#if you don't like it that's totally fair

[fushiglow]

i was gonna write more about 242 and the recent chapters but everyone is making it boring.

i've really been enjoying this run of chapters since we cut to kenjaku, but i often feel like i'm one of about ten people having fun with the manga recently so i've kept my mouth shut. the thing is, i reckon gege is cooking something really good with these chapters, but the discourse is *not* worth wading into.

like, it's worse than during gojo vs sukuna because at least that was stupid??? depending on who you ask, we should not:

like kenjaku because they're evil, actually

like takaba because he's irrelevant, actually

relate the chapter to geto because he's dead, actually

relate the chapter to gojo because he's dead, actually

relate the chapter to satosugu at all because they're dead and they're not coming back and this isn't about them, actually

god help you if you think it's funny or clever on top of all that!! (for the record, i think it's both of those things)

it just sucks the fun out of analysis and theory when i'm second guessing myself, so i'm not going to bother for now. i'm gonna go back to writing my silly little k-pop fic and enjoy these characters in a way i personally find fulfilling. you know, the way we all should engage with the things we like!!

however, please know that i'm silently but spitefully doing *all* the things listed above. gege is clearly having fun, so why can't i???

[ravenvsfox]

soooo hypothetically if someone was inspired to write a fic based on someone else's 'brainworm' on twitter, posted it on ao3, credited and linked back to the original idea, sent the story to that user and offered to take it down if they weren't into it

and then. were told that that they were CARELESS and it was a GUT PUNCH to be robbed of the opportunity to write it and that it was unfair that they were being made into the bad guy by asking for it to be deleted

would that be like. a fair or crazy response

[possamble]

What are your headcanons about Marcille's mom if you have any? It's interesting that what drew Donato to her was cause she lived the history he studied, or that was said somewhere at least. She must've had an interesting life.

so this was going to be just a normal answer but then I realized I have a Lot of Things To Say. so here goes, a compilation of what we know for a fact from the canon, what I've extrapolated from the visual cues and details, and my theories based on all of that.

Things we know for a fact about Marcille's mother because they were explicitly stated in the manga and supplemental materials:

She was a court mage for a Tall-man kingdom at the southern part of the Northern Continent

Donato, a court historian, fell in love with her because she had lived through the history he was studying, and he courted her for 17 years (age 15 to 32) before getting married

She was a cheerful person who rarely showed extreme emotion and took things as they came

She always cooked a huge meal for Marcille on her birthdays

She remarried a gnome after Donato's death and a short distance away from Marcille's childhood home

Pipi, Marcille's pet bird, was actually older than Marcille and originally belonged to her mother (bird died at 62)

She was extremely heartbroken when Donato died and ultimately ended up instilling a deep fear of mortality in Marcille with her words

the only time she showed extreme emotion in front of her family was when Donato could no longer eat his favourite dish near the end of his life.

She scolded Marcille for being cruel to ants (implying she can have a stern side when needed)

Things that are explicitly shown but mostly through visual cues

She has a very distinctive style of dress always involving a ribbon choker (mirroring Marcille's habit of always wearing a matching choker with any of her outfits that don't cover her neck)

She was almost stereotypically good at housekeeping and traditionally "wifely" things (very frequently depicted wearing an apron or doing some domestic chore when not at work, seems to have been an avid cook).

She knits? (also, note the affectionate smile as she's looking at Donato and Marcille reading a book together in the full panel)

She was as excited for Marcille's milestones as Donato was.

She didn't tell Marcille much about elven food

(there are a couple things that this panel in particular implies:

She lived a good deal of her life (if not being born and raised) in a mainly elven country in the West, implied by her knowing enough of an elven region's cuisine to prefer Tall-man food over it

seems to have a pretty carefree and casual demeanour overall, if this is how she replied to Marcille asking her about it (sounds like she never gave her culinary preferences that much thought to begin with)

slightly related to number 2, it seems like she and Marcille had a fairly casual parent-child dynamic (especially in comparison to the Toudens' memory of their father)

(local elf tastes Italian food once and never goes back))

However, she seems a lot more... serious in most of the other times we see her? Almost like the very stereotypical archetype of a graceful elf.

Subsequent conclusions about her personality:

Usually pretty carefree and cheerful at home, has been a loving and attentive parent throughout Marcille's childhood (while not being so doting that she didn't discipline Marcille).

Slightly more conjectural theories on her personality:

Had a much more graceful and professional personality at work, which would explain the more serious portraits we see of her.

Given that both she and Donato had positions at the royal court, it seems a little odd that she'd go out of her way to do all the housework herself, so maybe she just enjoyed doing it?

