#mu wants to feel power by manipulating others

[jmeldog]

Whatever they have going on

[bitethedevil]

Can you please do a nsfw alphabet for Raphael?

Raphael NSFW Alphabet

A= Aftercare (what they’re like after the act)

None, nada. In one of my fics he just sort of gives Tav a pat on the head after fucking her within an inch of her life and I honestly think that’s him being generous with her. He just doesn’t have time for that stuff. In his mind he’s entitled to ruining you, so why should he provide aftercare?

B= Body part (favorite body part their own or their lovers)

Asses and thighs all the way. He’s also really into necks, especially biting and marking them for everyone to see.

C= Cum (anything that has to do with it)

Okay hear me out. I can rationalize this from a biological viewpoint. Sperm cells don’t do well in heat. He’s a half-devil, half-mortal, which means his cum is hot as the Hells. Here’s my theory: cambions cum more than the normal person to compensate for this disadvantage. Listen it just makes sense, biologically, of course, and not because I’m rationalizing my nasty thoughts about this man.

D= Dirty secret (Pretty self explanatory)

It’s not really dirty, but he would see it as such. He really likes being taken care of after. He doesn’t like to show affection himself, but he likes to be cuddled with and shown care towards, though he would never admit it. He would actually start purring if you play with his hair or massage his scalp.

E= Experience (do they know what they’re doing)

I’m ready to fight anyone. Haarlep is not a credible source. You don’t live for 2000+ years and never learn how to fuck properly. He knows what he’s doing (when he feels like it).

F= Favorite position

I actually think that him being ‘below’ with Haarlep is atypical from how he usually would like it with anyone else (because he shows more vulnerability with Haarlep and he can be more lazy). I think with anyone else, he would like to be in complete control by being on top of them, caging them in or pinning them down. Any position where he can growl and whisper into your ear as you fuck is crucial. He likes being able to see your face and your reactions too.

G= Goofy (how serious are they)

He likes to tease and say condescending shit while you fuck. He might even laugh at you. Gods save you if you do the same to him though.

H= Hair (grooming habits)

He trims but he’s not hairless. He’s got a nice dark happy trail going on.

I= Intimacy (in the moment romantic or rough/dirty)

If he is romantic, it’s to manipulate you, but he certainly is capable of putting on a convincing performance. He prefers it rough.

J= Jack off (do they masturbate and how often)

He’s got Haarlep for that. I really think he’s above touching himself and you won’t get him to do it. He’s weird like that.

K= Kink (kinks what they like possibly unusual)

I think that man has tried everything and I think one would be surprised with all the nasty shit he’s into. That said, surprisingly, I think he’s actually super open to playing into the other person’s kinks. He wants to ruin you, and if he finds out you’re into something specific, he’ll play into that.

L= Location (where they like to get it on)

The bed or the pool or you’ll hear him whine about ruining his expensive furniture. If you’re not in the HoH though, anywhere is good and he has no problem just bending you over the nearest flat surface.

M= Motivation (things that makes them tick/turn ons)

Mental stimulation 110%. Sex for him is just as much about power and fucking mentally with the other person as it is about lust for him (if not much more). He wants to be mentally stimulated by playing mind games with you by either luring you into believing whatever he wants you to believe or by breaking you.

N= No (turnoffs or absolutely won’t do)

Anything that could humiliate him or put him in a position where he feels out of control.

O= Oral (receiving or giving and how skillful they are)

You will most likely give and not receive much. Don’t get me wrong, he can do oral skillfully, but the bastard sees it as beneath him. He’d much rather see you on your knees.

P= Pace (how fast they are and how long they last in bed)

It varies and he doesn’t give any warning before suddenly changing pace.

Q= Quickie (do they prefer fast and hard)

I think he likes to tease, so it’ll be slow until he gets impatient.

R= Risk (do they like to try new things)

See: Kinks. I generally think he is open to new things, but he knows what he likes, so it really depends what his goal is at that given moment. If he’s trying to impress, he’s open, but if he’s already got you under his thumb, he’ll just do what he likes.

S= Stamina (how many times they can go and how long each round lasts)

Because of my (totally scientific) theory about cambions cumming a lot, I think he doesn’t last for super long, but he can go again very shortly after, and he will. Be prepared for a lot of rounds before he’s fully done with you.

T= Toys (are they game for using sex toys on themselves or lovers)

His pride doesn’t allow it. Yes, I’m afraid that he’s one of those guys. Ropes, blindfold, chains, whips, and stuff like that are game though.

U= Unfair (how do they tease or do they enjoy suspense themselves)

He is super unfair. He’s such an asshole. He’s an endless tease and he keeps you on edge. If you’re doing multiple rounds, you won’t cum until he’s done so at least a couple of times. Don’t even get me started on sucking his cock. He does not care if you can breathe, that’s a you problem.

V= Volume (are they loud, what sounds, and do they talk)

He groans, grunts, and growls. Always making deep rumbling sounds and he loves doing it right up against your ear. He yaps too. He loves to dirty talk. Again, it’s the mental stimulation aspect.

W= Wild card (random sincannon of any sort)

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: he LOVES when you’re completely naked and at his mercy while he is fully dressed and in control. This man loves to finger you wherever you are and just watching your reactions with a calm and collected demeanor.

X= X-ray (what’s down below in dem pants)

He’s big in both forms. Not uncomfortably big in terms of length, but the girth is what makes it intimidating. It’s thicc, with two cc’s.

Y= Yearning (sexdrive level)

I think he’s not one to lose control over his urges. There’s almost always a goal whenever he sleeps with someone to some extent. I think he is also the type to just fuck because he’s bored or understimulated. He needs to do something constantly and sometimes sex is just the easiest way to get that restlessness out of his system.

Z= Zzzz (do they sleep after if so how quickly after)

It’ll happen all of a sudden. After a couple of rounds you’ll think you’re just taking a break. You’ll blink and all of a sudden he’s already packed his bags and taken the trip to SnorkMiMi-land, completely out cold without any warning.

(Thank you for the ask <3)

[crookedkryptonitebeliever]

Best and worst of both worlds (part 44)

Tw: mention of previous assault, yves being manipulative as always

Vote down below pls i will only consider first 21 votes

Part 45

To your surprise, Yves wheeled you into a room that you have never been in. Neither did you realize it existed on the ground floor.

You called it the music room. There is a grand piano in the center, with various other orchestra instruments in the corner and on the shelves. It was lit by none other than a chandelier. Yves loves his chandeliers.

You asked him if he played all the instruments present here. He nodded and you found that impressive, since the number of items in this room is mind boggling. You don't even know the names to some of these.

"Would you like me to play something for you?" He asked, locking your wheelchair in place.

You said you would like to see it.

He walked towards the harp, positioning the seat properly before sitting on it. His elegant fingers strummed against the strings masterfully as he played a melancholic tune that you weren't familiar with. However, it was beautiful and moving, the rises and dips in volume invoked some powerful feelings in your chest.

Yves seemed to be completely immersed in his performance, his eyes were closed and his lips were pressed into a neutral line. His movements were fluid and hypnotizing, making you watch without ever blinking.

He ends his piece with an elegant fade. Yves opened his emerald eyes to see you gaping your mouth at him. He stifled a laugh as he rose from his seat.

"Did you like it?" He asked, gently pushing your jaw up to close your mouth.

You said it was amazing, you asked what was he playing. Yves tilted his head to the side and pouted playfully.

"I thought you would have recognized it. I was playing a song that is very popular among your age groups."

You were adamant that you have never heard it before. It sounded like something that was written by an angel, it was unbelievably ethereal and sublime. You don't think modern-day music was of this calibre.

An amused smile made its way to his face.

"Well, I am happy that you loved my rendition of it."

But you were curious, what did he intend to play?

He tapped the side of his face and looked to the side as he tried to remember the name of it.

"It is something that your peers danced to. I have only heard fifteen seconds of it, but it was repeated ad nauseam."

You asked him if he heard the full song.

"No. I improvised the rest."

You were wracking your brain, trying to figure out what modern "popular song" did he just let you experience in a completely different light.

Then you asked how were the dances like.

"There was a vast array of variations. However, they shook their rears in front of the camera for all of them."

And the lyrics?

"The artist managed to refer to her supposedly... fat buttocks four times in that short segment. They were standard lyrics about emotional infidelity." Yves was describing it almost clinically, only when it comes to the cheating part did he look disgusted.

You think you know which song he was talking about now. You're dumbfounded at Yves talent to recreate it in such a way it's unrecognizably beautiful. Not to say that the original wasn't good, it was. It's just that you're impressed at how Yves's musical abilities allowed him to create such a masterpiece.

For the rest of the afternoon, you tried out most of his instruments. Yves taught you the basics without boring you to death, he was patient and understanding when you either couldn't grasp the control or you gave up for being too hard. You noted that the quality of his items are always exemplary, he takes good care of all his belongings.

Occasionally, he would nag about being mindful of your property. He wanted you to share the same mindset of prolonging the health and life of an object.

