#depending on who you ask its just good tactics

[froggy-nebula]

vriska is really funny cause when you look at the shit she actually does shes not the best at manipulating people or flarp or combat she just cant win at any of her hobbies

[monabee-draws]

Dorian confessing his intention to return to Tevinter for good is so heartbreaking in the Tresspasser DLC. Because of course he does! It doesn't come out of nowhere, he tells the inquisitor as much before they even defeat Corypheus - he loves his home country and knows that he personally needs to be the one to fix it. Not any foreign power (including you and the Inquisition) but through internal change. And he's so blasé about it when he tells you, keeping his tone light, excited for his future work with Maevaris and the Lucerni! Of course, he didn't want you to find out like that but this is a good thing. He's happy! He's practically jovial!

And then you think about how familiar that tone of voice is. And remember his romance scene, and the nonchalant way he asks you if this whole relationship is just a one-time thing. And how he jokes and jibes with you in the bad-end future during In Hushed Whispers, to the point where Leliana calls him out on the obvious attempt at levity. Barring your brushes with his family, who elicit a kind of knee-jerk anger that cracks his usual mask, Dorian is very good at maintaining that emotional wall. So you listen as your heart breaks, as you consider how to respond to the lightness of him in this devastating moment, and you realise-

Dorian is terrified. The kind of scared where you can't really voice it, not in public, not even in private spaces when you aren't 100% in control. It's scary losing a parent, even one you're not quite reconciled with. To have to take his place and fill a role you've never fit, and somehow finally actually push forward with all the ideals you've been imagining to be so far away for many years. And to do all that on the opposite side of the world from the people who all made you finally believe it could be possible in the first place?

Dorian is so very used to being the brave one, the optimistically realistic one, that he can't possibly burden you - whose heart is breaking, whose Inquisition is failing, whose body is slowly killing them - with all of his own ugly fear. That wouldn't be very charming and dependable and Dorian of him, would it? More to the point, leaning on you would be both more burdensome to you and chafe against his own stubborn pride - not accepting favours is well-established during his romance-specific quest to retrieve his birthright. So instead of taking you aside somewhere quiet, consulting you about his final decision on the matter, and giving both of you the space to grieve, he...

Well he tells Varric. And Sera, and Bull, and Cole. Part of it is practice - how might they react? Part of it is in hope for advice on how to break the news. Varric and Bull are adept speakers. Cole's whole job is compassion. Even Sera's bluntness might help when you're chronically incapable of not sugarcoating things. But all it really does it make things worse, because its a distancing tactic. Nothing can truly prepare him for the crack in your voice, the sharp sting of your flinch and the perceived betrayal.

It's almost ironic, that his romantic lock-in asks you to decide if you're in for the long haul, when Dorian's entire arc is one that will inevitably draw him back to Tevinter. And specifically in such a way as to leave you. Because he does not want you tagging along (at least not now, not as the Inquisitor.) Dorian's fear in this moment is not fully centered on you, the man he loves, but there is certainly a part of him that is back in the Inquisitor's chambers on the opposite side of that question of 'do you want me to stay.'

Dorian Pavus' greatest fear is temptation, emblazoned on his tombstone in the Fade for all to see. And there you are, with your political power, ready to jump in and save the day once again on his behalf. And he's tempted. There you are with your familiarity and a space for him in the South that accepts him for who he is. And he's tempted.

There you are. Loving him. And well...

So he doesn't lower his voice to whisper to you, or hold you too close. He confesses in public where the crowds prohibit hysterics, he sips on precious wine, and he gifts you his sending stone. It is both distance and closeness all tied with a bow. A temptation that he can just about handle. Fear under wraps. Because if he lets you, you will - without even knowing - stop his entire life in its tracks. You represent everything he can never afford to lose to. And it is wretched how desperately he doesn't want to lose you.

[insipid-drivel]

Warhorses: Which horses are actually good candidates, anyway?

This post is in honor of @warrioreowynofrohan, who asked the question in the comments under my guide, "Horses: Since There Seems To Be A Knowledge Gap". Their question, "Given what you said about too much weight breaking a horse’s spine, how did that work with knights in plate armour?" is one I'm going to try to answer here, since the answer can be very nuanced depending on where and when you're talking about.

Also, while I was a stable hand for years as well as a rider, I never had the opportunity to directly learn more ancient styles of tacking, horse training, and combat, so I don't have any direct experience to draw from with regard to horses used for military purposes. I'm still gonna do my best here with what I know, and research what I don't.

As I've covered in the past, large horses (draft horses) make less-than-ideal warhorses, and so do carriage horses like the elegant and dramatic Friesians.

Let's begin by addressing this from the perspective of creative writing. For you writers and content creators out there, an essential part to the continuity of any historically-themed work you do involving horses will be depicting breeds of horses that didn't exist before a certain time in history. I'm going to approach this question from the stance of, "Medieval-type era warhorses". Horses were used in warfare as late was World War II, but actual horses you ride into battle with knights and archers and bannermen? We actually have to drop the subject of specific modern breeds altogether aside from using them for comparisons.

When discussing warhorses, various cultures have approached them differently. Some cultures will value a specific type of horse above all others, such as the Mongolian Steppe Horse or the American Mustang. Other cultures, which may be from biomes and territories where multiple types of horses are needed for different forms of warfare and tactics, value whichever horses can get their jobs done without their riders getting killed.

Carrying vs. Pulling:

Horses have been used in warfare since as far back as 4000 BC, but their first applications were more as chariot horses. Humans have been riding and working with horses since before we even had stirrups to more easily ride them with! As archaeologists and anthropologists make more discoveries, the more we learn that we humans have been working closely with horses since before we had specialized tools to ride them with. The very first warhorses pulled chariots or carts, which is much easier for a horse's anatomy to handle compared to carrying a heavy weight like an armored rider on their backs, which puts stress directly on their spines where they have very little supporting muscle for supporting a lot of heavy downward weight.

Warhorse Size Categories:

Really, any breed of horse can apply to a niche in warfare if it's needed enough. Even very small, delicate horses have had their place in the history of human combat! Before I continue, it's important to know that there's a unique unit of measuring a horse's height. Rather than measuring a horse's height in centimeters or inches, they're measured in units called "hands". A single "hand" = ~4 inches/10.16cm, and a horse's height is measured based upon the distance between the bottom of their hoof to the tallest part of their shoulders, just at the base of the back of their necks. We don't actually include neck length/head height in a horse's measurements with traditional measuring.

Another rule of thumb: The average horse cannot safely carry anything heavier than about 30% of their total body weight. This is a serious factor to take into mind when deciding on a type of or breed of horse for a mounted warrior of any kind: You need to factor in the OC's starting body weight, and then add on the weight of armor, weapons, and any armor the horse itself may wear along with the weight of its tack.

Light-Weight Horses:

A few examples of lightweight horse breeds whose ancestors have historically been used in combat are Arabians, Barber Horses, and the magnificent Akhal-Teke. Lightweight and delicately-boned horses like those are best applied for military maneuvers that require precision, speed, and endurance, and the rider themselves should specialize in some form of combat or reconnaissance that doesn't require them to wear heavy metal or laminated armors. Archers are good candidates for riding smaller horses, or lightly-armored swordsmen like an Ottoman Janissary.

Central-Asian and North African horses also benefit from having a higher tolerance for hot climates. They can absolutely suffer from heatstroke and cardiac arrest from being forced to run and work in extreme temperatures and should always be provided with the same protective measures in a heatwave as any other horse, but they have a little bit of an edge over horses descended from freezing and temperate climates.

Medium-Weight Horses:

Medium-weight horses started showing up in the archaeological record around about the Iron Age, where chariot warfare was becoming an increasingly utilized form of mobile combat, and people needed bigger, stronger horses capable of pulling heavier loads - such as a chariot with two passengers rather than just one. As cultures began to develop heavier-duty armors made of metals and laminated materials, it also became important to breed horses that were tall and stocky (muscular and with relatively short spines compared to their height), and therefore more capable of carrying riders in increasingly heavy armor. Medium-weight horses were also essential at the dawn of the gunpowder age when the cannon came into use in siege warfare for pulling the heavy, iron cannons into position.

Medium-weight horses are really where we see the beginnings of knights and other warrior classes on horseback come into the forefront of warfare. When you have a horse that's big and strong enough to carry heavier armor and heavier weapons along with a rider wielding them, you have a much deadlier force at your disposal. Strikes from a sword or spear from the back of a galloping horse basically results in a sword capable of cutting through enemy soldiers like a hot knife through butter.

Important Note: Traditionally, cavalrymen wield blunt swords when attacking from a charging horse's back. When a horse is charging at full speed, the sharpness of a blade becomes less important than the blade's ability to stay in one piece when it impacts hard armor and bone. A blunted edge basically turns a cavalryman's sword into a thin club that's better at holding up against smashing through multiple layers of armor and bone compared to a thinner, more delicate sharpened edge that can shatter from a high-speed impact.

