#obviously again simplified its more complicated than that

[hobgoblinsandpeachfuzz]

its important to me that you all know the vash x wolfwood x meryl ot3 that’s happening is the ideal ot3 dynamic for me that i haven’t seen perfected since star trek

all trigun ships are amazing and great, but wow it just makes me so happy to see

[summercurial]

i know you enjoy praise in subbing which makes sense to me, but i'm curious about why you like other aspects (if that can even be answered); what feels good about obeying someone who wants to dominate you? what kinds of discipline do you like? do you enjoy it more if it's structured in some way? t. someone who rarely enjoys subbing

so like...okay so theres two aspects to it, the practical and the emotional. the practical is just...in sexual situations, i freeze up. like. the part of my brain that can make decisions kind of dissolves. if someone doesnt tell me what to do, it is hard for me to do anything. in some sense, for these purposes its more like a sex master of territories than a dom. anyway this is mostly downstream of how socially complex sex is. like. i feel like youre supposed to be reading the other person all the time. this is not the summer nature. someone being a dom is like...an agreement to make your desires clear. and then i just do them

so anyway this dovetails with the emotional stuff, which again is largely social. like, i have this tendency to get sort of "in my head" in social situations, worry that im taking the wrong actions, because like. i mean just practically i often am. i do weird stuff, sometimes undesirable stuff, in social situations, and cant stop without just like not doing anything. and subbing takes that away! im just...doing what im told. and i know its always the right thing to do, because im being told to do it. and if i should be doing something else its their responsibility to tell me that. obviously i try to do SOME interpreting. but as little as possible. anyway this is also why i like it when the other person talks a bunch. if they dont talk i worry theres some nonverbal signal im missing.

also theres like...an aspect of earning affection that i like? like its nice to be able to point to something as like....oh, im performing an activity this person finds desirable. im Gaining Points. yknow? like. they feel maybe more positively to me afterwards. but not for complicated me-planned reasons. for simple reasons.

anyway i like discipline type sutff mostly as like a formalization of this aspect? i like rules because then my choices are simplified. i can hold tight to the rules. and also its a fun excuse for pain, which i sort of like for itself in addition to the d/s aspects

structure is fun but not really psychologically core. i dont reallly do structure much. i feel like d/s stuff has to have like. a sort of subtle and flexible relationship to how "real" it is. like. different parts of it are different amounts of real. often said-things are the least real. strict structure feels like it doesnt let you wiggle the realness, which can make it sort of "snap" instead of bend

[fallenrocket]

cw: suicide

Something I felt about this show after season 1 (and Good Omens after season 2) is how OTPs get broken up/pulled apart all the time, but it's often for the flimsiest of reasons. Stupid miscommunications, dumb fights about trivial shit, unexpected job offers in different countries, and so on and so on. It's so rare to see an on-again-off-again breakup that feels like it's about something.

But that's just what we got with OFMD and GO. On these shows, the breaks matter. They feel inevitable, because they're so rooted in who both characters are as people. Even as you yell at your screen for them to avoid the train wreck, you know that this couldn't have gone any other way.

Hi, "Man of Fire."

Obviously, I don't want to see Stede and Ed making these mistakes with each other, but as much as I hate them hurting themselves and each other, I love they're they're so complex and messy, that they're dumbasses with their feelings.

And more than that, I get it. It makes too much sense. It's "Act of Grace" all over again, because they're still not saying the things they really need to. Even as they've been opening up, they've been staying in the shallow waters of what they're really going through.

"You shaved your bead off, for me," not You gave up being Blackbeard, everything you are, for me, and I didn't think I was worth it. "I'm sorry my horrible naked chin disgusts you so much," not I let you see what was under the persona I've been trapped in for years, and you didn't want it.

"Here's the news, I'm leaving," not I have to escape being Blackbeard because I buried myself in it until I wanted to die, but I can't ask you to come with me because what will I do if you reject me again? "You're a coward," not I know this move. I've done this move. Please just talk to me instead of running, because I know how much I wrecked things when I ran.

In this episode, Ed tells Stede about his mermaid vision, but not about why he needed a mermaid in the first place. Stede tells Ed about the letters he wrote, but not about what he left out of the letters, not about the fears he only told Ed's wanted poster.

