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plethora-of-imagines · 1 year ago

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The Consort's New Clothes

AN: In response to my own prompt in the BG3Kinktober23 collection.

Once again I have decided the Ascended Astarion can be soft- as a treat.

And since I have corrupted @how-masterful this is now both dedicated to her, and her birthday fic for the year (I couldn't come up with any other ideas, but I hope you still enjoy it!)

Prompt:

Assended Astarion cannot help but mark his pretty little Tav as all his. He needs to mark her with his bites, dress her up all pretty -or even better in his clothes-, and put a nice collar around her neck. Everything to make sure everyone knows she is his.

Word Count: 1616

Warnings: smut/lemon, clothing kink, sharing a bath, vampire bites, spawn!Tav, collars, soft yandere

Description:

Getting ready together with Astarion was a common occurrence these days. He wanted the two of you to always be presentable when you left your shared chambers. Of course trying to find a suitable wardrobe for the Ascendant Vampire's Consort has been proving difficult. At this rate you'll just have to wear his clothes with a raw bite mark to show you're his.

Warm water and the sweet scent of your lover enveloped you. Wet hair clinging to his bare chest as you shifted closer, shoving your nose against his neck. Inhaling the woodsy sunkissed citrus scent that he applied so generously that it had sunk into his very skin. The little energy you could manage to muster all used up, you once again went limp in his arms. Soaking in the heat the water provided as his hands shifted to better press you possessively into his chest. Tracing little circles around the scars from his constant feeding, and subsequent transforming bite. The same spot that he always bit you, right along the crook of your neck. Somewhere that if needed could be hidden with a high collared shirt. Fortunately you had found little need to hide the sign of your connection to Astarion recently.

The rumbling purr of vibrations that you felt against your temple roused you from your almost trance.

“What do you think of this one, little love?”

Humming pleasantly at the endearment you didn’t want to open your eyes. Wanting to remain forever in this blissful cocoon of comfort. But if he wanted to hear your opinion then you would take on the burden of opening your eyes.

The spawn standing before you in the bathroom was rightfully averting her eyes from your naked forms. Glancing down her body you took in the long flowing dress, a gaudy shade of red that almost looked more burnt orange. The slit was in an awkward position on the skirt that was more on the front of the skirt than the side, raising far too high as well.

Lazily you replied back your answer to Astarion, who waited patiently for your answer.

“If this is the first one that has shown enough promise to want my opinion I don’t believe that this designer is going to live long. I’m almost insulted.”

His gleeful laugh had you rushing to look up at him. To catch the pure smile on his face, adoringly gazing at the light in his eyes.

“Oh, trust me- there have been far worse! Now go change again,” he shooed the spawn out with his dexterous hand. Calling out after them, “and tell that fool to show us something worthwhile this time!”

“I’m sure that he saved better for later, Astartion. Or at least that he will have one decent outfit.”

“Tav, you are just too sweet,” he cooed.

Tilting your chin up for a soft kiss. Lips hovering millimeters away from your own. Leaving you in anticipation until you let out a little whine. Only then did he reward you with the gentle press of his lips to your own. The creak of the door interrupted to your displeasure when it caused him to pull away. Cursing his paranoia that had led to the soft creaking of every door to your shared private chambers- so that any possible attack could be heard the moment it was attempted.

Huffing you looked back at the spawn again to see a much more appealing outfit. Ignoring the spawn’s lack of pants you looked over the stylish doublet. The shine of the clasps appealing to the part of you that enjoyed anything that glimmered. Frowning when you recognized it as obsidian.

“It’s better,” you admitted. “But I worry about the longevity of the clasps when made of obsidian.”

“Couldn’t even make a full outfit either,” Astarion growled.

The spawn trembled at his clear displeasure, terror filling their eyes as they feared being punished for the designer's faults. At your pout he took a deep breath, loosening the hands that had started to dig into your skin.

“I certainly paid them more than enough for these abominations. I expect better, I expect perfection.”

The sound of his teeth grinding together sent a chill through you.

“Next one,” you told the frozen spawn.

She gratefully obeyed your order. Almost tripping over her own feet to flee the room.

Holding Astarions face in your hands, gently rubbing his jaw. Loosening it from its tight, clenching position. Slowly his body relaxed- though his anger towards the doomed designer remained.

“How am I supposed to find a pretty outfit that shows off that everyone should be envious that you are mine from a mere glance alone, when all of these so-called designers are completely tasteless idiots! None of these outfits come close to helping to accent your beauty. I’ve looked at thirty four of his useless mockeries of clothing fit for an Ascendant Vampire’s consort, love. Thirty four!”

Starting to work himself back into his fury again with each word. Soothing him you pressed playful kisses to his jaw line, lightly nipping every time he started to clench. Once the anger receided again you guided his head to your neck. Lips pressing against the one spot that would remind him that you had a clear sign of ownership forever on your body.

“I might as well dress you in my own clothes and be done with it.”

Teasing nibbles against your neck solidified his improving mood.

Both of you turned together to look at the newest offering the spawn was dressed in.

“I actually like that one,” you quietly muttered.

“For tonight? That’s hardly good enough for tonight, when I plan to introduce you to all the new spawn I’ve created to serve us.”

“Mhm,” you hummed in agreement with him. It wasn’t good enough for introductions where it needed to be clear that you were his most treasured spawn and consort. So you justified your words with a simple, “it's cute.”

“Well if my treasured spawn likes it...”

His words tickled your skin. Fanning a desire in you for anything he would offer to you. Shivering and trembling as his fangs moved to rest against your skin, against his bite marks. The anticipation had you on the edge.

“Please.”

“Tell the designer that this creation is acceptable. He can take the rest of them back with him. “

You could feel the scrape of his teeth against your tingling skin with each carefully said word. Feeling the spawn’s presence still there, waiting to be dismissed with almost as much anticipation as you held for him to sink his teeth into you.

“And tell him that the next batch he shows us better be suitable,” the threat dripped off of every perfectly pronounced letter. “Well? I do believe that you have a message to deliver.”

The second you heard the door click closed you caved.

“Astarion, please,” you begged.

He bit down.

Rising out of the water, soft bubbles sticking to your skin. Back arching as pleasure flooded into you. There was a high pitched ringing in your ears. Wait no- that was your continuous whines as the pleasure removed all thoughts from your head.

It was bliss.

His teeth left your skin, and any sense of strength you had left with them. Astarion had to hold you up. Otherwise you were likely to melt until your body was submerged under the water.

“Feel good, my treasure,” he teased.

“Feel so-,” you slurred words halted as your breath hitched. Astarion had filled you in one smooth thrust, “so good.”

He took his time. Slowly fucking you just how he liked to when you both had just started to stir from trance in bed. Sensual, tender, lovemaking. Guiding your slowly diminishing mind into the most delicious of submissive spaces. All conscious thought fled when he filled you with his seed. You didn’t need to think, he would take care of you while your mind was on sabbatical from reality.

Lifting you out of the water was easy for him even when you weren’t intertwined. But still connected by his softening cock in your body, it was simple to carry you out of the water. Feeling something soft being rubbed against your skin. The only thing you could truly focus on while being dried off was him. Your love, your everything.

In graceful motions- only graceful from practice- he dressed himself while keeping his cock warm in your cunt. If anyone were to stumble in on you they would assume that he had been dressed the whole time. Hair still dripping he roughly toweled it as dry as he could manage to get it. Damp but for the moment no longer dripping.

His soft undershirt- the one that he had been wearing earlier that still smelled strongly of him- was pulled over your head. With gentle hands he pulled you off of his cock, helping you stand on shaky legs. Too blissful to command your legs to hold your weight. Leaning against him as he put his cock away.

You felt content.

Something was secured around your neck. Firmly tightened, but not too tight so as to cause discomfort. The cool chill of a duplication spell washed over you, looking over to your doppelganger. Looking debauched, yet carefully cared for. Hair starting to curl as it dried, soft white shirt reaching just far enough to be decent. The smallest amount of Astarion's seed dripping out onto your thigh where it could just be glimpsed. A dark collar surrounding your neck, and making the bite mark stand out even stronger against your skin. Happiness warmed the still blood within your veins. The embroidery on the collar matched Astarion’s outfit. He had to have done it himself, it was beautifully done.

He dispelled the duplicate as he spoke, leading you towards the door to head towards your introduction to all the new spawn he had recently created.

“There we are, a very nicely fucked and dressed consort. You look beautiful, darling.”

You were and looked like you were his.

#astarion x tav #astarion x reader #ascended astarion

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jedimasterbailey · 8 months ago

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Tales of the Empire Thoughts (Mostly About Barriss)

I know I’m a little late to the party in terms of laying out my thoughts on Tales of the Empire but honestly I needed a few days to process and digest what happened (not to mention being on vacation delayed that process as well). Obviously as a Barriss stan/fanfic writer/blogger y’all know that those episodes were the upmost priority for me and I will be rewatching those episodes on repeat like no other since it’s been far too long since Barriss has had her time to shine.

The majority of this post will be centered around those specific episodes because I’m just gonna just go ahead and say that the Morgan Elsbeth episodes were boring and didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know about the character. Also the bullshit reasoning as to why Morgan doesn’t obviously look Dathomiran is so dumb in that my brain will malfunction if I think about it too much. If the “magic going away” thing was true then how do you explain Merrin and Ventress who still have power and retain their clear Dathomiran appearance? Either way, there is no way Darth Felonious could explain his “logic” to me there because it is all too clear that Morgan was never meant to be Dathomiran in the first place. She was just a bad lady with a spear and that’s that. Love the actress, but the character is just lame. Furthermore, it is so clear that the hat man knows absolutely nothing about Thrawn and I’m not even a Thrawn stan but why even if the guy involved if he just says a few words and leaves? Now before y’all come for me, yes I’m aware these episodes are shorts and the time is precious but to me they could have dedicated more time into explaining to me why Morgan is so loyal to Thrawn. Her reasoning for wanting to join the Empire is empty too in that the Separatists that annihilated her race is now the Empire so…to me that’s not enough reasoning for Morgan to be so dedicated. The only parts that had me engaged were the Grevious bits which were both beautiful and frightening at the same time.

Now onto the meat which is the Barriss arc which has me both elated and frustrated at the same time. Let’s begin with the stuff I absolutely love.

1.) Barriss proving herself to not be committed to the Dark Side/Empire is a huge win for me and other Barriss super fans who have been preaching this for over a decade. We knew from the moment the trailer came out that Barriss was just going to do what it took to survive and even though she was forced into doing things she really did not want to do, she stayed true to herself and escaped before it was too late. The light in her never left nor did it ever leave her and I just know that Luminara would have been so proud of her. Barriss constantly questioning the Grand Inquisitor and the Fourth Sister had me smiling because that is just Barriss. She will always question things that seem off and will defend her beliefs and values no matter what the danger to herself may be. The line of reclaiming her position of a Jedi is my absolute favorite line and gave me all the feels I get whenever Luke tells Palpatine that he is a Jedi like his father. On a final note, I loved that she showed genuine concern/fear for what was happening to the Jedi when Order 66 was happening and demanded an answer.

2.) Barriss being a healer and a protector. It is so satisfying to see it canon on screen that Barriss remains to be a healer after years of being obsessed with the Legends Medstar lore. I absolutely loved that Barriss took off her mask to the terrified boy in the village and protected him against the Fourth Sister’s unnecessary wrath only to save the non-binary (yay representation!) Jedi from death later that day. It all just makes me so happy to get that validation that Barriss has always had a big heart which makes her stand out from other Jedi in my opinion.

