#it will be clearly highlighted

[fincalinde]

thoughts on Su Minshan??

I actually recently did a post on SMS, so feel free to stick another token in the slot machine that is my askbox if you want. But I suppose I can build on it a little. There's one thing I brought up in there that probably does deserve more attention, and that is ...

Why, oh why, does fandom assume that SMS is unmarried when it is literally impossible that he would be single and childless? Like, this blows my mind.

Things that are clearly established by canon:

1. The jianghu operates under a clan system rather than a genre-typical pure sect system. Bloodlines are crucially important and the leadership of clans is generally passed from father to son or another close male relative, though women do rarely also obtain positions of power.

2. This system was introduced a couple of centuries earlier by Wen Mao, but is now so embedded that XXC and SL's shared vision of a merit-based sect where bloodlines are irrelevant is considered a distant and idealistic dream.

3. XXC receives numerous invitations to join clans due to his stellar reputation, and turns them all down due to this principle. He could have taken an important role in these clans but would never have been able to inherit or lead. Despite his incredible reputation, during the period of time in which he is travelling the jianghu in his pre-eye gouging days, neither he nor SL take a single disciple. This strongly indicates that even someone of literally impeccable standing couldn't even begin to get an independent merit-based sect off the ground.

... but I am supposed to believe that SMS somehow achieved this? That he left the Lan and founded his own sect with a gang of disgruntled tone deaf pals and that's the end of it? Absolutely not. He founded the Moling Su (the name itself is a big clue) in the traditional manner. He probably did involve some of his own blood relatives from the off to bulk his numbers, but even so, he's clan leader and the first thing a nascent and highly vulnerable new clan needs is heirs. SMS is absolutely married and a father to multiple children. Those children are the literal future of his clan and its very existence depends on them.

Of course his wife and children aren't explicitly mentioned by the narrative, because he's a supporting character whose function in the narrative revolves around his loyalty to JGY and his grudges against [insert list here], and his home life is irrelevant. Su-furen is either at home in Moling holding the fort; or, less likely, she's amongst the cultivators he brings to the Burial Mounds and could even potentially be intending to meet up with JGY and his cohort of loyal disciples during the collective flight to Dongying. It's just a level of detail that isn't relevant, especially to our viewpoint character, WWX, who is notoriously not detail-orientated when it comes to this kind of thing.

[beerecordings]

another grey hair update!!!! thank you AP News for these pics and the Thankmas article!!

[love4hobi]

J-HOPE & BOOGALOO KIN Hope on the Street (2024)

[strryhaze]

john ‘jack’ f. kennedy participating in a running gag created by a newly married bobby & ethel kennedy. filmed outside their first home as a married couple. very early 1950s.

pretty sure that it’s ethel who jack bumps into, judging by the short, trimmed hair she sported at the time and the clothes, which means it’s definitely bobby who was filming!

[iridescentmirrorsgenshin]

Alhaitham referring to kaveh in ways which acknowledge his skill, and kaveh perceiving it as sarcasm, even though alhaitham refers to kaveh in the same ways when kaveh isn’t present is driving me a little bit insane - especially what this prompts the player to question!!

When we first meet kaveh in the archon quest the relationship between him and alhaitham is presented to us as “terrible” (courtesy of npc geoff who introduces kaveh’s return to sumeru city), and the cutscene in the house of daena demonstrates what this entails, being that the two cannot see eye to eye, and, seemingly don’t hold each other in high regard.

Alhaitham seemingly refers to kaveh’s genius in a sarcastic light and kaveh claims to despise talking to alhaitham because of his arrogance.

Looking to kaveh’s hangout, however, when the player has a one-on-one with alhaitham, the player gets a glimpse into alhaitham’s personal understanding of kaveh, and with this, his own views on kaveh.

Within this exchange between him and the player, Alhaitham uses Kaveh’s title without sarcasm, sincerely praising him and his skills, elevating him over ‘less skilled’ architects and asserting that Kaveh should have more confidence in his work.

The reason that Alhaitham does not openly praise Kaveh is stated here, being that “admonitions” will serve no purpose due to people being prone to fall into “similar pitfalls”, and that people should have the right to lead their own life, rather than have it interfered upon by others

The reading here is that even if Alhaitham did openly praise Kaveh, no difference would be made in Kaveh’s thinking. Yet, by refraining from praise, and instead goading, by this logic, this also makes no difference. Therefore, the question is raised, ‘why can Alhaitham praise Kaveh to the player, and not to Kaveh himself?’

