#essays stole all my writing power

[neon-kazoo]

A Misunderstanding

[Context: A vigilante and a villain have an arranged, cooperative deal between them. That is, until something goes wrong, much to the vigilante’s confusion. This story takes place from the POV of the vigilante, beginning in the middle of an unrelated mission/project that the villain is unaffiliated with.]

(Warnings: threats, kidnapping, gun mention, knife violence, blood, fairly descriptive cut/stab wounds, interrogation/torture, helplessness, self-harm kinda, more language than usual, sexual harassment mentioned with implied past experiences)

Note: Technically these are ocs of mine, so if you catch any unexplained details that’s where they’re from. This whole snippet was intended to develop their dynamic, but at this point it’s really just whump lol. I just realized I had over 4000 words written that would otherwise never see the light of day so I made some tweaks to post it. If I missed any name replacements you saw nothing; there was a lot of words ok?

This is extremely long and heavier than most of my snippets, so be careful!

———

“Vigilante, grab some tubes from that room down the hall. I think it’s the third door on the right.”

I left the room to grab the materials for the project. Walking down the hall I lazily counted: one…two..

I reached the third room, and I could see the PVC from the doorway. Eyes locked on the stack at the back of the room, trying to figure out how I was going to carry so many large pieces, I missed the uninvited guest lurking beside the open door, allowing him an opportunity to catch me off guard and shove me into a wall. I opened my mouth to yell for the team but my eyes processed faster than my mouth and stopped me in my tracks.

What was Villain doing here?

I must’ve looked shocked- because I was. A personal appearance from this man could mean nothing good.

I racked my brain for any reason he might have to come find me. I came up empty. I certainly didn’t remember doing anything to him worth wall-slamming me over.

The slight ease I had at identifying the familiar face disappeared when I looked closer at his expression. There was a subtle anger painted on his usually-carefully-blank features.

“I’d suggest coming quietly,” he stated in his signature effortlessly-menacing tone. He spoke easily, like he executed an impromptu abduction every Tuesday morning.

“Come where?” I questioned, immediately suspicious. What was this?

“Somewhere to answer some questions,” he replied. His words were vague. Empty. His tone suggested I wasn’t going to get anything more out of him, but I felt the urge to press.

(Why not here, why now, what was so important?)

I knew better than to argue, but I hadn’t quite grasped the gravity of my situation yet. I shifted, ready to plead that I was in the middle of something rather important, when a knife appeared at my throat, pulling me right back down to Earth.

“Or we can skip the questions.”

Questions it was.

I walked obediently when prompted and he held solidly to my arm. We exited the building via fire escape (how did he know I was here?) We reached the doors of a black SUV parked conveniently in an alley a block over from my operation. As slowly as I could manage, I worked my fingers up into my sleeve. PSAs about the odds of surviving being taken to a second location flashed in my head but were interrupted by the introduction of a gun at my side.

“Press it, and you’re dead.”

Well, fuck.

On second thought, I actually adored second locations. I dutifully climbed into the back and used my remaining energy trying to stay calm as my hands were secured to the seat and a bag placed over my head. My bracelet was, of course, removed.

I love car rides. I tried to imagine this was just another trip, it was just….dark out. At 9 in the morning. Yeah, and I had no idea where we were going. I would be trying to think of how I was gonna play this—whatever this was—but I genuinely didn’t think I had ever risked pissing Villain off. As a result, I was painfully unprepared for whatever was about to happen. I wanted to say how unnecessary this all was, that I would come willingly if asked, but something stopped me.

Fear. Something was wrong.

It was probably just a misunderstanding.

Probably.

I lost track of time and turns, instead just counting my breaths. In for four, hold for four, out for four, repeat. I successfully held my panic at bay and was able to stand on my own two feet when I was finally pulled out of the car and led to who-knows-where. I blindly shuffled all the way through somewhere to a chair in front of a table to which my ankles were secured. My hands were left free and the blinding sack was removed.

The ceiling was covered in fluorescent lights that my eyes struggled to adjust to. I dropped my gaze to the floor, which was clean white tile with a silver disk in the center. Villain stood by the door, and apparently the ride had given him enough time to re-craft his careful features back into a perfectly smooth slate. The air in the room was uncomfortably cold, enough to raise goosebumps on my arms if it weren’t for my jacket.

A proper interrogation, but for what.

“Empty your pockets onto the table.”

He was all nonchalance now, and it was extremely off-putting. He studied me closely, and I barely refrained from squirming under his gaze. In the spirit of cooperation(survival), I obeyed the order, laying out a substantial array of multi tools, first aid, gadgets, and more onto the table top. When I finished, Villain strolled over to the table, studying the items before swiping them into a bag which he settled by the door. All but a switchblade, which he left sitting closest to his side, out of my reach.

He rounded the table to my seat, gesturing for me to slide off my jacket—which he threw by the door, much to my chagrin—and kneeling to pat the rest of me down. He found nothing.

He was silent as he returned to sit in the chair opposite me across the table.

Logic told me to copy his stare and his silence, but my anger and confusion made me reckless. The urge to speak overrode my rational mind.

“Dude, what the fuck.”

Hopefully, that statement would confirm my innocence, as it was definitely designed to do. I was not at all pissed about the deliberate jacket move, or being dragged out of an important mission against my will. Humanizing myself. That’s good, right?

“What? Are you surprised your actions have consequences? Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” His voice dripped with condescension.

He placed his hand over the switchblade and I came to the sickening realization that there was a drain in the floor.

“I thought you were smarter than this, I really did.”

“What the fuck,” I repeated slowly, “are you talking about?”

He stood, and the knife was open. I ignored the blade and kept my eyes locked on his.

“I cannot defend myself if I don’t even know what you think I did.”

“You do not play dumb with me. I do not give second chances.” His voice entered a register that I had never had the misfortune of hearing before.

This was not the man I knew. This man was somehow more dangerous, and he wasn’t making sense. He wasn’t listening.

“I wonder if you keep your knives sharp,” he spoke aloud with mock curiosity, twisting and turning the tip of the blade against his fingertip. He advanced around the table and I could do nothing to stop him. This stubborn, arrogant man was about to hurt me over nothing.

I had my hands, but they could not reason with him. They could only hold tightly over his wrist as he held the knife close to my skin. Rapid acceptance flushed through my brain as reality finally registered like a heavy weight descending upon my shoulders.

If he could be stubborn, so could I.

“Fuck you, Villain.”

The tip of the blade pierced the skin of my arm and I held my mouth firmly taut. He was cutting right above where the foundation and concealer covered the tattoo on my upper arm. The leaking blood was going to ruin my careful color correcting.

Blessedly, he skipped over the rest of the upper arm and focused his efforts on my lower arm instead, which he now held in an iron grip. I hated the feeling of being grabbed but I wouldn’t show it. He did not need any more power over me.

“You’ll take a lot for that man,” he noted incorrectly as he traced down my skin with the metal.

I was at a loss.

“For who?” The pain made my words fierce. I was angry and there wasn’t anything I could do about it except let it leech into my mouth.

“I am not an idiot, [real name].” He leaned in, and fuck him.

I seethed, “Apparently, you are, since you’re spending your time cutting up someone who doesn’t know shit about what you’re on about.”

The knife plunged deep into my forearm, and I gritted my teeth hard.

“Is he worth it?” Villain taunted.

“WHO?” I demanded, still trying to guess, to figure it out before I got diced like a vegetable but the pain made my brain foggy and I just couldn’t concentrate. The knife twisted slightly, and with it brought heat and a sickening pulling sensation.

This was not what I signed up for.

The blade came up to my face, mixing blood with sweat and the salt of involuntary tears as it slid across my cheekbone.

“To think, all this time, you were just [Politician]’s bitch,” he whispered.

Affronted was an understatement, but my offense was overridden by confusion.

“Who the fuck is-“ I stopped as the gears in my brain finally started to turn, greased by the crimson dripping across my skin.

“Are you talking about that asshole counselman?”

The gears were rusty but- what was his name? CM [Olitic]? [Politi]? [Politici- Politician]! CM [Politician]. The man I blackmailed into tipping me off about low-profile cases because he couldn’t keep his hands off interns? I was getting scored like sourdough dough with my own knife for HIM?!

Villain didn’t react, just continued to drag the knife down my neck and lined it up at my collarbones. He had to cut and pull my tank top down slightly for better access.

“You’re his spy. What have you told him?” He hummed, and I took a second to gather myself despite the biting pain.

“His WHAT. Where the fuck did you get that from because let me tell you I would not kill an ant for that man let alone spy for him-”

The knife slashed over my other collarbone, and I raged.

“ARE YOU INCAPABLE OF A CIVIL CONVERSATION? LISTEN, YOU ARE WRONG. Wrong. Use your fucking words.” I wanted to spell it out. One more cut and I would be sent over the edge. “You absolute. Mother. Fucker.”

“Just a loyal. Little. Dog.”

He punctuated his dig at my supposed obedience with a hand wrapped around my throat. Possessive.

Oh, so he was trying to make me angry. I really should have seen the angle earlier because damn him it was working.

I couldn’t keep giving him the satisfaction. I took one deep breath and then another, ignoring the sting it brought up across my chest, and the restriction around my neck.

“Ask me a question, and I’ll answer it.” I looked him dead in the eyes when I continued, “or kill me and go fuck yourself.”

“What is your deal with him?”

A silent sigh of relief. Finally, something productive.

“He tips me off for counsel cases,” I explained-rather graciously might I add, given the circumstances. “He didn’t ask me to do shit for him, nor would I. I am not his personal spy. I keep the association off his back, and that is it.”

I reserved a few more choice words about his questioning techniques and waited while he absorbed my response. I sounded far more civil than I felt.

“And why would he do that for you?”

I thanked every god I knew that he seemed to finally be playing ball. Words I could work with, knives I could not.

“Blackmail,” I answered simply.

“Explain.” He raised an eyebrow, and also my knife.

“The association opened a case on him for sexual harassment. I have evidence that would prove rather unsavory for him, I hold on to it in exchange for his information. Basically, he tells me shit and I don’t bury him.” I looked to Villain expectantly. I had nothing else to say on the matter.

He tilted his head. He wanted more, or worse, he knew I had more.

My lips stayed shut.

He had a dangerous glint in his eyes when he spoke, “You don’t withhold from me.”

“Since when. That was not part of our deal.” Anger, deeper and older, burned cold inside me.

“It is now.” It was not that simple.

“I gave you enough,” I told him. I intended my words to be final. He had no right to ask anything of me anymore.

“You don’t get to decide.” Like Hell I didn’t.

“It is none of your business,” I spit back.

“I’m making it my business.” He just kept going. What I wouldn’t give to wipe that self-assuredness right out of every cell in his body.

“Cut me again and I swear you’ll never hear another word out of my mouth,” I blustered. With every fresh drop of blood, he was taking a middle finger to our entire arrangement, everything I had built.

“I highly doubt that.” He flipped the knife around in his hands. He ran his eyes along each of my new, bloody, decorative lines. Fine, maybe I was all talk. But he definitely didn’t need to know that.

“Put the knife away.” I smiled sweetly, but I was getting angry again, and I was losing the will to stop it. My self control spilled out of me in the streams of crimson blood that ran down my face and chest and arms to where it would ultimately flush down the drain and leave me defenseless. Still, that was exactly what he wanted. I couldn’t let him win.

“Or are you too scared of an equal conversation?” I challenged. Two could play at the angering game.

Unfortunately for me, Villain was focused elsewhere and didn’t take the bait. He had found a thread and he intended to pull it.

“Tell me the proof.” Impressively, he just didn’t know when to stop.

“No.” Welcome, Villain, to the hill I was willing to die on. “You cut me up for being a spy, which I’m not. I didn’t break our deal, but you just did. I owe you nothing. I will give you nothing.”

I wanted to tell him that he would never see another cooperative action out of me for as long as I lived, that he should watch his back, that he should expect to see me again soon, but I still needed to live through this and threats were definitely not in my best interests. I wouldn’t betray myself like that.

My skin burned and my arm throbbed. My heart beat aggressively against my rib cage but my adrenaline was crashing. I hurt and I was tired and I just wanted this to be over.

All that trust, and all for nothing.

Villain did not get the hint that I was done. For real this time.

When he brought the knife back, I grabbed it. I pulled it towards me to catch him off guard, sinking it inches into the flesh of my hip before ripping it from his hand and flipping the blade back towards him. He must not have thought I would do it, because he stayed close enough for me to be able to sink the blade into his stomach before he wrestled my arms under control.

A second later, I couldn’t move and I knew it was over.

“I hope it fucking hurts,” I spit coldly, blinking away my burning tears.

A flash of something–maybe surprise?– passed briefly over his face. I hoped it was fear. I needed the win. Before this all got worse.

My wrists got strapped to the chair and Villain was out the door quickly, knife still sheathed in his abdomen. I rolled my head towards the ceiling, eyes unfocused and blinking out tears. I felt satisfaction, then something darker tried to push its way to the surface.

I paid it no mind, just breathed and let it pass. That wound would not be fatal.

Exhaustion soon sent me into a state that was a pitiful excuse for rest. My head rolled forward and the burning faded into the background. I floated for an indeterminate amount of time.

The door opened, closed. A prick. I didn’t care.

I dreamt in flashes of hands and grabbing and helplessness. Fingers, digging into my arm, pressure, where there shouldn’t be-

When I awoke, I was on a cot covered in a thin layer of sweat. I was confused by the freedom of movement and the light smell of laundry detergent. I must’ve slept like a rock, because my cuts were cleaned and my forearm bandaged. I was also bundled in my freshly-clean jacket.

What on Earth-

Was this a motel?

No sooner than thirty seconds after I sat up did the door open and none other than the devil himself appear.

“I figured we’d try again,” the ghost of a grimace passed over his face as his eyes landed on me. “…differently.”

I blinked.

Unconsciousness had returned a bit of my clarity, and if I looked closely, Villain appeared…sheepish. A slight hunch, face pained like he was trying hard not to avert his eyes. Was he…remorseful?

I almost laughed at the thought, but managed to maintain a plain face.

“Uh huh,” I sounded cautiously, shaking off the last of my sleep-induced disorientation. What exactly did that mean: differently?

I gathered something had changed, but I did not voice this, knowing the man in the doorway would never bother to explain himself to me.

