#frankly even if they were literal brothers in the way the person who said this was implying?

[amorremanet]

Truly, there is nothing exactly like the sheer level of “did we even read the same book/watch the same thing” that one feels when met with the reaction “Ewww but they’re BROTHERS” about a ship where it’s actually a plot point of pretty critical importance that A., they *AREN’T* brothers by either blood or adoption, and B., there IS NO FORMAL DEFINITION for their relationship status within their sociocultural context but whatever they are, it sure does inspire people to call them “childhood sweethearts” in a way that’s loaded with romantic innuendo and act like Character B is Character A’s ex (full romo) vs. Character A’s endgame marriage to Character C

[cjlouwho]

I expanded on this little thing I wrote the other day. It's literally just 1,000 words of Tommy and Rocker arguing with each other. Enjoy!

“We got a code four on the suspect!” Hondo called into his radio. “Sergeant Rocker sustained a gunshot wound to the leg; it's bleeding pretty good.”

“LAFD is two minutes out with the chopper,” Hicks replied from the ground. “The fire on the second floor has been contained. You guys should be able to make it down the stairwell without issue, but I want Rocker up in that bird.”

“Yes, Sir.” He walked closer to Rocker, who had the rest of 20-Squad hovering around him, Deacon helping him keep pressure on his wound. “LAFD's gonna take you to the hospital,” he explained. “The rest of us will go down the stairs once you've been taken up.”

Rocker grimaced as pain radiated through his leg. “Who's flying it?” he asked.

Hondo glanced from Rocker, to Deacon, back to Rocker. “Who's flying what? The helicopter?”

“No, the USS Enterprise!” He exclaimed, rolling his eyes. “Yes, the helicopter!”

“I don't know, Man.”

“Why does that matter right now?” Deacon questioned, lifting his hand ever so slightly to see if the bleeding slowed any.

“Just ask, please,” he groaned.

Hondo sighed, then got back on the radio. “Hey, is there a way you can find out who is flying the chopper?”

There was a pause, then Hicks replied, “Is there any particular reason?”

“Apparently. Just not sure what.”

Another pause, then, “Hang on.”

It only took a few seconds for Hicks' voice to come over the radio again, Rocker listening carefully. “Firefighter pilot Aaron Ferris.”

Rocker closed his eyes, sighing in relief. “Okay. Okay, that's good.”

“Why are you so worried about it, Rocker?” Hondo asked.

“Busy trying not to bleed to death right now, Hondo,” he bit back. “This is the last time I offer my services to 20-Squad by the way.”

“You're not bleeding that bad anymore,” Tan noted.

Rocker glared up at him. “You're still up here because?”

The sound of the chopper broke them all out of their soon-to-be argument. It hovered above the building and, a few moments later, someone began to descend from the helicopter.

Rocker eyed the person closely, especially once he reached the roof and unhooked himself and the spine board from the clips.

“Oh hell no,” he breathed out, grumpily shooing away Deacon's hand so he could press down on the wound himself.

Deacon was about to ask Rocker what the hell was wrong with him when the firefighter walking toward them took off his helmet. “What the-”

“Always knew I'd be saving your ass eventually, Donny,” The doppelgänger said as he knelt beside Rocker.

“You got something to share with the class?” Hondo asked Rocker pointedly.

“This is my twin, Tommy,” Rocker hurriedly explained. “You know what? Just leave me here,” he whined. “Let me die.”

Tommy batted Rocker's hand away from the wound, tearing his pants to get a better look. “Unfortunately, it's not that bad,” he said, noting the way it was barely bleeding now. “Dad would also kill me if I let you die. He likes you, remember?”

“Oh don't even start with that! I haven't spoken to him in like a month.”

“Ha!” Tommy laughed. “Try three years, jackass. Now shut up and let me work.” He began to wrap the leg, just enough to keep the pressure on it while they transported him.

As he wrapped, a pain shot up Rocker's leg, causing him to moan. He reached out and smacked Tommy's shoulder. “Can't you be more gentle?! I literally just got shot!”

“You're such a baby.”

“You, quite frankly, have no idea what this feels like.”

Tommy stopped then, cocking his head to the side as he stared at his brother. “I don't? Really? I don't know what it's like to be shot?”

Rocker rolled his eyes dramatically. “You were overseas then,” he said. “And that was an explosion. It's different.”

“It's worse!”

“Says you.”

“Says everyone!”

Rocker motioned up at Deacon. “Deac, shooting or explosion, which is worse?”

Deacon looked back and forth between the two of them, a thousand questions running through his mind. Mostly for Tommy. “Explosion, Rocker. It's always explosion.”

Tommy grinned. “Haha.”

Rocker glared at Deacon. “You're a traitor, and this is the worst day ever.”

“What about-”

“Do not!” Rocker warned Tommy. “Never, ever mention that.”

“Mhm. Okay, come on. Get on the spine board so we can get out of here.”

“I- What do you mean, “get on the spine board”? You're supposed to put me on the spine board!”

Tommy sat back on his calves. “Are you really too weak to scoot your butt over six inches onto the board?”

“Would you really be asking this of anyone else in my current state, Thomas?”

“Anyone else in your current state would have already walked down the stairs and exited the building like a normal human, Donovan. Now, scoot!”

As soon as Rocker moved onto the spine board, moaning and groaning the whole way, he laid down and Tommy began to restrain him.

“We'll be going to Cedars-Sinai,” Tommy informed the rest of the group. “Maybe next time I see you guys Donny will actually introduce me to his co-workers.”

“Shooting victim!” Rocker reminded him. “Plus, it's not like you ever introduced me to your coworkers. Or your boyfriend! Or should I say ex-boy- Ow!”

Tommy pulled the final restraint, right over his groin, tugging extra hard, then clipped him to the rope so they could head up to the chopper. “If you don't shut up," he warned, "I'll release the clip halfway up and watch you spin around like a propeller until you hit the ground.”

Then, with a thumbs up, Tommy and Rocker began their ascent.

The rest of the team stood in silence for a moment, trying to take everything in.

“What the hell just happened here?” Hondo asked.

“Not a clue,” Deacon answered. “Permission to head to the hospital and see how this plays out?”

Hondo nodded. “Only if you give us the play by play.”

[weirdsht]

Disillusioned 7 . Truth (2)

a/n: double update this week (I'll upload another chapter tom) to lament over my fever getting higher lol (I'm actually procrastinating my school works)

tags: frustrated rosalyn, again abuse as the norm, cursing, detrimental thoughts and ways of living, unhealthy coping mechanisms and trauma responses

English isn’t my first language so there will be grammatical errors

Pls don't repost my work anywhere without my permission

Constructive criticisms and any kind of interaction are more than welcome

Requests are currently closed but my ask are still open (read pinned)

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Rosalyn is someone who threw away her royal position to pursue her dreams of being a mage.

A decision that removed her from her family.

The mage thinks that she would be sad by this if it wasn’t for the fact that she immediately found a new family to be with.

It's amazing if you ask her. It was as if the gods saw that she needed someone to trust after almost being killed and gave it to her in the form of a socially awkward swordsman.

And then almost right after she put her trust in Choi Han, she gained a little brother named Lock.

From there it spiralled. She met Cale and all the other people under him. She got the support she needed to make her dreams come true. On top of that, her relationship with her blood relatives is still good.

Overall it was nice. Especially when Cale seems to keep making friends everywhere and expanding this family-esc circle they have.

That was why when Cale brought another person home Rosalyn thought it would be the same thing. Thought that in a few days' time, that person would be part of their group, their family.

Well in a way they were.

Rosalyn has come to see _____ as her younger sibling, the same way she views Lock. She has taken it upon herself to help the healer acclimatize to their new group and environment in general.

However, every time Rosalyn thinks she’s making progress, _____ seems to go back into their shell.

At first, the woman thought they were just socially awkward. Perhaps shaken because their family literally just threw them to their death.

Her first mistake was assuming it was as trivial as that.

Her second mistake was not getting the full story.

If she had done that then maybe she wouldn’t be this shocked so early in the morning.

Well in her defence she was expecting Cale to talk about some sort of plan for when they meet the dragon. Why else would he gather the group this early right before they are set to travel to the dragon’s lair?

Apparently not.

As soon as everyone has settled Cale brought to everyone’s attention that they didn’t know how _____’s powers work.

This made Rosalyn confused. Because quite frankly what does this have to do with… well anything?

But oh god, the more _____ explains their abilities the more she understood why this has to be said now.

This should have been explained way earlier. Because what do they mean that _____ essentially absorbs their patients' wounds?

It made the mage look back at all the people the Medicus had healed. All the sickness and wounds they had to absorb.

And shit.

She remembered that _____ has been doing this since they were 9 years old. Maybe even earlier as she discovered that the famous story of their adoption is fabricated.

Rosalyn may have only known _____ for a short while, but that’s her little sibling goddammit.

A sibling she admires because of how helpful and selfless they are. Traits they possess that Rosalyn is now starting to resent.

The redhead shot a pointed look at the other redhead in the room. A look that says Rosalyn wants her questions answered. Cale responded with another eye contact that seemed to say “Later”.

“Just what-”

Cale put his hand up to stop Rosalyn from speaking. Everyone was still in the room minus _____. The redhead had sent them out as they hadn’t finished packing their things yet.

“To put it shortly, I need you all to keep an eye on _____.”