It bugged me earlier in the season when characters seemed to giving simplified explanations for complicated issues--Stede left because he was scared, Ed 'went mad' after Stede left--but now I'm hoping those omissions have been intentional. Given all that's been left unsaid between these two, of course they have a big fight after having sex at absolutely the wrong time, and of course neither really understands what's been going through the other's head.

But when the break matters, the reconciliation stands to be so much better. We already saw this once across "Fun and Games" and "The Curse of the Seafaring Life," and now, hopefully, we're going to get it again in the finale, but even better.

But all that said, please tell me the show has gotten all its gentlebeard breakups out of its system. Whether season 3 finds them as pirates, innkeepers, or something else, I want them to spend the whole season doing it together.

[soullessjack]

don't want to wade into discourse but do want to say i appreciate your takes on Jack's character. it's just really refreshing. a lot of fandom straight up does not want to engage with Jack's thematic core, aka 'young man is INCREDIBLY powerful & he has to struggle w/ his relationship to his powers / learning to use them for good' when that character idea is very compelling & also doesn't work if Jack has no agency/autonomy/makes no real choices/is a child. it is complicated, because Jack is a young adult (say, an 18-year-old and a 40-year-old are both adults, but their maturity level is VERY different) and didn't choose his power, but I don't understand why the fandom framing that Jack shouldn't have that power/responsibility/should be a child is more sympathetic than Jack learning how to use his powers & coming into his own. (which is how I read his story even if the writing was thin at times.)

hi, thank u!! 🫶🫶

I think most of the fandom’s refusal simply stems from the idea that he doesn’t deserve what he goes through/the burden he has to carry, and that’s all well and good, but it obviously starts to spiral into never seeing him as a complex autonomous person who can handle responsibility or experience trauma, which then gets grossly simplified into never seeing him as a person at all.

I honestly think it’s become kind of a cycle. People don’t want to acknowledge what he’s experiencing beyond “he doesn’t deserve this,” so -> ppl refuse to engage with him as a full complex adult character -> then don’t understand that autonomy is a fundamental part of him and his narrative -> so they make the decision to de-age him -> which hinges on the idea that he’s giving up his autonomy or never had it to begin with, and -> that becomes the most popular way to see his character, so -> they shut out anything that opposes it -> and they don’t see the problem with it because they don’t understand what they’re taking away because (see above).

I admit it sounds like pointless discourse from that perspective, but

A) this fandom has complained about far less for far longer, especially when it comes to their favorite characters being misunderstood and misrepresented

B) people have a right to be frustrated over their passions, especially when the problem is persistent and basically an open secret that nobody wants to change. this isn’t just about the autistic perspective on him. It’s general fandom, as well.

C) the added perspective of jack being autistic (which frankly goes beyond headcanon or simple interpretation, but that’s its own post) makes this more than petty discourse. fiction and reality go hand in hand with each other, especially in any issue concerning representation of a real group. that being said, when a marginalized community tells you that something is harmful, you listen.

sorry for the long reply lol. ofc it’s not directed at you, I’m just putting it out there in general. and thank u again! It’s nice to know that my silly ramblings are appreciated 🫶🫶

[hometownrockstar]

VERY simplistic guide on setting up world info, author's notes and memory for AI Dungeon

This is to get the AI to remember the max amount of detail and go more in-depth and behave less randomly, helpful if you want to make it act out specific scenes and characters, and its fun :-) again, this is much simplified to hopefully help ppl who don't know anything abt AI Dungeon, if you want more in-depth info check this whole sheet

This will get kinda long, so i will put it under a cut :-)

Now: setting up your adventure. Make a new one, and use a custom setting. I also recommend clicking on the "Do" button in the text box to make it "Story", this way you can write in pure prose and storytelling, the AI will also pick up on this style as you continue to write in it. You should also switch to 3rd Person, which you can do by going to the cog menu > 3 dots > Edit Adventure

Now to set up your World Info for this story: go to the cog menu, scroll down until you see World Info, then you'll be on the world info screen. There's these category tabs you can click on to put your world info into, to keep it organized.

click on Create New World Info, ignore all the stuff that just opened, and click on Manual Entry.

