#nuance is not dead

[mzannthropy]

Natalie Lue says: "People can be more than one thing."

Maybe something worth pondering over, what do you say?

[canisalbus]

I kidnapped ur long-nosed cat for a sec

.

[starry-bi-sky]

mmmmmm read a disciple shen yuan/shizun luo binghe fanfic about two days ago where the first chapter was the Immortal Conference arc, and SQQ was the one who had to be pushed into the abyss (he was still the villain) except Luo Binghe was refusing and was like, lowkey losing his mind about SQQ being so close to the edge. SQQ ended up having to be the one to fall in himself because of the system's punishment system. The rest of the fic is leading up to that moment. But like, MMM i've been obsessively thinking about that first chapter for DAYS ever since.

now i've been in svsss for a grand total of *checks watch* a week. but god obsessed with that. I want to write/read a fic where disciple SQQ goes a little nuts down there. Like keep all of the things that make SQQ, SQQ, but just. Throw in a little bit more trauma in there. A little bit of a mental break. Let him go a little nuts as a treat. Just a tad unhinged. I wanna see him go, just a little, "god fuck it, i've tried so hard to change this shitty story's outcome and it feels like everything i've done has been for nothing. I'm going to die in this world no matter what I do, I've been doomed from the start, so might as well die the way I want to." and he just, breaks a little! Under all the stress.

He still retains the traits that makes shen yuan, shen yuan, like his overwhelming kindness. But he's just! yk. A little less patient. Paranoid. Jumpy. Colder. A little more aloof and closed off. A little more Shen Jiu. He's no asshole child abuser, but he was a Number One Hater in his past life and he's leaning into that old habit a little more now.

(On a totally coincidental not-at-all related note, there's not enough SJ-and-SY-are-the-same-people fics out there that i've found. This is totally unrelated...)

The Endless Abyss turns the mind into an over-sharpened blade, and SQQ is both fascinated and perhaps a little excited to explore a place that doesn't have a lot of info on it in the mortal realm, but still terrified out of his mind. And he's no Luo Binghe, he doesn't have the sheer brute strength and power to just bulldoze his way through, so he has to be a lot more sneaky and cunning if he wants to survive.

The fic itself role-swapped LBH and SQQ so that SQQ was the half-demon (which lowkey fucks) and LBH the human, but I'm equally-if-not-more obsessed with the idea that LBH remains the half-heavenly demon and SQQ the human. If only because I keep thinking about SQQ befriending some demons (particularly and specifically a group of succubi) and they grow very attached to this Human Cultivator so through magic plot stuff they create some kind of seal/illusion/talisman that makes SQQ appear as a demon because a human cultivator in the endless abyss may as well be the equivalent of putting a giant neon target on your back.

And iirc Shen Jiu was taught demonic cultivation by that one guy(?? i've only been here a week so im not caught up in ALL of the lore yet) so that could totally happen here.

(On the other end of the realms, poor Shizun Luo Binghe is just. losing his fucking mind over losing his most precious and beloved disciple. About .5 seconds from burning down the peaks himself. somebody sedate him.)

The Endless Abyss sucks and SQQ is having a really terrible time and can feel himself going lowkey mad, but also holy shit look at all this WORLD-BUILDING. look at all this flora and fauna, and oh if he had the equipment for it he'd be writing all of this down. ALL OF IT. He was kinda-sorta-already planning on never leaving the Abyss as some sort of fucked up self-exile and self-preservation thing, but now he might? actually just?? never leave if he can help it, like he lowkey likes it down here.

anyways the next time anyone ever sees SQQ again he's got hair so long its almost touching the ground and he's either in rags and half-feral or he's been completely dolled up by his adoptive succubi sisters and still about three seconds from biting anyone who tries to touch him. (he's also lowkey trying to book it back down to the abyss even if he has desperately missed all of his friends and shizun)

[zinnie-zoloft]

While Charles is clearly jealous of Monty, he isn’t jealous of the cat king, he’s angry and terrified on Edwin’s behalf