Heavy-Weight Horses:

The direct ancestors of modern draft horses, such as the Shire Horse, only began to appear around about the beginning of the European Medieval Era, and were far and away not even close to the enormous sizes of the draft horses we have today. Any horse counts as a "Heavy-weight" classed horse if its weight exceeds 1500lbs/680kgs.

Heavy-weight horses were really more bred for pulling enormous weights rather than carrying knights. While yeah, there is some evidence that suggests that heavy-weight horses were used by heavily-armored knights, historians argue a lot about whether it was a rule or an exception (such as with Henry VIII, who continued to ride well after he had begun to weigh more than 350lbs/158kgs, and even went to war in France in his final years on horseback). Generally speaking, medium-weight horses tend to be the right balance of agile and strong for carrying someone that's going to actively be fighting. Heavy-weight horses were bred to be a lot more tolerant to the chaos and frightening stimulation of the sounds of battle, but medium-weighted horses generally tended to be more suited to moving efficiently through dense packs of soldiers and weaving around other horses.

Ponies:

While actually being the smallest class of warhorse, ponies were essential when it came to carrying cargo and working as pack-horses. In certain forms of terrain, such as mountains, large horses pulling big carts full of supplies or soldiers could often be extremely impractical. In situations where an army needed to move on foot and form a narrow line in order to travel, ponies were able to traverse much narrower and rougher terrain while carrying smaller loads to their destination, when heavier horses would struggle more under their own weight and dexterity.

Europe-Specific Terminologies:

If you're a writer reading this and writing a piece set in the European Medieval age, there are specific terms used for the different classes I listed of warhorses above that I'm gonna list:

Destriers: The Destrier was a universal term for the iconic knight-carrying, jousting horse. They were also sometimes referred to as "Great Horses" due to their reputations in combat settings. Destriers could have just about any appearance, but were rarely taller than 15.2 hands, or 62inches/157cm. They were capable of carrying heavily-armored knights (although knights in full plate mail rarely rode into battle and stayed on the horse the entire time - they tended to specialize at grouping up and killing a lot of footsoldiers swarming them at once and preventing breaks in defenses from being overwhelmed by an oncoming army; in the case of Edward the Black Prince, we have substantial evidence in the form of his surviving brigandine that a mounted soldier or knight was more likely to wear chainmail and brigandine with a tabard on their body with their arms, feet, and heads the most heavily armored in plate when they intended to fight on horseback, making them a little lighter and more maneuverable, but I may be waaay off base there because I'm thinking of more of Italian soldiers who used full plate and how they applied it in battle more than any other example) and wearing armor themselves.

Interestingly, the sex of a destrier was often chosen strategically. Stallions (horses that haven't been neutered) are more aggressive, and could both act as combatants on their own if their knight was dismounted or killed, but could give away an army's location if they were attempting to move stealthily. Stallions whinny and shriek a lot when they're horny or arguing with each other, which is most of the time.

Mares were often chosen by Muslim armies for being much less vocal, and therefore much more capable of stealth. Geldings (neutered males) were the preferred mounts of the Teutonic Knights, a Catholic military group, since they couldn't be stolen and used to breed more horses for the enemy army.

Coursers:

Coursers were the most common Medieval European warhorse. It's important to remember that in Medieval Europe, most armies were almost entirely comprised of common men - serfs subject to the will of their landlords, not far removed from slaves in many ways - who couldn't afford the highly-prized and expensive Destriers. Coursers were usually a bit lighter than Destriers, but were still strong enough to carry someone wearing armor. Coursers were also a little more utilitarian, because they were also sometimes used in hunting as well as warfare, so they had a valuable use outside of warfare that the owner could benefit from.

Rouncey:

A rouncey was an all-purpose horse that could be used for leisure and travel-riding as well as be trained for war. They were a lot more likely to be found on the farm of a serf or independent farmer of some kind, as they could fill a lot of different roles depending on what they were needed for. Their sizes weren't really important as much as their ability to get the job done.

It's also critical to remember that, when talking about warhorses, we're usually talking about eras long past. In general, thanks to resource availability and incredible advances in medicine, modern humans are significantly taller, and therefore heavier, than people from the European Medieval era and prior. While fatness was valued in many cultures for its suggestion of wealth, most working-class and serf-class people worked intensely physically-demanding daily lives just to maintain their own homes. They were a few inches shorter on average than we are today, had greater fluctuations in body fat distribution depending on how harsh or bountiful the harvest season had been and the season in which a war was taking place (the average person's weight would swing by 30lbs or more on average every year prior to the industrial era), and cavalry were usually chosen based upon skill in the saddle as well as physical size when considering the application of medium or heavy armor being placed on the horse's back and body.

[mako-neexu]

all guda related stuff in mahoyo collab

summoning as a highly complicated magecraft -> highly intact sense of self, magical energy, magical crest, sheer willpower........you who is light and equally dark....

casual comments/banter to the people they trust

guda getting shocked of all things at a talking bird www

gudako -> young girl that likes to jog every morning

gudao -> brat that likes small time candy store sweets

UGH the further emphasis on Servants being familiars that no one - not anyone should just use (exceptional...)

stressing the role of a 'Master'

'I also make mistakes a lot'

"I still don't see what's so special about summoning."

guda screams during summons? lmao kind of reminds me of mash with lord camelot

the way guda just refers to other people as 'that another human' www (i know 'person' is more accurate but to me it sounds like an alien in disguise calling someone as 'fellow human' ww)

Of COURSE guda knows how to stop their own pulse

disbelief. perhaps gut feeling. guda's perception of death to others. (i guess in the face of unnatural they would doubt it. but considering Id chapter, it would depend on the person and how theyre closest to?)

'more like tobimaru' 'more like soujyuurou' getting angry on behalf of someone without letting it show as well... i Understand.

THE TOPIC OF AGING KILLS ME. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ARE HESITANT????? dont yokuwakaranaina ME????

Don't face world-ending disasters alone

IM CRYING OH MY GOD IM NOT WELL "did you sleep well?" "i slept peacefully because the night was quiet and nice" AUGH GUDAAAAA😭

probably nothing of note but additional descriptor to guda is that they look like a college student as compared to previous descriptions of being 'high school student'.......

not being good at horror stories 🥹 reminds me of summer 5...

(unwell) i forget about guda's tactical prowess sometimes (lies) + guda's mention of the looking glass reminds me of berkercas valentines...

Subtle but gudao's reaction to beating down kashin is 'exhausted or relieved' meanwhile for dako she has the 'doubt' in her dialogue

subtle again but theres a hesitance to guda when asked about what the future looked like. but their second option is saying "eh there arent any flying cars anyways"

ahh okay now i know the crypto stuff guda said. its from gudao. is this MHX's influence lmao. gudao youre advertising crypto seriously? ww

guda casually joking about the times they astral project out of their body likes its nothing and mash is not normal either of course and treats it as regular occurrences. well, its regular but for a normal average person in the 21st century, it certainly isnt ww

GUDA ONCE AGAIN PROVING that despite being 'camera' for us players, they actively hide information and i am not over that fact. (knowing who the culprit is before most of the rest-)

guda not hesitating at ALL to rayshift back to 1999 where the end of the world was supposed to happen www

Ah!! To encourage kinomi in confessing, guda confessed their own out in the open!!!

A bakery with the one they love / A wish to reach the South Pole

You may not be able to have all of your dreams, your nights be peaceful, but I hope that you will still be rewarded at the end of your journey 😭

[writingforatwistedworld]

Bigger request that I will cut in smaller pieces so I can serve soup.

Self-aware au

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, murder, manipulation, implied imprisonment, death, cannibalism, obsession, possessiveness, unhealthy relationship

I do not take any responsibility for you reading this no matter which age group you are from!

Entering your world

Azul felt like an octopus out of water

When he had heard Jade yelling out a warning it was already too late and he was already falling down the stairs, a student he made a deal with not too long ago standing not too far, his hands lowering themselves from the pushing him

And now he was laying on the floor in a place he didn't recognize

Moonlight filtered through the window of the room and a sleeping figure almost completely covered by a blanket was illuminated by its light and the light from the phone they were laying next to, indicating that they fell asleep whilst using it

Did he teleport to a different place? Azul still felt the burning sensation of the hard stone of the stairs hitting his body so he might have done that out of desperation...

And desperate he was when you turned over in your sleep and he could see your face

And thus, the screaming began

Imagine his surprise, no his shock after seeing the person he had admired, sought after for so long laying in front of him in their pajamas

Although, it would be better to say you did lay in your pajamas because now you were jumping up in fear for your life

But after fearing that a madman had broken into your house life with Azul was pretty nice

Azul is a pretty good cook from running Mostro Lounge so him making dinner is like going to an expensive restaurant

There is that thing about him wanting to pay you rent though…

You see, Azul is not someone who wants to leech (haha, get it?) off of someone

So, of course, he will give you money… though it is might be way too much

How he gets it?