When Alhaitham praises Kaveh’s work within Kaveh’s hangout it is through there being no record of issues in the reconstruction of port ormos, which is something kaveh states first - in this context, alhaitham notes the work as an “impressive achievement”, which kaveh assents to, as there is no standing in which this can be debated. Kaveh cannot resent a compliment steeped in fact, even from alhaitham

The problem, then, is rooted in alhaitham’s delivery, which relates to their core issue of miscommunication. Referring back to their exchange in the House of Daena, it is observed that Alhaitham uses similar descriptors of Kaveh to Kaveh, similar to the descriptors he uses to the Traveler in Kaveh’s hangout, however, Kaveh perceives these words as sarcasm.

This highlights the miscommunication between them and can aid in answering the question why Alhaitham cannot be open with Kaveh, as he will be misconstrued.

​Through Alhaitham’s repeated elusions to Kaveh when he is not present and his open esteem of Kaveh and his work to the Traveler, Kaveh’s assertion that Alhaitham holds him in a negative light is proved incorrect. This serves to highlight the miscommunication between the two, causing the player to question why they hold such contrasting views of the other.

Clearly, there is a reason why Alhaitham cannot openly express his regard of Kaveh to Kaveh, but this reason is obscure to both kaveh and the player.

In terms of queer subtext it’s pretty interesting that alhaitham’s high regard for kaveh is shown within the surface text and yet the reason for this secrecy is never made explicit within the story’s surface and is only to be inferred from alhaitham’s and kaveh’s character stories.

In terms of the two functioning as mirrors, the fact that the knowledge that alhaitham cannot outright compliment kaveh 1) is not only due to their past argument and lost friendship and 2) is also due to his awareness that kaveh cannot accept goodwill, is only obtainable by reading both kaveh and alhaitham’s character stories shows how intertwined they are as characters - you cannot fully understand one without the other

(Update: For more analyses like this, the essay this is taken from is now uploaded! It can be accessed here and here as as a pdf <3)

[infinitelystrangemachinex]

Veilguard vaguing:

It's not automatically a good thing, actually, that the game de-emphasizes or even outright removes racism against elves, and bigotry against other groups, from the story

[isan0rt]

One of these days I really need to get around to writing an actual essay about the strong narrative and thematic parallels between Dedue and Edelgard. Today is not that day. But one of these days I will write the essay.

(It's about two people who lose their entire families and their entire worlds and react by covering themselves in literal armor and picking up a physical shield the size of their own bodies to defend their hearts from further pain. It's about picking up an axe and deciding to change the world with your own hands. It's about how only one other person in the world at the beginning of the story knows their true selves and loves them as an individual first. It's about how totally human and ordinary Dedue would be the perfect example of the deserving in Edelgard's ideal crestless meritocracy if Dedue didn't fundamentally reject Edelgard's worldview, and if Edelgard didn't completely overlook him. It's about how in the only route where Edelgard doesn't turn herself into a monster as a futile last ditch desperation effort to save her dream of a better future, Dedue does to try to save his.

It's about wanting a savior to reach out their hand to them in the worst moments of their lives, and how Dedue gets that and Edelgard doesn't and that emotionally and thematically makes every single bit of difference.)

[sysig]

Ellen McLain’s commentary from my trivia playthrough

[commsroom]

let's kill hilbert is a great hera and minkowski episode in how well it displays some of the best and worst of their dynamic (and highlights the source of their ongoing miscommunication.)

"i'm doing the best i can here, so just, please, try to sound a little less patronizing?" / "i'm not being patronizing, i'm being critical." sums up the disconnect: that what minkowski sees as professional criticism and an attempt to combat future problems, hera takes as a personal attack. ultimately, minkowski's suggestions to lighten her burden are well-meaning and closer to what hera needs than any faith in her ability to do her job (there are things she can't do, and things she shouldn't have to), but she's been made to believe her worth as a person - and her continued survival - hangs in the balance. and so, the scene that leads to that one, where minkowski takes the navigation controls from hera: "no, it's fine! i can -" / "i don't care what you can, give me the controls right now." stands out for the wording used, the different things that are meant by it, and what it reinforces for hera: i can't do this. i'm not good enough.

it makes sense that the resolution, where minkowski tells hera, "you are the smartest person i've ever met, hera; focus that intelligence [...]" is one of the moments she thinks of at the end of memoria. because it's a turning point for their relationship, because it's a show of trust ("i trust you" coming very shortly after "i need to know that i can trust you."), because it's a show of respect and the only moment in the entire show where someone refers to hera by rank, but also...

i think there's something to be said for how minkowski's voice at the end of memoria is a direct expression of belief in hera's abilities, while eiffel's "use the force, luke" shows that what hera values about eiffel is... well, eiffel, but i think it's also true that both of these things show something about communication. they show hera's understanding of eiffel and minkowski's unique communication styles, what they say and what they mean by it, and that shows what they mean to her.