But you were having fun, even if you were bowing the strings of his Viola horrendously so, that it could make a musician's ear bleed. Yves is elated to spend so much time with you while sharing his own interests.

And most importantly, your head is not filled with redundant thoughts about your dependence on Yves. Both of you are free to relax and be happy in peace.

__

You scrolled through your social media feed mindlessly as you laid on the loveseat of his music room, your casted leg hanging off the armrest. Yves had to leave you alone so he could speak with the professionals regarding his air conditioning system.

Yves told you to use a special fob to control the speed of the fan. You left it off because it's not sweltering right now and you believed that you should not waste too much electricity.

There was the occasional tinkering and stomping as they worked hard to remedy the issue. Other than that, the environment is pretty quiet.

You received a notification that your assignment has been graded. You reviewed it and found that you achieved the highest score possible, it wasn't surprising because you have Yves to guide you throughout the entire--

Where are your crutches?!

The thought shot through your head and everything that you were procrastinating talking to Yves about came rushing in.

You have got to talk to Yves about moving out and going back to school. And also, the whereabouts of your stupid crutches.

Just when you're about to send Yves a text about it, so you won't forget, you heard a knock on the door.

Yves entered holding a cold glass of freshly pressed fruit juice. It was beading with condensation as he took large strides towards you.

You took large gulps of the refreshing beverage, not realizing how thirsty and overheated you were.

"My apologies, dear." Said Yves as he dabbed a wet cloth on your forehead and cheek to further cool you down. "There was an accident causing the breaker to trip. They also had to cut the power supplying the ducts in order to repair the faults, why didn't you use the fan?"

You said that it wasn't that warm and you didn't want to rack up his electricity bills. He has nothing to apologize about, it didn't even affect you.

You couldn't understand why Yves looked defeated, as if he's expecting something bad was about to happen. It isn't like you're going to die from a little heat, you're simply going to sweat and whine. That's all.

"That is very considerate of you, my love. However your comfort comes first. I do not want you to worry about anything. Please. I will always take care of you no matter what." He pressed the cool cloth against your neck, soaking up droplets of sweat. It almost seems... desperate.

You told him that you're grateful. Then changing the topic about your crutches and the idea of going back to university, so that you could catch up on your studies.

His shoulders sagged in devastation. Yves sighed, burying his face in a hand for a bit before instantly regaining his composure. Oh, how he wished that he could just... control everything.

You wonder what that reaction was about. But you deem it unimportant in the end.

He switched the fan on to circulate the air in the room. You feel relief when the wind hits your face.

"(name)..." He called you quietly, crossing his arms over his chest. Yves squatted down to your level and looked you deep in the eyes. "Are you sure?" Yves spoke in a voice that sent uncertainty through your bones. You could feel an undertone of warning too.

You gulped and stammered under his scrutinizing gaze. You suddenly felt small and helpless, just like how when you first met him. Except, now it's much worse. Because you value his views on you a lot more.

Yet, you stood your ground. You noticed that you've been lacking a sense of agency ever since you got here. Yves wasn't treating you badly by any means, but subconsciously, you felt that there was something wrong. You felt like you were getting stuck in a trap that is slowly but surely killing you, and this is your attempt at clawing out of it.

No matter how much you tried to change the tone of the conversation to become lighter, Yves stayed there, unmoving, unsmiling and unblinking. He may not explicitly confirm it, but it is clear he is disapproving towards your desire to regain freedom.

You explained that you can get around with crutches, you need to go back to your old life- you can't stay like this forever, burdening Yves with your problems!

"You are not a burden to me, (name)." The seriousness of his intonation left no room for doubt that he was telling the truth. Deep down, you already knew it too, but you didn't like how he enjoyed taking care of you to this degree. It's as if he is intentionally incapacitating you so he could continue coddling you.

That wasn't a nice thought about someone who paid for your bills, housed and fed you. But it was a gut feeling that existed nonetheless.

You explained that you just wanted normalcy. Like how it was before your assault, where you would run from your own place to catch the bus. This sudden change in lifestyle is jarring and unnatural to you, it's stressing you out.

"It takes a minimum of eight weeks for your fracture to heal. You only rested for three, it is too early for you to start walking again." He explained, in a soft voice that sounded patronizing. You squirm under his unyielding and unsettling stare, he never stopped despite you showing painfully clear signs of discomfort.

You tried weakly arguing that you saw students move around the campus with a broken foot, they're using crutches and always arrived to class on time.

The room fell silent, save for the quiet whirring of the fan's propeller and the murmuring of the contractors.

Yves knew he was fighting a losing battle. But he tries, he tries to scare you into staying with him. Because he wasn't ready to let you go yet, not when he was spoiled with three weeks of uninterrupted bonding time with you. It is going to feel particularly excruciating when the luxury of being in close proximity to you is slashed tremendously.

So he waited. You were someone who associates silence and a stare as something terrible, hence he uses that against you. He calculated the chances of you backtracking or doubling down, and it was of equal probability.

You cower, feeling afraid and severely pressured even though Yves did nothing except appear menacing.

It is tempting to just dismiss everything and pretend like nothing happened, you could enjoy his pampering without a problem and let Yves take care of you like a delicate doll.

But... it's uncanny. You have never felt this strange towards a supposedly "good" thing. You will definitely have to participate in uncomfortable conversations with Yves, however, maybe the reward would outweigh the damages?

Using all your strength to temporarily push down the nauseating feeling of fear, you decided to choose a path.

[danmeiarchive]

The Disabled Tyrant’s Pet Palm Fish by Xue Shan Fei Hu -- a brief review (VAGUE spoilers under the cut)

Novel length: 156 chapters

My Rating: ♥♥♥♥½ / 5

This novel is a fun silly romp with plenty of face-slapping and courtroom drama. Overall, this is a fun one and while I enjoyed it very much it is perhaps not one for everyone. Our main character is pretty OP and seemingly able to overcome any and all trials with his powers of being a CUTE MAGIC FISH.

Content warnings and some VAGUE SPOILERS in regard to the disability and representation under the cut.

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What kind of story is The Disabled Tyrant's Pet Palm Fish?

DTPPF is a transmigration story. So anticipate all sorts of transmigration shenanigans and tropes. It's also a story that is clearly meant for fun and not to be taken seriously. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't have heart -- there were a few times I teared up and cried as I got hit right in the feels. This is also a story with mpreg -- something that I hadn't anticipated just from the title and synopsis.

(If you are worried about the mpreg just know that it is vaguely referenced and kinda handwaved in a 'it just works' way. The novel does not go into the how or physiology. It just happens.)

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What about the disability? The tyrant is mute -- and there are some genuine moments of how he struggles with it. There's even a couple moments when he sort of uses his muteness to his advantage. It is an integral part of his character as it has changed how others treat and perceive him. It also affects his life in the imperial palace and his right of inheritance as one of the emperor's sons. It does not feel like an afterthought. That being said please check below the cut to see some more of my thoughts on this matter.

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Overall while this story does have a good amount of courtroom intrigue, drama, and backstabbing I'm still left feeling that it's a fairly lighthearted and fluffy story. I think this is mostly due to how seemingly easily and consistently our main character and his love interest are able to solve the problems they run into. It was also terribly endearing as the reader to see the tyrant falling desperately in love and just wanting to tell the main character that he is loved and that he accepts him no matter what kind of creature he is.

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Who are the main characters?

Without going into details here's a little bit about our main squad:

Li Yu aka Xiao Yu - the main character of our tale, he is a modern young man transmigrated into a webnovel he had been reading... but as the protagonist's fish! He is tasked with helping the tyrant but how can he help when he is but a small fish? He gets creative and gains some special abilities that allow him to help cause chaos and help the tyrant before eventually he is able to regain his human form for a certain amount of time. (He is referred to as "Xiao Yu" at first by the tyrant as he is a "small fish" (xiao = small, yu = fish.))

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Mu Tianchi aka Jing Wang - the protagonist of the novel Li Yu had been reading. His name is Mu Tianchi but is often referred to by his title "Jing Wang" especially at the beginning of the novel. He is said to have been born mute and as such he is not considered as a viable heir to the throne. This does keep him out of some courtroom drama but certainly not all of it. As the other brothers are fighting, scheming, and taking each other out Mu Tianchi does continue to prove to be very capable and difficult to manipulate. He also goes above and beyond when it comes to spoiling both "Xiao Yu" (the fish) and Li Yu (his human form).

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Wang Xi - protagonist's eunuch / advisor / assistant / caretaker. He's incredible and deserves so many props. He would do anything to help Mu Tianchi and Li Yu. I don't have much to say about him other than I don't know what Mu Tianchi and Li Yu would have done if Wang Xi had turned against them.

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Chu Yanyu - the original love interest of the tyrant in the novel. I won't spoil things but I will say I wanted to yeet this character every time he showed up. Just when you think you've seen the last of him he. keeps. showing. up.