Instead, I added humorously, “be a shame if I didn’t believe you.”

I rubbed my eyes and smiled ruefully and he actually looked away. Villain, the original Big Scary Man, was unable to make eye contact with me. Instead, he pointed out a bathroom and said he’d be back in five minutes. The win was too good to be true.

It wasn’t until I made to slide down my waistband that I remembered the self-inflicted wound on my hip. It had also been tended to, a medium size gauze pad taped over the opening.

Now that I was once again aware of its existence, I noticed certain movements did send a shooting pain along the skin and into the fat that had been cut. I wondered how I didn’t notice it earlier. I suspected I would find stitches if I removed the patch.

Carefully pulling the elastic back over the medical tape, I stood in front of the sink, cupping my hands under the faucet and drinking until it no longer burned to swallow. Water drenched the front of my tank, but I didn’t care.

I checked my bandages and studied the open cuts in the mirror. A few had the skin held together with butterfly closures, the rest slathered in Vaseline or Neosporin. I ran my fingers gingerly along the cut on my cheek and wondered if it would scar. Keeping still had worked in my favor though, it didn’t seem too deep.

My left arm took the brunt of the damage. The rose on my upper arm was uncovered and wiped clean, and I thanked several deities it was untouched. I opened and closed my fist to make sure the hole in my forearm didn’t take out anything too important. I was no doctor, but I determined it was probably fine. Villain knew what he was doing, after all.

I studied my reflection one last time, shrugging my jacket back over my arm carefully. I took in my face, discarding the uncertainty and anger and leaving my features assured and closed. The Villain special. I walked out the door.

Villain was waiting.

He didn’t touch me, instead we walked side by side back into the room I had woken up in, which now had an apple sitting on a table to the right when we walked in. Ignoring all of it, I went straight to sit on the bed. I didn’t know what to make of his complete 180, so I drew one knee up to my chest and waited. I let a little hope trickle into my thoughts.

Maybe it just took a good stabbing to force some common sense into Villain.

He paid my refusal to sit at the table no mind and just casually tossed the apple to me after taking his own seat. The hunger I felt must have been built over many, many hours because I did not hesitate to take a bite. And another. And another. The juice dripped down my chin and I didn’t bother to catch it.

Villain respectfully waited until my more ravenous bites had passed before he spoke.

“I propose a trade.”

I just about spit out my apple. Pushing past my knee-jerk response of dignifiedly telling him to “eat shit,” I studied the man to try and determine if he was being serious. His gaze was unwavering. He seemed to be waiting for me to respond, but I wasn’t exactly in a talking mood. I felt clearer but also…off.

“Information for information,” he continued.

Wow this was a really good apple. I turned it over and studied it in my hand. A gala, maybe?

He clarified, “I want your evidence on the counselman.”

Yeah, no shit. So he does know how to use his words after all.

My apple was reduced to just a core. I supposed I had to speak sometime, lest the knife make a reappearance.

“Do you slice, dice, and drug every person you want to make a deal with, or am I just special?” I cocked my head but cast my gaze past the table towards the door.

In my peripheral, I caught his face still impassive.

“I acted on bad intel.”

Villain? Explaining himself? And I thought anger-inducing Villain was scary. Remorseful Villain was straight up terrifying. I was probably reading too far into it, just telling myself what I needed to hear, but—if I squinted—I could imagine it was an apology.

But on further evaluation, I accepted that it was all an act. Every moment I’ve spent with him carefully crafted. This was just another angle.

But what could I do about it?

Knowing didn’t make it better. The cuts were real, my fear was real, my pain was real.

In the end, I still put myself into this world, and I wasn’t going to stop.

“And what do I get out of this?” I questioned. My life? To leave? Some negotiation that would be.

“What do you want?”

Putting the ball in my court is new. Concerning. Is this a trick? How badly does he want to bury this guy?

A terrible, horrible idea hit me. I wouldn’t. I shouldn’t.

I couldn’t resist.

“Apologize.”

I stood up, walking over to the table and taking a seat, looking him dead in the eyes, and waited.

It was his turn to blink.

For what I presumed to be the first time in his life, the man in front of me had been stunned to silence.

Because of me.

Joy flooded me with the thought.

“I-“ he coughed, and I smiled with a sweetness that would send anyone without a functioning pancreas scrambling for insulin.

“My apologies,” he started, and to his credit, it didn’t sound too forced.

“For?” I pushed, and the look in his eyes suggested I was seriously pushing my luck.

I didn’t care.

“For,” he forced out, “the ‘slicing’ and ‘dicing’. The drugging, I believe, was justified.”

“You stabbed me first,” I shrugged nonchalantly, adding, “You got a pen?”

He held my gaze for a moment, before slowly getting up to retrieve a branded notepad and pen from the nightstand across the room.

He slid them towards me, and I clicked open the pen with a motion that jolted my forearm. I hid my grimace and somehow refrained from dropping the writing utensil onto the carpeting. I wrote down the number with a degree of difficulty. I pushed it towards him, but kept my fingers on it for a second.

“Wait 24, then call it.”

I could tell he wanted to ask for more details, but he wisely considered this ordeal to be over and my civility worn out.

I walked right out the door, and he didn’t stop me.

I thought about trying to get word to the team, but decided against it. I wasn’t integral to the plan. They could go on without me, and most definitely had considering the importance of the mission and the estimated time I had been gone. If they even knew I had been taken—I seemed to remember the building we were using having cameras—the chances that they would interfere in my business were limited.

So I probably had about 12 hours, give or take. Long enough for a natural nap and a rushed processing session with fuzzy pajamas and ice cream. I would have also indulged in a nice warm bath, but unfortunately I was correct about the stitches, making the whole watery adventure ill-advised.

After I had totally-effectively self-cared the whole experience away, I went out on the town.

I was making a round up City avenue when I spotted a shadow trailing behind me.

Round two, baby. Let’s go.

I stopped, and the shadow closed in.

“What kind of game are you trying to pull?” The shadow confronted angrily.

“You didn’t call the number,” I stated plainly.

“I traced it. It comes back to one [full legal name]. Do you think this is funny? We had an arrangement.” I couldn’t say why, but his words just didn’t seem as scary.

“You’re one to talk about the sanctity of arrangements. We did have one. One that you spit on. Or have you already forgotten?” I could tell he wanted to advance on me, but he was hanging back. “Speaking of which, I don’t really know when to take these stitches out.”

“So you think you can just walk away from this?”

It didn’t seem like he really believed that. It didn’t really seem like he knew what to believe.

“‘I am not an idiot’, Villain.” I threw his words back at him. It was the least he deserved. “I don’t work with people who break my trust. I made an exception. Do I need to take it back?”

He’s smarter than this, isn’t he?

He took a single step forward.

“Wow, you are thick lately. I gave you exactly what you asked for but you just can’t open your eyes and see it.”

“I didn’t ask for this,” he held the scrap of paper up in a tight fist. “I asked for evidence, and if you’re not gonna give me what I clearly asked for-”

“Put your threats away and use your brain for once. Dust off the cobwebs and whatever the fuck has you so messed up and just think.”

I wasn’t angry, just exasperated. I knew my words were entering dangerous territory, but I felt they had to be said. This was not what I was used to dealing with. A brick wall would be more reasonable.

“If I was trying to trick you, I’d give you the number of the local pizza place. If you can’t get this I can’t help you.”

A pregnant pause.

“You,” he breathed.

Finally. A connect-the-dots champion.

“Me,” I confirmed.

“Witness?”

So close.

“Victim.”

I could almost hear the click. His whole demeanor shifted, his walls building back up, self-assuredness back in place.

“I see.”

He looked me up and down one more time with newly-appraising eyes before abruptly turning around and walking away. He melted back into the darkness, disappearing without so much as another word.

Asshole.

[gold-rhine]

This is SUPER long but an interesting take on the natlan archon quest. I still wish more of mavuika's internal feelings is shown more (second story quest maybe hopefully come on girl do a raiden quest 2) and have some reservations about the storytelling lol but this essay was a fun read especially with piecing the world quests with the archon quests.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Lore/comments/1i2x2et/haborym_humanism_the_meaning_of_pyro_why_natlans/

Also I can't believe my excitement for Nod Krai is bc of a little kid npc but here we are

im sorry like i honestly dont want to sound rude, if you've been here for some time, you might know i just use hyperbolic language that sounds to emotional when critiquing thing, but its really not a personal attack on author of this post or you

but like this post is insane to me, how did they write like 10 pages on natlan analyses and never once mentioned colonialism? its a central metaphor without which literally nothing in natlan makes sense. like look at what this post claims to be central conflict. its about how "history is important" vs erasing history "for evolution" and "human badassery". like. why would "evolution" by itself require loss of history? it doesn't. look at all civilizations cherishing their histories. without context of colonialism, without invaders erasing cultural identity of invaded, it makes no fucking sense. because its not about "human badassery", its about survival of people versus keeping cultural identity of the nation. to think that capitano argued for "badassery" is literally crazy to me. he said SURVIVAL in text. like in this post's logic the plot is about how natlan manages to be the most human badass out of everyone who tried instead of winning a war against invaders who would erase and consume them. ??????

and to bring ochkanatlan into this without context of colonialism is also crazy. like. why did ochkanatlan happen? why did the dragons wanted to become stronger and were willing to lose their identities over it? obvious context is that celestia invaded teyvat, conquered dragons, killed most of them, stole their planet and their powers. ochkanatan dragons are survivors of invasion, traumatized and trying to find ways to cope and progress after losing everything, THIS is why they are narratively tied to natlan.

like make no mistake, i am bitching about natlan because i think they didnt realize the full potential of insanely good metaphor they managed to create at the beginning acts. if all natlan had was incoherent mess about immortality and human badassery from this post i would not give a fuck

[aspoonofsugar]

You wrote this amazing essay about Morena two years ago :

How did the revelations of chapter 408 affect your understanding of the character ? What was changed and what stayed the same ? And Thank you !

Hi!

Thank you for passing by and for liking this essay. I remember it was a joy to write!

What stays the same is that I love Morena with all my heart :P

This aside, I think that, even if some things have obviously changed, the basica thematic ideas stay the same. Tbh I think they are even strengthened by the revelation "Morena Prudo" is someone else's identity Morena stole for herself. All she could rise and destroy society.

This revelation makes Morena even lower on Kakin's societal hierarchy. She is not the King's daughter, but a child by rape with no royal blood. She is still scarred as a second rate, but she is even worse than that. She is just flesh to be experimented on and used for sexual pleasure. However, she uses Kakin's own bigorty against it, so that she can rank up and gain enough power to destroy the system. Royal blood can't be tested, so she fakes herself a royal and uses the lese-majeste to her advantage. Obviously, this makes even more clear how Kakin's importance on blood is hypocritical. Morena is subjected by a horrible life because of her blood... And yet, the moment she says her blood is royal nobody questions it. Blood is at the same time a barrier impossible to overcome and something meaningless. This same idea is being tackled also by the fact Kakin's nobility and even the Royal Family have been tampered with by Beyond Netero. One of the Princes is not even Nasubi's child, but rather Beyond's. Morena is the same. She is a nameless orphan who poses as a royal.

Speaking of nameless orphans, this makes her even more similar to Chrollo. Chrollo and the Spiders are from Meteor City and lack any legal identity. Similarly, Morena too lacks a legal identity and has stolen someone else's to social climb. She has sacrificed who she is, in order to destroy society. Chrollo has instead been wearing a cruel mask for the Spiders' sake. After all, he is a member of a theatre troupe, where everyone is fused with their character and can never leave the stage to go back to being themselves. This is the Spiders' tragedy. Both are also currently targeting Kakin, but Morena is doing so to destroy a society, whereas Chrollo is doing so to assure his society (the Spiders) will outlive him.

Even their nen powers are opposites. They are both specialists, but:

Chrollo steals powers. In order to do so, she must get to know the person first. He needs the question to answer some questions about their power, they must touch the book, they must show him the ability and everything must happen within one hour.

Morena gives powers. In order to do so, she must let the other person get to know her. Hence there is the game of negotiation, where she gives up info about her ability and the other person accepts the chance of dying.

In both cases, the act of stealing and giving powers is intertwined with a flimsy idea of bonds. Chrollo needs to understand the person to steal their power. Morena needs the person to understand her before they can join her.

At the same time, contagion is really a representation of how Morena sees relationships:

She plays a game with her partner (like in a blind date, really)

She kisses them

She has them witness a violent murder

It is really a blind death where love and death are intertwined, which culminates in metaphorical sex (contagion is a metaphor for a sexual illness spreading - other than a pyramid scheme, as Morena herself says LOL). This is heartbreaking, if one remembers her life has probably been spent between sex and violence. So, her power is really a metaphor for a very specific way to see bonds and interactions with others.

Finally, Contagion can be seen as a metaphor of Morena's own life. Morena started at level 0, but through violence and killing she reached a high enough level that she is now able to use nen and to grant others powers. Similarly, in order to develop an ability, the person must keep on killing to level up.

These are my thoughts so far. I think we should also wait and see if Morena herself is hiding some other secrets :)

Thank you for the ask!

[yannig]

So. I've finished binge-watching Pit Babe.

and I have opinions. (yes I am aware it came out like a year ago. who cares) so, with very little order :

Tony died!! Yeah!! ngl, at one point I hoped Babe's father would come in to kill him, but Kenta doing it is even more satisfying so i'm happy with it. also those knife sounds were great. 10/10 no notes.

Babe's father was very obvious as Babe's father the second we met him. it's not necessarily a problem, i just found it funny that they were trying to create a mystery around him.

i didn't know it was an omegaverse when i began watching the show, but it was a pretty sanitized omegaverse, all things considered. no mentions of heat/rut, knotting, mate, pack, mating bite, bond, nesting. the mpreg was only implied. the word omega was uttered exactly once. beyond Tony wanting only alpha kids (with no explanation of what an alpha is), the plot to get a child from Babe, and Babe's fixation on his partner's smell (and most likely, Babe and Charlie's fixation on each other's neck), i often forgot it was an omegaverse. i understand not wanting to scare newbies, omegaverse can be wild, but i was surprised with how little we got of the common tropes. its not a flaw, i was just surprised.

