#common and human and happens with many different things and is not evil. and everyone reacted in such an unhinged way

[kindnessoverperfection]

I need to vent this somewhere because it's just been rattling around in my brain.

Saw a post by someone with ASPD on a popular subreddit asking for advice, and everyone just fucking. Tore him apart. Cruel as fuck in the comments, downvoting the shit out of everything he had to say. Bro wasn't saying or doing anything wrong. He wasn't even snapping at anyone (when most ppl even w/o a pd probably would have after that reaction to their post), he wasn't doing anything harmful or morally incorrect.

They all reacted in this horrible fucking way to someone just bc he has ASPD, when I know they would have been super compassionate with anyone else who had the same issue.

I've seen this kind of shit happen before (glances at a celebrity w/NPD who everyone tears into for no reason bc they're always looking for an excuse) but god. Shook me up.

[jollmaster]

► HAZBIN HOTEL: ASILEVERSE AU

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children.

Ezekiel 25:17

brief story of the world (AWC — after world creation) in more details you can read here!

pt. 1: about creation and chronology pt. 2: about powerful creatures pt. 3: first people pt. 4: where (and who) it all began + blood magic as important part of this world + Eve and Lilith, first women (tw: boobs)

COMMON STORYLINE YOU CAN SEE HERE ❤️

also addition about kings David and Solomon and their place and about virgin Mary and Joseph the Carpenter, and Jesus Christ (definitely superstar)

► HELL

Hell trivia + Hell's structure naming traditions hierarchy of demons and how they treated Heaven how hellborns of different classes live? gender things holidays and duties about buildings style and local education Legions and legionnaires (My name is Legion: for we are many) and some Ars Goetia lore! languages and sufferings of sinners; red-haired and magic; what happens if sinner dies during pregnancy

winter is coming about cold seasons in the underworld, or so-called Cocytus Break

the main holiday? the Week of world's creation, of course

the map of the capital, Eternal Dis

about Lucifer's wives: spheres of influence, facts and full biography, their relationships, + thoughts about Lilith (here too) and Agrat's family

main definition of Sins, their redesigns (and sources of inspiration), notes about their gender nature, sence of humor

Mammon's favourite jester, Satan and Belphegor and why Asmodeus don't like Raphael

► HEAVEN

Yahweh/Ashera appearance (spoiler: they're one and same) hierarchy of Heaven and archangel Michael Shem Ha'Mephorash life in Eden

concept of Trinity how angels treated mortal humans how sir P feels in first minutes in Eden

a little about Adam and exorcists and faith after death

► CHARACTERS

appearance (you can find almost everyone in attached list!) main eigth's mortal life + appearance, you also can find them + their age, both physical and actual, their main sins, phobias and question of redemption

their family trees (short)

also Charlie's gang height chart (others are attached!) and their relationship with Lucifer

nationalities of the characters!

Charlie: fun facts and sigil, pregnancy, family tree (cursed) Alastor's reason to help her Alastor and some of his Louisiana heritage how Angel came to them and became a janitor lol Vaggie as exorcist (+ exorcists in exile) their relationships, Charlie's gang sense of beauty overlords as addition; Vees backstories + their families

about characters sexualities, here too (spoiler, in most cases this doesn't matter) and their views towards homosexuality

Alastor sheds antlers!!!

and as a bonus silly doodles with their bath day (tw: nudity, my dumb sense of humor)

thank to everyone who's interested in my AU, you inspire me 💋

[rootspiral]

I don’t remember if you mentioned this in your deep dives, but I just noticed that almost everyone’s hallucinations during Jen’s trial are about their dead loved ones. Except Jen’s, which was her binding.

It’s almost like being bound, losing her magic, was as traumatic as losing a loved one. Agatha and Billy really didn’t get that, did they.

Also can we talk about how no one remembered to collect Sharon’s hair for the potion but it still worked?

I'm so glad I got this question since it's something I've been meaning to talk about, thank you!

The thing is, there are so many kinds of grief. Death is what we associate with the term the most since it's both so common and so final, but we grieve and mourn a lot of things throughout our lives, some less severe than others. You might grieve the loss of your childhood when you go live on your own for the first time, you may grieve after losing a job or a house, after ending a relationship with a friend, a romantic partner or a family member, and (this is Jen's case) after losing body autonomy and your sense of identity.

When you experience loss your brain will tend to react in specific ways, you might feel shock, numbness, anger, sorrow, depression. Some people will become more generous and empathic, others will cope by becoming isolated and defensive and self centered. I love that we see different kinds of coping mechanisms within our witches, and I love that Jen reacts very similarly to Agatha (although not as extremely): she rejects her own community, puts on a lot of armor and essentially becomes a scam artist in order to survive.

This show in my opinion brings home beautifully some very important points: people are much more complicated than good or evil. The way we react to sorrow might be healthy or unhealthy but it's still undeniably human. People need to work on their issues but it's almost impossible to do it on your own, without the support of a community. Jen copes with the loss of her powers in an arguably unhealthy way, but it's so much more nuanced than that! Like you point out, her pain is just as valid as the others', and it's comparatively harder to come to terms with too because she wasn't hurt by a random natural occurrence, but by real people that of course she is gonna blame and hate!

Jen took a lot of pride in being a root worker and midwife, losing that was like losing her identity and sense of self. And where was her community when that happened? Why was she an outcast? I'm sure some of it was self-inflicted self-preservation, I have very little backstory to base my observations on but Jen saying "like I care about that dusty, warty, snaggle-toothed community" when she cares so much she almost cried when Lilia called her a "sister in the craft"? Where WAS her community? Why was she left to fend for herself? Jen's attitude changes so much when she finds empathy and understanding in her fellow witches, and Lilia makes it clear that Jen's future is so bright and there so much potential there for exceptional achievements. Jen is such a driven person! I do really hope we see more of her, I want to see what she does next and I want her to be happy and fulfilled (and also get a little revenge, for funsies.)

I'm not sure if I answered your question at all, I just kind of blabbed on 😅 and re: Sharon - did the potion work though!?! It very much didn't.

[faelapis]

despite some concerns raised by the trailer/marketing, i am still excited for the wish movie. a lot of that has to do with king magnifico.

that being said, i approach it from a different direction than a lot of other people excited for a “classic disney villain.”

first of all, yes. i, too, love the camp and melodrama of classic disney villains. i love that they express their wishes through big bombastic musical numbers, and said musical numbers are often the best in their movies. i like how queer-coded and fun they often are. i like the sass, the drama, the energy.

where i disagree with a lot of people is with this notion that disney movies “don’t have villains” anymore. i don’t think the likes of hans (frozen) and tamatoa (moana) are less evil than "classic" villains - they’re plenty willing to kill with a smile on their face.

i think what people ACTUALLY miss is the big performance around it all. the aesthetic. someone who does these things while being a major character (so not tamatoa) and deliciously, obviously evil while having fun with it the whole time (so not hans). i think it’s that specific combination people are missing. we still have villains, they’re just either not as “fun” or not as “important.”

of course, that take is less punchy than saying disney doesn’t have villains because "steven cringeyverse destroyed western animation and now companies are too scared to make real villains >:( !1!!!"

yeah i never understood where that came from. if anything, redeeming villains is more controversial than killing them. especially in america, being punitive is the norm. forgiveness is cringe. yet so many act as if there was some big consumer and/or corporate pushback against the idea of villains…? at some point?? i guess????

someone must've forgotten to tell that to disney tv animation, where you’ll find everything from bill cipher to belos in the modern era. (also, other companies exist? dreamworks is not some indie studio, they’re fully willing to have big, campy villains.)

but yknow, people like to feel like underdogs. they like to feel like they're somehow oppressed because some animated media don't have classic villains anymore... despite there still being plenty around. you can’t just like villains, you have to make it everyone else’s problem. like disney is obliged to do the same character tropes in every movie. or villains are "dead."

what actually happened is just… some writers at disney decided they wanted to do different things. that’s it. so you now have a handful of movies where the villain is either a minor character, or nonexistent.

it’s not a conspiracy, it’s not a concerted effort to destroy villains. it’s, at most, a trend. because some writers wanted to push against the previous status quo. and now other writers who grew up with that want to have more classic villains, because that’s what they see as exciting and new. it’s just a cycle of trends and countertrends.

anyway. long tangent aside, i’m actually very excited for king magnifico. in part for a classic villain performance (he gets a song!!) - but also, it sounds like he might scratch a particular itch of mine.

which is to have a big, dramatic, irredeemable villain… who is still a human and has an understandable pov.

yes, you can combine these things. it’s not common for disney, but a lot of what we consider “great movie villains” throughout history have been this exact combination. they have to be defeated, they refuse redemption, they are 100% committed to their goals and will not budge - but they also GENUINELY BELIEVE in those goals.

what i’m really asking for here is a sincerely motivated character. someone who is a villain, but doesn’t SEE himself as a villain. someone who isn’t lying when they try to endear themselves to the hero or promise to make the world better if they join forces. it’s just that they are completely misguided about what would be good for the world, and nothing will persuade them.

whether someone is a villain, a hero, or anywhere in between, i think asking a character’s motivation - and playing those motivations straight, rather than just as a mask for plain selfishness - is key.

as i’m saying this, you might notice that it’s not actually too far off from what i like in other characters. jasper in SU is basically this in her "main arc” in season three. she refuses help, she’s a huge dick to everyone… but she also 100% believes in homeworld as an institution and is actually, genuinely selfless. even if it means her own corruption, she refuses help, because that would betray her cause. which she values above her own life. and by rebecca sugar’s own words, jasper doesn’t even believe she deserves help.

the common thread here is really tragedy. someone you can root for and against at the same time.

so how does this relate to king magnifico? well, jennifer lee (writer for this movie & also the frozen movies) just had an interview where she talked a lot about wish, and in specific, having a classic disney villain in magnifico.

she illustrates a lot of what i’ve been talking about - that there is no grand conspiracy at disney against villains. they just had different stories they wanted to tell. there was no mandate either for or against villains, not in this movie or any other. they just did what they wanted to do with those stories. (btw, that’s not me saying there isn’t pressure at disney to tell certain stories and not others. it’s just that the concept of a villain isn’t as important to the corporate side as, say, not making elsa gay.)

anyway. what makes the king magnifico portion interesting is how lee talks about exactly what i’ve been saying. they knew they wanted a classic disney villain, but it sounds like they still want him to be different from other such characters. namely, they wanted to find the benevolent side of him, how he genuinely believes what he believes and DOES want what he thinks is best for the city of rosas.

and the plot totally checks out - basically, he decides whose wishes come true. and that’s really interesting, because a wish can be anything, good or bad. it sounds like he really wants to prevent what he sees as bad wishes from coming true, and is too conservative in what he allows or not. and his way of being kind about rejection is to remove those wishes from people’s hearts if he cannot fulfill them.