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What is the plot of The Disabled Tyrant's Pet Palm Fish?

The plot of The Disabled Tyrant's Pet Palm Fish follows Li Yu's journey on regaining his human form, helping prevent certain events he knows about from the novel, uncovering the conspiracies and mysteries from Mu Tianchi's past, and securing Mu Tianchi's place as crown prince. Meanwhile Mu Tianchi and Li Yu fall in love with each other of course.

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Small critiques

I've only read this title once (so far) but unlike Silent Reading and Heaven Official's Blessing, I feel like DTPPF doesn't really have clear arcs in terms of where one book would end and the next would start -- I will be curious to see how Seven Seas splits this one up into volumes.

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There are some characters that never get names. This is not the only webnovel I've read where this happens but every time it happens I'm a little disappointed. Like, on one hand it can be hard to keep track of a ton of characters and their names but... it also is just so weird to me whenever a character continues to show up but is only referred to as "the scarred man" or in the case of this novel "the princess of JinJue." She's a pretty great character but she never got a name!

I do hope that when Seven Seas releases their translation that they will include a character list like they have in other books to help keep track of everyone. Because when the emperor's sons are mentioned sometimes it's by their birth order or title and sometimes it's by name. And of course they all have similar names (they even share a generation name -- Mu TianZhao, Mu TianMing, Mu TianChi, Mu TianXiao, etc).

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Click 'keep reading' to see more on the disability (VAGUE SPOILERS) and trigger warnings.

Disability representation in the novel

Without going into the HOW and WHY I feel it is important to mention that Mu Tianchi's disability is CURED pretty late in the novel. While I did find the outcome touching (when the main character hears the tyrant's first words and how the tyrant feels upon finally being able to speak) I think that this could be a touchy subject. I think that the novel could have not had the tyrant be cured and I would have enjoyed it just as much. And I imagine that if you're a person with a disability and or chronic illness that is reading a story where a main character struggles with his own -- only to end up magically and conveniently cured of his disability -- that it could be frustrating.

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There is also discrimination against Mu Tianchi for his disability -- he isn't considered a viable heir for the throne because he is mute, even if he is the best choice. Also since he has this disability the other characters (and the tyrant himself) worry that his children would also be disabled.

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content warnings: there's several times when jokes are made about bestiality (and a couple characters assume that Mu Tianchi's feelings towards his fish are not strictly platonic).

There is also various attempts of harm towards young children that might inherit the throne including poison, kidnapping, and threat of physical harm. Similarly, there are attempts at drugging (with aphrodisiacs, getting someone overly drunk, etc) and dubious consent situations -- (however this does not occur between our main couple). This is done in hopes of earning someone's favor, forcing them to take responsibility, and or moving up in rank and society.

There is also a character that was taken as a concubine (against her will) after her kingdom was defeated in war. All of this seems fairly standard to courtroom drama stories but I figured it would be good to mention. If you've also read this novel and think I've left some cw out let me know and I'll add them to this list.

Another user pointed out that the character of the JinJue princess is 16-- so there's some setting compliant marriages / relationships with folks who are under 18 years old. I would be surprised if she was the only character this applied to but I can't remember others right at this moment.

[thewebcomicsreview]

A'ight a'ight, new Hamsteak tonight! This update, the cue ball update, apparently has a content warning for physical and mental abuse, so I'm putting the liveblog behind a ReadMore

It's still weird that GCATavros and Erisol (and Fefeta) are a thing, for all sorts of reasons, but I'm not going to question it I guess.

Sneaking suspicion we're getting a new Vriska look today. Also confirmation that sprites can't change their appearance. Which I guess is not new information, but...it's also not very interesting! Moving on!

Sollux has the hardest-to-read quirk of any of the main trolls, and adding Eridan doesn't help at all. "Class-swah Dichotomy" probably means class as in social class, and not as in Classpect, but keeping the phrase in mind regardless. Davepeta is the leader of the group, a combination Rogue/Knight of Time/Heart and they passively stole Vriska's time by trapping her in the hyperbolic character development chamber, which seems like something for the classpect chart people to want to focus on. @bladekindeyewear is back in the liveblogging scene, presumably taking all sorts of notes on this.

Why the fuck is GCATavros talking like Gamzee?

Kind of interesting reading this comically pathetic version of Tavros after reading the author's commentary on the first part of this hell tier where they focused on how there was actually a lot more to him than being the buttmonkey. Also after the last update I'm reading this whole conversation expecting that Vriska will meet Doc Scratch and this will somehow tie into that relationship, though I have no idea how.

Well, that's not at all an ominous thing to say in the "Hell Tier" arc. I'm also kind of curious how this can really be an escalation over Spidermom, unless they're going to make some reveals.

This entire arc is character-based, of course, but the lore nerd in me wants to know where Scratch's parlor comes from here. Vriska never saw it, nor did any sprite, so why is it accurate? Where is Hell Tier coming from? It's also worth remembering, along those lines, that Doc Scratch is partially Hal Strider, and thus a shard of Dirk, though this is presumably not the real thing.

Scratch's text also has a typewriter sound effect, which I like. None of the characters in the flash have "voices" in like a Banjo-Kazooie/Celeste-type way, so it's immediately notable when one does.

Getting kind of creepy pretty fast here.

Vriska's text has a black background suddenly. The implications of this I don't really remember off the top of my head, though. Actually on my other monitor it's a green background, which makes a bit more sense. I think one of my monitors has kind of fucked color settings but I don't know which one.

Oh wait, that's right, Vriska has seen Scratch. Scratch distracted Aradia and Terezi so that Vriska could throw Tavros off the cliff that one time. Maybe she has been here before, on the Green Moon.

I feel like Momfang has that title, but make your case.

Oh, what the shit. I'm starting to see where the content warning is maybe coming from.

Okay, seems we're going there. Scratch was certainly always, um, pedo-coded in the way he targeted and manipulated young girls, but it seems like we're about to get some confirmation.

Um.

UM.

Okay, getting de-aged back into Hivebent-era Vriska is honestly the best outcome of Scratch putting her in a "uniform".

As much as this is about Scratch, this is also about Vriska herself, in the end.

Man, I feel like every single Scratch line here is worth examining, but I don't really know what to add. As much as this is Scratch the cueball dude this is also the concept of Fate itself.

More classpect stuff about how Vriska's power is "borrowed". Really, that's true of all the kids, their god powers and even their Ultimate Powers all come from Skaia and can theoretically be revoked at any moment. Not sure when Light "abandoned" Vriska, though, unless it's referring to (Vriska) getting killed. This Vriska knowing that her own best friend tried to murder her and that it was divinely judged Just has have fucked her up a little.

Interesting. Generally the fandom considers classpect has being an extension of your true self and your title being Skaia simply describing who you already were. This (which is partially Vriska's opinion of things) frames it as the kids being Warlocks who were granted power by Skaia. This is mostly Worldbuilding (tm) but if that's the way Vriska's thought of it it kind of explains a lot about her. She doesn't feel like she's ever earned anything she's had, even her divinity.

Vriska doesn't get a revelation here, she just gets insulted and kicked out and-

Erisol, you dick, lol.

Well that was a lot to take in. I think I need to process it. Kind of wild that it's only the halfway point. Up next is the feather and the 8-ball. I think we're down with flashbacks, and the feather is Davepeta and the 8-ball is Vriska getting out of hell.

[one-flower-one-sword]

(this is illuminatedferret)

One little thing I am curious to hear your thoughts on, but that I don't really want to clutter our ongoing monster discussion with: considering his track record with orchestrating events across canon, if Jun Wu already knew about the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods, do you think Xie Lian and co. stumbling upon it was genuinely happenstance, or do you think he was conspiring for them to wind up there?

it did indeed become a monster discussion, didn't it XD I cherished it though

ok so hi, this is an excellent question, thank you for sending it!! I wondered this exact thing myself many times while pondering those chapters. caveat that I honestly don't know if I can give a satisfying answer because iirc it's never stated clearly by the text. We do get this:

Mu Qing tore at the silk as he yelled. "I knew you were the one who threw us into that pit!"

[...] With the match decided, Hua Cheng sheathed his scimitar. "I threw you in to save you from disaster. Otherwise, you would've never had a chance to find this Cave of Ten Thousand Gods," he jeered. "And it was your yelling that caused the avalanche. Why don't you thank me for saving your puny little lives?"

(Vol 6, page 64)

but it has to be kept in mind that Mu Qing and Feng Xin accidentally causing the avalanche that landed them in the cave is based only on the information they have at the time.

so, on the the one hand, I don't want to fall into the trap of attributing everything that happened to Jun Wu's manipulation, and he could have simply used the aftermath of that avalanche to his advantage. on the other, he is the master of the Kiln, and the Mount Tonglu area is a place he has immense power over. there's also the fact that 1. Xie Lian had a nightmare/vision of seeing Bai Wuxiang after the avalanche and that B., it separated Xie Lian from Hua Cheng, at least temporarily.

