#especially after she died

[teapot-of-tyrahn]

hey. hey... chat,

i think we need to discuss an incredibly plausible probability right now:

we've figured out how the life system works. if a red or yellow kills a player of a higher colour than them, then they get their life.

pearl “has died at least 1 time per session so far” pearlescentmoon is on her yellow life. she has two lives left.

scott "always sacrificing himself for his allies" smajor is on six.

the likelihood of scott killing himself for pearl again is statistically high.

and i think it will be a beautiful parallel. because this time she really will forgive him after all.

[demaparbat-hp]

Izumi of Jang Hui died young. She was sixteen and unwed. A kind child, protective and lonely—thus unfit for this world.

Izumi of Jang Hui was murdered. The Painted Lady was born out of hatred and grief. Her skin is painted red with the patterns of her scars. Her home is the river where the Dark Water Spirit dwells—he who found her, drowned and beautiful.

Build shrines by the river and pray for her good will. Harm her land or people and pray for mercy.

[mxtxfanatic]

Wwx’s punishment is absolutely morally wrong and shown as such in the context of the story. That’s why he doesn’t reveal the truth of it to lwj! Because it’s the “bad” he wants to forget from his past! No other child in the story is hit by their guardians except for Jin Ling, who gets slapped around by Jiang Cheng, and Jin Ling is shown to fear and distrust his uncle because of this. He’s definitely not being hit by an electrified whip like wwx was (though jc threatens it). So no, mdzs very intentionally does not take the stance that whipping a child is “acceptable” in its setting. We are meant to see this treatment of wwx as wrong and the effect of a petty, insecure woman. To interpret this particular fact of the novel in the a different way is because you are inserting ideas about “the time period” into the text that the text, itself, doesn’t support. A story being set in a fictionalized past does not mean it has adopted the morality of the time period (that doesn’t even exist because mxtx did not choose a time period for this; it’s all fictionalized).

And the context of him saying that the whipping he got under wang lingjiao’s orders is worse than his “usual” punishments is that he is being whipped for an extended amount of time, not just the 2-3 per punishment he’s used to. He says that.

As for why the story wouldn’t focus on wwx having physical scars and choose to reveal this later: it’s not narratively relevant to him like psychological injury is. Lwj’s scars are important because they reveal how much lwj actually did for wwx and how much he cared. Jc’s scar is mentioned exactly twice: once to say he is vain about his physical appearance and again to show when he got the scar. Su She’s is to reveal who actually cast the hundred holes curse. For wwx, the focus is what scars affect him, so we see he has an unshakable phobia of dogs from being repeatedly attacked by them as a child, but we are never told he has physical scars. We are also told that the disappearance of a scar is from a good golden core or good quality medicine. Wwx had neither while fighting wild dogs on the street as a kid. Should we imagine he has no scars simply because the narrative does not explicitly mention that? Should this apply to his being whipped on his palms (where sword callouses would hide them) and his back (where they would not be seen by anyone he doesn’t strip for)?

I’ll just say that while I understand why you read that specific section as saying that his scars are from that day, I don’t simply because of the context of him saying that he is always the one singled out for physical punishment, which is then followed by these “old and new” injuries. It’s one of the few times we actually see wwx complain about his treatment at lotus pier, and if we are following the pattern of the reveal of scars being narratively significant, then the reveal of his has to say something about why this was chosen to be shown now. (But we also read different translations which choose different words, for which I am geared to distrust the 7seas discrepancies after multiple mistranslations on the part of the team. I more take issue with the idea that the story normalizes wwx’s abuse.)

Absolutely wild to read through mdzs and tally the sheer amount of lies the cultuvation world tell about and around Wei Wuxian that eventually get debunked:

Wwx purposely and maliciously ordered Wen Ning to kill Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan. Jin Zixuan died for siding with his cousin in an ambush his cousin created to kill wwx, an invited Jin guest. Jiang Yanli died protecting wwx from a cultivator stabbing him in the back, after Wen Ning was supposedly already destroyed.