Now taping all the evidence together and toeing the line between analysis and fanfiction:

It's clear that she loved Donato very much and was utterly devastated by losing him. But there's one thing that really stuck out to me in what little we see of her:

Doesn't she seem... angry? The way she's gritting her teeth, clutching the tablecloth, and how this is the first and only time we see her eyes opened that wide. In the following panel, you see her being quiet and dejected after her initial outburst. She's still crying very intensely, but her brows are furrowed, and she's not really responding to Donato's affection in her body language.

We're not told the details of how she felt about losing Donato other than that it upset her. But this, to me, implies that she was angry and resented that he was aging, that the end of his life was approaching. An "it's not fair" type of preemptive grief. And if this was the first and last time she cried like this in front of her family, she was either very good at coping in private... or very bad at letting herself feel unpleasant emotions until they become unavoidable and end up overwhelming her.

It's not too remarkable a detail on the surface. It's even reminiscent of what the audience has seen of Marcille. But... when it comes to the big picture, you'd think an elf who voluntarily chose to marry a tall-man and have a half-elf child would have been better prepared for this.

It kind of recontextualizes her cheerfulness to me.

"I'm sure everything's gonna be okay!" (or some variation thereof, depending on what translation you have).

And this is stated to contrast her extreme grief when finally confronting Donato's failing body and eventual death. But I'm wondering if... maybe this optimism was why she was so upset. What if she went into all of it thinking "everything's gonna be okay"? What if she was a little young by elven standards, and just followed her heart thinking that her own resilience would get her through anything?

Of course, only to get completely overwhelmed when she actually loses Donato. She turns into a completely different person. And that's heartbreaking on its own-- but what the audience sees is the effect it had on Marcille. Can you imagine being her, watching your invincible and upbeat mother suddenly lose all the light in her eyes in one go?

I've already made a huge post about how I think Marcille models her "work persona" off her mother, but another thing that stuck with me as I was looking for more details in the manga was this:

copy pasting from the other post i made about it lmao it's like... the second she resigns herself to lifelong pain and terror, there's another portrait of her mother facing her like this. with their heads bowed, in mirrored body language of resignation and despair and sorrow. Except it's posed like Marcille is still looking at her mother but her mother is looking away.

It took me a second to realize, but I think that it's a visual metaphor for the fact that Marcille's mother was the only long-lived role model she had-- and she failed to model healthy grief for her daughter. I don't say this as an accusation or to disparage her as a character, but just as a matter of fact. In her, Marcille was seeing herself older and losing a short-lived spouse or loved one of her own, and all she saw was hopelessness.

But her mother didn't mean to instill hopelessness and terror in her. She wasn't really thinking of how it would truly affect Marcille at all (at least, that's how I'm interpreting her looking down and away from Marcille in the metaphor), she was just sad. And she, in her own way, was trying to protect her daughter and help her prepare for future losses.

What she meant was "loss is inevitable, and you have to learn how to be in pain but live on anyway." What Marcille heard was "loss is inevitable, and you will be scared and hurt for the rest of your life."

Again. Marcille's mother doesn't feature explicitly in the story the way her father does -- but in so many ways, her shadow, her silhouette, her reflection is always hanging over Marcille.

All that to say... headcanon-wise (everything from here on is 100% without evidence lmao), I'd like to think that she matured and realized that she failed Marcille. I imagine her being regretful about it, wanting a chance to fix it but never finding a way to insert herself back into Marcille's life when Marcille is so so so busy becoming the most accomplished mage possible. I imagine her being herself again, now, so many years after her loss and after remarrying -- but with her cheerfulness tempered with a lot more wisdom and the pain of having gone through loss like that. I think the second Marcille actually tells her what happened in the dungeon, she'd want to go running to her daughter again -- if Marcille tells her the full truth instead of just being embarrassed she let things get that far. (oh, the tragedy of her wanting to be more like her mother and an accomplished adult who doesn't need to be babied... being embarrassed to actually tell her mother how much she fucked up...)

There's also the tension of her having remarried -- I know that there's at least a little bit of resentment that Marcille harbours about that, because she's childish like that at heart even if she makes an effort not to externalize it. I think that her mother would be aware of that, potentially adding to her sense of guilt and apprehension at trying to reappear/intrude on Marcille's life. I honestly don't think Marcille has met her stepfather -- or even considers him a stepfather rather than "mama's new husband" and kind of a total stranger. I think she and her mother actively don't talk about it in their correspondence, like an elephant in the room.

but, ultimately, I think her mother is on her side no matter what. Ancient magic? Dark necromancy? Sure, she'll feel guilty and like she was partially responsible for setting Marcille down such a painful path, but she wouldn't care. that's her daughter!! she would've moved back west and been petitioning for her at the court, buying a house right next to the Canaries barracks and visiting her every day that she wasn't on a mission. And if her husband had opinions on Marcille becoming a "dark arts user," he either gets over it or it's divorce with him. Yes, she might have had her optimism completely humbled by losing Donato like that -- but she's still headstrong and self-assured and she doesn't care what people think of her. It's her way or the highway and she's always going to be in Marcille's corner.