that’s SUCH a great concept for a villain. it speaks to issues of control, of agency, of being in the paternalistic position of deciding what is “best” for everyone else. it gives me a little bit the wizard of oz (as in the wizard himself, who is a charlatan trying to maintain a pleasant status quo, even if it’s a lie), and a little bit white diamond (controlling the lives of others, but genuinely believing you are being selfless and heroic about it / steering people on the “right” path).

reading that interview, my excitement for this movie went from like a 2/10 to a 8/10. jennifer lee seems to have a real interest in creating characters, not just stock tropes. elsa is one of the best disney princesses (fight me) for exactly the same reason.

another great concept talked about here (which you also see in lee’s frozen, with anna and elsa as opposites) is that of duality. there’s a lot of talk about magnifico and asha being two sides of the same coin, both initially believing in this system and wanting what’s best for the city. and from there, they divert to their opposite paths in what specifically they think is right. the interview talks about them as if they were this thesis and antithesis about what’s right for the city, needing to reach a synthesis. in talking about this concept, they included this illustration:

notice the similar poses. both have their hands behind their back (commonly used to convey a character is hiding something), their feet pointed out, and give the world a pleasant smile. asha has a darker color palette in a world of light, magnifico is a ray of light in a dark space. it's interesting for its duality.

so yeah. all in all, i’m still excited for wish. i want to take alan tudyk goat out back and shoot it for a quick, humane death… but failing that, i’ll just pray his role was hammed up for the trailer. please tell me it’s not that insufferable. please.

because i do really like everything else i’ve heard about this movie!! i like that asha is described as this idealist with “dumb courage”, like maybe she’ll actually have some character flaws and need to learn?? (maybe? hopefully?) i like everything i just said about king magnifico. i like that we have this blend of 2d and 3d animation, that’s such a clever concept for a “100 years of disney” celebration.

so yeah. i will be watching. never have i ever prayed for chris pine to save a movie, but today might just be the day!

[tansyuduri]

Merlin Loregasm Rewatch S1E3

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my rewatch of Merlin focusing on the lore. I am a giant nerd so pretty excited about this. THE MARK OF NIMUEH!

Gaius saying that people must not see this and they would panic is likley NOT just because this looks magical as hell. See we know from later episodes that while Gaius has mastered herb lore for many ailments and injuries and anatomy as well (This is also important as it also hints that Christianity has not spread and thus it being forbidden to cut up human bodies to learn how they work is not a thing.) He and thus likly Camalot in general still base medicine on the Humors System.

This system attributed most illness to an imbalance of the four bodily fluids or humors. (Worth looking up if you wanna know more) NOW since in the system everyone has a diferant balance of humors it could explain individual illnesses A LOT BETTER than many plagues (Why would everyone suddenly have the same imbalance of the Humors) This would usually lead to the idea that an individual's chance to get or die from the plage was due to preestablished susceptibility to the plague (explained later) Or the heavens being angry. WHY PLAUGE HAPPENS usually was attributed to Miasma (explained later in post) or the heavens being angry. AND YOU DON'T WANT PEOPLE THINKING THE HEAVENS ARE ANGRY.

Gaius is VERY ahead of his time in medicine by thinking that illness could be spread though air, food, or water later on. It hints that despite the humors system being in use medical understanding is more advanced in Camalot then it was most of the medieval ages. This is very possibly due to the fact that despite killing sorcerers (Or perhaps Gaius being an exception because he learned pre purge.)

Old pagan knowledge of herbs had not been crushed. AND what's more no one was going around murdering regular herbalists ETC suspecting they were evil magic users, Mostly because they had REAL magic users to hunt. Still the spread by water air or food we see mentioned later is WAY Ahead of its time.

Okay Gwen giving her father smoked pigeon as a seeminly every day meal perhaps continues my conept of Gwens father being a HIGHLY skilled blacksmith that serves the knights.

Meat was a rarity for the medieval commoner (We see this a lot in what Gaius and Merlin eat reguarly. Meat is a treat for them.) Pigeons were likely not eaten widely as anything but wild meat until the Norman period. Which means someone had to hunt and kill that bird. Which means this meat was bought or traded for. Which means Gwens family had the money for treats beyond the bare essentials (If we ignore history due to the show's anachronism we still have to compare this to Giaus and Merlin's usual food. (I know they talk about dresses later when he gets a really good job but we'll talk about that then. I'm also assuming this is everyday fare for them based on how they act.)

Okay its time to talk about how Gaius and Merlin talk about disease spreading through water or contact or food is HUGELY Advanced for its time. See from the forth centery BCE to the early 1800s CE Disease was a result of the humors, The anger of the Heavens, or Miasma (bad air emitting from rotten organic matter or other things.) This means that despite humorism being the main theory there is SOME understanding in the Merlin world that disease can be spread many ways. I really don't think they have germ theory though so I think they are just more advanced.

"He's got a grave Mental disease" AHHHH OKAY! So this means the Merlin world has a concept of Mental illness and that it's different from regular body illnesses. And this knowlage is common. Again this is HUGLY advanced for the time. So Humorism is the main theory! BUT They have concepts like infection, Mental illness, and an understanding disease can come from many places. All I can think is that this comes from having Magic in the world. And being able to actually study Anatomy. The people of the Merlin world understand the world better than most because they have more tools to study the world.

Okay so I love how Merlin plays fast and loose with magical creatures. (Especially because I can too writing my Merlin fics) I think the Afanc might be based PARTLY on the folklore Afanc but also had a bit of the Jewish Gollum in it with the born of clay thing. ANYHOW The Afanc is a creature from Welsh Mythology Its a lake monster that most closely resembles a crocadile, beaver, dwarf. It prayed on swimmers mostly or people who fell in water. There is a lot more but it is interesting that some Legends say King Arthur killed it!

Okay! So! see this candle!? This was a historical early method of keeping time. Each mark would be about an hour and as the candle burned down one would know the hours had passed! OPnce gunpower showed up they would sometimes put a bit in each hour as an alarm of sorts! I don't think this is a Gunpowder version!

So yeah this came from greek philosophy and was a thing for most of european history. The elements Water, Fire, Earth, and Air. were viewed as the building blocks of the world. Originaly air was viewed as Aether and filled the world in the absence of the other three. But in the Merlin world it is definitely Air as it's is later called wind. (Aether later came to represent heaven or the spirit as a 5th element)

These also related to Humorism discused before

Saying The Afanc born of earth and water can be killed with fire and air is one of two times the four elements get brought up in relation to magic in the series. (The other refers to a healing charm.)

Most other sorcerer created creatures we see can just be killed with fire and are not specifically corresponded to any element. This leads to the idea that this is kinda a rare thing. WHAT I do find interesting is that we KNOW the four elements correspond to certain types of healing in the Merlin universe (like I said other mention refers to a healing charm) And the Afanc is spreading magical disease. THAT might be why the elements are mentioned only here when it comes to magic-created creatures.

I find the wording here realy interesting because it talks about mirroring the spirit of life, not creating it. I'll have to contrast it with later talk about the spirit of life and death but this kinda implies even anciant sorcerers on their own can only MIRROR life not create it. Its not real life they make. Even Merlin's spell to create a butterfly at the end of the show means "to work, shape, bring into being or form" according to @catsconflictscopicsandchamomile My old English studying friend! (it is also used in OE translations of Genisis to mean make a life so it could mean Merlin is creating life and mirroring god, but if he could do that why not just bring Arthur back) SO it is likely this holds fast to the rule life cannot just be created!

HOLD ON. Is he just referring to Arthur's birth? It could just be Arthur's birth and his efforts through the purge, or has Nimueh pulled evil magic on Camelot post purge before?

[cookinguptales]

Y'know, I post a lot on tumblr about what a shit Guillermo is, and I stand by that. He is a marvelous little shit. But honestly I only talk about it so much because people on tumblr and AO3 send me so many messages about how he's never done anything wrong in his life. When I'm presented with the opposite, that Guillermo is uniquely awful and selfish and he victimizes the poor uwu vampires (thinkpieces that you saw a lot more often during s3) I am fully like "I STAND BY EVERY DECISION THAT FOOLISH MAN HAS EVER MADE."

Being real with you, I feel like talking about Guillermo like he's totally blameless and put-upon or like he's totally selfish and wholly evil flattens a really complex and interesting character. He's selfish and self-involved and cruel and sweet and insecure and giving. He's all those things, and I love that about him.

I love Guillermo as a character because he has these carefully constructed categories in his head, these rules and boundaries that he sticks to like glue. He contains multitudes, and it's because he carefully follows the rules he has in his own head, even when they don't make a lot of sense to others.

I think the best way to think about Guillermo's actions is to think about him having two very different sets of rules for in-groups and out-groups. He will bend over backward for people in his in-group, will be the kindest, most patient, sweetest man in the world -- but he can be downright vicious to people in the out-group.

This is a pretty common occurrence IRL, though not always to the degree that Guillermo does it... I mean, you're going to treat your best friend's birthday differently than you're gonna treat a stranger's, right? When you start seeing it happen the way Guillermo does it, though, it's often to create and preserve power. You see it in politics, high school cliques, religion, etc.

For example, let's take new religious movements (or NRMs, i.e. "cults".) They are famous for this behavior. When you create distinct in-groups and out-groups and can behave very differently towards both, you give your followers a strong incentive to stay in the in-group. It makes them feel like they're the "good" ones, the superior ones, the ones with power. The ones that belong. And when they see out-groups being mistreated, well. No one wants to be in the group with no power who's mistreated, y'know? It simultaneously gives people in the in-group a sense of community, belonging, and social superiority and makes them afraid to leave.

But really, you see it all the time. If you have a "good" group that you can never harm and a "bad" group that you can do anything to, that really helps prop up power structures in a lot of ways. Look, I'm not going to get into this too much more because you don't want a freaking academic lecture on your dash, but suffice it to say that I think Guillermo is largely using his in-groups and out-groups in this way, mentally speaking.

He has in-groups (his friends, his family, his boyfriend, the vampires he lives with) and out-groups (literally everyone else, including other vampires) and he badly mistreats the out-groups because he does not want to be one of them. I've noticed he's particularly awful to human prey that reminds him of himself (nerdy, socially awkward, powerless, virginal) and I think that's because he wants to distance himself from them. He wants to make sure no one mistakes him as being part of that group, so he very strongly pushes them into his out-group by not only killing them, but making fun of them and often making sure they suffer before they die.

And then he's even more slavishly devoted to his in-groups, partially because he does truly love them, but partially because he desperately wants to stay in those groups. Or because he's trying to protect his own hide.

I don't mean to say that every kind thing he does is calculated -- I do think he very genuinely wants to make the people he loves happy -- but there's a sort of desperation to it sometimes. When he does these kind things, sometimes it's this desperate bid to be valued and accepted by others in his in-group, which makes him feel like he's earned his place there.

I've noticed that Guillermo has a tendency to do things for people to stay in their good graces (buying his mom a fridge, doing chores for Nandor, giving Derek money) when what they actually want is his time and attention. There often is a vibe that he's trying to earn his way into a group he doesn't quite feel entitled to when actually he's already very much a part of the group and he just needs to maintain those relationships. It's insecurity, frankly, and a nervous sort of self-preservation.