Here's where it gets complicated, BUT! I have tools that can format the complicated parts for you! I'm just gonna summarize what it all means.

This is called Zaltys formatting, its meant to minimize text to fit the word limit and maximize understanding for the AI. Now if this looks daunting to write yourself, don't worry: Go to this site and fill out the categories, hit refresh, then copy that text and paste it into the entry. it automatically formats it in this style for you :-)

How to use the site: Category is the all caps sections (ex. APPEAR), Attribute is the trait you're putting into it (ex. hair), and clicking the plus sign next to the attribute adds a Refinement which are the details about that trait (ex. brown/ponytail)

Not all of the sections have to be filled out, just put whatever info you think is most important. I have read about some people making separate World Info entries where they put in the keywords for characters and put info like hobbies and stuff which would only be important to load in the story in certain circumstances (for example, having a character who plays piano, but making a separate entry so this info only loads when they are in a room with a piano)

Extra details or summarization of backstories or anything else should go in SUMMARY, if you want to make a character with they/them pronouns i recommend stating it here and ALSO in the Story memory. It is much more consistent than trying to say theyre genderless or nonbinary, though it does often pluralize things in sentences. Neopronouns haven't worked that well when i experimented but hypothetically if you keep editing the results and continued to use them, the AI could get the hang of it. I have not tested this with characters who use multiple pronouns.

The keys section is where you put any words that will come up in the story that signify this character, most common being their name, but you can also do titles like "doctor" or "knight" or "bookworm", AS LONG AS they are the only character associated with these words. if you have multiple characters who's info is triggered by the word "doctor", the AI won't know who to associate with it.

This format is obviously useful for characters but you can also use it for locations, there are specific category words best used for locations but i have not played around with it myself yet, i recommend looking at the guide i linked at the start for info on that. Below is a chart from that guide that explains the categories a bit better

Other things about World Info: I suggest also adding entries that are relevant to the story, like places or groups the story and characters take place in. Like if you have a character who works at an evil science company, you should make a faction world info entry that describes the company. it can be simple, just saying it has highly advanced technology and is very powerful. you should also mention it by name, either putting in the faction's info that the Character is a high-ranking official of the company or mentioning the company in the Character's SUMMARY info.

About Memory and Author's Note in the cog menu

This instructs the AI on how to respond and write. I'll try to keep it brief but Memory is like World Info that is always active to the AI (unlike World Info which is only active when triggered with a key word), and Author's Note is instructing the AI how to write the story (literally formatted like an invisible A/N inserted between sentences only the AI sees)

Here's an example of a Memory and A/N setup:

The difference can be subtle sometimes but i think of Memory as more tangible things like the environment, scene, and character relations, and Author's Note as the prose and themeing of the story. Here is a site with words to use for the writing style/genre/ect. Examples of good category words to use in the Author's Note: author, writing style, genre, theme, setting, scene, format, goal, situation, storyline

[tymime]

As much as I enjoy the latest iteration of Mickey Mouse in Roadster Racers and all the other related specials, shorts, and spinoffs (although I haven’t gotten around to seeing Funhouse just yet*), I’m beginning to notice a pattern that leaves me feeling a little disappointed.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the series and its cousins are a HUGE improvement over Mickey Mouse Clubhouse- especially when it comes to slapstick humor- even though obviously there’s a lot in common with that show, especially their depiction of Pete, what with his tendency to call Mickey “Mickey the Mouse” and shout “Oh, cheese weasels!” (which I’m actually quite fond of). Even the weirdness of Cuckoo-Loca doesn’t seem all that instrusive.

The main issue I have is the lack of other well-established characters- especially family members. The first thing I noticed is that Goofy’s son Max is nowhere to be seen, and hasn’t been spotted outside of the theme parks since House of Mouse in the form of nostalgia-inducing references to A Goofy Movie and Powerline. But the differences between Mickey in the 2010s and Mickey in the early 2000s become particularly obvious when you watch Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas and Mickey and Minnie Wish Upon a Christmas back to back.