Sonic needs to tell North he loves him. the guy is clearly ready to die for you. just because he's too stupid to realize he's in love with you doesn't mean he isn't.

also this two idiots were still in the building!! i thought they got the USB and then got out to publish the videos! but no! these two idiots were still in the building! thank fuck Kim was close by!!! (he was probably there on purpose, yes, but still. they should have gotten out!)

Way stays a walking red flag until his very last breath and I hate that for him. don't get me wrong, I saw his death coming. he was unredeemable, and we don't want the audience to hate him, so of course he was gonna die. i really don't like this trope, I'd rather he left Babe and X-Hunter behind and got a new chance with Pete, who was clearly ready to give him one and also who he hadn't betrayed and hurt in the worst way possible. but no, that's not how the trope works. he dies. because we don't know how to redeem characters without killing them. and to make the matter worst, he dies having one of his most fucked up interactions with Babe yet, and that's saying something considering his track record, confessing his love for the nth time which was understandable but already awkward on its own, and then asking if Babe ever loved him back when he has made very clear several times that he saw Way as his closest friend and nothing else, begging for forgiveness for trying to rape Babe, i swear to god!! the correct thing to say at this point was "i'm sorry i ever hurt you, i hope you get to be happy with Charlie, don't blame yourself for my death". instead, he gave him enough therapy material for the next decade! with one conversation! how the fuck is Babe supposed to grieve Way, or make peace with anything he has done to him, after that kind of last breath!

(seriously, i probably have enough to say about Way to write an entire essay. the man was fucked up)

Kim has now been officially adopted in the family, he's even invited to the funerals! (i am aware he was still Tony's prisoner during Charlie's funeral, i just found it funny.) we did not see enough of Kim after Tony imprisoned him btw. he is one of my favorite characters in this show and he deserved more screen time!

Did Charlie stole a power that just- teleport him to Babe when he's in danger? this is a least the second time he just appeared out of nowhere to save Babe with no explanation, and with a perfect timing at that.

Babe deserved to scream at Charlie for faking his death. Or a least have a breakdown the like of the one he had with his father. The reunion scene was great and emotional and shit, and it was adequate for the context, but i needed them to have a real conversation about it later. will look for fanfics on the matter.

my man Babe is gonna have so many trust issues it's not even funny anymore. like mate. both his fathers betrayed him (and sold him, though for different reasons), his best friend of 10 years betrayed him in one of the worst way possible, one of his other teammates betrayed him, and his boyfriend has been lying to him the entire time the have known each other, to the point of faking his death without telling him he was alive. listen, i was berating him every time he pushed Charlie away at the slightest sign of dishonesty because I don't like that trope, but I think in this case he was justified. it's going to be fun to get him to trust anyone ever again!

also that man can cry! and make me cry with him at that! like, i knew Charlie's death was a fake out, and i knew it was coming, but episode 10 still got me in tears because Babe's grief was fucking real. giving him his senses back just for him to hear his lover flat-line on the operation table was incredibly cruel. also "He's still warm. Maybe he's not dead yet". are you trying to kill me? also also : did he say "i love you" for the first time at Charlie's grave? because i think he did.

overall, pretty good execution of the fake death trope, they gave us time to feel the grief before revealing he was alive, it worked. (did the plot around said fake death make sense? not... quite? but the feels were there and that's what matters)

Jeff is my baby and i love him. he got a lover and a support system and that's great, though they could do with better communication and still have shit to learn about respecting boundaries. which is saying something because Jeff tends to be pretty fucking clear about his boundaries. i'm watching you Alan. also i've decided he's autistic. for obvious reasons.

the whole "papa and mama" thing Babe and Charlie have going on is not my thing, but it is particularly weird in a context where the last two men Babe called "Papa" betrayed him and hurt him terribly. i get that what they have going on is different, like it's not a daddy kink (which would have been even weirder), but it still left a weird taste in my mouth. i just - i don't know what to make of it. i don't think they got the implication of it when making the show?

Babe and Charlie both need therapy to a desperate level, and i do not trust any of them to try to get it on their own. let's hope the rest of the family team manages to get them there. i'm mostly counting on Jeff to start the movement on this one. and then the others can nicely bully them into getting professional help.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Biden set to appoint mass foreclosure cheerleader to the Fed

Personnel are policy, something that the Biden administration has proved again and again since the 2020 election. Biden himself is a kind of empty vessel into which different wings of the Democratic party pour their will, yielding a strange brew of appointments both great and terrible.

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/06/personnel-are-policy/#janice-eberly

On the one hand, you have progressive appointments like Jonathan Kanter at the DoJ and Lina Khan at the FTC, leaders who are determined to challenge and curb corporate power:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/10/see-you-in-the-funny-papers/#bidens-legacy

On the other hand, you have deferential leaders like Pete Buttigieg, who fill their own staff with status quo counsel, and then let those timid corporate apologists run the show, leaving the substantial enforcement powers of a powerful agency to gather dust:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

While the Democrats’ anti-corporate wing got to drive the administration’s competition agencies, the corporate wing has enjoyed near-total dominance over finance regulations (with notable exceptions, e.g. Rohit Chopra), starting with Trump’s Jerome Powell, a bloodletting monster happy to shovel workers into their bosses’ crushers all day long:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/19/creditors-vs-workers/#finance-colored-glasses

Corporate Dems continue to flex their muscle. A seat has just opened up on the Federal Reserve Board, and the WSJ is pretty sure the seat is going to Janice Eberly, a corporate ghoul who helped Obama Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner steal Americans’ houses on behalf of the bankers who destroyed the world economy in 2008:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-considers-two-economists-for-fed-vice-chair-58f13344

A quick refresher: Obama inherited the Great Financial Crisis, a massive global asset crash that followed from a decade of real-estate and derivatives deregulation that saw the world’s largest banks issuing mortgages they knew would fail, and then placing massive bets on “collateralized debt obligations” that were supposed to offset the risk.

The banks gambled trillions, nearly destroyed the world’s economy, and then blamed it all on reckless borrowers — mortgage holders who had been mis-sold predatory mortgages that were designed to trigger defaults thanks to low “teaser rates” that later “ballooned” into monthly payments the banks knew the borrowers couldn’t afford.

Geithner was Obama’s go-to guy for the GFC. It was under his leadership that billions were handed out to the banks to bail them out and keep them solvent during the crisis — and it was also under his leadership that bank execs were able to pay themselves millions in bonuses using that public money.

When the banks were in trouble, Geithner leapt into action. When the banks’ customers faced crises, he was MIA — especially during the foreclosure epidemic that followed, as the banks stole our homes out from under us, often forging the paperwork. No bank was seriously punished for this policy.

Back to Janice Eberly, who served as Geithner’s assistant secretary of the Treasury for economic policy — his hatchet-woman, in other words. Now, sometimes people in senior government roles stick around because they disagree with their bosses and want to mitigate the harm of their bosses’ policies.

That’s not why Eberly took the job. In 2014, she and Arvind Krishnamurthy co-wrote a Brookings Institute paper called “Efficient Credit Policies in a Housing Debt Crisis,” that explained why Geithner had it right all along — bailing out the banks and leaving homeowners in foreclosure is “efficient”:

https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/fall2014bpea_eberly_krishnamurthy.pdf

Writing in The American Prospect, Max Moran from the Revolving Door Project breaks down “Efficient Credit Policies,” explaining how Eberly’s stated views should disqualify her from sitting on the Fed board, especially as we teeter on the brink of a deep financial crisis:

https://prospect.org/economy/2023-03-06-janice-eberly-fed-nominee-mortgage-crisis/

The first thing you need to understand here is HAMP, the Home Affordable Modification Program, which received the $100b Congress allocated to help homeowners whose mortgages were “underwater” — that is, whose houses were worth less than they owed for them.

That money could have gone to “principal reduction” — that is, to paying off part of your loan. If you owned $350,000 on a house that was now worth $300,000, the Feds could give the bank $50k and you wouldn’t be underwater anymore. The FDIC proposed just this, in a plan that would have required homeowners to pay back the US government if the price of their homes rebounded.

If you want to keep Americans from losing their homes, principal reduction is a straightforward and reliable approach. But the banks hated this — and that meant Geithner wouldn’t do it. Banks don’t like principal reduction because it means that they’ll lose out on future payments: reducing your principal by $50k now means that the banks won’t get hundreds of thousands of dollars over the 30 years of your mortgage.

Using the money for principal reduction would have meant the banks’ balance sheets would have looked a little worse — which, as Moran points out, is a perfectly fair outcome for banks that had just come close to destroying the world economy, especially since many of these underwater borrowers were destined to lose their houses and would never make those payments.

But Geithner didn’t do principal reduction. Instead, he did HAMP, which was just a way to temporarily lower borrowers’ monthly payments so they could stay in their homes. Geithner sold Obama on this plan, convincing him to renege on his election promise to support a “cramdown” on the banks, which would have saved homeowners:

https://www.propublica.org/article/dems-obama-broke-pledge-to-force-banks-to-help-homeowners

HAMP was full of the kinds of complex requirements and paperwork that the professional managerial class love, rules that made it almost impossible for homeowners to invoke HAMP and improve their payments. Meanwhile, the banks got “investor incentive payments” that let them take in public money even as they foreclosed on the public:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/principal-reduction-alternative-under-the-home-affordable-modification-program

HAMP was a disaster. Almost no one managed to use it, and even among the lucky few who did manage to do so, many were tricked into foreclosure.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/mar/30/government-program-save-homes-mortgages-failure-banks

This is the policy that Eberly and Krishnamurthy defend in their paper: rather than reducing debt, just temporarily restructure mortgage payments. One reason they defend this: it’s cheaper, and Congress didn’t allocate enough money to help everyone who needed principal reduction. But, as Moran points out, Geithner’s anemic response to the crisis caused Congress to claw back $225b of the money allocated to deal with it — enough to do $50k principal reductions for 4.5m households. Under Geithner, HAMP only spent $10b.

But of course, the US government didn’t need to pay the banks off to do principal reduction. They could simply order the banks to take a loss. That’s how lending usually works: lenders who originate bad loans have to eat them — they don’t get made whole by Uncle Sucker.

But when Eberly was working for Geithner, “federal officials convinced themselves this was impossible.” Rather than hold banks to account for their reckless speculation, Geithner announced that he was going to “foam the runway” for the banks, pureeing Americans’ homes to make the foam.

But Eberly’s tenure coincided with the banks’ rebound — by the time she went to work for Geithner, they were rolling in dough, posting massive profits. As @ryanlcooper@mastodon.social put it, “If you force them to eat a bunch of foreclosure losses, maybe a few hundred billion over several years, it probably wouldn’t have been that bad.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPLbnr1mxBs

Moran nails it here: “When a bad loan is made, it is both prudent and fair for the lender to bear the most responsibility. They are supposed to be wise stewards of their own capital. Instead, ordinary homeowners who did the least of any actor to cause the financial crisis ended up eating the losses.”

Eberly and Krishnamurthy claimed that Geithner’s policy would be efficient, and that it wouldn’t lead to mass foreclosures. As neoclassical economists love to do, they “proved” this using elaborate mathematical models. And, also in the grand neoclassical tradition, they didn’t bother to check whether their model was correct.

To quote Ely Devons: “If economists wished to study the horse, they wouldn’t go and look at horses. They’d sit in their studies and say to themselves, ‘What would I do if I were a horse?’”

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/27/economism/#what-would-i-do-if-i-were-a-horse

Here’s what Eberly and Krishnamurthy missed: the choice to foreclose wasn’t being made by the lenders, they were being made by the mortgage servicer, a kind of consequence-free middleman who made more money by foreclosing on homeowners, even if the lenders lost more money over the long term:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228125783_Why_Servicers_Foreclose_When_They_Should_Modify_and_Other_Puzzles_of_Servicer_Behavior_Servicer_Compensation_and_its_Consequences

Eberly and Krishnamurthy barely mention the existence of servicers, but another researcher was keenly aware of them: a law prof named Katie Porter, who delved into the servicers’ role in foreclosure in a report for the California AG:

https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/mortgage_settlement/01-report-waiting-for-change.pdf

Porter identified the servicers’ “dual track” approach to distressed mortgage borrowers: on the one hand, they slow-walked HARP-based changes to payments, and on the other hand, they raced to foreclose on those borrowers who were waiting for their payments to reset.

The servicers’ hunger to throw people out of their homes knew no bounds: they set up massive robo-signing boiler-rooms where low-waged employees forged deeds to plug the paperwork holes created by the high-speed, unregulated speculation on mortgages that precipitated the Great Financial Crisis:

https://www.reuters.com/article/robosigning-plea/ex-mortgage-document-exec-pleads-guilty-in-robo-signing-case-idUSL1E8ML0C120121121

Eberly knew about robo-signing, she knew about servicers, she knew about foreclosures. It was her job to know. But she still wrote her paper defending Geithner’s runway-foaming and all those ruined lives:

Principal reduction can be helpful, but it is a less efficient use of government resources, since it back-loads payments to households that cannot borrow against these future resources to support consumption today, and also because it is most helpful in reducing strategic default, rather than payment-distress-induced default,

This is just means-testing by another name, a fetish for separating the “deserving poor” from “moochers” (AKA “strategic defaulters”). The PMC loves means-testing, but only for poor people. As Moran points out, rich people like Trump use strategic defaults all the time:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/nyregion/donald-trump-atlantic-city.html

Elite economists and finance ghouls convinced themselves that helping people stay in their homes would enable waves of crooked “strategic defaulting” but there’s no evidence this was ever widespread — rather, it was a fairy tale that justified mass foreclosure:

https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w27585/w27585.pdf

Eberly helped throw millions of Americans into the street in order to reward reckless banks, already wildly profitable banks, with even more profit. And far from regretting this, she went on to write elaborate justifications for the cruel policies she helped administer.

The historian Michael Hudson describes debt and debt cancellation as a key determinant of whether a given civilization survives. In every venture, producers have to borrow capital from lenders — farmers, for example, must borrow to pay for seed and fertilizer and labor. When the ventures are successful, the borrowers pay back the lenders.

But not every venture can succeed. There will always be blights, droughts, fires and other risks that can’t be fully mitigated. When failure occurs, borrowers can’t pay back creditors. If you farm long enough, you’ll eventually lose a crop, and have to roll over your debts next year. Eventually, you’ll owe so much that you can’t even make the interest payments.