3.) Barriss sporting that lesbian pixie cut with the adorable laugh/smile lines and being a healer in the mountains helping Force sensitive and the sick/injured just makes my day. It warms my heart to see Barriss be at peace and doing so much good after so much pain and trauma from her past. Though I do miss her hood and would like to see a head covering on her again. Also doing the math, Barriss should be in her thirties during the third episodes so why did they age her up so much? I’ve heard the theory of the Force healing taking her life force but damn Luminara was in her late thirties during the Clone Wars and she had like nothing 😅 One other note that makes me smile is that Barriss is referred to as a “wise mother” and that’s just everything. Also she looks and acts like just like Luminara they truly could be mother and daughter it’s so sweet 💚💙

4.) Barriss defeating an Inquisitor without a weapon of her own and catching a blade with the Force is so fucking badass, I could re-watch that sequence on repeat forever.

5.)The vague Ahsoka mention had my Barrissoka heart exploding. I demand an animated Barrissoka show immediately.

Now here are the bits that have me frustrated and I demand that Darth Felonious fixes them later.

1.) The lack of closure between Barriss and Ahsoka/Luminara. Barriss hurt a lot of people from her actions but at the very least it would be nice to see her repair the damage she inflicted on the people closest to her. We never saw anything in regards to Luminara’s reaction to the bombing and knowing what gruesome fate awaits her in Rebels, I was so hoping the two would meet again, make amends before Luminara inevitably sacrificed herself as a final act of love and forgiveness for her Padawan. As for Ahsoka…if the two are able to work together in the future, could we at least see how exactly that came to be? I’m personally growing tired of major developments happening off-screen and we as an audience are just expected to roll with it. Again I’m aware these are shorts, but why do they have to be shorts? Why can’t we just delete the boring Morgan episodes and get like a movie or limited series on this exact journey?

2.) The return of yet another ambiguous ending for Barriss. I am a firm believer that Barriss is alive granted that people seem to get stabbed all the time in Star Wars and they get to live so why not Barriss? I understand what they’re doing with Barriss getting through to the Fourth Sister to show us that Barriss has come full circle in her journey from dark to light, however since I’m forced to believe that Barriss had some sort of relationship with this random Inquisitor pre-Empire instead of someone who did have a significant relationship to her, it falls flat for me and it enrages me that if Barriss were to die from this….well I just don’t have words for that. So now I’m wondering if I’m going to have to wait another 10 years to get answers. Thank the Force for fanfic and fanart to get me through.

3.) Does Barriss even know what the Empire did her Master? Because… I feel that’s another huge story thats being missed here. Ahsoka was able to get some closure with Anakin, why can’t Barriss have the same with Luminara?

4.) Never getting anything in terms of what pushed Barriss to bomb the Jedi temple in the first place. That’s my biggest beef with the original Clone Wars series since we see no development as to how Barriss goes from a kind gifted Padawan healer to mastermind of a terror plot. That could a book or show on its own.

5.) Star Wars continuing to miss what a satisfying redemption arc is. Not only do we need to understand what got a character to do the crime(s) but we need to see the growth that comes from it. That’s what makes the Obi-Wan Kenobi show so good to me is that I now know how Obi-Wan grew from RotS to where we meet him in ANH. I would love to see the same for Barriss, because you just know she’s been on very spiritual/emotional journey to get to where she was at the end of the show.

6.) Why was Vader even in this? Given the history Barriss and Anakin share, it is incredible that nothing happened between them post ROTS. And this is like fresh Vader still full of grief and anger by what’s happened so I doubt seeing Barriss even as an Inquisitor initiate would be anymore soothing. I just don’t understand…what a waste. Something more epic and cathartic could have come out of that interaction.

Well I’m done ranting for now, I’m curious to know what your guy’s thoughts are. Otherwise my brain is buzzing with fanfic story ideas and I’ll be getting back on the writing horse as I re-Watch the Barriss episodes into oblivion.

#star wars meta #tales of the empire meta #tales of the empire #tales of the empire spoilers #barriss offee #luminara unduli #anakin skywalker #ahsoka tano #obi wan kenobi #the clone wars #star wars

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spacerockfloater · 5 months ago

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Hi.

It's so disheartening to see how a big chunk of TG turned on Aemond and Alicent and only support Aegon now. I deeply dislike most of the writing decisions this season, but people seem to forget that these decisions didn't harm only Aegon's character, but also Aemond, Alicent and Criston's, I would say even more than Aegon's. Nevertheless, after the last week episode I've seen a lot of TG hate directed towards Alicent and Aemond that reminded me of TB discourse and it's just sad.

I would love to hear your opinion on this. Thanks in advance.

Hello there friend! Thank you so much for sending me this ask!

Sigh. This is such a complicated issue. As a fellow TG supporter said recently in one of my posts, us turning against the Targtowers and hating them was exactly what Ryan Condal wanted.

They accidentally made them too sympathetic and righteous in the first season, so they had to ruin them to remind the public of whom they are supposed to hate. It’s sickening.

Alicent’s whole journey was about understanding that she needs to be more fierce and demanding to help her family survive. The first season ended with her being ruthless and ready to sacrifice everything for her children. But now she has regressed back to herself from the first half of S1, a scared little girl that doesn’t have the guts to do what must be done and loses all hope the moment the first tragedy comes her way.

Aegon’s whole journey was him overcoming his bullying tendencies and genuinely supporting his brother and his family. He may have initiated the pink dread incident but when his mother told him to cut the bullshit and stop acting like his nephews are his friends, he had no problem knocking Jace to the floor during practice. He stood tall when his brother was disabled and refused to name his mother as the one who spread the rumour(!) of Nyra’s children being bastards. He spoke his truth with his whole chest. Years later, the moment Aemond rose to answer to Lucerys’s mockery, he was right beside him, toasting with him and smashing Luc’s head on the table. And finally, when everyone turned on Aemond for taking his revenge, it was Aegon who demanded Aemond remain in his council, because that was his brother, his best sword and he wanted him there, even if their mother could not bare to look at him. Aegon rose to the occasion and was ready to become a better person, he seemed to genuinely want to serve his subjects. He loved nothing more in the world than his son and his death tore him apart. But suddenly, next episode he has forgotten all about it and is back at bullying Aemond again? That’s just none-sense. All that character development for nothing.

I did feel like Aemond burning his brother alive went from 0 to 100 real quick. He already got his lick back when he made a fool of Aegon in front of his own council. Aemond is a calculating person. He would know that talking Aegon out of the way would cause more harm than good.

Their relationship has been destroyed. Every TG member hates the others. Ultimately, I think we just have to accept this is bad writing and let go of the show because yikes.

However, if we want to discuss show canon, we should keep the characters accountable for their actions and unfortunately, I am displeased with all of them except from Criston. I’ll keep supporting Aegon, Aemond and Alicent but I must also criticise them for the things that they do if I want to be fair.

That being said, I can see why Alicent is horrified by Aemond’s actions. I can see why people think Aemond went too damn far. At the same time, I can see that Aemond would never just sit down and accept being abused. Add to that his not so secret desire to be king, and you can see why he wouldn’t think twice about turning his brother to ashes.

All in all, I think that every opinion is justified and that we must wait for the new episode to air (Aemond’s interactions with Aegon and Alicent are essential) for some additional insight on the incident of Rook’s Rest.

#house of the dragon #pro team green #hotd #team green #anti team black #pro alicent hightower #alicent hightower #pro alicent stans #pro aegon ii targaryen #aegon ii targaryen #pro aemond targaryen #prince aemond #aemond targaryen #anti rhaenyra targaryen

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cilil · 5 months ago

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can i have a Striptease - Bathing - Nipple Play for Mairon/Eonwe pwease🥺🥺

Gentle June

AN: Yes, you can! I'm late, as is just how it often goes this year, but I hope you enjoy regardless. @tolkienpinupcalendar, here I go!

❀ Prompt: Striptease, bathing, nipple play | Mairon x Eönwë ❀ Synopsis: Mairon wants to clean (and play with) his filthy bird. ❀ Warnings: Nudity, touching, sensual ❀ Short oneshot (~700 words)

"Undress."

"Why?"

Eönwë looked up in surprise when Mairon impatiently reached for the clasp holding his tunic together.

"To clean those filthy feathers."

"They are not." Regardless, he moved to do as he was bidden, not wanting to disappoint his companion.

"Not so fast."

"No?" Eönwë frowned. "Am I doing this... wrong?"

Mairon was not exactly known for patience, priding himself on his efficiency and chastising others for dawdling. This time, however, he seemed to be of a different opinion, eyeing the other disapprovingly.

"Take your time. Make yourself pretty." He smiled sweetly. "For me?"

"I can... try?" Eönwë wasn't sure what he meant.

He received a tender but somewhat condescending head pat from Mairon.

"I know you lack experience with these matters, but you are very good at following orders, are you not?" he purred.

"What matters?"

"I want you to get naked so I can touch you, Eönwë."

"...oh."

Eönwë lowered his head to hide his embarrassment. Of course. A silly question in retrospect, though he still didn't know at which point he'd been supposed to guess that this was where this encounter would lead. He had expected them to simply share a bath in the lake around Almaren; but then again their sculpting project hadn't remained within the strictly platonic realm either.

Maybe Mairon liked seeing his fána naked.

Either way, he obeyed. Straightening his back, tilting his head to the side to expose his neck, he slowly undid the clasp and let the fabric slide down his torso. His belt followed suit, then what little clothing remained; it was warm and many Maiar opted for light and fewer clothes to cover themselves.

Mairon appeared to be pleased. He stepped out of his sight, came up behind him, embraced him. Eönwë loved the feeling of closeness, of intimacy. What exactly his friend? lover? had in mind, he didn't know, but he was eager to find out.

Maybe he should start relaxing and preparing his fána in case Mairon wished to make use of it.

Lips brushed against Eönwë's nape. Being the taller of the two served him well in situations like these. He slightly bowed his head, both in deference and for better access. More kisses, then a tender bite. He was generously rewarded for his obedience.

Mairon's hands wandered up his torso and settled on his chest.

"You are sweaty," he remarked, whispering in his ear.

"I trained all day until you called me here," Eönwë replied.

"So you are a filthy bird." He could hear the smile in Mairon's voice. Being the imperious creature that he was, he loved being right.

His index finger caressed his right nipple, and Eönwë gasped at the sensation. This particular part of his fána hadn't received much attention before, he hadn't known that it was this sensitive.

Mairon toyed with it until it hardened, then pinched it to draw more noises out of him.

"Do you like this?"

"Y-yes."

"And when it hurts?" A harder pinch, then a twist.

Eönwë let out a whimper, but nodded. He had never minded a bit of pain, craved it even.

Mairon tried his left nipple next, repeating the same motions. Once again he seemed pleased when his efforts resulted in similar reactions.

"The filthy bird likes that indeed," he purred, and his right hand shamelessly slid down Eönwë's flank, dipped between his legs and wrapped around his hardening cock.

Another pinch, thankfully from his left hand that still rested on his chest. "I wonder if I should get you a lovely piercing," Mairon mused. "I would take good care of you after. And knowing you, you might even enjoy it."

"A-ah, mmh... we can maybe try that later if it would please you?"

Eönwë attempted to focus on keeping his muscles relaxed even as he was torn between sensations, pain and pleasure setting his nerves ablaze. In his mind, he could already see Mairon lifting one his legs and fucking him without warning. He would love that.

Yet before he could wonder how he might make this dream come true, his fantasies were interrupted by him being picked up and carried away.

Confused, he looked up the fiery Maia. "Are we not...?"