You can look at those group shots and see that there are fewer characters. Again, I really enjoy Wish Upon a Christmas, especially the song Minnie sings, and it’s definitely better than the follow-up Mickey Saves Christmas. But there are five characters total that are absent in it- Max, Scrooge McDuck, and Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

Roadster Racers, etc., feels a little weird sometimes because of the way they transplanted Mickey from Mouseton to Hot Dog Hills and seem to be pretending that he’s lived there all his life, not to mention that Donald is no longer living in Duckburg and Goofy is no longer in Spoonerville, or wherever else he happens to be living. I suspect they did this to avoid the logistical complications of having Mickey or Donald driving from town to town or whatever, and keep all the characters in the same place for the sake of convenience. Not that that was really an issue before. But I also strongly suspect that they wanted to avoid using Huey, Dewey, and Louie because they didn’t want to clash and compete with the series they most wanted you to be watching in 2017- the DuckTales reboot. I won’t get into how much I hate that series, since I’ve gone into detail elsewhere, but I’m fairly certain they didn’t want viewers tuning in to one series where Donald’s nephews were younger and undifferentiated and voiced by Russi Taylor, and then tuning in to another one where the nephews were entirely different. (This doesn’t exactly explain why the Paul Rudish Mickey Mouse can somehow exist at the same time, but Disney seems to be full of contradictions these days.)

It’s for a similar reason that I think Disney suppressed Legend of The Three Caballeros from US television and kept it within the Phillipines for an entire year, and barely acknowledges its existence to this day. I don’t think they wanted viewers to see two entirely different series based loosely (and I mean loosely) on the comic books.

And personally, I suspect that the way Three Caballeros more closely resembled Carl Barks adventures and the tone of classic Donald cartoons than the DuckTales reboot could ever hope to achieve was also a factor. But perhaps the biggest reason of all for the reduction of the cast was to just simplify and streamline the whole thing for younger audiences. Not sure why they think kids can’t handle large casts when My Little Pony does it so well, if that’s the case.

“What’s your point?” you might be asking. Well, when it comes to honoring the legacy of classic Disney characters, Roadster Racers, etc. falls a little bit short, even though the humor and animation is so much better than Clubhouse. During the mid-to-late 2000s and early 2010s there seemed to be a surge of Disney Afternoon nostalgia, in the form of DVD releases and new comic books, which coincided with a renewed interest in the classic Mickey and Donald comics when Fantagraphics reprinted them. Disney seemed to care about the “Expanded Universe” of the Sensational Six again. By excluding characters like Scrooge McDuck, the nephews, and Max Goof, you’re depriving these characters of their emotional depth and complex interrelations with one another.

I often think of these moments in Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas. Scenes like this where these otherwise over-the-top and silly characters feel sadness and disappointment just don’t happen in Roadster Racers (and I guess they aren’t supposed to), and this sort of pathos doesn’t seem to occur unless their closest relatives are around. I believe that Max brings out the best in Goofy, especially. And those aren’t the only characters that are suspiciously absent. Horace Horsecollar and Mortimer Mouse, who were staples of House of Mouse, are barely present, and for some reason have different names. Pete, for some reason, has a new nephew character instead of his son PJ. ...And don’t get me started on Sylvia Marpole from An Extremely Goofy Movie, one of the most criminally underused Disney characters ever.

Once I noticed this, all the recent cartoons suddenly felt a little shallow. I still like them a lot, but ultimately I still prefer Goof Troop and House of Mouse and the rest from that era, before the characters became kinda childish and had all their edges smoothed off. (Update: I’ve seen several episodes of Mickey Mouse Funhouse now, and while the show has blessed us with some of the best weasel characters ever- Wheezelene, Cheezel, and Sneezel- I’m largely disappointed by how shallow and dumbed down it is.)

[foundry-fabrications]

Happy Halloween everyone! It's that time of the year again and that means it's spooky project time! Those who have been with me for a while know that every year for Halloween I put out some big thematic project for my favorite holiday. For this year, I wanted to keep the rework train going and rework a previous year's project. And that project is my Corpseweaver class!

