#i changed some phrasing because there were things that bothered me about the original

[croquis-el]

Differences in localization and the original pt.2

I noticed that you liked this topic, so I continue (I am very pleased to read your comments and tags)

Disclaimer (just in case): these posts will be written solely for the purpose of familiarization; I do not force anyone to play the game in Japanese, because you are free to choose the version of the game that is comfortable for you.

Today's post will be entirely dedicated to one case that made Hodo cringe as much as possible - Turnabout Big Top

Here, for some reason, they decided to get this for that (in every second phrase). Brace yourself, we are starting.

___________________________________________

Maximillion Galactica

No, his name is fine (it was kept from the original), but his exclamations were replaced with synonyms (why bother?)

In the Japanese version, for Max, everything is "gorgeous", and all good people are "honey"

ゴージャス! まさに、そのとおり!

Gōjasu! Masani, sono tōri!

Gorgeous! That's exactly what it sounds like!

フッフッフッ････。 よろしくたのむよ、ハニイ。

fuffuffu~tsu. Yoroshiku tanomu yo, hanii.

Hehehe... Nice to meet you, honey.

(ハニイ････って、 ぼくのことか?)

(hanii tte, boku no koto ka? )

(Honey... are you talking about me?)

In the localization: everything is "fabulous" and "sweetie"

Copy the homework, but not word for word, okay? So we have one text for both of us!

___________________________________________

Naruhodo's Hairstyle

We will all agree that Hodo's haircut is very expressive and memorable (thanks to his ancestors - Ryunosuke - for his unruly hair). Which creates a flight of fancy for the nicknames that Hodo is given.

In the original, Max (like many others) calls Naruhodo "hedgehog"

さあ、ハニイ。そんな ハリネズミはほっといて。

sā, hanii. Son'na harinezumi wa hottoi te.

Come on, honey. Leave the hedgehog alone.

In the localization, Hodo, for some reason, becomes "porcupine."

Was it worth the effort? Okay.

___________________________________________

Max's Psycho-Locks

After the appearance of the psycho-locks (and in the original they are exactly psycho, with an "o"), Naruhodo calmly repeats Max's favorite exclamation and is annoyed by the magician's deception.

ゴージャス! もちろんだよ!

gōjasu! Mochironda yo!

Gorgeous! Of course!

(ゴージャス! この手品師、 何かかくしてる、ってワケか!)

(gōjasu! Kono tejinaji, nanika kakushiteru, tte wake ka! )

(Gorgeous! So this magician is hiding something!)

In the localization, for some reason, he is unhappy that he repeated Max's phrase (you were normal with this, aren't you?)

Was there a need to change Hodo's reaction? To make a hole in his character?

___________________________________________

Shaved ice with syrup

In the original, when Mayoi begs Hodo for kakigori (shaved ice), and is unhappy with the lack of syrup on the snow he offers, he will simply think that you can eat ice just like that (without syrup). Literally - eat what they give you and don't complain.

なるほどくん。 かきごおり食べたい。naruhodo-kun. Kakigori tabetai.

Naruhodo-kun. I want to eat shaved ice.

････そのへんに

いくらでもつもってるだろ。

sono hen ni ikurademo tsumotterudaro....

There's loads of them around there.

わーい。････って、 シロップかかってないじゃない!

Wa ī. Tte, shiroppu kakattenai janai!

Yay... Wait, there's no syrup on it!

(かかってりゃ、いいのか････?)

(kakatterya, ī no ka?)

(Bring it on...?)

In the localization, a joke about "yellow" snow appears (you understand, I hope. Unfortunately, I also see this every winter in the city, so I giggled).

___________________________________________

Balloons with advertisements

And the last thing in this post (so that it doesn't get too long).

Commenting on the balloons with advertisements, Mayoi expresses the idea that they are no longer used often because children always try to climb on them.

In the localization, Hodo answers her somewhat vaguely, hinting at some other reason than children. (What exactly?)

In the original, his answer makes much more sense, showing Naruhodo's daily worries

アドバルーンて、あんまり 見かけないね。最近。

adobarūnte, anmari mikakenai ne. Saikin.

I don't see many advertising balloons these days.

子どもがよじ登ったら あぶないからね。

kodomo ga yojinobottara abunaikara ne.

It's dangerous if a child climbs on it.

(真宵ちゃんなら やりかねないな････)(mayoi-chan'nara yari kanenai na)

(Mayoi-chan could do that...)

He allows the idea that Mayoi could also climb on such balloons. He literally sees her as a child, a little sister who needs to be constantly looked after if there are constant dangers around.

___________________________________________

So, in my subjective opinion, 2 meaningless changes; 2 changes that create a hole in the Hodo's character; and 1 more as an understandable and rather dark joke for those who annually see snow lying on the street for more than, at least, a month.

P.S. If you suddenly want to support me, the link is in the profile description.

[mywitchyblog]

"Debunking Misinformation: The Truth About Age Changing in Shifting and Why Your 'Mature Soul' Argument Falls Flat"

Disclaimers : read the post fully you dont understand something ? ask me and i will happily clarify it for you. And debates and arguments are welcome, Fallacies arent.

And also i apologie for the tone that may be rough and/or intense i am trying to change that and perfect it , my apologies.

Alright, it’s time to really break this down and rip apart every flawed, uninformed argument you’ve laid out. You’re out here acting like you’ve got it all figured out, but spoiler alert: you don’t. So buckle in, because we’re going deep into the weeds, and I’m bringing receipts to debunk every one of your points with twice the heat and twice the sources.

"You bring up the fact you fully embody the reality that you go to, but your soul and experiences from here whilst ur there. It’s a mix of both."

Let’s get one thing straight: this idea that shifting is a "mix of both" is flat-out wrong. When you shift, you fully immerse yourself into your Desired Reality (DR) and become that version of yourself completely. There’s no half-and-half bullshit where part of your Original Reality (OR) self is sticking around while you live in your DR. If that were the case, no one would even bother shifting—what would be the point if you’re still dragging your OR baggage with you?

As I’ve said before and as extensively covered in sources like this Tumblr post, when you shift, you adopt the mindset, emotions, and even the memories of your DR self. Your awareness is fully aligned with the reality you’ve shifted into, meaning you think, feel, and live as that person. You don’t just “borrow” the body of your DR self while keeping your OR experiences in the background. It’s not a costume; it’s a complete immersion.

To say that part of your “soul” from OR sticks around? That’s just an uninformed take. Souls in this context are not limited or bound to the rules you’re trying to impose. Consciousness is vast, all-encompassing, and when you’re in your DR, you’re fully there. The idea that there’s some kind of fractured awareness where part of your “mature soul” is lurking in the background? That’s nonsense. As I’ve previously said, your soul adapts to the context of the reality you’re in. You’re not half in, half out. You’re all in.

"Being romantically involved with a minor knowing at least a part of your soul has matured is incredibly disgusting no matter how you phrase it."

Let me stop you right here because you’re trying to apply OR morality and assumptions to something that doesn’t even apply in a DR. You’re not walking around with your adult OR mind when you shift to a younger version of yourself. When you shift down, you fully take on the age you’ve shifted to, and that includes your mental, emotional, and cognitive states. As I’ve discussed before, and backed up by posts like this one, you aren’t keeping any “mature” part of yourself intact while you’re in the DR. You are mentally and emotionally aligned with the age you’ve shifted to, whether that’s 16 or 60. So this whole "part of your soul is still mature" argument? It’s based on a complete misunderstanding of what shifting really entails.

And let’s talk about your use of the word "disgusting." You’re trying to frame consensual experiences in a DR as inherently gross, but that’s just because you’re stuck thinking in OR terms. When someone shifts into a younger version of themselves, they aren’t an adult with a teenager’s body—they’re a teenager again, period. They think like a teenager, feel like a teenager, and experience relationships as a teenager. There’s nothing inherently disgusting about exploring love, relationships, or even sex in a different stage of life—especially when you’re doing it as a fully immersive part of that DR.

If you really want to cling to the argument that having any part of your soul "matured" makes romantic relationships problematic, then by that logic, you’d also have to condemn teenage shifters aging themselves up into adult relationships, because guess what? That’s the exact same thing, just reversed. But no one’s out here screaming about that because it doesn’t fit the "adults are creepy" narrative, right?

"It’s vile to see how many shifters do this and will never get any repercussions to their actions. I’ll die on that hill."

Alright, let’s talk about this hill you’re so eager to die on. The idea that shifters should face “repercussions” for engaging in consensual relationships in their DRs is just ridiculous. Shifting isn’t the same as living in OR, and you can’t impose OR consequences on DR actions. In your DR, you are the age you’ve shifted to, and the dynamics of your relationships match the context of that reality.

Here’s the thing: Intent matters. If someone is shifting to a younger version of themselves to relive missed opportunities, heal from trauma, or just experience youthful love again, there’s nothing inherently vile or wrong about that. As I’ve written extensively before, shifting is a deeply personal and immersive experience, and most shifters are doing it for reasons that have nothing to do with anything harmful. The idea that people should face "repercussions" for their DR relationships just shows you don’t understand how shifting works in the first place.

And let’s get real: If someone truly had vile intentions, they wouldn’t even bother shifting down. A real predator wouldn’t waste time becoming a teenager in their DR. They’d shift into a reality where their disgusting behavior is normalized or even celebrated. They’d create a world where their actions have no consequences. So the fact that you think “repercussions” are necessary shows that you’re missing the bigger picture. As I’ve discussed in depth here, the true issue lies in intent. If someone’s intent is to heal, grow, or explore, then no harm is being done. Full stop.

If your hill is built on assuming that every adult who shifts down is doing something harmful, then you’re standing on a pile of fallacies and fear-mongering. You can die on that hill if you want, but it’s made of weak arguments and ignorance. The majority of shifters aren’t engaging in anything harmful—they’re using shifting as a tool for self-discovery and healing. Don’t throw the entire community under the bus because you’ve failed to understand the complexities of the practice.

Bonus: Let’s Address the “Soul/Consciousness” Argument One More Time

Since you seem stuck on this whole “soul and consciousness” bit, let me break it down again. Souls and consciousness are vast, all-encompassing. When you shift, your soul is fully adapted to that reality. You’re not carrying over some mature OR fragment of yourself that suddenly taints your DR experiences. As explained in this Tumblr post, souls are adaptable and expansive. The idea that part of your soul stays mature while you’re in a younger body is a complete misunderstanding of the nature of consciousness. You’re just not aware of the vastness of your soul because, in that moment, you’re immersed in your DR self. Trying to claim that you have this lingering OR maturity floating around is just plain wrong.

Conclusion

So here’s the bottom line: Your entire argument is built on misunderstandings, double standards, and a fundamental lack of knowledge about how shifting works. You’re out here trying to apply OR morals and logic to something that exists outside of those rules. Shifters fully become the age they shift into—mentally, emotionally, and cognitively. There’s no half-in, half-out soul situation happening. And when shifters engage in relationships in their DR, it’s not “disgusting” or “vile” because they’re living in a completely different reality where their mindset aligns with that age.

You want to die on a hill of fallacies and false assumptions? Fine, but don’t expect everyone else to follow you there. The truth is, the majority of shifters are using this practice for self-exploration, healing, and growth. Intent is everything, and unless someone’s specifically scripting harmful dynamics, there’s nothing wrong with shifting to explore different stages of life.

So maybe it’s time to rethink your stance before you go throwing around accusations and blanket statements about how “vile” shifters are. As I’ve said before, most shifters aren’t doing anything harmful, and they’re not dragging their OR experiences into the DR to manipulate age dynamics. They’re fully embodying the age they’ve shifted into, living that life with the mindset, emotional capacity, and maturity of that version of themselves. Your assumptions about maturity and the soul are based on a limited understanding of what shifting actually entails, and frankly, it’s not helping anyone.

