#just for people to act like she isn't being a spiteful little shit here

[tumblezwei]

I've been incredibly wrong in my Chainsawman interpretations before, and it's worse now that I have to rely solely on the art with no dialogue, but idk why people are acting like Yoru is terrified in that last panel and not pissed the fuck off.

Like, look at this sequence.

She stands up after having her other arm chopped off, ready to keep facing off, and Pochita starts walking past her like she isn't even a threat anymore, so she puts herself in front of his path. Maybe it's just poor paneling on Fujimoto's part, but I find it hard to believe the frame of her directly in front of Pochita's intestine scarf, aka to Pochita's side, isn't deliberate. She's also looking to her left in that shot.

Like, I do believe she's kneeling from exhaustion here, but she's being very deliberate with where she's kneeling. She's getting his attention because he was ignoring her and it made her mad.

Also, the expression she has in the last panel is nearly identical to the expression she has when she's diving towards Pochita's head and going for the kill so. yeah. This isn't fear my dudes it's pure fucking rage.

[legitimatesatanspawn]

So I had a weird dream a few nights ago where I was a random person who never read PIDW who transmigrated into the work along with Airplane but before Cucumber.

Because of meta reasons, NotReader had no System because Airplane and Cucumber both would've expected one and NotReader is more familiar with isekai works like Red River and uh... Digimon. So there was no visible System. For her it was a background process like a TTRPG or CRPG from the player character's PoV, and she thought she woke up somewhere in Nocturne Rebirth or Jade Empire (and is in for a hell of a shock with all the pornbait flora/fauna/monsters).

One thing led to another and she was taken into An Ding Peak. Using old skills learned in highschool and college to grind essays and paperwork. She regretted it a little but even this is better than letting her family sell her off for way-too-early marriage.

But here's why I'm bringing this up: Airplane in the dream had developed a habit of sending students who grew too suspicious of him off to die (the ones who couldn't be gaslit into thinking they were mistaken, and the ones who could be bribed would either want more later or blab anyway). After all these are all fictional characters so while they are a bit more "real" than he expected there still was a measure of seeing them as not people Especially since he was under constant stress and threat of Double Death by the System so hey what's a few deaths of nameless NPCs if it means their author isn't killed off by Siri's evil blue cousin?

So when NonReader realized that Teacher Qinghua is acting a little too squirrely? She's next on the chopping block! Shame since the kid was really good with balancing budgets but that just means he can shuffle blame off on her for a few things that disappeared to help Mobei-jun! Sorry for the inconvenience my fellow Peak Lords, I shouldn't had trusted her but she seemed so good if shy, she totally "ran away" with the money.

The two Transmigrators have no idea the other is originally from Earth. It really doesn't help that since NonReader was from Not-In-China-Like-Airplane-And-Cucumber and in spite of being an internet dweller never even heard of Proud Immortal Demon Way... there's even zero recognition when he even drops a hint of Airplane because "Fēi jī" (飞机) could literally come off as incomprehensible words to her (and yes this is a pun 费解).

Right up until she started cursing him out. In English. Granted that part happened in the dream when he was literally throwing her under an ice demon-shaped bus before he frantically started talking him down actually killing her because SHIT SHIT SHIT that's a Real Person! Killing off random NPCs is one thing but a REAL PERSON? Airplane likes to think he wouldn't allow that to happen to a real person (even though he let "unimportant characters" die right before his eyes many times before).

... yeah she didn't trust him after. Understood a little, but REALLY doesn't trust him. Shang had to resort to blackmail to keep her from blabbing and there is an element of Mutually Assured Destruction but he's more established as reliable (if a rat) and she's a Dumb New Student who he's already laid the preparatory groundwork on framing so she's already on thin ice with everyone else.

Neither of them were happy afterwards but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I woke up before I could see the fallout but as this is BEFORE Shen Yuan, Shang was definitely latching onto a Fellow Person Who Remembers the Good Times of Before SexAndMurderWorld. And as one who he was ready to Get Killed and had to blackmail, there's probably an element of "be chill and enjoy our talks OR ELSE :) ".

(For the record if this becomes an actual story, the NotReader would not become part of Shang's OR Shen's relationship. NotReader would want to FLEE THE AREA the second Airplane lets up on the blackmail. Get as FAR away from the guy who almost killed her off as possible.)

[richeeduvie]

Baby coincidentally changing her locks around the same time Roman gets with Tabitha. I remember reading something here once that he just makes himself home at her place even if he is with Tabitha 😭 he has such a hard time being told no and Baby just goes “oh right,, i had to change my locks recently because I uhh lost my keys ??yeah” and he just stares at her like yeah?? Well?? Wheres my duplicate then🤨 and she just sighs 🧍‍♀️

Dog at Your Door

So we do know he's panicking, right?

It's after a slight conflict, Baby's secretly tense and insecure after witnessing Roman's affections towards Tabitha and was in his words "Acting pussy-hungry."

"Eat a cock. Preferably mines, who elses?"

And Roman, in all his fuck-assery and annoying, attention seeking nature, knew that got to Baby. He didn't know why, but it did. His shit-eating smirk faltered a little, barely noticeable to most. He scratched the back of his neck, watched how Baby walked off into the hall with a fucking attitude.

It just didn't help Baby at all to see the way Roman still holds the belief that he's safe in their friendship to have sex and act as if they're joined by their genitals and hearts while playing boyfriend-girlfriend with Tabitha. It isn't fair, not to her or herself - but Roman holds it so tightly that she knows it's genuine. It's not spiteful, as if he's saying "I own your heart, what are you going to do about it?"

It still hurts.

And all those blood-gushing moments of when Baby pretends to be angry or disappointed in Roman to get him small, insecure, and panicked? It's there when she changes the locks. But it's not purposeful. Not fully, at least.

Roman goes over to her place with almost fully forgetting their little stunt in the day. He knows she's not home, but it's routine to make himself home when she's not there. Sometimes he'll jizz on her pillowcase, or play a game on his phone. Sometimes take a nap, even though naps are for people who are about to turn to dust or toddlers.

But the door doesn't budge. The knob barely moves.

"What the fuck?"

And Roman tries again. And again. The vein along his forehead appears, there comes the thinly-pulled lips and the look in his eyes gets more childishly strained.

"What the fuck?"

So does his voice. It'd make Baby smile if she was there.

After the thirteenth door jam, Roman begins to pull at his hair.

"Fuck!"

It's about a hour worth of constant text messages when Baby reached her place.

'why the fuck can't I open the door to the pent'

'hey'

'what the fuck'

'What the actual fuck?'

'literally what did I do? It's an actual different lock too'

'fuck you seriously'

'I didn't know you were that pussy hungry but I didn't do anything and what?'

'What are you trying to say with this?'

'or can you tell me the lock broke or something?'

'hey'

'why can't I open the door?'

"Roman."

It's Baby standing over him in front of the door. He's rested, casually pissed and passive aggressive.

"I lost my other key."

His fingers play nervously with themselves. Baby watches Roman's chest rise and fall, it's even. But she knows him. It's manic. Not a good enough answer for him. He needs complete assurance that she's not going to leave him or filter him out - that and a kiss, an arm wrapped around his stomach while he sleeps.

"Why didn't you just get a new key?"

"That would mean a place where a stranger could have my key to my door. Changing the locks is safer."

He blinks up and scratches his nose.

"...That's fucking stupid. I'm here in like...belief? Belief you want me out and fuck Roman and his tiny, occupied cock that is perfectly available but I won't accept because your womanly ego convinced you someone might pick up your key and think you're worthy enough of a sex crime."

She looks the knob above his head, scratched up. She assumes (and assumes right) that that came from Roman growing increasingly more frantic and kept missing the keyhole when trying to open it over and over.

"You were about to break in. And what? Wait for me naked to pounce on me? Which would be more like begging. I'd reject which would get you huffy and then I would have to rub your chest like you're a fucking baby who had a bad day with Daddy."

Baby unlocked the door over Roman's head.

"If you were the cautionary scenario I was imagining when I was changing the locks, Rome, I'd keep the door wide open. It's all a pathetic, corporate nature."

"...I didn't even say anything."

"Say hi to Tabitha, and tell Shiv tha-"

"I wanna come in."

"Rome."

He steps in, tense and needy and every other word to describe and man stepping a panic, doing what needs to be done to be the center of her love and affection and she can't leave him outside the door.