I mention the separation because it provided Xie Lian some time to explore the cave without Hua Cheng there to try and steer him away immediately. I'm trying to side-step our whole "did Jun Wu know Hua Cheng is Wuming" discussion so we don't get entangled in that again, but I think what we did agree on is that Jun Wu knows, to some extent, that Hua Cheng worships and desires Xie Lian, yes? and also that he's correctly deduced that Hua Cheng still hasn't dared to tell Xie Lian any of this because he fears his reaction. so from that angle, it would make sense that he'd conspire for them to wind up there, especially with Mu Qing and Feng Xin in tow, since they basically do Jun Wu's work for him in how they try to change Xie Lian's opinion on and view of Hua Cheng as a person and of Xie Lian's relationship with him by force, by painting Hua Cheng's love, devotion, and desire as something twisted, disgusting, and dangerous. And when that isn't enough to sway Xie Lian, Jun Wu uses their likeness, as we've discussed previously, to try and manipulate Hua Cheng into hurting Xie Lian himself, because surely then Xie Lian would finally reject Hua Cheng and tell him to stay away :

It seemed like they were purposefully trying to provoke Hua Cheng. But there was no reason for that; they knew they couldn't beat him, so what did they want? Moreover, their tone subtly pointed the spear in Xie Lian's direction. It was like they wanted to stir up confusion - as though they wanted Hua Cheng to do something to Xie Lian in a fit of anger.

(Vol 6, page 72)

Then when all of that doesn't work either - and, in fact, only brings hualian closer together by causing them to confess their feelings for each other - Jun Wu immediately tries to fracture their relationship from another angle :

"Don't worry, I simply sent him outside the Kiln. Even if he wants to rush back in here, it's too late now." [...] "But it's probably for the best that he doesn't come in," White No-Face continued. "Even if he wouldn't agree right now, who knows if he'll still want to be with you when he sees what you'll become."

(Vol 6, page 106)

Of course, Jun Wu's main objective in getting Xie Lian and himself alone inside the Kiln is that he wants Xie Lian to walk the exact same path as him, to become exactly like him. But I'm bringing all this up because I think it can't be overstated how much Xie Lian and Hua Cheng's relationship was an obstacle to those plans, and how far Jun Wu repeatedly went to try and "prove" to both Xie Lian and himself that no one can be trusted not to hurt and betray you, and that no one will stay with you no matter what. Because, in his mind, Xie Lian would then come to the same conclusion Jun Wu did - "understand" the same thing he did:

"He guessed what I was thinking and asked me slowly, 'Are you leaving too, then?' [...] And then His Highness murmured to himself, 'It's all right. I expected that. No one would stay now that I've become something like this. I can manage on my own. I understand now - I've always been alone! I don't need anyone!"

(Vol 7, page 215-216)

All this to say - I'm not sure. But with what we know about Jun Wu's power and the way he tries to make it look like he's not meddling while actually meddling all the time, plus the way he repeatedly manipulates events to try and keep Hua Cheng away from Xie Lian... it wouldn't surprise me if he wanted them to land in the cave, and used an avalanche as a cover to make that happen.

[my-drama-heart2406]

I see so many people defending the lazy writing, and defending Naksu's arc by saying that she left being an assassin so she doesn't need to use her sword.

So I'm going to explain.

We're not sad that Naksu didn't get to use her sword (okay maybe a little sad). What we're sad about is we didn't see her using powers at all.

In season 1 Naksu was trapped in a powerless body as Mudeok. But she needed no saviour. She was no damsel in distress. She was fearless, shrewd and manipulative. She was cruel teacher who went so far as to manipulate the crown prince and all of Jeongjingak to make Jang Uk level up.

Many people are saying that she's like that because of the amnesia, so she's still bright and innocent. Jang Uk was bright and innocent in the first season, that doesn't mean he wasn't badass. I was really happy that they were giving us the grumpy- sunshine again, but in the other way. But people need to know that, for a girl to be a bright ray of sunshine, she doesn't need to be a damsel in distress.

And till 4 episodes it was really good. She had approached Jang Uk in order to get out of confinement. Saying that she was pregnant in front of the whole unanimous assembly was such a Naksu move. She dealt through inexplicable pain, because being free and with the man she loved was worth the pain. That was Naksu. Then it all went downhill.

Season 1 ep 19 ended with both of them losing their powers. But we were all so happy because they were happy and together and it tied the story up.

So Naksu now has great powers of a priestess, but she uses them only once to kill Jin Mu. And he's not even really dead. And Jang Uk kills Jin Mu in the end. Do you think that's fair. I wish Jang Uk kept Jin Mu alive after burning everything and Yeong sucked the life out of him with her new powers. Or better, Uk and Yeong burned down the whole thing together. That is what we're talking about. And people complaining that she doesn't want any fighting or violence anymore. Why is she off monster hunting with her husband then?

Let's talk about all the other problems.

In 30 episodes Dang gu got all but 2 fighting scenes.

They completely forgot that Jin Cho Yeon was also a priestess.

The crown prince had a lot of role to play, but they completely forgot that he also had magical powers.

NAKSU USING HER PRIESTESS POWERS!!

The only person who had any sort of proper fighting scenes was Jang Uk, and those were not enough. I love Jang Uk and Lee Jae Wook very much. He was the king's star. Everyone forgot that. He deserved more and better fighting scenes.

I'm not angry with Jang Uk's 8 episode long healing arc. Naksu's healing arc in season 1 was 18 episodes. I'm angry with them showing only push and pull romance and nothing else. 8 episode of only drama and romance in 10 episode fantasy show.

And then when Naksu remembers her memories. I knew she was going to pull back, and Jang Uk was going to chase, but that lasted all 2 min. They were together, then she remembered, she pulled back, he chased, then he recognised her. This all happened in just one episode. Something that could have and should have taken 3. They show an all powerful priestess and then give her 5 min screen time. Then they got married, were lovey-dovey, then somebody died, then they didn't die, then Jin Seolran came, fighting and burning, and guess what, again one episode. We were all waiting for this big epic battle which was well...

I feel like if they went the traditional route to make a 16 episode second season that would have done justice to the characters and the story.

See I'm happy that we had a happy ending. Very very very happy. But Alchemy of Souls was supposed to be an epic fantasy. And they spent a total of 10 min on the epic and fantasy part.

And to all who are defending the story. Do you think, if it was actually a satisfactory ending, you would need to defend it at all?

[jungleslang]

Okay I know the show is over and I promise this is last post I will make raving about my baby Cho Yeong, but I can't stop thinking about the way her character shifted the moment she got her memories back!!! And I feel like I didn't see a lot of people talking about it!!!

One thing I really appreciated was that even though she's clearly no longer the assassin she used to be, we got to see her underlying cruel streak again when she put that empty ice stone inside Jin Mu. She lured him into Gwido with the ice stone and tricked him into thinking she was helping him, allowing him to believe that he was finally about to get the power he always wanted. But instead, she condemned him to a slow, agonizing death. The way she told him that this type of death suited him perfectly and the coldly satisfied look on her face as stared down at him while he was on his knees in pain literally had me screeching!!!! I also adore the fact that Yeong knew her soul was going to disappear soon and that the fate of the world was at stake, but she still took the time to get her revenge. She was not about to let Jin Mu get away with what he did to her without facing any consequences.

And also that whole scene with the Unanimous Assembly??? We really get to see her cunning, calculating nature front and center. I was so not expecting her to tell everyone that Jang Uk failed to perform his duties by knowingly sparing a soul-shifter. By exposing him, she forces Uk's hand and ultimately gives him no choice but to come and face her. She also knows that the only reason they left him alive with the ice stone inside him was so that he could hunt down soul shifters. By telling them that Uk still has a soul shifter left to take care of, she buys him time. Once again, we see Yeong manipulating a situation and knowing exactly what to say to get the outcome she wants. I also loved the part where they ask her about Jin Mu, and she straight up tells them that she killed him. She was just like yeah I put the ice stone in him and now he's going to wither away and die in Gwido. She gave no fucks.

And we see other characters noticing that something is off with her. You could tell the crown prince knew something was different during that scene with the Unanimous Assembly. The look on his face after she callously said that she would take the ice stone out of Uk if necessary was sooooo sus.

Even though Yeong was absolutely adorable as Jin Bu-yeon, and the dark, brooding season 2 Jang Uk was very sexy, I'm so glad we got to see their season 1 dynamic at the very end. In their last scene together, Jang Uk has his bright, playful energy back and we got to see the Mu-deok glare again from Yeong!!!

But although Yeong is no longer the Jin Bu-yeon we met at the beginning of the season and Jang Uk is no longer the brooding monster, we can still see how those three years apart changed them. Uk has a maturity that he didn't have in season 1 and Yeong's time as Bu-yeon has made her more open with her affections.

It was nice to see them bickering again during their last scene and I'm obsessed with the way Yeong told Uk that he only came this far because she was his master and he better be grateful and treat her right. Like it's very clear by the end of the show that Yeong is the boss of him. She calls the shots and he would literally do anything she asked him to, and I love that for her.