In fact... I'd say that Guillermo's greatest emotional struggles often come when trying to reconcile (and protect) different members of his in-group because he's trying to reconcile (and protect!!!) the different parts of himself.

Like... when he protected Jeremy, he was protecting a friend, but also the idea that some weak, virginal nerds are not prey. He had to protect this member of his in-group, partially because he loved him, but partially because he had to protect himself by extension. If Jeremy could be an exception to the predator-prey dynamics, so could he. Some humans could be valuable.

When he protected his fellow familiars during the familiar fights, he was protecting fellow humans whom he thought had "earned" a better life (and death) than prey humans, but he was also protecting the idea that a familiar could be loved and valued. He was protecting himself and the hope that Nandor would love him.

When he protected his family, he was protecting his beloved family members, but also the idea that vampires and slayers could coexist. Of course he doesn't want his family to die, but he's also doesn't want his hopes that he can have it all to die with them.

Let's all be real with each other here. Guillermo kills humans, and he does so without compunction. He is able to utterly dehumanize prey humans because he has a vested interest in emotionally distancing himself from them. But he gets kind of freaked out when the humans that he has mentally removed from that prey group (his friends, his family, people "like him") are not placed into that same exempt group by others. And this is definitely because he wants to protect those he loves!

But it's also because it means that he isn't special, either.

Let's talk about Freddie, who I think is probably the most complicated example of all this in the entire show. (Save perhaps Derek, who could probably get an entire post to himself because he went from out-group to in-group without Guillermo's consent.) When Freddie first arrived at the house, Nandor mistook him for prey. This understandably freaked Guillermo out, partially because he wanted to protect his boyfriend and partially because it was violating Guillermo's group dynamics.

(Insert meta here about Freddie representing Guillermo's ability to have a happy life outside of the weird, insular one he'd created for himself prior to s4.)

Freddie ended up being kind of special, though, because Guillermo considered him to be part of his in-group and Nandor considered him an out-group until he realized that Guillermo valued him. And then Nandor wanted him to not just be part of his in-group, but a portion of it separate from (but simultaneously representing) Guillermo. It's complicated!!

So we had Freddie 1 who was Guillermo's and Freddie 2 who was Nandor's, but... in the end, Freddie really belonged to no one but himself, right? In the end, he very literally chose himself. He left the -group dynamic altogether.

So Freddie is moving in and out of these groups like a fuckin' oiled-up eel that Guillermo cannot keep a hold of, and that really challenges his control issues as well as his ability to feel like he belongs in the in-groups he's created. It challenges his ability to feel worthy and loved and like he belongs anywhere. It challenges his ability to have faith that he'll ever become a vampire. Suddenly he does not control these groups anymore. If anything, they're controlling him.

While a lot of Guillermo's angst at the end of s4 was about, y'know, normal heartbreak... I think a lot of that was happening, too. He was really seeing the abrupt overturning of the carefully established rules and groups and boundaries and power differentials in his head, and that made him just want to be free of the whole thing.

So he took a step out of all of his preconceptions about what he did and did not have to do to belong in these groups, and took hold of his own destiny.

...unfortunately.

Guillermo's decisions in s4, both regarding his family and his turning, really did permanently shake up a lot of the group dynamics in the show. For better? For worse? (FOR GOOD...? lmao) It's hard to say, honestly. But I'm eager to see how he irons it all out in his head!

Our able-to-self-justify-literally-anything bitch. 💜

[creativitysparks4everxoxo]

IT'S TIME TO DISCUSS TFE S2A!!!

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SPOILERS...OBVIOUSLY...

First of all, despite what some TFE fans have said, I gotta say, S2A has heavily exceeded my expectations! I was nervous because it did not get marketed enough (wtf Paramount+??!!) and because of the early rumours regarding certain things happening. But I thoroughly enjoyed most of the episodes (even the trailer filler episode). It really felt like I was watching S1A all over again. I found S2A refreshing and wholesome.

Here is a scattered list of some of the many moments/things that stood out to me...

AHHH! MO'S BRAIDS! Gah! I love them so much! I absolutely love her new hairstyle in season 2. Okay spacebuns! 🥰 Our little sweetie has grown up a bit and her new hairstyle looks so nice! I really like the attention to detail on her braids, her edges and baby hairs. You can tell that the character designers actually did their research on black hairstyles, and I really appreciate that because so many shows get it so wrong and they are just downright disrespectful.

SHOCKWAVE'S HESITATION!!!! HE HAD A CLEAR SHOT AND HE WAS GOING TO ATTACK, but then he just...didn't.

I was wondering how the weird tension between Shockwave, the Terrans and Malto Kids would be resolved. In S1C we see Shockwave working with the Terrans and Malto Kids to help take down Croft and her army. But you can tell that this was mainly because they shared a common enemy and because the season was ending.

But now even with Shockwave working under Starscream's command, he still hesitated and just let Twitch and Robby pass. He had the element of surprise, he watched them steal the shards and he could have easily ambushed them. He just...didn't. I am hoping that this gets explored further in the season and we get more of Shockwave.

BREAKDOWN CALLING AFTERMATH 'SON'!!! ��🥺🥺 And calling him kid!!! 🥺🥺🥺 I don't know, this is just so adorable to me. Regardless of the faction, clearly all the Cybertronians view the Terrans as children. Even though I found Aftermath to be very irritating, I thought it was really sweet how fast Breakdown tried to protect him and how he had grown to care for him. That fake father/son montage and the 'son' bomb took me out. I was laughing so hard. 🤣

✨️ALEX MALTO'S MAGICAL BOY TRANSFORMATION SEQUENCE!!!✨️

I kid you not, I had to pause the episode because I was laughing so hard! I could not breathe! 🤣 It was so sudden! It was so smooth! Alex was READY! You know he's been waiting for the day that he can finally reveal his Magical Boy uniform! I love it! Everyone's reaction was perfect! Megatron was so done with Alex. 🤣

And Nightshade giving their father a boost after Alex struggled to climb up the wall during the race is just so wholesome! 🥺 I'm so glad we got to see more of Alex interacting with his children in this batch of episodes. He gave so much enthusiastic, concerned, loving dad energy in this batch of episodes, it was beautiful.

TWITCH VS SPITFIRE!!!

That was so intense! It was really cool seeing them fight and use their different abilities against each other. Seeing Twitch get competitive with her basically evil twin sister was fun to watch. Twitch's competive nature really came out because THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!!! Loll despite how hard Twitch had to fight, she definitely proved to Spitfire and to herself that she is the 'better drone'. I found it interesting that instead of Robby being the one to point out that Twitch is really Spitfire, it was actually Wheeljack. It was nice that he used his Dad 2 nickname to confirm his suspicions. He's clearly taken a liking to it. ☺️But I'm glad that Robby had his moment to determine which Twitch is the real Twitch.

Swindle interacting with a human and not trying to squish the human??? Yeah, I was shocked when I watched 'The Butterfly Effect' and saw Swindle interacting with Fairmaestro. But then seeing Swindle basically try to swindle Fairmaestro was the perfect 'Aha!' moment.

I really like TFE's version of Cosmos, and I wish he had more than one appearance in this batch of episodes! He just disappeared after his debut episode, but I wanted more of him! His design is very nice too. He is a perfect round boi. But how the heck did he get captured by Fairmaestro? How long was he under his control? If he joined the Autobots after the Maltos rescued him, why wasn't he in any other episodes with the other Autobots? 🤔 But also, I love the way he handled Fairmaestro and dumped his ass in the dunk tank. Since Fairmaestro easily escaped Jon's custody, I wonder if we'll see more of him.

Starscream as the main antagonist. Hmmm. I gotta say, while it's refreshing that we finally got a new main villain, it's also disappointing that it ended up being Starscream. Starscream caused so much chaos in S2A and sure, it's Starscream. What do you expect? He's always been untrustworthy, violent and unpredictable. But really? Did he seriously have to go back to being the villain after he had a bonding moment with Hashtag? After he worked with the Malto family because he realized that there are much larger threats out there. I'm assuming that he had to fuck up shit in the beginning of season 2 to make way for a serious redemption arc later on. I assume an even bigger threat will enter the scene soon. I sure hope so, because Screamy hit an all time low when he brutally took out the Chaos Terrans. That was just...wow. 😨

Dot Malto being the 'villain' and spraying her kids with the hose during the competition was hilarious. We love a good badass mom moment. 🤭

Contrary to what some people have said, I actually don't mind the Malto Kids at all, or their new power upgrades. They've dealt with so much shit in S1, so it only makes sense that they will eventually get some upgrades and powers to help protect themselves. They act like how kids their age would act irl, so of course they're going to have their annoying, problematic moments where they get themselves into a lot of trouble. The only difference is, they have a lot more sense and they acknowledge when it's time to stop and get serious. Even though it's really obvious that TFE is marketed towards kids, I like that it puts emphasis on family, teamwork, and it has its fair share of cheesy moments. It's very reminiscent of TFA.

I really enjoyed Hashtag and Mo's bonding episode. Even though Robby and Mo have a strong connection to Twitch and Thrash because they are the first Terrans that were born, it's nice to see the Malto Kids interact with their other Terran siblings as well. We almost always see Mo with Thrash or Robby with Twitch, so to see different dynamics among the Terrans and their human siblings is refreshing. And yessss! Hashtag calling Mo her little big sister and Mo calling Hashtag her big little sister is just too great!

Hashtag's new alt mode is so shiny! I love it! It's a nice upgrade, and I like her new root mode design too. I thought it was interesting that she got a new virtual assistant with her systems upgrade.

Cyber-syncing!!! I feel like it was only a matter of time before it was introduced. Something tells me that we're going to have more moments when cyber-syncing will be needed to take down a foe. It was an interesting addition to the Terrans and Malto Kids' existing abilities. I wonder if we'll see more cyber-syncing combos, like maybe a Hashtag/Nightshade/Robby/Mo combo. Or a Jawbreaker/Twitch/Robby/Mo combo. Or just more cyber-syncing in general. I did find Jawbreaker's sync with Aftermath to be very forced and unnecessary. I get that he felt left out in that episode, but it just feels like it was so unnecessary to the plot and it just felt like bad comedy relief.

Overall, I actually really enjoyed S2A. There were only a few episodes and moments that I found meh, but for the most part it was a good watch and it's about to be on repeat while I patiently wait for Transformers One and S2B to come out.

[burnt-scone]

One of the funniest things to me about SuperBat fics is how they always think Kansas is like the epitome of Southern Hospitality and like idk morality?

It's not even Southern, and like I'm not sure, a single fic writer has met a Kansian.

Clark wouldn't out right hit on someone? He's from Kansas, and Kansians would never.

Kansians fuck, the only place you can hangout apart from parking lots is eachothers garages. What do you think happens?