And Baby knows that, and she's been so lonely that she'll indulge for the sake of herself.

Roman butts his head into her neck nearly-softly, like a cat. He smiles, not in smugness, but relief.

Sometimes a dog and his bone, other times a cat who gets what he wants anyway.

[chaosherald]

A Word with Friends (2 of 2)

Started by @hedwigoprah , hosted this week by @seaglassmelody

Tags for anyone who wants in <3

This week's word is: Sanguine

Definition (Adjective): optimistic or positive, especially in an apparently bad or difficult situation.

(Totally different vibe from entry #1 😂 Takes place pre-Tearstone Island, post almost everything else. Established Rookanis. Mourn Watcher Rook takes a field trip with Jacobus. I am very much on team "Rook gets to adopt Jacobus and eventually the rest of house Egrativi" - even if my girl isn't a crow, she is marrying into that whole world and she has a thing about making sure orphans find a family, whatever that ends up looking like. Also fun to lean into the Mourn Watcher doing necromancy around outsiders thing. ^⁠_⁠^ )

Rook leaned against the railing, watching Lucanis, Teia, and Viago grow more animated as they conversed in rapid fire Antivan. Crow business, Lucanis had said apologetically before leaving her to her own devices in the balcony above the Cantori Diamond. It probably would have been safe enough for her to head back to the lighthouse on her own, but she knew Lucanis would worry and she was loath to waste what little time the two of them had together.

Well, three of them. Spite was making an effort to be seen, at least by Rook, and it was getting harder to keep a straight face as he stalked behind Viago, alternating between parroting his stern expression and pulling faces at him. How Lucanis was managing to focus on whatever business they were discussing was beyond her.

Movement to the side drew Rook’s eye from the Talons (and demon) to Jacobus, angrily stalking past Rook towards some of the plush chairs on the other landing. Heir was watching him with a long suffering look Rook knew well from her own studies, that of a professor at the end of their rope with a promising but stubborn student. With one last glance at Lucanis and Spite and the conversation in which she understood one word in ten, Rook followed the young assassin. 

Jacobus flopped onto one of the chairs, the grace of his training the only thing saving him from being the poster child of awkward teenage angst and drama. Rook sat down on a chair opposite, smiling at him. “I take it training is going well?”

Jacobus glared at Rook, but without any real heat. “We haven't even touched weapons today. All we've been doing is acting shit.”

“Oh?”

“You must school your expression, Jacobus. Be a mask,” he said, doing a solid impression of Heir. “When you are angry, appear sanguine. When you are flustered, wear confidence. When you know you have them, do not let an early victory cross your face and give away the advantage.” Jacobus grimaced, dropping back to his own voice. “Who cares what my face looks like? My knives send the message they need to send.”

“True,” Rook said, “but Heir’s job is to make sure you're the best you can be. Controlling what kind of information you are giving a target? Especially in a way most people don't think about? That's powerful.”

Jacobus didn't look convinced.

Rook smiled, quirking a brow. “Like right now? Your face is saying ‘Rook, you are full of shit.’ You generally don't want your friends to know when you think they're being stupid.“

Now Jacobus looked away, a slight flush coloring his cheeks. “I don't think you're stupid. I'm just done with sitting around here making faces.”

“Well, if I promise to keep nagging you about your expression, do you think Heir would let you leave for a bit? I have an errand to run in town while Lucanis is occupied and could use some help.”

Jacobus grinned, springing to his feet, his excitement at possibly getting out of the Diamond and away from his training palpable. Rook could see why Heir wanted him to work on controlling his expressions. “Yes, absolutely. What do you need?”

“I need to find a place of unclaimed dead. A burial site. Or a place with a lot of shipwrecks or drownings. I know I've sensed some nearby.”

To his credit, Jacobus did a decent job guarding his expression. Slightly widened eyes and an almost imperceptible step back was fairly neutral as far as such things usually went.

“Now that wasn’t bad. You only look slightly horrified.” Grinning, Rook stood up. “Let's go clear our outing with Heir before the Talons finish their work.”

It didn't take long for Jacobus to lead them over the Crow’s Road to the waterfront in the drowned district. Along the way, Jacobus told Rook some of the stories he'd heard about the area he had chosen, stories of dumped bodies and squatters left to rot in abandoned, half flooded warehouses. Once they were on the ground, Rook took the lead, fade light seeping off her hands to make small dancing lights that guided her towards a likely target while imbuing Rook and the area around her with a diffuse green glow.

Jacobus kept his eyes away from the lights, face set and serious as he scanned the rooftops and alleyways around them. 

Rook glanced back at him. “You alright?”

“Yep,” he answered, a little too quickly. “This isn't creepy at all. I am also not thinking about what the First Talon will do to me If I let anything happen to his whatever-you-are while we're out here.”

Rook laughed. “I can see the worry in your face. Relax your brow and try not to be so obvious about checking every shadow.”

“I'm not going to slack on keeping watch,” he grumped, but Rook noticed he did make an effort to relax his face. “What exactly are you doing anyway?”

“I told you: looking for unclaimed dead.” Rook turned down an alley that ended at a canal, following the guide lights. “I have made contact with a knowledge spirit who is willing to help me with something, but we need a good vessel for it to talk through. It would like to experience the crossroads without fully manifesting outside the Fade. A skull with the right resonance would be the best amplifier while allowing it a presence at the lighthouse. It will essentially be a controlled haunting.”

Jacobus listened, pursing his lips in thought but otherwise keeping any confusion he might have had off his face. “Right. Sure. A skull for a spirit. What is the spirit helping you with?”

Rook kneeled by the edge of the water. “If I'm going to continue being the First Talon’s ‘whatever-I-am,’ I figured I should brush up on my Antivan.” Rook closed her eyes and reached a hand out towards the water, forging a connection with the skull she sensed a couple feet away buried in the silt. She could feel the magic swirling around her, pulling the skull up from the water, and levitating it just over her outstretched hand. She opened her eyes to look it over, glancing at Jacobus to see his reaction.

He was staring, but otherwise calm. “You're doing this for language lessons? Why not just ask Lucanis? Or hire a tutor?”

“I'd like to surprise him. And Knowledge was really excited by the idea. Something about the fascinating dialects and colorful turns of phrase. You know, you are being remarkably sanguine right now, Jacobus.”

Jacobus was leaning towards the skull, reaching out a hand to touch it, all calm curiosity. “Huh?”

“Necromancy makes most people uncomfortable” Rook said, reaching for whatever spark of its previous life still lingered around the skull. 

“Oh. I mean, I trust you. And I'm a Crow. I can handle a dead body or a bit of magic.” Jacobus’ face froze for a moment. “Though now I'm thinking about just how many dead bodies are in the canals and stuff that we don't know about.”

Rook smiled slightly. “Best not to think on that too much.” Rook let the magic around her fade, carefully taking the skull with both hands. “This skull belonged to a fisherman. He fell on hard times when one of the merchant princes negotiated exclusive rights to fish the best spots in the bay. He loved Treviso though and was intensely proud to be Antivan. Whatever the skull remembers of him seems amenable to helping.”

“Do you need it's permission? Like, can't you just make it do stuff with your magic?”

“Yes, but Watchers try to hold ourselves to higher standards.” Rook stood up, carefully wrapping the skull and securing it in her pack. “Imagine what a mortalitasi without such scruples could do in a place like this. Treviso has so many forgotten bones, waiting to dance.”

Jacobus paled slightly, looking back over the canal. “You could just summon skeletons out of the canals?”

Rook caught his eye, keeping her face blank, tilting her chin up slightly, channeling the imperious calm of some of the more intimidating of the senior watchers she had worked with over the years. “An undead army at the snap of my fingers. The stuff of nightmares.” Rook summoned another flare of veilfire, letting it shine from her eyes while small flames flared over the water behind her. “You can't tell if I'm joking or serious right now, can you?”

Jacobus had taken a full step back, hand drifting to one of his knives. “I - wait are you messing with me?”

Rook smiled, letting the veilfire go and waving a hand over her face. “Control your expression and you can control the conversation. See?”

“That's not funny, Rook.”

“But it is effective. Come on, let's get back to the Diamond.” Rook started walking back the way they came. “Besides, I will need someone to practice speaking Antivan with besides Knowledge. If you make a face every time I mess up a verb tense, it's going to be very discouraging.”

“Oh, I'm going make so many faces. Pained, disgusted, horror every time you mess up.”