You’re out here dying on a hill made of shaky, fallacious arguments, while the rest of us are living in realities where intent, self-discovery, and healing are the focus. If you want to keep painting shifters as predatory based on a misunderstanding, that’s on you—but maybe take a second to realize that your perspective is rooted in fear, ignorance, and a flawed interpretation of how consciousness and shifting really work.

If you can’t wrap your head around the fact that shifting is a deeply personal, nuanced, and immersive experience where your OR doesn’t come into play the way you think it does, then maybe it’s time to step back and reconsider how much you really know about this community before making sweeping judgments.

P.S. Let me hit you with one more thing:

When it comes to your Original Reality (OR), you’re not walking around in your Desired Reality (DR) with your OR brain tagging along for the ride. Instead, you have extensive knowledge of your OR through the lens of your DR self. Your OR becomes more like a distant memory or background information that your DR self is aware of but isn’t actively living or processing with the same emotional or cognitive weight. So yeah, you’re aware of your OR, but it’s not some dominant force influencing your every thought or action. You’re living fully as your DR self, with only as much knowledge of your OR as your DR self needs to function in that reality.

You’re not straddling two worlds, dragging OR maturity into a DR body—you’re embodying your DR self, period. The knowledge you have of your OR is filtered through your DR self’s perspective, which means it’s not the same as living with your OR mindset in your DR. So again, the whole “part of your soul is still mature” argument? Nonsense. You’re aware of your OR, but you’re not mentally living in it while you’re in your DR.

Hope that clears up whatever lingering confusion you’ve got about how this actually works.

[epivanosilon]

reading demon slayer: chapter 40 panel comparison

hey everyone :) before i do the usual posts for this chapter i wanted to try something a little different. there was one panel in particular that bothered me in chapter 40, and i decided i should write about it to get it off my mind. i don't think i've done an in-depth comparison between the original japanese and official english versions of any demon slayer panels before, so let me know if this is something any of you are interested in!

the panel in question today is of tanjirou's father speaking to tanjirou in his flashback at the beginning of the chapter. below i have the original japanese on the right and the official english translation on the left.

i'll transcribe the text from each for anyone who needs it.

in japanese:

炭治郎この神楽と耳飾りだけは必ず途切れさせず継承していってくれ。約束なん��

in english:

Tanjiro, be sure you have these earrings when it's time to do the kagura! Wear them always so you don't lose them. Promise me!

when i saw these panels side by side, i was baffled at how different they were. right off the bat i noticed that all the main words were present in the english translation, but the details had changed! and that results in a translation that carries completely different meanings from the original. let's go over each speech bubble individually.

for the first bubble, the words "kagura" (神楽) and "earrings" (耳飾り) are both present, but most everything else is not. whoever was translating seems to have parsed the と as when instead of and. to be fair, that's a valid usage for that particle in many cases. however, this is not one of those cases. notice that in the original japanese the phrase is 「この神楽と耳飾りだけ」. literally, just this kagura and [these] earrings. we'll need to go to the next speech bubble to get the rest of the sentence.

the second bubble reads 「途切れさせず継承していってくれ」, literally continue the inheritance of [them] for me without letting [the inheritance] be interrupted. or in more natural english, pass [them] down for me without interruption. together with the first bubble, we get something like without fail, pass down just this kagura and these earrings for me without interruption.

(i believe that the だけ is there to emphasize that tanjirou must focus on the kagura and the earrings above all else. i don't want to present my feelings as fact, though, so i'll keep it translated as just.)

tanjirou's father is not asking tanjirou to wear the earrings at all, and he certainly doesn't tell him to make sure to have them "when it's time to do the kagura". he's asking tanjirou to remember the kagura and keep the earrings so that he can pass them on to his children in the future, and his children to their children, and so on.

the text in the third bubble reinforces this. tanjirou's father says 約束なんだ, literally it's a promise. 約束なんだ is not a request or a command, it is a statement. and i might be biased because i've already read all of demon slayer in english, but to me that line implies that it is tanjirou's father who made the promise, not tanjirou. which, if you're familiar with the later arcs of demon slayer, is exactly what happened.

a more fitting translation for this panel, in my opinion, could have looked like this:

Tanjiro, if nothing else, make sure to pass on this kagura and these earrings for me. I made a promise.

some information is lost, like the 途切れさせず part, but i think the overall message is roughly the same.

i really don't get why the official english translation is the way it is for this panel. it seems...out of character, almost, because there really haven't been such drastic liberties taken up to now. at least, as far as i can remember. a few choices i found strange, for sure, but nothing like this. that's way above my pay grade, though.

and with that, i'm all out of things to say about this panel! if you read to the end, thank you very much, and i hope you enjoyed the post (or at least learned something from it). please look forward to the next posts! 読んでくれてありがとう！次の投稿を楽しみにしてください！

[mysterysneeze]

Annoyances with Snz media

A sneeze doesn't automatically make something likeable, far from it. Here are my personal top five things that annoy me with seeing sneezes in media.

5- One character getting all the attention with sneezes. This is something that has only bothered me with how often I see this happening and there's good reasons why one character gets so much attention. With fanart in the past there was a dragon named Dulcy that got so much attention that other characters were not drawn, but I see the reasons why. Dulcy's design and large size made it easy to visualize possible sneezes happening. Sneezy the Dwarf is iconic for being literally one of the first animated cartoon movie characters sneezing, and his sneezes I'll talk more about later, but I also see why he got a lot of attention. His name is literally about sneezing but he took so much attention away from other possibilities of seeing sneezes from other Disney characters, even when crossovers happened a sneeze usually was given to him instead of other characters because of how easy it was to over rely on giving the dwarf a scene for a new sneeze. It didn't take much thought to give Sneezy a sneeze moment.

I usually enjoy the characters that get sneeze attention, but at the same time I can't help but get curious of seeing other characters around them also sneeze.

4- This one meme specifically drove me nuts, and this isn't the only irritating annoyance I have with sneeze media. Sneezy the Dwarf was everywhere for the longest time as one of the most spammable memes of sneezing. The sneeze of doom sound repeatedly used his sneeze, and the reason this doesn't bother me as much as the other annoyances is Sneezy's sneeze is well known for good reason. His build up, the original animations for the sneeze, there's a lot of great things about Sneezy the Dwarf's sneeze. I just really got annoyed that it was usually the ONLY sneeze sound that people used for sneeze of doom meme.

3. Gross out humor. In the past, this was MY MOST HATED annoyance. I still hate gross out humor, but other things recently have made my blood boil more. Especially for vanilla artists, one big reason why drawing a sneeze is avoided is because of gross out humor. "sneezing is gross. It's wrong to sneeze. I hate seeing a sneeze" I've heard phrases like this because of movies or animation purposely making a sneeze as nasty as possible.

Some people draw very messy sneezes in an amazing way, and over time I've grown to appreciate mess. I prefer sneezes without much mess but I see why other people can love mess.

2. My second most hated annoyance with sneeze media is something small and kinda pointless but it's bothered me and made me waste so much time more than any other annoyance. It's...

"nothing to sneeze at" and other phrases that include the word sneeze.

From the very start of my young self looking at google images for the first time, up until TODAY, I see this annoyance happening. People will include the word sneeze with artwork that has NOTHING to do with sneezing. In written stories, this annoyance is even worse for me personally because I like to read stories with characters I like that I thought would have a sneeze scene happening, only to find that no real sneeze happened. Just the word sneeze...

................................................................Same. My top irritation annoyance with sneeze media is when the SAME EXACT SCENE is seen over, and over, and over again. YOUTUBE is the most common place I see this happening. When I try to look up a sneeze that happened within the last 24 hours, a sneeze meme will appear multiple times. An old show or old animation with a sneeze will somehow make its way into the last 24 hours. The strange baby show animation never goes away. I really, really, REALLY can't stand something that has zero changes. If something is similar, that's fine. I don't mind a good idea or a good sneeze sound being reused in various different ways. What I HATE is when someone tries to gain advantage of repeatedly using the exact same details in art, or with writing words, or with trying to get money by doing NOTHING new. Ok...rant over.

Thank you for letting me vent. Youtube really bugged me today with seeing the same kind of search I tried to do yesterday and it led me to thinking of what else bugs me about sneeze media and sneeze stuff online.

[radkindoffeminist]

Hey there, thank you so much for your post documenting all the phrases/slogans TRAs stole from other movements! Even when I wasn't gender critical yet, I noticed they were doing it and something about it really bothered me, so I think noting it down can be a good stepping stone to peaking (aside from being important history-wise!). From an outsider's perspective now, it's really telling how not only are 99% of the slogans TRAs use stolen from other movements, but also and especially that the only chants they came up with themselves are physically and/or sexually violent threats to women. Hm.

One more thing you can add to the list is them taking the 80's feminist chant "women's rights are human rights" and swapping "women's" for "trans" (which is, in fact, a nice little microcosm of what the movement stands for: sidelining women even while stealing directly from them)!

I have a couple of other things that might be worth adding too, although they're not really set chants like the others and more "copied ideas/responses originally used to argue against homophobic beliefs", so it's up to you if they fit the post's goal:

First is the general argument about "minding your own business; how this affect/hurt you and your rights" which doeeeesn't really work when you're a movement trying to redefine fundamental truths and words that everyone knows and uses their entire lives and constantly police everyone about them.

Second is pointing out the behavior of other animals: originally it was "look at all these species who have homosexual animals/behaviors, how can you say being gay is unnatural or against God's will if animals do it too?" but for TRAs it's "uhhh well fungi have a billion different sexes and clownfish can change sex and caterpillars become butterflies sooooo obviously men can become women" which is arguing a different point entirely: the former was specifically meant to counter a single particular argument from religious homophobes just on a logic/consistency basis ("if God hates gays why some of the animals he made gay?") and was *never* meant to be taken as "animals do it therefore humans should be allowed to do it". But the latter is trying to argue to *everyone* that because certain animals have unique biology which allows them to do things that are physically impossible for humans to do, that somehow means we as completely different animals can and should do said things. Idk if it's just them being lazy copycats and not realizing their arguments make no sense when taken out of the context they were created for, or if they genuinely believe humans can do literally anything so long as evidence of some thing happening exists somewhere, but either way it's dumb lol

Sorry for my rants haha, hope this is helpful!!

I’m fairly sure ‘trans rights are human rights’ is already on the list, but I could be wrong! Definitely one which gets screamed a lot and people just ignore that it’s taken directly from a feminist slogan!

Also think it’s funny that all these different movements have managed to come up with completely different slogans which have minimal crossover (only one I can think of is ‘black is beautiful’ and ‘fat is beautiful’) even if we could take them for our own movements because they’re relevant! Stop Asian Hate could easily be Stop Black Hate or Stop Woman Hate but we respect that that’s their slogan. Walking While Black, which talks about being profiled by the police for being black, could easily be Walking While a Woman to discuss catcalling, but that would be disrespectful to the black community so of course feminists wouldn’t steal that slogan for their own use. Same for so many other slogans: BLM, the future is female, women’s rights are human rights, love is love, etc.

As for your suggestions, I’m not sure how to add them but I agree that they’re fucked. Things like ‘mind your own business’ and ‘how does trans people having rights affect you?’ is completely ignorant to what rights some trans people are trying to fight for! Trying to remove sex-segregated spaces which put women at significantly more risk for rape and abuse and also means that we’re not allowed spaces to discuss female bodies because that’s labelled as transphobic or not inclusive enough; removing all sex-based protections (not even just adding a gender based one but actively removing the sex-based one too) which could further endanger women’s rights as they are no longer classed under sex-based protections so it would not be considered a protected right (think about things like maternity leave - that’s not something women need but rather some people so it’s not discrimination to deny it so long as it’s denied equally across all genders). Like, sure, some rights don’t infringe on women’s tights (eg: anything relating to surgery) but they quickly ignore that women’s rights and trans rights are literally at odds with one another.