Clark Kent is so Kansas that he opens the door for everyone.

If you hold the door for a Kansian, they'll look at you like you kicked their puppy and quoted their SSI to them.

He speaks so formally and polite, it's that Kansas nurturing.

If you say, "Yes ma'am/sir/indeed/my liege/etc" the person may cry then ask what foreign land you're from.

Ma Kent and Pa Kent just decided to raise a good person. They taught him his hospitality and manners. Why do you think Clark was bullied? Because no one acts like him, like the way they portray his bullies growing up is honestly the average Kansian.

I know a lot of polite Kansians, believe me. I'm not saying Kansians are evil incarnate, but the majority are not chill.

This state was still segregated in the 80s illegally. I've met many people unhappy that it was finally inforced that they have to share a side walk with people of color. I've heard many a horror story from Black and Indigenous ppl here.

A town near me was founded by the KKK and is actively lived in by White Supremacists and proclaimed run away Nazis.

There are so many white people here who think it's okay to say racial slurs, and there are so many white people that people of color can't safely stand up for themselves.

Kansas isn't the perfect mannered place people writing fics, and even the comics think it is.

Clark Kent/Superman (even though he's an alien from a different world) represents all things good in humanity. I like to think growing up somewhere hates is common and undisciplined, and more often than not, victims are punished for being victims of whatever the case may be, somewhere full of scornful people. Especially when he grew up in the (20s - 80s depending on the comic run), meaning he saw the society at its worst, at its most vile and corrupt, and he still chose good. He chose to be a good and kind person in a world not meant for kind people.

I just find it funny that people always credit Kansas for his manners when we know it was Martha Kent.

[totally-not-here-for-the-smut]

So, @arcanavoid made me thinking about Lucio in their post

WELL THEN LETS TALK ABOUT LUCIO YOU BITCHES

Pleas keep in mind that I'm right now very drunk and I'm not a native speaker and the autocorrect for this phone can only do so much Also I'm in a different time zone so if you see this at, like 10 in the morning or whatever, no worries bc now is definitely night here and I also program my posts I have not a drinking problem thats why I cant hold my f-ing liquor

WELL THEN MY DEAR LUCIO and

WHY

as a person who is very close to people with serious mental illness, like i legit live with them

I THINK LUCIO'S ROUTE IS SO GREAT

Let's start with an assumption: we're all assholes. Somewhere in our life, maybe in the past, or present, or future, we are huge AH. It's not like we're evil and condemned to hell, it's just that as humans we're small, petty and miserable so we behave badly and are very selfish when big difficulties challenge us. Like, sometimes we manage to scramble enough willpower and common sense to act decently as we're afraid and suffering, but lots of times we don't and make shitty things. So here's my first point:

1. We all are a Lucio sometimes. Or often.

Like, way more than we want to admit. We're afraid, we're too full of ourselves, and we behave in petty ways. We're mean towards strangers, we feel happy in humiliating them and showing the world how better than anyone else we are. We need something bc we live in a world that doesn't grant basic human rights (food, shelter, health, safety and human connection), so we strain to get those things, sometimes at others' expenses. Then we tell ourself that those people deserved our scorn and malice because they're bad, and we tell us such lies because facing the guilt of what we've done is painful and complex.

We need to show ourselves we're better, so enjoy picking at others' mistakes without caring who they are in a whole (this is super easy on the internet). All this while low key ignoring what bad we're more or less responsible for.

And we are. Like, if you ever did buy something on sites like shein, you are actually exploiting poor people who are basically slaves. And you're keeping a blind eye on it.

But you know what? You're not evil for this. We're weak sometimes, we're tired, we have little time and really don't have the lucidity to think whether this stupid chicken breast is full of hormones and antibiotics or not. We're humans and we're small. Often we're sad, afraid and tired and we need a malicious self esteem bost.

Often, we're Lucio.

2. A flaming piece of trash can change. And doesn't need others' forgiveness to do so.

Did you notice how everyone is so eager to show of other people are wrong and bad and evil? That's because they, and we as well, need reassurance about how we're the hero of the story.

That's because we can't tolerate being the flaming piece of trash, because the the flaming piece of trash can't change and everyone hates them.

This idea is stupid.

It doesn't matter how low you fell. How many people you hurt, how many times you made the same stupid mistake or how many people deeply despise you. You still can change.

That's why is

So

Important

To have a Lucio route where it's shown he can choose to be better, no matter how deeply wrong his past deeds were.

The moment we understand this concept is the one our guilt becomes less heavy and we start being less judging of others. Granted.

This doesn't mean you're entitled to people's forgiveness - but the fact that YOU are willing to forgive yourself means that you can really change and forgive others. If some people won't forgive you, it will be fine, no need to hate them: you can always find new people to gift your better self to.

This is what happens to Lucio. Will Asra ever truly forgive him for making him and orphan and killing you? No. But this doesn't mean that Lucio will be a villain forever. He will be still able to change, become a good man and gift his goodness to the MC.

As MC says to Julian: you can always come back.

3. What it takes to change

Now, I'm in general rly humble when talking about mental health bc I'm no doctor nor therapist. But living with people who went through hell and managed to survive (and knowing people who sadly didn't), made me able to figure a couple of things. So, brace yourself. I'm about to give you the ultimate recipe of healing.

It takes two things:

Compassion and Accountability

When all is said and done, this things are the two main things it takes to change and heal. Compassion for believing you can change and deserve happiness, seeing the world through other people's eyes and accountability to motivate you into stop being a dick and owning the shit you did (so yeah, maybe you should stop blaming your parents for who you are, sry, but it doesn't serves your cause).

and there's one and only one way to get them:

Positive human connections.

That's it. When you go to the bone to it, that's how one can change, heal and survive.

It's reduced to the very bone, simple idea: the whole process is much more complicated and it's ok if you get lost in it. But at the very root, this is it.

And this is WHY Lucio's route it's so great:

MC shows compassion, because they don't recall him doing anything bad to them.

MC helps him being accountable. They doesn't shelter Lucio from his guilt, never.

MC believes in them but NEVER puts up with their shit

MC doesn't believe his lies and doesn't lie to them either. No games: they talk through everything, they're kind but firm and true.

MC helps him accept other people's scorn towards him

I love this route because it's the one where the MC is the most clever. There's a murder mistery? Let's ask the ghost of the murdered one who did it. Everyone is mad at him? Let them be. Not bc "he deserves it", but bc people are entitled to be mad at him and to their idea about him. He has troubles with his mother? Don't get between them. Listen, understand, let them unravel their shit. Ghosts are mad at him? Sit with him, but don't do his emotional weightlifting. Mc puts Lucio in front of his deeds and holds his hand as he deals with them.

Folks: THIS is how it's done irl.

4. No dumb justification & the danger of privilege

There are a lot of shows about "why villains are like this" that paint them as a poor misunderstood saint who was mistreated by their parents. Like in Once Upon a Time or the Disney Villain's Live actions. I hate that stuff because they distort the plot to make the villain a misunderstood anti heroe who was a victim all along, so he's justified.

Guess what: they're not. If you actions are evil there's no justification. No retelling of your story: you made very bad choice and were an AH and that's it.

This is what happens with Lucio: in his route his story doesn't gets to be retold. It's an honest story about how Lucio, the villain, can choose to be the better man and benefit from it. It's a story about the inherent dangers of Privilege:

Lucio's story shows how dangerous privilege can be: he wasn't hold accountable for his actions while he was alive, bc he was pretty, powerful and rich. He loses his privilege, he gets his ass kicked, he find motivations to change in his desire to be loved. I know irl folks who got to adulthood without having to face how shitty they were bc of social privilege. It literally kept them from changing, healing and be happy. So beware, folks. Your privilege might be harming you in the first place, and the day you will face who you truly are without it WILL come. The later, the worst.

So, this is why I love Lucio's route. It's relatable and helps us to find the courage to face our demons, knowing that we can change. Knowing that we can forgive ourselves and accept others' scorn. It WILL be hard, it WILL be painful, there WILL be consequences, but eventually it will be worth the hassle.

So, long live the goatman, for he can change. And so do we.

[daemoninkedvoid]

OOO I can ask questions about your Sonic AU??? Don't mind if I do!! First of all I freaking love your work on those gijinka designs. The coloring job is flawless, and everyone looks so interesting!! As someone who thinks about my personal Sonic Human AU thing a lot, I feel like I'm obligated to see how other people do it bc there is just so many different ways people can do it and I'm curious to that.

SO THEN could you tell me a bit about the world that these guys belong to? Is it closer or further to the canon Sonic world with its worldbuilding, like with objects like the Chaos Emeralds? I'm curious on how you plan to work with the setting.

but then if that's too much to think about at the moment tell me about Omega. I'm curious about how you went around him. Love me some robot lore!!

Heyo! Thanks for taking some interest, I appreciate it greatly!

In my head, the vibe of this world—which the physical location I'm calling Mobius City for simplicities sake— is a mix of sonic along with some of the cyberpunk esc media ive indulged in(think BRC/JSR, Blood Blockade Battlefront, Cyberpunk Edgerunners, etc). This to say the setting of this Au is generally as chill as normal Mobius would be. Or as chill as it can possibly be considering Eggman exists haha.

The world is a lot more of the slice of life route with a healthy splash of action/mystery. Mobius City is pretty lowkey, technology being somewhat integrated into daily lives is a given(transportation, careers, education, etc), and those who have been "chromed" (or have tech parts) aren't always the most common but are generally seen more positive than negative overall. As two examples, Sonic who has cybernetic legs from the knees down as well as a spinal attachment due to an actual medical reason wouldn't be seen as more or less evil, strange or actively disrespected than someone like Blaze(who will be shown later).

On that note I'd be inclined to say chaos emeralds and the like are rumored to be a myth—of which is unknowingly true—of being the pinnacle of amazing energy sources for technology. But theres no active record of anyone finding one and letting it be known to the public. In spite of this, there is some speculation towards technology that has been powered with the things, although its seen as conjecture.

In regards to Omega: he is a product of Robotnik Research Facility; otherwise known as Eggman's "company". RRF is a semi-well known bioengineering hub that was originally used purely for exploring different uses of technology and how that can be connected to a person(of which is also how Shadow came to be). On the underground level, however, Eggman uses this notion to convince and legally bind people to unlawful experimentation. Mad scientist style.

A human Omega was interning at RRF to figure out what happened to his late brother Gamma. But this investigation ended up resulting in the creation of E-123 omega. Omega does have small fragments of his memories and is at the very least aware of how he came to be, though he seems at least momentarily content with his current reality. Those close to him(Shadow and Rouge) still treat him more as a human being than a machine, so at the very least he isn't in a state of constant self loathing.

[the-crow-binary]

Alright, it's time.

As someone who is pro-"adaptations should differ in some ways from the original material" because that's basically the definition of "adaptation", NFCV is a good example of the limit it has to have. Or, at least, the limits I have.