In the absence of some structured, periodic debt cancellation — such as the Bronze Age tradition of Jubilee — creditors eventually end up controlling the work of the entire productive sector. When that happens, your society stops producing what everyone needs, and instead just makes the things that rich people want:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/08/jubilant/#construire-des-passerelles

A civilization can’t survive if all of its farmers are growing ornamental flowers for rich creditors’ villas instead of staple crops. It can’t survive if every productive worker is stuck in a dead-end job or a dead-end place because of medical or student debt.

Personnel are policy. Eberly has explained, in excruciating detail, exactly what policy she favors — policy that rewards reckless speculation by incinerating the life chances of everyday Americans. Appointing her to the Federal Reserve board would be a giant Fuck You from the Biden admin to every person who got their home stolen by a bank.

Tomorrow (Mar 7), I’m doing a remote talk for TU Wien.

On Mar 9, you can catch me in person in Austin at the UT School of Design and Creative Technologies, and remotely at U Manitoba’s Ethics of Emerging Tech Lecture.

On Mar 10, Rebecca Giblin and I kick off the SXSW reading series.

Image: Medill DC (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timothy_Geithner_in_2011.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[Image ID: A bombed out neighborhood. Over the crumbling houses is the 'HOPE' wordmark from Shepard Fairey's Obama campaign posters. On the right is the grinning face of Obama Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, colorized to match the Fairey posters. On the left is an ogrish, top-hatted capitalist figure, chomping a cigar and disdainfully holding aloft a single-family home between a gloved forefinger and thumb. He stands before a podium bearing the Citibank logo. The podium has a lever in the shape of a golden dollar-sign, which he is yanking with his free hand. He, too, has been colorized in the mode of the Fairey poster.]

[nifflering]

THE BUMBLING FOOL - an essay/rant

(contains spoilers for The Wizard of Oz and Doctor Who episodes “Utopia”(s3/ep11) and “Sound of the drums” (s3/ep12))

To begin, I present to you some context…. So, recently I saw a post by @monica00 who posted an excerpt from the Master’s diary. The “MASTER OF ALL I SURVEY” is composed of several diary entries written by Simm!Master. In one of them, Day 42, he mentions carving the faces of several of his regenerations (Delgado, Ainley, himself and the “Wizard of Oz”) into Mount Rushmore. This led me to ponder who he’s referring to when talking about the wizard of Oz.

So, after thinking a bit, I finally figured out that he was talking about the Master as portrayed by Sir Derek Jacobi / the War Master. And that led me to composing this handy (and probably not that well written) list? Analysis? Essay? About the parallels between the character of “The Wizard of Oz” and Professor Yana/the Master.

Note: My information on the wizard of Oz is partly taken from deep crevices of my brain and the “Wizard of Oz” wiki, so I might be mixing up several portrayals of the character. Also, this is my personal interpretation, so yeah…

Enjoy, I guess…

This rant is dedicated to my current Doctor Who obsession and of course to @roxannepolice, my motivation for writing/ actually publishing this. Many thanks to you for feeding my thoschei obsession with your content and (ask game answers) and exsisting.

After Dorothy arrives in Oz via hurricane, she desperately “wishes” to get back home to Kansas. The Good Witch informs her about the approaching threat of the Wicked Witch (who is going to chase her down and try to kill her because she crushed her sister, the wicked witch of the east, with her house and stole her magical shoes. Which are all pretty valid arguments If you ask me.). Glinda says that in order to go home she should ask the “Wonderful Wizard of Oz” for help. Dorothy (having just killed someone) and her dog, Toto, go on their merry way, following the yellow brick road to the Emerald City.

On the way there she meets several other characters who also have a deep wish they want fulfilled by the wizard. There is the Scarecrow who wants to have a brain, a tin man who wants a heart and a Lion who wants courage.

After some tribulations they are finally able to have an audience with the Wizard, who appears as a giant floating head – in return for fulfilling their wishes the Wizard demands the Wicked Witch`s broomstick. (Character who appears as a giant floating head - Just like, oh, I don’t know a certain other character played by Derek Jacobi, cough cough the Metatron, cough, cough)

They defeat the Wicked Witch and return with the broomstick; he tells them to come back tomorrow – but Toto pulls back a curtain and the group discover that “The Great and Powerful Wizard” is just a guy operating a projector machine. He is projecting an image of himself, the image of a giant powerful magician capable of doing almost anything. When confronted with the fact that he is a humbug, he admits that he is but says that he’s – still a good man at heart. Although he promised to grant their wishes, he merely gives them “tokens” of the things they actually wanted. For example, a heart shaped clock for the metal man and a diploma for the Scarecrow.

The wizard finally decides to go home to Kansas, the same way he got there - in a hot-air balloon. He also offers to take Dorothy with him, fulfilling her wish. This ultimately doesn’t work as Toto runs off and Dorothy goes after him. Just before departing he makes Dorothy’s companions the rulers of Oz – effectively dumping all responsibility on them. In the end Dorothy manages to get back home with her magical shoes. However (depending on the version) Dorothy has fulfilled her wish on her own, none of her other friends have actually gotten their wish granted.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ Let’s take a look at the parallels between Yana and Oz.

“Utopia”, is the only episode Yana and Jacobi!Master appear in, it takes place on a desolate planet called Malcassario at “the end of the universe”, a time not even the timelords have reached.

Ten, Martha and Captain Jack (don’t ask me why he’s here just roll with it) go to explore and find nest-like structures carved into stone. Remnants of a civilisation that used to live here long ago. They get wrapped up in a hunt, a (human) man is being chased by the Futurekind, a tribe of savage hunters with sharp teeth. They join him in running to the only safe place around – a silo. Later a guard confirms that this is the place to go if you want to go to Utopia – the ultimate salvation from the end of the universe and the infinite darkness that surrounds them.

They later find out that a scatterbrained scientist called Professor Yana (and in extension his malmoothian assistant, Chantho) are supposed to make the rocket that’s supposed to take them to Utopia (a call which “came from across the stars over and over again. Come to Utopia.”), fly. The thing is, they have no clue how to do that – not that they are not scientists – but they do not have enough energy to lift off.

The surviving humans yearn “to preserve [themselves], to find a way of surviving beyond the collapse of reality itself.” They have come so far, survived all these great hardships, lost their friends, family, lives, everything. They presumably see Yana as a saviour, the one who will lead them to Utopia “where the sky is made of diamonds”. Yana is even willing to sacrifice himself for them, staying behind as the rocket takes off.

Every single human left in existence is relying on them to survive. They all want something from him. He is their own personal version of “The Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz”, able to grant their deepest wishes/ they are projecting their wishes and hopes on him. They aren’t scared that the myth of Utopia isn’t true but they fear that they won’t survive long enough to reach it.

(As I’m writing this I kind of realize that the Doctor (or the Master) can relate to all these humans, just like them they have lost everything, their home plane and their friend. But the doctor still hasn’t given up hope he’s still running away, desperately clinging to any human who wants to travel with him and secretly wishing that the last words of the Face of Boe “Know this, timelord. You Are Not Alone.”, are true.)

There are also some parallels between Martha and Chantho. In a private conversation while the doctor helps Yana power the rocket, Chantho reveals that she has known the Professor for a long time and that she adores him but does not think he notices. This kind of parallels Martha’s relationship with the doctor, she’s also in love with him but knows that this love will never be reciprocated, she’s not even sure if he’s noticed it. But, ultimately the loyal Chantho gets electrocuted by the Master after he has recovered his memories – blaming her for not noticing or asking about the watch (which contains his true identity) sooner. She falls to the floor – seemingly dead – but manages to shoot him in her last breath.

Her wish for love has not been fulfilled.

Let’s get back to the humans for a second: as soon as the Master becomes himself again, he lowers the protective measures against the Futurekind, locks the Doctor and Jack in the control room and removes a circuit board from the navigational system to Utopia. The rocket’s flight path is interrupted in the fate of the humans is left unclear. (At least until Sound of the Drums but isn’t the toclafane’s existence, bound to a singular metal dome a never-ending thirst for blood ingrained deep within you, a fate worse than death? Are they even human?)

The Doctor’s next, we will ignore Jack because he doesn’t really fit into the grand scheme and he’s literally just forcing himself into the plot.

Throughout the whole of new who up to this point it has been established that the Doctor is completely and utterly alone in the universe. In the episode “New Earth” (s2/ep1) a Novice teases the last words of the Face of Boe which will only be given to someone like him “a wanderer. To the man without a home. The lonely God.” In Gridlock (s3/ep3) he tells Martha about the time war, “There was a war. A Time War. The last great Time War. [..] They lost. Everyone lost. They’re all gone now, my family, my friends, even that sky.”.

Like I already mentioned, The Doctor is constantly craving companionship – he has throughout all his lives, especially in the new series he wants to alleviate the pain of the time war, the crippling loneliness that claws at him every second of every day, no matter how much he tries to escape it.

When Yana hears of a scientist, “a doctor of everything”, he is immediately overjoyed, he rushes to greet the doctor and whisks him away to his laboratory. He quickly introduces him to all his equipment but despite the doctor’s massive intellect, he can’t even think of any solution. Yana is obviously sad but apologizes, saying that there’s been “so little help”. To me this immediate joy and desire to meet the doctor is also partly the masters. He feels lonely as well – as reflected by Yana’s own feelings - “Never could keep time. Always late, always lost. […] Time and time and time again. Always running out on me. […] Oh, it's only an old relic. Like me.” Yana desires rest – eventually his own wish gets fulfilled, just like Oz escaping from Oz and going back to Kansas.

Generally, the Chameleon Arch creates a personification of some aspects of the user`s personality, for the Doctor his “worse traits” get amplified, for the Master his “better traits” are amplified, he’s willing to sacrifice himself just to save someone he doesn’t know and is kind to everyone he comes across.

When the Doctor sees Yana’s inventions, he’s starstruck. He’s finally found someone like him – an equal. “Oh, it's easy coming in at the end, but you're stellar. This is, this is magnificent. And I don't often say that because, well, because of me.” He recognizes how underappreciated Yana is in this time – “If you'd been born in a different time, you'd be revered. I mean it. Throughout the galaxies.”

They briefly take a break to talk about the constant never-ending drumming Yana hears in his head and this iconic look™ happens.

When Yana opens the watch and turns back into the Master, ten rushes to get to him, he begs him to open the door, to let him in “I'm begging you. Everything's changed! It's only the two of us! We're the only ones left! Just let me in!” But, the Master, the only other person like him in the entirety of the universe, escapes with his own Tardis.

The Face of Boe’s prophecy and the Doctor’s wish have come true. He’s not alone anymore.

But it doesn’t last as the Doctor (not even two episode later) has to watch as the Master dies in his arms refusing to regenerate because it would mean having to spend the rest of his lives imprisoned wit” him.

He’s alone again.

Professor Yana just like the Wizard has a lot of responsibility. They are both good men at heart. But are still not able to fulfil the wishes of the people relying on them.

But at the same time, they are both humbugs.

A humbug, as defined by Miriam Webster, is “a false or deceiving person or thing, a fraud”. Both Oz and Yana are humbugs in both meanings of the word. They are both “false people” with the Wizard being merely a projection controlled by Oz and Yana literally being a “false person”, a fake identity created by the Chameleon arch. They are both good men at heart – they want to or at least try to fulfil the wishes brought before them – but they both deceive their “subjects” – so they’re more morally grey. Yana tries his hardest to build a rocket and a system to power it made out of food scraps. He’s using technology the Doctor has never even heard of. Yana may be a good person, but ultimately the Master is not.

In the end, Jack, Martha and the doctor barely manage to escape with Jack’s vortex manipulator – his red sparkly shoes.

And that’s it. If you’ve managed to make it this far, you receive a “virtual” participation trophy, congrats. 😊 Have a good day and....

Until next time (maybe?)

[wajjs]

what would you think of "Let It Happen" and "New Person, Same Old Mistakes", both by Tame Impala for Hal Jordan

like hear me out, both songs have strong Parallax Hal vibes. like in "Let It Happen" : /It's always around me, all this noise/ /But not nearly as loud as the voice saying/ /Let it happen, let it happen/ /(It's gonna feel so good)/ /Just let it happen, let it happen/

now this could be for after the bug retcon, but it could also fit with the loss of Coast City weighing on his mind. In GL 1990 #46, Hal literally says that even before he sees the crater, he hears them screaming.

there is also : /All this running around/ /I can't fight it much longer/ /Something's trying to get out/ /And it's never been closer/ /If my take-off fails/ /Make up some other story/ /But if I never come back/ /Tell my mother I'm sorry/

sdfvgbhnj. I'm totally normal about thses songs and this man. NOw the first half also works for the bug retcon, but the part about /If my take-off fails/? Reminds me of that one comic where Hal is all "If I die flying this plane, they can take the money out of my life insurance. " which wow honey. man is on a mission.

Also you cannot tell me that if Hal's mother was still alive and he died as GL, he would not want someone to make up a story about it. but that's just my opinion on it. really this whole song is great imo for Hal and his character and here are the lyrics to it.

now onto "New Person, Same Old Mistakes" : /I can just hear them now/ /"How could you let us down?"/ /But they don't know what I found/ /Or see it from this way around/ /Feeling it overtake/ /All that I used to hate/ /Wonder what if we trade/ /I tried but it's way too late/ /All the signs I don't read/ /Two sides of me can't agree/ /When I breathe in too deep/ /Going with what I always longed for/

this fits him for the same reasons as above but also Coast City was a place of many ties and laced with history for him. Coast City was where he spent his childhood and a good portion of his adult life. He always found himself leaving it and coming back for some reason or another. But after it's destruction? He can never return home, however much he wishes he could. Coast City was his youth, his golden years, and its death was his undoing. /Feel like a brand new person/ /(But you make the same old mistakes)/ /I don’t care I’m in love/ /(Stop before it’s too late)/ /Feel like a brand new person/ /(But you make the same old mistakes)/ /I finally know what is love/ /(You don’t have what it takes)/ /(Stop before it’s not too late)/ /(I know there’s too much at stake)/ /(Making the same mistakes)/ /And I still don’t know why it’s happening/ /(Stop while it’s not too late)/ /And I still don’t know/

Am I sensing a theme here? Hal stole the power from the central power battery, he fought the entirety of the Corps, he named himself Parallax for god's sake! He went against his moral code to avenge Coast City against the Cyborg-Superman, he went against the Guardians, who he considered masters before this (which, whoo boy is not okay) ,and yet he knows what he's doing is wrong. He knows he shouldn't and he's doing it anyways, whether you want to involve the bug in this or not, it's Hal! pretty much the rest of the song is the narrator trying to justify their actions to the listener and it reads as the world's most unreliable narrator ever. The lyrics are here. im so normal for writing this. this is basically the start of an essay icant- how did I write all this

Okay first of all I love you for sending this ask and I'm sorry I took so long to reply

Then, yeah, I agree that the songs have intense Hal - Parallax vibes, though I have to say to me they're more 90s Parallax than bug retcon. It could be that I am biased, who knows?