"We are, but I told you how filthy you are." Mairon smiled and stepped into the water. "First we shall clean your fána inside and out and then, if you behave, you shall be rewarded."

Thanks for reading! ♡

taglist: @a-world-of-whimsy-5 @blauerregen @bluezenzennie @destinyeternity1 @edensrose

@elanna-elrondiel @eunoiaastralwings @i-did-not-mean-to @just-little-human @numenhore

@sauron-kraut @singleteapot @urwendii @wandererindreams

#tpcgentlejune #mairon #sauron #eonwe #eönwë #mairon x eonwe #eagle eye #silm fanfic #silmarillion fanfiction #silmarillion #cílil writes #my writing

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nanabansama · 1 year ago

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Who Hurt Amane

I recently got an ask about this topic! And I feel I've been pretty vocal lately about who I think did it. My opinion isn't new or unique, but because of this ask I wanted to lay out the facts to explore other possibilities and also reinforce why I think it is who I think it is.

So without further ado, let's list out the facts.

1. Amane has been getting injured since first year.

Tsuchigomori makes it pretty clear in Chapter 13 that Amane has been covered in injuries that "never go away" since first year, among other things like having no friends and skipping class.

Most can agree that Amane wasn't being abused as a toddler (post-Tsukasa's return) or at the Tanabata festival. He does not show any particularly concerning signs of a child who is being abused or bullied, and his bare skin shows no sign of injury. I think that rules out Amane being abused his entire life, or at least not as severely as he was during his second year of middle school.

We've seen Amane at two different points during his first year, though, and neither had him visibly injured. Those being his and Tsukasa's middle school entrance ceremony and during the 1968 school festival.

I feel it safe to assume that the physical abuse hadn't yet started at these points in time. (though considering Amane's dour attitude at the festival I wouldn't be super surprised if he's hiding scars...)

Also, remember that Tsuchigomori would have to notice these injuries, so I'm going to rule out the possibility that Tsuchigomori could skirt by on technicality just because Amane is hiding injuries on his legs or chest. Tsuchigomori wouldn't normally be able to see hidden cuts and bruises, so I believe he must have started noticing Amane is being injured sometime later in his first year. Remember, Amane still has about ~6 months worth of time to obtain visual injuries. That's a lot of time left.

We can at least confirm that Amane has no friends and skips class, though. Or at least see the beginnings of this. In Chapter 101, Amane confirms he has little to no involvement with the school play his class and Tsukasa are putting on and instead chooses to focus on fixing the clock. There's also a bonus comic where Amane calls out how peculiar it is that Tsukasa has so many friends while Amane doesn't.

It should only be a matter of time before we start seeing him covered in cuts, too.

2. Tsukasa isn't injured.

This one's a little harder to prove, but bear with me here.

We've had a few opportunities to see the twins during the murder suicide.

Here's Amane after stabbing Tsukasa:

And here's Tsukasa's body below Amane's in the same chapter that the above image was posted on Twitter to promote:

Take note of how pristine Tsukasa's arm looks: We get such a clear view of it, and yet all we see is a bit of blood splatter. I've seen this image dismissed before because Amane's arm is also missing his bandage (note how his right arm is bandaged in the art before this) but I still think this is substantial evidence to support the idea that Tsukasa wasn't injured like Amane was.

And if that's not enough for you, I have something else for you to consider:

This is Hanako in The Hell of Mirrors, a place whose mirrors reflect your greatest fears.

I've seen many people remain unconvinced that the character in the mirror is Tsukasa, thinking it must be Amane himself. And I can understand where they're coming from--why shouldn't he fear Amane? He's his old living self, the volatile one that committed the crime of murdering his little brother. That, and it's a mirror--why wouldn't it reflect the person inside?

So let's compare the face in the mirror with Amane's face.

Notice how the face has zero bandages. Amane has one on his left cheek, one above his right eyebrow, and one on the right side of his neck. The figure in the mirror has no bandages, not even on his arms.

This on top of the fact that I believe his little brother's dead body makes far more sense for Amane to fear than his own. If Amane himself is supposed to be his greatest fear, it makes more sense if it was him actually committing the murder, rather than his body on the floor after committing suicide. From what I understand of Amane, that would fill him with more disgust and self-hatred than anything.

So in conclusion, I either think that 1.) Tsukasa wasn't being physically abused, 2.) that he happened to stop being injured in the days leading up to the murder, or 3.) that if he did have injuries that they were in non-visible places. My default is that he wasn't, though.

And this leads us to...

3. Amane forgives them

Amane fully understands that his injuries aren't normal. That even in the cases that injuries like his could be justified, that his might not be. Regardless, he forgives it. He's allowing this to happen to him, and he refuses to tell Tsuchigomori the details.

After witnessing this, Nene comes up with the theory that Amane could be getting bullied, but if that were the case, I don't see why he would forgive some random bullies. The fact that Amane forgives them for their crime against him is an impactful moment! The chapter ends on it, even.

I believe the fact that Amane forgives this is crucial to understanding who did it.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ ⋆.⋆⁺₊⋆ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ⋆.ೃ

While we don't know Amane's full backstory yet, given what we know so far, I think the only two possibilities are either Tsukasa or their mom. And frankly, I think it would be weird for us to know as much about Amane as we do now and have the person injuring him be someone we haven't even met yet. Not impossible, no, but you'd think they'd be more important to his life if Amane forgives them, right?

Let me argue against the idea that it's his mother, as well. The injuries started in first year, not when he was a child. By all means, Amane seemed to be an average child up until middle school. Take note of his appearance during the 1964 Tanabata festival, when he was 8. The only really concerning things we saw were a lack of parental supervision and the fact that he was disappointed his brother wouldn't spend time at the festival with him.

In fact, we've seen very little of their mom, with the most damning evidence against her being when she rejected Tsukasa as her child after taking him to a shrine to be exorcised. Other than this, we've seen no evidence that she could be hitting her children. I personally find it weird that she would only start hitting them in middle school, if she is the cause of all this. And only Amane, at that. (I will admit I find it odd that her son getting injured didn't concern her to the point that his teacher had to step in, though.)

I also need to stress that we haven't seen Amane interact with or mention his mom since he was 4. Tsukasa's relationship with their mother is much more important to the story than Amane's. But who has Amane interacted with? Whose relationship with Amane is very important to the story?? (hint: it's Tsukasa)

Unfortunately, I don't actually know why Tsukasa is hurting him. We know so little, it's still possible it isn't him. But we also haven't seen Amane interact with Tsukasa during the time period in which we know he was being injured. This seems... intentional, to me. As if Tsukasa were somehow involved, in one way or another.

Something to consider, though, is that Amane was being injured around the time he turned thirteen. The 1968 school festival is only about two months before his 13th birthday. Thanks to Kou, we know that Tsukasa knows Amane is going to kill him and commit suicide when he turns thirteen. I'm not necessarily saying that this is why Tsukasa would have hurt him, but it's interesting, to say the least.

Anyway, this last part is a lot of conjecture, so I've separated it from what I view as actual facts about the person hurting Amane. But what do you all think?

#toilet bound hanako kun #tbhk #jshk

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odettewriting · 4 months ago

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𝘽𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙉𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮𝙣 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙠

Це моя перша робота, тому я трохи нервую, публікуючи це. Крім того, англійська не є моєю рідною мовою, тож я сподіваюся, що я не надто облажався. У будь-якому випадку, дякую, що прочитали цю роботу.

- Ви народилися в той час, коли ваш батько Нед Стар�� брав участь у війні повстання Роберта Баратеона.

- Catelyn was very worried about the well-being of her husband and was afraid to remain a widow, but then the gods gave her you and it became a blessing for her

- although she was still afraid of the death of her husband, but now she had you, her little happiness and consolation; now she was no longer worried about being alone in this world because she had you

- the raven informed Ned Stark about your birth

- being alone in his tent and reading a letter from his wife, Lord of Winterfell allowed a tear of joy to roll down his cheek "I became a father... I had a daughter"

- later, when the war ended and your father returned home, he brought another child in his arms, his bastard

- your mother was very angry and disappointed by your father's concession, but all she could do was accept the child as a member of the family

- your father fell in love with you the moment he saw you and refused to let you go for the next few days (this attachment of Ned to you in turn helped Catelyn warm to her husband again)

- less than a year passed when your younger brother Rob was born, and a few years later the whole castle was already filled with screams and fun of you and your younger siblings

- your parents give love to all their children, but you will always be special to them, not only because you are their firstborn, but also because your very existence gave them hope in difficult times and helped them become a family again

- when you became older, you were assigned the best teachers of Winterfell, Sept

- if you showed an interest in politics, philosophy, sword fighting, and other subjects not usually taught to young ladies, Ned Stark would gladly let you study them, and sometimes let you attend at meetings and councils

- Catelyn initially did not support your passions (especially everything related to the sword and fighting), as she believes that a young lady has no reason to possess such knowledge, but seeing your satisfied smile, she still decides to let you enjoy your favorite thing (as well as until you are injured, even if it is minor)

- if you chose a more "quiet" hobby (for example, embroidery or playing musical instruments), Catelyn would be incredibly proud of you and support you in every, even small, progress

- your parents would raise all their children by teaching them love and respect for each other

- you, as an older sister, always tried to help your brothers and sisters in something (sometimes, in moments when your actions would diverge from your mother's convictions, she could shame you because of "what example you set for your brothers and sisters")

- depending on your hobbies, most likely one of your sisters would be more attracted to you than the other, but despite this, you all always remembered that family is the most important thing

- when comes your first blood, you will have an important conversation with your mother, you will be told what changes have occurred in your body and what consequences this entails

- before that, you were told more than once about the obligation to become a wife and give birth to children to your husband one day, but never went into details

- at the same time, this does not mean that you will be forced to marry too soon or against your will

- Ned Stark will never use his children exclusively for political interests, so he considers it his duty to first make sure for himself that your future husband is a good person who will always respect you and your interests.

- also your father can talk to you and get your opinion about who you would like to combine your life with

- навіть після одруження ви все ще бажаний гість вдома, і ваші батьки завжди будуть готові допомогти вам порадою чи дією

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 1 year ago

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AITA for giving my cat sitter a negative rating for not showing up to feed my cat on time?

I (F 39) hired this cat sitter (F, looked to be about 25) back in December to feed my cat for a few of days while I went on vacation. We had FaceTimed, I showed her where the food and litter box was, and introduced her to my cat. Everything went well, or so I thought. Fast forward to when it's time for her to show up, she messages me saying that the weather is dangerously freezing with wind chills and snow, to a point there was a weather advisory for our area but will still be showing up to feed my cat, even if it ends up being later in the day. I say this is fine of course, I appreciate her for letting me know. Next day, there is still a weather advisory but it is also the holiday, so she lets me know the same thing but with the added issue of holiday traffic, and the following day too. I get the notification that she shows up to my house daily to feed my cat so I know she's being fed, but I am having a very difficult time dealing with the fact that it ended up being way later than what we agreed on. I hired her for a total of five days, and she only shows up early on the remaining two. Bad weather and traffic is not a good excuse to not show up on time in my opinion, because it's not what we agreed on. Now, I know we live in a heavily congested area with lots of traffic and I get that there was no working public transportation that day, but at the end of the day my cat needs to be fed. I explain this to her, and she writes back this whole sob story about how our area has horrible weather and traffic, with the added addition that she lives a bit further away, but despite this did make sure my cat was fed and her litter box was cared for daily. She apologizes that I wasn't satisfied with her service, wishes me a happy new year, suggests requesting a refund in the app, but then later in the day I see that my messages in iMessage are no longer being delivered. I'm angry now. I wasn't even harassing her. I end up writing her a negative review and then in following month, I see that she has deactivated her account.