When one wants to adapt a story from one media to another, sacrifices are bound to be made. Changes are meant to happen. You cannot put, in your adaptation, every single detail the original material had. It would be too long, you need to choose the most important parts of the original media in order to make it shine properly. Wich means some characters will have to be erased, some plots too, all in order for the adaptation to offer a fluent and enjoyable experience for everyone. Even those who already know the original material. Of course, those people will sometimes feel sad about a part or a character they really liked but didn't see in the adaptation... but that doesn't make the adaptation bad.

In my opinion, what makes an adaptation good, is when it respects the core of the original work. It can be many things (and it's multifactorial). The message it wants to pass on, it's universe, it's characters, it's lore... it varies from work to work (you can have work focusing on a main character's story, in this case making an adaptation without this character doesn't make sense. It can be a work telling the stories of a world, in this case, with no main protagonist, an adaptation can change the characters...). You can add many changes to a work you are adapting to a new media (or new audience), but it stops being a faithful or "good" adaptation the moment you erase the core of the original work.

And that's why Netflixvania is not a good adaptation.

Ignoring the questionable writing, the "CHURCH BAD" theme, the overdose of curses and gross dialogues (and so many other nasty writing stuff)... Netflixvania misses the point of the franchise it's adapting entirely. And the few easter eggs here and there are not enough to make up for it.

You can make Alucard bisexual. You can make the Belmont clan a noble family in Trevor's era. You can make Isaac black. Those are details that does not affect the core of the franchise. It might make a few grind their teeth, but that's all. No, the problems go way deeper than that.

Castlevania's core is it's themes. It's lore. Castlevania is the story of a seemingly endless cycle of revenge, tragedy and wars. Of generational trauma, with the Belmonts fated to hunt the night and kill Dracula centuries after centuries with no escape. It's this theme of having to fight evil all the time because it will never truly go away, with or without the Belmont clan. Dracula is not just a vampire king ruling over vampires, he's the Demon King. He's the Dark Lord. He's Chaos personified, with Death as his servant and confidant. He rules over so much more than just vampires (and there is more than two humans who swore their lives to him). And he brought this fate upon himself.

The Belmonts are not just a clan. They are humanity's symbol of hopes, dreams and strenghth. They are total opposites to and complete Dracula. The Belmont-Dracula duality is essential to the Castlevania franchise. They are the pillars of Castlevania.

What themes does NFCV has? Church bad. Humans bad. Christianity dumb. A bit of father-son tragedy.

The only common theme is this father-son tragedy, but it is barely touched (we don't even have the time to fully appreciate Dracula and Alucard's relationship before and after they first fought.) and it became one of the main themes of the cartoon. And it would've been fine... if the adaptation didn't threw out the window what made Castlevania Castlevania in the same breath.

Trevor doesn't have any duality with Dracula here. We barely mention the fact Leon went to Transylvania to hunt Dracula down. We don't feel any deep connection, when in the games, Leon was literally Dracula's friend. They worked together, fought together, they were unstoppable together, and when Mathias turned, he offered Leon eternity by his side. He cared deeply. And Leon decided... no. His own morals, his dead betrothed's wishes, they came first. And so came these lines from Leon:

"You have become a cursed being and I will never forgive you. This whip and my kinsmen will destroy you someday. From this day on, the Belmont Clan will hunt the night."

And this is why Trevor had to be the one to kill Dracula. Alucard still could've had his tragic moment, seeing his father dying by the hands of his friend is really messed up, and it would've make a potential SoTN adaptation where he would have to kill Dracula by himself this time more powerful (we'll get to Nocturne in due time.). But it isn't what happened. Trevor barely participated in the fight. It was a Dracula VS Alucard starring Trevor and Sypha.

Trevor isn't Dracula's friend, but this promise, this curse Leon put on his own family so long ago, it created a kind of bond beetween Dracula and Belmonts that would last for centuries. I talked about them, about how deep it goes, here and here. Dracula created the Belmonts as they are now. The Belmonts created Dracula as he is now, too.

NFCV doesn't care about that. NFCV turned Dracula into a vampire lord not even capabe of keeping his own generals in line. NFCV belittled the Belmont clan's importance (one brief scene where the court (mostly Carmilla) is like "oh, what, a Belmont? one of those vampire hunters? alive? wtf" is not enough). NFCV belittled Trevor himself (a few nice-looking fight scenes is not enough). It belittled the Vampire Killer (the most powerful Castlevania weapon, created with alchemy and infused with the soul of Leon's betrothed. there is so much tragic story potential around this weapon alone). It belittled EVERYTHING it took from the games. And I haven't even touch Isaac and Hector (they deserve their own post), who have been done so, so dirty.

NFCV ignored so many things that gave Castlevania his identity that it just became it's own thing, wich butcher the franchise's name. So many NFCV fans don't know the games even exist, or mix it up with the cartoon when they have little to nothing in common (Lords of Shadow had more in common than NFCV. And it was not insulting to the OG universe). And let's not get started on people praising the show for being "better" and how some character got "improved" when in reality, it's written by people who don't get said characters or games and stop at the surface. Just like they stop at NFCV's surface. That's why they think it's good. (loving a show doesn't mean said show is good, sorry)

I used to think "it's okay if the adaptation is not faithful, as long as it's good/enjoyable". And you know what? This kind of mentality is what lead to NFCV. I no longer stand by it. (maybe I should thank NFCV for making me see my limits)

And that's not because I'm a purist. As I said earlier, I'm all for adaptations making changes. But I am also all for respecting the source material as well ("respecting" just doesn't mean "doing everything exactly the way it was originally" to me, unlike... way too much people). And NFCV is not.

And as a show itself, ignoring the "adaptation" part? It's not that great either. If you get critical and think deeper about things, you'll start to see everything that is wrong. It's easier to ignore the problems and enjoy the parts you do like when you don't know the games. It's almost impossible to do when you do know and love the games. When you need to turn off your brain to truly enjoy a show, it's not the proof of a great writing.

But oh... That is only the first Netflixvania. :) This far, you can actually call it faithful to the games, compared to the soon to air Nocturne. :) (it actually hurts me to say)

You cannot look at the trailer and pretend it's even trying to be Castlevania. It's an original work who stole Castlevania's name and characters. With the first serie, you could've use the first, maybe the second season to pretend it was trying but "oh, the games don't have enough story to adapt" (shitty excuse btw). But here? Oh, no. No no no. It is NOT trying anything.

It happens during the french revolution, it seems it's gonna tackle racism and slavery (I do NOT trust the show to portray the french revolution correctly. nor racism. nor anything). Richter's tragedy is apparently going to revolve around the death of his mother, so you can say bye bye to the whole generational trauma and the weight of centuries of his family hunting Dracula (since it's not where NFCV went to begin with) and protecting the world now being on his shoulder and how it affects his psyche and- I mean DAMN. That is such a DOWNGRADE. But it's only the trailer. We'll have to wait for the whole season to air to see how bad it truly is. But I do not trust them to make Richter, one of the most beloved Castlevania characters, shine the way he deserves. I do not trust them to make Castlevania shine at all. Nothing this far can make a games' fan think of said games (probably because it's not for the games' fans.)

But we know it won't be about Richter anyway. Just like NFCV, it will be about everyone but the Belmont of the show. I mean it's logic, since it's the way NFCV went. At least that's coherent.

And everyone knows the sole reason why they went from ""CV3"" to ""RoB/SotN"" directly is because of Alucard, the true main character of NFCV. The trailer just dropped and you already have people asking where Alucard is.

There is so much details I could rant about. But this isn't about details (nor ranting, really). This isn't about every little thing that only makes the cartoon even more of an insult to the games (even if those details, piling up, ARE important). This is about the bigger picture. This is about Castlevania's heart getting crippled and shat on in favor of a pseudo-mature show getting off to his pseudo-deepness.

Games and shows are different medias and thus, are bound to have different ways to tell their stories. One is not lesser than the other. The Castlevania games have a story. It has a lore. It has themes. It's character have personnalities. But it's not a cartoon. It cannot show it by literally making the characters talking about how deep they are. They can't make cutscenes just to tell "I have a tragic backstory". It has to be shown in more subtle ways. It uses the decors. It uses the way the characters stand, or walk, or attack. It exploits the few cutscenes and dialogues to tell the most important informations. And yes, sometimes, it has to use the manual to give infos about the lore or characters. That is not a lesser way to do so. It's a way to adapt to the games' limits in order to tell their story. (also, CoD literally have two mangas to it's name. make your choice on wich version you like most)

There is so, so much potential in Castlevania. And if you get into the games, if you play them, if you just read the wiki or look at the posts of people talking about the lore, the characters, the games and analyzing them, you'll know... NFCV is a waste of an adaptation.

[ouchieouchfuckers]

So I played through 5.0 and I have a bunch of basics theories (?) so far. (I might fix some things later)

Time block theory confirmed as Mavuika herself thinks past present and future all exists at the same time. For furter proof we had Ei storyline and Scaramouche with is irminsol fuckery (also the whole irminsul/leylines fuckery as they are basically the tracks for the preset future), also Enkanomia and tsurumi. Ancient names seems to work in this way, either way names in teyvat are extremely important.

Small note I also think that the illusions Venti can create are actually images taken from a different time/space given his connection to istarot.

Time and wind, music, dreams, names and constellation are the main themes here presents in every nation and in every main quest. (FUCKIN BARBATOS TELL ME YOUR SECRETS)

The lume of fate is basically a way to create a different future. (Confirmed?)

The archons take power (stolen from the dragons sovereigns) from the heavenly thrones and everyone with a vision or with an elemental affinity can become one. (Confirmed?) So the archons never needed the gnosis (Venti u fucker), they basically aways consisted as an aid for humanity (like training wheels on a bicicle) but the question is was it the archons choice or did celestia choose them because they were the best options for humans? In all of our travels we see the concept of good and evil constantly more blurred and that's probably the point of our journey so.

Where exactly is Chasca from? Because she as the same ears as Klee (and probably Alice). I'd say dragon descendants (as honkai star rail is in the same universe and have many key elements in common), or outlander like the traveler (the concept of outlander often seems to me intended as people born in teyvat but not under the gaze of celestia and not only outside of that world). Also is mentioned like she's that tipe of person who enjoy fighting (Childe abissal vibes here), Klee's definitely not calm.

I was also thinking about seelies because they are an important piece of information we don't know enough about (even after sumeru I just have more questions) and the olny seelie we saw in natlan was in the night kingdom.

So wishful thinking il Capitano could be an ancient name bearer maybe even an original one.i mean it's not like we haven't already seen the fatui cooperating even if he's would probably be a forceful one. (It's probably not happening but I really want it to)

And for last Mavuika is Kaveh's ancestor, honestly we all memed about it but she actually said that her sister became an architect and an artist, in her vision she said she wanted to find a way to find her again, she could has well have left a progeny but they don't know because people who leave natlan have memory issues. (Far fetched theory but worth for the meme)

Where's my mondstat expansion? There's no coincidence in the fact that the closest people to khaenri'ah are basically all there (we found paimon there). And what about sumeru? We still have all this lore about king deshret but I feel like something is still unexplored. Zhongli I lost all my 50/50 to get you but when I do I'll burn your non disclosure agreement.