(I'm 100% biased)

These lines: "I can just hear them now, how could you let us drown" are particularly poignant when it comes to 90s Hal pre-Parallax (but leading up to it) because YES. He is absolutely haunted by the screams of the people in the city dying. He's haunted by his inability to save them. He's haunted by all the choices that led to him being unable to save them.

(From The Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan)

Also... "I tried but it's way too late"?

(Green Lantern 1990 #50)

[teriwrites]

Hell™ Hath Frozen Over: Part 2

My Live Reactions to Reading Through My 2012 Novella

Lucifer scrolling job listings online to send Wormwood to Earth

I still hadn't learned the difference between 'except' and 'accept' at this time

Oop!! The Revival on Earth has officially begun

Right, there's nobody better to send to go tempt humanity back away from religion like the guy who's version of a practical joke is lighting people on fire

'There would be no problems getting Wormwood to join him. Everything would be just fine. Nothing could go wrong at this point. Everything was in order.' something tells me this isn't going to go as smoothly as Lucifer is hoping

jk Wormwood is actually so stoked about it

Hinted history between Wormwood and Yetarel not getting along

'It was only 5:30AM in the morning.' as opposed to 5:30AM in the afternoon

I'm starting to realize how Very Catholic Teri justified writing this (Lucifer holding lingering regrets about leaving Heaven)

The trip from Hell to Earth also involves a plane

'Why did [angels] always have to act like they were perfect? Because they are? Lucifer's conscience told him. Hey, shut up Screwtape, Lucifer thought back. Why did he hire Screwtape to be his conscience?' (the idea of hiring one of your employees to act as your conscience is so silly)

Lucifer has made it to Earth! Trying to scope out the Revival situation I'm guessing

'Now he just needed to find his way out of here and to the nearest bank. He asked a man for directions, but the man just looked at him suspiciously. Seriously, why did people keeping thinking that he was going to rob a bank? Sure, he was, but that didn't mean people had a right to think that.' pfft

Also the concept of seeing a random person asking about a bank and automatically assuming they're going to try robbing it is Wild

Lucifer has a 'CEO power' to teleport directly back to Hell, yet often chooses to take public transportation. Proof that he's actually better representation for the working class than the head of Heaven. In this essay, I will- *gets smited with so much lightning*

This random dude keeps instigating all these riots for the humans in Hell. Lucifer's response? "So, Colin, I really don't appreciate you starting riots, you know that?"

Taxis are literally everywhere in Hell, I take back what I said about public transportation

'Instead of walking he called in a taxi. The driver was actually a human, which made Lucifer feel a bit better. For one, humans had proper driver's licenses, and for two, he never had to pay a human for his services.' so none of these angel and demon taxi drivers have had their license? they're just driving based on vibes??

Wormwood asks for an extra hour to polish off some work at his office before going on his leave to Earth, Lucifer asks if he's feeling okay

Festival of Fire celebrations include: yeeting humans through rings of fire

'Eventually, a demon grabbed a human and carried him, kicking and squirming, into the streets. There was a huge ring of fire in the middle, which the demon threw him through. Judges up and down the sides of the streets shot him a seven out of ten. The demon flicked off each judge in turn, who all lowered his score to a six.' the visual of this actually has me laughing it's such a cartoon

It must really suck to die when you're already dead. Anyways, R.I.P. to that guy Colin, have fun in the void!

Ohhhhhhhh that history between Wormwood and Yetarel^ is because Yetarel used to be the one in charge of the fires of Hell, and Wormwood stole it from him

Yetarel apparently Hot AF, based on how this man's drawing glances from literally everybody. Either that, or he didn't bother with a human getup

Nope, he's definitely hot, the taxi driver's mistaking him for a movie star

Taxi driver apparently well on his way to Hell for letting out one (1) curse word. Which one, ofc, is not specified, bc obviously I was not going to be using it!!!

Wormwood, considered by many to be the dumbest demon: 'Wormwood quickly became bored and started fiddling with some loose scrap-metal from his bag. Within five minutes he had built a rubix cube, solved it, and taken it apart again.'

'It was dark, and rain was pouring down on them. Since this was Hell™, the rain was lava, of course.' of course

Apparently Yetarel framed Wormwood's dad to be sentenced to the Shadow Lands (still can't write those words without feeling ridiculous lol), which is why Wormwood stole the fires from him

All of this has been told in flashback/nightmares while Wormwood is asleep in a taxi

'How could this guy sentence people to their deaths and torture them for information? It must have been gruesome!' wormwood.... you're a demon.... in Hell... who tortures people for fun....

Ahh yes, the names of these demons: Lucifer, Ananel, Yetarel, Wormwood, Screwtape, Armageddon, and Erikson

Wormwood thinks Yetarel's going to try killing him on this trip, cuuuute

Awwww the Revival is happening in Germany (where I lived at the time of writing this story)

'It was too bad the official language of Hell™ was English.' *cough cough*

Even Wormwood can't help but acknowledge that Yetarel is a 'super hot movie star' lmaooo

The demons are sharing a room, you say? 👀

Ironic, the exact location of the Revival is the city that I didn't know at the time I would be moving to literally less than a year later

"For example, they refuse to listen to the fact that Heaven™ isn't the best place in the afterlife. Well, maybe it is, but don't forget that our job is all about lying." so true bestie

All right, and now we're preparing to head over to the Revival itself

Ending Thoughts:

For some reason, I thought that the story premise never actually got written. I thought that it was all taking place in Hell, and that I was so sick and tired of not getting anywhere with it that I chopped it short. But so far, things are actually more or less running 'smoothly'. I think part of the reason this story seems so much more cohesive than Below did is because a lot of the smaller details - ages, timelines, etc. - simply aren't present here. Can't mix up character's ages if they're all immortal. Can't screw up the timeline if time doesn't really exist anymore. As we spend more time on Earth, I'm curious to see whether some of those aspects become more relevant (and more messy). Also, now being 2/3 of the way through, I'm wondering exactly how abrupt this ending is going to be. I truly have no idea what's about to happen in the latter part of this story, except, I think, the very ending of the novella. Which will be... something! For sure!

[thearcanecat]

ok, I have a really interesting DND villain idea: a fire and brimstone preacher who quotes the bible for his spells. like he'll say "Numbers 21:6: 'Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died.'" and he summons snakes or smt.

Oooh! It makes me think druid, for summoning. Also, the KJV calls them “fiery serpents” which could also be fun. Maybe some summon elemental along with the animals/beasts. Maybe a cleric multi class for thematic appropriateness. From the plagues of Egypt you could get frogs (probably conjure animals) and locusts (infestation or swarm keeper ranger?). There’s also Daniel in the lion’s den, maybe the golden lion figurines of wondrous power. And of course Noah’s arc has every animal ever.

Okay now time to ramble aimlessly about DND and church. Because I have stories. And I was going to put this in the tags. And then I found out there was a tag limit. So they are going here now.

So, my church youth group had a campaign for a while. Because for a long time the only two people who showed up were me and this other kid we’ll call Isaiah (because that was his character’s name) and me. We both play DND and the youth pastor wanted to connect with us so she found a module that was us playing the shepherds that go find baby Jesus. And there’s some evil dragon that’s a metaphor for all the bad stuff. Like if we the players make evil choices such as killing people, the dragon gets more powerful. So, Isaiah has a brother and they do not get along. They bicker all the time Like every word that comes out of their mouth has to be a barb at the other. And the GM gave Isaiah a luck sword, even thought it was very op for our level. Because she thought he would never use use the wish because of choice paralysis. But the we fought the dragon. And it was really bad. Like several people were down and barely getting healed each turn. And health potions ran out. And Isaiah’s brother’s character died. And we did not have diamonds for revivify. So Isaiah uses his one wish to bring him brother’s character back to life. And it just made me very happy that they could get along. And I could write an essay on the positive benefits of playing DND with youth. And this would be the anecdote at the very beginning.

Also, I played a bard for this campaign and made the mistake of not having a damaging cantrip. So when I ran out of spells I had to find a rock to throw. And the GM had me roll every time. And I could not find any rocks. Ever. Not one. It was the joke with my character. Like the others would give her rocks before a fight because we all knew I wasn’t going to be able to find any.

I’ve also played DND at the Christian summer camp I go to. A lot of staff play, and I have two friends who do as well. So our first one-shot was the post Covid year. Because we had a small enough group that it was feasible. We can’t turn people away because camp. It was still a way to big group like 7-8 players and more people watching. But it was fun. The GM made a little dragon from air dry clay and he’s still in the youth room. My friend played A-Aron the Bird, who was a chaotic like goblin. They stole the show.

Second time was last year. The camp changed how they did free time so there was a structured time as well. And the week that my friends and I went we pitched DND, because we wanted to do it. So one of the counselors ran a table for the middle schoolers and one of my friends ran one based on the summer camp. There were so many inside jokes, like one of the buildings on site was a mimic and one of the counselors was an old wizard (because he totally is). And all our weapons were based on camp stuff. Like my character had a whip that was made of lanyard string and health potions were this one caffeinated tea everyone at camp drinks. And it was super fun! I’m going to be on staff this year and want to see if I can help run a DND elective because I would love that.

Finally, please pretend I answered this ask on time.

[fishisahappydog]

The one thing I will say about his videos is this: watching a few of them it often left me feeling like he had no rral conclusion to any of them. Like he made all these points, talk deeply about so many important things and then just...ended the video? Sure there was a final reflection of sorts but didn't feel connected to the overall video, just to the latest point made and so I often felt cold after watching his videos.

And while I still came back to watch more videos, I soon started to notice certain...issues. Like how it seemed like his queer horror videos were all the same one, and since I was working on my thesis (on the subject of queer horror) it became soon apparent that he wasn't exactly adding to the conversation, he seemed to be regurgitaring other people's points (most of my reading was from spanish texts so I couldn't know he was plagiarizing them).

Then I stopped watching till the end of the videos because they felt derivative, not in what they were saying but in how the were presented. See a lot of the power and impact of the works he stole, come from the fact these authors had a personal view on the subject matter. An asian nonbinary trans person talking about Mulan, gay men who lived through the AIDS epidemic talking about the reflections they made during and after such harrowing times, and more. Their personal experiences gave their ideas SO much MORE weight, but because Somerton erased them completely, it made these points feel less personal, less impactful.

In the end I stopped watching him because I realized I was just putting his videos as background noise while I did other things like work on my college essays or play videogames. And even then I was barely enjoying his content because he had such a reliance on aesthetic that many of the things he said felt untrue to him.

Now I know why it felt that way, because how can you make a good conclusion to all these takes if you didn't write them in the first place?

Anyways, I don't want to come after his fans seeing as I watched a lot of the videos he later privated (and uploaded again), but I do want to tell them and anyone reading this that doing your own research about a topic, as small as that research may be (reading a Wikipedia article and then checking associate links, watching a documentary or an interview, etc.) and diversifying the people you watch on youtube, will help you notice these red flags.

Like someone else said here on tumblr (can't recall the username, sorry) Somerton feels like the introductory youtuber to many queer topics but from there on you have so many other youtubers who DO cite their sources, who DO have their own takes based on personal experience and reflection, who DO put in the effort. And sure they take longer to upload videos but that's what it takes to make a good, well researched and thought out video. And there's already tons of them so you won't be bored waiting for a new one.

dont normally post about drama but this seems relevant:

im seeing a lot of people jump to "james somerton was never good anyways" in retaliation for the hbomb expose, but there's a really fine line to tread there before you get into stepping on the toes of the people he stole from, you know?

some of his videos and analysis did seem genuinely intelligent, thoughtful, insightful, and well-written. yeah, it turns out those are the result of him stealing from other people. but that doesnt mean the original writers WEREN'T intelligent, thoughtful, insightful and good writers. he had plenty of garbage opinions interspersed throughout, but the reason many people (myself included) were suckered in by him is that the queer creators he stole from DID have really important and interesting analysis. the parts of his videos that were good were stolen, but by discounting his essays entirely we're throwing the baby out with the bathwater and insisting those he stole from didn't have anything important to say.

the parts he himself supplied were trash, but he stole the work of some genuinely brilliant and insightful writers and passed it off as his own- and that writing still exists and is still brilliant and insightful; we just know now who was actually responsible for it and who to thank for that work

lets just be careful when we smugly proclaim that we always hated everything he had to say- because a lot of the words we're discounting were never his to begin with, and the last thing those authors need is to have their work trash talked because it ended up in the mouth of someone dishonest

[s0nia246]

YOU!!! You crossed my path in this sacred tumblr road and now you're doomed to be cursed by the incredible powers of the cauliflower gods unless you do all the wonka-wonkas pew-pews or write down an essay about... PLASTER or read "The Penguin Guide to the United States Constitution: A Fully Annotated Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and Amendments, and Selections from The Federalist Papers" backwards (yes. That's correct. Backwards. And you shall not enjoy doing that) now, I'd suggest u drink plenty of water and try to understand I am not evil I'm merely corrupted by my boss chair (a boss chair that doesn't belong to me btw, I stole it) and knowing that I'd like to say "gxkwhekdbwkwbfcuhwoedwieh I'm not drunk, thank you"

(Bonus: if you're a young Russian girl then none of what I said above why apply to you, instead I'll kiss my shoes and give them and my eternal love and respect and mortal possessions to you, if you're a rat than from now on your favorite scarf shall be mine and if you're called Steve I am very sorry)

(I'm scared but here)

Once upon a time, there was a young woman named Hannah who stumbled upon a strange post on her beloved Tumblr. It read:

"You crossed my path in this sacred tumblr road and now you're doomed to be cursed by the incredible powers of the cauliflower gods unless you do all the wonka-wonkas pew-pews or write down an essay about… PLASTER or read "The Penguin Guide to the United States Constitution: A Fully Annotated Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and Amendments, and Selections from The Federalist Papers" backwards (yes. That's correct. Backwards. And you shall not enjoy doing that) now, I'd suggest u drink plenty of water and try to understand I am not evil I'm merely corrupted by my boss chair (a boss chair that doesn't belong to me btw, I stole it) and knowing that I'd like to say "gxkwhekdbwkwbfcuhwoedwieh I'm not drunk, thank you"

Hannah rolled her eyes at the absurdity of the post but felt a strange pull to complete the tasks listed within it. She had always been a curious person and this was no different. So, she sat down and wrote an essay about plaster, did all the wonka-wonkas and pew-pews, and reluctantly read "The Penguin Guide to the United States Constitution" backward while drinking plenty of water.