Wwx attacked the Nightless City banquet for no reason, killing between 3,000-5,000 cultivators. The major clans and many smaller clans were gathered at Nightless City specifically to go back on their word to the Wen siblings to leave the Burial Mounds settlement, and to pledge to kill wwx. There weren’t even 3,000 present at the whole pledge, and wwx didn’t kill nearly all of them since a good portion of them show up to the second siege 13 years later.

Wwx ordered Wen Ning to attack the cultivators at Koi Tower, and his and Wen Qing’s surrender was a ruse to allow them close access to the clans to do so. Wwx was immobilized for three days, and otherwise does not control Wen Ning like a toy. Edit: the Jin purposely agitated Wen Ning to violence, then ensured that a majority of the cultivators in the room killed were from other clans to secure their support of the pledge conference.

Wwx had a great life at Lotus Pier, treated like he was part of the Jiang main family, only to betray them in the end. Wwx was whipped so gratuitously that he had scars as a child despite having a high-level golden core. Nobody bothered to tell him about his parents, despite Jiang Fengmian supposedly being close to at least his father before Wei Changze left the service of the clan. He was given no tablets to honor them in death, no keepsakes. Still, wwx fulfilled both of the Jiang rulers’ final wish/order to protect their son (above his own life), and wwx’s connections are why either were able to get a proper burial (unlike wwx’s own parents).

Wwx was committing evil acts and took on the Wen remnants as followers/test subjects for his dark arts. All demonic cultivators can be linked to his followers. Wwx rescued the Wen Remnants from labor camps set up, again, against the word of the cultivation world, and lived secluded in the Burial Mounds and Yiling until basically his death. The only “demonic cultivators” we see are Jin disciples who are given wwx’s notes after his death to study in an attempt to recreate his methods and secure the Jin’s power over the other great sects. Nobody cares that the Jin are doing this, even as they use other clans as test subjects.

Wwx created Wen Ning to be a weapon. Wwx resurrected Wen Ning on the request of his sister after the labor camp guards murdered him. The Jin, after lying about his destruction, try to turn him into a weapon and fail.

Wwx was killed by Jiang Cheng in a fitting moment of justice for the crimes committed against the Jiang. While Jiang Cheng’s part in the first siege was integral, he did not kill wwx. The Jiang have committed more crimes against wwx than anyone, and owe their entire continued existence to wwx.

Wwx turned to demonic cultivation because he was greedy for power. Wwx created the ghost path as his only means of surviving the Burial Mounds without a golden core. He sought no power and blatantly called out those who did (the Jin), only to be ignored because of his status. In turn, he defects from his sect and exiles himself to the Burial Mounds (with the Wen remnants), to which the sects continue to pursue him in a bid to kill the “servant” who won’t bow to them and to steal his power for themselves.

Wwx’s cultivation corrupts people, both in mentality and their health, which is why he became evil. Wwx’s cultivation path is shown to do no such thing, and nobody has precedence for saying this, as wwx’s cultivation is entirely new. On the other hand, the Nie saber technique is known to corrupt body and mind of the Nie who practice is, resulting in horrifyingly violent deaths by qi deviation, and yet no one shows care or concern about that being a problem for the whole cultivation world to have to deal with.

Wwx was ugly. Do I need to debunk this? 😭

And some ones tangentially related to him, but having to do more with the cultivation world lying to make themselves seem better than they were:

The first Burial Mounds siege was a deadly undertaking, but ultimately worth it to stop the Yiling Patriarch’s reign of terror. The siege was hundreds of trained cultivators against around 50 sickly people and a child with no tools to fight back. The only person who could fight back did not. It was the very definition of a massacre.

The participants of the first siege burned all the corpses on the Burial Mounds to release their resentment. The participants of the first siege threw the Wen remnants’ corpses into the blood pool to desecrate them, thereby imbibing them with even more resentment.