Again this was back in December, but I brought this whole thing up casually during a conversation with my friends recently and everyone said this was very insensitive and disrespectful of me, and I'm making it sound like she didn't feed my cat at all. It ruined the vibe of the whole dinner we had and I'm now sitting at my desk feeling awkward. Let me know what you guys think because I don't see anything wrong with what I did. I'm allowed to voice my opinion. So, AITA?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

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chance-lard · 2 years ago

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Book!Lucy & Lockwood vs Show!Lucy & Lockwood: A VERY LONG Deep Dive

So I finished the Netflix adaptation of Lockwood & Co.

Overall, I think it was a respectful adaptation, which, despite some plot changes, kept largely to the spirit of the books. At minimum, Joe Cornish actually seems to like L&Co, which is way more than can be said about most adaptations these days. Hooray!

But I wanted to write a bit about one of the bigger changes they made: namely the dynamic between Lucy and Lockwood.

I’ve seen people saying that the Locklyle adaptation to screen was very true to the books, just without Lucy’s close personal voice, and sped up a little in the romance department (“Stroud doesn’t mention what Lucy was doing with her hands! They could have been on Lockwood’s face in the books!” etc).

Respectfully, I disagree quite a bit with this. While some argument could be made about it having shades of their relationship from THB/TCS onwards, I actually think Show!Lucy’s attitude towards Lockwood is a 180 from the way she views him in TSS and TWS.

IDK, this might be a bit of a controversial opinion judging by what I’ve been seeing in the L&Co tag and general ways people have interpreted TSS and TWS in the years since their publication, but I’m going to try to back my argument as best as I can, focusing only on those books.

I’m using the original paperback UK editions of both the Screaming Staircase (2013) and The Whispering Skull (2014).

Spoilers for the show and VERY mild spoilers for books 3+ (literally just the name of a new character/type of ghost + stuff already shown in the show that wasn’t shown until later in the books)

Another warning: this analysis is 5500(!!!) words long, and mostly quotes from the book. If you’d like to just read the main bits, look at the intro/conclusion to each section and read the TLDR; at the end.

PART 1: THE NETFLIX SHOW

Before diving into differences, there are things I do think stayed the same between the show and the books:

Lucy and Lockwood banter, swap one-liners and occasionally squabble.

Lucy remains unimpressed with some of Lockwood’s more slapdash schemes.

During missions, they work equally and trust each other with their lives and the job.

They care about each other’s wellbeing.

Basically, when things are going well between them, or when they are in high-stakes circumstances and need to cooperate, there isn’t too much of a difference between Show!Locklyle and Book!Locklyle.

But as Tolstoy (lmao) says, all happy families agents are alike, all unhappy families agents are unique in their own way. With that said, I think the differences between Show!Locklyle and Book!Locklyle are best explored through the way conflicts are handled.

In the show, there are 5 major arguments between Lucy and Lockwood:

Episode 2: Lucy feels upset and hurt because she thinks Lockwood only views her as an “asset”.

Episode 4: Lucy is upset that Lockwood doesn’t believe/doesn’t want to admit that she is talented enough to talk to the Skull

Episode 5: Lucy gets mad at Lockwood being self-sacrificing/death-seeking after they escape from the Winkmans.

Episode 7: Lucy calls Lockwood a boy with a “cold dead heart of stone”, and is upset that he won’t let her and George in on his past.

Episode 8: Lucy is furious at Lockwood using dangerous methods at the auction, that “every relic hunter in London is out to kill us”, and that Lockwood is acting self-sacrificially again.

There are also the following minor squabbles:*

Episode 1: Lucy rolls her eyes at Lockwood for forgetting the chains at Mrs Hope’s house.

Episode 1: Lucy mad at Lockwood and George for the toothbrush cup initiation test.

Episode 2: Lockwood gets annoyed and brusque with Lucy for keeping Annabel’s source and trying to communicate with her ghost. After Lucy is nearly possessed, he flintily tells her he will burn the source, and that they have more important bills to pay.

*Note there might be some more minor squabbles, but they weren’t significant enough to make their way into my notes

The most important takeaway here is that Lucy is the one who initiates most of the arguments! We can also note Lockwood’s response to Lucy’s anger: mostly he mutely self-reflects as she shouts and storms away, then later he comes to her to apologise and promises to do better.

The one time Lockwood gets mad at Lucy (Ep 2) we are a) not shown the bulk of the argument (there’s a cutaway after the fight with the ghost to Lucy justifying herself), b) it’s anger born of worry, and c) Cameron’s delivery of the lines is quite measured and muted.

In essence, when it comes to conflict, Lucy is the one holding the cards in the relationship between the two of them.

We also know the show is set much earlier than the books (which take place over the span of a whole year). Show!Lucy isn’t acting this way out of concern for a Lockwood who she’s known and loved for ages. Rather, Lockwood is someone she is not impressed by at all from the outset. The show is setting up what makes Lucy special here: unlike the adults, the other agents, and maybe even George, she’s the only one who can see through his “prodigious entrepreneur” mythos to the hurting teenager beneath.

Within the logic of the show’s universe this makes sense. Unlike Book!Lucy who is a judgemental grump (and is why she has “no female friends”; TWS p80), Show!Lucy is a more confident girl coming right off the back of losing someone she loves dearly.

Having experienced an arguably greater loss than Book!Lucy at this stage in her life, Show!Lucy seems adamant to prevent anyone else she cares about going down the same path. For Book!Lucy, this is a realisation she only comes to near the end of THB.

So to summarise, in the show, Lucy is a hurting, no-nonsense girl, unimpressed with Lockwood’s antics and objective enough to act as his “chain to earth”. From the way Lockwood responds to Lucy’s upsets, we get the sense that he’s quite sincere and maybe more in touch with his emotions than he shows on the surface.

The show portrays two people gradually learning to trust each other and perhaps slowly, mutually discovering their feelings as they do.

PART 2: BOOK: ACTIONS

The show uses disagreements as watersheds for character development, but they don’t play as significant a role in the books. Still, I went through TSS and TWS and made notes of every time there’s conflict between Lucy and Lockwood because the differences are quite telling.

TSS:

Lucy is mildly irritated/snarky at Lockwood for the entirety of the Hope case in TSS, and is angry when he forgets to bring the chains.

Lucy is angry at Lockwood for talking about the Annabel case and getting her name in the papers (TSS, 231)

Lockwood gets angry and berates Lucy for keeping the Annabel source (TSS, 179-181)

Lockwood calls Lucy “too sensitive” and accuses her of getting too close to ghosts (TSS, 248-249)

Lockwood is furious at Lucy for trying to talk to Annabel again (TSS, 284)

TWS:

Lockwood angry at Lucy for talking about the door on the landing (TWS, 116)

Lucy angry at Lockwood (and George) for taking her Listening for granted (TWS, 258)

Lucy scolds Lockwood for brushing off/slapping down George (TWS, 398)

Purely by numbers, they get mad at each other fairly evenly (rather than it being one-sided from Lucy, a la the show).

But numbers themselves don’t tell a full story. In fact, after looking at the particulars, I was surprised to see just how unbalanced their relationship is in the first 2 books (TSS in particular), and how much Lucy sits under Lockwood’s thumb for the whole thing.

Let’s look:

THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE

The Hope House - Lockwood forgetting to bring the chains.

This is the argument that plays out most similarly to how it does in the books. Lockwood asserts that filings “will be fine” for a job like this. In both mediums Lucy lets him go, but in the show she rolls her eyes and tuts, while in the books she tells herself “now (isn’t) the time”, takes a deep breath and changes the subject. In my opinion, this difference is insignificant.

BUT: in the book, the chains get brought up again. On p39, Lockwood suggests they should leave the house because it’s too dangerous, it is Lucy disagrees and thinks they should stay (as an aside, compare this with Lockwood’s behaviour in the show, particularly when escaping Winkman at the auction!).

Lockwood “condescendingly” tells her that her head isn’t in the right place, and Lucy once again accuses him of making bad decisions by leaving the chains out. Lockwood in turn first blames George (as he does in the show), then goes on to blame Lucy!

How the argument resolves is also interesting. Lockwood smiles at Lucy, and ribs her:

‘How’s your anger management going, Luce?’ (p40).

This effectively defuses Lucy’s rage (she likens his smile to “the sun coming out”).

Only after she’s no longer at the peak of her anger does he admit fault:

“He clapped his gloved hands together briskly. ‘Alright, you win'” (about staying at the house). (p40).

Even in the very first pages, we see Lockwood comporting himself as Lucy’s superior. We get the sense he doesn’t take her anger very seriously. Lucy also doesn’t seem to be able to stay mad at him for long.

Now, I've seen readings of Lockwood smiling in this moment as him being simply unable to stay mad at Lucy. That's definitely one interpretation, but I personally don't agree with it. Lockwood has a patterned habit of using his smile to get out of trouble:

“Lockwood took a deep breath; perhaps he realized he had to explain himself to George and me, as well as to Barnes…(Explanation). He switched on his fullest, most radiant smile.

Barnes winced. ‘Put those teeth away’” (TSS, p426)

And:

“‘Papers that almost certainly don’t exist,’ I growled…I didn’t look at him; if I had, he would have given me the smile, and I wasn’t in the mood for that.” (TWS, p258)

Though as we can see, by TWS Lucy has definitely wised up haha

Lucy’s name in the article

On paper, this argument is similar to the one in the show. The major difference is at no point in the books does Lucy explicitly tell Lockwood to keep her name out of the papers.

In the show, this argument leads to one of its biggest disagreements (Ep 2):

Lucy: I told you to leave me out of it.

Lockwood: And I told you I'd handle it. What are you so worried about? It's all true.

Lucy: We haven't even solved the case yet. What if Hugo Blake sees that and comes after me?

Lockwood: Well, then, we'll look after you, Luce. You're our biggest asset.

Lucy: Asset? Is that all I am, then? Just something to make you money? You think that you do things so differently. But you're just like the rest of them. You're as bad as everyone back home.

In the books, Lucy does not get angry when the article comes out (p217). She only gets upset after she’s pulled in by DEPRAC to see Hugo Blake. When the argument erupts, George is also there and it plays out like this (p232):

Lucy: “Don’t touch me. Because of your article, I came face to face with a murderer tonight, and funnily enough, I didn’t enjoy the experience.”

Lockwood: “Blake is not going to come after us”.

George: “Or if he does, it’ll be very, very slowly, hobbling on a stick. He’s over seventy years old.”

After Lockwood and George’s further justifications about why Blake is not going to “get them” (p232-233) Lucy thinks:

“What (Lockwood) said made sense, as usual. It was good to be out in the night again, with my sword and my colleagues at my side. The distress of my brief encounter at Scotland Yard was slowly fading. I felt a little better.”

We know from this that Lucy’s anger was one borne from worry and fear of Blake. By successfully alleviating that fear, Lucy’s anger at Lockwood dissipates. At no point is she mad at being treated as a showpony or asset by Lockwood. In fact, going back to when the article comes out (p 217), we’re presented with the following:

Lucy: “I still don’t know why you mentioned me but not the necklace.”

Lockwood: “It doesn’t hurt to emphasise what a star you are. We want other clients to come running, eager for your services.”

He doesn’t use the word “asset” here, but you can easily replace the word “star” with the word “asset" to get the original lines that triggered the argument in the show. To this statement, Book!Lucy has no reaction at all (the topic changes).