The man goes on to explain how the healer kind of lacks… common sense, for lack of a better term. It has something to do with how they were brought up. 

“We don’t need to look after them like a child. Just make sure they won’t go overboard using their abilities. No guarding them like a hound either.”

It's a no-brainer that the last part was for the visibly enraged Choi Han. He was still visibly enraged but nodded as he understood why Cale didn't want the healer to have guards as of now.

Rosalyn is sure that Choi Han is going to be overprotective of _____ in some way. Not that she blames him.

Cale went to stand up, signifying that the meeting was over. The rest followed and started filing out of the room. 

Everyone except Rosalyn.

She has questions and she’s going to get answers.

“Young master, how long have you known?”

“Since last night.”

“Were they deliberately hiding it?”

“No, they just didn’t think they could bring it up when no one was asking.”

“How are we supposed to- haaa”

“Blame their shitty family.”

On their way to the dragon’s lair, Rosalyn had a lot on her mind. Lots of puzzle pieces to put together.

Now that Rosalyn knows the full story everything started to make sense.

Made her realize just how hurt her sibling had been.

Just how much they suffered before Cale met them.

It made Rosalyn look back to some of the habits she noticed _____ has. Like how they almost seem apprehensive to talk to people in authority. How their hands and voice tremble when they thought they made a mistake. How they are so intent on healing everyone and low-key seem scared if a person’s condition is out of their jurisdiction.

How they take everything with apprehension. Like they can’t believe that they are being given things. Even when those things are basic necessities like a good plate of food. How they teared up when Raon gave them that red teddy bear from the night market. How apparently that was the first toy– no, the first thing, that they have ever received in their entire life for free. The first gift they get to indulge in.

How they are too independent for Rosalyn’s liking. How they always insist that the servants have better things to do than assist them. How they refuse to get treated when sick or injured despite them treating everyone else.

How they never speak unless spoken to first. How they will literally just stand there, bleeding and not saying a word unless they are given some sort of permission. This one frustrates Rosalyn so much. Not only does she want to hear more from the healer, but she also thinks they have so many good ideas. Before she let it go she thought they were shy, but that’s slowly going to change from now on.

How even when they were suffering from nightmares they were silent. How on one of those nights they looked more scared that Rosalyn saw them being vulnerable, as if it's a sin to have nightmares. To be vulnerable and lean on others. How on that night Rosalyn had to explain that there’s nothing wrong with asking for help after such things. How _____ nodded but seemed apprehensive. How Rosalyn knew that after that night they still suffered silently. Merely holding the mage’s hand as solace and comfort on the rare nights the healer allows themself to embrace the help presented to them.

How Rosalyn found out now that it was because _____ have been taught that since they don’t scar then they must not have pain. Since they only get a percentage of their patient’s pain then it would be arrogant and privileged of them to complain.

How they–

How–

Fuck.

Rosalyn is going to get revenge for _____. 

She’s going to make sure she gets it done one way or another.

a/n at the end: i wasn't quite sure how to get the point across that rosalyn was angry and frustrated beyond belief so I made her curse as she isn't really someone who's portrayed to curse a lot

[darkdrin6]

They're both wrong.

Hi. Recently, we often see different opinions about Kuai and Bi Han in this new relaunch (another one, my God). It's incredibly nice to see people who are really trying to look at what is happening from all sides, but guys - our attempts are in vain, because this game is a damn dummy. Some blame Bi Han, others blame Kuai, and everyone is right in their own way, but what if... THEY'RE BOTH WRONG.

To begin with, the game clearly marks its favorites and does not even try to pretend at least some intrigue and depth. Let's be honest, dear ones, we knew from the very beginning that Bi Han would be treated dirty. The only thing missing was the banner "I'm a villain, guys" at his breast. Let's leave aside how it breaks the character to hell and disappoints. Let's look at what is happening objectively.

So, Bi Han is the head of his clan, who took this place after his father's death. According to Bi Han himself, he let their father die (somehow, and we probably won't know the details). What for? Because their father's vision limited the clan (we probably won't know the details either). Objectively, Bi Han had no need to somehow bring his father's death closer for the sake of power in the clan. Because - you know - Bi Han is the eldest son, he would have taken this place. Considering Kuai's words that there are enough people loyal to Bi Han in the clan, this means that it was not about power as such, but something else. Bi Han let his father die not for the sake of power for himself personally, but for the sake of the greatness of the clan (whatever that means, the game does not give explanations). This is not a selfish motive. At least, not in the direct understanding of this concept.

It seems that Bi Han is not interested in taking over the world completely. He says that he needs a part of the Earthrealm and nothing more. He... wants to build a state? This is a contradictory goal, but it has a place to be (and also our joke about him wanting to restore the Qing Empire turned out to be prophetic; we need to stop joking about it). From this we can draw a logical conclusion that it is not in his interests to betray the Earthrealm, to condone its destruction or subjugation to someone else. Because it literally contradicts his goals.

The next thing that fans hate him for is that it is he, Bi Han, who leaves his brother the his scar. We've seen claims that he tried to kill Kuai and... it's quite possible that he did. Emotions, rage push him forward, to attack. Bi Han is constantly angry, but especially in this scene. And if you review this scene, you will clearly see that Bi Han waited a VERY long time before Kuai noticed that the knife was in his other hand. This is really a decent slowdown, and Bi Han had the opportunity to kill his brother at the same moment. But he doesn't. His attack is an impulse, not a cold-blooded desire to kill Kuai.

Another reason to hate Bi Han is Smoke. More precisely, the fact that Bi Han - that's terrible! (sarcasm) - does not accept him as a brother, because Tomas is not his blood brother. Bi Han says that Tomas is not Lin Kuei by blood, and this moment raises questions. A clan is a social association that is based on blood ties. This is usually one or more families united by kinship of varying degrees. In the old chronology, it was never exactly said whether Lin Kuei was a clan, a united kinship. More often it seemed that these were conditional ties, more idealogical than blood ties. But here Bi Han puts a lot of emphasis on blood ties. So does this mean that Lin Kuei is still related to each other? This can also be regarded as the fact that Bi Han says that Tomas is not part of their family, and not the clan as a whole, and this is the case. Even people treat blood brothers and sisters differently, it all depends on the upbringing and the situation in the family. We don't know anything about the context, we don't know about the past, about the relationships of these people. Frankly speaking, they do not communicate with each other like real living people who, albeit conditionally, are part of the same family. All their dialogs can be replaced with:

Bi Han: the exposition. Kuai: the exposition. Tomas: the exposition. Bi Han: exposition and an unexpected plot twist. Kuai: the exposition. Some important phrase. Tomas: another exposition. Write me a check and I'll go to in a better movie. Bi Han and Kuai: we will also go to in a better movie, but first here's another exposition.

The only time one could truly believe that they were somehow connected to each other was when Bi Han asked if they were both unharmed. He just fought Ermak, a creature with thousands of souls, but it is he who asks Kuai and Tomas if they are okay. Not the other way around.

Another problem associated with this scene is that many people did not seem to be watching it with their eyes. We literally had to point out to our friends at this point. Damn stone. Reconsider, come on. Bi Han doesn't kick him, doesn't throw him down. He just ends up too abruptly on the edge of the wall and a piece of stone breaks down by accident. Bi Han doesn't want to kill Tomas. Bi Han doesn't want to kill Harumi either, for that matter. In that dialogue, he says that the family can be a means in this war. He doesn't say "I will kill your wife", he just said that he might consider influencing Kuai through something/someone else. Take Harumi hostage or influence her to influence her husband's decisions. Maybe just find a way to negotiate with her, because with Harumi, Bi Han doesn't have a family drama that seems to have been accumulating for years. People who accuse Bi Khan of something he didn't actually do, be ashamed, because this is slander.

Bi Han is still the antagonist. More precisely, he could be him, but his betrayal does not make any sense at all, either emotionally or in plot terms. He doesn't do anything else after it and disappears from the plot. He might as well have just been injured by Shang Tsung or by Quan Chi, and recovered in the hospital behind the scenes.

The problem is that the game doesn't want players to somehow empathize with Bi Han or even support his goals. And his goals (no matter how illusory they may be) have a place to be. He is ready to take extreme measures, radical decisions, but in fact he has not done any of this yet. The studio did not make him either a positive hero, a cool antagonist, an inspiring villain, or a neutral character with his own motives. He's just a piece of evil cardboard, against which Kuai should look as good as possible.

Is Bi Han right? We don't know. The game does not give any context and declares that he wants power for the sake of power, which is always as negative as possible, because the desire for power does not lead to good. Is he right to let his father die (whatever that means)? No. Without context, the answer is unequivocally "no". Is it cruel of him to be cold towards the orphan Tomas? Cruelly. But there is a place to be. Again, we lack at least some context. The game just says - hey guys, Bi Han is a villain now, condemn him for his villainies that we didn't even really come up with. Excellent solution, NRS writers, just excellent.

Summing up - Bi Han: 1) ambitious (which is not explained by anything) 2) cold with others 3) somehow involved in the death of his father 4) puts his clan above everything else and even above blood ties (although he himself refers to the importance of blood kinship and .. IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE AT ALL)

In a number of dialogues, Bi Han is inconsistent, but let's remember that he is a person who will not tell the enemy the truth about his relationship with someone. So don't take at face value everything he says to other characters in the intro. He is still angry, but he still wants the brothers (Kuai for sure) to be on his side, although on his rules.