"you are the smartest person i know, hera" (a slight alteration from the original line that has a ton of implications re: context and memory) isn't really about her intelligence, or even her ability. contextually, it's a direct counterstatement to "i don't care what you can" and, by association, and through their connection - minkowski's voice becomes, quite literally, like eiffel's, another voice in her head counteracting what pryce has made hera believe about herself.

[infectiouspiss]

found someone on twitter with a very specific humiliation fetish

[starlight-eclipsed]

For a moment, Dark isn’t in the forest at all. The water soaking the grass and his clothes becomes that of a shallow bottomless lake, with him fallen onto the solid surface.

I am once again recommending that people go read A Dark Among the Lights by LuckyLectio on AO3.

Dark's sarcastic commentary has returned, though it appears to have come at the cost of his self preservation. Everything is fine (:

[hayerins]

pov: benedict bridgerton's instagram profile

full-time husband and father & occasional artist

99% sophie and kids

0.5% bridgerton fam

0.5% art

[synthshenanigans]

The greatest thing that vol.2 could give me is higher resolution versions of HMS & not the 3 pixels that is Light

[good-to-drive]

In a similar vein to the Paul and Linda question: would you say George was a good husband to Olivia?

I’m afraid I don’t know a whole lot about their relationship, unfortunately! I feel like Olivia is playing it pretty close to the vest, possibly out of respect for George’s passing, or maybe she just doesn’t like people in her business. 

I’ve outlined my thoughts on George and Pattie and why that didn't work out, but as for why things did work out for George and Liv I really can’t say. It may be a Paul and Linda situation where he continued to be a black hole of emotional need without a huge amount of regard for his partner’s needs or feelings, but he found a woman who thrived on emotional caretaking so it worked out for both of them. Or maybe George really did change as a person and they had a much happier relationship than you’d think looking at all those affairs.

The truth may lie somewhere in between. Maybe Liv, as compared to Pattie, was more in a position to be in a relationship that was “about” her partner’s needs over her own (Liv is older, their lives were more stable, etc), and George’s emotional needs were also less overwhelmingly powerful than they were when he was with Pattie (he was older, their lives were more stable, etc).

All this being said, George and Liv did genuinely seem very happy together and Liv is still so madly in love with him, so whatever arrangement they had behind the scenes must have worked for both of them. And honestly, just like with Paul and Linda, I think that's the most important thing.

[roserunodays]

Mahiru: I thought that love wouldn’t lose to anything, but…being unwanted…is a painful thing to experience, isn’t it?

Very painful indeed. It is terrifying to have your one purpose be taken away from you:

YONAH:

You cannot imagine a world without evil, because if such a thing were to exist, you would be void of the one thing that gives you a reason for your existence. Your ideals are fragile.

T2 Interrogation Q18:

Q: What would you do if evil disappeared from the world? A: I see where you’re getting at. But I believe it will never truly disappear.

What else is there other than serving justice, than seemingly protecting innocent weaklings? Nothing? Is there really nothing else you can do? Of course not. Tools have one purpose and one purpose only: to be used.

T2 Interrogation Q19:

Q: Do you really want to protect the weak? A: What, is there something else other than that?

There is nothing else outside of love. Love is always being together. Love is everything, love is what you’ve always wanted but never truly got, love is your lifeline.

Because it’s not like you have anything else:

What else does love and justice provide? Sin. Blood on your hands.

But you can also get to like yourself!

You can get to like yourself.

[altschmerzes]

also just riffing off my last reblog re: sometimes in order to be in character the best thing you can do is be a little out of character, i have seen far more like. “out of character” depictions that were clearly motivated by a stringent desire to keep someone in character than i have ones that just kinda missed the mark for some reason. and usually this comes down to like- emotional investment or expressiveness or care or something along those lines. like when you’re writing a fic and something absolutely devastating happens to a character and they/the characters who love them just kinda Barely Acknowledge It except for a few quips that might be following a canonical lead established by canon not having much time to delve into a character’s emotional responses to something, but fic often depicts far more like. impactful or traumatic or moving events and having characters react the same way to that as they did to their run of the mill canon events can have the effect of being technically “in character” but in a way that is so emotionally bankrupt it is fully unrecognizable anyway.