Rook laughed, looking over her shoulder as she grabbed onto the trellis to climb back above street level. “Perfect. You practice controlling your expressions and I'll practice Antivan and we'll both master something new.”

Rook didn't quite understand the exasperated Antivan phrase Jacobus muttered as he followed her up the trellis, but she was pretty sure she got the gist. 

[genericpuff]

the last few episodes of persephone moping around have felt like less of a self-reflective moment for her to grow and change and more rachel griping about criticism and surrounding herself with yes men

this isn't gonna be in any way a formal essay like my usual sort, more of a slam post honestly, so fair warning that i'm gonna be a little salty here

EPISODE 263 SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!

but seriously, it's been a pity party of greek proportions because this constant "woe is me" shit with persephone that's constantly met with "no queeen you're amazing and perfect" has been going on for DAYS (real time and comic time)

literally every episode since the comic returned has had some segment of either persephone or hades (or both) being upsetti spaghetti over their current situation because oh nooo persephone made the deal with erebus and had to sacrifice something. even though they both knew that was gonna happen and yet she did it anyways. so she just continues to lock herself away in her mansion and spout adorkable quips while her husband, mother, and colleagues deal with the mess she caused.

and of course there's the constant inclusion of apollo spitting straight facts about persephone being a terrible queen and person, but of course because it's apollo saying it, it's not meant to be taken as gospel, essentially clapping back at the words of the critics who call out persephone for being a shitty and toxic protagonist by putting those words into the mouth of a literal rapist.

and yeah episode 263 had a lot of the same shit, to the point that you could literally swap out the names of the characters and the words they were speaking and it applies exactly to rachel and the corner she put herself in u.u it's been a thing for a while now that apollo has just felt like a mouthpiece for LO criticism but as mentioned by users within the subreddit during the discussion of this newest episode, it's never felt more apparent than now.

so yeah enjoy this satirical text edit of a sequence from the newest FP episode, which I honestly can't tell is meant to satirize the critical community or Rachel's reactions to the critical community because the weird reality this comic and its community exist in has just become that wack that it's hard to believe it's not directly from The Onion sometimes LMAO

-and as much as i find myself empathizing with the pressure that rachel is surely under right now - no one should have to be subject to the screeching howls of the peanut gallery - i can't help but be reminded of the memes and tweets she's put out that basically outright say "persephone is supposed to be celebrated for being a shitty person, if you can't handle her at her worst you don't deserve her at her best 💅"-

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rachel Smythe (@usedbandaid)

-and how often she's ruined her own day looking for critical groups or people with the "wrong opinions" that were minding their own business, or how much she's stifled her own community's attempts to discuss the story openly by having her mods ban anyone with even so much as a question regarding persephone's integrity.

so yeah, as much as i can empathize with her from one creator to another that being under this amount of pressure and scrutiny must be immensely frustrating and exhausting, beyond that one similarity i just can't empathize or relate to this mindset of almost learned helplessness that's taken a firm grip over her writing. this is the story she wants to tell and by all means no one is entitled to make her stop, but if she's gonna keep using her greek myth "retelling" comic that's trying to be "feminist" as a mouthpiece for her own griping over criticisms that are largely on-point and justified - to the point of putting the words of her critics into the mouth of her token villain like she's playing some single player barbie doll "act out that fight that sounded cooler in your head" game - then she's gonna keep getting called out, full stop. i figured she didn't have any nose left to rip off in spite of her face but apparently not.

look, i get it, there are some opinions and behaviors within the critical community that even i'm not on board with. there are people who absolutely take shit too far on both sides of the fandom, and i think both sides need to do more to hold themselves accountable for how they interact with each other, the comic, and rachel herself. i make it a point to keep my shit in my own house, i'm not entitled to rachel's attention and frankly it's the last thing i want because i have a lot of fun here and i don't want that to be potentially ruined or dampened! but if you come into my house and complain about the decorating, then i legitimately don't know what to tell you. i used to love LO and i'm so sad for my past self knowing fully well they're not gonna be able to wholeheartedly enjoy this comic forever due to how manipulative and shitty the storytelling has become. a story that i once connected to as an AFAB who was a victim of assault and abuse and generational trauma.

if persephone being the true main villain in her own story was ever meant to be the point of Lore Olympus, then it's taken way, way too long to get to that point, and rachel herself definitely doesn't seem to be of the mindset that that's what she's become with all of her blasé meme'ing on a plot arc that she's still expecting us to take seriously. persephone was never a very complex character to begin with - being an easy self-insert for the audience and rachel to project themselves onto and relate to - but at least in the beginning she felt like she had so much legitimate potential, she was naive but put her best foot forward and clearly wanted to make a life for herself, made by herself.

now she's just mean. jaded and mean. dependent on the constant validation of others to the point of being manipulative. an absolute shell of a person who can only grow a spine when she's punching down on people weaker than her, completely incapable of standing up to the people who are a legitimate threat to her. it's not empowering, it's not subversive, it's just another pick me story about women pitting themselves against other women and never taking accountability for their own behavior, mistakes, and deliberate actions meant to hurt others, often teetering on the line of straight up narcissism all for the sake of a "boss babe" moment.

anyways, if you want an actual well-written and GOOD scene of an empathetic female protagonist struggling to find their footing in adulthood being called the fuck out for their learned helplessness behavior, go read Tamberlane, it tackles this topic much better through its main character who keeps using her brokenness as an excuse to never do better, it slaps and it's so real.

[jankypromoters]

i (foolishly) decided to step out of my little side pocket of the arcane fandom to see what people are saying about mel in regards to jayvik... and bruh. i wasted like... a couple minutes of my life reading a jayvik shipper's long ass take dismissing the misogynoir in the arcane fandom and i just need to rant.

there's nothing wrong with jayvik. there's nothing wrong with YOU if you like jayvik.

but having your head so deep up a ship's ass you don't notice the people around you being anti-black? then pretending like black fans are just making shit up to “spite your ship” or whatever bullshit you believe to make yourself feel better after pointing out the misogynoir that the fandom isn't even trying to hide? it's shit like this that prevents me, and a lot of other black fans from enjoying certain media in general.

and i just wanna say i don't think a lot of people are anti-jayvik because they're "butthurt" or whatever the fuck y'all say. IT'S BECAUSE Y'ALL ARE FUCKING WEIRDDDDDD WHEN IT COMES TO MEL.

ntm a couple days ago i saw a goofy ass Instagram reel saying "y'all couldn't even handle jayvik" nigga WHO? WHO IS Y'ALL? let's be so fr, jayvik is the most popular, well received ship in the whole show. go to the arcane ao3 tag right now and you'll see that shit in the top three up there with timebomb and caitvi (we also need to talk about how common it is for interracial relationships in media and fandoms to only be mainstreamed as long as one of the partners is white... but i digress, i digress.)

we can't handle a fandom doing what it does best; pairing the two men together and shitting on the woman? gtf 😭 this has been happening since the birth of the Internet. Hell, probably even before.

And the real kicker is, you don't HAVE to like Mel. I can understand why some people may not like her, and I'm not gonna sit here and say you have to like her just because she's black. But a lot of people are just regurgitating nasty anti-black talking points to justify their hatred for her instead of ACTUALLY having a valid reason to dislike her character.

mel is a colonizer. i won't deny that in the slightest. but the mass majority of the fandom don't care to dig deeper than the surface level representation she's given. it's always "she manipulated jayce!"/"she called them investments!" nigga go bathe.

i knew as soon as viktor appeared on screen the fandom was finna show they ass over that white man. i just KNEW fujo brain worms would takeover and all logic would go out the window. but trust me. you jayvik niggas aren't oppressed for wanting these men to kiss. y'all aren't even a minority. quit acting like you gotta protect yourself from big bad mel medarda and her stans.

and it's not even ALL jayvik shippers, but it's too damn many. they saw black woman near their fave and immediately decided to lynch her character. i'm saying lynch metaphorically and literally because of that disgusting jayvik serial killer au floating around in mel's tag. i have something to say about that to but i'll make another post. i'm disgusted, not shocked, and disappointed that this behavior is so normalized in fandom spaces.

since arcane season two decided to be more ship driven than narrative driven i feel like a lot of y'all feel... entitled, and people feel like they finally have the opportunity to express their anti-blackness in an environment where they can pull the homophobia and ableism card once you call out the weird shit they're doing.

tl;dr i don't wanna hear a jayvik shipper, nay, a NONBLACK person speak on fandom misogynoir ever again because y'all are just loud and wrong every damn time, and stop acting like black fans are fucking stupid for addressing it.