And now let's approach the situation from the other side. Kuai and Tomas. And we will immediately abandon Tomas, because - you know - he is not even a character in this farce. He's just a weak-willed appendage of Kuai, completely devoid of personality, and the script is completely to blame for this. Tomas had at least some problematic and self conflict in the old chronology, he literally lived with a demon in his head. Unfortunately, now he's just a dear friend of one of the main characters. He deserved more. Let's remember the wasted potential with a kind word. And let's move on.

So, Kuai Liang. Let's not touch on the topic anymore that this is not really the Kuai we knew; that the studio also took away all his personality. This has been said many times. Let's look at it within the framework of this particular plot. He is the second/youngest son of Grandmaster Lin Kuei clan, and he probably has less chance of to rule the clan. From his official biography, it can be said that he was attached to his father because he grieved after his death. Again - we don't know anything about their relationship. Of course, the child's love for the parent is unconditional (but for some reason this does not apply to Bi Han), and it can be understood that Kuai is devastated by the death of his father. But there is no context here either. Were they really close? Or was Kuai's father a kind of idol, as for many children with rather cold parents? We don't know, because the game doesn't say anything else, except that the previous Grandmaster took the wounded orphan and raised him in a place where Tomas could see the people who killed his family every day. It's a very merciful decision, man, but let's not talk about it now.

Kuai follows his father's vision because he grew up thinking it was the right thing to do. And it makes sense. It is right for Kuai to guard the Earthrealm with the methods that his father instilled in him (perhaps because we again have no idea what was between them). He is quite young, with a hot heart and a hot head, so with all his sanity, feelings will often prevail in him. And this is normal for a living person. He is not as desperate for action as Bi Han, and is more passive at such moments, which can be explained both by the family situation and the nature of his character. Again - we don't have the context to judge for sure. And although some of his statements seem indifferent towards his brother, the game clearly does not imply that Kuai is a bad person or a bad brother. Although, of course, it is not perfect.

Understand correctly. This whole family - Bi Han, Kuai Liang and Tomas - is problematic. If you listen to some of their dialogues, look at their general behavior and logically understand what is happening, then a picture emerges when an unclear family problem has been growing for years, but all three have too little habit of talking about their feelings and trying to solve the problem with words, not a fight. But at the same time, the plot is desperately trying to make Kuai a positive character. And the most revealing scene here is Kuai's attack on his brother in the tomb. Let's take it in order, because a lot of people have problems with this scene too. 1) they are captured 2) Shang Tsung talks about his plan, trying to lure Lin Kuei to his side (and thus the heroes get information) 3) Bi Han silently makes it clear that he seems to agree to the sorcerer's terms (we remind them that they are still in captivity) 4) Bi Han says he let his father die 5) Kuai attacks and in a fit of rage tries to kill his brother, he does not succeed (and it is the intervention of another soldier that does not allow Kuai to make a mistake) 6) Kuai escapes

This scene is stupid and meaningless from beginning to end. Bi Han, whose goals are to control a part of the Earthrealm should least of all trust Shang Tsung. On the other hand, if he says no, nothing will stop the soldiers from cutting the throats of both brothers right here. The army of living statues is not some incredible tool at all, they burn and melt very well (as we have already seen). Why did Bi Han agree to this seriously? But what follows is a moment that is just confusing. Bi Han says that he let their father die (it is unclear what exactly he means), and Kuai attacks him without the slightest hesitation and delay with such fury that without outside interference he could have killed Bi Han. Yes, he is emotional, he is furious, he is in grief. To know that your own brother did this is just awful. But before that, Kuai is shown to be a calm and sane person who will think first and then do something. If he had remained the same as he was shown to us, he probably would have really doubted his brother's words. You know, if our brother had said that he was to blame for the death of our mother (as a person whose mother died, we can say so), we would have first thought if he had gone mad. Because in family relationships it is normal to believe in the best in your relatives. Did Kuai have doubts, suspicions? No, the game didn't show that. Again, we are not given any context. The plot wants us to just believe that Kuai is right to appeal to our conscience, because parricide is always bad (tell that to Tyrion Lannister, yes).

Kuai can be understood in his anger. Even if it happened that he accidentally killed his brother in a fit of rage, he would regret it. The game tries to pretend that he is a good person and that he really cares about his brother, even if he is absolutely crazy, but the plot doesn't even try. Kuai takes Bi Han out of the fortress so that he does not help Shang Tsung. This is exactly what Kuai himself says directly. He's probably a good brother (???) *bewilderment*.

Kuai is actually trying to be a good person. He is trying to restrain Bi Han's ardor, to support Tomas. He doesn't really want to fight, but he doesn't run away from battle either. The difference is how he solves his problems. Knowing that a paramilitary clan remains under the command of Bi Han, which may pose a threat, Kuai escapes. Again, we don't have the context to understand whether this decision is logical or infantile. We mean that he is the son of the previous Grandmaster who defeated the current Grandmaster in battle. He definitely has at least some weight in the clan. He could have just grabbed his brother and hammered some common sense into him, because - you know - lives depend on it. But the plot literally does not allow Kuai to act logically.

He's not a scoundrel. Not a traitor. He tries to follow what he thinks is right. He is the same person with his own goals as Bi Han. But the difference is that the plot exposes one of them as a villain, and the other as a pure and innocent hero. And such a sharp separation, which does not allow the characters to be interesting and lively, is frankly annoying.

By the way, Kuai is also inconsistent in the introduction. He clearly doesn't want anyone else to harm Bi Han, but he doesn't tell him about it. And it makes sense, because there's still this damn family drama between them that makes them both angry.

In the end, they are both wrong. They're both terribly scripted characters that the writers play like dolls. And it's not the fault of the characters, it's the fault of an absolutely immature plot. Don't blame them both, understand that this game just can't handle the disclosure of heroes and uses manipulative elements to hang labels.

We understand the frustration and the desire to find meaning where there is none. But, as they say in our country - do not stretched an owl on the globe (no need far-fetched facts).

This is a terribly manipulative immature plot that attracts attention only at the expense of the fanservice. Don't blame the characters, don't pour shit on them. Remember that they are hostages of the script.

The perplexed Kenshi, as the embodiment of our reaction to everything that is happening.

[rogue205]

Oh my god. What is with Disney these days? No one wants a “woke” Princess and it’s like they don’t even understand the word anyway.

Pixar does because look at Merida. She still got help from “a man” even if they were her little brothers. It was still “female empowerment” because her mother is actually the one who killed the bad guy anyway and it was because he was about to kill Merida. It wasn’t just “women strong!”. Hell, Merida refuses to get married and actually ends the movie that way but she never comes across as “ew, men” but that she simply doesn’t want to. I can relate.

But back to Disney. They changed Little Mermaid so Ariel literally did EVERYTHING including killing Ursula despite the fact that she shouldn’t even know how to drive a damn ship. 🙄 There was nothing wrong with Eric doing it!

And now we’re getting “woke” Snow White who is named as such because her skin is WHITE AS SNOW! But noooooo… she has to be a person of color too so Disney can have lazy writing and call everyone racist when we call them out on this BS. POC are just shields for them now although Rachel Zegler tried to accuse everyone of hate already. Lady, that’s not going to get people to see your point. And frankly, it’s not even about her. It’s about Disney and what they’re doing.

Also they’re apparently planning to change the Prince coming in to wake her up at the end. Like, what? And most of the seven dwarves are gone too. I think there’s only one now while the others are “normal”. They thought(and Zegler said) that the Prince was “acting stalker-ish” so that’s why they wanted to change him. Hah. They clearly didn’t watch “Once Upon a Time”. Now THAT is a live-action Snow White.

Plus there is a “deleted scene” comic which explains how the Prince even knew to come looking for Snow White. He was captured and locked up by the Evil Queen and witnessed her transform into the hag and poison the apple. He immediately went to find Snow when he managed to escape. All the live-action had to do was include something like this and then he isn’t “stalkerish”. 🙄

Frankly, their movie is not even Snow White anymore and I can tell already that it’s going to flop with all these unneeded and unnecessary changes. All it shares in common now is the name. Nothing else.

This is just my opinion. You don’t have to agree.

[cynicalclairvoyantcadaver]

Vivienne Duarte, Bianca di Angelo and being an older sister

So, in this post, I'm trying to examine how we as a society, even the ones who are progressive, automatically expect the older sibling, more importantly the older sister, to take on the burden of their siblings when their parents can't.

I'm going to use the example of Bianca di Angelo from Percy Jackson.

For context, I'll tell you-Bianca and her younger brother Nico were from pre WWII before the big 3 took the oath, and once her mother was killed by Zeus, her father put her and her brother in the Lotus Casino, which makes time pass slowly while the outside world time goes faster.

Bianca and her brother Nico were in there for about a month according to them but actually 70 years in real time. Keep in mind that during this time, there were no parental figures for them, even if they got everything they materially needed-food, clothes, etc.

Nico also mentions that Bianca was strict with what she let him watch, so this means that she watched over him in the Casino. Not fully, maybe, but she watched over him and felt parentified nonetheless.

Bianca felt that she had to take care of Nico.

And when they come out, they remember that their parents are dead and they go to a military school of all schools. Now Bianca feels like she has to take care of Nico because their parents are dead and because of the general expectations piled onto older sisters and they probably cling to each other a lot, seeing as how Nico didn't mention any friends from his boarding school time.

