dont want rights, dont worry, hubby. YOU decide if i have babies, not me, tee hee. i better not voice any opinions because my girl brain is too stupid and prone to sin. i definitely shouldnt speak up in church against the extreme and obvious sexism, god forbid i be a FEMINIST, a word that has been purposefully misdefined and vilified by my church so i don't realize it isn't what I think it is. we suffer not for the sins of our fathers, but i'm still physically suffering for original sin for a week or so every month bc i'm a woman and we deserve it :) ah damn i was raped i guess im impure and unworthy of my husband now bc i didnt fight hard enough or scream loud enough to prevent it :) can't wait to go to heaven to serve my husband eternally while worshipping the lord for blessing me with the chance to be a lesser being on earth for X years

like fucking face it! christianity is nothing but a man's guide to bullshit to justify shitty behavior towards anyone besides another straight cis man. see, i can get away with this, my god says its righteous. but if you do it with your uterus and tits it's bad, so sit down. see, god killed a buncha gay rapists. thats what they get for being gay. i can go rape a woman tho, and hell, i can even say she used demonic seduction and forced me into it and she's the bad guy, too. and you gotta agree, bc im a christian so im a good person so im definitely not lying or anything.

anyways the point is if youre a christian woman, willingly, youre fucking blind. frankly, but in the most gentle and loving way possible, youre a fucking moron.

open your goddamned eyes and get the fuck out of there. why are you allowing people to justify hurting you?? these values didnt end in genesis. they are maintained today. christian men to this day blame the woman for coaxing them into extramarital affairs they willingly and hornily enter. christian men to this day believe women are lesser and should be subservient to them, the Given leader of the household by merit of wiener. christian men to this day blame women for their own rapes and hold them accountable for pregnancies they never wanted bc they're MEANT to be baby bakeries and refusing is against your Purpose. christian men to this day believe you're weaker, less skilled, less powerful, less capable, just Lesser, because of the body you were born in--one that does amazing things theirs could never do, like bring fucking LIFE INTO THE WORLD. christian men to this day justify breaking modern laws and moral codes because women nod along agreeing that this ancient book written in a long dead language based on word of mouth stories in places today considered third-world that nobody you know has ever been to, most or all of which happened before the advent of written language, and was all 100% written by men and only contains a number of female characters you can count on your fingers despite covering supposedly thousands of years of stories, is a valid reason for it all.

I'm begging you to open your eyes and see. I'm begging you to value and love yourself. even if you think none of these things have ever applied to you; because i bet they have and you're just too used to it to realize. It's not even progressive to appreciate your right to equality as a human being!! you dont need to change all your values! the things you really love about church--community, kindness, love, service, gratitude and celebration of the life you have been given--can all be maintained without religion. all you need to do is wake up and see that you're being systemically abused. if there is a God, which I welcome you to continue to believe, he wouldnt want this for you. If he loves his children, ALL his children equally, anyone who says man is superior is outright speaking against that very idea! In God's eyes, we are all the same, so why do men get to say "but we're a little more special"? If you need to shut your mouth and keep shit to yourself, that's not love and peace and harmony and salvation. That's being oppressed. Please. PLEASE wake up.

Sincerely,

A much happier now ex-Christian Woman, who never doubted her faith to be real for a moment until one day something spurred her to actually start REALLY looking at what she was raised to believe

[vexingvorta]

Im not a fan of every argument made here on either side, so first I'll get a few things out of the way;

1, that abuse victims often go on to be abusers themselves if they don't put in the work necessary to heal from their own abuse, that's what people are talking about when they refer to the CYCLE of abuse. To deny that is... Also uncomfortable. Being a victim of abuse does not make you exempt from abusing other people. 2, I wish we'd stop equating toxic with abusive because there is a difference. 3, i don't think autistic coding is really a fair defense of said toxic traits I'm gonna be real. There's nothing wrong with headcanons and projection but just to focus on what actually happened in the series without using headcanon to excuse harmful behavior. I don't know what traits are being referred to as "autistic coded" here so honestly I'm not gonna touch that with a ten foot pole and just focus on what we see;

Its hard for people to accept, but abuse does not happen on accident. Abuse is an intentional choice one makes. And over all, no, Ford isn't abusive. He, throughout the series and due to a combination of his self-centeredness and being a victim of abuse (hell, his self-centeredness was weaponized against him as part of the abuse) was absolutely toxic for most of the time we've seen him.