(She also needs a name lol. I went with Juno, just to be cute about "Marcille"s closest real life equivalent being Marcella, which is the female version of Marcellus, which in turn is a diminutive of Marcus, which was derived from Mars. Absolutely in love with Marcille potentially being named after Ares/Mars the fucking god of war btw)

[backpackingspace]

Listen can we talk about the fact that odysseus, Penelope, and telemculus all cry at a drop of hat and then you have Athena and diomedes sitting there like :/// embarrassing

[littlefankingdom]

I just finished Future State: Gotham and here are my final thoughts.

Things I hated:

Jason being a cop (at the beginning, it made sense because he was manipulated to be. At the end, nope, he should have resigned)

[SPOILER] The lack of reaction from the Batfam to Dick's sacrifice??? Only Barbara speaks about it with him, but Bruce is right there. You're telling me Bruce Wayne would not lose his marbles at Dick sacrificing himself for Gotham and Damian??? You're lying. He would not be okay with it! Especially when he said just a couple of pages earlier that Dick was the heart of the Batfam! And the lack of grief in the story afterward??? Bruce would not be fine if Dick was dead! He would not be okay! That's his firstborn!

Things I loved:

Talia's characterization was gold. She is badass, she is a caring mother, she is a Batfam's member, she is not evil. I love it so much. There's one moment when she stabbed Jason, but she explains herself later as being so preoccupied with Damian, she wasn't thinking, she had no time to lose, and apologizes. She's great. (Her and Bruce aren't together, btw)

Bruce and Jason's relationship. They love each others so much, they cannot communicate for shit. Jason being like "I will beat the shit out of Hush for impersonating my father, even if it's the last thing I do!" when he was like "Bruce is not my dad!" to Rose earlier. Bruce being like "Jason, my son, I'm so happy to see you!" when he sees Jason. Jason, half dying, accepting to stop fighting with the others to assist Bruce, also half dying, the parallel between father and son. Bruce leaving Gotham for Jason to protect. Jdizbztcforc, finally some good food about them FROM DC.

Bruce not being able to be a vigilante anymore at the end, after all the fights and the torture, with a cane, looking at his baby with pride.

Dick being fucking nuts. It's so funny to me, the man loses it when his dad is dead. He is also such his father's son, to the point that other batfam's members LITERALLY tell him "You are acting just like Bruce rn, and you know that's not a good thing." but he refuses to listen. He's high on drugs, fr.

Actually, all Bruce's sons lose their mind when their father dies. They all go "I'm gonna do something so stupid because I miss my dad, watch me". Batshit insane family over here.

[pain-is-too-tired]

Jonathan 'Jarchivist' Sims and Annabeth Chase would be best friends.

I stand by that.

[transingthoseformers]

Oh God poor Robby

He wanted to keep this a small little night but everyone's turning it into a whole ✨thing✨

[triglycercule]

killer should know about dumb video game meta stuff ike i-frames and animation cancels and critting amd breaking out of bounds and use it to his advantage in fights. maybe he learned it from chara in something new as a silly little thing to try out because theyre already teaching him all this bullshit on killing so whos to say a video game character cant learn a player's cheats?? he's already interacted and collaborated with a player before i think its fair he knows tricks on how to cheat undertale's fighting system

everything's all fine and dandy in a fight against killer (no it isn't) until you see him glitching around and somehow phasing through your attacks. he looks ridiculous but it gets the job done

[kyouka-supremacy]

omg you like itafushi?! they do remind me a lot of sskk its not even a joke atp

I like them a lot!!! When watching I was like “wow, so this is what sskk would look like if Akutagawa was the smart one”

[cephalofrog]

noah caldwell-gervais is the only motherfucker to have ever been correct about dark souls and elden rings' difficulty. no one else understands

[cyborgpulsebooks]

i don't know how to explain to you that the second half of dt literally continues the arcs and themes of the first lmao

like i agree it's a little weaker bc it's trying to emulate the last two expansions but i need people to know that just because you dislike something doesn't mean it's bad writing

[ndostairlyrium]

We did it Carla, you got avenged!