[flower-boi16]

Why The "Their Both Meant to Be in the Wrong!" defense doesn't work

Lately I've commonly seen this defence levidied towards the show's writing of Stolitz everytime someone critizes season 2's handling of it, and in light of the recent episode I feel the need to cover it. So let's go over why this defence simply doesn't work, shall we?

1. Their mistakes are not equal

I already made a post about this before so I'll try to keep it brief; Stolas and Blitz's mistakes here aren't equal and the show can't act like they are. Stolas mistake was sexually abusing Blitz, trapping him in a situation where he has to agree to sleep with him or he'll lose the thing he needs for his job

Blitz' mistakes are...

Being kind of an ass to Stolas in Apology Tour

Not realizing that Stolas has genuine love for him due to being blinded by preconcieved notions he's had about him

Let's break these down, shall we?

This not on the same level as what Stolas was doing

Blitz isn't even in the wrong for this. Again I talked about this before in my post about Viv's tweet but. Blitz is not in the wrong here for not believing that Stolas loves him, after all, what reason does he even have? Stolas has done nothing but sexually abuse and constantly belittle Blitz, and even those "nice things" aren't suddenely enough to balance out those bad actions, they are far too small to actually make up for the shit Stolas did to Blitz.

None of these mistakes are remotely the same level as what Stolas did to Blitz especially when you start putting in context here. Stolas was doing what he was doing to Blitz were all purely for his own selfish pleasure while Blitz' actions were more understandable once you look at things from his perspective.

You can't pretend that Blitz and Stolas' actions are somehow the same level when they simply are not. The actions from both characters should be equally as bad when you put in the context, but here it simply isn't.

2. Stolas' mistakes are never acknowledged

I've seen a lot of people trying to say that one of Stolas' mistakes here is that he "isn't self-aware enough" to realize how he treated Blitz not as a why to excuse him but to try and deny the argument that the show is victimizing him. There are two problems with this;

There isn't any actual indication of this being case within the show, this was just something that Viv made up in a tweet she posted after the full moon aired and everyone suddenely started parrotting it around. This was suppoused to be character trait for Stolas than that should have been made more clear from the narrative.

Let's say for a sec that the narrative does make it clear that Stolas has little self-awarness; well, it still fails because the show never calls this out. The show never calls out Stolas' lack of self-awarness in these scenes, if the show really was trying to hold them both accountable then Stolas' flaws here should be properly addressed by the narrative, but they aren't. It's a similar issue to Charlie from HB's sister show; the narrative is aware of the flaws the character has but it never chooses to call out or confront these flaws because it's too busy idealizing/babying the character to do that. Stolas' flaws SHOULD be addressed by the narrative if Viv really is trying to make them both flawed, but no, only Blitz flaws are acknowledged while Stolas' aren't.

That's bad writting. 90% of the blame is put on Blitz while Stolas is solely painted as someone hurt by Blitz' actions. The only time where Stolas' actions are seen as bad is when he was SA Blitz, which is good but...since it's coming alongside moments that demonize Blitz for not seeing that Stolas loves him, it runs hollow and still comes across and victimizing Stolas here as someone hurt by Blitz in spite of holding him accountable (and also because, once again, Blitz is not in the wrong for thinking this even if he has biases). The show is still directly demonizing Blitz for being hurt by Stolas' actions here, so it runs hollow.

3. Blitz still gets all the blame

People constantly complain about antis "picking sides" when you aren't suppoused to, but I don't think you can blame people for doing that when the show itself is picking sides. The show puts all the blame onto Blitz here, painting him as the one mostly in the wrong here and an asshole for hurting Stolas' feelings.

Despite what fans try to argue, the framming of the show makes Stolitz look completely black and white; Blitz is the asshole who hurt poor Stolas' feelings and Stolas is the one who maybe made some mistakes but is mostly innocent here guys! I'm really sick of people trying to argue about this being a grey reletionship when it's not, if Viv wants it to be a grey reletionship then she's doing a shit tier job at it due to the framming of the show.

Blitz is the one who the show mostly demonizes here, he's the one who the show sees as the worst person here who needs to change, while Stolas is painted as the "bigger" person. That's not mutual toxicity. If that was what the show was aiming for then the show would call them both out on their bullshit, but it doesn't.

Conclusion

Just wanted to write this quick post because I was sick of seeing this defense over and over again when it came to this reletionship. Guys, Stolitz is suppoused to be a mutually toxic reletionship, then the show's framming is fumbling it significantly. The writting for the reletionship here is just plain bad.

[bobbydagen24]

Trolls overall has a Big problem with the idea of Holding people accountable for their actions.

here's a numbered list of examples of what I'm talking about.

Cloud Guy in the Tv shows not only because he Harasses Branch most of the time with no consequences but also because Poppy goes out of her way to defend him even when his actions cause trouble for many other people.

like when he flooded the village just out of spite because Branch wouldn't do what he wanted anymore and not to mention how even when she found out that he also Harassed other people from each of the Troll Tribes she still took his side and got mad at them when they stood up for themselves and "" upset Cloud Guy "".

which even if it hadn't been revealed that it was all an act by him just to mess with them it would still make Poppy look bad since she Refused to do anything about his Blatant Bullying yet got mad at his victims when they stood up for themselves.

and not to mention made excuses for why his behaviour wasn't so bad making out like he only Harassed them because he was trying to help them which is just all kinds of wrong.

2. a lesser example but still a bad example imo is in the Trollstopia episode where Dante uses Branch as his muse and he stalks him breaks into his home and disrupts his daily Jobs which he does.

and when he goes to Poppy for help she makes out like Dante's behaviour is reasonable and tells Branch to suck it up.

and after Branch does something to get Dante to back off Poppy then gets mad at him when Dante isn't able to come up with any music ideas like that's somehow Branch's problem?

Dante needed help but Rather than ask for it he just went ahead and took it by invading someone's privacy.

and breaching their trust and then Poppy made out like Branch was wrong for setting down Boundaries with him which is just iffy to be honest feels like this episode was written by Joe Goldberg or something lol.

3. and there's Creek as I've said in the past I love him lol but I do agree that his Return in TBGO could have been done better where he could have had a little arc of slowly earning back people's trust maybe over the span of a few episodes.

4. some people like to go on about the Bergens being forgiven too easily and I agree to an extent but given how Gristle Jr couldn't exactly punish the majority of the population I don't think they really had much choice in this matter.

I feel the only problem is them acting all chummy with the rest of the Bergens like letting them off for killing their species is one thing but acting like friends with them is a whole other like staying friends with Bridget and Gristle is fine given their history and the fact that they were too young to have eaten any Trolls prior to the escape.

but acting friendly with the rest of them feels a tad insensitive like in the opening of TBT we see Branch and Poppy acting all chummy with Random Bergens and Branch even High fives a couple of them and I was just thinking to myself

"" dude they probably ate someone's loved ones in the past how would you feel if you saw other Trolls giving Chef a friendly High five? ""

5. anyway moving on there's Barb who enslaved countless people destroyed their homes and tried to wipe out all other kinds of music and she was let off in the end.

its not even like she had a last minute change of heart she literally just got beaten and that's the only reason why her plan didn't succeed and afterwards she was just instantly forgiven.

6. Bro zone I've already talked about them in Depth in the past but yeah unreliable selfish insensitive and at worst cruel not to mention they never truly change their ways.

they keep on doing the same crappy behaviour and they don't show that much remorse for their past actions yet they still get forgiven in the end Despite everything.

because yaaaay family is amazing even if they Treat you like shit over and over again.

the films message feels like it was written by a toxic parent to please other toxic parents to be honest which judging by how this film won over general audiences I'd say it worked like a Treat lol.

so yeah Despite my love for it Trolls overall as a franchise has a serous problem with actually Holding people accountable for their crappy actions and Behaviours I feel the only exception is Veneer as even tho his turn at the end felt Rushed and out of nowhere imo.

I was pleasantly surprised that the movie didn't just let him off the Hook and he still got arrested and accepted the punishment for his crimes in the end.

I feel the same thing should have happened with Barb given everything she did.

anyway if you've made it to the end of my post thank you you have the patience of a saint lol anyway what do you think about this aspect of the franchise?