You know, just some side jobs… a few contracts… give him a month and he will have the cafe down the street because the owner used it in a contract with Azul

“But he doesn’t have the twins so there is no way that he is dangerous” oh darling, you have seen NOTHING

Yeah, Azul isn’t good in sports, Azul hates anything that has to do with it so there is no way he will get ripped and start beating people into submission (also, that is below his level) but my man has tactics

In fact, he could haggle you out of your house, your job, your family (basically everything you own) whilst you walk happily away from the deal with nothing but a single shell in your pocket

Soon he will propose that you simply stay at home whilst he earns the money

He is just so thankful that you took him in so let him repay you

That repayment might end in him making you dependent on him but who am I to tell you that? Surely you have already understood what he is tryi- why are you saying yes?

Say goodbye to freedom. Say goodbye to your friends and family. Say goodbye to privacy

Although Azul has built up (scarily fast) his life in this world that still doesn’t mean he feels very safe here

Everyone is a human and who knows what scientists would do to him once they find out that he is capable of magic

So he is clingy… you might have lost blood circulation to your lower body once or twice due to him being unseperatable from you

If someone somehow (don’t ask me how) got close to you though? Oh they are done

Remember that haggling thing? Yeah that but with less haggling and more “I force you into a contract and then you will meet your doom”

They do serve desserts at cafes… wouldn’t eat those at his though

You would be surprised if you knew how easy it is to hide human remains in pastries

[meekoftheweek]

**SPOILER WARNING FOR "SLAY THE PRINCESS"**

I know I said in my post from earlier that I didn't want to put anything out there that might be spoilers but I'm going more in depth because I can't just let these thoughts go away

the thing that resonated with me about this game and its characters and themes was the portrayal of gender roles and the way that they manifest in heterosexual relationships

now, I know that seems like weird connection to make and a bit out of left field but let me explain

we can start with a quick summary

you play as "The Long Quiet", who is told by his inner consciousness to seek out a princess, who we eventually discover is "The Shifting Mound"

Now, we have a man being told his only purpose has to come through a woman by his inner conscience, a predisposed expectation thrust upon our main character. Even worse, when attempting to leave this incredibly confined chain of events, the world collapses, unable to function without this key part of his destiny.

If we look at just the names of our two main characters, we can see that they fit nicely into the old fashioned problematic gender roles of men and women in a heterosexual relationship.

"The Long Quiet" never speaks a word throughout the game, his only form of communication is text based or inner monologue and although this may just be a tactic by the developers to make him more relatable to a wider audience I have trouble seeing this as non deliberate.

Although great progress has been made, men still struggle with talking openly and honestly about their feelings, dealing with the inner conflict of trying to tough things out and deal with their problems on their own and with their own experiences and wisdom instead of speaking up and asking for help. This is why the voices are such an important part of the story, they each represent a branch of possible advice for Quiet, a different perspective - commenting on what should happen next.

It is only through the use of the mirror that these inner voices dissapate, leaving us room to think about ourselves and the decisions we have made free of expectation and worry. It shows our true self and the consequences of our action, no good or bad biases.

Next, we get to "The Shifting Mound" dummed down and objectified as simply "The Princess" - already indicitve of the themes of pre assigned gender roles and ideas. We, as Quiet, in our very first run are encouraged to make a choice - kill or save the princess. It is through following the path of blind devotion and saving her without a second thought that we arrive at the path of The Smitten, a new voice that emerges within us that wants nothing more than to blindly love the princess for all of eternity. This kind of unhealthy attachment is directly addressed by the other voices and when we interact with the princess, she is shown to both physically and mentally simplify before our very eyes. In the mind of The Smitten, the princess is nothing more than a cardboard cutout, a vaugely womanly shaped being without an ounce of depth or meaning, and this is exactly what she becomes, through the conversation with her, she slowly begins to lose all of her meaning, loudly proclaiming after every question you ask that all she wants to do is make you happy - this eventually reaches a breaking point in which this is all she can say. becoming truly emotionless and void of any possible sign of humanity in order to fill our selfish idea of love.

this ties into her name and her role in the game - she's labelled as "The Shifting Mound" and depending on our choices - In another word "us", she will change her form and personailty in order to fit our expectations. This ties into the problematic old fashioned expectations of women to change themselves to fit the wants and needs of men, which cruelly removes them of the ability to genuinely express and be themselves. It is only through repeatedly exploring the different versions and facets of the princess that we eventually learn to truly love her, all of these parts must be accepted - the key to a healthy relationship being a mutual acceptance and understanding of both people involved - free of the societal expectations that bind the way we think and percieve one another.

this is why this game resonated so much with me. these beautiful themes of being more than your label and breaking free from the monotonous loop of holding yourself back in the case of Quiet or changing yourself in the case of Mound for the sake of your significant other I feel is a really important and valuable message, no mattter who you are.

anyway rant aside go play this game it's really good!

[ofbreathandflame-archive]

“feyre is making the sister that she deemed was so mentally ill that she could not support herself then complete the tasks of a high lady? like how are justifying that? you can't say "this person has a debilitating addiction, therefore, she needs to be locked into a home, escorted, and policed" and then argue that this is the same person who should complete tasks that should be the high lady's job.”

THIS PART 👏🏼

hi anon!!!

right - either way the intervention fails. you could make the argument that it functions as a parallel to a mental health facility or rehab-- but then, that doesn't justify the the inner circle's constant dependence on nesta when it comes to court duties, or their inability to pay for said duties. it also doesn't justify the use of magic against nesta, the demolishing of nesta's building, and the decision to lock nesta into a home with the man she has consistently said she wants nothing to do with.

we could argue that nesta deserves it, and the the inner circle has every right to "punish" nesta as they see fit -- but then we are acknowledging that the intervention fuctions as revenge, and that completely undermines any moral justification. because then we are admitting that interventions only productive value is shame, humiliation and control.

we could argue that feyre's "good interntions" trumps the abusive nature of the intervention -- but then we would just be validating tamlin's abuse or just abuse in general. it also doesn't justify the abuse feyre just passively allows to happen in her face (i.e. rhys threatening nesta, rhysand using magic to scare nesta into submission).

the intervention, the house of wind, the court stuff -- none it can really be adequately justified. not even by the standards established in the story.

its just abusive - and feyre, rhys and the entirety of the inner circle are the abusers in this scenario. simple as that. its like - its always 'high lady feyre this' but when she has to actually be held responsible for her strategy and tactics then she's "just a 19 year old girl." if we're arguing she's logical enough to run an entire court, then we should be regarding as an actual nuanced character. we cannot empower feyre when its cute and then reduce her down to uwuuu victim when she is wrong. very weird behavior is you ask me.

feyre didn't have to vote; she could told nesta straight up about her swords - she IS THE HIGH LADY, HER WORD IS LAW. that is the difference between feyre's decision to withold that information from nesta, and nesta's decision to withold the pregnancy from feyre. feyre is the one who orchestrated the lock up of her sister - she is the one who forced the training. she is the authoritative voice. she does not suggest the imprisonment or the training - she mandates it as high lady of the night court. she is the one saying her sister is too ill to function in the world.

[duhragonball]

Chainsaw Man ch. 48-52

Gosh, I wish that was me.

Last time, Chainsaw Man got suckered in by a cute girl named Reze, who turned out to be some sort of assassin with explosion powers. Now they're fighting it out, but Denji's usual strategy of "hit them with chainsaws" is kind of ineffective against someone who can repeatedly self-destruct and regenerate.

Parts of Reze's transformed body look like a mass of cables, maybe primacord. One of her fingers gets cut off and it's still stuck on Denji's chainsaw after their next exchange, and she uses it like a bomb. I'm not clear on how her powers work exactly, but she seems to be able to remove any part of her body and use it like a bomb, or just blow it up while it's still attached. Also, she seemed to have a duplicate body she used as a decoy, so good luck explaining that one.

The point here is that the explosions are just the beginning. Reze knows how to use her abilities in a very tactical way. One might assume that she tried to seduce Denji because she was too weak to challenge him directly, but we see here that this was never the case. She just wanted to try a subtle approach, but that was never the only option.

But fighting Denji in the open means you also have to deal with his comrades in Public Safety. Aki lops off one of her hands just when it seems like she's beaten Denji, and then she has to fight him for a while. Recall that Aki has a new power courtesy of Future Devil, which gives him a slight insight into the future. This allows him to anticipate his opponent's actions, although he doesn't mean he'll necessarily be quick enough to do anything about it. Still, it's enough to keep him alive while he duels with Reze, at least until...

Violence Fiend shows up to pull him out of harm's way. Violence Fiend tried to fight Reze earlier, but he got overwhelmed and ran away. I'm seeing this a lot with the Public Safety guys. They'll sometimes just turn tail and run, then come back when you least expect it and actually do something useful. Is that cowardly? I guess it depends on how you look at it, but if Violence had stood his ground earlier, he proabably would have gotten killed, and Aki would have died later on with no one to rescue him. These guys pick their spots. They're hunters, not warriors, so it's kind of ridiculous to expect them to stand and fight their prey when they're at a disadvantage.

Anyway, the key thing here is that Aki says this is the first time he ever wanted to be friends with a devil. So at long last, he's beginning to come around to the things Himeno wanted him to understand. Aki's grief, his craving for vengeance, and his absolute disdain for devils was working against his ability to fight and survive in this line of work. Now, as the story picks up steam and the battles become more desperate, he's learning to be more flexible about his attitudes.