Dainslef I love u plz come back if you tell me your secrets I'll never have a tragic breakup with you like my sibling did.

[kara-cant]

TikTok has been down for like 12 hours and I can already see exactly how no other app is going to be able to offer what TikTok does. I always see the memes of oh when AO3 is down or crashes immediately in real time everyone’s reactions on this app are like sound the alarm. But that’s kinda only for that specific instance. TikTok did that for EVERYTHING! The ceo death, instant reactions from all sides, the cease fire, opinions analysis and takes across the board. Now, I went omg people must be blowing up that is actually happened like how they were the past few weeks but on the other platforms now, and the reality is that no other platform can give the same instantaneous reactions and unfiltered responses as things happen. No matter your stance on if you like TikTok or not it has to be acknowledged that this is such a huge form of censorship and limitations from allowing people to actually connect with one another.

I think of how “trends” used to take years to spread from the bigger cities like New York to the smaller areas states over. Or even across the ocean from Italy to here, etc. but as technology advanced the physical gap of distance became ideologically shorter as we were able to connect closer and closer to real time with one another but the second we achieved a platform the facilitated that in a raw form, it was taken down and removed. I wonder who benefits the most from division of people dependent on location, socialization, and ideology confinement?

Most people on this app are consumers of media and information that varies from topic to topic and format to format but the one thing that is consistent amongst us all is that we are impacted by the content we seek and what find us. We find ourselves within it and eachother as we form communities and create connections. Something that is seen across so many fandoms and forms of media is the destruction of division and people seeking total control, as well as the the societal repercussions that come from actions claiming to be for the better while in reality perpetuating these motifs.

The world has always been a place of turmoil. It has always had these dark moments. WE (the common people) just never had the ability to SHARE our perspectives and be HEARD by others. We have never been able to form emotional connections without shared experience in real time. There have always been people that are selfish and seemingly evil just for the sake of being evil but when those things would happen, people couldn’t do much more than endure. And eventually when endurance ran short and people became fed up change would happen, but it could only be made by the individuals experiencing these darknesses. Now we have created channels of support, community and awareness that allow for endurance and education. It allows for new options to be explored and perceived. That’s been snuffed out time and time again through banned books, canceled media, government interference and the monetary control of main news and information distribution. Eventually endurance will run out as it has in the past and we the people now have the knowledge of something different. Of lives spent without these sources of turmoil and alternative solutions to problems within our control.

Do not go silent into the night. We can not regress into a technological darkness as websites are being bought out, controlled, monitored and censored to strip the common people of their resources, communities and opportunities for growth. Survival and endurance are the current focuses of so many of us, but for those in a place of power, a place of privilege, and a place of compassion, that can see the other side, have connected across the social barriers they continue to construct and have begun dismantling the divisions that try to force us to forget that we are all humans, one in the same, creatures of the earth and souled beings capable of intense beauty and intense pain.

[sakuraswordly]

Source: Do you think gilgamesh from fate is evil? I just watched fate babylonia and I was impressed by his personality. I looked him as a caring person but dont want to show it to the others but many of them said he is bad person in the previous fate.

Shimon Brand: Gilgamesh is… complicated.

First off, as Zaheer pointed out, there are multiple versions of him at different stages of his life, as happens to Heroic Spirits who changed a lot over the course of their existence, who have many different legends associated with them, or who can make DelightWorks a lot of money. So the Archer Gilgamesh we see in Fate/Stay Night and Zero is Gil at the most assholish point in his life, pretty much, whereas Caster Gilgamesh in Babylonia is Gil at his wisest and most generous. I won’t go further into this because Zaheer covered it already.

At the same time, however, Archer Gil in FSN and Zero is very different from in CCC, for instance, where he is much kinder and more lenient despite being the same “version” of Gil. That is down to a different factor unique to Gilgamesh, which is that he is very strongly influenced by the world around him.

Basically, Gil thinks the world is his property and has a kind of sympathetic connection to the state of it, and when he doesn’t like the way it’s going, it puts him in a terrible mood. In parallel, his values are very antithetical to those of modern humans: Gil is an extreme individualist who revels in uniqueness and despises commonalities, so for him, a world where there are lots of unexceptional humans is far worse than a world when there are very few humans but they’re all exceptional. That also goes for objects and thought processes and whatnot. (eg, he likes Kirei because he’s a strange and unusual person, and he hates Tokiomi because he’s the epitome of an average magus. And he hates hates hates Shirou and EMIYA because they make copies of NPs, which are supposed to be the most unique and exceptional things in existence and are also his stuff to boot.)

In other words, he really, really hates modern society, with its mass consumerism, its vast throngs of people (back when he lived there were like 20 million humans at most) and — from his perspective — its general cheapening of everything. He discovers this in Zero, and then spends ten years walking around Fuyuki only getting angrier and more frustrated all the time, until by the time of FSN his solution is to just kill 99% of everyone and reset the clock back to 4,000 BC. People sometimes say Gil is evil in FSN because he was corrupted by the Grail, but that’s not true — Gil explicitly cannot be corrupted by anything ever. The reality is much simpler: he’s just in a really, really, really terrible mood.

That’s why he’s a better person in CCC: somehow (don’t ask me, it’s never clarified), the world of the Moon Cell reminds him of better times when he ruled Uruk and there were fewer rubes and more heroes. Probably because there are actually very few people in the Moon Cell, and a lot of Heroic Spirits, and magic all around like in the good ol’ days. He’s in a pretty great mood, so he’s relatively friendly and reasonable and not-genocidal.

And that’s also why he’s a much better person in Babylonia: he’s literally in his home, the best time in all of history as far as he’s concerned, in a perfectly-run society where every single individual is brave and selfless and rare, and he has a bunch of singularly heroic individuals from all across human history as his inner circle. He’s in a really, really, really great mood, even (if not especially) with the doom of all humankind right there knocking on (and down) the door.

TL;DR: It’s a combination of there being different versions of the Gilgamesh Heroic Spirit for different stages of his life, and of his being in a terrible mood in Fate/Stay Night and (to a lesser extent) in Zero

[bluewavesofchange]

The guardians of the Pharaoh

Sea and shadows: the Queens of the abyss.

I don't own Yugioh or it's characters

Mild mentions of gore

Chapter 1

 

The moon shone one the aircraft as it sailed through the sky, heading towards its mysterious locations. Everyone had settled down for the night after all the events that had transpired; Téa and Serenity were sharing a room while Joey, Tristian and Duke had stayed together in the room beside the girls. Ishizu had found where Odion was being kept and stayed by his side, wishing to keep him safe from Marik as she still had her necklace. She wanted to give it to Yugi since she no longer had any use for it but she had heard what had happened to the teen and his sister.

 

Ishizu had been meaning to reach out to Lillian when she arrived in Domino but she had other issues she needed to deal with, mainly being her brother and his rare hunters. She had seen the future and set certain things into motion when she invited Seto Kaiba to the museum…she wanted to save her family, not realizing the lives she had put in danger.

 

She had missed her friend dearly and had wished to see her again. They had grown close during the raven haired stay with her. She was the first female friend, well friend Ishizu ever had. They had many things in common and got along quiet well. Lillian was the first to listen to the other girl about her past and the trauma she had experienced from her father, the years of living in the darkness and her brothers torture in the name of carrying on the family legacy. It helped to have someone to talk to and to understand what she went through. To hear that the evil version of her brother had nearly killed her only friend was heart breaking. She just hoped that she would be alright…

 

Rozu was…bored to say the least. The end of the day had been probably the most exciting she had experienced in eons and now it was quiet again. She remained in the shadows as she watched the 3 teens sleeping, the only sound was their breathing and the beeping of the heart monitor connected to her host. She floated over and stared down at the girl…to think she had wasted so many years of her life to find the missing Siren only to find a weak pathetic version of the warrior she had once respected and fought beside. The mighty sea goddess reduced to a teenager who could barely control her powers…including the one the dark queen desperately needed…

 

She turned to Yugi, the sweet innocent boy who was the vessel for the little brat that had sealed her away…the reincarnation of Atem’s lover, the boy whose life was saved by her sister Clarity…the goddess of light who had given her soul for some human boy. The last member of her family now gone…not the Rozu cared, they were never close, separated at birth and only re-joined years later after the darker sister had endured so much heartache and pain…having suffered for years under the iron fist of her father Lord Yomi. And what she knew about Clarity, she had a happy upbringing, being raised by not one, not two but 3 warriors who loved and adored her. The two sisters couldn’t be any more different, the sister of light had tried to reconnect with her sister, to grow a bond between them but Rozu had no interest (not that she would admit that it was nice having someone show empathy and care for her).

 

She reached over and ran her wisps for fingers over the teen’s cheek as he slept, a soft whimper leaving Yugi’s lips. Rozu wouldn’t admit it that she found the boy intriguing, she could feel the untapped power that lay within the child…she had felt a surge of it earlier today. Heba had some of Clarity’s gifts when he was staying with Atem in the palace…it was very possible that Yugi could have the same abilities , perhaps even more and that could cause a problem for Rozu. She could not let him stand in her way of her revenge…but she could still use him. His naïve and trusting nature could come in handy…not to mention if she can make him suffer, it would hurt the pharaoh deeply. The thought of hurting his heart made her smirk and purr in delight as she pulls her hand away.

 

The last of the 3 that grabbed her attention was the Siren’s mate…the wielder of the Blue Eyes white dragons…the beasts Rozu’s father had hunted down for their supposed gift of immortality. Too bad the dark lord never saw his dream come to fruition. He had paid for the pain he had inflicted a million times over and Rozu had made sure of that…

 

She moved closer to the tall brunet, her fingers ghosting through his hair. She had to admit that he wasn’t bad to look at and his soul was positively rife with torment and suffering, she could practically taste it on her tongue but there was a hint of something else…something hidden deep within his spirit…something long forgotten…specks of a world the goddess had left behind years ago…how peculiar. And just like Yugi, Seto wore a familiar face from ancient Egypt. She recognised him as the descendant of Pharaoh Seth, the successor of Atem. Rozu had enjoyed watching the two of them bicker and banter back and forth back then…like how brothers would get along…how Rozu imagined her sons would’ve been had they lived…

 

She pushed the phantom pains she was feeling deep to the recesses of her mind and heart. She would not think of them…her two boys had never had the chance to even live as they were ripped from her arms the day they were born…

 

She looked out the window when she sensed someone calling upon the power of the shadows…someone had started a game…how interesting. She headed up to the top deck and found Bakura and the dark version of Marik engaging in a shadow game…this should be interesting.