Your second example is a really good way of showing how they have no leg to stand on but lean so heavily upon other movements to the point where their arguments are ridiculous. They don’t understand why these arguments are made and what they mean, so they steal a similar argument and then scream at you for finding a flaw in it! Homosexuality is also found on nature as many animals are homosexual so why would God make so many animals exhibit these behaviours if He hated it and only made people have some ‘gay feelings’ to be able to test if they could resist them? If it was just a test because that behaviour was so disgusting, animals wouldn’t be able to conceive of the idea of being gay? Though, personally, I’ve always hated this argument because the other point has a side: animals also eat their young and kill one another so is that behaviour also okay for us since God allows it in animals? It defends the ‘nature’ argument -it happens on nature so how could it be unnatural?- but that’s about it. Anyway, I digress, trans people are trying to do the same by pointing out either odd animals in nature (like that one lioness who obviously had something akin to PCOS which caused her to grow a mane) or animals which are able to change their sex at will and being like ‘well, this happens in nature so what’s wrong with it in humans’ and ignores that some of these animals are actually just intersex or have some other medical condition or they are able to fully and naturally change their entire sex which is vastly different from requiring medications and surgery to make yourself at least appear like the opposite sex despite your actual sex not being able to change. The fact that they don’t seem to understand that is actually baffling.

[monsterkiss]

A Bit of Magic

♡ — Description: the reader has a crush on their favorite character that isn’t reciprocated. The reader goes to a masquerade party where they meet a stranger whom they instantly like and who strongly reminds them of their favorite character…

♡ — Warnings: sexual themes (18+); mutual masturbation with a stranger

♡ — Notes: it might be a bit confusing, but in this story the reader and the characters use fake names at the party: (F/C) - favorite character’s name, (Y/N) - your real name, (F-Y/N) - your fake name, (STR) - stranger’s fake name, (STR2) - another stranger’s fake name (second favorite character).

Gender neutral reader and F/C, romantic.

It was originally written and submitted to a different blog long ago. It's a very old fic and I'm aware that a lot of things are phrased weirdly in there, I didn't change anything and kept it as it is. Uploading this here for sort of archival purposes + maybe someone will enjoy this!

♡ — Word count: ~4550

"Masquerade party! Starts tonight at 9 p.m.! Any outfits are welcome! The crazier, the better! Make sure to wear a mask that covers at least a half of your face and DON'T take it off until the party ends! Make sure to use FAKE names even if you bring someone with you! Why? Because it's fun!!! Surprise the other guests! (You're not obligated to reveal your true identity at all.)

It's completely FREE!"

You hummed as you read the little advertisement you noticed on the street. Actually, it was hard not to notice. It was huge and flashy and it was nearly everywhere. You wondered how many people actually would turn up. Since it was for free and they offered food and drinks (not for free though but you thought it was understandable) you decided there would be a lot of people.

Even if you worried the crowd would be too big, you still were considering going as well. You definitely could pick a cool outfit for this or maybe rent one.

It sounded exciting.

The 'bring someone with you' part stuck in your mind, though. As you kept walking down the street, your mind wandered to that one person you'd have liked to invite, (F/C). You and them were friends, very good friends and you cherished them a lot. You loved spending time with them and all in all they were a great person and your friendship was strong and amazing.

However, there was something else. Something that'd been bothering you for some time. Yes, they were a great friend, but you'd had romantic feelings for them for a while already... and you felt like they weren't and never would be reciprocated. You had many worries. You couldn't help being afraid of rejection and you were afraid to somehow ruin your friendship. Or maybe not ruin but make it awkward. You didn't want (F/C) to feel bad for you or to feel guilty if they didn't feel the same way.

And also... you were afraid they may like someone else even though they were single. But who knew? You weren't a mind reader to know for sure and when you asked (F/C) just laughed it off and joked and avoided answering the question. You couldn't help interpreting it as 'Yes, I do, in fact, like someone a lot but I'm not going to tell you'. If it was true, you respected their wish. But it would make things easier for you if you just knew...

That was why you kept silent and never confessed. It seemed as though the more time you spent with (F/C), the stronger your feelings got and sometimes it was getting so frustrating and you wanted so much to tell (F/C) everything but couldn't.

You were pretty hopeless about your crush and sometimes all this saddened you but you were happy to be (F/C)'s friend nevertheless.

And you were going to invite them to the masquerade party.

"What? You can't?"

"Yeah, sorry!" You heard (F/C) chuckle awkwardly on the other end of the phone. "I have plans for tonight. I'm sure you can invite someone else! Don't get me wrong, I'd love to go with you! But yeah. I'm really sorry!"

You just called (F/C) to tell them about 'one very fun place' where you wanted to invite them to. You didn't even mention it was a masquerade party yet and (F/C) had already declined.

You couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. You were hoping to have a good time with them.

"Hey, you... you aren't upset, are you?" you heard (F/C)'s worried voice.

Apparently you were silent for a bit too long.

"Ah, no, no, it's fine!" You tried to reassure them and even attempted to make your voice sound cheerful and light. "It's no big deal. I'll just invite someone else, I wouldn't want to intrude in your plans!" You briefly wondered what their plans could be. You felt a pang of sadness and jealousy at the thought it could be a date with someone...

"Oh, good." You heard them sigh with relief. "Then I wish you to have a good time!"

"Same to you."

You said goodbyes to each other and then (F/C) hung up. You just stood silently and motionlessly for a few moments, digesting what had just happened. You suddenly didn't feel like going at all.

But you didn't have any other plans for the evening. You had nothing to do and you'd already prepared your outfit. However, you didn't really want to invite anyone else to go with you.

'No', you decided. 'I deserve to go and have fun and unwind for a while. With (F/C) or not I still can go and have a lot of fun by myself! Besides, I may meet someone nice there. There will be a lot of people that will want to talk and spend time with complete strangers and it won't be weird, so why not?'

These thoughts made you feel better and more willing to go again. So you decided to go take a shower before getting ready to go to the party.

"Wow..."

The place was huge! The party had barely started and there already was a crowd but the place was so huge it wasn't a problem! And it was decorated so nicely, so prettily! You stood there, looking around in awe.

And all the outfits! They seemed perfect, absolutely magnificent! And they were so different, some of them pretty modern and others from older fashion styles; you were pretty sure you saw some people dressed as some characters. Of course everyone wore masks, some of them covered only a half of the face, some covered it completely, leaving only eyes visible. And the music was just what you'd expect from this place. It set the atmosphere very well. Some people were already dancing and some were chatting or buying drinks and food and sitting at some tables and seats.

It was majestic. You were glad you decided to come.

For a while you tried to figure your way around until someone approached you.

"Good evening! Enjoying the party?" They smiled in a friendly manner.

"Oh— yes, it seems great! I've just arrived though."

"I figured that out. You looked a little lost so I decided to come to the rescue." They chuckled. "I'm (STR2), by the way."

"Oh, I'm (F-Y/N). Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too. I really like your outfit."

You grinned, delighted to hear the compliment. "Thank you! I like yours as well."

(STR2) invited you to join a little group of people they'd already befriended. All of them were very different and all of them had very different names. Some of them were simpler, some were very unusual. Even though no one could really stop the guests from using their real names, you assumed that the majority still used pseudonyms. You decided it was really more fun this way.

You received a lot of compliments on your outfit and people were very nice to you and it was interesting to talk to them. You were put in a good mood rather quickly; you'd just arrived and already made some friends. Then you danced and ate some food and drank some drinks and laughed and you were able to completely forget about (F/C) for the evening.

At some point, when your company already had expanded and had much more people and all of you were just chatting, (STR2), who disappeared for a while, returned with one more person.

"Hey, everyone, this is (STR)! I met them a while ago and then lost them in the crowd. Where have you been, friend?"

"I guess I just wanted to be alone for a while," (STR) responded with a somewhat shy smile.

For some reason you stared at them. You stood there and kept staring at them. Their outfit was stunning, of course. But it wasn't only that. For some reason you were as though mesmerized, unable to look away. As soon as you saw (STR) they instantly caught your attention, and when they spoke you became captivated.

Apparently (STR) felt that someone was looking at them so intently so they turned and caught your gaze. They smiled warmly at you and your heartbeat increased.

"(STR), let me introduce everyone to you," (STR2) offered.

They named each and every person flawlessly, managing to remember every name without almost any mistakes. When it was your turn all you could do was smile at (STR) and they grinned in response.

Did you imagine it or their eyes lingered on you much longer than on other people? Perhaps you weren't the only one so mesmerized, you thought giddily.

For a while (STR) stood there and chatted with everyone. Every person got interested in them as it was a new member of your group. Everyone wanted to know more. (STR) started telling about themselves and their life, obviously purposely keeping some things vague. You found yourself especially eager to get to know them better and it was you two who chatted the most.

At some point you started noticing some things... In some ways (STR) strongly reminded you of (F/C). Their height, their build, their smile and face features that you could see, their voice... and especially their eyes that were looking at you with such interest.

They were just like (F/C). Maybe that was why you instantly liked them? You felt a little guilty about it. And also a little sad now. You wanted to escape the thoughts of (F/C), not reinforce them. And this person deserved to be accepted the way they were, not because they resembled someone else you knew.

At some point everyone decided to go dance again.

"Are you coming, (F-Y/N)?" someone asked.

You felt a bit too sad now to dance. You smiled nonetheless. "No, I think I'm going to stay here for now."

"Alright." The person turned to (STR). "And how about you?"

"I think I'll also stay. I already danced a bit too much and I don't want to collapse from exhaustion right here on the floor, unless I'm drunk." They laughed.

You wondered to yourself if they stayed because you did.

The person smiled. "Alright. Have fun, lovebirds!"

You blushed a little. Just what on earth did that mean?!

"Wow, lovebirds? Isn't it a little too early in our relationship to call us that? I mean, I should at least take you out on a date!" (STR) joked with a smile. You noticed that their cheeks went a bit redder too. Apparently they were a little embarrassed as well.

You smiled too. "Yeah, well... maybe spending time with me at this party could count as a date?" You weren't going to flirt with someone you just met but somehow you felt that was what was happening.

"Oh, then we should sit at one of those tables and order some fancy food!" (STR) played along.

You found a free table and made your orders and chatted more. The more you talked, the more you learned about each other, somehow managing not to reveal various details crucial to your true identity. You kept things vague. That was what made the whole masquerade thing interesting, but you hoped (STR) would want to remain your friend even after it all ended and you parted. That they would be willing to reveal who they were and just... keep in touch or something. You two seemed to understand each other really well, just perfectly, and had a lot in common.

For example, the whole 'romantic crush on a friend' thing.

"Really?" You gaped.

"Yeah, really, stop sounding so surprised!" they exclaimed with a laugh, slightly embarrassed. "Yes, me too, I too have this problem like you!"

"Sorry, it's just..." You shook your head with an unbelieving smile. "Hard to believe, you know? I mean we... I don't know, we understand each other so well? And everything is going just so well between us and now this thing too."

"Yeah, I know!" (STR) also shook their head. "Weird, huh? But..." They leaned a little forward towards you and spoke in a somewhat lowered voice. "From the beginning there was something that attracted me to you. Maybe I just already sensed how similar we are." Their smile was softer now as well as the way they looked at you. It was... gentle and sad.

You weren't entirely sure how to react

"To be honest, it was the same way to me," you said. You wondered if you reminded them of someone too...

"You know..." you started slowly, looking down, carefully choosing words. You felt a little guilty for imagining (F/C) in place of this person in front of you. You needed to get this out of your system. "I have to confess." You looked up again to study their reaction.

They seemed very calm and as though expectant? "Yeah? Go on."

"Well," you shrugged a little and smiled uncertainly. "It's just... you remind me of that person I'm in love with and... I guess I just feel guilty so I have to tell you."

You weren't sure what kind of a reaction you expected. Either way, (STR) grinned in response. "I totally get it. You also remind me of my person."

Your eyes widened a little in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah!" (STR) nodded eagerly.