[As an aside, Lockwood also obliquely calls Lucy and George “inessential” on p214, which they also don’t comment on. Also, at various points he calls George and Lucy “fishwives” (p 272) and Lucy “sensitive” because she’s a girl (p 353) (lmaooo what an ass).]

Lockwood, Lucy and Annabel

I’m lumping these three arguments together because they follow the same pattern: Lucy tries to talk to Annabel, Lockwood gets upset that she keeps trying. What is absolutely fascinating is just how he treats Lucy when he is upset, and how Lucy responds to his anger in turn.

The first argument begins the morning after the fight. Lockwood says:

“Why, Lucy? I just don’t understand! You know an agent has to report any artefact she finds. Particularly one so intimately connected with a Visitor. They must be properly contained.” (p179)

He continues berating her like this (with a lot more anger than he ever displays on the show).

Lucy tries to apologise:

“Yes. I said I’m sorry! I’ve never done that sort of thing before.” (p180)

But Lockwood is still angry:

“So why did you do it now?”

Lucy spends the next page trying to explain why she took Annabel’s source, but even after her apologies and justifications, Lockwood is still furious:

“You forgot? That’s it? That’s your excuse?” (p 181)

The three of them talk a bit more about the mechanics of how Annabel ended up in the house, then when Lucy is in the middle of talking, Lockwood cuts her off again, and they have this whopper of an exchange:

“I hope you’re not trying to change the subject, Lucy,” Lockwood said in a cold voice. “I’m in the middle of ticking you off here.”

I set the case down. “I know.”

“I’m not finished, either. Not by a long chalk. I’ve got a whole heap more to say.” (Lockwood loses his train of thought here). “The point is: don’t do it again. I’m disappointed in you.”

Lucy meekly takes Lockwood’s lecture:

“I nodded. I stared at the tablecloth. My face felt cold and hot at the same time”

Lockwood’s one-sided lecture of Lucy lasts a whole five pages!!!

But he’s not done. It comes up again on p248 where Lockwood accuses Lucy of being 'too sensitive’ (in both the psychic and emotional way), and of getting “too close to (the ghosts)”. Then, in a 180 from the dynamics of power in the show (remember, Lucy threatens to quit several times), Lockwood threatens to fire her!

“You need to be careful, Lucy,” Lockwood said, and his voice was flat and cold. “Wicked ghosts aren’t things to trifle with. You’re keeping secrets again, and any agent who does that is endangering the rest of us. I’m not having anyone on my team who can’t be trusted. You understand what I’m saying?”

Again, Lucy takes this lecture meekly and submissively:

I did understand. I looked away.

In the final argument about the matter (p284) we learn that Lucy is actually a bit scared of Lockwood.

“You deliberately let her free?” Lockwood said. “That was a stupid thing to do.”

When I looked at his face, my heart quailed. “Not free,” I said desperately. “Just…freer.” (emphasis mine)

On p285 Lucy starts crying/tearing up because she thinks Lockwood:

“...Would not forgive me…this was the end of my employment at the company”.

Ordinarily, you might be able to argue that her fears are misplaced and subjective (because of her narrow perspective). This rings a little hollow given Lockwood’s threat on p248.

Does Lockwood ever apologise to Lucy during the Annabel affair? Once, when at his suggestion, Lucy tries to talk to Anabel, and things go awry:

“I’m so sorry. I should have never asked you to do that. What happened? Are you OK?” (p192)

It’s a sign that Lockwood does care about her wellbeing, despite his general distance from Lucy and the way he carries himself, which is as a figure of authority, and more importantly, as Lucy’s employer.

Seriously. We like to joke in this fandom that Lucy is too wrapped up in her own head thinking that Lockwood is out of her league to notice that he actually likes her. But reading the books again with detailed notes, I think Lucy’s impression is actually accurate.

In fact, writing this up sparked a memory of reading TSS for the first time (prior to the release of TWS), I remember thinking there wasn’t going to be a romance between Lucy and Lockwood. I couldn’t articulate it fully at the time, but I imagine it was because of how much older Lockwood seemed and how much control her asserts over her behaviour, combined with the way early book Lucy (to borrow Holly’s words from THB) “can’t say no” to Lockwood.

It is only by the end of TSS, does Lockwood finally say to her:

“I trust your Talent and your judgement and I’m very proud to have you on my team. OK? So stop worrying about the past!” (p436)

It’s still a tad condescending (think: praise from kindergarten teacher) but it’s a momentous occasion because as shown, prior to the Combe Carey Hall case, Lockwood seems to respect and trust her very little. This bookend leads nicely into their growing dynamic in TWS.

THE WHISPERING SKULL

Lucy, Lockwood and the skull in Bickerstaff’s manor:

By The Whispering Skull, Lucy and Lockwood’s relationship has evolved (which would make sense given the 6 months between books 1 and 2) and consequently the way they conflict has too. However, they still don’t ever reach the level of direct conflict they do in the show. Take what I consider to be Lucy’s biggest upset at Lockwood in the first 2 books:

On page 258, Lucy says:

“Forget it! What happened to us treading carefully, Lockwood? I’ve a good mind to go back home!”

Lockwood begs her to reconsider. Lucy remains angry. She says:

“You’re taking me for granted. Me and this house.”

However, it should be noted that although she mentions Lockwood by name, she’s actually angry at both Lockwood and George (yup, he’s there too). She calls them “both mad” for expecting her to agree to their scheme. She then stalks away from them in a rage, leaving “the others” (not just Lockwood) to follow.

In short, her anger isn’t directed at any particular trait of Lockwood’s (such as recklessness or foolhardiness), but rather at having been duped by both George and him. Nevertheless, it shows that she’s become more comfortable at expressing her anger in general by this point.

Lockwood’s door on the landing

As in the show, after the skull tells Lucy about Lockwood’s door, she confronts him about it.

In the show, after Lucy brings it up, Lockwood responds by diverting the subject:

Lockwood: That is not just a nick. You need to get that looked at. Could be some toxins got into your blood.

Then:

Lockwood: You're not Marissa Fittes.

Lucy: Cause you can't handle being my Tom Rotwell? Second best?

(This response is OOFT and also VERY Show!Lucy imo)

Another difference: in the show, Lockwood clearly believes Lucy, but doesn’t want to admit that she might be talented, because he’s used to being the most powerful one.

In the books, Lockwood just flat-out doesn’t believe her:

Lockwood lowered his mug; he spoke flintily. “Yes, I know (the door). The one you can’t stop asking about.” (p116)

He also calls her a “prima donna” (lmao LOCKWOOD).

Here, again, Lucy responds a bit more huffily than she probably would have in TSS:

We stood there, glaring at each other. (p117)

Lucy defends George

I think this argument, from page 398, though minor, nicely summarises Lockwood’s general attitude in conflict.

“Lockwood, we’ve been so blind! He’s desperate to investigate it. He’s been obsessed with it all this time. And you just kept criticising him, slapping him down.”

Lockwood responds at first by doing what he typically does (justify, accuse):

“Yes of course I did! Because George is always like that!...It’s just how he is! We couldn’t possibly have known.”

But compared to the chains argument in TSS where he deflects until the end, moments later:

His shoulders slumped. “You really think he’s affected by the ghost?”

Perhaps it’s because of the imminent danger George is in, but this time he takes Lucy’s anger seriously. Unlike the chains argument from the beginning of TSS, he doesn’t put on airs or “give permission” to Lucy when he senses he’s in the wrong. This way, they work together to prepare to get George back.

PART 3: BOOKS: THOUGHTS

“Wait,” you say, “Doesn’t this just prove that the show is like the books? Sure, it might have skipped that weird employer/employee stage from TSS, but it at least follows their relationship in TWS well, right?”

To this I say, yes, but also no. We need to take into account the role the arguments play in both mediums.

In the books, since Lucy is a very personal narrator, the arguments are a good way of showing the Locklyle relationship unmarked by her own thoughts. Although Lucy is quite inaccurate at judging what people feel and think (see: Holly), she’s not the kind of unreliable narrator that makes up things people say or do.

In the show, since we don’t get to see Lucy’s internal monologue; the arguments are instead used to show how Lucy feels. To that end, I can understand why they made her more direct/in touch with her emotions during them – if she didn’t say anything, the audience probably wouldn’t know.

SO: to get a full picture of her relationship with Lockwood, we need to examine both her acts AND her internal feelings.

What does Lucy feel in the show?

In the show, although Lucy does like Lockwood, she hates (or at least is troubled by) the following: he’s reckless, he’s (over) confident, he’s arrogant and loves the spotlight. But her two primary issues with his character seem to be:

His death-seeking nature:

“What does any of it mean if we end up stabbed or dead at the bottom of the Thames with nobody left to care?“ / “To be honest, the bottom of the Thames used to be a far more appealing place to be.”(Ep 8)

His distance/mystery:

“You might be able to turn your feelings on and off like a tap, but I am drowning here, Lockwood.” (Ep 2)

“At the centre of you is just a…” “A what? A cold, dead heart of stone?” “Yeah, maybe. But who knows, though? 'Cause you don't actually show anyone.” (Ep 7)

Is this the case in the books?

Nope. Not at all. This is the absolute biggest difference between Show!Locklyle and Book!Locklyle.

Lucy has very little to say about Lockwood’s general recklessness because, well, she is reckless too (this is the case in the show as well – makes her look just a little bit like a hypocrite).

In regards to his death-seeking nature: Lucy doesn’t even pick up on it until the Skull of all people points it out, and that is definitely much further along than in TSS and TWS.

But why doesn’t she see these signs? It ties back to how Lucy feels about Lockwood’s distance/mystery in TSS and TWS which is, well: she loves it.

Show!Lucy can’t stand Lockwood hiding things from her and running off madly towards “any old mystery”, and that’s what makes her a good grounding force for Lockwood there.

Book!Lucy fully drinks the Lockwood kool-aid and buys into his grand myth.

From the very outset, Lucy immediately likes Lockwood. Unlike Show!Lucy who compares him negatively with the people “back home”, Book!Lucy thinks:

“Lockwood, I already liked. He seemed a world away from the remote and treacherous Agent Jacobs; his zest and personal commitment were clear. Here was someone I felt I could follow, someone perhaps to trust.” (TSS, p 112)

We also get Lucy’s opinion of Lockwood “throwing himself” into missions the very first full day she joins:

“Vigorous and energetic, eager to throw himself into each new mystery; a boy who was clearly never happier than when walking into a haunted room, his hand resting lightly on his sword hilt…It already pleased me to think of walking into darkness with Lockwood at my side.” (TSS, p 127)

She starts buying the “Lockwood narrative” very quickly too. When Lockwood says:

‘This will be one of the three most successful agencies in London…And you can be a part of that, Lucy. I think you’re good, and I’m glad you’re here.’ (TSS 129)

Lucy thinks:

“You can bet my face was flushed right then – it was a special triple-combo of embarrassment at being found out, pleasure at his flattery and excitement at his spoken dreams.” (TSS 129)

We see her continued fall into Lockwood’s all-consuming orbit on the next page:

“For a moment, as he said this, it all made perfect sense…when he smiled like that it was hard not to agree with him.” (p 130)

Contrast this to the show, where instead she cooly responds, “Thank you,” then immediately asks: “How do I know you’re good enough for me?” (Ep 1)

Show!Lucy clearly isn’t buying it from the beginning, and continues to not buy it. We can see the difference after the Hope House case when Lucy is talking to George.

George: “Maybe if you'd been more interested before you went charging.”

Lucy: “That was Lockwood's decision. I've only just started. What am I supposed to say to him?” (Ep 2)

George: “You're meant to say no. You have to, or you'll make him worse.”