In conclusion, Cho Yeong is best girl and I'm glad she got her happy ending even if the ending of the show wasn't perfect.

[meenawrites]

Jin Ho Gyeong – A Discussion

So I want to talk about one of the major players in Alchemy of Souls: Jin Hogyeong.

As matriarch of one of the four great families of Daeho, protector of relics, able to defy Royal orders, and mother of Naksu's body, Jin Buyeon, she is one of THE most important characters in the show.

I want to preface this post by saying I don't like her. As a person. As a character, I think she's interesting.

In Part 1 we're introduced to Hogyeong (or Mama Jin as I will likely call her) as a powerful woman who is still grieving the loss of her first daughter like a decade after she disappeared. It makes her sympathetic to the audience even though she might be a bit cold and harsh at the beginning, especially to her second daughter Jin Choyeon.

I have to say that I was waiting like all of season 1 for Mama Jin to realize that how she treats Jin Choyeon is super wrong. Like she's constantly ordering her around, doesn't care about her feelings, and overall doesn't really treat her like her daughter, more like an extension of herself and someone she can just order around.

Like I get that you're devastated over the loss of your daughter; no mom should ever have to go through that, but that doesn't give you leave to be a dick to your remaining kid. And it clearly isn't even because she's lost one daughter so she doesn't want to lose the other and is thus controlling of Choyeon. She just clearly disregards her as her own person entirely, constantly just reminiscing about Buyeon instead. And we see from her flashbacks that she's capable of being a good mom, but apparently the kindness that we see in these memories doesn't extend to anyone other than Buyeon, who is long gone in her perspective ( we know better of course).

So strike one against Mama Jin to be honest.

Still, because she has this one weakness of desperately searching for her first daughter, Jin Mu is able to take advantage of her and use her power as the guardian of Jinyowon by promising her to find her daughter (who he made disappear in the first place, like damn no morals at all this guy). Smart move and totally believable successful manipulation.

Strike 2 against Mama Jin is honestly how fine she is with knowingly going against the greater good, aiding and abetting crimes, if something's in it for her. Like as someone with such an important role of guarding the relics of Jinyowon from falling into the wrong hands AND having the plaque (I can't remember what it's called) that allows her to both call forth the Unanimous Assembly and exempts her from obeying royal orders, she is not being faithful to her duty at all. She takes great pride in her Jin family line and being protector of all these relics, but when it comes down to it, despite acting so high and might above everyone else she is totally fine with abusing her power for herself.

This is where her and Park Jin are actually contrasted. Park Jin too is in a big position of power within Daeho as the head of Songrim. He has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, and we do see him struggle with how his responsibility and duty binds him to act and what his heart wants. Because Park Jin actually isn't a moral absolutist. He is more one that Jang Uk for sure, but we can see in his moral dilemma over how to treat Jang Uk and what he should do for him and what he WANTS to do for him, that his heart does sometimes stray from the path described by his duty. But as opposed to Jin Hogyeong, he never abuses his power to assist in a crime or something that will be bad in the larger scheme of things.

(I'm not being very eloquent rn but bear with me).

The most he'll use his power for are to protect Jang Uk as much as possible (the little troublemaker hehe). But what's important to note about Park Jin is that he's taken what I call a '100% decision' that if anyone around him does something against the greater good, even Jang Uk, he will cut him down.

Park Jin recognizes the weight of his own position and responsibilities, and does his best to rise to meet them. Not to say that he's perfect. He's only human after all. But he assumes his role and duty as a leader and someone with the power to change the trajectory of the nation if he actually wanted to.

This is marked even with the change in his attitude between season 1 and season 2. Like in season 2, Park Jin has become this retired farmer who's a terrible cook, and he's jarringly happy. Very laidback, very happy to just host people and have cute moments with his fiance. This is a huge change from season 1 where yes he had comedic moments, but he was way stricter and constantly on the verge of a nervous breakdown (man holds his heart at least once every episode). This is because he is no longer in this position of power, his responsibilities are no longer weighing on him. Which also just goes to show how seriously he was taking it when he was leader of Songrim.

I hope I'm making sense.

So yes, Park Jin and Jin Hogyeong are also narrative foils to each other! (I'm starting to sense a pattern, Hong sisters, but I'm not complaining)

Let's circle back to Mama Jin and get into the meat of season 2, where she just continues to go down hill. No introspection this lady I swear.

Having gotten her daughter's body back, Mama Jin decides to lock up Jin Buyeon/Naksu basically forever. That's the plan anyway. Like I get it's probably hard to know that it's your daughter with an assassin's soul, don't get me wrong. But the way she's acting and with her plans for Buyeon, it's kind of clear that she is valuing the body's Jin blood more than the fact that it's her daughter.

Like Mama Jin literally imprisoned Jin Buyeon for three years, not allowing her to even actually step outside the BUILDING she's locked in, and then was like btw I found a submissive and breedable husband for you. You'll be able to leave just for the wedding ceremony but then you're going to come right back here and pop out babies for me.

Like. Absolutely insane. Crazy. How can you even call yourself a mother, let alone her mother?

I can't believe she was even surprised that Buyeon ran off and got married as soon as possible.

Not to mention the guy she picked was slimy as hell, like yuck, go away.

And then, instead of having some self-reflection on her controlling methods that got her to this point and taking a different approach if only for her bloodline's sake, she was like, 'actually I'm going to torture you until you're in so much pain you cave in and come back to me'. Because for real what she did was basically the equivalent of putting a shock collar on her daughter.

Basically, girl just got worse and worse throughout the season. Constantly blaming other people for her problems, still somehow bragging about her own family after being complicit with everything that happened last season. Just no no no no no.

Her plans for Buyeon/Naksu? Strike 3 man. And I haven't even gotten through another incident that angered me so much.

Strike 4: refusing to help Seo Yul when he was dying from the parasite.

Like.

EXCUSE ME! OUT OF SHEER HUMANITY YOU SHOULD BE HELPING HIM

Like she has known Seo Yul forever probably because it seems the four kids largely grew up together even if Jin Choyeon isn't as close to them as the four boys are. He's the only heir to the Seo family WHO COULD LITERALLY DECLARE WAR ON HER AND WIN.

If anything, it came from Jinyowon, which is HER responsibility, so ya know, TAKE RESPONSIBILITY!

But she was like no, I won't save him. I don't care if he lives or dies. I was so ready to throw hands guys you don't understand. Like how can you say that? Not only about a person in general, but someone she knows is a good person, has known her kid his whole life, and has literally never wronged her in any way?

And she leveraged that to manipulate Jang Uk into giving Jin Buyeon back, as if her daughter is an object. Not respecting her daughter's agency and personhood is what had gotten her in this situation in the first place, but it seems like WE DON'T LEARNNNN

I cannot accurately describe how mad I was. Like I have no words. I wanted her to die so bad.

Jin Hogyeong is super self-centered, a terrible mother, a terrible leader, and just overall a terrible person. Not as bad as Jin Mu! But let's be honest his bar is in hell.

Even besides my own personal opinion and reactions though, I do truly thing that Mama Jin should have died at the end of the show.

She has this "awakening" moment where she realizes how much she's fucked up (not about everything she's done wrong but whatever), and she finally FINALLY does the right thing, and is prepared to lay down her life to try to stop as many relics from escaping as possible. It's satisfying as a viewer to see someone who had made so many mistakes through the story finally get some redemption by deciding to do the right thing, and this was one of those moments.

However, I really felt like the moment was cheapened by the fact that she was alive after all of that. I really think she should have died to bring her character arc to a close, to have a satisfying ending for her with the viewers, and also show what the consequences of abusing your power (and just generally being a terrible person) lead to. Narratively speaking, I think her dying would have been the best choice.

Or she should have at least returned maimed in some way, maybe drained of her divine powers. But it doesn't seem like she came out of it with any problems.

We do see her finally decide to let Jin Buyeon/Cho Yeong go (as she should, took her long enough) but it's just not satisfying. Because there's no apology, no actual recognition that she did anything wrong. Just a 'I'm at peace with my daughter's fate now so I guess I'll let her go". Like... what?

And Jin Choyeon STILL is cowed by her mom. Which is a post for a different time but likely clearly she hasn't made amends with her daughter either.

Anyway, that's what I wanted to say. Both personally and from a narrative standpoint, I think Jin Hogyeong should have died. Maybe the writers didn't do it because they didn't have enough episodes to deal with what the aftermath of that would mean, but who knows.

[em-marti-capstone]

Week 2 - September 20

For this week's research, I narrowed down my topics to Comfort Food and Childhood, but overall focusing on the overall theme of Nostalgia. From this research, there were a few other categories of nostalgia that I found interesting, like nostalgia and marketing, the early historical context of the term, and some other details that I'll talk about below.

I started off by looking into comfort food and wanting to understand why it is so important. Why has comfort food become increasingly important over the years?