Violence might have been enough to turn the tide here, except Reze has her own backup in the form of Typhoon Devil, who was also after Denji but they seemed to be working independently of each other. They crossed paths back in Chapter 43, and it was all awkward becuase they got in each other's way, and Reze told Typhoon to obey her for a while to make it up to her. So now she's calling him in.

I... feel like I should have more to say about Typhoon Devil being a pile of viscera with baby legs and a baby head with an exposed brain sticking out of its broken cranium, but... I kind of don't care? I don't know if I'm just desensitized at this point, or maybe the design really isn't that big a deal, but I feel like it should be.

Anway, Denji recovers once Beam and Angel feed him more blood. Notably, Angel Devil uses blood from a fatally wounded civilian, and he mercy-kills the lady before taking her corpse to Denji. That's important because Aki asked him to do something similar earlier in this arc, and Angel refused, more out of apathy than defiance.

Angel suggests that Chainsaw needs to step up his game, and asks Beam to tell them everything he knows about Chainsaw, since he seems to know him better than he lets on. Beam mentions that he used to use his chains to get around. I'm not sure what this is referring to, because it's like he's talking about the Chainsaw Devil before Denji got this power, and... well, that's just Pochita, right?

I think the implication here is that Pochita used to be a much more fearsome creature before he met Denji, and Beam might be the only one who remembers this. Anyway, I think it's pretty clear that he was talking about Denji swinging around and using his chains like Spider-Man webbing, but Denji's an idiot so he puts the chain in Beam's mouth and rides him through the air like a horse.

But it does look pretty awesome, so maybe he's got the right idea, I dunno. Denji doesn't tell me how to do my job, so I shouldn't tell him how to do his.

During all of this, Typhoon Devil produces a storm, and Angel Devil is nearly carried away by the high winds. Aki catches him, but can barely hold on, and Angel's like "Just let me go, I sort of want to die anyway, it's cool."

But Aki refuses to give up, so he grabs Angel by the hand, which is a really bad idea, because Angel's touch will automatically drain a human's life span. That brief contact alone took two months off the time Aki has left, but it was the only way to save Angel. Angel asks him why, and Aki tells him that he's seen too many people die already, and if Angel really does have a death wish, then he should make sure to die while Aki's not around to stop it.

Okay! Right there, Aki finally started to turn this around. He's actually having a character moment with Angel, and growing as a person. He's matured, but more importantly, he's rubbed off on Angel a little. Angel's actually cooperating without Aki around to force him to, and Angel actually seems to care about other people around him. That's because of Aki.

And this is a good thing. I'm still not very high on Aki right now, but at least he's finally reached a threshold where he feels like more than just a bystander. His personality is still "I don't want people to die" and "I want revenge on the bad guy", which is pretty flat, but at least he's having an impact on the plot now.

Back to Chainsaw Man, the reason this storm kicked up is because Typhoon's trying to defend himself (and Reze) from Denji. Earlier, Denji managed to cut off one of Reze's legs, and Typhoon spit some of his blood at her to help her recover, but now Typhoon's on his own while he waits for her to heal. The thing is, Typhoon's so big, and Beam is so agile in the air that Denji can hit him with ease.

So Typhoon goes down, and then Reze divekicks Beam to take him out of the fight, so we're back to Reze vs. Denji. Only this time, Denji's figured something out. When she blows up one of his arms...

... he shoots out chains from his stumps, and attacks her that way.

He tangles her up and wraps them both together, then falls off whatever they're standing on and they fall into the ocean. Apparently Reze can't detonate underwater, although I'm not sure how Denji would know that.

And then, Reze wakes up on the beach. Since Beam is there too, I guess he pulled them both up to the surface. Reze is surprised that Denji didn't kill her, but he explains that he would have regretted it, so he spared her.

He thinks there's still something between them, even though she keeps insisting that she was faking it the whole time. But if she was so determined to kill him, why didn't she finish him off at the school when she had the chance?

Denji still can't quite believe there was nothing between them, so she briefly feigns affection again, then breaks his neck to incapacitate him. Denji can recover from this, but he can't move until he does. Anyway, he tells Reze he'll see her at the cafe today at noon.

Except she doesn't show up. I'm not sure why he thought she would. I guess it's just wishful thinking? Someone does arrive, though...

And it's Power, returning to duty after her blood-draining procedure. She's back, and she tracked Denji down by his scent. When she sees the flowers, she tries to take them for herself. It's not clear that she plans to eat the flowers, but that's what Denji does, so I just assumed she had the same idea.

So what did happen to Reze? Well, she tries to flee to... somewhere? Maybe she's headed back to that cafe to try to take one more crack at Denji? All that matters is that a bunch of rats follow her into an alley and they form a big rat pile which becomes...

Makima? So she has rat power? Whatever.

I should explain this thing she says about the country mouse. You know the Aesop's Fable about the town and country mice, and each of them envies the other's lifestyle until they try to live there and find out it's not so great. In this arc, Reze brings it up to Denji, and Angel talks about it in a separate scene. It... kind of went over my head, but the characters seem to agree that being a Town Mouse is like being in the Public Safety scene, and being a Country Mouse is like living a more tranquil, normal life as a civilian. Denji is team Town because he likes the excitement, while Angel is Team Country because he hates working for Public Safety. Reze said she was Team Country, but I think that was just to convince Denji to run away with her so she could murder him.

Anyway, Makima apparently heard their conversation, as indicated by her line that she agrees with Reze about Country Mice. But Makima likes it because she has a friend on a farm, and every fall she goes down to help him exterminate all the mice in the field before winter sets in. This involves digging holes to get them out of their burrows so the dogs can chase them down. Makima finds this "calming".

The point I think she's making is that the country life isn't all that different from the work she does in Public Safety, sending her "dogs" to find and kill "mice" like Reze.

Reze tries to fight Makima, but she didn't count on Angel Devil throwing spears down at her from the roof. I guess Reze might be kept alive after this, but this whole scene reads like an execution. Reze took her shot and missed, and now Makima is eliminating her before she can try again. That's a shame, because I really enjoyed Reze's whole run here, and I'd be down for more of the same.

Anway, Makima originally ordered Angel and Aki to be here together, but Angel came alone, and Makima realizes that Angel didn't want Aki to be involved with killing a girl like this. Makima praises Angel's kindness, and yeah, some genuine character development here thanks to Aki. Nice stuff.

That last shot of the mouse kind of bugs me, because I think the town mouse/country mouse was meant to be deeper than I'm able to understand. The thing is, the fable was never about which side you'd prefer. The point of the story is that you tend to take your own circumstances for granted, and assume that some other guy with a different way of life has it better. And then you step into that way of life and realize it's not all it's cracked up to be. You're going to have problems no matter where you go, because in the end you're still a mouse.

Although, the mice and rats in this story have it pretty good when you think about it. The devils in this story are only after humans and human blood. Sure, Power ate a bear, and she's probably not the only one to go after animals, but who'd waste time picking on mice? How much blood can they have? No, the mice will go on no matter how this plays out. Makima can exterminate them in her friend's farm, but they come back every year, and the mice in Tokyo aren't going away anytime soon. They'll be around long after the devils and hunters are all dead.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Sorry pls ignore my last ask BPP. Your point about Seven being the 'Dynamite' equivalent in solo era is a good one and explains the treatment it got. After the BB article I also now understand why BH dropped LC. If BB believed the LC record was 'tainted' with Chinese cash and BH never had that 'Dynamite' promotion plan for it, everything that's happened makes sense. But it still leaves a nasty taste in my mouth. I can't wash it out. Are we now at the mercy of BB's whims? Also don't you find the support for Seven excessive? Is the elimination of direct to consumer sales enough to explain that kind of support to keep it number 1? I'm just trying to understand how the company is thinking about things without victimizing the members. They all seem to be still working with purpose so I feel they don't feel shortchanged, but from the outside looking inside it doesn't feel fair.

*

Ask 2:

Hi BPP,

Re: bb article

1. Do you think there will be additional changes coming, making sales even less relevant for bb charts?

2. I absolutely hate that it is again Jimin that takes the brunt of all this bulshit, I really do. He doesnt deserve this at all. But he is strong, he will be OK. That being said, its making me really upset IRL, so I will have to do some me time.

3. I would be interested to know your outlook on BB as a whole when it comes to BTS and their future in US market (if you have talked about this pls refer me to the post)

My opinion is, that while BB is paramount when it comes to big awards season, eventually BB and the awards themselves serve as a kind of promotion, to validate the artist to their (potential) fanbase, keep them invested etc. BTS guys do all of that on their own, with their music, personalities and lyrics. So going forward, if they dont chart as much, dont win as much... It will not matter in the long run. Their fan base is so solid that I trully believe they will have no problem selling multiple stadium stops 25 years from now. Easily.

There will be a significant fandom fall off, when all the people who are here for bragging rights lose their interest. And that is a good thing... But the people who will stay, who love the guys for who they are and for their art, those whose love does not depend on how many grammy noms or BB H100 they recieve... These people will stay and buy the tickets. And their numbers will still be enourmous. Enviable. More than the majority of the western industry plants can only dream of.