Before we get started I just want to take a second to shout-out @dm-clockwork-dragon and his Necroficer class, which helped inspire many aspects of my own take on the "Frankenstein-ing" monsters together concept.

I also want to mention that I still have a huge GDrive folder of 100+ creepy creatures and malign monsters pulled from across the internet to inspire your own amalgams!

In a way I got lucky this year. I started reworking my corpseweaver MONTHS ago so I already had a lot of it done. I was hoping to have the basics done in time for a campaign I was going to be in but time got away from me and I ended up playing something else so I've just been slowly working on it over time. Before October even began the entire base class and one of the subclasses were mechanically done, which left only two more subclasses to finish and I needed to rewrite all the fluff text which was honestly pretty cringeworthy in my opinion.

So what are all the changes? IT'S A LOT! I reworked how the class collects resources and the amalgam creation system completely from the ground up. The old systems were overly complicated and REALLY bookkeepy so I simplified them. Now you get Flesh, Bone, and Exotic from creatures and you use those in specified amounts to make amalgams and make alterations. The system for doing so has been greatly streamlined. Now you have a dedicated stat block that all amalgams are based on and that gets modified throughout the creation process.

Another major change is that the base class is no longer a spellcaster, so all those features have been moved to a subclass of their own, the Skaab Scribe. I didn't like how based in normal magic the old class was as I always wanted it to be more focused on mad science, alchemical formulas, and occult ritual.

And one of the last huge changes is that the Soma Smith has been removed from the class completely and will likely never return, though the name does live on as the Fleshwarper has been renamed. As much as I liked the idea of the old soma smith, I felt that it didn't fit the class upon further examination. Its whole deal was about creating new life basically from scratch and that's not what I want this class to be about. That's actually a theme that I kept seeing in the flavor text throughout the class as I've been working on it, creating new life, and it's a goal of mine to remove it wherever possible. The class does not create life, it reanimates the dead, and in my mind those are very different things.

So yeah, on that note those are the biggest changes but obviously everything got touched in some way. As with many of my reworks, this one is an overhaul on a grand scale, and one I'm honestly quite proud of.

As for the updated aesthetics, however, I have mixed feelings. Overall I think they fit the class much better than the default theme I was using before but there's a lot of visual jank that I'm not a fan of. I also would have liked to use better artwork but I had so little time to finish this as it is. I was also forced into using GM Binder for this project instead of Homebrewery because the theme I chose doesn't work with HB very well so that was less than ideal. For smaller projects it's not a big deal but for something this huge all the weird little issues I have with GMB start to compound and get frustrating. It's not a system I like but it has its uses sometimes.

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[communistkenobi]

hey, how would you explain neoliberalism to a baby poli sci major? i’ve always struggled with understanding the term because i haven’t been assigned anything to read about it yet

yeah no worries it’s a complicated concept! when people use the word they’re generally referring to one of two things - the process of neoliberalism itself, or the cultural/societal response to, and reinforcement of, neoliberalism as a way of thinking about the world. Sorry this is gonna be long lol but neoliberalism is a weird term that describes a bunch of complicated things that I think are best explained with examples and a bit of history.

the most useful definition of neoliberalism I’ve heard is that it’s an economic process whereby you privatise the public sphere; the free market is offered as the solution to various social problems. Before I describe it more in detail there is a bit of policy history that is important to know. It obviously didn’t arise out of nowhere; neoliberalism is a response to the post-WWII social welfare policies (sometimes referred to as the Keynesian welfare state) where a lot of stuff was nationalised, meaning that that service is now administered by the national (or sometimes regional) government. I’m Canadian so I’m not as familiar with US policy history, but this is when Canada nationalised its healthcare system for example, and iirc this is also around the same time when we got a national pension fund. Social housing (ie housing that isn’t sold on a market) and other social goods were also offered to people at low or no cost (payment for these services coming from taxes). Basically think of like, what if education, healthcare, and housing were offered to you as a public utility and not a product that is bought and sold to each individual person on a private market. This wasn’t universal by any means, like private housing and other privatised services were still dominant, but (again, at least in Canada) things like social housing were much more normalised and weren’t considered to be “housing for poor people” like it is now.