And when Bianca gets the chance to join the Hunters of Artemis, well, she takes it-and how do people react to this?

Well......they don't like it. They think she's abandoning Nico, they call her selfish, even though she's only 12-a literal child, not even a teenager. And she only wants to not be just a big sister, to have a life for herself. And she's groomed and mislead by two much older women who are also in the guise of being children (Artemis and Zoe) and she's told that she can meet Nico from time to time, but that she won't have to take care of him anymore and that he'll be taken care of. And so she takes the chance. She doesn't know that they're going to camp-she thinks that if she declines, she won't get this again. And she doesn't even think about the possible consequences of this, because again, she's just a scared twelve year old who barely had time to make a decision with a lot of pressure and 3 people there who tried to pressure her into the opposite directions.

No one really thinks about this, do they? They only think about how her joining the Hunters and her death affected Nico, and they judge their reactions to her based on him.

Because the way Bianca was written, she was always the Earth to Nico's Sun. And ultimately, she died and was only ever remembered as Nico's older sister, which is so sadly ironic because she always wanted to be more, but Bianca was doomed from the start.

And now we come to Vivienne Duarte, who can also be a slightly selfish sister, only people love her more because we actually see her helping Jude, and Jude doesn't seem to be that affected by Vivienne's distance from her and Taryn-in fact, Jude has said that Vivienne has come through for her plenty of times, and Vivienne does help Jude a lot over the course of TFOTA, so Vivienne would of course not be hated that much, right?

But, as always with case of older sisters not being there for their younger siblings, there's Vivienne hate for this.

And I mean, I can understand where you're coming from, because maybe it looks like Vivienne should have been there for Jude and Taryn-

But let me tell you, have we ever considered Vivienne as a person, and her desires and wants?

Let me tell you something very frankly-I wholeheartedly believe that if TFOTA was from Vivienne's POV, then a lot of people would be hating Jude and Taryn. We'd all be wondering why they choose to stay with the people who don't care for them and treat them like toys or pets. We'd be cheering Vivienne on, and maybe some of us would take some time to think about Jude or Taryn and maybe even defend them, but ultimately, we would say that they chose to stay in Faerie, so they weather the consequences.

And that's what I'm talking about. Have we ever considered the fact that Vivienne wanted to go back to the human realm, but Jude and Taryn wanted to stay in Faerie?

And then Jude and Taryn grew to love Madoc. Madoc, the man who killed Vivienne's parents, and kidnapped her and her sisters to a foreign land which they knew nothing of, and then her sisters started to love him.

It must have been awful for Vivienne. How many times did she turn away, her heart being pierced, when she saw Jude smile at or hug Madoc? How many times did she blink away tears when she saw Taryn with Madoc?

And she vowed to hate Madoc, but she was forced to live with him because of her sisters, even when she found a way out, because they wanted to go back to his stronghold, and VIVIENNE stayed for JUDE AND TARYN, even though she could have gone and lived in the Mortal Realm using her magic and she could have come and visited them when she wanted to.

Can you imagine a man murdering your parents, then he kidnaps you and your sister and is your biological father? And then your sisters, who aren't his real daughters, grow to love him even though you hate him, and you can't fathom how they can love him, because HE MURDERED YOUR PARENTS IN FRONT OF ALL THREE OF YOU.

I love the fact that she hates him. I love that she tried to kill him and betrayed him for her sisters. I love her for that.

And Vivienne did try to protect Jude and Taryn, but their relationshop fractured as Jude and Taryn grew to love Elfhame and Madoc, and that's realistic, because which person in Vivienne's place, with all her trauma and vows, would not hate her sisters a little for doing what they did?

And now we come to Vivienne's desires.

I mean, I already told you that she wanted to go and live in the mortal world away from Faerie, but she stayed for her sisters. Was she planning to stay forever if she had met Heather? Probably not, but she would have stayed longer.

But I think that when she met Heather and Heather wanted Vivienne to move in with her, Vivienne realised that it was either her or her sisters' desires-

And she chose herself over them.

And I think that that was wonderful, because she couldn't stay behind forever. She couldn't sacrifice forever.

And let me tell you, she offered so many times to Jude and Taryn, she said, hey, let's go back, stop being the the crazy psychos, and they kept saying no, we want to live here.

And Vivienne ultimately accepted that she couldn't always just try to help her younger sisters, that she and they would have to go their own separate ways, that ultimately she couldn't help them anymore. That Jude would have to fend for herself, that Taryn would have to find a husband.

And so she chose to leave for herself, and I think that that's so bittersweet, because she was leaving them behind for a new life, and she must have been hurt too, but she stopped sacrificing for her sisters. And she knew that she was immortal, so she could come back and visit them when they were settled.

And she tried, one last time, and she was even prepared to give up Heather for her sisters, but then they refused, and she gave it up entirely.

But I think that if Jude ever came to her, then Vivienne would help her, always.

Yes, Vivienne did play with Cardan, but that was most likely before he started bullying Jude and Taryn. Jude literally said that Vivienne stopped attending classes and also that she and Taryn hid their trauma in Faerie from Vivienne, so Vivienne didn't know that Jude and Taryn were bullied. And being the big sister that she is, she would never tolerate Cardan if she knew that he was bullying Jude and Taryn.

Bianca died, and Vivienne lived, and when people think of Vivienne Duarte, they're not always going to remember her as Jude's older sister, because she's so much more.

Vivienne stopped taking care of Jude and Taryn when she felt that she didn't need to and realized that they needed to fend for themselves and she couldn't always help them.

I feel like Bianca and Vivienne could have such a talk.........

@madockisser not sure if you've read Percy Jackson but what do you think about this? I'm trying to understand Vivienne's POV and I feel like I made some good points here, but I want your opinion too

[frazzledsoul]

Finished Shameless season 4 last night and here are my unsolicited thoughts, once again:

I think if Fiona had not been dating Mike and was just working for the cup company she could have made it work. I mean, she might have done something to screw it up, but if she weren't being fully integrated into Mike's perfect family she wouldn't have felt so much pressure to rebel with the one person she relates to, his shithead alcoholic brother. I think Mike would have backed off, she would have been good at her job, and she would have had more time to spend at home (and notice that Debbie had a 20-year-old "boyfriend", for instance).

On that note, I think Fiona really starts courting danger when she provokes a fight in traffic, she's attacked while in a company car, and she outright lies to Mike about it and somehow acts like he's the one that owes her something. She tended to treat Steve like shit once she found out he was privileged because there was no way his problems could be as bad as hers and I think she has the same disrespect towards Mike, even if she no longer has the same problems. Once she's got all this nice stuff handed to her, she gets overconfident and rebels and screws everything up. It wouldn't have been like that if Mike were just her boss.

This doesn't excuse anything, but I kind of get it with Robbie. Maybe it was because the actor was in Chicago Med and he was actually kind of dull, but yeah he's a little hot....in a scuzzy, chaotic way, of course.

That said, the coke incident was entirely her fault and it doesn't matter that it was an accident because she shouldn't have been doing hard drugs around a bunch of little kids (I also can't picture her doing this in S1-3, either). Her insistence that she's going to fight it because she shouldn't be punished because she didn't INTEND for anything bad to happen...sorry, honey, that's bullshit. The fact that she pleads guilty after Lip had pretty much took over running the household and was literally taking Liam with him everywhere, begs and pleads to be trusted again, and THEN violates her parole and goes out and parties again after one (1) day of unsuccessful job hunting? Honestly, I've been in his position too much IRL to have much sympathy.

I honestly think Lip's struggles at the beginning of the season were mainly because....he's not used to having a real job or a schedule? He's used to scraping along and scamming and hustling and being good at it and he couldn't deal with actual expectations. After the interlude with Mandy early in the season he sort of becomes...a dreamboat, honestly? He's like a completely different person and he was actually succeeding at keeping things afloat and working/going to school. I know he's going to screw it all up and it's going to be awful. Oh, well.

Mandy, as usual, has a completely tragic plot going on in the background that deserves more attention. It's frankly not realistic to me that her boyfriend was allowed to stay in the Milkovich house after he had beat her. Sure, Mickey & co may not have been successful at keeping him away from her, but that doesn't mean they have to let him stay there. Also, that last scene with her waiting on Lip (and pretending not to know him) and his shiny new college girlfriend who shares her name kind of hurt.

Ian completely disappearing for the first couple of episodes of the season while Mickey focuses on unionizing the hoes kind of threw me off guard. Also, I ship him and Ian too much now. I can't believe I have one more season with them and then four seasons of almost nothing. Ugh.

What a twisted family the Milkovich household is at the end of the season: a newly out Mickey, his bipolar boyfriend, Russian hooker wife, her girlfriend, and a baby. Yikes.

The less one says about Debbie's plot the better. Yikes. And the worst is yet to come!

That's really all we get of Bonnie and Carl?!?

Sammi doesn't seem that bad. Honestly, I feel she's the main reason Frank had a real plotline this year.

I would have liked it if Sheila had mentioned Karen at least once, but...nothing. I feel she expended so much energy on finding a surrogate child in Hymie and this season's random kids she wanted to adopt because Karen was just someone she couldn't deal with anymore, and once she was no longer the same person, it made sense to her to send her away. I kind of hope at the end of all of this she went to find Karen and Hymie and got them away from Jody.