Disciples (or anyone connected to her) of Baoshan Sanren who leave her mountain are destined to meet bad ends as they are corrupted by the world. The cultivation world allows righteous people to die and their reputations to be tarnished in order to maintain their facade of “righteousness” while leaning into corruption and constant power grabs. It is often directly the fault of the cultivation world that these individuals are killed in the first place.

[girlatrocity]

KEEP DRAWING POSTCANON TOGACHAKOPLESJR I CANT DO YHIS……

ALWAYS AND FOREVER ANON

[aroaceleovaldez]

chewing on big 3 kids being capable of absolutely devastating natural disasters and apocalypse-level outbursts of power.

Percy who creates hurricanes complete with lightning that pummel titans and flooding and whirlpools that can trap god-powered crocodile kaijus. Earthquakes that erupt volcanoes. Hazel who sunk an entire small island entirely on her own with her final breath, against giants and a primordial goddess of the earth.

If Nico dramatically wilts plants and cracks the ground when he's mildly stressed, and disintegrates enemies down to their skeletons with a single touch or rips their souls out of their still-living bodies, and can command armies of the undead, what happens if he tries to cause destruction? Even outside of total zombie apocalypse or insta-killing a crowd, he's shown enough geokinesis to absolutely be capable of the same destruction Percy and Hazel can manifest.

What about Jason? He can control the winds and storms. There's no way he can't create the most destructive tornadoes with casual effort that he can never justify using for the collateral damage they'd cause. With a single thought he can rip up a town and launch the remnants 50 miles out. (Jason in the center of a Dead Man Walking tornado, vortexes responding to his movements like an avatar...)

And what can anyone do to combat it? How can you fight the wind lifting everything you know and love into the sky, or floods sweeping you away, or the ground giving way beneath you? The Big 3 kids are scary because they are forces of nature, and their whims are the only thing preventing you from witnessing that at any given moment.

[osarina]

there’s a waterloo au where reader and dazai never met. she was killed two years before he joined the agency while he was still with the port mafia (he finds out later that she was caught in the crossfires of an operation that dazai was leading against a rival gang). but in this au, she had met ranpo & yosano when she was 16 and became really close to the members of the agency. they were all soooo distraught when she died a few years later.

anyway, flash forward to dazai joining the agency at age 20. he sees this girl EVERYWHERE, in pictures around the office & she’s always referenced vaguely & he has no idea why but he just feels so drawn to her so he ends up asking the other members of the agency about her. except the more he learns about her, the more that big, gaping hole in his chest widens. he’s never met this girl in his life but he just so inexplicably yearns for her because his soul just knows that they had been meant to be together even though they hadn’t been given the chance in this universe. he spends the whole rest of his life confused and longing for something he doesn’t understand and someone he doesn't know. </3

haunting the narrative 💕 my favorite trope i had to make a waterloo version of it

[sskk-manifesto]

Bungou Stray Dogs: Dead Apple and how “ability users” (opposite to “normal people”) learning to accept themselves through the acceptance of their own abilities is a queer metaphor of acceptance of own's sexual orientation and gender: an essay by me

[crustyfloor]

THEY DESERVED TO BE PROTECTED AURHHHH

[roots-symphony]

what's so interesting is that agatha and nicky clearly had their cons well-oiled, and at the end it seems they even started turning their song into a part of it as well, like i don't think that was the first time nicky sang that song for an audience and they used it to lure witches (i do think it's the first time that it /technically/ didn't work), and how after nicky died it continued to gain popularity and be so well-known it became a legend, and along with that agatha being known as the only survivor of the road and people (like billy) seeking her out to walk it or just for knowledge of it. and i think that had been the idea when they first started using it as a con. making it so they no longer had to travel and scavenge, using it as a lure to bring the witches to them in order to keep nicky alive, but only one small misstep and rio got him anyway

and then thinking about how lorna, who had a generational curse placed upon her family that is going to kill both her and her daughter and who desperately wants to see her daughter survive, heard this song and created her own version to use as a protection spell for her daughter and, like agatha did before her, she made her version so well-known and so popular that years and years after death it's still protecting her daughter, until ultimately her daughter was finally able to use it to break the curse and save herself

idk just.. they're like two sides of the same coin, or distorted mirrors of each other

agathas love was so powerful and so strong that death gave nicky time

lornas love was so powerful and so strong that the ballad gave alice time and even freed her

if nicky hadnt been taken that night, could it have eventually freed him as well? rio said agatha used the dark magic of the darkhold to hide herself from rio, so was that the end goal? they'd continue to lure witches to both keep nicky alive and to have agatha become powerful enough to forever keep them hidden?