In the last few years, that has been more due to the pandemic and the emotional stress it caused everyone. Comfort food makes us "feel safe and in control," and during times of uncertainty, it is something that makes certain that we can be happy, even if temporarily (I say this as I drink an oreo milkshake for some temporary serotonin) (https://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2020/12/10/84906/ ; https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2024/07/18/Comfort-food-and-beverage-trend#).

Nowadays—well, some people still drink or smoke to de-stress—my generation at least loves to turn to comfort food, whether by making it ourselves or buying it, as a coping mechanism. We worked hard on an assignment? We deserve a sweet treat. We dealt with an annoying customer? We deserve a sweet treat. We're stressing over adulthood? Sweet treat it is.

Anyway, one of the other articles I looked into discussed gender and our overall social lives in regard to comfort food. For gender, women go more for sweeter foods while men go for the savory. Additionally, "women tend to look to comfort food when they are feeling lonely or sad, whereas men seek comfort food as a reward. Women associate comfort food with negative emotions, while men associate it with positive emotions" (https://sites.uab.edu/humanrights/2019/02/25/the-importance-of-comfort-food/). People also associate comfort food with other people (like caregivers, friends, etc.) or memories/good experiences to make us feel less lonely. A quote from this article: "nostalgia can evoke a sense of belonging."

Then my research brought me down the lane of nostalgia and marketing/branding. A quote from this article, https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2024/06/24/Nostalgia-food-trend, "Everything old, is new." Brands have seen the power of nostalgia, and whether it's in a manipulative way or a genuine way to make people feel nostalgic about the past, it works. There are some negative nancies (sorry Nancy) who say things like "It's not like it was in the good old days" (aka the customers at my job complaining about their sweet treat that they've had everyday since they were tiny). But overall, most consumers love the familiarity. Even some consumers who didn't experience something from the past still enjoy the vibes. According to this article on how the marketing works, https://sproutsocial.com/insights/nostalgia-marketing/ , "Campaigns that incorporate nostalgia marketing aren’t limited to the people who have those emotional heartstrings attached to a memory. They have an opportunity to use nostalgia as a mechanism for brand storytelling and longevity by nurturing long standing fans while also attracting new prospects, especially from younger generations." We see this in social media all the time where people are doing fashion and makeup trends from the early 2000s, even decades before they were born. For more recent generations, it's fun and refreshing and 'new' to us, and for the older generations, nostalgic brands enable people to reminisce on the 'good ol' days'.

A quote from an article on Pokemon Go and how successful it was a few years ago (https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurenfriedman/2016/08/02/why-nostalgia-marketing-works-so-well-with-millennials-and-how-your-brand-can-benefit/) : "How do you identify those special moments in time, those unique cultural events from the past that millennials crave? Nostalgia-centric marketing succeeds when brands keep a finger on the pulse of modern culture, listen to what people are talking about, and plug into those ideas to create new marketing campaigns. Monitor #TBT (throwback Thursday) on social-media channels and take advantage of trends."

Now, people aren't just posting TBTs on Instagram and Snap, they're also recreating those old pics, which I love and have done myself.

While researching, I went down a little rabbit hole of why internet cookies are called cookies because of the amount of times I had to click "accept all cookies" on these sites, but it had me thinking about how we name so many things food names to make us feel better about them. For instance, people were more likely to buy a cookie called "Grandma's Cookie" over one called "Premium Cookie," mainly because the term "grandma" made them think of warm and cozy and more comfortable for them (https://healthmindbodycare.medium.com/the-psychology-of-food-names-0b6b0a39d3d5). Many restaurants do the same thing with many items, tweaking the names of them to help customers think of their establishment as more welcoming and homey (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278431920300852).

I also enjoyed a Reddit thread of just people talking about things with food names that aren't foods. https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualConversation/comments/18612v4/me_and_a_friend_were_having_a_fun_conversation/

Fun little thread, but yeah more research!

I looked into the historical context of Nostalgia, where the term came from, and different variations of the term in other countries.

Early history of 'nostalgia' was pretty dark. Some quotes:

"The term 'nostalgia' derives from the Greek words nostos (return) and algos (pain). The literal meaning of nostalgia, then, is the suffering evoked by the desire to return to one's place of origin. The term was coined by the Swiss physician Johannes Hofer (1688/1934) to capture the adverse symptoms displayed by Swiss mercenaries in the service of European monarchs.”

"While sending the afflicted home was recognized as the best cure for nostalgia, scaring it out of them was also a popular treatment plan. In 1790, French doctor Jourdan Le Cointe administered the strategy of “inciting pain and terror” by threatening the sick with a jab from a “red-hot poker.”

Nostalgia was seen as something completely negative in the past, a disease, a form of depression, and only until the 20th century did it change to something a little lighter, longing for the past (depending on the person). The etymology article above also has other ways that nostalgia is translated in other countries, which was pretty interesting.

I briefly looked at Sonnet 30, a Shakespeare poem that discussed the bittersweet feeling of finding comfort in the past. Pretty sad, feeling heartbroken but yeah I can't remember why I ran into that. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45091/sonnet-30-when-to-the-sessions-of-sweet-silent-thought

Then of course I took some time throughout my week to enjoy Tiktok videos and Instagram reels, 1) because I just do that all the time, 2) to look at videos that show or discuss the increase in remakes and reboots of old shows/movies, the growing love for period pieces or shows taking place in the 80s like Stranger Things, and more. Some reboots and all just feel forced, but sometimes it is successful in bringing in older crowds to reminisce on the past. Social media platforms also LOVE to resurface old memories, like Snapchat sending me notifications saying 'On this day, 4 years ago..." and then I either laugh or cry at what I'm seeing. But woooo nostalgia.

Every generation also just has a different idea for what "simpler times" means. I think of simpler times as playing with my American Girl dolls with my sister, watching Blues Clues, and the only stress being my sister and I hiding our DSs under our pillows when we were supposed to be asleep for school. My dad's idea of a simpler time was when he and his brother would slide in the fire hydrant water while music was playing on a radio nearby and everyone was out on the block having fun, no internet or cellphones, just fun.

I had some trouble trying to make something for this week because I just was learning a lot of information and trying to see what other people's idea of comfort or nostalgia was, but I want to possibly get more responses maybe through a survey for this upcoming week, not sure yet. I made a pretty simple 'timeline' of starter packs (just a few photos that define a group of people basically), so nothing crazy, but hopefully whatever I make next week is stronger.

I feel like this week was more for me to gain a better insight on nostalgia, and the main conclusion that came from this (thanks to Nancy) was the strong relationship it has with power. I'm not totally sure what direction I will be going with this for this coming week, but I will figure it out. I did enjoy this week's research more than last week's though, so hope to see it go up from here. I feel like I have more to write but I'll just update the post if anything or save it for next week.

UPDATE: forgot to mention that so many customers came in to my job on Thursday and kept saying the same thing like “I remember these from when I was kid!” Or “This place is so nostalgic” (I did a double take hearing her say the word of the semester for me). Someone else’s grandma used to work at the bakery too and it’s just crazy. Anyway I came home yesterday and saw this on the fridge and it’s so interesting to see that “C” or “Correct” mark has not changed. I have so many tests and quizzes from when I was my brother’s age with that same mark and it’s always the same. Maybe I should try to get in contact with my old teachers sometime soon? We shall see.

[good-beans]

Milgram murder swap aus! I tried to keep the personalities the same and just swap the murder itself – not everyone paired perfectly but some worked really well

Edit: I've made some updates/additions here!

Fuuta/Mu: Muu has an extensive social media presence because of her wealthy lifestyle. She runs several blogs and channels (instead of fantasy rpg she has a fairy tale-esque theme to all her profiles). She gains a dedicated following who hang on her every post. When she calls out someone online, it doesn’t take long for her followers to join in and fatal consequences to follow. Fuuta’s reputation as the tough and cool gamer places him between being a menace on his university campus to being the subject of bullying himself. When his gaming buddies all turn on him, and he quickly falls from the center of attention. He’s a violent victim, but a victim nonetheless. One betrayal hurts more than the others. Armed with something sharp from one of the campus labs, he takes matters into his own hands.

Shidou/Mahiru: Mahiru is a bubbly doctor who all patients and families trust wholeheartedly because of her cheery attitude. When her partner falls ill, though, she’s impatient. It takes less than two weeks for her to realize she needs to grab hold of her lover before she loses them, and she uses her reputation to avoid suspicion of her increasing body count. (I know we don’t know a ton about Mahiru’s crime yet, but) Shidou moves to the city taking up a new job at the florist’s. When he meets someone he really falls for, he’s calm and calculated about approaching them and planning meetings. He’s good at keeping a poker face through lies, and he easily convinces them that every meeting is “such a strange coincidence” and “must be fate.” 