George is another character who works well to contextualise Lucy’s behaviour towards Lockwood. In the show, George sees Lucy as someone capable of reigning Lockwood in. Whereas in the books, he sees Lucy as equally at fault for being reckless.

“When is going to be the time? When you and Lockwood are both dead, maybe? When I open the door one night and see the two of you hovering beyond the iron line?...All you and Lockwood care about is going out and snuffing Sources, as quickly as you can! ” (TSS, p 139-140)

Rather than deflect blame onto Lockwood as she does in the show, she says:

“Because that’s what makes our money, George!...If you were less obsessed with it, we’d have done twice as many cases in the last few months…We waited all afternoon for you.” (TSS, p140)

The “makes our money” line sounds a lot like something that would come out of Lockwood’s mouth, and makes me wonder whether she’s parroting something he said at this stage. Conjecture aside, it shows the reader that Lucy is firmly on Lockwood’s side – as established, Lucy “never says no” to Lockwood, and everyone else knows it.

I suspect part of the reason this continues for so long is because Lockwood never is too approving of Lucy, which causes Lucy to scrabble for the rare moments of his approval.

“Moments before, he’d been promising to incinerate the locket. Now it was the key to all our troubles. Moments before, he’d been giving me a rollocking; now I was the apple of his eye. This was the way it was with Lockwood. His shifts were sometimes so sudden that they took your breath away, but his energy and enthusiasm were always impossible to resist.” (TSS, p 190)

“As usual, the full warmth of his approval made me feel a little flushed.“ (p TWS, 108)

Although by TWS Lucy is far more comfortable with Lockwood to his face, she can’t help but put him on a pedestal at the back of her mind, which marks the remaining difference between the show and the books.

“One full year after my arrival at the agency, the unrevealed details of my employer’s early life remained an important part of his mystery and fascination.” (TWS, p 40)

Even George calls her out on it:

“Oh, come on. You love all that mystery about him. Just like you love that pensive, far-off look he does sometimes.” (TWS, p 55)

Putting aside the “haha Lucy has an obvious crush on Lockwood” part, what’s interesting is that George specifically hones in on Lucy enjoying the “mystery” of Lockwood – although she does want to find out what’s behind the door, she also is drawn to, rather than repelled by (unlike Show!Lucy) the part of him that keeps things hidden. Her encounter with the Fetch in THB shows her precisely what is underneath that mysterious facade of Lockwood’s, and that (combined with Holly) is what, I think, finally scares her out of her idolatry.

As for Lockwood, we can only guess at his thoughts in the book, but we do know that he’s far less open than he is in the show. It is George who reveals to Lucy that Lockwood’s parents are probably dead (TSS, 114).

Lockwood only really brings up his parents (and quickly moves on to other matters) at the END of The Hollow Boy (p 391).

I think he makes a concerted effort to act as Lucy’s employer, to the extent that he hardly asks about or takes an interest in her personal life at all. Compare the line in the show where Lockwood says:

“Interesting outfit, Luce. Didn't have you down as a fan of unicorns. Or rainbows.”

To the book, where not only does Lockwood never comment on Lucy’s appearance, that line is a callback to a line said by George:

“Ooh, Lucy – I’ve never seen you wearing that.” (TSS, p175)

In fact, I’d maybe even go so far to say that the show has snatched bits from George’s relationship with Lockwood and Lucy respectively and repurposed into Locklyle dynamics [see: George worrying about Lockwood’s recklessness, George upset at being treated as an asset (TWS, p107)].

This isn't to say that he doesn't care about them: he very clearly does and it is most clear in moments of crisis. But Lockwood is such a unique character, plus a known Stepford Smiler, and so "typical" signs of feelings of happiness (smiling at Lucy etc) shouldn't be taken at face value when trying to ascertain how he feels – and this is true until THB.

I don’t want people to think I’m cherry picking moments of tension between Lucy and Lockwood to make a point here. Once again, Lockwood does care about Lucy. When Lucy isn’t caught up in her Lockwood-filter, and when Lockwood isn’t preoccupied with his role as THE Anthony Lockwood, they share plenty of moments where they joke, laugh and generally act like teens, which the show captured just fine.

But those moments of cheeriness belie a narrative backbone that is very different. Lucy in the books is just 14 years old, and she’s looking for a (metaphorical!!!) “grown up” mentor after losing her father and being betrayed by Jacobs. Meanwhile, Lockwood is trying his best to shut the door on his childhood and act wiser than his years.

Thus when they meet, Lockwood just happens to be playing that authority figure Lucy thinks she needs (but we know she doesn’t!), and is only happy to oblige by continuing to play that role until slowly Lucy (and George) start breaking down his guard.

TLDR;

Show!Locklyle has a far more balanced dynamic than Book!Locklyle, which is objectively pretty “boss and employee”. Perhaps controversially, I don’t think Lockwood felt anything other than general workplace fondness/friendship for Lucy for most of TSS (at least until Combe Carey Hall).

Most importantly: Lucy in the show hates and is hurt by Lockwood’s secrecy, but Book!Lucy fawns over the very shadow consuming his soul – that is, until her rather rude awakening at the end of THB.

The ramifications of these changes have also spilled onto the characters. Lucy in the show comes off as more strong-minded, practical and confident, whereas book Lucy seems tougher, more of a tsundere (ye) and more love-starved. Lockwood in the show is the same attention-hungry “politician”, but more sincere, troubled and subdued. Whereas Lockwood in the books is crueller (remember that time he threatened to shut a kid in a coffin?), flashier, more competent and a huge brat (affectionate).

Which Locklyle is better is a matter of personal taste. In the show there’s arguably more dramatic tension, and the relationship is more tender/romantic and caring overall. But I think there’s something to be said for how unique Lucy and Lockwood’s dynamic is in the books, and the very carefully written unfurling that takes them to the end of TEG.

Either way, I hope I’ve convinced any readers of this giant word vomit that the show and book dynamics are two very separate beasts.

Agree? Disagree? Found it interesting? Hate my guts? Let me know what you think!!!

Till next time!

#lockwood and co #lockwood and co spoilers #anthony lockwood #lucy carlyle #this thing is absolutely massive i hope it doesn't wreck the app #if i see a typo or factual error after i post i will perish #locklyle #i guess

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dust-jacket-analysis · 19 days ago

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It's thinking about Drake and Halia parallels time. Because they literally consume my entire thoughts.

They're both a singer x person who they used to be friends with turned bully ship. Accept Drew was always a bully, and is now just also bullying Jake.

Also breaking down parallels between each individual character in this foursome.

Hailey and Jake

Both were singers who were bullied for their passion. Both are terrible at communication (though Hailey is much better at it than Jake). And then they foil each other becasue while Hailey stayed stedfast in her beliefs and didn't let the bullying change her, Jake did. He choose to become a bully to be accepted and to make the bullying stop. A survival tactic.

Which brings me to the next parallels:

Jake and Lia

Both characters were people who were bullied and then changed themselves as a result. They weren't able to stay true to themseleves and their passions. They wanted to be accepted, adn wanted the bullying to stop. So they did just about anything to make it stop. Lia and Drew

They have the most parallels lowkey in my opinion.

Both had friends who they really cared about (beyond platonic feelings, I'd argue), but ended up betraying in the end. Both characters were Jealous of the Music Club and how clsoe Jake was to them + missed Jake hanging out with them all the time and hurt him as a result. Lia with the leaking of the audio to the club and Drew during the whole Drake up debacle. Both deal with Zoey, and have a relationship with her in some capacity. And Both ended up leaving her because of her actions. Drew and Jake

Both have terrible communication skills. Obviously. But they way they're bad at communication is the same too. They both don't speak up about how they're feeling. With Drew I just think he's emotionally constipated. And wouldn't know how to express his feelings if his life depended on it. And with Jake I think he's just used to hiding himself for group acceptance. So it's partly people pleasing, and partly force of habit. But by hiding how they're feeling and not talking about it, they both let those feelings simmer. And eventually they get angrier and angrier at each other, over things the other had no idea about, and explode. Ta da! Drakeup.

Drew and Hailey

Both are stubborn, and surprisingly "Loyal." Like say what you will about Drew (There's a lot too say) but he cares about his friends.

They both are also wildly insecure. Obviously with Hailey we see that presented in her stage fright as a result of years of bullying. And while we don't have a reason for Drew yet, it's obvious he is insecure. Hailey clocked it so fast.

Also their own anger issues (not issues, but they're both hot heads). We don't see that in Hailey's characterization as much in later episodes, but in the early days she's a loveable hot head. Drew is a (not so loveable) hot head to. We see that when he snaps at everyone throughout the series, and also during his and Jake's fight. Lia and Hailey

Both Hailey and Lia were bullied. But while Lia decided to change herself to be more liked and to stop the bullying, Hailey remained how she was in spite of it. Halia is honestly just basically Sapphic Jailey. I will NOT take criticisms. All four of them parallel each other a lot. And that's what makes every possible dynamic in this foursome so appealing and interesting. They play off of each other really well, and the writing potential is INSANE.

#tmf #the music freaks #the music freaks rosyclozy #tmf hailia #tmf drake #tmf jailey #tmf jia #tmf dria #tmf drailey #tmf hailey #tmf lia #tmf drew #tmf jake

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natsumebookss · 7 months ago

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Tragic Yuri or Tragic Yuri: On Female Autonomy, Reclaiming the Narrative, and 2011's Moodiest Magical Girls

(contains spoilers for Madoka Magica and Heartcatch Precure, very slight spoilers for Winx Club, topics of loss and depression, and the author screaming into the void about anime bullshit that happened over a decade ago)

If you've spent any amount of time in the Precure or PMMM fandoms, you've probably come across this quote. It's natural in many ways for Urobuchi to feel the way he does--imposter syndrome is intensely common for artists and I'd imagine attempting to write a subversion of a common genre while a piece of media from that genre is wrapping up a super successful run is challenging. While I won't pretend Heartcatch reached the levels of popularity that PMMM ended up at, it was the highest-selling season for years in terms of toy sales and many still remember it very fondly. (I'm a bit more critical of it, personally, but more on that later.) And so much was made of Urobuchi confessing he hadn't seen Heartcatch at the time of writing his own show, with PMMM antis saying that meant he had no real appreciation for the genre.

But what if I were to tell you that not only would PMMM have been significantly worse if he'd made it more like Heartcatch, but Heartcatch would've been better off if it had been more like Madoka?

A disclaimer before we go any further: I am not suggesting that Heartcatch should've retooled into a darker series, or that it even had the ability to since the shows were made pretty much in tandem. The damage done to Heartcatch, in my opinion, was already done before Madoka's finale even aired. This is purely an exercise in comparing two magical girls from roughly the same anime season (one ending about when the other was starting) and seeing what they could learn from each other. Also note that my title on my main blog is literally "Heartcatch Precure finale anti," so there will be some bias involved. With that out of the way, let us proceed.

Context

Pictured: a completely normal Facebook discussion about a kid's anime character from almost 15 years ago.

For those unfamiliar, Cure Moonlight has essentially built up a reputation for being the Leafpool of Precure. For those unfamiliar with Warrior Cats, this is one of the worst things you can be called in fandom--someone with legions of fans who got screwed over so badly that those fans will never shut up about it. Being a Leafpool is not merely being a tragic character, but being actively fucked over by the narrative at every possible turn.