[happyk44]

overprotective big sister bianca showing up inside percy's room in the middle of the night, waiting for him to wake up at her presence hovering over him, then screaming, "YOU LET HIM RUN AWAY?" when he does

percy and his emotional support neglect ghost

[lollytea]

Do I think Hunter and Willow were already talking about getting married and building a home together when they were still dumb teenagers and had been dating for less than a year? Yes, I think they were doing that.

Do I think that was a good idea? No, they probably should NOT have been doing that.

Did it work out somehow? Yes. Out of pure idiot luck, it did work out.

[geospiral]

The stage was always Luka’s world, and everyone else was just living in it.

Luka’s first round in the 50th Alien Stage competition was the fourth round, but really it should have been the second given the predetermined matchups. The Segyein were saving his round for later in order to excite the in-universe audience to the previous winner’s grand return.

(There is no dimmed profile in the second bracket.)

Luka being set up to go against either Mizi or Sua was absolutely intentional; the Segyein knew whoever came out of Round One would be an easy target for Luka’s manipulation, which, in their eyes, would make for a good show. When organizing the rounds, it seems like the Segyein try to go for which setups will elicit the biggest emotional responses out of the contestants. They clearly already knew about Mizi and Sua’s intimate relationship with the fact that the contestants’ profiles are most likely created by the Segyein with little to no input from the humans themselves (probably made with the help of the ever-present camera flowers in Anakt).

(translation)

This would also explain why Sua and Ivan were so certain about Mizi going up against Sua in the competition despite them not being told about the round matches yet.

(Take this with a grain of salt because it is possible they were already told who was against whom before this comic, but given how young they look, I'm thinking that it's probably too early for them to know.)

(translation)

If Luka weren’t in this year’s tournament, they would have probably set Till up against Mizi in Round 5 instead since the Segyein are aware of how much she means to Till. They technically could have still done that with Luka in the competition and had Round 6 be him vs. Ivan, but they most likely didn’t want to save Luka’s signature act until the final round, which the Segyein would have believed themselves to be doing given how they don’t seem to know how important Till is to Ivan (probably intentionally on Ivan's part).

(Text: "Intimacy: 70% It feels like I'm being chased all the time, but I can't find any evidence, so the teachers only suspect me!!! I'm so pissed!! He's always done things I don't like, and I don't understand... Anyway, he's a bother.)

Note: While I think the character profiles were probably made by the Segyein, I don't think the intimacy levels from the artbook are. I'm showing Till's intimacy level for Ivan to highlight his comment about the teachers not believing him when he says that Ivan is constantly following him around.

The Segyein knew the two were friends at least, but that seems about it. Maybe that was enough for them to be a possible sixth round setup if they came out of 2 and 3 victorious, but given the vast potential there was for Luka vs. Ivan after a Mizi vs. Till round, I don't think the Segyein knew the depths of Ivan and Till's relationship and therefore didn't care until it became blatantly obvious after the canon Round 6 and could be capitalized upon for the finale.

From a meta perspective, an Ivantill round was obvious, but my personal opinion is that in-universe I think that matchup was more akin to a happy little accident on the Segyein's part.

This is also all ignoring the huge elephant in the room, which is the Rebellion throwing a wrench into the competition.