[jeremy-ken-anderson]

Excellent Villain Writing

It's interesting because one of the plot points of Not a Typical Reincarnation Story is that the story's "fixes" to irregular human behavior in them are kind of poorly written - perhaps the original novel the character's stuck in was okay, but whoever's using that as a basis for a real world isn't good at adapting when a human brings in Facts And Logic.

Anyway in spite of that, the character of Cliff is actually an excellently written villain.

The Context: In the novel the brothers Cliff and Killian were fighting over the affections of Rhyse. Killian was briefly married to the evil Edith from the villainous Rigelhof family but her obsession and jealousy drives her to increasingly blatant acts of sabotage and violence and she's at last executed, and then the tension of the love triangle is in full swing. But in the comic Edith is played by a reincarnated human - and not just any, but one who read the novel. She knows how this goes for her if she's a jealous little shit, so she is a fine upstanding citizen and furthermore she is genuinely nice to Rhyse, which screws with everything about her portion of the base story. If she's not being horrible it would make the good-guy family look bad to execute her, so she's living past where she was supposed to be written out of the story. But if she's a good person and as bewitchingly lovely as the evil temptress she was supposed to be, it makes Killian look bad if he doesn't, like, at least attempt to care for his own wife.

In the process of all this story-breaking, Killian's been falling for her.

And finally there's enough context for the latest scene:

Cliff is egging on his brother to pay less attention to his own wife and more attention to Rhyse, who is supposed to be the woman in the love triangle. Now, Cliff has been firmly villain-coded the whole story long. Every time something bad is happening to a good person and he's on screen, he is smiling. And a lot of the story we've seen that hasn't been from Edith's perspective has been from Killian's, and Cliff is the jerk older brother that never lets him win at anything.

And this is what makes his act here such excellent villain writing.

By rights Cliff should be happy to let his brother get out of the love triangle so he wins by default, but he's so obsessed with the contest that he can't accept the idea of his brother walking away from it and spending attention on his own damn wife. It's not enough to have Rhyse at his side or even to "win her heart." Without his brother to defeat at it, he's lost and confused.

In this scene Cliff is at once pathetic, obnoxious, twisted, sad, and really offensive. He's been a constant threat to Edith, happily treating her as guilty-by-default, like an NPC whose dialogue hasn't been properly rewritten in response to altered player behavior. But this shows how little he thinks of his brother and even of Rhyse herself.

And the thing is, this idea of the "sore winner" is a character most of us have met. Even if Cliff turns out to be doing this because he's actually an NPC that can't pivot like a real person, or something, for now this still feels like pretty naturalistic character writing. It's not that unusual for actual people to get hung up on the people around them sticking to the script, and paradoxically upset with character growth in people they should care be happy for.

[dadvans]

9-1-1 S8x04 Liveblog Notes

This episode starts and ends with Bobby being underestimated by Gerrard in completely unique ways. Amazing.

Underrated line: "So they took my house from me. Yes, it was humiliating. Well, I'm sorry, sweetheart, but I'm back." I really don't think Gerrard is fully gone. We know there will be more Hotshots + Brad this season. Gerrard is a man who survives out of spite, and there are depths of his hatred we don't even know.

I'm so curious about how Gerrard has, if I remember correctly, said mooks twice. Gerrard/Sal OTP.

As long as we're going to talk about Gerrard, I'm adding this here much, much later: awful, terrible people have good sides to them. This will always be true, especially for powerful people. I've seen a few different interpretations of "Tight End," but I'm going to be real with you all from someone who grew up in male spaces? This is affection. This is Old Guard shit. It is not good. It is the kind of preferential affection that tells you that you're on thin ice but you're special enough or good enough if you work hard, and you've been noticed. Your name will always be your strongest weakness. Someone has their eye on you. You can be called out by the leader something awful, but at least you have a name. (My coach's name for me was "Bruiser.")

Buck is terrible at golf. I feel like there was a lot of spec this episode about his outfit: that's just a golf outfit. Buck strikes me as the kind of guy who knows how to socially fake appearances, and Gerrard isn't calling him on his terrible performance here. NOTABLY: in terms of performance, Oliver Stark can act his way through terrible drives down the line with the addition of SFX and flailing with the net, but I'm still frustrated at how capable he was in the basketball montage in s7 after Buck is supposed to hate/suck at basketball.

Yes, you can be good at a sport and hate it. That's me with golf. That's Buck with basketball.

Someday, if anyone ever wants, I would love to nerd out about how they blocked and choreographed the basketball scene, because it DOES make me a little crazy.

Did they actually play a full 18 after this? And Buck survived?

The apartment Bobby and Athena are looking at is at least $2mil. It actually looks like several listings where I was trying to gauge new build in surrounding neighborhoods when I was writing "An Outlier."

Michael... plans. I find it a little weird that Athena would do it, a lot weird she would do it without Bobby. Bobby and Michael had a good relationship! But then Athena was excited! It's a weird way to navigate how Michael can't physically appear in the show anymore. It almost feels like a regression, because Bobby and Michael were so close. Michael would probably have reached out to Bobby if Athena reached out to him. I miss their made, intentional, yet triumphant family so much (including May and Harry).

I was SO into Chimney pointing out the obvious about the blueprints until he made it about the 118-- although his Gerrard impression was the unsettling kind of impressive.

The tiger would have simply become friends with me and I would have called 9-1-1 while we were chilling on the couch together. But I would have told them it was okay and to never come because I found my best friend forever.

Crazy that they had to use a tranq dart. I simply would have entered the apartment and said hello and the tiger would have recognized me as a friend and we would have left together laughing over shared interests.

I totally think Eddie violated HIPAA contacting an underage patient's parent without his OR his guardian's permission. Eddie also showed said parent photos of his son's injury that Eddie had taken without permission. The mother even clarified that she would not notify the father. For me, the biggest implication here is that Eddie's on-the-job performance (despite being impeccable during the emergency itself) could begin to suffer, or his ability to remain impartial in situations will continue to take hits before it gets better without Christopher.

People are BIG MAD about the above opinion on Reddit. Why are you booing me, I'm right.

I had an HR post script about how Bobby financially runs his department here and how he underhires with overperformers to navigate attrition, but it is lost to time. I guess we will never know how my sexy HR brain works in a situation that it has never been in, but I'm sure I was right, because I always am.

[crystalflarestuck]

EDIT: THESE POSTS NO LONGER REPRESENT MY OPINIONS AND ARE KINDA SHIT ANALYSES FROM WHEN I JUST FINISHED HOMESTUCK. I WOULD DELETE THEM BUT AM KEEPING THEM FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSES.

Identity and Alternate Selves in Homestuck

Part 1: Roxy Lalonde

A common sentiment I see from certain Homestuck fans (mainly the ones who think act 6 ruined the story) is that the focus on the Dancestors (and to a far far lesser extent the alpha kids) serve no real purpose. On the contrary I believe they are both key to understanding one of Homestuck's central themes.

One way Homestuck characterizes people is through exploring alternate versions of themself, with one of the more prominent examples of this being the similarities and differences between the Beta Guardians and Alpha Kids.

Dirk is the most obvious case, but I believe he would need a far deeper dive without the added context gained from exploring other characters first. Instead the first character I will exploring will be Roxy Lalonde (mainly cause I am biased).

Towards the beginning of Homestuck we are introduced to Rose Lalonde and her 'Troubled' relationship with her mother. Rose views many things that her mum does as subtle, insincere jabs at her, with the very first example given being her "ironic" collection of shitty wizard paintings (that are actually just shitty jpegs). Rose even describes the vast collection of wizard statues her mum collects as something she does "just to spite her".

Rose's views much of what her Mother does this way, from her "ironic housewife routine", to her buying a 'pretty princess doll' as a "totally PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE gesture" and of course most importantly Jaspers' grave which Rose believes was "erected with a spirit of scornful IRONY"

While Rose's perspective towards her Mother seems extreme at time it can be believed as true, especially when taking he constant drinking into account. We don't really have another perspective to view her from other then Rose. None of the guardians have dialogue and as such we cannot gather more from them then what we are presented, unless of course we can.

With that we are brought to the scratch, the reset of the universe brought on by John in the Sburb session, leading to a pseudo reset of the universe, changing the times that ecto babies were sent to leading to the kids of this universe now being consisting of Jade's Grandfather, John's Grandmother, Dave's Brother and Rose's Mum. This of course brings us to Roxy Lalonde the alpha version of Rose's Mum.