Amane/Haruka: Amane’s parents were abusive, and she looked to religion to find solace. She only had access to minimal forms of religious information, though, so her view of the whole thing is heavily distorted. She wanted nothing more than her parents’ attention, and sought out the attention of a higher power to satisfy that. She killed animals as sacrifices, and thought she was being guided by righteousness when she killed her sibling/family member.. Haruka was raised in a cult who focused more on teachings and punishments than on his needs. He was so hungry for their approval, he began following their every word and genuinely accepting their teachings to get a feeling of belonging. Even when pushed to murder/allow for someone’s death, he did it happily thinking they’d be proud of him for doing the right thing. 

Yuno/Kotoko: Yuno knows how to manipulate the social situation – she’s bubbly and fun, she knows how to please people, but at her core she’s calculating and disinterested in drama. She uses these abilities to talk to others and track down the criminal she’s looking for who hurt young girls that she knew/related to. Kotoko goes out and does whatever she pleases. She’s not looking to find true love or please a man, she’s just doing what’s good for her while maintaining her bold and self-assured attitude. She sees nothing wrong with her actions and has a “screw you if you do” outlook. 

Mikoto was tough to swap with someone else, but I gave him Aname’s crime because I think it’d have the most interesting tension: Mikoto was raised in a strict religious cult, but only one of his alters took to the teachings. One is very devout, and is willing to commit murder the way the other members would have encouraged. The other desperately wants to escape the cult, and fights back against it whenever he can. They both think their actions are protecting the other. Fun angel/demon aesthetics (where the “angelic” religious one is the murderer and the “demonic” antireligious one is innocent).

And so that Kazui isn’t left alone, a modified Kazui/Haruka swap: Kazui was very emotionally repressed since childhood. Even into adulthood his family makes it clear they’re disappointed in him. He carries his abuse with him far later in life, letting it simmer and grow under the surface. Maybe his wife started talking about having kids, reminding Kazui of his own childhood, or maybe something unrelated caused all the memories to flood back. When all that pent up pain finally breaks through, it floods and his wife suffers. Haruka grew up in a stable family, but still envied others. He was so busy with other friends/siblings that he preferred to be with, he ignored his younger sister’s needs. Disliking her and wishing to escape his responsibility to her, his lies/avoidance of her put her in fatal danger.

Uuuhhhh Es is the mysterious prison leader and Jackalope is running batshit interrogations and making all the decisions 😂

[cystali]

So Alchemy of Souls Season two comes out soon, and I saw someone talking about Mu-deok/Naksu's character consistency in season one a while ago: how she was inconsistent based on what we know of her past. I was in my feelings about it at the time so. here's some thoughts. more than a few

(Alchemy of Souls spoilers below)

The show focuses on Naksu's cold-blooded nature from her first scenes because she is an assassin. that is her character. Her name is based on the fact that "wherever she goes, heads roll," and she smiles when the mages declare her crimes, as if she is proud of them. She calls her name beautiful. During the fight scene, she cuts her enemies down with ease, which tells a lot about her skill, but she also doesn't have distinct facial expressions during the fight scene (until she gets injured). That, as well as her name and introductory lines, gives the impression that she cuts her enemies down with ease and without feeling. (When rewatching this scene after finishing the season, I think she does show some anger/desperation, but I still think she was meant to be seen as emotionless at the start of the show because of these reasons.)

Her soul shift scene strengthens this callousness because she literally tosses away a clearly disabled woman in favor of someone not. Both are innocent people to the audience's knowledge, but this does not matter to her. This is how Naksu is introduced - as a skilled, cold, killer escaping her fate. (which. she was)

When she wakes up as Mu-deok, her character's personality remains the same, but her loss of power and new social status makes her situation completely different. She tries to refuse chicken because of her assassin values but it is forced on her anyway, and she marvels at how delicious it is because she was never able to try it before. This is the first of many scenes demonstrating how sheltered her life was because of her role as Jin Wu's assassin.

Naksu was groomed to be an assassin, and as Mu-deok, she relies on an analytical, manipulative means of survival fitting for that kind of character - it just appears that she is softer and more empathetic because that is how she wants to seem to others. But also! in Mu-deok's body, her character begins to genuinely change because of her new environment and her growing connection to Jang Uk. her past does not go away, and we see her struggle between her newfound emotions and her previous apathy in certain moments, but she is able to accept love and loyalty in a genuine way. That is why her character appears so different from the beginning Naksu we see, but her flashbacks and backstory make sense of it.

There are no scenes of Naksu's past assassinations (which I feel was a missed opportunity that they lost because they focused a lot on Jang Uk's birth/political drama), but you can't just. kill someone heavily guarded every single time, even with her power. I feel that her actions as Mu-deok - her ability to be servile, to butter up higher officials, to slip into another role - speak to a past of infiltrating places using a different identity. I feel like creating flashback scenes that were plot-relevant but also showed her doing assassin work would have really been cool? and made this more than just my impression of her, you know.

Anyway, compared to her first scene, her behavior as Mu-Deok does seem like a drastic change. However, the writers did include Naksu's inner thoughts alongside her actions, and they have her be a much more dignified, stoic character when she is alone or with Jang Uk, who knows she is Naksu. The softer, more empathetic traits she begins to show are a mixture of genuine change and acting for others' benefit.

(a sidenote: I am very excited to see Naksu's original actress come back in season two because! it makes sense narratively if they bring her body back in a good way, and it allows Mu-deok/Bu-yeon to continue her storyline if the writers choose to? I'm not sure what they'll do with that if Mu-deok's actress does not return though. who knows. I also want to see how Naksu's dynamic shifts with Jang Uk because of the time skip plus body change. this is who she has been all along, just in a different body.)

[alillilium]

Alchemy of Souls... IDK what to call this

So I have been lurking Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter... and there is a lot of discourse about Cho Yeong/ Naksu/ Jin Bu Yeon/ Mudeok... Over the fact that she never got to be an assassin again, never wielded her sword, lack of fighting scenes and what people are either calling a character assasination or decent development of it... the latter not very well phrased by me. And I also see a lot of posts piting S1 Mudeok with S2 Jin Bu Yeon... which makes me question aren't they the same character cause the only thing I see is that they are played by different actresses.

For me, her journey is not one of becoming an assassin again, she didn't choose to be one in the 1st place it was imposed, shacled and manipulated into being one by Jin Mu, 2nd when she ended up in the body of Mudeok/Jin Bu Yeon she makes comments on how weak the body is, cause while the body "hosts" the soul of a woman with the strongest divine powers, it is a body from a person that, from what I gather poor, so less access to nutritious food, so she might also be malnourished and maybe even anemic, 3rd after her memory comes back she also has the memory of stabbing the only person that ever loved her and vice-versa in the heart (they say heart... but the placement for me is more pancreas maybe... but the heart it is) so less of a reason to wield it again - I will not deny that she is attracted to her sword, I mean it was her sword for more than 10 years - she might also still be aprensive about wielding it, 4th when the process of "unpetrification" started Master Lee stated that, the strongest soul in the body is Naksu so maybe that whole process depleted her energy as a mage and to regain it she would have to train all over again but taking into account that the body where she resides is weak, she would take 20 years or maybe even more than that to reach the level that she was before she decided that it was not worth the hassle and 5th when Jin Seol Ran decided to give the body to Cho Yeong she also gave her divine powers - not sure if all of her divine powers, half or even a quarter, I like to believe that she gave her all of them - sometimes I'm also positive - so that she can still be the heir or produce a powerfull heir to Jinyowon, so she would feel even less inclined to be an assassin again. In this I have a gripe with cause I wanted her to used them more times cause throughtout the show we undestand how the mages use their powers but the divine powers stayed shrouded in mystery and never fully explained so I wanted to see more.

About the fact that in S2 Cho Yeong is innocent and all sunshine and roses... I mean why do people hate women acting cute and innocent there are people like that no matter the age, personality and profession, they (we... I am a woman to) aren't less powerful or comanding, a woman doesn't need to tear down other women to feel good about themselves, We all have different views on what a powerful person acts or is, but female power sometimes is not being in the frontline, acting like a "man" so that she can be respected. these ideas are ingrained into us since we are children. I like that her personality without the memories of her time as Mudeok, could be what she is without the trauma, anger and grief, she is just a facet of Cho Yeong but no less powerful and she knows that, while doesn't fight in the front lines, she controls the backgroung and backstage, from doing interviews to choose mages to train, to choose the new queen. Sometimes controlling the backstage is more important than being in the front lines.

I think the S2 would benifited with having at least more 2 episodes, the 9th and the 10th became to rushed and plot holes and discrepancies became evident, it's still good but story wise the S1 is superior in that regard it had time to have good pacing and create essentially an amazing cliffhanger, for me S2 has the chemistry between the main actors as a selling point, I rarely see an onscreen chemistry that makes me feel it and this one did it, and call me basic or cliché I love me some, Sunshine girl/ Brooding guy, Forced Marriage, a bit of enemies to lovers which they deliver, S2 is like a fanfiction written by the authors and if this is the key for it to have a happy ending then be it... I still have trauma from the ending of Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo I don't wanna relive it...