so that’s the policy stage on which neoliberalism arrives. the neoliberal “turn” in western states happened sometime between the late 1960s-90s depending on what country you’re looking at. This meant that a lot of things became privatised again. The process of doing this is usually to first decentralise or “download” the service to smaller regional or local governments (this is why today, cities each have things like their own separate housing policies), reducing federal/national funding streams to those social programs, and then finally defunding them completely. This is also coupled with lowering taxes and flattening progressive tax rates (im not a tax person so this is very simplified, but this means everyone pays similar amounts of taxes as opposed to being taxed relative to your income - this had the almost immediate effect of widening economic inequality). Because cities and states/provinces have less money than the national government, and because they were now receiving even less money due to lower taxes and reduced national funding, it’s a lot harder to run these programs, and so usually they eventually stop paying for them too, or they’ll partner with non-profits or charities who then administer those services (or they’ll sell them to private companies to run). This is why today, non-profits and other charitable organisations have such a large presence in providing services like homeless shelters, addiction recovery, mental health services, disability services, social services for other marginalised groups, etc. they effectively replace “the public realm” by administering basic social utilities to people, except now they’re not run by a single government, they’re run by individual charities with their own funding streams, standards of care, and policies.

And this had a huge effect on the way people think about themselves and other people! More and more aspects of your life were now framed as products you could choose to either buy or not buy. Social services are very often discussed as parts of the government that aren’t “profitable”, the obvious implication being that profit is the primary motive to offering, like, public transit, as opposed it being a public good that helps society function better by letting people move around more freely. You’ll also see these services framed as “handouts” for lazy people who don’t work hard - again, framing basic aspects of everyday life as things you must earn by constant participation in the market, first as a worker and then as a consumer. This is partially a neoliberal conception of public life.

I’ve seen it argued (by Greg Suttor if you want a specific citation lol) that ideologically, neoliberalism is about hiding the presence of the state from people. Society needs things like roads and water and housing and food and education and medical care to run effectively, but running them as a utility is expensive, and it’s basically become a unanimous agreement between all major political parties that spending money on government services is bad (for lots of complicated reasons, one of them being that capitalist interests are fundamentally opposed to paying for services that don’t generate profit), so instead you hand the responsibility off to private companies to do it, who then run it not as a utility for the benefit of the public but as a way for them to make money, turning the utility into a product. This doesn’t make the problem of, say, every person in your country needing a house go away, but now the burden is on each individual to access or not access that via the private market, and that access is dictated by the amount of money you have. It’s a way of de-collectivising mass social needs, and as a consequence it encourages people to think of themselves as individuals disconnected from a larger whole.

A good example to illustrate the cultural effects of neoliberalism is the rise of the concept of self-care, which is essentially pathologising and marketising leisure time - you work hard, you have a bad mental health day, you deserve to treat yourself by buying an expensive coffee, or a new hat, or going to the movies after work. The act of self care allows you to “responsibly” spend your money on things that aren’t absolutely necessary (like food, rent, and clothing) by framing those purchases as a mental health support. And I’m not criticising this rationalisation people do btw, I also do this lol, but this example illustrates that people have such deep anxiety on spending money on “frivolous” things that you need to justify a starbucks latte as a thing that will improve your mental health (+ therefore make you more productive at work).

Anyway this has gotten away from me a bit but I hope that’s helpful lol. I’m not a political theory person so this explanation is policy heavy, not because that’s the only thing that is important but because that is the part I’m most familiar with. Neoliberalism is something that has been happening for decades by now and is very mature. It’s a particular way of conceptualising state responsibility as limited and narrow - public needs are to be handled by the market, and the state handles things like police and border security (notably the only two ‘public services’ that have seen any substantial increase in funding). It’s also a way of understanding the world as a series of private individual interactions between a consumer and the market, often framed as democratic (“the freer the market, the freer the people”, “vote with your dollar”, etc), but what’s on the market are basic necessities you need to stay alive, so “not voting” is not really an option.