The very first page we see her in person presents a very interesting development. Roxy loves wizards.

This one line re contextualizes Roses relationship with her mum a LOT. If Rose's mum loves wizards just how much of Rose's thoughts on her mother were incorrect. Perhaps everything Mum Lalonde was doing was in fact unironic and 100% sincere?

This little moment showcases the manner in which homestuck uses alt selves to flesh out its characters. The alpha kids help give us more perspective on their beta counterparts but its not just us they help give this perspective too...

Much Later on during Act 6 Act 6 I5, Rose and Roxy finally have the chance to have a conversation and Rose asks the ever important question.

Here Rose gets to have some new perspective on her own mothers thanks to Roxy's love of wizards, reflecting on her own perspective on her mothers actions and how a lot of it was her fault. This conversation is a bit too long for me too fully analyze however there is one part I do want to focus on, Rose discussing the differences between her Mum and Roxy.

The thing Rose is most surprised about that is different about Roxy is her sobriety. Mom Lalonde was not one to go without drinking for even a day, which was part of what lead to the conflict between her and Rose. She mentions how Roxy doesn't seem like the type of person to drink everyday however we know this isn't true, its just that Roxy was able to recover, partially in anticipation for meeting Rose.

The differences between selves is just as important of a concept to grasp as the similarities between selves, however these concepts shall be explored further in future posts.

Future posts will include a focus on the relationship between trolls on Alternia and their Dancestors on Beforus as well as other alpha kids (though dirk will probably be left for last just due to how much a can of worms he is)

Do keep in mind this first part of what I hope to become a semi in-depth analysis of certain concepts in regards to alternate versions of characters in homestuck. This took me half a day to write up so I probably won't make a follow up for another few days.

[shera-dnd]

I got the game Soulstice for free in the Epic Game Store like ages ago and finally decided to play it

AND OH BOY

That was not what I was expecting and I mean that entirely as a compliment

Game feels like a lower budget Devil May Cry. The aesthetic is beautiful, the world is fantastic, the story is cheesy at times but still really good, and I'm simply in love with the two main characters

The gameplay is a bit rough around the edges. Like it's very clear this is this dev team's first attempt at making this type of game, but they have plenty of interesting ideas and takes on classic mechanics that will only get better as they gain more experience

Not sure if that has been announced yet, but I'm fully convinced that Soulstice 2 is gonna be a fucking banger

Anyways I highly recommend this game to anyone who loves dark fantasy and has an itching for some good DMC-like action

But well this is my blog and y'all know what I'm about.

IT'S TIME FOR THOSE SEXY FUCKING THEMES BABY!

short version: this is a story about relationships and how people help each other survive their shared trauma

Like our main characters are a scarred warrior and the ghost of her little sister! LIKE SHE'S LITERALLY HAUNTED BY HER DEAD SISTER! THIS AIN'T SUBTLE!

ANYWAYS

Now it's time for the long version under the cut, so be weary of spoilers!

Alright let's do some set up here

Okay so our girls, Briar and Lute, are a "chimera" which in this setting means two souls placed into a single body

So guess what the shared trauma that those two have to get over is THE DEATH OF EVERYONE THEY KNOW INCLUDING THEMSELVES

And that's the trauma all chimeras in the game suffered. They all had to die to become what they are now. They all suffered and they were all changed by that suffering

And to top it all off, every chimera at some point will become so changed by their transformation that they'll lose all sense of the person they were before and turn into a destructive monster

This is known as transcendence, and every chimera would rather die than transcend

AND THAT, MY GOOD BITCH, IS THE CENTER OF MY ARGUMENT HERE

Because we see plenty of transcended throughout the game. The 3 big bosses of the game are all transcended chimera, all people who are just like our protagonist. People who were changed by their trauma and lost themselves to it

And the thing is Briar and Lute transcend too, but instead of it consuming them and turning them into a monster, it makes them stronger.

And why the fuck is that? well, it's because of the way they deal each deal with their trauma and how they relate to each other

Like Jared and Jadon

They straight up DON'T deal with their trauma. They don't unpack shit. They just try to move forward, act tough, and be loud and boastful.

When they transcend that's all that remains of them. Their humanity is lost, replaced only with that drive to never stop moving, never stop fighting, be loud, be strong, take on the next challenge, and the next, and the next, and the next.

Armina and Damian are somehow even worse. They're entirely fueled by spite and a sense of superiority. They hate each other and their hate is what keeps them going, that and the act they put on of being better than each other

When they transcend they get consumed by their self destructive tendencies, fighting for control over their body and constantly belittling each other. Hell their transcended form literally features a pair of hands wrapped around their own neck

THIS ISN'T FUCKING SUBTLE!

Then there's Donovan and Hannah. By the triarchy, these two

Donovan, the good and kind father who clung desperately to his dying daughter. Clung so tightly in fact that all he did was prolong her suffering. He held on until Hannah's death consumed and destroyed him

Donovan is a mindless being in this transcended form, only Hannah's pain and resentment remains

So in short, they all suck. They hide their pain and cling to these masks, and these toxic relationships. They refuse to change until change becomes inevitable and fully consumes them

And so they're all destroyed by their own pain

And sure they're antagonists, but the story constantly asks you to understand them and their pain. None of them are like this because they wanted to, none of them became monsters by their own choice. None of them chose to suffer this trauma

And neither did Briar and Lute

They constantly talk about the pain of becoming a chimera, of how this change was forced upon them and how it was never their choice

They feel like they're less than human and that they can never go back to who they once were

They too are on the path to transcendence

But the difference is that Lute and Briar make each other stronger. They help each other move forward and even deal with the past trauma that led to their new existence

Hell your major power upgrades are straight up locked behind flashback sequences in which they confront the events that led to their death and subsequent rebirth as a chimera

Not to mention that they have other people to help them deal with their crap. They have Layton (begrudgingly) and Donovan (for a bit) to help them process everything that has happened and IS happening to them

And in the end our girls realize that... yeah, this sucks. They got changed by forces beyond their control and made to suffer for it

But that doesn't have to define who they are and what they do. Their trauma changed them, but it isn't all that they are

They support each other through the pain and when they transcend it's (for the first time) by their own choice

They accepted their pain, they confronted their trauma, and they chose to change. So unlike every single other transcended in the game, they get to remain themselves, they may look different but they're still Briar and Lute

their deaths, their transformation, their pain

None of it gets to decide who they are

And my god does that lead to a lovely ending sequence

Genuinely cannot wait to see what comes next for these two as they go after the people behind all that pain and try to help more of their fellow chimera

so uh... yeah. Cool game

[enigmaincrimson]

Sitting here... thinking about a few Freedom Planet verse things. (Long Ramble alert)

For starters, in spite of the physical resemblance, "Modern" Light Dragons are not the same as their ancient counterparts. Of course, most people presume that it was a decline, but the truth is that the creation of the modern Light Dragon was the result of the largest cover-up in galactic history.

In other words, the Pallandian Imperial council quite literally wiped out their own race (and everything else in the empire) for shits and giggles and then tried to cover up by kidnapping people in order to modify and brainwash them to hide what actually happened and embed themselves further as essential for their daily lives.

Of course, in spite of clear evidence to contrary, modern Pallandians refuse to admit that their entire history is a lie and that their "gods" didn't actually need to set people on fire every morning to make the sun rise among everything else.

They were also extra upset when evidence of what actually happened and is happening in Pallandia was leaked to the galactic public with no way to stop it from spreading.

_

Evelyn looks strikingly like the ancient empress... other than features like her horns and tail being black instead of white.

It's a generally accepted trait that the royal family carries some similarity to the lost empress.

The current imperial princess does resemble Evelyn to the point that if she dyed her tail and covered her horns in varnish, you'd think they were sisters... or even twins... which has caused some confusion.

However, the imperial princess cannot open the imperial vaults, but Evelyn can... and that act requires a connection to the true imperial bloodline. Understandably, this little fact tends to be pushed aside whenever it is brought up.

Also, they don't exactly know that it was Evelyn accessing the vaults as they can't get inside, and she keeps escaping whenever they tried to catch her in the act.

If they were able to get their hands on Evelyn, they'd likely want to stick her on the throne, regardless of how she feels about the matter.

_

So... consider things this way...