Suddenly, Hannah felt a strange sensation in her body, starting from the tips of her toes and traveling all the way up to her head. It felt like she was being enveloped by a warm, comforting embrace. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, she was in a different place altogether.

She found herself in a lush garden full of flowers and vegetables. The scent of fresh soil and greenery filled her nostrils and she felt at peace. Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of her. It was a cross between a human and a cauliflower, with a glowing aura around it.

"Welcome, Hannah," said the figure. "You have passed our test and proved yourself worthy of our blessings. From now on, you are under our protection and will be showered with good fortune in all that you do."

Hannah was dumbstruck. She couldn't believe what was happening to her. The cauliflower figure disappeared as quickly as it had appeared and she found herself back in her own room. She felt a warmth spreading through her body and knew that she had just experienced something magical.

From then on, Hannah found herself blessed with success and good fortune in all aspects of her life – work, relationships, and even personal happiness. She always knew that it was because of the strange post on Tumblr that she had found and completed, and she was grateful for it.

As for the person who had written the post, no one knew who they were. But Hannah always felt that whoever it was, they were a kind soul who wanted to spread happiness and good fortune to others.

[writer-monster]

11 reasons why cap 4 should reintroduce Bucky Barnes as the love interest, an essay

to start this off, i am not writing this essay from a shipping place nor do i believe that this would have any influence at all over the upcoming movie. i expect nothing. this is simply something that i would personally like to see. (of course no hate to anybody who thinks differently)

here are 11 reasons why i think making Bucky into Sam Wilson's love interest in Cap 4 would be a good move for Disney.

-

1. on the Chinese film market - and why it's an irrelevant argument against the inclusion of homosexual themes in Cap 4

the Chinese film market is something that has been blamed for a lack of diversity in Hollywood films a lot lately. many people claim that this market with a lot of buying power has been responsible for the lack of gay and black representation in particular within Hollywood films.

and we have certainly seen Hollywood treating it as such, going so far as to cut gay scenes from movies for their Chinese releases, and vastly minimising John Boyega's (a black actor's) presence in the Chinese poster of Star Wars The Force Awakens.

[image ID: on the left is an image of the American poster for Star Wars The Force Awakens, featuring John Boyega prominently on the right-hand side. And on the right is the Chinese poster for the same movie, in which John Boyega is barely visible.]

so we know at the very least that Disney believes this through their own actions and efforts to self-censor for the different markets.

but Captain America 4 is a black-led movie, don't you forget. and Disney can't minimise Sam Wilson/Anthony Mackie in the movie or the poster because it's his movie and his poster. and no amount of creativity in the editing room can change that (thank God!).

so if by their own argument the film is already going to be either banned, panned or slammed in China... then what do they have to fear from making it a gay movie too?

-

2. oh, the queerbaiting

queerbaiting is an unusual cultural idea. and sometimes i find myself thinking that the term is far too easily used, but then all of a sudden i will stumble upon a movie or show that is so quintessentially cruel and overt in it's... well... queerbaiting that i will start to wonder what the hell kind of a bizarre relationship all these straight people seem to have with their friends. take Troy and Abed from Community or John and Sherlock from Sherlock as the perfect examples of this. (in which my reaction to the show's creators saying the show wasn't gay was to ask so then why did you make it so gay?!)

i felt that Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes in tfatws were getting quite close to this level of queerbaiting.

there was the field scene, the couple's counselling scene, the boat scene, the couple's counselling scene, Bucky going with Sam to face Karli when she told Sam to come alone, the couple's counselling scene, ALL the staring scenes, Sam checking out Bucky's ass here as they said goodbye, the "i would move in with him but" hidden scene, "Uncle Bucky" showing up at the cookout scene, the romantic walking off together into the sunset together ending scene, and the couple's counselling scene. did i forget anything? but i mean seriously, the couple's counselling scene!!! that thing they did with their legs and their crotches while staring deep into each other's eyes, would any straight guy willingly do that? do straight guys crotch-snuggle now?

[image ID: an image of Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes during the therapy scene with the quote, "Isn't anybody going to drag me into impromptu couple's therapy and slot my legs firmly between theirs before staring deeply into my eyes?"]

(yeah i stole this image from a buzzfeed article on the fan reactions to the couple's therapy scene. but given that they stole 80% of the content of that article from fandom tumblr, i think it's pretty even-steven.)

there's also the fact that people started talking about bisexual Bucky Barnes a lot after the tiger pictures line, and the lead writer Malcom Spellman responded to the talk of Bucky's bisexuality with "just keep watching". well we watched, Malcolm. but it's beginning to feel like you were just jerking us around.

-

3. the writing

seriously though, what else is Bucky Barnes doing right now in the MCU? his only remaining connection to anything going on right now is through Sam. there is literally nothing else established that's left for him to do that doesn't involve Sam. he moved to Louisiana to be closer to Sam (canonically), he hangs out with Sam's family (canonically), and Steve is presumably gone and is definitely not coming back for more adventures.

he has no villains or loose ends left. he has no other superheroes that he appears to be in contact with. he has no girlfriend or potential love interest, or even other friends or family. he is living in a tent that he has secretly set up in Sam's backyard and is mysteriously appearing from the bushes when it's time for dinner like a stray cat.

in my opinion there is no other meaningful and pre-established progression for Bucky's character that wouldn't just feel cheap.

plus, i don't think the general audience would be all that surprised if they kissed. i think a LOT of people picked up on all that tension. i think a lot of straight people picked up on all that tension too.

-

4. the chemistry between the actors & the chemistry between the characters

the original pitch for tfatws was essentially just this, it was the chemistry between Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie and their respective MCU characters of Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson.

now obviously Anthony and Sebastian are simply friends, and i wouldn't mean to imply anything more. but they are also not their characters.

Sam and Bucky's scenes together before tfatws were both limited and short, and yet audiences still fell in love with the dynamic between the two characters.

in interviews, these two actors are constantly slipping into character and flirting with each other and frankly it's adorable. plus it's really entertaining. i'd love to see that dynamic, unfiltered, in a movie.

because believe it or not the flirting is actually even more open in their interviews than it was in tfatws. and i'm leaving some links as proof.

this here is known as the "married" compilation

and here's a "lucky dip" selection of interviews - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

and here's Anthony trying to get Seb to take his jacket off.

i'm just saying, why not let their chemistry shine? these two are so talented and so entertaining, especially when you put them in a room together. and can you imagine how absolutely hilarious and brilliant it would be to watch them navigate being a couple?

(and for those who bring up the "friends would be uncomfortable pretending to be dating" argument, i'm not here asking for a sex scene or anything. i don't think anyone would expect them to show any more intimacy (physical or emotional) while playing a couple than what they've already shown together in say... tfatws or in their own interviews. not that i actually expect anything regardless.)

-

5. if they were a man and a woman they would've gotten together in tfatws

i have no more to add here. just that... yeah, they would've.

-

6. and i'm not talking about the comics here, i'm talking about the MCU.

i understand fully that none of what i'm saying here falls in line with these characters from the comics. but the mcu itself doesn't fall much in line with the comics either, and these two characters especially are very different from their comics counterparts.

i'm not asking for these two to get together in the comics. tbh i don't think that it would work.

but the mcu Sam and Bucky are different and closer than their comics counterparts. they've got different histories, different backstories, and a very different dynamic. please rest assured that i am only talking about them in the mcu.

-

7. Bucky Barnes is believably bisexual. and Sam Wilson has never been proven to be straight in the mcu, nor has he had a love interest.

(now please continue to keep in mind that these points only stand for the mcu versions of Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson, and not at all for their comics counterparts.)

Sam Wilson has never had a love interest, which is crazy because have you seen that man! he has had two blink and you'll miss it moments of verbal expression of attraction to women, both in TWS. and that's the extent of it, through his entire history in the mcu.

Bucky Barnes has had a number of surface-level female love interests, but none of them even came close to the level of connection and chemistry that Bucky shares with Sam.

and i'm sorry SarahBucky fans, but i just don't think there's very much to their relationship either. i love Sarah, i really do. but it's Sam who shares all the meaningful moments and history and chemistry with Bucky. and i don't see what making her into a love interest would do for Sarah's character either, what would that add to her story?

[Picture ID: Bucky at the cookout with Sam, Sarah, Cass and AJ. Bucky and Sam are looking at each other and smiling.]

and also there is the whole tiger pictures thing... again. which does strongly suggest that Bucky is bisexual whether this was intentional on behalf of the writers or not.

-

8. it's representation... AND it feels natural

marvel hasn't had a lot of queer representation that's been noticeably present in the MCU at the time of writing this.

there have been a lot of failures so far, from the bisexual erasure of Valkyrie in Thor Ragnarok to the wlw erasure in Black Panther.

there was queerbaiting almost identical to the bisexual Bucky baiting for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. when asked if he had considered featuring a gay hero in gotg2, director James Gunn stated that "We might have already done that. I say, watch the movie." after the movie's release audiences were understandably confused about the lack of queer representation. To which the director followed up his comments with, "But we don't really know who's gay and who's not. It could be any of them."

there is also Loki, considered by most fans after the airing of his six episode series on Disney+ to be both a poor attempt at both genderfluid representation and bisexual representation. with both attempts being summed up fairly well by the term "blink-and-you'll-miss-it". (also it's just terribly written and Loki doesn't wear any interesting clothes! fanficcers are a Goddamn blessing in this hard time!)

and let us not forget that Andrew Garfield was apparently FIRED for pushing for a bisexual spiderman. a bisexual spiderman within an interracial mlm relationship no less.

so for all these failures, marvel, why not allow us queer fans this? two brilliant and heroic men in a loving interracial relationship. two heroes that we can look up to.

now, one of the biggest detractions from the argument for representation is the idea of "forced diversity". and some poorly written characters certainly do end up feeling forced into the narrative. take Iceman in the comics for example, with Jean Grey just straight up suddenly telling him he's gay. like, marvel, sweetie, that's not how this works! and i don't know a lot of queer people who thought much of that "representation".

but the crux of the "forced diversity" argument is almost always that it feels unnatural within the story, right? and i don't think that anyone could say that about MCU Sam and Bucky ending up together, given these characters' existing chemistry and their history. they've both played characters in gay relationships before so we know that it's not outside of either actor's wheelhouse. and y'all know that Anthony and Seb can act, people. if it's in the script i believe that they'll make it seem like the most natural thing on earth.

-

9. it'd be a nice change

there's been an ongoing meme lately about "Disney's first gay character", the joke being that they continually announce gay characters without really ever including gay characters in their films.

this is to the point where Disney has formed a reputation amongst queer audiences of being homophobic.

if Sam and Bucky were to become a couple, then Disney could have its first actual gay character within a gay relationship. AND have him be in the lead of his own movie, no less.

it's also worth keeping in mind that there's likely an overlap between the people who were outraged by a Sam Wilson Captain America, and the people who'd be outraged by a gay Captain America. and if they were already not seeing the film, then i don't think much is gonna change that.

queer audiences would definitely love it, and the media attention would be guaranteed to be huge. i mean, simply look at the amount of media attention mere rumours of a character's queerness gets you and multiply that by a canon confirmation of said rumours.

but i'm pretty sure that Disney already knows this.

-

10. and yet, in truth, it's not about the representation

in truth i've never felt that i had any trouble relating to characters of any sexual orientation, race, gender, sex, body type, etc. (although that is not to throw any shade at all on people who do wish to see themselves represented) but for me, i think it's more about the story than the packaging.

and yet, a love story is still just a story. straight or queer, monoethnic or interracial. when two characters have chemistry and history and have sacrificed for each other time and time again, and they also can't keep their hands or their eyes off each other, then i'm pretty sure that that's a love story.

straight or queer, monoethnic or interracial, it shouldn't be about these simple labels. it should be about how well written the relationship is. it should be about chemistry, and history, and sacrifice.

because i'm fucking sick of all the hollow, forced romances in media no matter the genders of the participants. i'm sick of lazily written, shallow relationships where any two people sharing the same space for any extended period of time will simply fall in love. it's boring, it's repetitive, and as a writer myself it drives me up the wall!

romance stories suck! and everyone knows that romance stories suck. between twilight, and most of the entire YA genre, and love triangles (so boring), and romance used as poorly-written throwaway subplots in Hollywood movies, the world is in agreement that the romance in western media is simply dreadful. and yet we still want love stories. it's an entire genre that sits at the heart of the human experience (<3), and yet one which so few of today's best known writers seem truly able to capture.

i don't think that i'm the only one who feels this way, either. i suspect it's actually a large part of why fandom is so romance-centred in the first place, that we're all just starving for a good love story.

(btw i think fandom has a reputation for being something that as a whole that it is not. it has this reputation for straight up demanding things and harassing people until they get their way. while unfortunately there are a few people who do this, they're fucking annoying and i swear that they're far from the majority.

in my experience fandom is mostly about writing a five thousand word story at three am while drunk off your ass because it might make someone whom you've never met smile, editing it in the cold light of day, and then posting it. expecting nothing. sometimes getting nothing. and sometimes getting someone send you kudos or a comment so heartbreakingly wonderful that it makes you smile in return.)