Why did I have to watch Kevin and Veronica's incest threesome last year if Veronica's mom was just going to keep the resulting baby and they were going to have their own kids anyway? I assaulted my eyes for nothing.

Nice to see you, Negan cosplaying as a nice guy! I won't get used to it or the newly not-dead Jimmy SteveJack.

So on to season 5. I'm half tempted to skip season 6 because I get a feeling it's just pregnancy drama the entire season and that's quite tiresome to me.

[majorbaby]

i was going to make a video compilation but actually i think that would give MASH too much credit or make it seem like I really think this show did generally well by race and racism, plus I can't go back and edit a video if I change my mind at any point. so here's my text-based list of race moments that actually land for me, whether intentional or based on my personal interpretation.

s01e05 The Moose - which is mostly a white saviour episode but actually does do a few things right:

this moment of solidarity between Oliver and Young-Hi

in response to the Swamp Rats' indignation that anyone would sell their child into servitude, Ho-Jon explains very frankly "Well some of the locals sell their kids for money Hawkeye, they have no other means." - not to say that it's right that Young-Hi's parents did that to her, but like, they didn't sell her to get rich, they did it because they're likely living in poverty and they have other younger children to support

Young-Hi cheekily explaining in her letter to Hawkeye "heehee the nuns have no idea I'm Buddhist" she's taking them for a ride, it's great

and Young-Hi's "I am also very beautiful!"

s02e15 Officers Only

Hawkeye introducing a black enlisted man as his brother-in-law - soooo very recently, like I argued this at the mic at my last convention, we've started to rethink the use of"brother" and "sister" to refer to your union comrades has start. if your boss caught you organizing with a friend after work, you would say "oh that's just my brother/sister". arguments against this are gaining traction now because of growing awareness of non-binary people but tbh it should have never been a thing it only protects white people who can reasonably pass as siblings, if you're black or brown you're SOL (as you usually were anyway). so anyway. this is a long ass paragraph just to say that Hawkeye saying " brother-in-law" in the union episode of MASH makes me feel ways. someone was thinking about intersectionality way back then.

s02e19 The Chosen People

Sam Pak in OR at the beginning of the episode, thanking America for saving Korea "from the bottom of our bomb craters." and also just generally making jokes that actually land about the Korean language because he's the one making them, "Pish-posh? That's my mother's family name"

tbh Sam walking around like he owns the base is pretty great in general

s05e08 Dear Sigmund

Klinger: Smaha! Smaha! Potter: [to Private Habib] What'd he say? Habib: He said "Smaha! Smaha!"

If it is Arabic it's funny because Potter assumes Habib will translate and he just repeats the words in Arabic because that is what Klinger literally said. If it is gibberish it's funny because Potter assumes its Arabic and Habib gives him the gibberish. This is one of my favourite gags in the whole show and fun fact also the moment I realized Jamie Farr must be a native speaker because his accent is so natural. It's pretty cool he got to flex that.

s05e11 Hawk's Nightmare

this is just me, but I love that Hawkeye describes the people of Crabapple Cove as never changing colour, always the same "off-white" - this was a time you almost never heard white people acknowledge their whiteness, except when speaking about racism. really struck me the first time i heard it. probably my favourite thing from Hawkeye re: race and it's not intentional. I definitely prefer it to his white saviourism

s06e08 In Love and War

the exchange between Kyungsoon and Hawkeye where the extent of his naiveté is put on display, "You're being awfully practical about this" "I thought you liked that about me [list of things she had to do for survival that Hawkeye initially admired in her but is now throwing in her face]"

episode ends in Hawkeye having to accept that sometimes love is irrelevant, the circumstances are what they are (the love was there and it didn't matter, but it was there) - this imo is the only episode of MASH that even begins to touch on the realities of being a Korean civilian in the war

s08e03 Guerilla My Dreams

the gang fails to save a woman from being taken away and she will likely die, as would've probably happened irl. sometimes being on a sitcom isn't enough to save you from your fate as a prisoner of war and it was good to be reminded of that for once. it's the white saviour trope averted.

s08e08 Private Finance

I can at least appreciate that this time when someone is explaining how all sides of the war are to blame for the scourge of war, it's a young Korean girl in her own words. rest of the episode is questionable but normally such a line would go to Hawkeye.

s08e15 Yessir that's Our Baby

the Korean official biting back when Hawkeye tries to accuse him (on behalf of the country) for not recognizing mixed-race babies as Korean, stating that neither does America recognize mixed-race babies with American fathers as Americans, unlike France and the UK

s11e01 Hey Look Me Over

this episode is textually about the very specific and not uncommon experience of being desexualized as a fat, Asian-American woman - it deserves a proper episode recap/analysis with that lens and I'm planning on take a stab at it if/when I ever get around to that ep in my rewatch. these stories were not being told in mainstream media until like, five years ago. there are some the hypersexualized or fetishized Asian woman in media and usually the movie/show/comic is doing that as a selling point rather than commentary. it's unfortunate we haven't progressed much since that moment 40 years ago.

[citation needed, cannot remember the name of the episode]

while admitted a Korean doctor tells Hawkeye he wishes things were different and that he could work alongside Hawkeye and BJ and Hawkeye asks with perfect American ignorance (paraphrase), "You'd want to do that?" and he responds, "You treat the enemy, why can't I?"

And finally, Soon-Lee and Klinger in GFA, a little bit in As Time Goes By. I started writing an essay on Klinger as the romantic lead of GFA but I think I'm going to try to make it a video essay so I can include clips from the show without having to make a bunch of gifs.

But in a nutshell, Klinger gets to do stuff in GFA that the often emasculated brown man still doesn't get to do much on television. As MASH progressed we did occasionally get to see Klinger take on a more serious role, Alan Alda has spoken on trying to do that for the character rather than rehash dramatic plotlines for Hawkeye or BJ who got plenty of their own.

Having Klinger represented that way gives audiences a chance to see him more three-dimensionally. As someone who is capable of romantic love, attraction, courage and someone who might be sexually desirable to others - in a less direct way than Kellye demands of Hawkeye in Hey Look Me Over. I think the lack of subtlety in Hey Look Me Over is great because there can be no question about what that episode is supposed to do and also because it drives home that Hawkeye is so blinded by his preconceived notions of what a "desirable woman" looks and sounds like that Kellye has to scream it in his face before he realizes what he's been doing. But it's also nice to have an example that's woven into the writing and cinematography.

Normally I don't like to add these kinds of disclaimers because I value open conversation but if you're rb'ing, please be mindful of your tags. I intentionally excluded a lot of the moments where I know I'm supposed to give this show an A+ for its progressivism when it has a white person demonstrating basic human decency. That bar is just too low for me.

[lady-phenix]

Ooc post

So...theory time! After watching the new HB episode and doing some thinking, I have a theory as to what's going to happen in the finale and going into the next season.

Potential spoilers and a kinda personal rant below.

Let's get my rant out of the way first: please, for the love of all things holy/unholy, can we PLEASE stop infantilizing Stolas! This is getting to be so ridiculous its not even funny! For someone who says both characters were wrong, Vivienne is seriously babying Stolas and its frankly pissing me off. I feel bad for Brandon Rogers (I know he's one of the writers and he may have a hand in this but seriously bear with me), the voice of Blitz, because it seems everyone is fucking shitting on his character and blaming Blitz for literally everything. As a wanna be creative, I would never put one of my creative partners through that. And if I had to voice the proverbial punching bag for as long as he has, I probably would've left the project YEARS ago. Cause it's honestly bullshit. If both characters of blitz and stolas are supposed to be shitty, then why is Stolas' bad behavior not being addressed?! "Oh I never talked down to you!" Bull fucking shit Stolas! Bullshit, nonsense, and shenanigans! All at the same time!

This is not me entirely ripping on Stolas, he has potential. Hell he's the brother of my OC, but goddamn they need to stop treating him with kid gloves and call. Him. OUT! Goddamn fucking dammit, somebody call him out on his bullshit please!

Okay...rants out of the way, theory time.

That being said, I do think someone is gonna call him out on his bullshit. And it's gonna be none other than Octavia. Not on his behavior in regards to blitz (though she did kinda witness her dad's bs at loo-loo land) but in regards to how he treats her. She's going to give him the wake up call (and ass ripping) of a lifetime. And she's going to do it in public, potentially in front of the entire goetia and the seven deadly sins. Unfortunately this is gonna get dark, so if parental alienation is a trigger please don't read further. I'd rather not upset anyone. And please keep in mind this is only a theory, I don't actually know what's gonna happen.

Okay...so...ass ripping of a lifetime, calling him out on how he treats her in front of everyone. We haven't seen her the past few episodes, and we haven't actually seen her interact with Stella or Andrealphus. But if bitter divorce stories are, usually, anything to go by, those two are definitely practicing parental alienation. Maybe she's vented to them about what's going on with her and Stolas, and they see it as an opportunity to shit talk him in front of her. All the while they're actually treating her better, listening to her in hopes to get more information out of her to use against him. They essentially love bomb her and turn her against Stolas, dropping the bomb that Octavia was the result of an arranged marriage and that her parents never loved each other, but Stella "assures" Octavia that she loves her, and loves her FAR more Stolas ever could. Armed with more knowledge from Octavia, Andre and Stella use it against Stolas, and in front of the goetia, the sins, and everyone else, Octavia rips her dad a new one, tells him to fuck off and that he never loved her or her mother, that he only loves Blitz, and tells him she's done trying with him and is going to live with her mother and uncle.