 

Meanwhile…

 

While Yugi and Lillian were sleeping peacefully, Seto’s fingers hand started to twitch as his mind was thrown into a strange dream…

 

Kaiba’s eyes opened and was met with a breath taking view…vast fields of tall grass and wild flowers…mountain ranges in the distance that were dusted with snow…a sparkling river flowing through the valleys and hills covered with trees that were made of purple bark and red leaves…ok that’s not strange.

 

He walked through the tall grass, his hands running along the grass and plants, disturbing a flower that looked like a blue dandelion, it’s feather light whiskers detaching from the plant and floats away on the breeze. What was this place? Was this just some kind of weird dream? A hallucination?

 

Whatever this was, he felt at peace, like calmness had washed over him…he hears laughter coming from somewhere. He sees some grass rustling and approaches it only for the rustling to move behind him. He kept searching until his eyes landed on two children dressed in rags…a little girl with turquoise hair and blue eyes…and a little boy with white hair and a recognizable set of eyes. They were holding hands as they ran through the grass, heading to the top of the hill and sitting beneath a tree, smiles on their faces as they watched the sunset on the horizon.

 

Seto was confused as he watched them…it felt like he had seen them somewhere…but before he could think or do anything else he heard a roar coming from the distance…he turned and caught sight of one of his Blue eyes coming towards him, it’s mouth opening and blasted a beam of lightning at the teen…

 

His eyes widen and covers he face with his arms, bracing for impact but it never came…when he lowered his arms the scenery had changed into something straight out of war movie…the land was burning, blood and bodies scattered about, humanoid and warrior type duel monsters alike. In the distance he caught sight of something more bazar and horrific…giant corpses…dozens of corpses of his prize dragons…their chest torn open with the organs spilled out before them…some of them were missing wings and others were even missing their heads and other body parts…the f@&% was this?!

 

In front of him stood the two children from before, their hands still clasped together as they were staring at the bloodshed and gore before them. Slowly they turned to face Seto, the CEO stepping back as he saw the blood splattered across their bodies and faces…

 

Kaiba’s eyes fly open as he sits up with a gasp, breathing heavily as he looks around, finding himself back in Lillian’s room. His gazing on his sleep girl, slowly calming himself down as he mumbles, “Just a dream…just a bad dream…” he sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair, sitting back in his chair, his eyes not leaving Lillian.

 

She seemed so peaceful despite what happened. He reached over and ran the back of his fingers along her cheek, feeling the warmth coming from her skin, a sign of life…that she was ok (for now at least).  He could believe that just a few hours ago he had nearly lost her…he had watched the life leave her eyes and her bleeding out in front of him…

 

He couldn’t let this happen again…he would keep her safe and that was a promise…he stood up, needing to go get some work done before they arrived at their destination tomorrow. He’s eyes falling on Yugi; the boy seemed to be shivering a little. Probably from the fact that he always seemed to be wearing leather and sleeveless shirts and from all the blood he had given his sister to save her life. He walked over to the cabinet and took out an extra blanket. He carefully put it over the Muto siblings, making sure they were tucked in and warm. He pressed a gentle kiss to Lillian’s forehead before leaving the room…needing to make preparations for tomorrow, not wanting to be caught unprepared again.

 

However that wasn’t the case. As morning came a new problem arose…

 

As the sun rose over the sea and the island of debris and what looked to be a large tower came into view, the zeppelin started to veer off course, heading towards a fortress that rose out of the sea. The shaking of the aircraft had woken everyone up, the teens (minus Lillian and Yugi) headed to the control room just in time to see some kid with green hair come onto the screen, introducing himself as Noah…stating that he had known Seto for a long time and that he had a bone to pick with the tall teen…laughing maniacally as the giant doors of the metal structure opens and the aircraft lands inside it…

 

The teens disembark under Noah’s command, Seto hoping that their kidnapper wouldn’t notice the two patients in med bay…unfortunately he wasn’t so lucky. Noah demanded that both Yugi and Lillian join the rest of the group as they would be needed for whatever he had planned. Seto downright refused, snarling at the brat that they were in no condition to be moved. After all Yugi was still recovering and Lillian had undergone surgery just a few hours ago. But his refusal was met with gun fire…literally. There were turrets that activated and started fire at them, Joey trying to shield his sister as he pulls her against his chest and Seto does the same with Mokuba, protect his brother from the gunfire…a bullet grazing Seto’s cheek, creating a cut that starts to bleed. He ignores the stinging pain as he glares at the turrets as they retract back into the wall, Noah threatening that he won’t miss next time…

 

With much hesitation he heads back inside the zeppelin to retrieve the Muto siblings while he leaves Mokuba with the others…

 

Yugi had been awoken when the aircraft had started to shake violently and woke Lillian too, the harsh movements jolting her body and causing her a server amount of pain. However she still grabbed her brother and held him close till the aircraft stopped moving.

 

Her arms slowly fell to her side as her brother pulled away, the girls face contorted in agony, panicking the younger teens as he screams for help. A doctor and nurse rushing in a few minutes later, Yugi getting out of the bed as the medical professionals aided the wounded girl…the tri-colour haired boy stands back and watches with concern…Yami coming out of the puzzle and hovering beside the teen with his hand around his shoulder…

 

Seto arrives at Lillian’s room just as the doctor was finishing up…they had ensured that Lillian was stable before giving her something for the pain…she looked up feeling hazy as her eyes land on her beloved, seeing the wound on his face and asking what happened, wanting to know what happened to him and why the aircraft had shaken so viciously…he didn’t answer her as he turns to the doctor if she could be moved.

 

Yugi is shocked at this, “Have you lost your mind?!” Seto frowns at the teen, “We don’t have a choice.” He states as the other boy glares at him, “Bullshit.” Both Lillian and Seto’s are thrown back a little as they had never heard the kid swear before. “Listen Muto, we’ve been taken hostage by some brat that has a vendetta against me…his threatening to kill everyone if I don’t bring you and…Lillian along.” Yugi clenched his fists and was about to say something when Lillian spoke up first, “I…I’ll go.”

 

Yugi turned to his sister, “You can’t! This is Kaiba’s fault! He should find another way to deal with it that doesn’t put your life in danger!”

 

“I have to agree with him Mr. Kaiba. Ms. Muto is in no condition to be moved. Her stitches could rip and –“

 

“Enough!!” Lillian shouted over all of them, her eyes flashing for a moment, “I’m going.” Her brother shook his head, “You can’t!”

 

“Yugi enough.” She looks at him sternly despite how exhausted she felt and the pain she was in, “I’m not letting your friends die or get hurt…I’ll be fine.” She tried to reassure him but he wasn’t convinced…Seto turned back to the doctor and asked him to do everything he could to ensure that Lillian was ready to go…as much as he hated this he didn’t have a choice.

 

Yugi reluctantly put his jacket back on as he watched the doctor and nurse remove all the IV’s and heart monitor from Lillian, getting her a hospital robe to wear after making sure her bandages were wrapped tightly. She couldn’t stand up however as it was causing her pain. Yugi is about to head over to give her his shoulder to lean but Kaiba beat him to it, lifting her up into his arms. The short teen wasn’t happy at all about this, “I could’ve helped her.”

 

Seto was getting annoyed with Yugi at this point (being annoyed with himself as well for dragging everyone into yet another bad situation…even if he didn’t know why this was happening). “No you couldn’t. You’re still weak and would probably drop her. You’re probably too small to even carry her. So back off!” Seto exclaimed more out of frustration than anything else.

 

Lillian frowned at the brunet as she catches her brother’s expression…the words hitting him deeply. Yugi hated it when people pointed out his size and called him weak…he knew he wasn’t as tall or as strong as his friends or even the other teens his age…it wasn’t something he could help. He tried his best to make up for his stature but it didn’t always work.

 

Seto saw his down trodden face and knew he shouldn’t have said that and would probably get an ear full from Lillian. And Yami was seething with rage, wanting nothing more than to give the bean pole a piece of his mind for insulting his Aibou.

 

“Listen Yugi…” he turned to face the shorter boy, “…Don’t take what I said the wrong way…You might not have the physicality to take on those that dare to harm you or the people you care about…but you have a strength were it mattes the most…You courage, your loyalty and your tenacity…you’re clever mind and quick thinking and your skills as a duellist…” he meant every word as Yugi looked at him, “…use that to trample your enemies and come out on top. Let me keep Lillian safe and you focus on helping me to get us out of this…” his words sank in deep as Yugi nodded. He made a lot of sense and he was complimenting him he guessed…in his weird condescending type of way.

 

So he would go along with Kaiba and reluctantly put his faith in the other. Yugi followed Seto off the zeppelin as Lillian rested his head on the brunet’s shoulder, whispering softly to him, “Nice save. But I’m still gonna kick your ass for that later…” Seto smirked, “Glad to see your sense of humour is still intact.” Lillian rolled her eyes but a soft smile formed on her lips…

 

Once they re-joined the group, they headed down the hallway Noah was leading them through. They reached a large room, screens turning on and revealing the members of the Big 5 who had tried to take over Kaiba Corp. Seto had never revealed what he had done to them when he returned to Domino after Duellist kingdom but it seemed he somehow imprisoned them in a virtual reality world…in which the teens found themselves being thrown into as giant holes opened in the floor, causing them to drop down into darkness…

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #27

I'm more than a little dejected today. A new trailer of your upcoming game was shown to us today. In it, they painted you as this evil, horrible person. Some people in my world talk about you as though you were rotten and awful from the time you were born. Some people in my world say that you've been so abused by the world that you are now broken beyond hope of recovery. Still others say that, because of the way you were made and how you were raised, you're so different from and alien to everyone else that there's no possible hope of you ever belonging anywhere.

…The end result of all these thoughts, naturally, is that many people in my world think that the best thing that can happen to you is for you to be "put out of your misery" as though you're nothing more than a rabid animal, as though there is nothing more to you than the mistakes you've made, as though you (and others in my world who are similar to you) are not a sentient, thinking, feeling being, capable of being spoken to or reasoned with. Having empathy for you is VERY unpopular here, and it is a great way to become further ostracized, even amongst those who may or may not also consider themselves misfits.

I feel heartbroken about this sort of thing. Even if you were absolutely devoid of empathy (and you've shown time and time again that you are very much NOT devoid of empathy!), that's still not an issue of morality - that is a brain wiring issue. Some people really are born with problems in the parts of their brain responsible for empathy; it is not their fault. When that happens, it requires proper supports to be put in place so that they can thrive without hurting others despite their condition, not judgment, persecution, and demonization. Anything less is ableism. And I live in a world rife with ableism, and lots of other very unpleasant "-isms" and "-phobias" that prevent certain kinds of humans from being treated like actual people.

Sadly, it is also the case that I live in a world where, when people make mistakes, especially if they think the person should have known better than to make a mistake, people tend prefer the metallic, sanguine taste of retribution and punishment over the sweetness of mercy and restoration. It's for this reason that the cycle of pain continues ad nauseam in this ridiculous and terrifying place.