"Damn! That's one hell of a coincidence!" You couldn't help it and laughed.

(STR) laughed with you. "I know, right? It's simply unbelievable!"

"We're too similar! How's that possible?!"

"I have no idea!"

It felt like finally you met someone who could get you, who understood your problems and you in general. They reminded you of (F/C) so much you could almost, almost imagine (F/C) on their place...

"I still feel guilty about thinking of someone else when I look at you," you said.

(STR) raised their eyebrows. "Come on, don't! It's fine, after all, I see someone else when I look at you too. And I feel slightly guilty as well," they smiled sadly.

You grinned. "Then we are definitely the same."

"Yeah! And hey, tell me about your person," (STR) said, leaning forward.

You blushed a little. "Oh, them... well..." As you looked at (STR), you imagined (F/C) sitting in front of you with that curious look in their eyes, a gentle smile on their lips. "They are... beautiful... great... wonderful." You sighed with a chuckle. "I know it sounds cliché but they really are. I just wish... I wish they felt the same way I feel about them."

(STR) nodded. "I know. I— well, I know, I feel this way too, about mine."

You exchanged looks that spoke of deep mutual understanding.

"Tell me about it," you asked, touching (STR)'s hand in encouragement.

You kept talking for a long time, telling each other about your feelings and people you were in love with. Both of you remained vague, but you'd learned that (STR)'s beloved one was also attractive, smart, creative, imaginative and simply great.

Both of you were extremely lovesick, it seemed.

"You know," (STR) spoke, your hands still touching. "Looking at you and thinking of my person, I feel like I could... you know... lean closer and kiss you, for example." They smiled shyly.

You smiled in response too. "Really?" They nodded, cheeks pink. You lowered your gaze. "To be honest, I... well, I have the same thoughts. But... it's bad, isn't it?" You looked at your new friend again, suddenly uncertain. "We're trying to replace the people we like with someone who reminds us of them. It's... unfair, to everyone."

"It's not like anyone would know aside from us," (STR) said.

"Yes but I would—"

"No need to feel ashamed or guilty," (STR) interrupted you in a firm voice. "I think we've suffered enough from our unrequited love."

You didn't respond, but to be honest, you couldn't disagree.

"I-I can't b-believe this is happening."

(STR)'s voice was soft but rough, hoarse. They stammered when they spoke, affected strongly by what was happening, but it didn't matter: the sound of their voice was enough to cause a shiver going down your spine. Their voice was sexy when heavy with arousal like that.

You chuckled breathlessly. "Me neiher," you confessed and pressed a gentle kiss to the corner of (STR)'s mouth. They shifted until your lips were touching and kissed you greedily, their tongue slipping inside your mouth. You responded with just as much vigour.

You didn't know how it happened but there you were now. In a quiet corner of the dark hallway where no one went and no one disturbed you, pressed against the wall by (STR). You weren't even sure whose idea it was originally. Maybe it occured to you both at the same time as there was a spark of desire between you two.

For some reason neither of you tried to fight it and went with it instead. You wanted (STR) and (STR) wanted you and if you couldn't be with (F/C), couldn't do with them all the things you were doing now and wished it was them instead of (STR)... You decided you were allowed to enjoy yourself a little. All guilt and shame were gone now, there was only this mutual attraction between you and (STR).

Both still fully clothed, you didn't want to risk getting caught, didn't feel comfortable enough to go further and shed any bits of fabric. You kissed and pressed against each other, (STR) dry humping you against the wall. Their thigh pressed between your legs and you moaned at the sensation.

It was good. Way too good. You felt like you were drunk, except you were completely sober.

It still was so surreal.

(STR)'s hands wandered all over your body, heavy and greedy, wanting everything at once, never satisfied. Just that was enough to make you shiver from all the pleasant sensations it gave you.

And when (STR) shoved their hands under your clothes, you couldn't repress a moan that you let out into the kiss.

This was heavenly. You didn't know why, but it was. Maybe you'd just had a lot of frustration, especially recently, especially when it was about (F/C) and now you could unwind with this stranger, imagining (F/C) on their place. Maybe that was what made it so good.

Your hands touched and groped (STR) as well, eliciting gasps and soft mewls from them. Oh, they were so sensitive. You wondered if (F/C) was so sensitive too.

And then you wondered if (STR) was thinking of their person right now as well. They probably were but it didn't matter. You were making each other feel so good, distracting from all the negativity in your lives, forgetting there was a real world around you at all.

You felt good and that was what mattered.

You groped each other and touched, continuing dry humping, until both of you got their hands on each other's private parts, stroking, groping.

Even though touched on top of the clothes, (STR) moaned, the part of their face you could see all flushed, and hid their face in your neck.

"More..." they begged. "More..."

You bit your lip, focusing on getting them off. They were so close it was hard to move your hands but you tried. When you got them under the fabric and touched (STR) directly, they jolted and moaned again from the mere touch.

They were way too sensitive.

You kept touching them, stroking, squeezing, your hands already all wet from their juices, squelching, creating wet noises in the darkness and silence. Silence that was broken by the sounds of (STR)'s moaning and whimpering, along with heavy breathing.

You decided you liked those sounds. Wanted to hear more.

You went faster and (STR) arched against you.

"Oh god, (F-Y/N)..." A fake name, but still sent a shiver down your spine. You were just as aroused and needy as (STR) but right now it wasn't you being the main focus.

(STR) still fumbled, tried to give you some pleasure, but their attempts were rather idle as they were unable to pay attention to what their hands were doing down there as you were making them feel so amazingly good.

"Ohhh, (F-Y/N), I'm going to—" They never finished their sentence as they shuddered and clung to you tightly, hiding their face on your shoulder. A moan left their lips, a long delicious moan, slightly muffled. You heard (STR) repeat your name several times as they came, your hands never stopping working on them.

Then (STR) went all limp and you stopped, waiting for them to recover.

And when they did, they pulled away a little and grinned at you. "Your turn."

Before you could say anything, (STR) was touching you down there again and all you did was moan. They shoved their hands under your clothes to touch you directly skin to skin and you forgot about anything else.

What they were doing to you was simply wonderful and amazing. They clearly knew what they were doing, touching just the right spots at the right time with the right pressure.

(STR) couldn't see you very well in the dark but they watched your reactions, or rather, they felt them. They felt your heavy breathing, you shudders and when you arched, they felt tension in your body appearing and disappearing. It was their guide as to how to bring you pleasure.

And it definitely worked. Whatever they were doing it felt incredible and you kept making so many noises to the point that (STR) had to cover your mouth with their free hand, surprising you.

"Shh..." They smiled. "We're alone here but we don't want to attract unwanted attention..."

You snorted behind their hand. Then you pushed it aside and before (STR) said anything you were kissing them. They responded readily, shoving their tongue in your mouth while their hand worked on you.

And you were getting closer and closer to your release and pretty fast, too. You knew it would be over soon.

"(F/C)..." you spoke when you pulled away from the kiss, surprising your partner but you didn't care, all you could think of was (F/C) and nobody else. It didn't even matter that you were doing it with a complete stranger. All you could think of was (F/C).

(STR), however, seemed to put even more effort into what they were doing. While you chanted (F/C)'s name over and over, (STR) kissed you hotly, swallowing your words and moans, kissing you with such vigour as though they were trying to devour you.

You had to pull away again, though, and moaned weakly.

"(F/C)!" You came with your unrequited love's name on your lips and (STR) kept pleasuring you until you couldn't take it anymore as it was too much, too overwhelming. When your orgasm subsided you pushed their hand away and they complied with your unspoken request.

They cleaned themselves and helped you clean yourself too. However, there was something strange about the way they behaved, but you couldn't tell what it was.

It seemed (STR) was hesitant about something.

"What? Something wrong?" you asked, suddenly worried.

They shook their head. "No. It's just..." They sighed. "You said the name... their name..."

You blinked. "What?"

"(F/C). That's the name you said."

"Oh..." The realization dawned on you slowly but heavily. "OH! Oh my god, I'm... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—" You weren't even sure what you were apologizing about and why, but it felt wrong to say someone else's name while you were with this person, even if they were aware they reminded you of someone else.

"It's alright," (STR) reassured you. "Really, it is." You relaxed a little.

Still, you didn't mean to reveal (F/C)'s name.

(STR) still seemed to want to say something but was as though indecisive. You waited patiently for them to make up their mind about whatever was the matter.

"You know," they started and smiled, "the name you said... I... I'm wondering if it's a coincidence but I don't think it is..."

That confused you. "What are you talking about?"

(STR) was silent at first. And then— "(Y/N)?" They said your real name, not the fake one you told them, and took off their mask.

You gasped, then froze in shock, staring at them.

It was (F/C). All this time it was (F/C) and you didn't know, didn't even think for a moment it could be them.

When you were able to move again and stop gaping, you silently took off your mask as well.

"(F/C)," you said their name softly and it wasn't a question. Everything was clear as a day now.

Both of you stood there, silent and awkward, sounds of music from the party reaching there, though very muffled. Neither of you knew what to do or say.

"Well," (F/C) shrugged and smiled, "that was unexpected."

"It sure was," you agreed.

"Well, I meant it," (F/C) said. Seeing your confused look, they explained, "The things I said about my... crush. About you. Back there at the party. I meant it."

You tried to remember what they had told you. "Oh, yeah... That you were in love with me for a long time... Wanted to confess but were afraid of rejection... But really you found yourself in too deep, right?"

"Yeah," they exhaled. They looked tense, yet hopeful. "Yeah."

"I meant it too," you admitted as well. "The things I said about you. I meant them."

"So..." (F/C) grinned widely.

Suddenly, you were grinning too, unable to stop. "Yeah?"

Both of you fell silent, grinning happily, beaming at each other stupidly, eyes shining.

"Does it mean we're... together now?" (F/C) asked, careful.

"Well," you shrugged, trying to be casual about it, but being careful as well, "if you'd like."

"I would," (F/C) said readily. "And you?"

"Me too." It wasn't even something you needed time to think about. You'd wanted it for too long to hesitate now.

You two kissed, still grinning at each other, then you started laughing while (F/C) merely smiled and hugged you gently.

Then you remembered something and pulled away.

"Why didn't you go to this party with me?" you asked.

"Oh..." (F/C) frowned and hesitated. "Well, I guess I was kind of... frustrated with our... you know..." They shrugged. "With the way things were. I needed to get away from everything and everyone, even if for one evening. A masquerade party looked like a perfect option."

You chuckled. "I guess it really was perfect then. I mean, both of us got what we wanted, didn't we?"

"Yeah." (F/C) leaned in and kissed you once but couldn't stop and kept covering your face in kisses until you were pushing them away.

You remembered how (STR2) had said the party wasn't just a party, but it was magical. Who knew, maybe there really was a bit of magic involved.

divider credit — cafekitsune; original photo credit — Flaca

[wroteclassicaly]

People can use it for klutz but it came from the term spastic. Spaz and spastic are generally considered a slur for disabled people, originating from people with celebral palsy and then used for autistics and other disabled people to call them stupid, it kinda meant stupid but theyd also use it in medical settings because they thought that was the best way to describe it because they didnt understand what disabled people were at the time and just thought it was low IQ, like they were so dumb they couldnt function properly or were incapable in society/it became interchangeable

It seems to be more normalized in the US but in the uk, retard, spaz and spastic are *extremely* offensive, and in the top worst slurs

Its a hard one when trying to decide when a word is appropriate because different cultures have different connections to certain words but the word did start in the uk and came from an offensive term, and is considered offensive across alot of europe

Probably alot of americans find it offensive too

Depends on your intentions and the meanings behind those words, sure words can change meaning over time but if its still used offensively in society the way that it is i think it needs caution or not used at all

With it still in the offensive category, if i was interacting and posting to people from all over then personally id avoid using it casually but idk thats not for me to say for you, some uk and europe people get it that its just how americans talk and some it still hurts

But for me, being in the uk as a disabled person, it makes my blood run cold (some occasions it doesnt bother me. Its easier when i expect it)

I think it would be best just to put a warning saying "some may find offensive" instead 🤷‍♂️

See, the thing is, I’m also a disabled woman myself. I literally get disability for it, and I don’t take offense to that word. And there’s a lot of offensive things from the UK and Europe that people continue to say, that we don’t say here, that also hurt. It is different cultures. I just think that coming to me with something like this, considering what’s going on, I don’t know, it just seems odd to me.