It is going to be harsh.

It is going to be painful.

But goddamn it needs to be done. If Blitz is getting shit on for literally everything wrong in his relationship with Stolas, it's ONLY fair that Stolas takes the shit for his relationship with Octavia. Because at the end of the day, at least that's true and there's no gray area there. He's the adult, she's the child, it's up to him to actually try and have a relationship with her. And unfortunately it's going to start with a proverbial slap in the face, as it should. If blitz needs to learn to be a better partner/person, then that's only fair that Stolas needs to learn to be a better dad/partner/person.

Once again if Vivienne could stop babying stolas, and stop shitting on blitz for more than two seconds, we could actually get that ball rolling....

Again, this is not me really hating on Stolas. I like the owl boy, but the way he's being babied isn't right or fair to anyone else. It's bullshit and honestly, right now in my opinion, bad writing.

[bleachbleachbleach]

Hello, it's me again! I'm the one who sent you question about 'which captain are married'. Your answer was really genius, I read it thoroughly though it's just your headcanon 😂 Just adding some information, believe it or not in this damn Bleach Jet interview there's also one question frankly asking 'Do you have any details about Shinigami's income? Like their monthly salary, allowances, etc'. (Which I thought this as a very hilarious question because 'WHY SO RANDOM??' 😂). Then you know, Kubo gave a very detail information, including the nominals of the salary and how each captain had their own mansion as an allowance. Just like a normal company. I'm pretty sure they also manage anything regarding bereave or insurance lol. I'm just curious which Squad is responsible for accounting and finance. Or they probably have their own financial divisions outside of Gotei 13? Well never thought about it before 😂

THE SALARY THING IS ONE OF OUR FAVORITE PARATEXTS LOL. Who would want that information, you ask? The target audience is VERY much us. I legit think it's one of the first things I looked up when we were first returning to Bleach. Bleach fills the workplace drama space on my dance card; of course I wanna know what the payscale is!

Each division is probably responsible for tracking its own finances and submitting them to Central 46 as the Soul Society equivalent of the IRS (Internal Revenue Service, for non-USians). Yumichika, for example, definitely does the books for 11th. No one else in that division has even ever seen such a book. 

What I wanna know is how the budget proposal process works. Prior to the start of each fiscal term, does each Division submit their past and proposed budgets? Do they go straight to the 46 for closed-door deliberations/rulings, or does a version also need to be reviewed and passed at a captain's meeting before heading up to 46? I ask this because I think it would be absolutely torturous for them to sit through such a meeting, which naturally means I want them to have to.

I don't know what the citation is for this, but the Bleach Wiki mentions that captain's meeting decisions are made unanimously. I feel like that can't possibly be true, unless a unilateral "well, Yamamoto said so" counts as "unanimous" (though the AU where the Gotei is committed to an anarchist governance style is also appealing to me, LOL). But imagine a captain's meeting where they had 13 budgets to review and pass: There's a Q&A period. Each captain has a time-limited amount of time to suggest friendly or unfriendly amendments and/or to plead their case about whether the budget should pass or fail. You can yield time to other captains, or move to extend time (though this then also has to be voted on by all the captains in attendance). Speaking from personal experience, this process can take literal days. Just imagine. IT'S HORRIBLE I LOVE IT. 

Other things I wonder (under the cut):

-- What factors determine what the Gotei's overall operating budget is? Are they fully funded by the noble houses? Do they accrue wealth by any other means? How does the Soul Society macroeconomy even work. 

– What’s the deal with this mansion that each captain gets? Where are these mansions located? Is it like the White House, and there’s a bunch of historical rooms with names like The Sakura Sitting Room? Is there a hallway with portraits of all the past captains that you have to walk past every morning on your way out the door? Even better, what if they don’t each get a whole mansion, but only a wing of a mansion? Then they all have to live together, Big Brother style. Central 46 is always watching.

-- Does the Gotei have an endowment? Have they invested in the Tokyo Stock Exchange? What about the Rukongai Rice Futures Market?

-- Are there ever special funds/one-time line items that need to be voted on? Was post-TYBW reconstruction back-burnered until the next fiscal year because they Had to Do the Budget First because their extant emergency response funds got exhausted after the FIRST invasion?

-- Are the Divisions automatically funded equally, or if they write a really good budget proposal can they be awarded more money? Is the only way to get more money to officially declare and register a specialty with the Central 46 Office of Division Specialties, like the 9th and Seireitei Communications, and the 12th's lab budgets? Outside of the regular budget allocation periods, are there earmarked funds/grants to which divisions can apply separately? Are you only allowed to take state money, or can you apply for grant-type arrangements with noble houses or non-Gotei entities? What about gift funds? 

-- Why are damages from the captain's personal salary and not the division budget? Did someone just tell Komamura and Hitsugaya this, but it's not actually true and they're the only ones who think this? Or does this suggest that the budgeting within the Gotei actually has no procedure and nothing is actually funded at all, because none of the founding members considered that a military organization represents an operational scale that does not actually translate 1:1 with an individual's personal finances??

-- Regarding individual salaries: Do people get annual raises even if their position stays the same? Like, if you're an unseated shinigami for 500 years are you paid the same on Day 1 as on Day 182,625?

-- How do people pick up their salaries? Is there a physical paycheck? Cash monies? Credits? Is the currency the same in the Seireitei as in Rukongai (is it used EVERYWHERE in Rukongai, by every one)? Rukia using credits on her phone from Living World-side bounties, so some portion of their commerce is digital… but is that only in Living World lol.

[capricioussun]

Happy new years!!

What are the mafialovefell siblings personalities? Are they any different than mafiafell’s?

Happy New Year!! 🎊

And they are! They're quite different, or well, sort of haha, they definitely still draw from the same pool, but they also take a pretty significant cue from the Lovefell brothers, which tempers them in a very interesting way.

I think one of the biggest things that separates them, and part of why their personalities are so different (while still having some level of sameness) is that Boss and Snare really kind of had a choice, after Gaster disappeared, to continue on in this life or break away and bury their pasts.

Since MLF still takes place underground, they never really had any such option. It was why they climbed the ladder, similarly to the classic UF brothers both joining the guard despite not wanting to. Things are even more cutthroat in MLF than UF, so the options are to be the ant or the boot really, and they chose the boot.

There's also the "soul alterations" that factor in from the "condition" that separates LF from UF. Summed up as succinctly as I can, it makes monsters a lot more reliant on...I guess emotional connection.

You know how it's stated in UT that monsters are more fragile than humans and can like. Literally just Die from Losing Hope (Falling Down)? Well, I've always interpreted that as also meaning that monsters are generally more dependent on connection just in general. What the Royal Scientist did in an attempt to help bolster them only really exacerbated this aspect, made them dependent on acceptance/love/being needed etc etc.

So you can imagine how tricky that makes things. Living conditions aren't the best and as their situation gets worse, monsters only get more and more desperate, and acting out of desperation is one of the fastest ways to entirely muck everything up.

So with the world being so much more...self contained, with the stakes being so much higher, and the brothers doing what they need to to keep their heads above water, it's shaped them in significantly different ways than the MF brothers. Also, in smaller part, due to the fact that the MF brothers were raised with silver spoons, while the MLF brothers had to claw their way from the ground up.

All that being said! As for their them, and how they are-

Hemlocke may come across surprisingly similar to Red, if he put more effort in to cleaning himself up a little. He’s both a dismissive asshole yet simultaneously charismatic, with a heavy dash of Snare's sharkishness. Doesn't cracks jokes as often as Red, and usually when he does they're pretty dark. Not a lot of whimsy, this one.

He is extremely protective of himself and his brother, and he will put that above anything, and anyone, else. Not as apathetic as Red but certainly doesn't have the control issues that Snare does, that's where his Cire influence takes the strongest hold. He’s kind of just accepted this as life forever, but that doesn't mean he’s ready to throw in the towel just yet.

As for Rosewood, he’s a bit of a wild card. Sometimes he comes across quite salacious, confident, honestly fairly intimidating. Other times, he gets incredibly easily flustered or acts, frankly, quite silly. He’s truly somehow like a complete blend of both Lace and Boss, resulting in a guy who is both somehow incredibly sharp and capable yet ridiculous and really very lonely.

His Papyrus-iness is much closer to the surface, like Lace, which results in him creating and sort of...funhouse mirror illusion around himself in an effort to obfuscate both his kindness and his ruthlessness. After all, he's fully aware of their circumstances, just like Hemlocke, but because of the condition, he needs to strike a balance between still being able to form relationships with other yet leaving no room for exposed weakness.

It's a much more difficult balancing act for him than his brother, since Locke is naturally more...hedonistic, I guess I'll say. He doesn't need the intimate connections the way Rose does, but, they work together to figure it out.

They're actually much more open with each other than a lot of my other Bro Sets, and it's predominantly because Locke realized very early on trying to protect Papyrus but hiding things would've been a one way ticket to creating distance between them and pushing him to look for emotional fulfillment from others without a safety net or grounded awareness of how to be careful.

And the more trust Locke showed in him, the more he emphasized that they were a team, the easier it was for Rose to...well, not resort to hiding things from him, either. As much as Locke sometimes hates having to go to Rose with personal problems, he still does it because he knows how important it is for their balance. Not that they tell each other everything, mind you, but they have a much healthier mindset about it, and so the space comes from trust and not distance, which makes a pretty significant difference.