Rant over. Have a good weekend

*

Ask 3:

The latest Billboard discussion is disheartening, but the NYT article description of U.S. conservatives aping the tactics of Swifties and BTS fans to get their nefarious messaging across is even more so. Have we opened the gate for the Trumpsters of the world?

I was struck by this partvof the original question to you"

'... figure out a way to truly determine which songs are most popular (whatever that even means anymore)....'

So, how can we ever know what is truly popular? Are fervent fans willing to devote time and resources to get their fave to the top really the best arbiters? Even if they number in the millions, we are still looking at support that is far deeper than it is wide.

I mean, better than the suits deciding, I guess? Or is it just another group--this one outside of the target country--imposing their agenda on the population? One has the goal of making money; the other of winning a fan war.

So, how do we ascertain what is truly popular with the much-vaunted GP? Or doesn't it matter?

***

I've said many times on this blog that I'm not a writer, and that English isn't my first language, so I suppose it's unsurprising that despite my efforts putting my thoughts to paper/Tumblr, I'm still unable to fully communicate it in a way people understand right away, to eliminate/answer a lot of questions that I believe should be clear to infer from what I've written before. So rather than write a massive post like before where my key points could get lost, I'll pick out key questions from your asks and give fairly brief answers to each one. I'll work my way from the top, down.

Hi Anon(s),

Select answers below:

"Also don't you find the support for Seven excessive? Is the elimination of direct to consumer sales enough to explain that kind of support to keep it number 1?"

I think the results speak for itself. Dynamite and the PET got what is easily the biggest support any BTS release had gotten to date at the time - all of it tailored to mirror how American labels promoted their tracks, *and* the fandom had D2C sales buttressing it as the primary support mechanism. Like, please read that sentence again and think about what it means. Sales are the easiest and most transparent way for the fandom to influence charts, and so was always preferred for ARMY. Even if you weren't in the fandom then, understand it's impossible to overstate how much D2C sales mattered. With that now out of the question, everything we're seeing for Seven for me feels like a given, especially after the Billboard article.

"Do you think there will be additional changes coming, making sales even less relevant for bb charts?"

Yes. But not 'less relevant' in a sense, more like differentiated and treated as its own thing, perhaps in a separate chart.

"I would be interested to know your outlook on BB as a whole when it comes to BTS and their future in US market (if you have talked about this pls refer me to the post)"

This probably requires its own post but the long-short of it is: just like Ticketmaster, Billboard is only one arm of one of the largest private monopolies in the US entertainment market - PMC, and as such they serve as gatekeepers of sorts. Their interest in BTS (and k-pop by extension) lies primarily in how they can profit off the group/fandom, which so far BigHit and ARMY have created very limited avenues for. BigHit's strategy until now has been to expand BTS's reach without relying on the PMC apparatus, using it only for select releases that are explicitly tailored for it e.g. Seven and PET. While I don't think this strategy will change dramatically, every change from BB is to force more compliance with their apparatus. BTS will continue facing handicaps from PMC so long as BigHit continues limiting how PMC can profit from BTS for each release. (This sentence makes sense in my head but if it's not clear, please let me know.)

*

"Have we opened the gate for the Trumpsters of the world?"

Well, yeah. But ARMYs can't take all the credit. After all, ARMYs are only doing what the Bey Hive and Swifties have been doing for almost a decade with none of the scrutiny. BTS, more than any other group, actually has the absolute numbers in demand and grassroots support to justify it as they're comparable to the afore-mentioned artists, proven by their concert showings not just in the US but worldwide, as far back as 2018. People only started paying attention to ARMYs' movements because BTS didn't look like the sorts of people they expected to see at the top of the charts. Everybody took notice, including a political faction in the US that in recent years has moved more aggressively into the entertainment sphere to influence culture, such as Ben Shapiro's entertainment empire, movies like Sound of Freedom topping box office charts, and conservative country singers pushing Reagan-esque talking points to the top of music charts. So it's basically the result of timing and opportunity.

"So, how can we ever know what is truly popular? Are fervent fans willing to devote time and resources to get their fave to the top really the best arbiters? ... how do we ascertain what is truly popular with the much-vaunted GP?"

I've talked about this before I think. You can find my views on it in my Masterlist, and I've linked the post here.

*

People sent in more asks on BB but I've since lost interest in this topic and will post my responses when I feel like it, much later, using the same format I've used to answer the asks above. The truth is that while I understand why many people feel like everything that's happened so far with Seven and Jimin is unfair, I think a lot of the discourse is awfully reductive, actually does a disservice to Jimin and BTS, and that there's a much bigger picture here that's more consistent with how BTS has operated for the last 10 years.

This is probably not the best analogy, but one way I think of BTS is like a Swiss army knife, with each member being a separate tool. And that at different points, in various markets, BigHit and BTS are testing various approaches to expand their reach while aiming to maintain the market share they've gotten so far. The group has always had projects they release that have more artistic merit and cache, versus projects made by all appearances to be purely for commercial purposes to expand the reach of the group. For example, consider how BigHit promoted Butter/Permission to Dance, compared to the BE album, or how Seven was created and promoted relative to Indigo. To go back in even further in previous years, I remember how BTS appeared to center Jimin in Blood, Sweat & Tears era to build out his and their presence in Korea, and Taehyung in DNA era where his and BTS's presence in China ballooned in 2017.

While in the solo era some people feel like every accomplishment remains solely with individual members, I feel everything serves only one purpose: to further establish the group. Because by BTS's own words, they all have their individual ambitions, they've always had that and each member is aggressively competitive on that note, but they've each all said that their priority remains the group. Not everybody likes that, not everybody believes them when they say it, but the good thing with BTS is that they plan in multi-year stints and time always reveals what the facts of the matter are. We're only one year into Chapter 2, and while certain parts of the fandom are treating their solo debut albums as the be all and end all, I don't think there's anything to suggest this perspective lines up with the reality of how BTS has behaved for the last 10 years. I could be wrong, but either way we're just going to have to wait and see. In the meantime, I believe there's significant artistic merit in what the guys are putting out in Chapter 2, that I hope isn't lost in the noise. The fandom should do a better job of bringing the attention back to this, rather than a tunnel-vision on performance metrics that only tell half of the story.

[paragonrobits]

so some unhappy news; apparently my living situation is abruptly WAY more uncertain than I thought.

A couple days ago, after spending thanksgiving at my dad's place, he apparently messaged my brother and told him that he and his wife (who have been married for quite a long time, since I was living on the street with my mom) are getting a divorce and they can't afford to pay for our apartment, which until this point had been mostly paid for by my monthly income plus a few hundred dollars from them. Evidentally they can't or won't make our rent payment for next month; at the moment its still unclear.

He's telling my brother to get a job, and my brother is trying to explain to him that he has been trying but even if he got one right now he wouldn't get a paycheck in time to make rent.

So, that's the broad strokes. Some more specific wrinkles are here.

Right before we left, we spent about a night with them and things were fine. No one was arguing and things were perfectly okay, so I have no idea why this suddenly came up. Indeed, the previous night my dad's wife was talking to my brother about how they could only afford to pay until May of next year, which was simply went the lease ended and I have NO IDEA what is going on. Did things abruptly change over the SINGLE NIGHT since then??

We're not sure if this is genuine or if they're just trying to do scare tactics to spook my brother into job hunting and take up a job that he really doesn't want to do or is mentally distressing for him. For what its worth I've seen posts on my dad's facebook about feeling alone so it probably IS genuine, to some degree, but he's not answering any comments and is being frustratingly vague.

My brother made a facebook post mentioning the situation (though not the divorce) in vague terms and asked for help from family to host us. My dad immediately asked him to take it down and just said 'we'll discuss it later' so I have no idea what's going on. I'm ASSUMING he'll make some kind of arrangement but in the short term i have no idea what's going on or what we will end up doing. Mostly I'm just getting extremely incensed about him not saying anything until the last minute, as its the 26th as I write this and rent is due on the 1st or 3rd of the month (probably the 1st).

I think my best chance in the short term is first trying to find a friend of my brother's or family willing to at least hold onto our stuff, since we recently got more of our stuff in here right before this went down and we need some place to store it all. Then we need to find family to host us for the interim and figure things out from there, and it would probably be a good idea to get onto Section 8 for the time being, though that will take time to process if they even accept me, let alone my brother as well.

Mostly worried about my cat. While I am greatly concerned for my computer, which was a gift from my brother's friend I cannot replace (both of our computers were made with high grade things that we certainly couldn't get for ourselves) but while we can't carry them around with us, it shouldn't be hard to find someone to hold onto them for us. I'm more concerned about my cat's well being, since I refuse to be separated from her or given the choice of surrendering her. I'm more concerned for her than anything else.

Mostly just. What the fuck. Everything seemed fine before we left; no one was arguing, everyone was getting along, my dad's step-kids are all there and dependent on him (my oldest step-brother's wife is due to have a baby some time this coming month) and I don't have any idea why they're planning on separating. Just. WHAT THE FUCK.