I literally meant nothing by it. It’s a common phrase where I come from. I’ve seen others say it before, I’ve said it before. I’m sorry if it’s offensive, but something about the way it’s been brought about, it’s just rubbing me the wrong way. It really, really is.

I’m not trying to argue with you, but we both come from different places with different words and phrases. Just remember that. ♥️

You’re valid in how you feel, believe me. But I also am as well!

[doyouhearthefranzising]

thank you. this post really bothers me.

firstly a very basic level: as mentioned above, none of those apparently "🚫" phrases are grammatically in the passive voice. not every english sentence that doesn't have a subject very actively doing something is in passive voice. (and i won't go into how a blanket "passive voice bad" attitude is nonsensical; it exists for a reason as a grammatical structure and makes sense to use in various situations for various reasons)

secondly, naming the state something is in, and describing an event or action (that leads to a changed state) are two very different things. the former may in fact often be followed up by the latter.

now, as a communication strategy one might have in fact - as implied by the original post - have an interest in focusing on one or the other when talking about a certain issue. and you can steer people's perception of an issue in the direction you want by talking about it in one way and not another - that's framing, choosing a particular narrative.

but the quoted tweet draws a false equivalency in the meaning of two phrases about the same issue. i think this is particularly obvious with two of the four examples. the one-sentence "explanations" of especially "corporations price gouged" and "hospitals understaffed their sites" are absolutely not adequate explanations of the statements they're supposed to replace. they absurdly reduce the complexity of the issue at hand.

there are a lot more factors in place when inflation goes up than prize gouging. if only it were that simple. one would be absolutely right in pointing and calling out corporate greed as a significant factor, but "analysis" on that level will not get us very far.

and hospitals being understaffed very very likely also has more factors in play than just someone (and which concrete and accountable actor is "hospitals" supposed to be anyway??) deciding to understaff them. the government may not be allocating enough funds to hospitals. hospitals may be made to function as businesses vs infrastructure. there may be an unexpected influx of patients let's say because of a brand-new respiratory disease that rather suddenly creates a lot more work than there was before. there may not be enough people available to hire with the right qualifications. that can also have an array of reasons: education not accessible for some reason or another. people have quit the profession because of shitty working conditions. more people retiring than young people entering the profession because of demographics. health care professionals don't work in their own country or community because they can get paid more elsewhere. etc etc you get my drift. not saying "hospitals are understaffed" doesn't bring the (potential) multitude reasons for that into the foreground.

so yeah.

tldr: sure, absolutely do think about which point of view you're taking when talking about something, and which aspects of an issue or situation you're putting in focus or glossing over. but "corporations price gouged" is neither on a pragmatic (linguistic) level equivalent to "inflation's gone up", nor is it adequate as a politically motivated alternate framing.

Language matters. Change the narrative.

[hislittleraincloud]

I am original anon that was talking about Wednesday writers being credited on the wack, glorified fanfi-I mean novelization. Thank you for being the rational lord and savior to this fandom because clearly the ones who think them being credited means much more.

And I was gonna add more to my ask basically saying that them being added means fuck all because the author is taking their work and creating it into something that was their own (in a lame ass attempted way), but it was early af that day I sent it so fuck anyone trying to come at you for whatever the hell reasons.

Keep dragging these wenclair/jemma weirdos! 🫡

Jesus surely went to Nevermore at some point, just for kicks. He probably taught Outcast Science, but then failed everyone in the class when they all botched the water-to-wine final.

(BTW, for anyone who gave up on owning Dogma, Smith won the rights back to his own movie recently, so...more Dogma for us coming soon?)

The kids are gonna be kids until they figure out how things work in the real world outside of the Internet and Tumblr.

You were about to write it, so just write it because it's true: Tehlor Kay Mejia's novelization is glorified fan fiction. It's literally glorified by the studio/publisher. I really thought that X-Files novelization I read years back was the worst, but I was mistaken...this shit is the worst. It should say "Wednesday Season 1, Poorly Scrubbed, Censored*, and Butchered for the Sake of Social Justice by TKM".

I'd like to know who even added the credit, because why even bother putting it there and on the other kid's book? It does mean fuck all as to authorship. Seems sus to me.

*Been thinking about this one here. Mejia performed a LOT of sanctimonious censorship on our beloved Wednesday, whether it be changing her lines/actions so that her personality was OOC, or just simply changing words and phrases that Mejia found politically unacceptable (like "slave to technology" and "gypsy moths").

Everyone who has ever stepped onto my blog should know how I feel about censorship. I may rant about RPF and tell you that should shouldn't fucking do it, but you're gonna do it anyway and I'm not going to go on some sort of banning rampage to take it away from you/try to take it away from you. We have (limited) freedom of thought and expression here in the United States, so get your rocks off but feel bad about it 💩. I am anti-censorship. I have been anti-censorship for as long as I can remember, the books in my father's library consisting of a lot of "banned books" (a lot of Henry Miller 💀) that I read through in my youth. I learned about how different people believed different things about the same things early on in life, and that some people — like censors who re-write something with their own political agenda behind their choices, right OR left — are just wet fucking blankets.

I'm no god, but I hope I'm not a wet blanket to anyone who doesn't deserve it.

[thedisappointingpostoffice]

There is a plausible theory that no IKEA employee has ever actually applied for the position. Anybody you see working there was once a customer looking to buy reasonably priced furniture, but they got lost in the store, unable to find an exit. Each night after close, smartly dressed middle managers sweep the aisles for lost, aimless souls. When they find them huddled under a desk display or cocooned in a bed, they tenderly dry their tears. They hand them a "Hej!" t-shirt, and whisper, “Welcome aboard.”

[munsons-maiden]

I actually don’t think Eddie was “truly happy”. I think he was generally pretty ok, was happy within his hobbies specifically, and was as distracted as he could be, but I don’t read him as a very happy person. It doesn’t really have to do with being poor, but I feel he wasn’t happy or satisfied with his circumstances. Mainly still being at home while his friends were halfway done with college. Still living at home while his original group of friends were likely moved away. I think he was secretly bothered by it. He has people around him but none he could turn to in his time of need. I think he was just not experiencing very active, ongoing trauma the way Chrissy, Patrick, max etc were. Like Patrick’s was still dealing with current abuse, Chrissy was actively making herself sick and maybe dealing with emotional abuse(?), max wasn’t over seeing her brother killed in front of her in a horrible way, while also wrestling with the fact that he was abusive towards her. Like maybe if Eddie’s dad was still in his life and being abusive to him, that would make him more susceptible to Vecna. But he was dealing with more “normal” life issues - graduating, planning campaigns, some existential dread about the future maybe, etc. even the people we got glimpses of when Vecna was “searching” through ppl were currently dealing with something. Eddie has past trauma but not something currently happening the way those people did.

I agree with almost everything, you phrased it way better. What I meant was that Eddie wasn't unhappy because he was poor or unpopular or wasn't loved by the chicks, to stick with the things he listed Steve had and Eddie didn't. Eddie didn't want to have rich parents, but of course a financially more stable situation and a "better" home would have been nice. He didn't want to be popular, he just didn't want to be ostracized anymore but accepted. And he didn't want chicks to love him, he wanted a chance to find love. Let me re-phrase it, because you're right: he wasn't unhappy. The general circumstances of his life didn't make him unhappy, but his third attempt at graduation, many of his original friends moving on and being able to leave Hawkins behind, definitely nagged at him, but I think he is one to stick to positive thinking. Focusing on seizing the final change to graduate instead of sulking over the two times he failed.

I disagree with you on the trauma part, though. While you're right, Max, Patrick and Chrissy were dealing with ongoing trauma (Chrissy was verbally abused by her mother, as her first Vecna vision in teh bathroom tells us -> "open the door or I'll gut you like the fat pig you are"), but Fred wasn't. Fred was dealing with the aftermath of a deadly accident he caused, putting him in a similar position as Eddie with his own past parental/domestic abuse that was implied.

My point about this was that in psychology, there are different protective factors which can help reduce the effects of trauma. We see that with Max: she was shutting herself out, cutting off Lucas (her romantic partner) as well as her friends to deal with her trauma on her own, which is unhealthy coping and made her vulnerable to Vecna's attacks, with Vecna being a symbol of mental illness in this context. Which leads me to all of Vecna's other victims: Max locked everyone out, so did Patrick (he lied to Lucas about his bruise, and it gets obvious that Patrick didn't tell anyone about the abuse he suffered which, sadly, is very common), just like Chrissy never told anyone except for Mrs. Kelly. Just like Fred kept a secret what happened last year. All of Vecna's victims show the unhealthy coping strategy of isolating themselves, making themselves vulnerable. Plus, except for Fred, they all dealt with the situation of a parent abusing (or in Max's case neglecting) them, which is another parallel to whatever Eddie went through before he came to live with Wayne.

And Eddie never isolated himself. He was playing in a band, in Hellfire, had a social circle which granted protection. Not neccessarily from Vecna himself, but from the mental illness Vecna symbolizes and uses to his advantage. Because Vecna, in the end, is another abuser, targeting those who are isolated because they are the "weaker" targets. That's what I meant with Eddie being protected from Vecna's influence.

[moonofmercury]

I generally respect you comes up with as meta, and I hope you'll forgive me the rudeness of inserting myself, but it makes me itchy when people are sort of talking past one another perhaps because of tone differences, so perhaps my weighing in may diffuse things somewhat? But also you both bring up some really interesting points. (below the cut because this post is already long without me being nosey)

- Neither @theheirofthesharingan or @please-read-the-manga said the uchiha deserve their fate, and neither are blaming Itachi or saying he's responsible and the original post was not addressed to readers who think so I'm not certain why this comes up at all. It seems like everyone is pretty settled on the side that Itachi acted as best he could at a very young age with limited support, or support that was not ideal and somewhat realistically flawed. Fugaku struggles between acting as a father and a clan head.

Manga is an incredible medium because it's a place where every inch of space (when done well) matters, and the chosen panels in this thread physically show Fugaku's struggle (facial expression which also may be interpreted differently by different people), unable to protect his son, unable to protect his clan. The cruel fact is that there are simply some parents who cannot be good parents while also pursuing the other things they want - in Fugaku's case being a clan head. I will happily bring up Itachi Shinden directly since I bought it and read it and say, while it may be only faintly implied in the manga, the light novel brings up what seems a logical possibility (told from Itachi's point of view and he is not happy about the push-and-pull) that Fugaku was struggling to reign in more aggressive and (presumably) respected/connected members of the clan from attacking the village earlier (the ones who confront Itachi after Shisui's death and Itachi does with Fugaku would take a stronger stand against them).

There's a Watsonian explanation that Fugaku mega failed by just not meeting with the elders, or that Danzo/other elders/Hiruzen pushed that meeting off on purpose, or a combination of both, and there's a Doylist explanation that Kishimoto just needed the massacre to happen so he made sure the meeting never happened (although I personally think it would have been more interesting if communication just broke down, I am not the writer.

I also don't think it's a simple case of Fugaku "didn't bother" to consider his family's fate if the Uchiha coup failed, which is a phrase that tends to tell people his actions were selfish only. While our modern society says this isn't correct, in the past (and even now) it's very typical for families to acknowledge they have power of life and death over their children. In EAsian media, it's not uncommon to see those who commit treason punished with obliteration of 9 or something other level of their relatives, basically a whole clan, thus killing the bloodline. It may be that Kishimoto didn't think to bring this up because it's implied. The only thing we know is that at some point Fugaku also thought a coup was the only way to change things, but as I believe both parties have brought up, many characters question this reality.