Ultimately, they're pretty scary and intense, but there's definitely more noticeable of a connection to their original selves than MF

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Gregory Bridgerton is, with all Possible Affection, the Dumbest Bridgerton Sibling

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a hot romantic regency male lead must be in want of a more intelligent heroine. But even given that, Gregory flippin' Bridgerton strains credibility about how obtuse he is throughout this book. Anthony might have been lying to himself and deeply traumatized, Benedict might have been a chauvinist dickhead, and Colin might have been a golden retriever, but none of them were so vacuously vague as Gregory managed to be. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy this book; there were chunks of it I found thoroughly amusing. So let's talk On the Way to the Wedding.

I guess we might as well start with Gregory, because holy cow there was no critical thought in this man's head. He literally did not hear a thing Lucy said to him the night before her wedding to Haselby, because AS COLIN POINTED OUT while he and Gregory were *checks notes* SITTING IN A TREE SPYING ON LUCY'S HOUSE, she did not actually ever at any point say that she wasn't going to marry Haselby, she just made bland statements and let Gregory hear what he wanted to. Like, Greg. Sweetie, honey, friend, she did not explicitly say she was calling off the wedding, and you KNOW she would have if she really intended to. You were thinking with the wrong head, my dude, and frankly it's on your own dang head for being so shocked the next morning.

But on top of having cloth ears when it comes to hearing "no," Gregory managed to talk himself into being in love with Hermione and out of being in live with Lucy. And this is AFTER separate sit downs with Anthony, Kate, and Violet that collectively tell the reader (and should have told Gregory, except he has cotton wool instead of a brain inside his skull) that Gregory has exactly zero connection with reality, no drive or ambition, and has had so much handed to him in life that he won't extend effort to get something that isn't handed to him. Quite literally, my reaction was, "Aww, Lucy gets the second-worst brother. She and Sophie should get together and start a support group." So Gregory and Benedict are super not my favorite Bridgerton Brothers.

One thing about Gregory that was well set up and paid off and used fairly humorously throughout though, is his complete inability to hit anything he aims at with a firearm. I was impressed that he was not toxically masculine about that, and the fact that he nonfatally shot Uncle Richard at the end was well executed, and Lucy telling her Uncle that he is lucky Gregory can't aim for shit actually got a laugh from me. It was very good. AND it established that all four Bridgerton girls can shoot as well, so at some point I want a pall mall game settled via target shooting. My bet is that Eloise thinks she's the best shot, Francesca actually is, Hyacinth does trick shots just to piss off Eloise, and Daphne is scarily efficient as a markswoman.

However, what really kept this book interesting were Lucy and the CW drama-esque plot, because I did not see "oopsie poopsie, did a treason, and now my neice has to marry my blackmailer's gay son" coming in the Bridgertonverse, but here we are, I guess.

Lucy falls into line with Penelope and Sophie in terms of women who are head and shoulders more competent than the Bridgerton man they married, although admittedly Lucy has less personality than either Penelope or Sophie. Lucy is a people manager and pleaser, and she is extremely organized. She also has some excellent one-liners and is more than smart enough to wrap Gregory around her little finger when she needs to.

Unfortunately, she couldn't talk Gregory's stubborn streak out of tying her to a water closet (seriously, what is this, a regency Criminal Minds episode???), which is how we get the big reveal that it's her Uncle, not her father, who committed treason. It's also how we somehow end up with Uncle Richard holding a gun to Sophie in a random bedroom before her marriage to Haselby was consummated, which... Richard. Honey. What was the plan here??? You needed that girl legally and permanently married before Davenport gave up the blackmail. Why are you holding a gun on her right now??? What the hell was the way out of this room of you hadn't been interrupted by the husband squad and their two guns? Weird time for a power trip, is all I can say. You might as well have gotten caught monologuing for all the sense this scene setup made.

And Gregory once again proves that he is a COMPLETE IMBECILE because if you spend an entire book announcing repeatedly that you can't hit the broad side of a barn, why on God's little green earth do you take the shot at a man holding a gun to your love's head? You're as likely to hit her as him! He got lucky because plot armor, but he wasn't the only man in the room with a gun, Lucy's very angry brother ALSO had one, and he was almost certainly a better shot than Gregory. Nobody is exercising critical thought in this scene, is all I'm saying.

Now, for all my criticisms, if you suspend your disbelief, this whole scene is VERY fun, and in principle I quite enjoyed it. Sometimes you have to meet a book where it's at, and in this case it was at CW-esque dramatic farce. So this book was very fun for what it was.

OOH and before I wrap.up and forget: Hyacinth gets to be totally furious in this book, and holy cow I wish we got Hyacinth in a decade st some point, because she would have been show Lady Danbury's equal but more spitfire, and I love that so much for all of us.

This is definitely the last Bridgerton book I'm reading because I have no desire to deal with Daphne or Eloise's books. That said though, the books I have read I was largely either pleasantly surprised by or thoroughly entertained, and really you can't ask more of these books than that. Book Benedict still sucks though.

[coveredinsun]

hooooly shit this got WAY LONGER than i expected. but let me just say i think its interesting how shiv said that logan might’ve lived to “rock his grandkids to sleep” as if logan doesn’t already have grandkids.

obviously shiv was focused on herself and her own baby, but the phrasing of it struck me a certain way in such a big moment of vulnerability. because sarah snook said on a podcast that one of shiv’s flaws is that she has too much hope, and we can see this in shiv’s fantasy of her father– her father, logan roy�� being a loving, affectionate grandfather to her children when he barely has a relationship with sophie and iverson (and literally hit iverson in season 1).

there are a million and one things to say about children in this show, obviously, which i can’t hope to even cover a fraction of. i guess for this i’ll emphasize the concept of children as an extension of their parents. this idea is central to the series, and foundational to all of the roys’ perceptions of a “family” as a whole. logan’s reason to have children was always, deep down, transactional; it was always to forward the company, to have someone he could trust at the helm of the ship when he goes. of course, for someone as brutally egotistical as him who’d prefer to rule himself for all eternity if he could, that ideally meant someone just like him. this isn’t anything new whatsoever; in fact this is literally what’s revealed the very first episode when logan tears kendall down from his pedestal because he’s not a “killer” like him. all he ever wanted was for one of his kids to be a true extension of him; a “killer.” however i do think it’s really important to keep logan’s view of children in the back of your mind, because it’s obviously the foundation for shiv’s view of her own child.

that being said, considering how all of shiv’s words were tainted with grief, shiv wasn’t thinking nor speaking about the transactional value of her child. the future of her child perhaps running the company after her simply wasn’t in her mind so soon after such an immense loss. instead, with concern to this idea of children as extensions of their parent, shiv’s fantasy of loving grandfather logan roy was naught but a hopeful fantasy of him providing HER love, but that desire was projected onto her child not just because logan is now dead, but also because shiv is an adult who “grew out” of receiving that kind of love years ago.

as the youngest child shiv has witnessed both rewards for logan-like behavior and punishment for deviant behavior, and internalizing it has made her insanely emotionally distant and detached. her aversion to vulnerability is overcompensation as a result of that upbringing (as well as typical misogyny). her ruthlessness and insensitivity in conversation is a way that she’s like logan; she has the “killer” drive that none of her siblings do– or, regardless of whether she actually does, she thinks she does. shiv gets a kick out of poking the blackest part of the bruise, so to speak (think her repeated mention of how roman can’t fuck), because it’s her way of affirming herself that she’s like her father, and therefore has value as a person, businesswoman, and daughter.

take into account this conviction of superiority above her brothers for being more like her father (and it should be, because it’s fundamental to her character and informs many of her decisions), and combine it with the aforementioned ideas toward the beginning of this rant, one could infer an unspoken– and frankly unnoticed–subconscious idea of hers: that shiv’s child, an extension of her, the best and most valuable of the siblings, would be treated well by logan. better than his other grandchildren, probably, because those were kendall’s children, and kendall’s not like logan (so why would logan bother?). like i said, though, this idea is a projection of the love shiv desires and believes she’s “earned.” it’s a real fucked up amalgamation of self-importance and deep-seated perceptions of competition amongst her brothers, but tainted with desire for affection she never got, and tainted with the false idea that this affection was taken from her by the external force of death, rather than by logan himself. ough

[thatswhatsushesaid]

hard/soft head canons for jgy pls (or if u have one for jgy already in ur inbox, gimme ur hcs about sms!)