Lord Brevon would likely pick up that Evelyn could be connected to the Pallandian royal family and seemingly trying to hide her identity by her appearance alone and would quickly tip him off that something is weird if he ever tried to well... wash her and the paint and dye isn't coming off.

Not that she'd ever let him get close enough to give her a bath. Especially considering what plans he might have for someone of the imperial bloodline. Especially going for a "throwback" like she seems to be.

So, him constantly addressing her as "Your highness" and "Princess" among other things just to get on her nerves and everyone's attention wouldn't be too surprising.

_

I doubt Torque has been to Pallandian territory at all, but he's likely heard something about the royal family and make the connection once the warlord starts making a point in addressing Evelyn's "secret".

I mean, sure... Pallandia is definitely demanding the "lost princess" be returned to some degree, but it would be pretty obvious that she'd rather stay where she is.

For the galaxy at large, it's better she doesn't go back to Pallandia.

_

For the shorter notation...

The True Light Dragon race was wiped out from what amounts to mass genocide for "fun" and the "Modern" light dragon race was produced to cover up their disappearance.

The members of the Pallandian Royal family looks quite a bit like the Ancient Empress, who vanished shortly before the event.

Evelyn also looks strikingly like the Ancient Empress if it weren't for features like her horns and tail being a more... void-like black tone instead of a pure white.

Of course, that also means that Evelyn resembles the current imperial princess.

Anyone familiar with the Pallandian Royal family would recognize that Evelyn is the imperial princess, but fail to realize that there's more going on here.

So... any encounter with Lord Brevon, the Magister, and maybe Torque could get pretty awkward.

I'm still debating how things would go from there.

[nathank77]

5/18/24

9:25 p.m Edited/Added to

I just got home from the hospital. It was nice seeing her. I spent a couple hours there maybe 3. She was mostly sober cause yea she was on oxy. So we had a regular normal conversation which was really nice. She seemed sober. It was really nice. I could see my mother behind her eyes. Something I don't see ever.

She's thinking about trying to apply for fmla so she can go to rehab. Her idea not mine idk what fmla is lol but paid leave. That's all I know. I made sure to bring it up to her nurse and gave her skyes contact cause of the hours. Bc the case manger could potentially get it approved. She came in the er so drunk. They know the right things to say and now is the time to act..

So hopefully she does that. I won't give my hopes up. Cause I get it she needs to get paid and she also will return to her normal habit if she stays at home. It's sad cause she always thinks about quiting drinking when she's spent a few days away from it at the hospital... like she knows she feels better once she stops withdrawing and is more clear headed but she can't quit at home.. which i mean I do get. There is a reason rehabs exist.

I feel better having seen her. I'll go tomorrow after therapy if she doesn't come home. We could have a really good relationship if she stopped drinking that's the saddest part. I love her so much. I hope they can get it approved and I hope she actually goes. I'll visit her all the time.

But I'll expect her to come home and drink herself to death cause yea. She brought up a time when she was sober cause she was out of work... I low key remember but I think she was still drinking just less so I didn't spend time with her. I was with Katie and thats something I resent about Katie is she made me resent my mother more and stay away from her. It's important to me that my partner takes my mother as she is. I get that if she had kids, she couldn't be around the kids. I get things would be a little different but I expect her to take her as she is. And to talk to her and make eye contact with her. Katie wouldn't even make eye contact with her.

Anyways I'm still stressed about sleep... I'm worried I'll struggle.. but hopefully it was just anxiety about not seeing my mom and all those feelings that came up last night about how she could have died. And the fact that I didn't go to see her...

Idk what to do about Mark. Here are my thoughts:

1) I will respect myself more if I don't go cause he didn't accept me for who I was as a person. And I always put everyone else first and disregard my feelings. This isn't to spite Mark. This is me saying. He didn't mean anything to me and I don't need to see a dead body and people crying and I dont need to say good bye I don't want to talk about the, "good times." My dad looked at mark like he was shit. They didn't talk. Of course it's his brother but I mean why do I have to go for you? When he didn't respect my identity? My entire being? Who I am as a person?

I'm not trying to spite anyone. I feel bad he died. I feel bad for him-how he died. And for his family for my father. For everyone who loved him..but I respect myself too much to pretend he meant anything to me beyond I care that another human being suffered...

But then I will put a wall between me and my father.. bc he doesn't want to understand that for one mental pictures are a thing. Negativity is a thing. I need to be in healthy situations. And only deal with something like death if someone I truly care about is dying...

Beyond that it's my identity. Not the fact that I don't work or idk that I'm fiscally liberal or something.

2) I will likely respect myself equally if I go bc- it's the right thing to do for my father. But only for him. It's not the right thing to do for me.

I always put everyone else first. All the time constantly... and for once I don't want to but I don't want to build a wall between me and my father.

So idk what to do cause it's only the right thing for my father not for me.

That's the thing about the right thing.. the right thing isn't always obvious...

"Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are same."- The Fray All At Once.

The hardest thing and the right thing are the same in this case, putting myself first but it will effect me and my father's relationship.

So idk. All I know is the right thing for me is to not go. The right thing for my father is to go.

I reference that song for a reason bc of that quote. The fray is one of my favorite bands of all time and that qoute struck me when I was a teenager. And it applies to this.

The song below is really important to me:

"Looking for something I've never seen

Alone and I'm in between

The place that I'm from and the place that I'm in

A city I never been

I found a friend or should I say a foe

Said there's a few things you should know

We don't want you to see we come and we go

Here today, gone tomorrow

We're only taking turns

Holding this world

It's how it's always been

When you're older you will understand

If I say who I know it just goes to show

You need me less than I need you

Take it from me we don't give sympathy

You can trust me trust nobody

But I said you and me we don't have honesty

The things we don't want to speak

I'll try to get out but I never will

Traffic is perfectly still

We're only taking turns

Holding this world

It's how it's always been

When you're older you will understand

And then again maybe you don't

And then again maybe you won't

We're only taking turns

We're only taking turns

Holding this world

It's how it's always been

When you're older you will understand"

[lipstickchainsaw]

Victoria/Lisa

So, the running joke here is that these two act like a divorced couple forced to hang out because of shared custody, and that's a good joke, but let's dig a little further!

Lisa is not interested in relationships for herself, in either the romantic or the sexual side. She is in no way attracted to people, but there are hints that she's still a little romantic at heart.

She sets Taylor up with Brian, for example. Now, how much of that is because of her desire to give Taylor a happy and fulfilling life to counteract her suicidal urges, and how much of it is Lisa living vicariously through other people is up for debate (and I'd probably lean on the former, personally), but let's look at it from both sides.

For the latter, despite Lisa's cynicism, she eventually admits to herself that she actually gives a shit about humanity, about people, and wants to see them survive and live. This is a conclusion she comes to at the worst possible time in Worm, and that drives much of her motivation in Ward. A part of her really does want to see people happy, including in ways she herself isn't actually interested in.

And for the former, well, Lisa put a lot of effort into saving Taylor (and is saved by Taylor in return), but, in the end, she could not stop Taylor from sacrificing herself when that seemed to be the one thing to do. This left Lisa adrift. She attaches herself to people like Taylor in order to save them, in order to make up for what she feels is her failure to save her brother (see my post about her name), but, after Worm, the loss of Taylor weighs heavy on her, and none of the people around her are doing badly enough to need her.

So instead she's trying to keep the world on the rails in her supervillain mastermind way, which is something she wants, but doesn't satisfy her, and she gets cranky because of it, and drives her friends away, and gets harsher in the choices she makes for the world, spiraling without anything to grab onto, to help her focus.

And then Victoria comes back.

Victoria's spent two years in the hospital, and another two years barely living, going through life as if by rote. She's deeply uncomfortable in her own skin for Amy related reasons, and not particularly happy with her power, also for Amy related reasons, and also not exactly willing to think about herself being in a relationship, also for Amy related reasons. Sexually, she is interested in guys, but a lot of this is because she has some seriously conflicted feelings about any potential interest she might have in girls, for, well, three guesses.

Throughout the early arcs of Ward, Victoria finds some zest in her life, and comes back to life, finding her passion in heroism, and that's because one of the villains of her old hometown, one of the catalysts for the Amy situation, one of her own failures, comes right back to poke at her, and is she going to let her? Absolutely not!

The relationship that forms following that is mutual antagonism, with Victoria not wanting to just let this villain ruin more lives, and Lisa incredibly annoyed this ill-informed hero starts getting in her way of saving people. Both of them are wrong about each other, of course (Lisa's motives are more altruistic than Victoria is assuming, but Victoria is absolutely right to stop Lisa's more callous tendencies).