I think the biggest change in the direction of the competition (not the results of the rounds but in how the rounds themselves were organized) due to the rebellion was how the Segyein decided to have the finale be mere hours after Round 6. If the fifth round hadn’t been interrupted, I think that the sixth would have been performed right after, like how the first four rounds were. Also, I don’t think they would have tried to aid Luka in his manipulation by throwing up pictures of Ivan on the screens and would have just left him to his own devices like in Round 5. But the Segyein wanted to lure the rebels out to save Till, so basically flashing a big sign that says, "THIS GUY IS MESSED UP FROM THE LAST ROUND AND WILL DIE IF YOU DON'T DO SOMETHING" was probably the best way to do it.

This is all to say that I think it's a lot more interesting if Luka was being set up to be the winner the entire time. Obviously he still had to work for it, but I like the idea that almost everything was set up in his favor; he just had to take advantage of it. The Segyein wanted a good show, and Luka knows how to perform. He did not disappoint them.

[galaxygermdraws]

so instead of get back into art after the basic recovery of my surgery, I instead replayed Mario and Luigi Partners in Time…and why does nobody talk about this game?? Hardly ever see it in the Super Mario tag. Like. It’s actually insane how dark it gets. People die. Like actually die. Not as dark as SPM but like we see the dead spirits of Toads get siphoned through tubes. They had their life force sucked out of them via genetically modified trees. Yoshis were eaten by a larger alien Yoshi and were gonna be turned into more alien Yoshis via a factory IN THE GIANT ALIEN YOSHI. We see a town that’s literally just “Christmas is Cancelled” the city. Their mayor probably died. We never see these places restored because there are no survivors to restore them. The citizens of Hollijolli village probably all died by the time the bros shut down the Vim factory. And also there’s the entire scene with the Star Gate. Like. Hello??

maybe I’ll stream or let’s play this game and share it here because I think. More ppl should talk about Partners in Time. I’ll say it too: I like it more than Bowser’s Inside Story. By like a LOT. That’s my ramble for the night. Ttyd day tomorrow. Yippee

[bluehairperson]

Sometimes I see posts about how "I, Strahd" Tatyana has the personality of a cardboard but I don't think I agree honestly.

We only see her in very few scenes (all from Strahd's POV) and she's always very gentle and soft spoken.

Which makes completely sense since she was a lowborn orphan trying to make a good impression on her future brother in law, who is not only the ruler of the valley but also a feared war criminal. Of course she would try to be as nice as possible in front of him.

I also think that Strahd was extremely genuine in thinking he was in love with Tatyana, it's just that he never really knew her the way Sergei did. He only knew a facet.

[bumblingbabooshka]

B'Elanna, Neelix, Tuvok and Chakotay needed to star in an episode where they just talked about their different beliefs and approaches to spirituality/religion. Paired off and all together. I need to gain more insight. I need characterization and I need it to be messy.

[blue-rose-soul]

What if charlie and alastor grew up togethr ?

For that to happen, Lucifer would have had to know about Alastor from the beginning*. I don't think he would have taken Alastor away from Nicaise, and she wouldn't have wanted to live in Hell, even if it did mean living in luxury. The guilt and the feelings of betrayal are still there - it certainly doesn't help his crumbling relationship with Lilith - but Lucifer wants to keep an eye on his friend and their child. So he peeks in on them on Earth, occasionally pops in to grant a couple small miracles or gifts. Never staying long just in case Heaven catches on.

Then Nicaise is murdered by her employer. And there is no way in hell that Lucifer is allowing that fucking piece of shit to keep her child! Lucifer books it over as soon as he can and finds Alastor sleeping in a shed and, oh, he is not happy. He doesn't kill Nicaise's murderer. It's enough to flash his wings, horns out, spitting flames as he informs the man that Hell is real and he's bound to it before disappearing with Alastor**.

So now, in just the span of a few days, Alastor: has witnessed his mother's violent murder, has been effectively kidnapped by her murderer, was forced to sleep in a shed that smells like dogs, found out that angels and demons are real and that his father is one, has been whisked away to live in another world that transforms him into a monster as soon as he enters it, and is now expected to get used to living with his mysterious father as well as a new step-mother and half-sister. Needless to say, it's a lot.