If this is an elaborate mind game I am going to be pissed, if you wanted to tell my brother that you can't afford to keep paying for this apartment that's fine, just SAY SO. If its not then they're making some incredibly awful life decisions impacting other people.

if I'm not being particularly chatty for a while this is the reason why, things are getting complicated!!

[tavtiers]

I'm just gonna put a first in here, and if you replied I might put more asks if that's ok.

The leader of 10 players playing a modded SBURB (it still functions the same, only with more OP and separated stuff) is a Rogue of Heart, and a Prospitan. He is someone cheerful and inventive, although he wants safety for everyone and making sure they don't die. He likes inventing, wishing to fly as an aspiring pilot, and Bill Nye, but he is clumsy and prone to too much emotion.

I want to figure out what planet will he get, its quest and denizen, and how will he die in his quest bed (me thinks he's one of the last to die there)

The Rogue of Heart would quest on a planet similar to the Land of Cubes [Rogue] and Heart [Aspect]. An example would be the Land of Black Boxes and Elixirs. An explanation of planet naming conventions can be found here.

For this character, Black Boxes could be the black box flight recorders found in airplanes. Perhaps there are the wreckages of downed planes littering his planet, and the black boxes they contain must be deciphered. Elixirs could pertain to buildings shaped like beakers. The buildings are filled with various chemicals that must be combined to create potions that can influence emotion.

For a quest, the consorts of his planet should be negatively affected by his inverse classpect, the Knight of Mind. Perhaps the consorts were once embroiled in aerial warfare. Now that the battle is over, their civilization remains that of hardened warriors. They are beings of pure logic who obsess over perfecting battle tactics in preparation for the next conflict, with no time for love or play. As the Rogue of Heart, your character must decipher the black boxes to find where the chemical buildings are located. Then, he must sneak into the buildings to steal vials of the chemicals that can be used to mix emotion potions. Once he has created potions of happiness and love, he will need to distribute them amongst the consorts in order to bring passion back to their civilization and keep them from starting another war.

Two possible gods, or denizens, to reign over his planet would be Aphrodite (Goddess of Love) or Yaldabaoth (Trapper of Souls). Other Heart aspect denizens can be found here.

For your character, Euphrosyne (Goddess of Good Cheer) might be a good option.

When the Rogue of Heart completes his planet quests and dies on his quest bed, he would rise to ascension on the wings of ladybugs (symbols of love). A list of soul animals can be found here.

As for how he would die on his quest bed, that is dependent on the plot you develop. That being said, I don't have much I can suggest for you. Keep in mind who he is influenced by. Has a troll pushed him into dying on his quest bed? Has he followed all his quests to the letter and been guided there naturally? Or has he explored his planet aimlessly and stumbled across it? Think about if he is the type of character who would be comfortable taking his own life, without knowing the full consequences. Or does he have an enemy who will take it for him?

Hope this helps!

[emptymanuscript]

You know, I generally simply assume FOX is lying. But this I could believe. So I checked. It's actually a regurgitation of this article by Insider.

In interviews with Insider, founders and investors acknowledge privately that they are looking to Twitter as a case study of efficiency. (All spoke on the condition of anonymity, to avoid a backlash from their employees.) If Musk can run his social network on half of its previous staff, they say, perhaps their companies can, too. "It's not a bad look to make the tough call, because everyone is making the tough call," says the founder of a large startup whose investors are urging him to cut the fat and slow hiring. "Elon is the most extreme example of that so far, but this is what a lot of smart companies are doing."

And that's pretty much why you need to unionize in a nutshell. Execs can watch someone have one of the most epic meltdowns into entitled man-child in history and ask, 'but is he right, though?'

When how good you have it depends on one person's whims, one person's whims, however stupid and unreasonable become the floor you stand on.

Plus, reasonableness is a very movable target these days.

It's also not like the execs aren't pooling their work.

The founder who is pushing to increase output, for instance, says he couldn't pull off Musk's brutal tactics without inciting a revolt. 

But the good news, he adds, is that he may not have to. The reason? As long as his employees see what Musk is doing at Twitter, they'll be too afraid to push back against more work and fewer benefits. Musk's boldness, the founder says, "just creates a higher bar." Which is another way of saying that the kind of sweeping reset that Musk is implementing at Twitter could soon be the new normal for the rest of Silicon Valley.

Just ugh.

[colorcodedbeanies]

S1E3-"And the Bag's in the River"

The last 12 hours have been a fever dream so I feel I really understand what its like to be Domingo

TW: Racism, description of gore, Nazi mention, discussion of strangulation.

Credit to their props team or whoever that wet meat is the wettest and the meatiest.

The first time through this episode I assumed the Gretchen flashback was Walt attempting to disassociate from his actions via chemistry (in parallel to Jesse's "its just a bunch of meat!" last episode). With the context of the closing flashback though I think this entire episode is about Walt really confronting the spectre of his own mortality. This is something that influences his conversation with Krazy-8 and his confession to Skyler at the end of this episode

Notably this is probably the only time Walt thinks of Emilio as "human" even if by proxy. I find it interesting that the visual language is suggesting the gun as functionally a part of Emilio's body. When Walt thinks about calcium, he picks up a fragment of his jawbone. When he thinks about iron, he picks up the remains of the gun. Whether its the worldview of Walt or the show, the violence is so much a part of Emilio that it may as well be a part of his chemical composition

"Please don't say yo. You can't know how much I hate that." That theme of language policing is back. Sure, Skyler on a literal level is associating it with a specific bad interpersonal interaction she had. But its also a mom clamping down on how her son talks because she doesn't want him to sound like a criminal. Gonna be a bit of a theme with Junior in this episode.

This episode simultaneously establishes that everyone in the Schrader-White cluster has both used pot and is also a massive freak about it. To be clear, there might be a lens through which SOME of Marie's concern is merited. As I understand it pot is probably not good for a 17 year old. But there's a certain ritualization to the denial of using pot. Skyler used it, and yet asks Marie about it like she was the known pothead in the family. Marie sputters about MAYBE having sampled it, reflects almost nostalgically on its effects, and then immediately freaks out about Junior's proximity to it. Hank admits to indulging to deal with some unspecified childhood baggage, but still considers taking his nephew out to ogle addicts in order to scare him straight a justified tactic. Its perhaps best summed up in Marie and Hank's phonecall. "Autopsy of a pot overdose? C'mon." Deep down all of them know it doesn't have to be a big deal. But we return to that inherent suspicion and distrust. Everyone's a junkie except for me. I'm a sensible, reasonable adult who can be trusted with what substances I indulge in. After all, "I'm extremely clean". Everyone else though, might be subject to an unbecoming dependence.

We have two cases of "everyone else" humanizing themselves. The first is Domingo, who startles Walt with both his ability to reason and to connect. Krazy-8 shatters his image as benevolent by pointing out that keeping him chained up in a basement while they debate was to do with him is frankly a lot more cruel and unusual. He's also able to read Walt extremely easily, picking up his discomfort, teasing out his motivations, and even connecting with him on an interpersonal level.

The other example of this is poor Wendy. Everything about that scene is skin-crawling. Hank dehumanizes her in every way a person can be dehumanized, sexualizing her in a way that doesn't read even slightly as a joke and functionally treating her like an animal. He barks at her to come, to stay, to speak, and then has Junior ogle her teeth before battering her with questions. She's not a passive recipient of his abuse (though who could blame her if she was). While she's clearly used to a fair amount of rough treatment, she still reacts when something crosses a line ("hey I'm not doing him, he's a kid!") and even gets a little of her own back ("why, you got some?"). Wendy isn't doing anything remotely criminal that Hank can see. She's not soliciting, not holding drugs on her, not anything. She's just going about her day. However, for people in her class crime is no longer something you do, its what you are. Hank clearly feels entitled to harass her and threaten her even off the clock. But Wendy lets them know she can see them as much as they can see her, calling out both the inappropriateness of Junior's presence and Hank's fishing. Hank doesn't get the neat horror story about a fall from grace that he wants ("Tell my friend here how you got started. Probably used to be, what? Like a Girl Scout, or sang in the church choir?"). Instead he gets an interaction that not only exposes what a dickbag he is, but that will come back to bite him later.

After a looney tunes ass chase through the house we get the first connection of Walt with Nazis with Jesse's heil Hitler bitch. Primarily I bring it up only because its going to get freakishly poignant in a few seasons but I do think it's worth noting: Jesse's not a good arguer even when he's in the right. He's too inexperienced to understand what's actually wrong with Walt and it enables Walt to perpetually paint him as just an immature child throwing tantrums.

One last note about the Wendy scene before I dive into Domingo's last moments. Hank jumps in to "defend" Junior from the accusation of being disabled. The smile he gives him feels like its meant to be inclusive. Don't worry buddy I won't let this lesser than try to pull you out of the in-group. Have to wonder how much of Junior's childhood he spent with polite euphemisms about his condition.