- I don't know why it's presumed that Mikoto is lying about Fugaku also talking about Sasuke when they're alone? We are actually shown scenes of Fugaku being excited about his children when they're born in the anime - they're very cute. I don't think I've encountered evidence of Mikoto lying about Fugaku in the manga, but it's been a while since I read this part (and she suffers from the author's typical approach to writing women, as in he gives them minimal action unless he needs them to act as a mouthpiece). I think it's more implied that she's softening reality for Sasuke. It's far more believable to the readers that Fugaku is focused on Itachi (because he's trying to get Itachi to act on the clan's side and Sasuke is a child, who isn't currently involved in the village politics because he's not a child-genius who garners that kind of attention. Sasuke interprets this as his lack of skill compared to Itachi meaning he earns less love, and although Itachi certainly garners more of Fugaku's on-screen, attention, there are reasons for this. Is it fair to Sasuke? No, but it's pretty well established that Fugaku isn't the best parent. He likely views going to Sasuke's ceremony as taking up time he doesn't have, because Fugaku more fits the Japanese trope mold of a business-minded father who therefore pays not-enough-attention to his children. Again, not fair, but when playing in media spaces, acknowledging these character molds helps understand their actions in context of the society they're based from/born from). I would expect the scene with Mikoto to be left up to the reader to interpret. We don't see enough of Fugaku to immediately agree with Mikoto that he's awkward, but we also don't see enough to immediately disagree. We know he doesn't tend to do well when put on the spot, which seems to support awkward, but again I think deciding that is at this point up to the reader, although I'm not sure she's outright lying.

Parents say things to comfort their children all the time that might not be fair. At that moment, Sasuke needs to hear that sometimes he's the favorite too, and it's good for children to learn there is more going on behind the scenes than they see. It isn't meant to imply that Itachi is less loved in general and she doesn't say to Sasuke that Itachi is only considered more useful - she can't anyway because it implies Itachi's missions have something to do with their father, or are commanded by their father, which Sasuke does not and is not supposed to know. However, because this is one of Mikoto's very few speaking panels, it's up to readers to interpret how her words are to be interpreted. I don't think @please-read-the-manga is entirely off the mark, but others might see her behavior in a more sinister light.

I personally like and play with the characterizations of Mikoto and Fugaku as both somewhat ineffective parents. But this doesn't make them objectively bad people, and I don't think it takes away from saying that they're interesting characters for some people, even if not to all readers.

- I am approaching things from the angle of a literary analysis that can color my personal writing but acknowledge it can also affect others too. From a literary analysis point of view, taking into account human interactions, I don't think Fugaku just went combing through metaphorical bushes for something he could use against the village. Unfortunately, the situation is set up that Fugaku hopes to trust Itachi implicitly because he's his son (erroneous assumption that may be).

I'm not sure which "he" is seldom present in Itachi's life. There's an anime arc with young Itachi and Shisui running a mission in the forest of death? And then he returns as an adult, although that may be an animated version of the shinden backstory. While it may not be right, and you may not agree, I think though that even if Fugaku is sending someone to spy on Itachi, it doesn't disprove that he loves him. It may not be loving his son as only his son, but also evaluating him as part of the clan and part of the village, and seeking to see whether his loyalty is closer to the clan or village. For some, this may not qualify in their perception of love, but my interpretation is that my understanding of love may not be always correct or reflect whether Fugaku believes he loves Itachi.

I would also like to point out that... based on Mikoto's statements in the referenced panel above, either Fugaku does spend all his time on Sasuke or he doesn't? Sasuke struggles being the youngest child during a time when everyone else in the house is involved with something extremely dangerous and highly illegal.

"whereas Fugaku didn't even bother to acknowledge that his decisions would bring a doom upon everyone, including his sons." or "Fugaku had enough sense to not drag Sasuke into the political mess, but hey, let's use Itachi."

As potentially unintentionally acknowledged Fugaku considers his children in some cases and other times doesn't think directly about then in context of the coup. My personal feeling is that Sasuke was not skilled enough to be a threat. He was very skilled for his age, but not enough to put him in danger for being a gifted young shinobi like Itachi, so Fugaku never had to manage him as an asset, but also didn't necessarily have a ton of extra time when he wasn't thinking about the coup, translating to Sasuke having to beg to spend time together. Again, doesn't necessarily make Fugaku a terrible father, but does make him an unfortunately stereotypical early 2000s one.

I love @please-read-the-manga bringing up the village's structure's failings, because part of that is built into the dissonance between responsibilities given to genin/chunin despite their ages. It wasn't fair or right that Itachi was adultified by the actual adults around him, but I agree that at its best, Naruto sticks to the original issues brought up in the first arcs - that the shinobi system was nominally created to protect people like Hashirama and Madara's younger siblings who died as child soldiers in endless war, that shinobi are treated as tools, something that horrifies the main trio because they were relatively shielded from this and tires their teachers because they grew up with this mentality.

Part of Itachi's suffering comes from needing the protection given to children while being saddled with adult responsibilities. Fugaku seems to feel this is hard but perhaps having honor in it (as Itachi is serving his clan), as well as being necessary and a given, which again if we are believing that the original throughline of shinobi equaling tools (and the narrative telling us this kills people in unjust and depressing ways), makes sense. It doesn't mean Fugaku isn't part of the problem in the village, what it is, is interesting because the Uchiha are both part of the village and apart from it, part of its ideology and suffering from it, which sits very well within the framework again of Naruto originally interrogating the justice and hypocrisy of the shinobi world.

- I don't think either person is accusing Itachi for not being able to find a better solution to the coup in this post. People with reading comprehension absolutely know that Itachi struggled through difficult circumstances. He also struggles between an author who needs certain events to happen regardless of "what-if's" (accounting again for Doylist analysis) and the large and invisible world shaped around him (Watsonian interpretation) which some people admittedly jump too far (insert meme about connecting dots and jumping jumped already jumped) but is not happening here.

- I disagree with the blanket statement that Fugaku doesn't stand by Itachi at all. The manga does show us that primarily Fugaku is one of the push-pull forces affecting Itachi, and no Itachi does not feel supported by Fugaku, which may be most indicative of all, but in that last moment, Fugaku does say that despite everything, he feels proud of Itachi.

Again, I will bring up the shinden, but only because it attempts to show us Itachi's feelings about Fugaku's handling of the coup, by which he is frustrated that Fugaku isn't taking a stronger stand against more aggressive clan members. He doesn't understand why and is (very understandably) upset by it. Again "why" could be because the author needs the coup to happen, and/or it could be because Fugaku actually believes the coup is the most effective way of restoring presence in the village. Fugaku is shown in the anime as walking closely with Itachi when Itachi was young, seemingly implying they had a closer relationship before.

Once again from a literary analysis interpretation, Fugaku's moment kneeling before Itachi is the last moment he knows he'll ever be able to speak to his son. This moment builds on past characters' interpretations of Fugaku. If he really is awkward, it makes more sense to me that in his last moments, he is choosing to be as honest and blunt as possible - pleading somewhat for the life of his other child and making sure that Itachi knows that his parents don't blame him, that this is just the end of the silent battle that has colored all of their other interactions. Even if they are words spoken out of guilt, does that mean they are not genuine? Is acknowledging that you have done something to be guilty of not mean that you acknowledge you could have treated someone better?

Is it wrong for him not to want to force Itachi to fight him, that Fugaku does not want to wound Itachi in their final moments? Fugaku is a shinobi too, this is a bit of a leap, but it makes sense to me that Fugaku would know the village would attempt to silence Itachi after the massacre to drown the truth in shadows and that he didn't want to harm Itachi's chance of an escape, of living, even though this life would be filled with the knowledge of having killed his family. No parents wants to kill their child.

I also don't think Fugaku threw Itachi away. We don't know that he "didn't mind". It's not as though Fugaku is unaffected by Itachi being pulled this way and that by the village, but it also isn't implied he knows Itachi was given a kill order as far as I recall.

- I would like to gently point out that, while there are "wrong" comparisons in media, I don't think @please-read-the-manga lacks sense when comparing Fugaku and Itachi. They just point out that they were both raised in the same shinobi system, Fugaku is one of Itachi's teachers (a very important piece of lineage in the Naruto world and Japanese culture at large), and Itachi (even in Shisui) did not have a great framework for how to make the person he loved most stronger - because once again following Naruto's overarching theme, loss and othering are taught as the way to build strength in shinobi, but is also acknowledged as damaging.

I don't even think the narrative questions whether Fugaku exposing Itachi to violence at a young age was correct, we have multiple in-world examples that would say this is in fact a very unnecessary thing to do. Similarly, the narrative doesn't question whether Itachi's early torture of Sasuke was correct, we see very quickly that it isn't. I do love how @theheirofthesharingan brings up how relatively gentle Itachi's later fights with Sasuke are. They're one of my favorite parts of the manga and anime because they show how much Itachi loves Sasuke, the whole battle is choreographed so carefully to make sure Sasuke is as safe as possible once it's over.

We thankfully do not have to make a decision about sacrificing someone for the sake of a nation that is our responsibility, but it doesn't make it less startling to hear, out-loud, and in that font haha, that someone is willing to kill people who are important to them (even their own child, and we do know that children can be more dangerous than adults in this world) for a country, which I agree does not share personhood.

The implications of these panels with Hashirama vs Madara very much are that Hashirama starts to think of the village as its own entity, rather than a framework to protect its inhabitants. He doesn't say "the people of the village", he says "the village". I know those things are used interchangeably and we can't know if the author considered using the former, but I believe that this moment is to be interpreted as the moment Madara realizes how much Hashirama has changed, and later sets up how the villages do not actually protect all the young and vulnerable inside their walls, but only some of them and sometimes.

(We don't know how much collateral damage was involved in Madara and Hashirama's later battles. If there was none, it's still wrong for Madara to threaten the village to get Hashirama to come out and play, and if there is some, then this solidifies the issue of Uchiha continually considering themselves as somehow separate from the village.)

Once you're a leader of the people, they're your responsibility. And if your family/friends cause any trouble and put the lives of thousands others you're responsible for on risk, you must choose

I'd also like to point out that this takes place for Fugaku on a smaller scale too. He fails at it, but it's interesting to look at the ways how. I don't think the coup is every framed as an extremely intelligent move, it's framed as a sort of mob mentality, done out of desperation, and avoidable from multiple fronts, which helps to establish it as a tragedy and failing of the village.

Danzo doesn't particularly care about the people of the village so much as he cares about the structure of it, the way in which villagers are a resource, and power is prestige, and conformity (to ideology or the "village vision") is key. The coup is also framed as a convenient excuse for his personal agenda.

- Ultimately, I really liked @please-read-the-manga's original analysis. The Senju and Uchiha are well-established foils but I haven't before seen Hashirama's and Fugaku's expressions of love directly compared. The Uchiha are framed in-world as the clan affected by hatred, and the evolution of the narrative showing they're the clan most strongly and physically affected by love is, I feel, not leaned into enough. It's a different frame of morality that someone might prioritize the people they love most over a larger portion of the population. I'm very well aware that some people consider it straight up wrong (and again most people don't have to make this real-life decision, and even if you do, it's not wrong or abnormal to live with severe guilt over choosing your person rather than more people but also have no regret it), and it's typically framed in narrative that people with this morality do not actually make good state leaders because they can't make that sacrifice to protect the inhabitants of the state, but to me, part of what makes Fugaku's plan ineffective is he can't decide until he has not more choice. This makes him a really interesting character even though it makes him kind of a crummy father. But even when he kind of knows Itachi isn't down with the whole "spy on the village" thing anymore, he never turns on Itachi. Even if he "should", as someone who is responsible for the lives of the whole Uchiha clan, by Hashirama's argument, deal with Itachi to stop him "betraying" the Uchiha, he doesn't. And yeah, I know this is an extremely low bar, but I think the comparison was interesting and something I hadn't seen before.