So naturally, he's a bit shaken when he first arrives in the Morningstar household. He doesn't speak and spends most of his time shut up in his new room which is way bigger than his old house was. Lucifer's awkwardly trying to balance giving him the space he needs and make him feel welcome. Lilith isn't terribly thrilled with the situation, but... Well, she seems to have a lot of compassion for her people. I don't think she would really turn out a traumatized child, but she's definitely going through some complicated emotions of her own.

Charlie has none of the reservations the grown ups have. In fact, she's suuuuuuuuuuper excited to meet her new little brother! Even if he doesn't look that much littler than her***. So she slips into his room, tries to drag him out of bed, pesters him, and generally just acts like an excitable, friendly child. As much as Lucifer and Lilith try to get her to give Alastor space and time to adjust, she keeps coming back. Her little brother looks so sad and she doesn't want him to be sad! She wants to help him feel happy!

She remains persistent, telling Alastor all about her home and family and insisting that he'll like it soon because her mom and dad are really nice and she loves him already and he'll love it there in Hell and...

She stops as she sees the tears start to roll down Alastor's face. Charlie begins to panic, thinking she's said something mean by accident, but then Alastor sobs out that he misses his maman and just wants to go home! Suddenly Charlie feels really bad. She doesn't know how to make things better. So she just stays. Sits next to him. Doesn't leave him alone. Sheds a few tears of her own.

Once Alastor's cried it out and tired himself out a bit, Charlie asks him what his mom was like. They spend all night talking about her. When Lucifer goes to check in on Alastor later, he finds both kids passed out on the floor in a pile of blankets.

It's still rough going from there on out, but Charlie plays a large part in helping Alastor heal after everything. Some things still stay the same. Lucifer and Lilith's marriage still struggles, she disappears, Lucifer pulls away from now both of his children in his depression. And Alastor still has a lot of anger. He doesn't really agree with Charlie's goal of redeeming sinners because he fully believes that some people just aren't worth redeeming.

Still, he goes with her whenever she searches for injured sinners after the exterminations. He and Vaggie actually get along a bit better here. They still snipe at each other quite a bit, but there's an almost friendly undercurrent to it. And although he doesn't really believe in the goal of redeeming sinners, he does go along with the Happy Hotel project just to help Charlie out. Doesn't stop him from mocking the idea every step of the way.

This version of Alastor hasn't really developed the Radio Demon persona. He doesn't exactly need to, given he's the Prince of Hell. But he's still Alastor and still cultivates a terrifying reputation for himself. Charlie's grown up with this Alastor though and knows the man behind the curtain. She's not always happy with how quick he is to suggest violence as a solution, but she also knows that when he sees a weaker demon being preyed upon by stronger ones, he'll step in.

He's also protective of Charlie, and usually takes it upon himself to step in and do things that he sees as necessary but he knows she wouldn't like. For example, after finding out how Valentino treated her when she went to the studio, Alastor pays his own visit in private and makes sure Valentino knows if he tries to pull any shit like that again, Alastor will pick apart his soul piece by wretched piece and scatter it across all the rings of hell. Charlie knows he did something when the next time she sees Valentino, the pimp screams bloody murder and throws himself out the nearest window.

(*Just imagine Lucifer, wings out, attempting to drunkenly climb out of Nicaise's window, only to get stuck, give up, and slump over on the floor.)

(**The old bastard spends the rest of his life donating his wealth to build orphanages and hospitals, helping the poor, and basically trying to buy his way into Heaven. It doesn't work and he's slaughtered during his first extermination in hell.)

(***Charlie at this point should be roughly a century old, but to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what that means for a half-angel half-demon like her. Did she age at a typical human rate until she reached young adulthood and then just stopped? Or did she just age very very slowly? I'm going with the second for the sake of this AU. I also have this theory that Lilith never actually died, and was transformed into a unique sort of demon simply by entering primordial Hell. And something similar happens to young Alastor when Lucifer brings him home.)