Let's explore Cure Moonlight in a bit more detail before comparing her to Homura and how, I argue, Homura did a similar story path to hers better. Like Homura, Cure Moonlight is first seen fighting a massive threat to humanity inside our pink magical girl Tsubomi's dream. The dream cuts off before we learn her fate, but all we can see on her face is pure sorrow before it does. The minute she is introduced, she already knows loss.

Throughout the show's run, we get to know her as Yuri Tsukikage, a veteran magical girl forced into retirement after her transformation item has been shattered. She has half of the broken Heart Seed that remains, and her foil Dark Precure, who broke the seed, has the other. Yuri is intensely depressed for this exact reason: she has lost her powers, her duties to the world, her fairy companion (who died in the battle with Dark Precure), and her father has also mysteriously vanished. The audience first sees her as a friend of one of the lead's older sisters, a senpai who excels at both sports and academics, before revealing her to be a broken person inside. The goal of Yuri's narrative, seemingly, is to restore her Precure powers, allow her to confide in new friends, and find her missing father.

The first two are accomplished in a pretty straightforward but heartwarming manner--Yuri begins to find a new purpose in training her Precure kohais and eventually regains her powers through hard work and determination. Typical kid's show stuff, even if seeing Cure Moonlight reappear for the first time is indisputably badass. It's the third one, however, that I have the most problems with.

Frequent followers of my main blog @curemoonliite may be familiar with a term I have called "moonbitching." This is what I call it when I rant at length about the Heartcatch finale and what it did to Cure Moonlight's character, or even just allude to it in the tags. Since this post will already be long enough without it, I'll go light on the moonbitching, but do just enough of it to give you the facts.

In the last few episodes of the series, Yuri learns that her father was brainwashed by the main villain of the series, Dune, and that Dark Precure was cloned from her genetic material while he was brainwashed. This is legitimately a fascinating plot point that, by itself, I have no problems with. However, soon after learning about this, both Dark Precure and her father are killed off in the final battle and all Yuri can do is watch.

Her father sacrificed himself for her in a moment of clarity, she didn't even get time to really process that she's been fighting her sister all along, and she's lost everyone all over again. She started the show with just her and her mother, and the second she sees hope at having a family again, it's taken away from her.

Her kohai Tsubomi, upon seeing this, begs Yuri not to take revenge on the Big Bad that's stolen everything from her. This isn't the Yuri I know, she shouts. But somewhere along the line, we've lost the Yuri we know. All her development, all her growth, has been torn away the minute she's forced to lose everything again. Her path as a character is now uncertain, the narrative deciding it won't allow her to pursue even the slightest act of revenge.

And all Yuri can do is watch alongside us.

Homura and Yuri

The minute I saw this finale for the first time, I was reminded of how a classic piece of children's/family media handled a similar plot point. Allow me to be cliched for a moment, but if we look at someone like Inigo Montoya, we can see that his decision to pursue revenge is never really questioned by the narrative. This is something that's always bothered me about female characters in media, especially magical girl stories--a magical girl can never just say "give me my father back, you son of a bitch." They may want to, but due to sexist notions about women and violence, they're always expected to take the high road.

Oftentimes, this is done by using the magical girl leader as a mouthpiece to directly dismiss their teammate's desires--Bloom and Aisha go through something very similar in S4 of Winx Club when Aisha's fiancee is killed. Neither Bloom nor Tsubomi are naturally dismissive people, and the narrative tends to characterize them as kind, but they are briefly mischaracterized in moments like this to give the typical "revenge is bad" message that kid's shows tend to have. A message that is often distinctly missing from boy's cartoons, but I digress.

Aisha is at least allowed the dignity of separating from the main team for a few episodes to join some extremists, but Yuri doesn't even get that.

And Homura gets so much more.

I'll admit, I still have mixed feelings about Rebellion to this day, but what I do appreciate about it is that it isn't hampered by these restraints that magical girl media made for children seem to have. That villain arc the Facebook commenter from before said Yuri should've had? It was too late for her by the time the finale ended, but it wasn't too late for Homura.

Homura is, in many ways, an anti-Yuri, and a lot of that comes from her having autonomy within the narrative. Female autonomy is something we see discussed in the social justice sphere a lot, but not quite as much in the storytelling sense. Probably the main difference between the two is that Homura, as a time traveler, can stop the ones she loves from ever being killed. In fact, that's also her greatest weakness, as she wears herself down with the timelines so much that she can barely bring herself to care for anything else sometimes.

Homura's depression comes from the idea that she Can Stop The Thing, but can't figure out precisely how to. Yuri's depression comes from the fact that she Can't Stop The Thing, thinks she knows how to, and gets herself into more trouble along the way. One of these makes for an intensely more active character that doesn't feel unfairly dunked on by the narrative, and oddly enough, it's not the kid's show character.

Yuri, as a children's character, is kept from doing certain things by what that entails. Homura, however, has no such restrictions. She can travel through time and repeat everything over literally until she breaks herself. And that she very, very much does.

Homura doesn't have to be convinced in the finale to let Madoka go, she just peacefully comes to terms with it herself. That alone gives her more autonomy than Yuri had, even if we recall that Rebellion's ending was not the original one that Urobuchi had planned. However, Rebellion's ending serves as an ultimate rebuttal to the narrative that a magical girl must simply allow hardship and loss to happen to her. If the world isn't fair to her, if not even time travel works out, why not just remake it?

This action comes at the cost of stripping Madoka of a lot of her autonomy, sure. But it is, in a way, the natural conclusion of how magical girl leaders are often made to strip their "angsty" team members of theirs. Homura's fall from grace is a flipping of this script in every way possible, and even if it's far from the best decision for her to make, we can see that it's 100% fully her own.

The revenge is complete. No one is there to stop her. Even the writers don't really know what to do with her now. Homura has now transcended the fate of the purple magical girl, and that's the best thing that could've ever happened to her.

A girl who seeks revenge is a devil. A girl who cannot become a princess is doomed to become a witch. But ask yourself, is the fear of becoming these things worth becoming a spectator in your own story?

And, if that's the case, is it truly better to reign in hell than serve in heaven?

#magia record #homura akemi #my post #cure moonlight #heartcatch precure #had to put that paradise lost ref at the end sorry not sorry #a lot of my own thoughts about fighting the system vs being a spectator in your own story came out here too #it's a helluva lot to unlearn that's for sure

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yuri-is-online · 6 months ago

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The second part of your response was good enough that I’m coming back with a round two.

“he just does not seem to see other people as. Well. People nor does he seem to understand the concept of dreams. In a way the ideals of someone like Azul are completely foreign to him because he's never had to work to be good at anything he's needed to do.”

This is an excellent point, though I’m curious as to what you meant by Malleus not understanding the concept of dreams. I would even go so far as to connect his inability to see others as people with all of the dreams Malleus forms with his unique magic. A denial of their perspectives and beliefs based simply on his understanding of the regrets and desires the dreamers harbor. While the magic may form the dreams around a person’s experiences, it’s always filtered through Malleus’s beliefs. It was mentioned somewhere that dragon fae only are considered adults at 1000 years and Malleus’s behavior right now is definitely showing us why.

Sebek: I have little to say on the contents of the dream itself that won’t be covered later, so let’s focus on that this is the first time we see Malleus inserting himself (or a piece of himself) into a dream. Considering how these dreams are essentially false paradises based on a person’s happiness, it definitely feels a little like Malleus was playing with dolls here.

Lilia: It says a lot that Lilia’s dream was able to remain tragic despite Malleus’s magic. He had come to terms with how Maleanor’s death/Raverne’s disappearance and his travels were necessary experiences in order for him to have the happiness that was Malleus and Silver. He had already made his peace with it in his long life, and yet Malleus’s first reaction was to try to modify the dream to erase these deaths? I understand he was very upset himself, but it also shows how childish Malleus’s understanding of happiness is. He cannot fathom how Lilia would be able to be happy despite such tragedy. I would almost even say it’s an insult to Maleanor’s sacrifice to erase her death like that.

Idia: Before I really get into anything here, can we take a moment to reflect on how cruel it was to give Idia a dream about og!Ortho being alive? Seeing him break down sobbing when reality set in was heartbreaking. Moving on, this is also a case of Malleus being utterly unable to see how someone could be happy in the wake of such tragedy. It’s an insult to Idia’s character development since he had finally gotten closure and was healing/moving forward. He may not have been at the stage of being completely happy yet, but he was willing to try to live his life to its fullest. It’s very clear to me that Malleus has never had to lose someone precious to him (before Lilia) and therefore cannot accept a person still wanting to move forward.

Rook and Vil: I place these two together because in my opinion, they display the same core issue of Malleus misunderstanding the actual issue of what would make Vil happy. In Rook’s Vil is simply made to be friends with Neige, attending the “hero school” RSA. Considering Vil’s relationship with Neige is more of a byproduct of the issue rather than the issue itself, this is a pretty shallow fix. I would throw the making Neige Vil’s assistant or allowing Vil to just kill Neige under this category as well. The issue isn’t Neige himself, it’s how the industry heavily typecasts and arguably the pressure the industry placed on Vil by always setting him up to be compared to Neige. Which leads into the other issue with Vil’s dream seeing as how it completely misses that Vil would not want a shortcut like that. It defies a key aspect of Vil’s personal beliefs.

- 🦐

So by "does not understand dreams" I mean he does not understand the concept of desiring something and working towards it in full knowledge that you could fail, or the willingness of humanity to accept those failures. I'm glad you brought up Vil because he's a perfect example, his dream isn't to be the worlds greatest actor period it's to have the full range of his talent recognized. The nuances of that are lost on Malleus, Vil would never be satisfied with a dream reality when what he wants is to make his dream real in the first place.

I think a lot of this comes from how sheltered Malleus has been. He's never really had a chance to grow and mature in the way his classmates have and because of how powerful he is he sort of expects to be given leeway in their lives. He would argue that he's earned it by virtue of existing, but none of his fellow Dorm Leaders think like that, in a way Leona's hatred makes even more sense now doesn't it? His entire thing is that a person should be respected for who they are not who they were born to, his rivalry with Malleus is far from petty when you put it in that context... Even if Malleus had been allowed to socialize with people the way fae society works he might have turned out worse, convinced of his own godhood to a dangerous degree but as it stands now he's just lonely and wants everyone else to be just as alone as he is.

If his dreams can't be real then no one's can, no matter what sort of spin he puts on it at the end of the day that is all he's doing. And he's going to pay a heavy cost for it.

#<3 asks #twisted wonderland #book 7 spoilers #twst spoilers #diasomnia spoilers #shrimp anon

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devizakura · 8 months ago

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PENNYLOUVERSE - CANON EVENTS AND FANON CONSEQUENCES

I've realized that some people who like my Pennylou comics may not have watched the show and as such, some blanks normally filled in by canon might escape them.

As such, here's a list of canon events you might want to know (in black) and headcanoned continuations/consequences of said events (in red) as a lot of them are left uncertain for now. BEWARE OF SPOILERS!

Exterminations:

a special group of angels called “exorcists” (sometimes “exterminators”) descend to Hell once a year to kill sinners with angelic weapons (the only type of weapon able to kill permanently - when killed by other means, sinners just regenerate/respawn) to prevent overpopulation and a potential uprising.

As we later find out, until the trial in episode 6 where Charlie, the princess of Hell, tries to present the case that sinners can be redeemed, only the exorcists (including Adam - the first man - and Lute at the top of their hierarchy) and Sera, the High Seraph (currently the highest rank in Heaven’s hierarchy that we know of - Lucifer could've been above them going by Christian lore but seeing as Hazbin lore differs in some ways, we don't really know for now) know of the exterminations. Sera is very insistent on keeping it that way as to not disturb the peace in Heaven.