Sorry for my various grammar and spelling mistakes, English is not my 1st language... but at this point every language I know is dying, Also it's almost 3:30 am so I'm tired.

See you all later in another post

[raylin-creates]

Just look at the manipulation tactics he's using here--waiting until Xie Lian is on his own, after an altercation that would be leaving Xie Lian feeling alone and insecure. He shows that he still has all the power here, lifting Xie Lian by his head, displaying that Xie Lian couldn't fight against White No-Face if he wanted to. Then he shows Xie Lian affection and sympathy, trying to place himself as the only one willing to comfort Xie Lian in his struggles.

I wouldn't be surprised if White No-Face somehow arranged for those specific officials to show up when they did--or even just for Mu Qing to be among them--just to set up the opportunity for this.

Things like this, White No-Face showing up after Xie Lian faces difficulties, is probably going to happen more and more going forward. We know Feng Xin leaves at some point. We know something will happen to his parents eventually. We know things keep going downhill for Xie Lian and don't really stop until he meets Hua Cheng at the start of the series. Plenty of opportunities for White No-Face to sweep in afterwards and present himself as Xie Lian's only support. He wants Xie Lian reliant on him and only him. I wouldn't be surprised if White No-Face is responsible for why Xie Lian immediately goes on a rampage against Jun Wu after his second ascension.

Basically, I expect that White No-Face's manipulation is going to work, to an extent, until something happens during Xie Lian's second ascension or immediately after his second banishment to snap Xie Lian out of it.

Also dunno if I've mentioned this before but I'm almost certain that White No-Face is the crown prince of Wuyong. The way the narrative is setting up clear parallels between Xie Lian and the Prince of Wuyong, the way White No-Face is laser focused on Xie Lian, and how he's being set up as the main antagonist, I can't see it being any other way. And he's likely also disguised himself as someone close to Xie Lian in his personal life--the top candidates being the State Preceptor of Xianle, and Emperor Jun Wu. So this guy obviously has some very intense obsession with Xie Lian, and is probably the one who gave him subconscious memories allowing him to understand the souls of Wuyong.

If I've got all this right, it seems White No-Face's goal is to turn Xie Lian into another version of him, or some kind of successor.

Man, what a great villain.

[kanohivolitakk]

Writing a fan fic about the dark hunters. Which portrayal is your favorite? a) the dark hunters as victims b) the dark hunters as bastards c) the dark hunters as complex and morally ambiguous d) the dark hunters as dumbasses e) the dark hunters as a messed up found-family

I think my favorite portrayal/interpretation of the is a mixture of a and c with a dash of e for good measure. I don't like b or d at the very least for the group as whole.

The way I personally like to see the Dark Hunters as the "true neutral" group of Bionicle factions. The Dark Hunters are mercenaries and bounty hunters for hire, and will work with anyone, good or bad, as long as they get paid for it and it doesn't harm them or their organisation. Most of the Dark Hunters aren't necessarily evil themselves, but moreso just doing their job. Yeah, TSO is evil and power-hungry, and there are certainly members who are like that as well but that doesn't indicate of the group as whole. I feel that the morality of Dark Hunters varies very wildly, with most of the group being more "amoral" than immoral or evil because they're so focused on survival and trying to make a name for themselves. Besides even TSO knows his place in the greater Matoran Universe and uses that to his advantage to gain status and power (I mean at least before Voporaks aging makes him go all insane which is why he is like THAT in the 08 serials).

Kinda a sidenote but I don't like how a lot of supplementary material and side-story stuff implies that the Dark Hunters are among the highest factions in the MU. I do believe that they're among the higher ranking yes but the idea they're as "clearly in power" as say the Brotherhood always bothered me. I felt their power and influence was more a "hidden in plain sight of thing", them being influental because of how much their services affect the world and how other seeminlgly stronger factions use them to do their bidding rather than them being an openly powerwielding faction if that makes sense.

I also really like interpreting them as victims because it just makes so much sense to me based on what we know about them. From what we understand, a lot of the Dark Hunters are social rejects who have no place to belong to in the greater MU, so they resorted into this life out of no other options. It's also worth pointing out that in a lot of cases TSO manipulated people to join his side by convincing them that they had no place to go if not outright arranging that to be the case. Are some of them irredeemable? Yeah but like most of the cases they aren't part of the organization because they want to but moreso because they have nowhere else to go.

And I just love that fucked up found family element to them since as a group of misfits and fucked up criminals either by own volition, tragic circumstances or a mixture of both rejected by rest of the world it just..SCREAMS fucked up found family potential to me. Though is it a found family if they all were forced to live under the same group by one powerhungry mob boss? I digress I digress but thats worth pointing out.

The reason I don't like "pure bastards" interpretation that much is because I find that to be just limiting. In general I don't like the whole way Bionicle has its morality of being "x group always good y group always bad". Yeah in some cases it works (see the Brotherhood) but I feel putting every group or every character under a simple good or evil scale is boring. I find moral grayness and nuances to lend to much more interesting storytelling. That said the Dark Hunters can be bastards, not just all of them and even those who are can have other layers to them besides their nastyness.

As for the "dark hunters are dumbasses" I feel a big part of this is because I want them to be threat or at the very least taken seriously both in universe and out of it. While some of them being Team Rocket levels of harmless makes sense (looking at you Devastator and your chuuni ass showoffyness) I don't like the idea of them all being jokes. It just makes them less interesting and also makes their impact in the greater MU feel less believable as a result. That and I don't like dumb idiots that much at least in a way where you KNOW they're dumb idiots I prefer dumb idiots who present themselves as a threat only for not being such.

Sorry this took long and I hope you like this answer nwn.

[amischiefofdeets]

BILL CIPHER

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CHARACTER SUMMARY

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Demon from the 2nd dimension, Bill is a creature motivated by his own boredom, determined to escape his prison and wreak havoc in the 3rd dimension now that his own is destroyed. He'll do whatever he has to in order to be freed into the real world - including manipulation, possession and even killing if he must. There's no doubting he is utterly insane.

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MUSE DETAILS

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Name: Bill Cipher Nicknames: Bill, 'triangle guy' Race: Demon Born: [UNKNOWN] Age: [UNKNOWN] Height: Varies based on form. Gender: N/A but uses he/him pronouns Sexuality: N/A Location: [UNKNOWN] Occupation: N/A Abilities: Capable of invading dreams, possessing others if a deal is struck, when corporeal there is little he can't do - though he is still bound to the rules of a deal being needed to possess someone or invade their mind outside of their dreams.

Scars: N/A Tattoos: N/A Alignment: Chaotic Evil Goals: Take over the universe, create chaos Hobbies: Tormenting others, people watching Likes: Chaos, the obscene and grotesque, having control, being worshipped Dislikes: Control, rules, 'pretty' things Mental state: Entirely insane Disabilities: N/A Reputation: Ultimate villain, the guy is powerful and insane. Family: Scalene - Mother [Deceased Euclid - Father [Deceased]

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VERSES

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#HAUNTING - Set while Bill is still stuck between dimensions, even before canon.

Bill thoroughly enjoys manipulating people, especially when it means getting closer to his goal of escaping the Nightmare Realm and wreaking havoc. Whether or not your character knows it, they might be useful to his plan and he just might try sweet-talking or threatening them into doing what he wants.

#WEIRDMAGEDDON - Set during the weirdmageddon event.

Bill's party has begun and he has every intention of taking it worldwide, tearing apart boring normalcy in favor of chaos. Unfortunately for now he is trapped inside, Gravity Falls won't let him have his fun and that means he needs to find some way of fixing that issue.

#RECOVERY - Book of Bill

Limited knowledge here, as I'm waiting on my copy but I know enough and don't mind being corrected should I miss details. Bill is currently undergoing indefinite therapy, he's being forced to face things from his past that he's either incapable of facing, or lacking remorse for. The jury is out on whether he can get better. Ideas for threads, given the limited ability to make contact: - Bill is forced to return to Earth, powerless, and must 'make amends' for the things he's done. He has no idea where to even begin with that. - Perhaps Bill is granted time to explore the dreamscape, given he can't do anything seriously harmful any longer. This would be good for meeting new people as he could just be wandering through various dreamscapes.

#PROTECTOR - Completely AU.

Bill can't exist without power and he's running short, the only way to get more is from a living thing. The catch: it has to be given willingly. Having to resort to desperate measures, Bill sets out to make a deal with someone. -- He'll become their protector, their helper, for as long as they live their natural life. In return, they have to offer their lifeforce to him on their deathbed. Can he find someone willing to make a deal?

#REGRETS - AU set during Weirdmageddon.

Coming into the real world has a lot of perks, he is more powerful, capable of doing practically anything he wants to do. The problem? -- Suddenly he's FEELING. Two dimensional beings have flat, two dimensional feelings and guilt isn't one of them. How is he going to handle these new emotions? Can he be forgiven for what he has done?

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TAGS

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