-

11. so once again, it is all about the writing.

i want to see Sam and Bucky get together in the mcu, not because they would be a gay couple but because i genuinely believe that their story has potential to be an amazing love story.

and i know the mcu isn't about the romance. it's why in my personal opinion we haven't gotten a lot of good canon romances besides Peter Quill and Gamora. and i don't think that the mcu should be all about the romance either. i fucking love the action and the fighting scenes. i love the comedy. Captain America: The Winter Soldier had no romance and it was a fucking treasure, it was an amazing spy-action-thriller and it made my little gay heart dance. Thor Ragnarok had no romance, and it was an utterly brilliant comedic spectacle action film. not every movie needs romance.

but mcu Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes were doing couple's therapy and fixing a boat and walking off into the sunset together in tfatws. they were inseparable on the battlefield. they've got a dynamic. it's beautiful, it's romantic, and it's gold.

a budding relationship between them in the next movie would be a good way to explore both characters more without the narrative feeling too stilted and separate. at the end of tfatws, both Sam and Bucky fans found that their respective fave felt somewhat underutilised and that their characters were underexplored.

now, that problem would be even more difficult to remedy in a movie, because the plotline of a movie needs to be really tight to work (giggity). and we know that the central conflict of the movie is gonna be action-based (which is good), but we still need each character's personal journey and growth to tie into the main conflict. (which is another issue that some fans found with tfatws, that these characters didn't really feel connected to the action-based plot on a more personal level.)

if Sam and Bucky are already in a relationship, however, this whole dynamic changes. first, their relationship has already been set up for nicely since TWS and through tfatws and they would officially be the best-fleshed-out couple in the mcu. but most importantly, a relationship gives them a perfect vehicle to explore both of their pasts comparatively and connect them personally to the action-based plot.

do you want to establish that Sam is a little too trusting and naïve? then establish this through his relationship with Bucky, and through showing his placing his trust in Bucky. (rather than through having him sympathise with a villain who threatened to murder his sister and his nephews).

perhaps you want to show Bucky recovering from his trauma? show us how comfortable he is with Sam. they get along, they're enjoying each other's presence, we see more of Sam's life and of his family, and then let Bucky tell Sam something that's raw and dark and honest about his life as The Winter Soldier. something about a memory, one that he only just recalled. he's opening up. and maybe what he tells Sam is even something that sets up the future action-based conflict, to ground that in something real.

you want to explore that Sam has trauma too? do this through Bucky. he tells Bucky a story about his time in the military. in the form of a flashback, he shares his own story of loss to evoke before the audience the shared theme of feeling at fault even when you're simply a helpless bystander to an act of pure destruction.

then, action sequence! and it's directly connected to Bucky's time as the Winter Soldier. explore the grief of someone whose life the Winter Soldier tore apart manifesting into a villain perpetuating the cycle of pain. establish your villain.

Later, Sam is dragged into battle against this villain for protecting Bucky. But Bucky doesn't want Sam to protect him. He feels guilt for what he can't control and he doesn't want Sam getting hurt because of him. Bucky reminds Sam that he has a family, one who needs him and who loves him. He tells him to go home.

Sam reminds Bucky that he's a part of that family. And that sure Sam's a hero and his job is to protect anyone and everyone, but that he's doing it because he wants to. It's not simply to prove that he can, or to prove that he's not a bystander (this connects to Sam's trauma here), but that he's doing it to help people.

and this gets Bucky thinking about who he is and what he's doing here. is he a hero who stands by Sam's side? or is he an ordinary man who stands aside? or perhaps, does he stand alone? what does he stand for? Maybe Sam knows. But does Bucky?

Sam and Bucky fight off the villain again, and for the first time Bucky meets this adversary face to face. And Bucky recognises this villain, and has a flashback to the genuine pain that he inflicted upon them in the form of the Winter Soldier. Bucky freezes mid-fight, he almost dies, and Sam has to save him.

Sam chews Bucky out for almost getting killed because he was afraid for him. but Bucky takes this the wrong way and goes off to fight the villain alone, or perhaps to die alone, he's not quite sure.

He puts up a half-hearted fight. He apologises for what the Winter Soldier has done, and he waits for the killing blow, when Sam swoops down and he saves him. He asks Sam why he saved him and Sam calls him a moron. And then, Sam asks him what sacrificing himself would solve. He tells him that you can't choose your past but you can choose your future (connecting to his own experience of loss and guilt and grief). And that no matter what Bucky Barnes still has a future, whether that's as the Winter Soldier or the White Wolf or just some dork with a day job. And that he has a future as a part of Sam's family too.

Sam fights the villain, and it's toe to toe. He delivers a few good blows, but receives a fair few himself. And then the villain tears off his wings, first one and then the other, in a manner reminiscent of what the Winter Soldier did to him in TWS. Through Bucky's eyes there's a flashback to highlight the parallels. Sam gets back on his feet and he fights his best fight, but is now losing.

And then the heavily injured Bucky steps up and fights by Sam's side, and only together do they take down the villain.

"So... I inspired you, huh?" Sam teases with a smile, utterly exhausted. "With my heroism and-"

"You inspired me." Bucky said, equally exhausted. "Let's leave it at that."

Together, Sam and Bucky go back to the safety and warmth of their family. Sam fixes his wings. Sam goes back to being Captain America. And Bucky... he's around, but it's unclear what he's doing.

That is, until the very end. When Sam is in a fight, and suddenly Bucky shows up and helps him out.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asks.

"I've made up my mind." Bucky says. "I'm the Winter Soldier. But now I'll save lives, Sam. Now, like you, I'll be a hero."

Sam smirks. "So does this make you my sidekick, then?"

Bucky smiles. "C'mon, at least make me a partner." He says.

"How about co-workers." Sam says (in flashback, he remembers back to the death of his last on-the-job partner).

"How about friends." Bucky says, with a wry look.

"Bucky... I don't want to see you put your dumbass self in danger." Sam says.

"Oh, and it's ok for you to go running off into danger on your own all the time?" Bucky asks.

"Yes." Sam says stubbornly. "Absolutely it is."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not a dumbass?!"

"Sam, if you think I'm not gonna be watching your back for the rest of time... then you're the biggest dumbass I know. And I don't care if you need me or not, I will be there for you."

"Because Sam, you're more than Captain America. You're more than a good soldier. You're a good man. And I think sometimes, the world forgets what the difference is."

-

...or something like that.

(i only spent like 15 minutes on that. you know if i were actually writing this movie i would come up with something much better. and if anyone from marvel is seeing this, yes i can come work for you. i will make the time, let's do this thing right!)

-

finale

at the end of the day, whether or not the mcu chooses to make Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes a couple, it's their decision. and they don't owe me anything.

i'm just some random person on the internet. who thinks that Captain America 4 should #givecaptainamericaaboyfriend

[theshy1sout]

What do you think will happen in season 4?

Hahaha, it depends on what are you asking for!

We have so many arcs going on here and my predictions are way different than my expectations, they are almost the opposite sides of the possible plot of s4.

So SPOILERS ALERT!

Wukong is going to lose the fight with LBD of course xD I'm more than sure about it. But also he won't die, I think season 4 it's too soon for that (if the writers plan to let Wukong die at all... it would be actually interesting to see some angst when Mk literally replaces Wukong as the new Monkey King). I guess he will hide somewhere to recover and I wish he would meet Macaque halfway. They really have things to talk about. I'd like to watch the whole ep with only them talking/fighting. the fact they both have different views on what happened between them, and we don't know either what happened or what they think about it, it's just thrilling and intriguing.

Also, I'm a big fan of a theory that Wukong has kinda complex bc he hurt Mei and disappointed his successor. He's kinda still in the "punishments&praises plus self-interest" level of morality (it's a child level if you dunno what I mean), I think that's why he always runs away from consequences. He just doesn't believe in forgiveness and redemption (maybe that's why he did what he did to Macaque). So Wukong getting a bit obsessed to earn Mei and Mk forgiveness without even trying to directly apologize to them? I'm in that angst, baby

Also Macaque is finally free and nothing forces him to do anything. I'm super curious about his arc. He was my very first love in lmk, I can't hate him for anything, I just understand and feel this character too badly

Mk and the crew... I didn't watch the English translation of the scene when they talk about what they're gonna do now xd So no idea, are they looking for Mei? I don't know xd although I'm still waiting for Sandy's true potential reveal and Mk going apeshit

RED SON. YEAH.

Look, I was so hyped and I overanalyzed EVERYTHING about Red Son in season 3, my BFF read essays about him day and night for two weeks, and I'm not gonna write everything down right here right now, but LISTEN, there is no other way to explain what he's doing in this season, he got pretty attached to Mei, or at least to protagonist, but listen, hear me out omg

~ Red Son was wandering around the world with her dragon plushie, looking for Mei to help her with Samadhi ~

TRY TO READ IT AS A FRIEND'S INTENTIONS WHEN THEY ARE LITERALLY STILL STRANGERS

And however obsessed I sound, the truth is, Mei's arc is really expanded right now, she went through a lot of trauma, she holds a lot of pain, she was betrayed and used, she's not a sunny smiley sweet girl sidekick with sick dragon powers anymore. She's not someone who's gonna tease or joke with the only person who can help her with the mess she's forced to live with.

And Red Son on the other hand had his quite long now story of redemption, he's completely into supporting protagonists, even against his parents, even despite the fact protagonists literally used him, punched him, stole and wrecked his car right after he saved them and let them eat, drink and sleep in his house. We still don't know why is he doing all of this, completely selflessly and quite desperately tbh.

So whatever relation between these two will be, it visibly can't be slick and simple like their teasing-competing relationship from Spider Queen ep. They both have complex arcs now, it's hard to write their training plot as a 'buddies bonding time' thing or sth like that. They both know how serious is the situation, so their bond after 4 will be really deep and strong

Or the writers will make fun of them or put a lot of drama, I'll be mad if they make fun of my poor traumatized Mei and my selfless gold-hearted Red hero

i WISH we'll see some dragonfruit, but there is no love plot in lmk so far, and I know other cartoons directed by Sarah Harper (for example Glitch Tech), and she's not really into "let them kiss'' stuff XD however, I love her for the absolutely brilliantly created man-woman best friends tropes. Mk & Mei relationship is so purely natural friendship arc! So whatever she's up to with Red Son and Mei, I trust her it's gonna be good

Thank you so much for giving me an excuse to scream about my favorite animation. I'm always ready to write an essay about anything about this brilliant cartoon

[ingoodjesst]

#yeah lol i fuckin hate okumura so much and i always say this its my hill to die on#that okumuras palace couldve been REALLY GOOD if the writers actually like. gave it attention#and if they you know. actually believed in something and took a stance#i think the only interpretation I like is one where haru isnt upset that her father died per some#shes upset that akechi stole that chance from her because she wanted to make the choice for herself how to deal with him#cuz it makes a lot of sense for her character she doesnt get to decide anything about her life#and the one time she finally gets to do something for herself and think about what she wants#another fucking man comes in and decides for her#plus like harus dad is ass and she knows this so i mean i dont think shes like too attached to him#seeing him die brutally though thats pretty traumatic lol#i think persona just struggles really bad with nuanced feelings towards an abusive parent (see how badly they handled yusukes abuse)

#also gotta also mention mitsurus dad who was just a massive douche god i hate the kirijo group#and she is pretty identical to haru in that shes an heiress who never gets to decide anything for herself and her dad dies and shes forced#to take over his company and like damn like i was so shocked and still am when the bad guys of p3 were strega and not the kirijo group#like. strega. the guys who were horrifically experimented on by the kirijos and have come up with a fucked up mentally to cope with their#trauma over the fact they were abused as kids and the only ones out of 100 who didnt die#theyre the bad guys. and we’re just okay with the kirijo group cuz teehee theyre good now!#even though mitsuru was forced to be a persona user when she was like 8 and never got a choice and was just a tool to them#and they covered up kens moms death and possibly also experimented on shinji and provided the suppressants that slowly killed him and Strega#and more! they suck and its so infuriating how mitsuru is written cuz yay misogyny#shes gotta take over the company because its not actually corrupt if a Good Person runs it even though shes not gonna do anything different#and she doesnt get to live her own life shes still being forced into this BUT DONT WORRY CUZ SHE WAAAANTS IT NOW#and they do the same with haru but like slightly different cuz my assumption is the writers realized how dirty they did mitsuru#so they were like ‘okay we wont revise p3 but we are aware big evil rich corporation is Bad Actually’#but hnn they barely do anything to change imo and they still hold that ‘the system is fine it just has bad apples’ mindset

#i can write so many essays god i LOVE both the empress girls but oooh i hate the way theyre written so bad lol#anyways akechi is based for killing okumura but not based for not letting haru get a few swings in first - @hecksupremechips

i love these tags - i haven't finished p3 but the haru stuff, yeah absolutely my personal interpretation is that the main reason why haru doesn't forgive akechi for killing her father is that she no longer got to deal with him on her own terms. like you said, this was about her asserting her autonomy her justice, freeing herself with her powers, only for her act of liberation to be co-opted by yet another man. moreover, now she never gets to see his change of heart, to see if he at least talks to her and apologizes for what he did to her - even if she couldn't fully accept it, even if she still begrudges him for all his terrible misdeeds, at least she'd get to choose what to do with that. it should've been HER active journey to navigate these complex feelings, but that opportunity is ripped away; now the only reality she can negotiate is a shitty dead dad. ALSO now the fallout of her father's actions all falls on her shoulders, since he's no longer around to face the consequences. he never gets to experience the theme of "fates worse than death", and instead haru has to clean up the mess...

also yeah the watching your dad die brutally part on live tv lmao... ouch.

i seriously wish persona handled the abusive dad stuff more gracefully, like between haru and yusuke it's such a shame more nuance and depth isn't wrought from those storylines - how you can be torn between the fact this person raised you and at times even cared for you, but still was a shit person overall. finding closure about that (if ever) is so complicated, and that journey could've been so emotionally engaging. it also just would've been more interesting for this theme to get fleshed out because of the parallels between these two and akechi, how their desire for validation from their dads was twisted and manipulated for other people's gains. my current take on haru and akechi's dynamic is like, haru is both firm about justice and kind about injustice - she'd feel the same anger towards shido as she feels towards her own dad, and she'd feel sympathy for akechi. not enough to just forgive him for the injustice he did to her by stealing her agency - but enough to recognize that he himself had a lot of agency stolen. being your dad's puppet hurts a lot and they both understand that pretty uniquely.