I do not have one for jgy yet!! but bless u because I love talking about him for literally any reason

I have a few hard headcanons for jgy! which, to be clear, is not the same as saying that this is what I believe the canon itself indisputably says; it is just that this is the interpretation of the text that I find most supportable and enjoyable, and which I like to work with in fic and RP. anyway, I'll list them out and try to be succinct:

I don't think jgy killed jrs, for all the reasons that I've written about already, as well as for the many reasons outlined in other people's thoughtful meta. I think he thought about it and contemplated how he might do it even before the assassination attempt, but I don't think he did it.

jgy didn't hate mo xuanyu and wasn't afraid of jgs replacing him with mxy specifically. he is also not the source of the rumours regarding mo xuanyu sexually harassing him, because no matter which way you dice it, it straight up does not make sense for a man who carefully calculates his risks before he takes them to intentionally spread a rumour implicating him in an incestuous entanglement with his half-brother while he is literally married to his own half-sister. so when I write jgy, I tend to write him as having fond and affectionate feelings for mxy initially (which I believe is supported by the text, given how mxy worshipped him), that quickly become uncomfortable, and ultimately result in him wanting mxy to be as far away from him as possible.

connected to the above, jgy is never intentionally impolite or unkind to mxy, even when arranging to have him removed from jinlintai.

jgy's feelings for lxc are deep and genuine and rooted in mutual respect and understanding! I think this much is pretty much indisputably canon whether you decide to interpret the relationship romantically or not. but this is a headcanon meme, and my headcanon is absolutely that they have intense romantic feelings for each other, and that they definitely do want to fuck about it. more often than not my headcanon is that they don't have a sexual relationship in the novel for many reasons (most of which are tied to the tenuousness of jgy's position and the care he takes with his reputation). in cql, jgy's position is still similarly tenuous and he works hard to preserve his reputation, but good fucking god, the chemistry between lhk and zzj when they're on-screen together is off the charts. like I have a harder time coming up with justifications for why they haven't fucked. because damn, lads, really? right in front of chifeng-zun's salad? anyway--

jgy isn't a sadist and doesn't enjoy causing pain (have I written about this recently, I for sure think I have written about this recently), and I wish I saw less of this in the search results when I go hunting for xiyao fic on AO3. that said I do think that he enjoys having the power to either cause pain to those who have wronged him, or withhold it as a gesture of mercy, or to intercede to protect someone he cares about from experiencing pain.

man I definitely have more hard headcanons for jgy but at this point I feel like I'm veering into arguing for what I believe is canon vs what is just my personal preference when interpreting the character. ok soft headcanons, aka stuff I still feel pretty strongly about and feel is supported by the text, but won't necessarily throw me out of enjoying a fic or w/e if I encounter a story that approaches things differently:

I don't think jgy hated nmj at the time of his death and believe his tears while witnessing nmj's qi deviation were a genuine expression of both horror and grief, but I do think he hated nmj, in the moment, when nmj punted him down the steps of jinlintai and denigrated him and his mother publicly in front of his entire sect. and frankly, I think just about anyone else would too.

related to the above, I don't think jgy expected nmj's death to be as horrific as it was, and I think nhs being wounded by nmj in the process remains a real regret that follows him for the rest of his life.

tangentially related (again!): let jgy be a sugar daddy please, let this man spoil rotten the people in his life that he loves and cares for! give me modern AUs where jgy slowly woos lxc through the power of transforming him into a clotheshorse, but a clotheshorse only for the high quality clothes that jgy gifts to him. let jgy win him over with very soft cashmere and silk and cufflinks and antique musical scores that his newly acquired and hard won wealth has allowed him to enjoy. let lxc be super hot for it.

my read on jgy in bed is that, when he feels secure enough to explore sexual intimacy, he is an extremely generous lover who derives half of his pleasure from ensuring that his partner (who, lbr, is going to be lxc 9/10 for me) has all of their needs met before he contemplates his own.

okay I must stop!! or I never will!!!

[harrykim]

Books read this week

I've been reading a lot so I felt like doing a small breakdown for the books I've read in the past week:

Don't Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban: F/F victorian romance, sweet but nothing special. Chapters flip between the two girls, Beth and Gwen; Gwen is the far more interesting one but Beth is likeable enough (just not that interesting); Beth's mother and Gwen's father are also more interesting — they were previously interested in each other, back before they both married, though they're now both widowed. Beth and her mother are on a time limit to have Beth married as they're losing their home to Beth's uncle and don't have much wealth. Gwen on the other hand has pretty much no interest in marriage. Predictably the girls fall for each other. Doesn't get that deep on social commentary but it isn't devoid of it either. As said, it's sweet, and the epilogue even sets up the M/M romance sequel, which I probably won't read but who knows. 3/5.

Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis; loved it. Scifi about a fancy spaceship hotel called the Abeona, though by the time of the story it's seen better days. If you're here for fast paced, action focused plot you should skip this one, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to say. Takes place over a pretty short but unspecified period of time. The chapters are each focused on a character, either a staff member or guest of the hotel, as the storyline happens usually in the background. Each chapter typically goes through a small period of time on the ships journey and flashbacks to their lives. Each chapter is interspersed with 'Lamplighter Dispatches'; the Lamplighter is an anonymous figure sending out criticism and even secrets of the Empire, including the secret to the Emperors 500 year lifespan; both the anti imperial movement and the government have tracked the Lamplighter to the Abeona. The Abeona is a ship that typically the not truly wealthy, but those who wish to seem so patronise, a false luxury seen in the wear on the ship from it's heyday decades ago, and the staff are often people who have left their old lives behind; their flashbacks typically show issues within the Empire, justifying why they end up where they have. The time passage does jump around a little though I didn't find it remotely confusing frankly, it was easy to follow and very clear when things took place in a sequential order from a previous chapter; though this could've been strengthened as the chapters of part 3 do make it feel like the passage of time is something to keep an eye on, whereas previous do not. So again, personally loved it but obviously it won't be for everyone. Could do with a better title, also I don't think the goodreads summary is that good, but it's not a big deal to me. 5/5.

Accidentally in Love with my Best Friend's Brother by Abby Greyson: Romance. In name only because it's fucking terrible don't waste your time even if you like the tropes, those being; fake dating, best friends brother (duh), bullshit nothing rivalry, uh football?, rip off gossip girl with an 'everyone in the whole town ships it but they're oblivious'. I don't understand that last one at all, she's a fucking primary school teacher why would anyone give a fuck about her. None of the characters exist outside the romance in any way. Now this is typical of many romances but it was particularly bad here because it tried to pretend any of them had lives. Their character traits were Smart and Orphan for her and Football for him. Not even going to dignify them with their names. They also just develop whole complexes that never before and never truly will affect their character or personality in any way. Horrific and overly repeated jokes, like I'm talking 5 times a chapter, and the chapters are SHORT. The book literally ends with an 'and everyone clapped' part. Well, before the married with 2 kids epilogue. The writing is also just not good lol. Minus one million/5.

Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie by Jackie Lau: Cute, sweet. Fake dating that doesn't feel drawn out and fanfictiony. Emily is great, and her relationship with Mark is nice; he could be more developed but honestly the best part of the book is Emily's relationship to her mother, who's been trying to set her up with Mark for years; this is why the fake dating happens. Emily feels guilt over not living up to her parents expectations, while also feeling disrespected as an adult, being a published author who also works as a barista and tutor to pay the bills, and lives with a roommate, all at 33. Meanwhile her 4 sisters are all married and have more 'respectable' and stable professions, and children too. The writing does feel a bit... it falls into making Emily a bit too 'relatable' with how often she gets mad at bait twitter articles about millennials being entitled or whatever, which is fine a few times but would feel more justified if it leaned into the authors needing a social media presence to sell their books, but Emily only really occasionally takes photos of her food to post and that's about it, which is fine on it's own but I do think it could've made the aforementioned social media reflections work better. 4/5.

[the1975attheirverybest]

do you have any tips on how to be less parasocial? I hate feeling so emotionally attached to celebrities, but my brain won't stop doing it

oh, I might be the absolute worst person to ask about this because, a long time ago, I decided that being parasocial is not a bad thing. indeed, 90% of the time its a good thing. YEAH I SAID IT. COME FOR ME I DARE YA.

Like, im sorry but since when has caring for and loving something or someone been a bad thing????? This is why I dont get bothered by the hate anons who are like "you dont know Matty Healy grow the fuck up" like im sorry if you are so limited in your emotional and cognitive capacity that you cannot fathom an understanding of somebody, however partial, or incomplete in your brain. I genuinely feel sorry for those people. But thankfully, im human enough to use my brain and my emotions. and I like to think that we *do* know Matty. maybe not on a personal everyday basis. like maybe we don't know his favorite pizza place in london or the wacky story behind how he ended up with an ex-gf's brother's t shirt or whatever. But we KNOW his heart. we know what type of guy he is. we know what he believes about being in the world. whats important to him. what he wants to do with his life. what he thinks about important topics.

AND FUCKIN HELL MAN! Like isnt that the fuckin reason art exists??? like isnt that LITERALLY how it work. the artist puts their feelings and thoughts and world view into their art, shares it, and then the consumer goes "wow me too! i didnt know other people felt this way about this." or "wow this has made me experience someone else's pov. i never would have thought about it in this way but thanks to this novel or song or film or whatever now im thinking about it."

and how can you not be emotionally invested in something or someone that makes you feel less alone, that challenges you to think differently, comforts you, or teaches you, or inspires you to be a better person???? the fuck is wrong with people, man????

I think the only time that being parasocial can be bad or dangerous is when it leads to people disrespecting the celeb or whatever. like stalking Matty's house? yeah dont do that. sure he feels like your best friend, but frankly, even if it were my best friend, if someone shows up at my house without invitation id be mad. feeling entitled to his time or his energy just cuz hes performing or in public? yeah thats bad dont do that. feeling like you can ask him about taylor's private jet (this was back in may) bad, dont do that. like stuff like that! you know what I mean? like dont be a fuckin asshole. other than that BE MORE PARASOCIAL WHO CARES I THINK ITS A GOOD THINK! It shows how capable we are of connecting despite our differences and our capacity for love and understanding that we can bond even if we never met. thats literally the best. fuck haters. be weird man.