The pro/con list functionally is its own analysis. The con side is all phrased in absolutes. "Murder is wrong", and more specifically, "YOU are not a murderer". This is factually inaccurate (by this point Walt has killed Emilio and attempted to kill Domingo), but it returns to that idea of criminal as a class rather than an action that I talked about. The Schrader-Whites aren't junkies, they're nice normal people who have once or twice indulged. Walt isn't a murderer, he's a man who's only ever done what he has to for his family! There's a resistance to seeing actions as a reflection of identity, because to do so is to admit the separation between Walt, Jesse, and Domingo is a matter of degrees, not some fundamental aspect of their character.

Domingo plays into this as well, reassuring Walt that he's not cut out for this. HE'S not a cold blooded murderer...he's just a good man, a family man caught way over his head. Its fitting his name means Sunday, because in essence he offers as Walt's confessional priest. He hears his sins, his fears, his secrets, and then offers him the path to redemption.

Walt's mistake here is underestimating how little reason Krazy-8 has to sincerely believe this of him. The plate that give Domingo his weapon is broken over Emilio's bloodstain. He's been held hostage, sick and in pain from the toxic gasses, stuck shitting in a bucket for days on end while Walt quibbles about his mortal soul. I don't want to posture Krazy-8 as some innocent. But the lie works because it feeds Walt's self-perception as the good normal man caught up in all this, and because Walt is very bad at imagining the inner worlds of the people he works with. Whether as a cashier at his father's furniture store or as the gunwielding drug lord or the captive in the basement, to Walt Domingo is a background element to be ignored and puzzled over, not a thinking person with intentions.

He majored in Business Administration at UNM. This surprises Walt, another challenge to his equivocating between education and moral character.

I like that its left a little ambiguous as to whether Domingo was still planning to stab Walter when he came down, or if he reached for it after noticing Walt's strange behavior. The man with lung cancer chokes his first hands on victim.

Final somewhat anti-climactic note: "Its a culture in decline...you people used to be conquistadores" NO HANK THEY DIDN'T.

Fascinating that I can do all this analysis and then it just spells itself out with "It looks like meth but its too damn white."

[cobwebcorner]

Perhaps a continuation of weskennedy "you call this a date" but with prompt 4?

Hilarious if Wesker took Leon's advice and grabbed the one flower the government agent was allergic to.

Hmmm well it isn’t Valentine’s Day anymore, but I’ll give you this one because it’s a funny idea.

“Did you really think it would be that easy?” Leon stiffened at the sight of Wesker looming in his doorway. “I should have known you only caved so easily because you knew the target no longer had anything of value,” Wesker continued.

He glided into the room proper, prompting Leon to back off uneasily. He only had his knife on him, and Wesker had his hand behind his back--almost definitely hiding a gun.

“No idea what you’re talking about,” Leon said. “Kozak’s files. Where have you hidden them?”

Leon cased the room from the corner of his eye, rapid-fire working out and discarding plans to use the nearby furniture against his opponent. He’d heard Wesker was superhumanly fast and strong, but maybe if Leon could just catch him off guard…

“You’re being awfully forward,” he playfully scolded, to buy himself time. “Didn’t I tell you--”

He cut off then because Wesker was moving, pulling the arm out from behind his back, and movement meant threat so strongly in Leon’s mind that he almost dove for cover before his eyes registered that Wesker was not carrying a gun. He had just pulled a bunch of velvety roses out and thrust them under Leon’s nose.

Leon took the bouquet without even thinking about it. He stared in disbelief at the flowers in his hands. The roses were a red so dark they verged on purple, intermingled with some little white flowers, and the stems were wrapped neatly in green plastic. It was exactly the kind of bouquet he would expect a man who always wore black to pick out.

Roses. Of course it was roses. An ominous little tickle started up in Leon’s nose.

“Flowers. As requested,” Wesker said. He was smirking. “Did you grab this from the stand downstairs?” Leon asked. “I haven’t bought flowers for anyone since the 80s. You should feel flattered.” “That depends. Are they going to grow thorn teeth and crush my skull in their maw?” “Such paranoia. They’re perfectly ordinary plants.” “Ah.” Pity, Leon thought, that ominous tickle working its way down his nose to his throat. “I’ve got to hand it to you, I had you figured wrong. Never imagined you would actually get me flowers,” Leon said. “Perhaps I’m considering a new set of interrogation tactics, since last time worked out so well.”

Wesker had slid into his personal space at some point and seemed perfectly happy to lounge there, uncomfortably close. Leon realized that he really ought to be backing off and drawing his knife. It was just hard to get his brain and body cooperating when the other man was looking at him like that.

The tickle evolved into harsh scratching at all the delicate soft tissues of his nose and throat. This was not helping his distraction. “It’ll take more than a kiss to make me give you anything,” Leon told him.

“Then it’s a good thing I had more than kissing in mind.” His hand found Leon’s jaw, applying gentle pressure. “If you’re good for me, I can be very good for y--”

He couldn’t hold it anymore. Leon lurched forward in a full-body sneeze, the stream of air and snot narrowly missing Wesker’s shoulder but still disrupting his evil seduction attempt. There was a moment when the two men stared at each other, Wesker looking cross and Leon almost sheepish.

“Is this a bad time to tell you I’m allergic to roses?” Leon asked. Wesker let out a very put-upon sigh, seized the bouquet, and tossed it out the open window.

“Hey,” Leon protested, weakly putting out a hand. That had been a really pretty bouquet. Even if it was making him sneeze. Usually, if he kept enough distance between himself and rose flowers, he could enjoy them without going into a fit. If Wesker hadn’t decided that the best way to deliver flowers was to shove them in someone’s face, he would be fine right now.

Another sneeze hit him, and then another, because Leon usually sneezed in clusters. The whole time he spent half bent over, torso twisted to one side so he didn’t cover Wesker in snot, his hair bouncing off Wesker’s elbow.

“Do you need some antihistamines before we can continue?” Wesker asked dryly.

“I’m--ah, sorry.” Another sneeze. “This could go on for a couple hours.” Wesker pulled away from him.

“Never mind, I already have what I need,” he grumbled. “Wh--then why were you trying to seduce the files off of me?” Wesker shot him a look like he was being dull on purpose. Oh. Huh. Leon watched Wesker hike a boot up on to the windowsill, feeling suddenly very off balance.

“Perhaps you want to request a specific flower for next time?”

Wesker asked. “One that won’t trigger an allergic response?”

Leon was almost positive Wesker was being sarcastic. This did not stop him from mentally scraping through the short list of flowers he could name. “I like daffodils.” The thin mouth twitched. Wesker turned away and followed the bouquet out the window with a graceful lunge. Now alone, Leon let himself melt into the wall and sniffle miserably. No kiss this time, and no flowers. Stupid allergies.

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Breaking Down the Comics: Disguises

Moon Knight, Issue # 19: Assault on Island Strange

We continue the fight! 

And he looks a little tattered there in the cover. Which... You learn that the more beat up gets the better the fight. He fights the best when he's just obliterated. 

In fact, that's a very familiar pose... Any time they want to tear him up a bit, they always rip up the knee and thigh.

The story opens with an airstrip in Lebanon where terrorist recruits are meeting up. 

Moon Knight crashes the party. 

He glides in, easily mistaken as a ghost (a common theme in early comics). They shoot at him, terrified. 

"This is the closest I've ever come to a kamikaze glide... No doubt about that... But time was running out and I coudn't figure out any other option!" - Moon Knight demonstrating his lack of forethought into his own safety. 

He is trying to figure out how to get on the plane that will take the recruits to Nimrod Strange's island so he can infiltrate it. 

Now.... He could have EASILY snuck his way in as Marc Spector. A well known Merc in the field with brutal and effective tactics.... But Marc is also not careful about his 'secret' identity as Moon Knight and his name IS starting to make its way through the circles. 

But then we wouldn’t have this lovely display of Moon Knight’s sense of humor/wit. 

Moon Knight takes care of the last of the guards then runs to the side where he meets up with Frenchie and Marlene. 

He instructs them to "give me Spector's Clothes." 

Marlene tries to warn him about something but Marc snaps that he has no time and starts to change. He assumes a fake ID (with a Lockle's mustache and some glasses). 

He assumes the I.D. of "Yitzak Topol". That's an interesting choice in name.... 

He, Marlene, and Frenchie are posing as Revolutionaries with "colorful and checkered pasts. 

They gather with the other recruits in the back of a truck before the guards return. 

One of the guards remarks that he didn't see a 'ghost' but a woman! That's what Marlene was trying to warn him about. 

The guards are too concerned about arguing amongst themselves and get in the truck. 

They eventually board a plane after having their credentials checked. They have papers given to them from the government agency that they met up with in Jerusalem in the last issue. 

Meanwhile, a well armed ship stays just outside the island's patrol range. It's the government people that sent Marc and friends in. 

The men wait anxiously and argue. One is upset about sending in civilians, one tries to reassure the others that Marc knows what he's doing. 

The first brings up the fact that Marc Spector has worked both sides of the field, both good and bad depending on who paid the best. 

The second assures them that Marc was friends with their top man, who was killed by Nimrod's men. 

The first is now double worried about Marc going in full of emotions and an eye for revenge. 

Back on the island, Nimrod Strange goes to greet the new recruits. He is, as always, flanked by his three lady bodyguards. 