After the truth comes out during that trial, many other angels, including Emily, learn of the exterminations. Emily is horrified, while other angels’ opinions seem to be split.

In my timeline, all the angels present at the trial have sworn under oath to keep the information confidential. However, that doesn’t stop rumors from spreading within some circles, especially after Adam seemingly disappears (having been killed in the battle for the Hotel) and Lute comes back lacking an arm. These rumors don’t reach Betty since she prefers to keep to her own and not stick her nose into matters that don’t concern her unless she can directly help someone, so she remains rather oblivious until told directly by Pentious who's lived through it.

Pentious as the first redeemed soul:

During the last extermination in which Adam's legion targets the hotel specifically, Pentious dies protecting it. Normally, this would result in a perma-death (and as such everyone who knew him believes he is in fact gone for good), but for reasons currently quite unknown, he ascends to Heaven instead.

In the Pennylou timeline, after Pentious arrives to Heaven in front of Sera and Emily, he is assigned a place to stay and allowed to roam free (under some degree of supervision for at least the first few weeks) but is advised not to reveal to the public that sinners can be redeemed as Sera feels the need to assess the situation first. For the same reason, he is not allowed to contact anyone in Hell to let them know redemption works until it is deemed safe to do so.

The "ex":

Back in Hell, Sir Pentious had a crush on Cherri Bomb, his archnemesis. They don’t end up together, but Sir Pentious does manage to confess his love and kiss her right before sacrificing himself.

While she does warm up to him by the end, in the Pennylou timeline (and true to Cherri’s character), she moves on rather quickly as they were never really together and she quite literally saw him die. Pentious, however, still misses her for quite some time. This gives Betty the wrongful impression that there was at least a bit more between them and she refers to Cherri as his “ex” rather than a crush.

What Pentious told Betty about after “Off my chest”:

The exterminations and how he died a second time

The hotel and redeeming sinners, as well as the friendships he’s made and how he misses Cherri and his Egg Boiz

He does not disclose much about his life before the hotel until much later if at all, as he doesn't feel particularly proud of his past.

#pennylou #hazbin hotel #betty lou #sir pentious #oc x canon #selfship

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mariacallous · 5 months ago

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There has been plenty of discussion in Western media about why Russians are not protesting President Vladimir Putin’s regime and the war against Ukraine, whether it’s due to the economy, genuine enthusiasm for the war, or fear. One thing that most experts agree on is that Russia has a severe political apathy problem. That’s true—but it’s also far more pervasive than even Russianists often realize.

This problem is not new; it’s a continuation of Soviet-era cultural norms that have been carefully amplified and curated by Putin’s state propaganda. Russian experts themselves were once able to point out the problem—including Andrey I. Kolesnikov (a member of the “Kremlin pool” of journalists as the deputy CEO of the influential Kommersant newspaper and the editor in chief of Russky Pioner magazine) in an RIA news article from 2006, or academic Marina Podhomutinkova in a 2011 paper.

As statistics on the increasingly low number of people who get involved in politics show, the situation has only gotten worse over time. Apathy, tinged with fear, is the Russian norm. That explains some of the strangeness of public opinion data. Recent polls by the Moscow-based Levada Center show that support for war among the general population remains high, fluctuating around the 75 percent mark. At the same time, 71 percent of respondents would also approve of immediate peace talks. Although part of this can be attributed to the “preference falsification” that researchers find is common in authoritarian states, the apathy that Putin has cultivated goes far deeper than that.

On a personal level, if you ask the average Russian what they actually want from the war or expect to achieve if they win, then the answer is a resounding “nothing.” I’ve asked this question to many Russians—including relatives, friends, and business acquaintances. I’ve also spent a considerable amount of time on various anonymous Russian imageboards and Telegram channels, asking about people’s opinions in situations where anonymity is guaranteed. The result stays the same—the average Russian person just doesn’t care.

As one interviewee told me, “This is a stupid question. I’ve never thought about politics in my life—that’s the smart thing to do. Let politicians do their politics; that’s not for me. Sooner or later, this will be over. Putin will probably figure something out with China and [U.S. President Joe] Biden. I just hope that they don’t start throwing nukes around, but that’s all.”

Unsurprisingly, my interlocutors almost universally asked for anonymity.

Lev Gudkov, the director of the Levada Center, stated a similar conclusion in an interview with Radio Liberty in January this year: “This is indifference and being overwhelmed by life, poverty, and lack of rights, and pacifist beliefs, or simply well-being combined with the position ‘politics does not interest me.’”

As Gudkov noted, in some ways, this helps Putin: Active, ideological pro-war supporters, known as turbopatriots, have certain demands that Moscow has largely failed to fulfill. Look at the imprisoned ultranationalist Igor Girkin, who turned on Putin after the war against Ukraine went sour.

Maxim Katz, a Russian opposition politician-turned journalist-responded when I asked him this question during a livestream : “What an American, very Western question. It’s hard for the people in the West to understand that the average Russian wants nothing from this war, he does not see the victory in any way, he completely doesn’t care. For him, this is a question that his superiors are dealing with. The most important thing for him is to ensure that this war doesn’t affect him personally in any way.”

In part, this cynicism is bred by the gap between propaganda and reality. Russian state media takes nationalism to extremes, but ordinary Russians know that this is nonsense, often using the phrase “war between the TV and the refrigerator” to talk about the discrepancies between broadcast propaganda and the reality of empty shelves or failing appliances. The elites also know that the people know. As the old Soviet saying goes, “You pretend to pay us, we pretend to work.” That mentality is in full swing here.

This charade was a mainstay of the Soviet system. Elections were faked, with 99 percent of the population always voting for the only available party list. Trade unions nominally existed, but they were directly under the control of the Communist Party, never fulfilling any real functions, and any real expression of people’s political will was nearly nonexistent. But patriotism was compulsory, especially over national holidays. This led to an increase in apathy, nihilism, and disillusionment about the Soviet government.

When Mikhail Gorbachev took power, some nonpolitical interest clubs concerning social issues were finally permitted, such as the green movement. Russia had a brief spurt of real politics, freedom of speech, and open discussion—one that also coincided with economic chaos and a deep sense of disillusionment as Russia’s place in the world plummeted in the 1990s. The combination of all of these factors led to many people losing faith in democracy and liberal ideas, an increase of nostalgia toward the Soviet era, and a neglect of politics in general.

There’s a common Soviet era saying that remains popular among Russian speakers: “The folks up there see better.” What it means is that if you’re not one of the members of the political elite, then you should not be questioning their decisions, because they probably know better than you do—so don’t be curious, just do what you’re told. It’s related to another famous phrase—“I’m not an expert in this matter, but…”—that’s reached a meme status on the Russian speaking internet. Sometimes it’s joking, but often it’s used seriously. The idea that only an authorized few should get to have an opinion is embedded deep into the public mentality.

Another familiar trope that serves political apathy is the idea of “tough Russians.” Putin loves to play on that, portraying himself as a strongman who embodies the traditional Russian virtues of virility and masculinity. He makes macho but hollow boasts, such as his response from 2018 to a question about the potential of foreign nuclear threats against Russia: “We will go to heaven as martyrs, and they will just drop dead.”

But for ordinary people, there’s the commonly used term terpila (“the one who endures” or “endurer” in English). It refers to someone who just suffers through everything that life throws at them, without ever doing anything about it. It’s a negative term—but it describes many Russians.

These are the ideals that are being actively reinforced in Russia today as Putin doubles down on Soviet nostalgia. People are shown that they have a strong, powerful leader, who will bring greatness to the country. That is a promise of stability and prosperity, but because of Russia’s Soviet past, it is also a reminder that you shouldn’t bother with politics or civic engagement, and that only a narrow group of specialists are ever allowed to have an opinion in any given matter. If there are any problems, you should endure them as a so-called real Russian and not have any ideas of change.

What does this mean for the war? Well, it’s been decided by the higher-ups, so it’s not any of your business.

Roughly 20 million Ukrainians have relatives in Russia. One-third of Ukraine’s population stated in a 2011 survey that they have friends there as well. So, when Russians answer polling questions about their support for the war, they say “yes”—because that’s a political issue, and they have enough problems to deal with. At the same time, when they get asked about whether they would support immediate peace talks, they respond “yes” again, because the killing of Ukrainians just seems odd to the vast majority of people—even if they’ve bought into Putin’s propaganda about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government supposedly being full of Satanists and neo-Nazis.

As one of my own distant relatives told me on the phone, “What do you mean, want from the war? How can you even want something from a war? I want the war to end, and I think that every reasonable person has the same opinion!” Her husband added, “We’re just not that political, as a people, you know. Nobody thought this was possible, but now … now we just want this to end, to return to how things were.”

The bloodiness of this war seems to play little role in the average Russian person’s political activity. Casualties in this conflict are very high—current estimates of those killed or wounded in the conflict put the figure at more than 500,000 people, much higher than the casualties suffered during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, where approximately 15,000 USSR soldiers were lost, with approximately 35,000 more wounded. The difference lies in who is getting mobilized.

During the Afghanistan war, the Soviet Union sent regular conscripts to fight, as per the mandatory service and zinc coffins were seen in cities all over the USSR. In the Ukrainian war, Putin is careful to preserve the illusion of normalcy for the citizens of Moscow and St. Petersburg—it’s the ethnic minorities and convicts that do most of the fighting, as to not provoke the Russian people into caring too much. Especially since he has another political issue with this war that he needs to be careful about.

Putin has described Ukrainians as belonging to the Russian civilization—misled by the West, yes, but brothers nonetheless. My impression from talking to Russians is that at this point, they’ll support whatever Putin declares needs supporting, whatever scheme he has going on, as long as this confusing nightmare ends faster. Then everyone, ideally, could go back to business as usual, pretending that this war never even happened.

There is a silver lining to this though. Putin is 71 and has been in power for nearly 25 years. Anyone who could have given him an honest opinion, much less some constructive criticism, has long been forced into retirement, pushed into exile, imprisoned, or outright killed. He’s visibly lost touch with reality—according to a recently defected Kremlin insider, Putin does not use a smartphone, nor does he know how to use a computer beyond the very basics of functions. He does not use the internet. A video where he, supposedly, is shown logging in to vote via Russia’s online voting platform in the farcical so-called presidential election in March was laughable, as it’s obvious that Putin has no idea what he’s doing.

But the cynicism and apathy of the older generation may not extend to the younger one. The Kremlin has no clue about what to do with the younger generation, who mainly watch YouTube and listen to podcasts. Among this category of Russians aged 25 to 39, the Levada Center’s April polls showed only 23 percent support for the war. Russia’s best attempt at propaganda on YouTube was its failed RuTube project, where various popular Russian content creators were paid large amounts of money—more than they were making via their channels on YouTube—to move all of their content to RuTube and occasionally include pro-Kremlin content among whatever they were posting normally.

As a result, most of the pro-Putin YouTube channels have lost their audience, and the Russian government is wasting money paying for content that nobody watches. It’s also about to launch a state-approved version of Wikipedia, which will steal articles from the original Russian-language wiki and then automatically censor them. The project is equally likely to crash and burn.

Russians won’t be overthrowing their regime anytime soon. But if the war becomes a more personal problem, attitudes could shift fast. This is important, because people reevaluate their risks on a daily basis—when the regime is strong, they would rather lay low and stay on the safer side. But as soon as cracks start to appear, the very same people can suddenly turn fiercely.

Western policymakers should take this into account. Russian people are absolutely fine with the war ending—as long as there’s a plan for them, and not a repeat of the humiliations of the 1990s.

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