The argument that he abused Fiddleford is so stupid I'm not even going to acknowledge it. The thing with Stan is, he frankly wasn't around him enough to actually abuse him. A one time event is not abuse. A single fight is not abuse. Abuse is long and drawn out and, as I said earlier, intentional. And, like what was already pointed out, Ford was in a bad state. He'd reached the point of Bill going fully mask off, so to speak, and the abuse now being at it's worst. He was fully isolated and sleep deprived and it made him crazy. Yes, his unwillingness to destroy the journals was deeply selfish and another mark of how self-centered he is. It's the definition of irrational. But, once again, he wasn't in a spot where he could think rationally. (Granted, even if he was, I still don't think he would've been willing to destroy the journals because his self importance and self centeredness is one of his biggest flaws and an important part of his character)

The closest Ford ever comes to being abusive is, yes, with dipper. He starts telling him a lot of the same things we know Bill told him at the start of their partnership; you're special, we need each other, these other people are only holding you back. Nobody understands you like I do. When Dipper expresses concern for Mabel, Ford is immediately dismissive. He looks at Dipper and all he sees is himself, and all he sees in Mabel is Stan. He is the one who pushed that dichotomy, because he really couldn't think outside of himself.

His greatest flaw is that he's self centered and self obsessed. But the thing is, is that he learns his lesson. It takes literal apocalypse to get there, but he does learn and he does reflect and he does apologize and try to do better. He course corrects. Gravity falls, ultimately, is about family bonds and breaking the cycle of abuse. Ford almost continued that cycle with Dipper, but he stopped before any permanent damage could be done, both to their relationship, and to Dipper and Mabels. He fixed his relationship with Stan.

He did in fact have abusive tendencies and toxic traits but ultimately he put in the work to fix them and be better. Ford is a well written and well balanced character. He displays how someone even with good intentions can unintentionally fall back into cruel and toxic habits, and can start repeating the abuse they were put through. He also shows that you can come back from that. That starting down that path doesn't mean you have to stay there. That it's possible to heal and get better.

None of what I'm saying is an indictment of Ford's character. The opposite: he is complex and well written and imperfect, and I love him and his character arc. He could've been so easily made into an irredeemable villain, a no good bastard who's just horrible and abusive. He had all those pieces laid out. But the choice and skill to actually have him go through the motions of falling into abusive tendencies and then getting better is amazing on Alex Hirsch's part, and a testament to his ability to write deep and complex characters.

(also this is just kind of my own aside but the use of "autistic-coded" as like an excuse for how a character acts is really annoying to me for a number of reasons? For one, just off the bat, it's an attempt to make your headcanon sound more canon than it is, but by nature of being a headcanon, it's not really a fair or valid argument here. Second, there are ways to make a legitimate argument and analysis of a characters actions in canon and debate criticisms of their actions without saying "they're autism coded so actually you must hate autistic people", like it's okay, you're allowed to make a legitimate argument. Also, "character did shitty thing because they're autistic" isn't the win you think it is, because let's be real, you're either implying that they have no autonomy over their actions because of their autism, or that you think autism makes people shitty or toxic, neither of which is the win you think it is. Ironically lack of media literacy applies in both cases here, just for different reasons. Okay side rant over, just wanted to throw that out there because holy hell it's something that is used so much in fandom and it gets grating after a while.)

The tldr here is that Ford isn't an abuser. He was abused, he had toxic and abusive traits, but he put in the work to heal and better himself. He's by no means perfect and that's okay, he's a good character, and he's actually trying to be better.

Today in "I hate autistic-coded abuse victims", this shitty take.

Ford did not abuse Stan. He did not abuse Fiddleford. He did not try to drive a wedge in Dipper and Mabel's relationship (he was doing what he thought was best for Dipper and thought Mabel would be fine).

Just admit you hate autistic people and have no compassion for abuse victims. And admit you have no media literacy.

Also, calling a canonical abuse victim an abuser is...uncomfortable, to say the least. Especially with how you're just making him out to be abusive for...not handling personal interactions perfectly. You're demonizing autistic traits. And you need to research how abuse can effect people.

(Also, I know Ford's not perfect. But you don't seem to know that he's flawed but ultimately a good person. You just want a "perfect victim" when it comes to abuse victims, and it's obvious)