He comments again that his blond one is getting too slow and needs to be replaced. 

Nimrod looks over the recruits and asks who they are and their past political affiliations. 

Marlene gives her cover story and Nimrod notes that she fits the bill to be his new body guard. 

He decides to test her and sicks his three ladies against her. 

Now this is where respect for Marlene comes from. She's always shown skill in protecting herself. Moon Knight has never had to 'rescue' this damsel. She always ends up saving him. 

She was trained with guns when she helped her father on dangerous digs. She learned self defense and then Steven insisted that she learn how to fight. She's parried with Marc countless times and she's also quite smart. 

Marlene makes quick work of her attacker and passes the test. She's now a personal bodyguard for Nimrod. 

One might imagine that the replaced bodyguard is quite bitter. 

She notes Marc and Frenchie talking together and taking interest in Marlene. She's instantly suspicious. 

Meanwhile, Nimrod reveals to Marlene that he has a new position for himself too. He has a new outfit full of weapons and the likes and calls himself "Arsenal". 

He demonstrates his new killing tools. He has the sniper weapon, the throwing knives, the nunchaks, the firearms, and the garrot that all the former leaders had (see previous issues where Moon Knight kicked ass). 

He is now his own slayer elite. 

He reveals that in two weeks the new recruits will be ready to strike against Tokyo, Lebanon, Poland, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Buenos Aires, South Africa and Manhattan. 

While the recruits are settling in, the angry former bodyguard has gotten her hands on the original recruit list. 

She takes count and notes that there are three more than there should be. Not to mention that there is no woman on the list. 

Frenchie and Moon Knight slip out at night, Frenchie to check out the planes and Moon Knight in search of the weapons. 

Moon Knight sabotages the guns and Frenchie works on all the planes. 

Moon Knight goes to check out how Marlene is doing only to find Nimrod with his tongue down her throat, celebrating her initiation. 

So he kicks their plan into high gear a little early. 

The ex-body guard has her own plan. She raises the alarm about there being two infiltrators and plans to take care of Marlene herself. 

Yeah, she can't even win in a training fight against the other two bodyguards, how's she going to beat Marlene? 

And yeah, she tries to get the drop on Marlene an Marlene kicks her ass before Nimrod notices anything strange. 

Out on the base, Frenchie sets off a detonator and blows up all but one of the airplanes. 

They plan to use the last plane to blow up the armory. 

There's a lot going on here. 

The plane takes off, Moon Knight flying. 

This...this is why Moon Knight should not be allowed near anything that flies. 

He can't get the plane working right so he decides to just.... crash the plane into the armory. 

I'm not going to count this under the tally for 'moon copter/plane crash', but.... Maybe there should be a talley for the number of times Marc/Moon Knight has used a vehicle as a weapon by crashing it into his target. 

The resulting explosion signals the government guys to move in on the island. 

Meanwhile, Nimrod, now calling himself Arsenal, believes correctly that the island is under attack. He grabs his nearest bodyguard (Marlene) and makes a run for it. 

Moon Knight drops in and confronts him. 

"You killed my oldest friend--among other things you've done to me and mine. I'm here to avenge those things." 

Not very specific there, Marc. Just there for general revenge, huh? 

Blinded by revenge, Arsenal uses the opportunity to attack. He lobs a grenade and Moon Knight deflects it but still takes a major hit. He's down for the count. 

Marlene is whisked away, attempting to keep up her secret identity, knowing she's the 'only link to Strange's future movements.' 

In the remaining rubble, they find a map of Manhattan with major bridges and tunnels marked off, implying they plan to cut off Manhattan island from the rest of New York and hold it hostage. 

End of this issue! One more to go in the saga of Nimrod Strange! 

This one was action heavy and kinda bland compared to the major themes and imagery in the previous issues. 

It served to show and highlight Marlene’s abilities to hold her own and her value. It also showed Marc’s temper a bit and how he can get so caught up in revenge that he loses sight of everything else around him. 

It could have touched on that more, but it had a very complicated plot for Marc to carry out. 

I also found it interesting that Marc’s chosen disguise had him looking a lot like a young version of his father. 

He dons the disguise easily and you have to wonder if this was something he had to do a lot back in the day or something new he’s learned to do. I’d wager it’s new. Marc Spector the Mercenary was not a man of disguises and not well known enough to need disguises. 

It wasn’t till Jake put on the mustache that Marc learned the value of changing his face. Now it’s very easy for him. 

In fact, he’s the only one that DOES put on a disguise. Frenchie and Marlene go as they are and only change their names. While Nimrod knows about Marc Spector, he has not seen his face. And even if he had done research into him, you’d think he’d know what Frenchie and Marlene looked like too. 

So the fact that Marc puts on such a disguise could be his own idea. His own way to feel more comfortable. To remind himself that he’s on a mission and can’t be Marc Spector right now. And when Marc can’t be Jake, Steven, or even Moon Knight, he has to put on a different mask. 

Marc once more needed and finding any way to not be himself. To put on a mask and not deal with everything that comes with being Marc Spector. 

And while in this issue, Marlene still insists on calling him Steven when she can, it’s almost half hearted. We haven’t seen Steven or Jake since the start of this particular run. 

At this point, Marc has to be clinging to front. He strikes me as the type that clings onto control with a death grip. There is no identified gate-keeper in the system at this point. The system is still freshly aware in many cases. So Marc holds on. 

And even if he didn’t… Jake is far from his cab and New York comfort. Steven is far too soft for the discomfort of this mission. They have stepped back and Marc is running the show. 

But you have to wonder how this is going to affect them all later. Are they going to resent him for running off and resorting to his old methods? Is he causing them harm? Diving into old trauma, bad habits, self harm… 

When they get the body back, will they be angry at him? Or will he be angry enough at himself? We know Marc does not like being himself. That he doesn’t like to front when at home in New York. Being front stuck for so long, how hard will Marc crash when this is over? 

[terrence-silver]

If something happened to beloved, do you think Terry could eventually move on and get with someone else even if it took years? Do you think it's possible for Terry to ever have a second beloved if anything ever happened to his first love?

---

He would continue dating after a while, sure, because that's what men of his stature do --- they have arm candy. Situationships and relationships. No different from buying a new assessory that goes well with one's freshly tailored suit, depending of what manner of airs he's hellbent on giving off today. No different from getting a new car or a coveted art-piece for his parlour. He'd have an active sexual life, because it gives him pleasure when he requires it and because it is sport --- an extension of his power. No different from physical exercise and upkeep. Terry will seduce people, act as their financier, discard and ghost those that no longer serve his whims and rinse and repeat all over again between periods of self-insolation, yes. He'd have his bedfellows, arrangements and conquests. Terry might even become what is considered a desirable perpetual Playboy bachelor around The Valley (and further) after a long and reclusive period of mourning where nobody has seen or heard of him maybe in years, everyone assuming he's one of those workaholics fully dedicated to their professional lives in the concorporate arena, charity, entrepreneurship, expansion and moneymaking schemes, never realizing just how deep this issue goes, but in the midst of all of that I don't think another beloved would ever happen for him.

No.

Terry Silver is one of those singularly driven people that form attachments for life. Friendships for life, connections for life, gratitude for life, revenge for life, with an near unending devotion that can fester into pathological fixation. Heck, enemies and grudges for life --- he'd form those too. He has never gotten over a single thing that happened to him, ever, because Terry's in all the way or he isn't in at all, and when he falls, he falls once.

Or he doesn't at all.

Either or.

Everything after that is filler and white noise.

If asked why he never gotten married well into his old age, he might give some clever one-liner prepared as a tactical answer to cover up just how fundamentally touchy and delicate that topic is for him in actuality, turning his own pain and the unimaginable extent of it into a socially accepted quip others might find rather charming and hiding his true feelings in the process (What a good sense of humor Terry Silver has, no?) and that's Terry on a good day. On a bad one, he might just twist his jaw and fidget uncomfortably, forget to blink and not before long, people realize that asking Mr. Silver that question is uncomfortable and a bit of a taboo that serves as a definite mood killer during every gathering and high-event party he might be hosting. Last thing everyone wants is to displease their elegant and obscenely wealthy host with a taxing comment.

It is a no-go subject, that is, if anyone is astute enough to actually read Terry.

See through his masks.

Even those he dates know that much; don't ask.

Then again, the life sized commissioned oil painting, along with a barrage of other preserved personal belongings, that are rumored to be safely locked away in the storage basement of one of his mansions belonging to a certain special someone that's been down there god knows how long don't help this conclusion at all. Nobody has seen it, admittedly --- nobody that can be brought forth to confirm the story without fearing for their life or a hefty lawsuit, but --- it is in equal measure said that Mr. Silver had a prepared a very private and sprawling burial plot adjoined to someone else and that he's had it there since the 80's --- just waiting, in all its ornate and luxurious glory. It is said to be next to someone he is infinitely fond of to this day. A loved one. Nobody really knows who it is for certain. Cobra Kai is said to never die, but it appears love never dies either.

It is one of those urban legends LA thrives on.

One of the most powerful men in The Valley loves someone with all his soul.