I think it's important again that in the panel with Hashirama, at least from what I remember, Madara isn't like, mad that Hashirama would kill him for the village's sake. I think he already knows this, but he's sort of? like it's alarming again to see Hashirama frame the village itself as priority over who the village was for. One could even argue in the context of that one sentence, that we need to ask again, what is being defined as "the village". If it's the people, that is one thing, but that panel frames the viewer as seeing Hashirama write people out of the village, and also maybe in that moment give up on Madara as part of the village (I know he's been exiled at that point, but part of me wonders in the context of their relationship, whether Madara expected Hashirama to chase after him? These are just musing thoughts, not serious replies now.)

Hm, been contemplating these panels lately and thinking about which character is constantly demonized within the fandom/fan works involving them and which is frequently viewed as the ultimate loving and moral person...

And:

One is a man bearing the supposed 'Curse of Hatred' who loves his children so much that he is continuing to parent and offer unconditional love to his son even after said son has already participated in the brutal state-sanctioned genocide of their people/culture and is about to end his (and his wife's - who, btw, is on the same page as him) life.

The other is a man from the supposed 'Clan of Love' who boldly holds the conviction that he would cease his compassion towards even his own child if they stood against him and his dream (the village), regardless of the fact his dream (the village) is a corruptible entity that does not maintain personhood.

Interestingly, I think there is something to be said for the fact both Fugaku and Hashirama are also shown struggling to understand Itachi and Madara (respectively).

Fugaku is actually quite honest regarding his issues in relating to Itachi and while we're not always privy to all the conversations they've had about the state of the clan/sentiment of the Leaf village towards their people, it's clear that those discussions have been had. While the panels where we do see more explicit conversations taking place show Fugaku reiterating to Itachi that his role in ANBU is to serve as a pipeline between the clan/village (which could be argued as an unfair burden foisted onto a child, in my opinion) there are also moments that indicate Fugaku is willing to defer to Itachi (at least on some topics) when his son offers a contradictory viewpoint (like attendance at Sasuke's entrance ceremony, for example).

Side note... this also reminds me of the very short (unfortunately) interactions we see between Madara and his father, Tajima. Tajima clearly respects his son as well and defers to him when Madara insists that they not fight Hashirama and his family on the river - Tajima accepts this from his son without pause.

Alternatively, we also see Madara trying to explain his perspective to a skeptical Hashirama before he commits to taking more drastic actions. Madara is trying to articulate his frustrations with what is happening in the village/how it is progressing with regards to his clan and (even though we never really get Madara's own unfiltered perspective on this time period) we are shown instances of Madara's grievances holding water (ie. Tobirama advocating for Madara not to be made Hokage, but instead pushing randomly for a democratic system that never seems to actually be cemented or made precedent within the village afterwards but absolutely benefits Hashirama/the Senju in the short-run, Madara 'overhearing' Tobirama's continued bias against the Uchiha in private conversations between the brothers, Hashirama continuing to scold his brother -someone who had ample power within the system of governance since its inception- for his bias against the clan even when they're brought back via the edo tensei, etc). Hashirama tries to (weakly, in my opinion) defend the village status quo/way it is progressing and seems to want to better understand Madara, but isn't willing or is unable to go that extra mile for his friend - and, perhaps in some ways, Madara too was unwilling/unable to articulate himself in a more digestible way once their divergence of opinion on their shared village came to this new crux.

Ultimately, I just find it interesting that Fugaku, this character who is often portrayed by fans as a demon of hatred and cruelty, would (in reality) stand by his son even in his darkest hour, even as he is unjustly slaughtering their family, and continue to reaffirm that he is proud of Itachi/loves him - and this is directly counter to Hashirama who asserts he would absolutely kill anyone (including a child) that stood between him protecting that which he loves the most (the village).

And, of course, we also have this to chew on lol...

Sasuke explaining to edo Hashirama that Itachi inherited his 'Will of Fire' jingoism.

Mandatory disclaimer that Fugaku is not infallible and all the characters here (but Fugaku and Hashirama in particular) are their own people/the circumstances do vary (especially as one relationship is framed in the context of father-son and the other as two friends/peers)... I should also note that I still enjoy Hashirama as a character, I just think his flaws are often under-examined and that the hypocrisy inherent to the 'Will of Fire' philosophy/the Leaf Village (and by extension the shinobi world) is equally neglected especially when it comes to this fandom's love of tearing down the Uchiha to their worst traits/moments. But, man, something about these two panels and character portrayals in particular have just been eating at me the past few days, so I figured I'd try to work out some thoughts on them.

[drop-zone-homefront]

now that we have reached the end of young justice phantoms, allow me to share my thoughts on the season as a whole:

was it better than outsiders? definitely. was it a good season overall? ehhh,,,

first i’ll go over the good,,,there were some cute moments here and there, the jokes landed and the moments of nostalgia were sweet (baby arty, kaldur and zee oh em gee)

THE REPRESENTATION!! nb halo, poly lagoon boy shocked us all methinks and the addressing of topics such as autism being portrayed very well and appropriately! (i will fault them for forgetting to change halos pronouns in that one episode though, even if it was an honest mistake)

ok that was it for the pros ig…now onto the stuff i wasn’t a fan of.

i wanna go over the main gripe i have with this season and it’s probably obvious at this point, but it’s time we talked about the character arcs.

they started off really well! up to kaldur’s arc, i really felt like each of these stories had a good balance of focusing on the original team member with the overarching plot hanging in the background. but then we get to the other three…

besides raquel to a degree, the remaining three arcs just felt like the writers had no idea what to do with zatanna, raquel and dick for their stories and just decided to include random plot points that never even got resolved, or focus on the overarching story and just had their names and faces slapped onto it to call it ‘their’ arc.

this is what makes phantoms lead yj fans into a false sense of security. when people became upset over the lack of zee/raquel/dick, i’d seen people say ‘it was never about the original team’ ‘no one was meant to have a ‘specific’ arc’ and similar phrases, but to that i say ‘no?’ because when grandon claim that the season is going to have an ‘original team focus’ before the season even aired, it’s understandable that people are not gonna be happy when these remaining characters are treated like chopped liver in their ‘supposed’ arcs (savage took up about 70% of zatanna’s arc and dick’s arc wasn’t even his arc, like at least zatanna and raquel got a sliver of something)

something else that bothered me that i briefly mentioned before was the unresolved plot points.

what happed with jade and the others on infinity island? jason? damian? talia? what about brion and the markovia storyline? they and many other characters showed up for one episode then dipped!

it’s bad enough that they didn’t get addressed within this season but when there’s not even potential for a season 5 release?? like why tease stories and characters and then do nothing with them??

plus, more additional (unnecessary) characters equals less focus on the one’s that need it. a repeated offender in this series

the savage stuff was atrocious. no need to elaborate

the whole wally cocktease (what i mean is the constant mention of bringing people back from the dead, the ENTIRE phantom zone thing and then just screwing everyone over)

+ using deaths for shock value, only to make them miraculously alive 2 minutes later, and yet they can’t even bring back the one person almost everyone is begging for because why would they 💀

the main team sometimes felt disconnected from each other??? they start living with the dread and absolute sorrow that one of their closest friends (their brother) is dead for months and when they finally find him again, they barely have a reaction?? like???

supermartian overload (no hate to the people that love it, i do too! but sometimes…..)

so yeah! there are my basic thoughts that i can think of right now! hope i expressed my feelings well and feel free to discuss :)

oh, and if i were to rank each arc from fave the least fave, here it is:

Artemis

Kaldur’ahm

M’gann

Raquel

Dick

Zatanna

fin :)

[ectonurites]

why did Tim need Zatanna to awaken his memory of YJ but not Cassie?

ALRIGHT so this is one I was also honestly pretty stumped by and had been for a while (similarly also about how Cissie remembered) but I think I've connected the dots after re-looking at some pictures I'd taken of stuff from The DC Comics Encyclopedia New Edition (which was originally printed in July 2021, so it's pretty up-to-date).

The reason Tim needed magic to awaken his memories is because he was investigating this stuff before actually coming into contact with either Bart or Conner (who are both from the previous timeline). He had the little bit of information (Conner's name thus knowing he did exist) from his future self plus the things Ulysses had shown Steph + Cass (themselves from the previous timeline) as evidence that something had changed, and was looking into things based on that. Since Tim had not had contact with them though, his memories were still completely locked away in his brain until Zatanna got involved.

But Cassie seeing Bart when she did, right during Young Justice (2019) #1, is what made her remember.

(Young Justice (2019) #1)

It's a bit from Cassie's page in The DC Comics Encyclopedia New Edition + a bit from Conner's (which the same logic from Conner's would apply to Bart, but Bart only gets a half page in the book rather than a full one like the rest of the core four so I think they just wouldn't bother repeating it) that makes me say this:

"That quest brought her to Metropolis for college, where she chanced into a fight alongside Tim Drake. She soon rediscovered her long-lost friends from the pre-Flashpoint reality: Impulse and Superboy (Kon-El). Wonder Girl's memories were unlocked as she joined the team Young Justice, and she began to remember serving on the previous incarnation of this team. What she will do with these memories or her Olympian powers remains to be seen." (The DC Comics Encyclopedia New Edition)

"The world had changed, but Superboy still remained the same. And somehow, when he made contact with his loved ones, they remembered not just him, but the world he was from." (The DC Comics Encyclopedia New Edition)

And this idea is supported by it being after she's seen both Bart and Conner that she says she remembers everything about Young Justice

(Young Justice (2019) #6)

It's a little clunky because the way things are phrased in the above scene makes it kinda seem like she just inherently already remembered, but I think to reconcile this with what the encyclopedia says we can look at it like... since her remembering things when she saw Bart & then Kon wasn't made into a big deal of 'oh shit you are Now Going To Remember' it didn't seem like something unnatural to her, she just... remembered it unquestioningly like 'oh yeah, duh' the way you'd normally feel when you remember something you'd maybe forgotten. So when Tim talks about it as having been this thing taken from his mind, she doesn't at this point think she shares that experience, because she wasn't consciously aware of the memories ever having been taken from her like he was.

This idea of 'Bart or Kon coming into contact with people who knew them before typically will give them back memories of them/the previous timeline' would then make Cissie remembering make sense, as Bart's the one to come get her (tho frankly what she says here does make it almost feel like he'd already approached her like maybe during his little mad dash in The Flash (2016) Annual #2 trying to find his friends and jogged her memory then LMAO):

(Young Justice (2019) #14)

This same sort of thing is also shown with Bart and Iris, and also with Kon and Ma & Pa:

(The Flash (2016) #759)

(Action Comics (2016) #1022)

What Ma says there when asked how it feels, "Like when people say things come rushing back to you." is especially what I meant with Cassie- seeing Bart would have jogged her memory not in a way that felt like some magical force restoring stolen memories, but just like 'oh yeah!' when you normally remember something kinda suddenly.

But anyways, while there's some exceptions sure (like Clark not remembering Conner) in general that seems to be what the deal is. Kon + Bart come in contact with people who were close to them, and they'll start to remember things.

So like, basically if Bart had run into Tim before Zatanna checked in his brain, he probably would have been able to remember stuff just from that interaction. It's just the timing of things that caused the circumstances to be different, because Tim knew something was up ahead of time and that impacted things.