Persona 5 and to some extent the fandom tries to make us feel bad that Goro Akechi killed Haru's father but like that guy is basically the fast food equivalent of elon musk complete with space obsession, disrespecting his daughter, and workers abuse, and also his palace gave me a migraine so frankly im glad his ass is dead everyone say thank you akechi

[femininetea]

"Always expecting betrayal... But never from you"

The general who became a father to his soldier (spoilers for rwby v8 ch13)

Personal impressions:

I was so mad last week, thinking IW would have been defeated already/too soon but they tricked us. And I'm so glad it's a Winter vs. Ironwood fight. And the emotions.... I can't.

He was her father figure and I'm sure it was viewed like that from both sides. We were clearly shown what IW would do if anyone was in his way. Even when she disobeyed he didn't shoot her. He trusted her until the last moment.... We saw him get mad, break down and hopeless. But never cry. It's not just any soldier he's fighting. He's fighting his right hand. Winter Schnee, someone who was like a daughter to him.

But let's get to their actual relationship.

An essay on Winter in RWBY is planned btw.

Winter seems to have the highest rank in the military next to Ironwood, which is impressive for her age and shows her determination but also how IW believes in her

In V4 Jacques claimed that IW "stole his daughter" and IW hinted at that they often had this conversation

In V7 Jacques asked IW if Winter knew that Weiss returned to Atlas

From the point of V2 and V3 it seems that Winter still had contact to Jacques but not as much anymore in V7, something happened and I think because of the dust embargo IW and Jacques had their confrontation and Winter obviously chose IW's side and detached from her father completely

(It was always hinted (and I think even stated in the remnant guide book) that Winter protected her siblings and had to take the most abuse. And you can clearly see that by her type of fight or flight trauma and how she's literally supposed to represent the ice queen with her hidden emotions and stuff

You see her in that state of shock, fear, panic, trauma etc. when she realizes that she failed Ironwood. He was proud of her for catching Yang, Ren and Jaune and put his hand on her since they would be useful. Harriet then told him and I think this represents how someone like IW would be able to hurt her that much emotionally since he is in the position of an authority and a father figure to her)

Also he was ready to shoot his people at any time like the council man or Marrow but he didn't shoot her and allowed her to stay by her side

That and how she defends IW most of the time show how she trusts her judgment, IW trusts her judgement as well as seen in V4 when he told Jacques that Winter told him that there was a threat in Mistral

In World of Remnant we see IW walking past soldiers and Winter standing out. It was about the technical grooming of atlas students to join the military but you can tell from what we know of Ironwood, that he has a good heart (eruption fang made a vid on that recently)

When Winter told Weiss that "the general would have a place for you" She said it with such happiness, atlas and the military was winter's new home and IW gave her the chance to repurpose her life

She even defended IW in front of Jacques, her biological father and she takes great personal offense when his judgement is mistreated. Even when Weiss talked about trust Winter said that he would never hide anything from her

The offer with the Winter Maiden... You could say that he did this to control her and I'd accept your opinion... But there's one thing that makes me think that he still obviously also cared for her. Over the years he knew how much the military meant to her. She even told Penny that her life doesnt matter and only her job does. It means everything to her and like Winter said herself, she saw the Maiden powers as a privilege and it makes me feel like Ironwood saw them as something that would make her unique and give her once again a purpose that is unique to her and not just her being one of many soldiers

He even apologized, knowing it wouldn't be easy for her (since he expected Winter and not Ozcar) and when he had his talk with RWBY he called Winter her/Weiss' sister instead of just her name and idk but that just made this even more special

In Volume 8 it is once again shown how Winter is basically the one who also trusted Ironwood until the end. And in ch 12 she didnt judge him... She expressed her worries for his behavior. She couldn't believe the man who made her feel like she was everything would ever become so cruel

They way their worry for each other looks so similar

And while I know that they have a theme for the Atlas military , I think it's obvious how Winter looked even more like IW in all her outfits compared to the rest of the military

Many people think Ironwood is dumb for over trusting Winter but I think it shows his flaw as a general. He let's his emotions get in the way since he cares about her and continues to trust her even though she disobeyed orders

His last words were "As my last order: step aside", he could've just shot her again as she layed defenseless on the ground but he didn't

Remember how in the first episode he said "Thank you Winter, I don't know what I would do without you"

Right before, she said that she'll be fine without him asking anything. It sounds a little more personal in my opinion. Why would you tell your boss that you'll be fine without him asking about your status? the conversation was literally about Qrow and Robyn before but he looked worried and wanted the room for themselves and she immediately said that.

Some people also talk about how they emphasized with Ironwood in volume 7 since wasn't shown to have family or a partner yet would do anything for Atlas. But again, he did care about Winter a lot and wanted her to be save.

Something I also noticed when writing this is that in volume 3 Ironwood called her Schnee yet in V7 he calls the Ace Ops and her via first name basis. Clover said that he trusts Ironwood with this life and I think that's how Winter and the Ace ops felt about him, the person who gave them hope. Especially Winter.

And now we're here. Seeing the man cry a tear. We know now, if Winter wins, she has to kill him. Imprisoning him wasn't enough. And I think that will be her final moment of her being a "Ice Queen", when she has to kill him, she will probably turn to her emotional side and grieve.

As mentioned, the military, her position, her rank and Ironwood meant everything to her. She talked so enthusiastically when she had her conversation with Weiss about moving in together without their father and how IW has a place for her younger sister. And now along with Ironwood, both are in a situation they never thought they'd be in.

That was it from me. In short form , I just wanted to share some ideas and things I've noticed about their relationship and dynamic. None of this is meant as a romantic way and you can of course disagree but please stay respectful. Thank you and we'll see each other next chapter<3

P. S. Winter please don't die

[wickedpact]

dear tumblr user crim wickedpact pls write the essay/dissertation about nicky being shakespeare's fair youth (if you have time, ofc!!)

Not To Imply Nicky Was Shakespeare’s Fair Youth But Ive Read The Fair Youth Sonnets & Nicky Was Definitely Shakespeare’s Fair Youth, an essay by me, tumblr user crim wickedpact

background knowledge: our man shakespeare wrote some 120 sonnets about a young man referred to as the Fair Youth during the mid 1590s; there has been some debate among shakespeare enthusiasts whether shakespeare’s interest in the Fair Youth was platonic or romantic (but like. they were definitely romantic). no one knows for sure who the Fair Youth was, but it was definitely nicky and my first and most important piece of evidence regarding this hypothesis is the ‘lmao babe do you remember that guy who had a crush on me?’/ ‘i try not to remember the guy who had a crush on you’ look joe and nicky exchange when Merrick brings up shakespeare during the movie. especially since gina confirmed in a tweet that joe and nicky canonly did know shakespeare

my second piece of evidence is that it just Works (except for a couple small facts like.. the Fair Youth was prolly closer to his 20s than his 30s. and the fact that shakespeare implies that the Fair Youth slept with his mistress at one point. but he doesnt know what hes talking about shhh we IGNORE)

long post under cut

A. The Description Matches

when describing the Fair Youth (who I’ll call the FY from now on), shakespeare says he has a ‘gold complexion’ and ‘beautiful eyes’ and compares him to a ‘summer’s day’. He says the FY has “A woman’s gentle heart" and “An eye more bright than [women’s are], (...) Gilding the object whereupon [they] gazeth”

As much as shakespeare’s perceptions of sexuality and gender are very........  late 1500′s (whoo boy sonnet #20 is a wild ride) ...... the description does match, and also:

  B. The Fair Youth Refused to Get Married

it’s never really said why one way or another (shakespeare assumes it’s because the FY is selfish) but the FY didn’t/wouldn’t take on a wife and have a kid, and this was something that was a real sticker for our man Willy S. because, as he says in his sonnets a million times: beauty doesn’t last forever, but having a child not only passes down the FY’s beauty, but also blesses the woman the FY would have a child with (im not saying shakespeare wanted to bear the FY’s children, but he definitely did)

Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest, Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother. For where is she so fair whose uneared womb Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?

(ie. If you don’t renew yourself/ have children, you deprive the world and deprive a woman from having your child, since what woman out there is so beautiful that she wouldn’t want to bear your child?)

Like.

1.) if nicky is the FY then so many of these poems center around the idea of nicky growing old sometime soon and that must have been pretty funny to Nicky and

2.)  the fact that shakespeare would have been So Desperate for nicky to find a wife must have been the opposite of funny to joe. considering the ease of his and nicky’s relationship and the fact that being gay in late 1500s england was probably not a walk in the park, it is very likely shakespeare wouldn’t have known they were in a committed relationship-- or at least not known how close they actually were. Thus:

  C. The Rival (aka. Joe)

shakespeare mentions having a poetic rival in regards to the FY in several sonnets. In sonnet #21 he talks about how he’s not like Those Other Writers who use grand metaphors to talk about their muses

So is it not with me as with that Muse, Stirred by a painted beauty to his verse, Who heaven itself for ornament doth use And every fair with his fair doth rehearse, Making a couplement of proud compare With sun and moon, with earth and sea's rich gems, With April's first-born flowers, and all things rare,

(ie. I’m not like other poets who, when inspired by a ‘painted beauty’ use heaven and every other beautiful thing on the planet to make a grand comparison to their muse: he specifically lists the sun and moon as examples as well as other beautiful things)

He then goes on to say

And then believe me, my love is as fair As any mother's child, though not so bright As those gold candles fixed in heaven's air:

(ie. my love [the FY] is as beautiful as any other beautiful person, though I wouldn’t compare them to the stars/heavens (which is what he means by the 'gold candles’. those are stars.))

So shakespeare insults poets who compare their subjects to the sun, moon, and stars (amongst other things) and in the comics, Joe does literally exactly that

That man is the stars in my sky, and the sun that lights my days. That man is the moon when I'm lost in darkness, and warmth when I shiver in cold.

shakespeare also goes on to say in the same sonnet “Let them say more that like of hearsay well / I will not praise that purpose not to sell” which is to say ‘let people who like that kind of language use it, I wont because I don’t want anyone else to have the subject of my affections (the FY)’.

(which is a bit of a contradiction regarding his feelings abt the FY getting married, but these sonnets are full of contradictions. shakespeare was a confused dude; man spent the first 100 or so sonnets convinced the FY loved him back only for him to start wondering if the FY ever loved him near the end)

(not to mention Marriage For Love wasnt really.. much of a thing in Ye Olden Times but thats a different conversation. so shakespeare prolly didnt associate marriage with love/competition? anyways)

Shakesy-boo goes on to complain about this rival several times. In #79, he says

Yet what of thee thy poet doth invent He robs thee of, and pays it thee again. He lends thee virtue, and he stole that word From thy behaviour; beauty doth he give, And found it in thy cheek: he can afford No praise to thee, but what in thee doth live.

(ie. everything ‘your poet’ (as the FY apparently favored this unnamed rival) says about you, he takes it from you in the first place. he talks about your virtue, but learned the word from watching your behavior. he calls you beautiful but only discovered beauty by looking at your face. every compliment he gives you he took from you in the first place)

[and, as a smaller example, he also bemoans the fact that people want to paint the FY in #67, saying, “Why should false painting imitate his cheek, / And steal dead seeming of his living hue?”. and yknow. Joe’s an artist.]

And then another example in #86

Was it the proud full sail of [the rival’s] great verse, Bound for the prize of all too precious you, That did my ripe thoughts in my brain inhearse, Making their tomb the womb wherein they grew?

Was it his spirit, by spirits taught to write Above a mortal pitch, that struck me dead?

(ie. he’s talking about how he’s having difficulty writing abt the FY and is rhetorically asking if ‘the proud sail’ of the rival’s verses was the reason his ‘ripe thoughts’ were killed in their ‘womb’. He then asks (again rhetorically) if it was the rival’s ‘spirit’ (or creativity, maybe) ‘’’‘by spirits taught to write’’’’ that killed his own drive to write. none of the analyses I’ve read really explain what shakespeare means by ‘spirits taught to write’, other than maybe being a joke or reference to something we dont know, but... ‘taught by dead people to write in a way mortal people can’t’ very much sounds like a description of an immortal poet, eh?)

Which brings me to,

  D. Willy Boy Thinks There Are 500 Year Old Writings About the Fair Youth

shakespeare talks about people having written about the FY ‘500 years ago’ from the late 1500s in #59 which......................... would have been around 1100 AD. :thinking face:

Oh that record could with a backward look, Even of five hundred courses of the sun, Show me your image in some antique book, Since mind at first in character was done, That I might see what the old world could say To this composed wonder of your frame;

(ie. Oh if I could look back 500 years and see how you were described in some old books so I could see/reference what people used to write about you)

Which again brings me to,

  E. I’m Not Saying shakespeare Stole From Joe, But:

1.) In #22, shakespeare says this,

For all that beauty that doth cover thee, Is but the seemly raiment of my heart, Which in thy breast doth live, as thine in me: 

(ie, your beauty is due to the ‘clothes’ my heart gives you-- probably means something like ‘you’re beautiful because i love you’. goes on to say his heart lives in the FY’s chest, and the FY’s heart lives in shakespeare’s chest)

so: shakespeare tells the FY he has shakespeare’s heart. in comparison, Joe calls nicky ‘my heart’ in the comics...... :thinking face x2:

2.) In #109, shakespeare tells the FY ‘thou art my all’,

For nothing this wide universe I call, Save thou, my rose, in it thou art my all.

which rings similar to Joe’s ‘he’s all and he’s more’ as well as (from the comics) ‘he is my everything’

and just saying. joe looks pretty #done the mention of shakespeare.

  F. The last One

Despite shakespeare writing 30+ poems about the FY eventually growing old, the very last poem he writes about/for the FY says,

O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power Dost hold Time's fickle glass, his sickle hour; Who hast by waning grown, and therein showest Thy lovers withering, as thy sweet self growest. 

(ie. you [the FY] have power over the ‘mirror’ (fickle glass) of time as well as time’s ‘harvesting’ ability (sickle hour) and as you grow older, you remain beautiful while your lovers [shakespeare] wither and grow old)

The transition from ‘get married and have a baby before you get old!!!!’ in #1-20 to talking about the FY’s presence in 500 y/o books in #59 to admitting the FY isn’t growing old in #126 kinda seems to imply shakespeare learning of/about nicky’s immortality at some point, and this last poem is him accepting it.

TLDR: not only does it make perfect sense if nicky was the Fair Youth from the FY sonnets, but it also makes perfect sense if joe was the Rival from the FY sonnets. its canon nothing will convince me otherwise