I think people forget that for Charles, Edwin was gone for hours, possibly the longest they’ve been apart since they met

We only see Edwins perspective, we don’t get to see Charles spiralling because he knows almost nothing and can do even less

Then when Edwin comes back, after hours of being with the cat king, he’s acting strangely and won’t tell Charles what happened, so he can only assume it was something awful because why else would Edwin hide something from him? The only things they don’t tell each other about are their worst traumas

Charles had an entire evening to imagine all the worst possible scenarios of what the cat king could be putting Edwin through, that doesn’t go away just because Edwin told him it was only a few minutes for him

[sandraharissa]

I can't believe they character assassinated silco posthumously

[a-heart-of-kyber]

One of the things I've realized is most of the reviewers of The Acolyte are...incredibly childish.

I've seen people complain about not understanding why Qimir's armor was shorting out the lightsabers.

They tell you about it in the next episode.

People complained about Sol not realizing it's Mae...and they explain why...in the next episode.

Take a minute...breathe...and maybe shut the hell up before you start tearing into an unfinished story.

[fandomsnrambles]

Why do people keep acting like Wu & Misako are intentionally malicious evil evil people in their actions and not y’know… trying their best in the absolute worst circumstances ever known to man

[sandontshengshou]

Day 3829 of seething and coping over the fact that despite making Jiang Cheng feel like he was worthless to his OWN FATHER by relentlessly and publicly favouring his other son/ward?, he ALSO managed to deeply traumatise said boy by making him promise to place the priorities of the Jiang Sect (a.k.a his own biological kids) over Wei Wuxian’s own life like the kid never even mattered to him!!! Fucking sublime!

[mxfrodo]

y'all for fucking real. don't fucking write slave fics or x reader fics of aventurine's slavery??? are you guys out of your goddamn minds???

[landwriter]

dead boy detectives is a show whose shortcomings and strengths make total sense when you think of it as a comic on tv, ie terribly goofy expository dialogue that sounds way better when you picture it in comic book font with every other word bolded, panel-paced conversation as our heroes figure out something very obvious, fun enormous monster set pieces that used up all the cgi budget which is why all the rooftop shots look Like That, incredible snap zooms and smash cuts in montages that hit exactly like comic panels, and side characters with bland or brilliant characterization that seems to hinge on the metric of ‘how much cunt did the actor put into their line readings’

[quietmonologues]

I don't know...I know Elain isn't a fully fleshed out character yet and she's kind of "there" sometimes (compared to her other sisters who have more "strong-willed" personalities). But I guess I don't like the hypocrisy where some people can recognize, understand, and sympathize with Nesta's trauma responses, but can't do the same with Elain's. We can acknowledge that Nesta's abrasive and sharp disposition is due to trauma and her upbringing (which makes her such a compelling character in how she deals with the world around her), but when it comes to Elain, we can't give her that same grace. Instead, she's considered spoiled, or selfish, or hiding behind "big strong Azriel" or "mean vicious Nesta" to "protect her" from "nasty people" and like...ugh that's such a one dimensional, cartoonish view of her after what she's been through? I don't want to deny that Elain has probably been spoiled during her upbringing (mainly by her father) or that she's sheltered (by Nesta but also Feyre) but I don't think it's a stretch to think that her treatment in the past influenced how she deals with her trauma (and you can say the same for all the sisters...).

I see so many popular posts on Tumblr advocating for the "soft girl" archetypes because we don't see enough of that in fantasy and when we do, they're often cast off to the side or are undervalued. We want to see different types of female empowerment and strength instead of "aggressive girl with sword". But when a female character's trauma isn't "loud", when their trauma presents in the form of people pleasing instead of people bashing or becoming catatonic and doted on by everyone instead of becoming self-destructive and isolating themselves from everyone, then we don't recognize that as a trauma response. Instead, it's spoiled, or selfish, or golden child syndrome.