More importantly, however, the mutual antagonism is healthy for them both. It gives Victoria a goal, someone to spite, and the antagonism and the barbs are honestly a kind of security blanket an almost safe way of dealing with her personal vulnerabilities, and Victoria hones Lisa's focus, with someone who can actually hold her to account when she starts messing up, and someone she starts giving a shit about, despite her own reluctance to get there.

They don't come up with the idea of working together themselves, because the hatred is genuine, but both their teammates are more willing to cross the hero/villain gap, and, eventually, they become each other's first thought when they need someone on the other side of that divide.

As things go on, they settle into some kind of weird absolutely not friendship, where the barbs never stop, and they don't even stop being genuinely mean, but they're also safe, because they know each other well, and their hatred of each other as 'evil villain' and 'ignorant hero' both softens and hardens into 'this bitch is so close to doing it right, but she just has to be an asshole/idealist'.

And the fun part is that they never stop doing this! They just start hanging out together more, without this making them like each other more. Them hanging out together changes how they view the world, and it makes them both better at their side of the 'keep the world together' job, but they never fully resolve this conflict, even when they both start mentoring the same teen superhero/villain team.

Which is why they have bitter exes vibes throughout, and it makes for a great relationship dynamic.

A: I love it

[newt-man0304]

Obey me brothers/dateables and Luke meet Cereza

(Basically, while venturing in the avalon forest, Cereza fell into a portal and landed in devildom. No mc, just cereza being taken care of)

Lucfer:

-Confused. How did a mortal child end up here?

-What really caught him off guard was that this child seemed powerful, but didn't seem to unlock her true abilities.

-Learns that she was a witch in training and that her name was Cereza.

-Avalon forest? Inferno? He never heard about those places. Faeries ane monsterous looking demons?

-Learns that Cereza wants to save her mother and Lucifer respects that, but is a little doubtful of the 10 year old.

-Him and lord diavolo decide to let her stay for a while so she could get stronger and maybe even tell them about this witch clan and the rest.

-'Why is your cat dolls eyes glowing'

-He doesn't like Chesire.

-Reminds Cereza of Morgana. Cold, but wants the best for everyone

Mammon:

-Oh hell no

-Not only is he assigned to look after a child, but a witch in training no less

-Alright, who sent you here to collect something from me? I ain't giving you one grimm

-Learns that he isn't in dept with Cerezas teacher and sighs in relief.

-At first, he tries to stay away, but then when a few other witches attacked him, Cereza sent out Chesire and incased them in thorns.

-The witches never came back again. Ever since that day, he became sort of a uncle figure for Cereza.

-May or may not dress Cereza up as him and gets in trouble with Lucifer.

-Cereza accidently learns how to scam people

Leviathan:

-Another Normie? Boring.

-Isn't the biggest fan of children.

-But when he learns from the umbran clan that cereza is from, he changes his mind.

-You're just like that main character from 'I kill angels and try to regain my memories after sleeping for 500 years'

-She doesn't know jack shit of games and anime? Oh hell no! Let me introduce you to Ruri-Chan

-Cereza hangs out with Leviathan the most, because he is basically an outcast from the brothers in her eyes. Altough he was willingly and she was forcefully cast out

Satan:

-Girl be prepared. This demon will adopt you.

-Not only does she have to read a lot to learn spells, Cereza also loves Cats. She styles her hair as cat ears and has a chesire plushie.

-'I've only had Cereza for 1 hour and a half, but if anything happens to her, i will kill everyone and myself'

-Cereza reminds him of alice in wonderland. He also often plays with chesire and makes it fight Cerebrus

-Sometimes has Cereza do something for the anti lucifer league.

-Probably has soemthing about Umbra witches.

-Say hello to your new papa, cereza.

-Constantly fights Asmodeus and Solomon over who gets to take care of her. Chesire is not amused.

Asmodeus:

-Squels when he sees her. She is adorable, but not as adorable as him of course

-A young witch in training,how cute.

-Knows that she is a kid, but she could do better with her outfit choices.

-Whats that? Your hair needs proper care, because it acts as a conduit? Say less! Cerezas hair is in good care with Admodeus.

-Definetly takes a lot of selfies with her and she becomes devildoms most popular witch

-He has a lot to say about Chesire. Couldn't this demon get in a better looking doll?

-Ate his words when he learned that Cerezas mother made this doll when she was imprisoned.

-Hopes Chesire won't scratch his beautiful face.

Beelzebub:

-Big brother instincts kick in

-Thinks of her as a little lilith and protects her with her life

-Occasionally spars with Chesire.

-Cereza gives him lollipos and Avalon essences, which are very sweet.

-Would eat them in a second.

-He reminds Cereza of the Inferno varaint of him, Baal.

-Whats that, your mother is in danger and you have to travel through a forest to save her? Let me come with you.

-He feels like Cereza and Belphie would get along

Belphegor:

-He and Cereza don't get along. At all.

-Belphegor doesn't like humans, especially children and Cereza thinks he is annoying.

-Spite eachother

-Cereza always gets chesire to wake Belphie up. She knows she won't get in trouble with Lucifer if she does.

-That little BI-

Diavolo:

-Learns a lot when Cereza came to the devildom.

-Theres another part of hell named Inferno. He knew of the legend, but didn't think ot existed.

-Surprised that Barbatos knew of it. All the butler had to say was 'You didn't ask, so i didn't tell, young master.'

-Inspires Cereza a lot. He started to care for her like a little sister.

-He finds Chesire very cute.

-If anyone says something bad about Cereza, they will get punished severly. Its a criminal offence now.

-Often gets Barbatos to join them when Cereza is talking about her teacher.

-'Young Master, please get to work'

Barbatos:

-He already knew of Cerezas existence before she came here. She was child of sage and witch blood.

-As to how he knew, its because Cerezas mother, Rosa, made a contract with his own mother, Madama khepri, who is knows as the protector of time in Inferno.

(I know it was never stated that Barbatos had parents, but i thought it would make sense if they were mother and son. They're both mainly known for the color green, control of time and are the most powerful demons in their respective universe.)

-'How amusing' he thought. Who would've known they would cross paths someday. He could've know, but can't use his powers without Diavolos permission.

-He appreciated Cereza a lot, since she sometimes helps him clean. When he asked her why, she just shrugged and told him that her teacher would always make her do chores that might help her with training.

-Is a bit iffed at that.

-Cereza also gives him the plants and herbs she collected from avalon forest. He appreciates it and is surprised how the petals of onyx roses make good tea.

-Once when barbatos was frozen when he saw a 'you-know-what', Cereta captured them in thorny vines and Chesire at them.

-Was very grateful. Wonders if he could borrow Chesire for a while.

Simeon:

-Simply adores her.

-He often watches her have play dates with Luke. He thinks children are the most innocent beings.

-While not thrilled that she was a witch who makes pacts with Infernal demons, he respects her decision.

-Fate hasn't decided yet. He can sense an angelic and light magic in her. Who knows, maybe she'll becoma a sage.

-Is also grateful that she doesn't know how to use Technology. How do they do it?

-Hears about how you were treated. He would like to have a word with those bitches- i mean witches.

-That cat doll somehow scares him. It threatend to eat its wings

Luke:

-Finally, another child.

-Becomes instant friends with her.

-Is confused when she said that he resembles the boy im her dreams. Makes him blush a bit.

(Who Cereza reminds him of)

-Bakes with her a lot. They both always want Barabtos to feel special, so they make him cookies or cake.

-Definelty wishes she would visit the celestial realm.

-Bumos heads with Chesire often.

Solomon:

-Not only did Cereza get a dad in devildom, but also a second teacher.

-Teases her a lot and doesn't really mind Chesire.

-He knows a lot about the witches and sages, but choses not to tell the rest. When Cereza asks why, he just says 'why not'

-Is impressed by Cerezas potion making. But she still had a long way to go.

-Knows who Cerezas teacher is. He and Morgana often have some sort of beef.

-Does he purposly take Cereza as his apprentice? Maybe. Does he like it? Yes

-Is moved to tears when Cereza likes his cooking. He will fight Satan over an adoption.

-In actaulity, Cereza thinks his food is quite decent. Besides, she was served worse when she was with the umbran clan. She had better meals from Morgana.