I'm scared that I'm going to have to prepare myself to watch you die a second time. I don't really know what else to do to help you, so in the trailer that was shown, I put a small wish for good things. Good things upon Cloud and his friends. Good things upon your world. Good things upon you, especially.

…People laughed at me. One of them said something to try to make me feel small, stupid, and worthless. For whatever reason, they seem to lack the necessary empathy and critical thinking skills required to understand that the way stories are told in my world ends up weaving the fabric of society and influencing how humans view and therefore treat each other and themselves. Stories, by and large, are thought experiments that people then apply to the real world as moral templates and as patterns of speech and behavior.

What this person failed to see, as well, is that real people in my world are already treated in much the same way that you are treated in yours. While the way you are treated is broadly applicable to any human who is "othered" in my society, when I look at you and consider the way you think, speak, move, and behave… when I consider your mannerisms and general way of being, you look very similar to neurodivergent people in my world. In particular, your general existence seems to have a lot in common with autistic people. Or, rather… I am autistic, and a lot of your behaviors, mannerisms, speech patterns, movements, and general way of holding and carrying yourself look a LOT like mine. To an almost eerie extent, even.

…And… I know for sure… If I had spent a week straight not eating, sleeping, or hydrating in favor of reading wildly inaccurate books (this is called hyperfocus; it's an autism/ADHD thing)… I also would have taken everything I read at face value (literal interpretation of information and assuming by default that what's being said or written is true is another autism thing). If I had taken everything at face value… spent my life being used, abused, and exploited by people (we have that in common), been led to believe that humans are why there are no more people like me in the world, been led to believe that my mother (we know Jenova is not your mother) is being held captive somewhere and subject to cruel experiments… watching in despair as those who call themselves my "friends" witness me struggling without trying at all to help, looking at all of the people around me who are complicit in this kind of horror…

Sephiroth, if the old version of me had your phenomenal power, and was subject to your exact same circumstances, I… I don't think I would have been able to make a better choice than the one you made. I don't like the choice you made. It was terrible and inexcusable, and I'm sure you regret it very much at this point. But I still don't think I would have been able to choose differently than you. I would have been too angry, too full of despair, too emotionally unstable from being starved, dehydrated, and sleep deprived to control my thoughts and impulses… we are all at our worst when we are in states like that. And for a person who was taught that compassion is weakness, that violence is the answer, and that directly asking for help and support is not an option (we have this in common, too; I've since unlearned this nonsense), it's almost impossible to make kind, merciful, loving choices when we're at our worst. It's almost impossible to simply walk away.

…Truth be told though, I'm not 1000% convinced that the place wasn't already on fire before you walked out of the library. I saw what Shinra did to Banora, just because Genesis had gone over there. To get rid of anything that might make Shinra look bad, they firebombed the whole place, razing it to the ground, and killing everyone there, whether they were involved with the madness or not. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Shinra had decided to firebomb Nibelheim, just because they knew you were digging around in their secret archives. It wouldn't surprise me at all if you came out of the library either just before they finished or just after they finished, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if people saw you in the middle of the wreckage, assumed you did it, and then tried to attack you for it; I've got a couple memories of trying to clean up something my stepbrother broke, only to be discovered partway through, being accused of having been the one who did it, being accused of only trying to clean it up because I wanna try to hide what I did, my explanations and protests being taken as lies, and getting punished accordingly for it, while my stepbrother laughs in the background. Circumstances are different, but the mechanics are the same, if it was the case that Nibelheim was firebombed by Shinra.

You might be asking how any of this relates to my world. And the answer to that is simple:

People tend to assume the worst of intentions when it comes to anyone who is "othered" by society. Marginalized people catch flack for doing the same exact things that "normal" people do. When "normal" people scrounge food from an abandoned, wrecked store after a storm, it's called "finding resources". When black people do the same thing, it's called "looting". When "normal" people bring up a similar personal experience to show another person that they understand what they're saying, it's called "empathy". When autistic people do it, it's called "making it all about themselves". When a father brings home pizza for his children, it's called "being a fun dad". When a mother does the same thing, it's called "being a lazy parent who feeds their children junk food". I could list so many more examples, but the main point is this: if you are in any way different from what society at large considers "standard", people will tend to interpret everything you do as either hostile, manipulative, lazy, or some variation thereof, no matter what your actual intentions are. And then when you try to explain your intentions, people will think, "you doth protest too much" and dismiss your explanations as "excuses" or outright lies.

And you are very different from that which is considered "standard". You're very tall. You seem to have hypomelanosis. Your long hair removes you from presenting as "traditionally masculine". You're intellectually gifted. You're very physically and magically capable. You present as someone who is very much not allistic. You're a survivor of horrific abuse. You were raised as an orphan. With these and so many more things, you stand out.

So then, of course nobody pays attention to the fact that you don't judge what people are capable of by their sex/gender or age; they paint that as "ruthless" instead of as "unprejudiced". Of course when you encourage Angeal and Genesis to take the title of "hero" from you by besting you in a friendly sparring match, they accuse you of being arrogant. Of course when you act shy and socially awkward, people instead interpret "aloof and cold" (we very much have this thing in common). Of course when you demonstrate how amazingly capable you are, people aren't going to see someone who is trying his best to help; they're going to instead see a showoff who is full of himself (we have this in common, too). People overlook the fact that without hesitation, you offered yourself for Genesis's transfusion. They overlook the smile on your face and the love in your eyes as you recount some of your memories to Zack. When you're a human that is classified as "other", your goodness, no matter how large it is, gets overlooked in favor of focusing like a laser on your flaws, no matter how microscopic they may be.

And the opposite holds true as well - If you're "normal", your flaws get minimized while your good aspects get magnified. It's why people love Rufus Shinra and the Turks, despite the fact that they are responsible for FAR more deaths than you, either directly or indirectly, and even though they threw some ACTUAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING (we saw this in Before Crisis) into the mix, just for funsies. Somehow, even though you did your things to try to build a world in which no one else should have to suffer in the same way you did, and they did their things solely for the sake of profits and for maintaining an economic chokehold on your planet, they do not see Rufus or the Turks as evil. Even though the siphoning of Mako would kill the planet just as surely as Meteor, they still don't see Shinra and the Turks as evil. Or if they do, it's not nearly to the same extent that they see you as such. And this would baffle me, if not for the fact that these people are wealthy (in Rufus's case anyhow), allistic-presenting, possessing of a "normal" skin tone, and looking far more "traditionally masculine" than you do. It's very frustrating.

I understand the mechanics of why people get "othered", and I understand the mechanics of why people think it's okay to be harsh and cruel and dehumanizing to "othered" people. But I don't have the energy right now to articulate these things. Maybe I'll get into it in some other letter to you, but for now, I'd end up writing a book (I might have basically turned today's letter into a book by accident anyhow…), and I'm a bit too tired for that.

So, suffice to say: I know why people are so mean. I really, truly do. But at the same time… why in hell are people so goddamn mean all the fucking time??? Why does "I wanna tttyfck Tifa's bewbs" get all the loves and supports and likes, but "Let's wish for good things upon everybody" gets indifference, derision, or hate??? How does that even work???

I'm tired and I want to go home. I'm tired of the trope that is, "abuse survivors are ticking time bombs, liable to snap anytime without reason or warning". I'm tired of the trope that is, "some people are damaged beyond repair, so it's foolish to even bother trying to help them". I'm tired of the trope that is, "autistic people are evil, emotionless robots devoid of empathy". I'm tired of the trope that is, "people who make mistakes deserve punishment and death". If they write your story a second time in a way that ends with you being slaughtered again, it will simply reinforce these tropes, and reinforce broader cultural trends that influence how people like me get treated in this world.

And… I'm tired of being laughed at for wishing compassion and mercy upon other people. I'm tired of screaming love into the void only to receive indifference, revulsion, and derision from others. I'm tired of my kindness being viewed with suspicion and mistrust. I am tired of being branded as insincere, dishonest, or "too-good-to-be-true". I'm tired of all the subtle and not-so-subtle ways that this world and most of the people in it tell me that I don't belong and that I'm not wanted and that I should just disappear so that nobody has to deal with me anymore. I'm tired of all the ways that people seem to enjoy hurting me and others, meanwhile I'm always supposed to be the bigger person and neither fight back, nor give tit for tat. I'm tired of, "we can fix this" being met with doubt, cynicism, and churlishness - part of the reason we can't seem to do anything about the looming climate crisis and the endless wars and the continued oppression of "non-standard" people is that nobody wants to listen to the people who know how to fix these problems. And from this… I'm tired of seeing my friends and my loved ones struggle and get hurt while trying to live in a world that is actively hostile to most living things. I try really hard to keep my chin up and be good all the time because I've lived through horror and know how I don't want to be, but… I'm still only human.

That being said… as much as I wish I could disappear, as much as I wish, every night before I go to bed, that something will happen in my sleep that makes it so that I don't wake up again in the morning, I'm still not done here yet. I don't know exactly what I'm supposed to do while I'm here - even when people do ask me for help, they tend not to listen to anything I say because I do not live in the kind of body that most people are willing to take seriously (because I am "othered" in a variety of ways), and when I do kind things, people generally wonder what my ulterior motives are (spoiler alert: I have none). My hands and my voice feel bound almost all the time. And so I kind of just wander around, aimlessly and directionless, wondering what my existence is even supposed to be for. But I do know that I've not yet met all the people who I will make smile. I have not yet met all of the starfish that I must try to toss back into the sea, like the boy who walks along the shore in that one story. I have not met all of those people who, seeing me dried and stranded on the shore, will try to pick me up and toss me back into the sea.

I can't succumb to the pull of the quicksand yet, tempting as that thought sometimes is. So when I get like this, the only thing I know to do is to try to reach out to someone else who might understand and know what to do. I try to hydrate. I try to eat. I try to rest. When things seem hopeless, tending to myself and trying to connect with the safe people around me sometimes helps. When things seem hopeless, sometimes I write to you, even though I know you will probably never see any of this.

There are far fewer safe people in the world than there are borderline (or outright) violent ones. But still, safe people are everywhere if you keep an eye out for them. I just gotta try to focus on that knowledge. After all, the Horse from the story about the Boy and all his animal friends has very good advice: "When the big things feel out of control, focus on what you love, right under your nose."

I'm scared for you. Scared for me. Scared for the people I love. Scared for my world at large. There are just so many things going on. But I'll keep going; what other choice have I got? I can't go around leaving Lumine-shaped holes in the hearts and souls of the people who care about me by exiting this place prematurely, right?

You can't go around leaving Sephiroth-shaped holes in the hearts and souls of the people who love you, either, got it? Promise me. Please.

I already had an epic sandwich today, but maybe I'll get me some mac-and-cheese, too. Mac-and-cheese fixes most things, at least temporarily. I hope someday that you'll be able to sit someplace comfortable and eat a warm, delicious bowl full of mac-and cheese; it's good for the soul, even if it's bad for your arteries, hahaha!

I'll write again soon.

Your friend, Lumine