[when-did-this-become-difficult]

so here's what you're gonna do, you're gonna boil a pound of pasta in a pot, and then you're gonna cut up five to eight slices of bacon into bacon bits and fry them, and then you're going to wipe a bit of the bacon grease out of the pan, and then you're going to take four ears of corn and slice the corn off the cob into the pan, but not slicing too close to the cob! and then you're gonna take a spoon and scrape along the cob so that the sort of milky looking sweet corn juice (im so sorry but that's really what it is) goes into the pan also and then you'll cook the corn in the bacon for a hot second and then you'll add garlic and then after thirty seconds you'll add lemon juice and then you'll add in the pasta and then you'll add salt and maybe parmesan cheese.

peace and love on planet earth.

i really mean it.

[sskk-manifesto]

idk what the consensus is with fukuchi but i really cannot get over him being Super Selfish with things like...fully didnt answer when fukuzawa asked him if there was another way. there probably was but we'll never know bc fukuchi wanted to do it His Way. which was to curse his childhood sweetheart forever. for why??? punishment bc fukuzawa didn't follow him to the army? bc fukuzawa went off and got a life and a found family??? its so wild to me. what a guy. unrequited love and he took that shit so serious. im just ranting sorry. i fucking love bsd the interpersonal rl8ships are so good and wild. SSKK real also god bless. they are holding hands at all times from this point onwards i know it

Counterpoint: Fukuchi's actions led to us witnessing one the gayest moments in manga history and we should be grateful for that

[perpetualexistence]

The Dragon and The Jester: A Nowen Total Drama Fantasy AU

The Truth As It Is Written

Once upon a time, there was a prince named Chris. He was fourth in line for the throne, yet was still promised a life of luxury.

This didn't matter to Chris. He wanted more.

He attempted to scheme his way to the throne. Each time he was thwarted before he could get too far. Each scheme was bolder than the last. Each one treason worthy of punishment. Yet his father couldn't bear to see any of his children hurt. No matter how much they hurt him.

So Chris was pardoned, over and over. For 35 years, this process continued. His father kept getting older, making his eldest sibling's coronation all the more looming. The threat turned into reality when his father revealed that he would relinquish the crown early for a peaceful retirement.

This, Chris couldn't allow.

On the day of his eldest siblings' coordination, all of the immediate royal family was gathered to celebrate the event. As joyous as the occasion was, the king was still wise enough to assume his ambitious son would plan something. He ordered extra guards to keep a steady eye out and watch for any tricks. Their focus was on the outsiders coming in to celebrate.

None could anticipate the ravenous dragon that swooped down from the sky.

When the dust settled and the last ember flickered, Prince Chris stood atop the ashes and named himself King. He announced that all who dared to oppose him would face the beast he had tamed.

Thus started his bloody campaign to annihilate all who could possibly challenge him for the crown. The Dragon torched soldiers and devoured civilians for the king's amusement. The mindless beast provided no mercy for those in its warpath.

With each life it destroyed, it grew larger. It was only the size of two wagons during its first rampage. By the time its growth slowed, only the tallest soldiers matched the height of a single claw.

The massacre grew even worse when the king debuted The Jester to the world. The old court jester had been one of the casualties of the first massacre. The first act of this jester was to desecrate his grave.

Where The Dragon struck, The Jester was soon to follow. The Jester ridiculed the grieving and made a mockery of the dead. He saw the ruins of towns suspected of harboring enemies of the king, and he laughed.

Worse still, The Jester was as brilliant as he was cruel. He would come along to battle and twist his words just right to anger enemies enough to break rank and weaken themselves. He had the ear of the king, and would whisper strategy of bloodshed and further destroying the morale of those who would oppose him.

Despite the odds stacked against them, resistance bloomed still. Pockets formed in the hopes of one day deposing King Chris and restoring peace to the kingdom. One even dared to form in the capitol, the heart of Chris' power.

In this pocket were two newer recruits: Owen and Noah. Owen, a palace guard in training to keep control of the masses through any bloody means necessary, who wished only to be a pacifist once the revolution was complete. Noah, a wizard-in-training who had been kidnapped from his home in service of the king who only wished to return to a family unthreatened.

Both have every reason to be loyal to the cause of the king's death. Neither could ever risk showing their full potential for the cause. They wanted to keep their heads.

No rebel would ever believe that The Dragon and The Jester deserved any form of mercy.

Even if their actions had never been their choice.

[deancrowleycas]

I love writing a whole essay in a comment under a YouTube video about Supernatural's first season that tries to tell me that Dean is happy and content with the hunting lifestyle and is the born hunter