Because Elain's trauma responses aren't destructive, it's like people think she's "living it up" in her "perfect, sheltered" life where everyone loves her because she's kind and agreeable. And maybe the IC might see her that way, but people pleasing and being sheltered are also unhealthy coping mechanisms, as are lashing out and pushing people away. We wanted Nesta to stop drinking and self destructing, we wanted her to improve her mental health. And she did I guess...(though the methods for how the story went about it are so controversial to say the least....). We also want Elain to stop being sheltered and being a people pleaser. We also want her health to improve.

It's more than okay to dislike Elain (sometimes her character archetype isn't everyone's cup of tea, totally valid). But I just wish fandom gave her a little more nuance and grace like they do other characters. I'm personally interested in seeing Elain develop as a character and gain strength in her own unique way.

[dykedvonte]

One of my mutuals opinions is the "bro code" thing, that Curly is one of those guys who wouldn't care about the victim because the perpetrator is his friend and I'm really banging my head on the wall like that other anon. I've only played through the game once but Curly's behaviour/reactions etc read completely different from the "bro code" thing and I have to wonder if my mutual and I even played the same game.. like the constant digs at him from Jimmy, his body language in his face reveal and so on like you mentioned in your post. While this game is a little different obviously, it kind of reminded of a point in Alice Madness Returns that makes it very clear that Alice's pain blinded her to the abuse of the other children and her failure to act earlier because of it. Curly is guilty of a similar inaction but it doesn't change the fact he was a victim of Jimmy too. I don't think I can look at it any other way because both of these games have really stuck with me.

I genuinely think it really is the idea that people want a simple easy to blame problem and the idea that the only relatable victims of abuse are those that "surpass" it or do a lot to help others. When it comes to victims, especially those that don't fit the typical demographics, who either accidently perpetuate it, enable it or aren't ideal in some way shape or form, people jump to ignore what they went through as it's easier than dealing with those conflicting sentiments.

The bro-code conversation in Mouthwashing stems from a concept I generally dislike that there had to be something about Curly that made him meet or keep being friends with someone like Jimmy. I think people genuinely underestimate how many like decent and good people just know an asshole or are friends with someone who is really bad outside of their view/established dynamics. The game makes it clear none of the inaction against Jimmy is because of a lack of care, it is a lack of understanding from the privaleged postions they have as men to not have to worry about what Anya does/went through and the type of extremes men like Jimmy will go through to cover it up. They are all too preoccupied in their own strifes.

Another thing I see being oversaturated the idea that you have to be a freak, misanthrope or have a disorder to do the thing Jimmy does. The game is an escalation, it's a spiral that I don't see people comment on that Jimmy was not likely having the mood swings and episodes of rage/frustration we were seeing in the game. This is after they all start experiencing the worst moments in their lives that he got THAT openly bad. Of course, this is just my interpretation but much like in real life, people that go to extremes like that usually live mundane lives. It's a pressure cooker affect to where the stress made them pop. It's self inflicted but still the case.

I really think people need to be more willing to acknowledge that not everything needs to be an extreme or in black and white or easy to understand. It doesn't need to be happy or have an answer or solution, especially in the cases where the abused sadly helps perpetuate what they experience. It's not he should've known better from experience or shouldn't he have known what could've happened because victims tend to not like to think in matters of the worst. Not to mention, especially in cases of abuse where it feels so personally directed that you don't expect to happen to someone else.

[sunb0ts]

something that always gets me about klavier is that he is so clearly just like. friendly. he cares so much and he cares too much. he's one to tease simultaneously but he so clearly just like. loves and loves and loves, even when it puts him in harm's way, he likes people and he likes being around people enough to be desperate for it and for friendship like. ough

[hilacopter]

leftists when there are bigots in their country: obviously not everyone here is a bigot because we're human beings with differing opinions and political views, people who generalize all of us as bigots are being xenophobic.

leftists when there are bigots in the country they don't like: SEE THIS IS PROOF THEY'RE ALL EVIL ULTRA-RIGHT WINGERS AND WE ARE JUSTIFIED IN WANTING THEM DEAD WE MUST CLEANSE THE WORLD OF EVIL

[antirepurp]

delivering controversial takes to the "the gang plays minecraft" discussion