[lttleghost]

I don't think you understand what is actually bothering me, what you're saying is what I think a lot of people who like El Camino interpret it as but while I'll elaborate on the rest of it later right off the bat I don't think El Camino as a movie, even with all of the dog and chain symbolism, necessarily agrees with you (or us cause I agree with you as well) that Jesse didn't have much of a choice in Breaking Bad, and it mostly has to do with this

and this that happens a little bit after

there seems to be at least some push for you to consider that where Jesse ended up was his own fault to an extent, like it makes sense he'd blame himself over his parents as most kids who were abused in such an acceptable way as he was blame themselves and we don't know much about the Disappearer guy but while you could say it makes sense for him to say that too... was it really necessary? especially was it necessary to say Jesse made his own luck on the same level that Walt and Saul did. I'd say no and especially with the knowledge that Vince's original plans for the movie was to have it end with Jesse accepting his fate in jail I have a hard time not seeing these two scenes as things were supposed to at least somewhat agree with rather than things you say "OH FUCK OFF" and "buddy I understand why you think that but no, they fucked up" at the screen

and even if I'm wrong and the movie is trying to get across what you think it's getting across that Jesse really fully didn't have choice in the past and now he does I think... the ending still wraps it up badly and focusing so much on choice rather than changing the circumstances Jesse has been dealing with since before Walt ends up tying into some of those shitty ideas about how "choices" are what end up putting drug addicts in bad life circumstances

another problem with the ending is, sure Jesse can make his own choices but is he... actually free? cause he is in the same situation that got him into the drug trade in the first place, he is still alone, he has no support from others going forward and he also now has some extra fun ptsd on top of it and he can never unlearn the problem he has with not telling anyone whats going on with him because telling even a partner would be a massive massive risk!!! and dealing with everything that he's been through alone kinda fucking SUCKS, and even without telling anyone anything he still has to worry about the police for the rest of his life

like I think it's unlikely that Jesse is going to get back into the criminal world but instead of me thinking that because his life circumstances have actually improved in the ways that they should've it's because he's been through so much horrible trauma in the past that he'll "know better" that's where my phrase of punishment comes from, I didn't mean it in the sense that El Camino as a movie "punishes" Jesse, I meant it as in Jesse received trauma that we're sorta meant to interpret as him learning from and the trauma was the result of what some people do in fact say were "bad choices" made by Jesse, and those things are what we're meant to think will stop him from getting into trouble again rather than, again, a support system and understanding from other people

my problem is that the movie wants me to see this ending as a happy one or even just bittersweet when it ends Jesse off with less resources than he had at the start of Breaking Bad, it places all of the weight of him having a better life onto his shoulders and choices, it doesn't want to deal with the idea that it's incredibly fucked that Jesse is still without support or resources and I can't shake the feeling that it's because maybe subconsciously... that isn't seen as a problem, and there could be some of that because the movie assumes Jesse does get support and like obvs he'll find people who like him, hes a wonderful sweet puppydog of a human being but again even then I feel like it misses the fact that Jesse can't ever be truly open without risking a lot and he's never going to be able to unlearn some of his bad habits because of that and that just sucks and feels like a really unsatisfying end to his character

I'm not the most articulate person and I tend to speak with weird sentence structure and patterns so I'm still not quite sure how effectively I've communicated my problems with this movie but I hope this clarifies what I'm saying a little compared to my inital post - I think you're maybe attempting to comfort me and I appreciate that! but unless you have a line to Vince Gilligan and I can talk to/fight him over this I'm not really sure there's much you can say that will do much me for more than a very short period of time because my problem is more with some possible underlying beliefs that may be bleeding through in the movie and not necessarily its intent, because I do think the intent was meant to be good at least

(also, I have replies turned off??? I don't recall doing that)

as time goes on the more I am unable to interpret the ending to El Camino as something that isn't at least subconsciously saying - "see? Jesse has learned enough through pure punishing trauma that now even though he's still completely alone and without support he's going to make the 'right choices', and if this addict makes the 'right choices' he'll end up happy!" and just... UGH

[liquid-luck-00]

Where There Is Change

Last Name Wayne

@maribat-bdbwm

First *** Previous *** Next

Okay so I know I diverged from cannon, but I think you’ll all like this.

~~~~~~~~~~

The moment that Damian agreed, they left.

She immediately placed their phones and electronics into storage, so this game would be a little more fun.

Mari "chose" the first place that they teleported to was Paris. The irony was not lost on her.

The place that kicked her out was the first place that would open up to her. But then again most of the city adored Marinette they loved Lady Scarlet even more, but that wasn't general knowledge.

She and Damian know it is a matter of time before B figures they left the country, but hey. They mostly stuck to going between super cities in the U.S. before. But right now, it mostly was her showing him around the city the museums and then getting really inspired by the scenery.

If she was prepared with several different sketch books and pencils for both of them it was an added bonus.

She knows she subconsciously picked Paris and after a few hours it might be smart to jump again. So, she let Damian decide on a place where he wanted to go. He did warn her that if they were spotted, they need to leave immediately, but she didn’t really see a problem with it.

Because granted they’re both Wayne's, and Wayne's if you know them well enough, they will be able to hand your ass back to you on a silver platter smiling as if it was the greatest thing in the world.

So, they jumped again.

This time it was her turn to be awed by what they saw.

They were in a small alcove completely hidden; in the cave they were in the face of it was covered by bushes. But looking out she saw the mountains in the far distance it appeared to be a lake no it was larger maybe it was the ocean. Right below her was a lush courtyard filled with plant she's only seen and one other place, but the heat here was tremendous, and the sea that she could see was in the wrong direction. Apart from being far, far, far too close to where she originally thought they were.

She was going to lean forward a bit and completely break through the bushes that were covering them when a hand pulled her back. She looks back and sees her little brother holding onto her.

"We have to stay hidden Nettie, are above the League of Assassins." He whispered so quiet she could barely hear him about ten inches away, so she’s not taking this lightly.

She nodded, and they stayed there, silent. The only sound was of graphite on paper.

Then everything changed.

On instinct Marinette shot out her arm, a wooden imperial yo-yo appeared in her hand, with a quick flick of her wrist she stopped the projectile, lodging it within the wood. A quick glance at her brother and she opened up portal behind him and pushed him through without a word, closing it behind him.

She knows that it’s more dangerous if they find him here than her, so she stayed behind.

She removed the projectile and examined it, a blow dart likely with poison, seeing as a liquid was seeping into the wood of the yo-yo. She created a replica of the dart and stored the poisonous one and her yo-yo back in storage.

She took a quick breath and punctured her arm where the dart should have originally landed. And fell to the ground, slumped down.

She kept her face relaxed her body limp and she felt three, four, five separate sickly deathly auras around her. She kept her breathing at minimum, light, almost as if she was asleep. They picked her up and moved her. She realized immediately that she was being taken down the mountain, taken deeper into the League of Assassins.

Five assassins she can take them. But the one thing repeatedly crossing her mind was one phrase.

'How dare these assholes mess with her family! Her little brother! They are going to pay!'

Because she is a Wayne, and Wayne’s protect their own.

She was eventually dropped in a large room, from what she can tell, if the echoes were any indication to what she was thinking the size of the room could be. There were three more auras in this room, aside from the ones she passed to get here. What surprised her was she recognized all three.

Still acting unconscious, she heard a woman’s voice, Talia Al Ghul, speak. "What business do you have to bring this child here?" It was phrased as a question but seemed more like a snarl or demand than anything else.

"She was captured on the grounds. She’s an unknown." Was what was reported by one of the people in who had dragged her down here.

Then she heard a chuckle.

"She’s awake." That voice, she recognizes that voice. Her entire previous plan was now completely out the window. So, she lazily pushes herself up, pulling out the dart once she was on her feet.

"Damn, I thought that would last a little longer." She finally looked up and saw Damian's clone, Heretic, Talia, and Al Ghul. But something was wrong, it was bothering her. Al Ghul, he, he… he wasn’t Demon, he wasn’t her Demon anymore. All she recognized now is his voice, at least that’s what she told herself, nothing else was the same as a person she once knew. The question now is why. "I really shouldn’t have introduced you to the Order, if the result would have been this?" A smirk on her lips and now standing cocky in the middle of a room full of assassins, she is stalling. He is acting like he knows her, but his aura is indecipherable, familiar, but not.

"You should not have, but then I wouldn’t be here today, to thank you, would I? After all you allowed our family to find these pits." ‘Our Family’ she dove into her memories, but now that she needed them, they were far away and fuzzy, God damn it.

"Hmmm, I suppose not. Right now, I really wish I had turned you into a cat permanently. I found the correct spell, so I actually can now." This elicited yet another chuckle from Al Ghul which had everyone else in the room on edge.

"Really now I love to see it, after all I wasn’t able to experience it before you vanished." She quirked an eyebrow at this response, but she didn’t care about his mind games, she was stalling, trying to find out what caused this change. All her mind supplied were the plants outside. Demon wasn’t good with plants, but he was with animals, so how.

"Really you don’t wanna know why am actually here?" She asked, looking so innocent, one might believe that she was there merely an accident or coincidence.

She then turned towards Heretic, death in her blue eyes was all anyone could see, but she didn’t kill him. No, she couldn't bring herself to kill him. He may have killed her baby brother, but he is

Damian’s clone, but that clone was nothing but a poor imitation of her brother. With a snap of her fingers, he transformed into a statue of a panther, mouth opening for a roar. In all accounts looking intimidating, but there’s no way to be scared of a statue.

"That was for killing my little brother." She crossed her arms now glaring daggers towards Talia.

"I wasn’t aware you had a little brother, Lady Cheng." Demon never called her Lady Cheng, no to him she was Malak (Angel), but…

That was when the pieces fell into place. That’s why the older Damian looks like a cross between Demon and Bruce. That’s why Damian turned into a panther cub. Damian is Amir’s reincarnation, the true soul of the black cat. That means, in front of her stood Ra’s, Amir’s older twin brother. That’s why he could read the journal, he is a miraculous soul. And only miraculous souls know the language of miracles, without decades of studying the script. It’s ingrained in them but only accessible after coming in contact with old magic, miraculous magic.

"One, the name is Wayne. Two that’s because at the time that I met the both of you 600 years ago, I didn’t even know I had siblings. So, get this through your head, I don’t care that he is your son or your grandson. He is my little brother. Nothing will stop me from making sure my family is safe." Her voice stayed level, emotion flitted in and out of it, in such a way that it almost seemed inhuman. For more reasons than one, she just sensed one of the Lazarus Pits.

"Scarlet." She heard gasped by the woman next to Ra’s.

"Correct." She glared at them walking closer as she said so. "My name is Marinette Wayne, and you best remember to never mess with creation. I would have thought you would remember that little Lǎohǔ (Tiger)."

By her walk over a sword had appeared in each hand, which she was now holding up to Lǎohǔ‘s neck, while the second was held right at the base of Talia's spine, almost daring her to move. The threat hung in the air, and both knew she was capable of following through.

"Well, I do believe it’s best to catch up over some tea." Lǎohǔ offered, many would have taken his offer. Because if the Demon’s head offers it, it would be your funeral if you refused, but she wasn’t just anyone. "After all we haven’t seen each other, in nearly 600 years, now have we, much must’ve happened to you."

"Hmmm... not really you’d be surprised. By what has become of my life been since meeting you." She decided to put away her blades, for the time being. Seeing as she couldn’t leave without destroying the Pits. The only surviving consequence of the Miraculous wish, cast ages ago. Now time to come up with a plan.

---

"Are you sure about this Pigtails?" Plagg spoke up.

"Ancient magic like this calls for a price." She sighed.

"We know, Marinette, but your little brother." Tikki voiced.

"I'll do everything I can to keep all of them safe." She spoke resolutely.

"But can you live with this?" Tikki asked.

"I have to be able to. Besides I'm pretty sure he is your true kitten, Plagg." She reassured.

Tikki and Plagg united their powers, and were able to destroy the pit, and every other one on Earth. Then disappeared. She opened a gate knowing what is coming.

---

Somewhere in the league of Assassins was the Demon's head and his daughter, looking royally pissed as they watch a timer tick down. Seeing as Marinette decided to freeze them with venom, so she could destroy the Lazarus Pits.

Next

~~~~~~~~~~

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