[pumpkinpaix]

hello there, hope you're having a nice day <3

so i've been reading a lot of fics lately, uk for sanity's sake, and i've noticed that in most of them, lwj doesn't use contractions (eg., says do not instead of don't)?? and i think he doesn't in the novel either but i don't remember lol so i can't be sure but anyway that made me curious - does chinese have contractions as well? does he not use it bc it's informal?

hello there! I’m doing all right, i started to answer this ask while waiting for a jingyeast loaf to come out of the oven 😊 many thanks to @bookofstars for helping me look over/edit/correct this post!! :D

anyways! the answer to your questions are complicated (of course it is when is anything simple with me), so let’s see if I can break it down--you’re asking a) whether chinese has contractions, b) if it does, how does they change the tone of the sentence--is it similar to english or no?, and c) how does this all end up with lan wangji pretty much never using contractions in english fic/translation?

I’m gonna start by talking about how formality is (generally) expressed in each language, and hopefully, by the end of this post, all the questions will have been answered in one way or another. so: chinese and english express variations in formality/register differently, oftentimes in ways that run contrary to one another. I am, as always, neither a linguist nor an expert in chinese and english uhhh sociological grammar? for lack of a better word. I’m speaking from my own experience and knowledge :D

so with a character like lan wangji, it makes perfect sense in english to write his dialogue without contractions, as contractions are considered informal or colloquial. I don’t know if this has changed in recent years, but I was always taught in school to never use contractions in my academic papers.

However! not using contractions necessarily extends the length of the sentence: “do not” takes longer to say than “don’t”, “cannot” is longer than “can’t” etc. in english, formality is often correlated with sentence length: the longest way you can say something ends up sounding the most formal. for a very simplified example, take this progression from least formal to absurdly formal:

whatcha doin’?

what’re you doing?

what are you doing? [standard colloquial]

may I ask what you are doing?

might I inquire as to what you are doing?

excuse me, but might I inquire as to what you are doing?

pardon my intrusion, but might I inquire as to what you are doing?

please pardon my intrusion, but might inquire as to the nature of your current actions?

this is obviously a somewhat overwrought example, but you get the point. oftentimes, the longer, more complex, more indirect sentence constructions indicate a greater formality, often because there is a simultaneous decreasing of certainty. downplaying the speaker’s certainty can show deference (or weakness) in english, while certainty tends to show authority/confidence (or aggression/rudeness).

different words also carry different implications of formality—in the example, I switched “excuse me” to “pardon me” during one of the step ups. pardon (to me at least) feels like a more formal word than “excuse”. Similarly, “inquire” is more formal than “ask” etc. I suspect that at least some of what makes one word seem more formal than one of its synonyms has to do with etymology. many of english’s most formal/academic words come from latin (which also tends to have longer words generally!), while our personal/colloquial words tend to have germanic origins (inquire [latin] vs ask [germanic]).

you’ll also notice that changing a more direct sentence structure (“may I ask what”) to a more indirect one (“might I inquire as to”) also jumps a register. a lot of english is like this — you can complicate simple direct sentences by switching the way you use the verbs/how many auxiliaries you use etc.

THE POINT IS: with regards to english, more formal sentence structures are often (not always) longer and more indirect than informal ones. this leads us to a problem with a character like lan wangji.

lan wangji is canonically very taciturn. if he can express his meaning in two words rather than three, then he will. and chinese allows for this—in extreme ways. if you haven’t already read @hunxi-guilai’s post on linguistic register (in CQL only, but it’s applicable across the board), I would start there because haha! I certainly do Not have a degree in Classical Chinese lit and she does a great job. :D

you can see from the examples that hunxi chose that often, longer sentences tend to be more informal in chinese (not always, which I’ll circle back to at the end lol). Colloquial chinese makes use of helping particles to indicate tone and meaning, as is shown in wei wuxian’s dialogue. and, as hunxi explained, those particles are largely absent from lan wangji’s speech pattern. chinese isn’t built of “words” in the way English is—each character is less a word and more a morpheme—and the language allows for a lot of information to be encoded in one character. a single character can often stand for a phrase within a sentence without sacrificing either meaning or formality. lan wangji makes ample use of this in order to express himself in the fewest syllables possible.

so this obviously leads to an incongruity when trying to translate his dialogue or capture his voice in English: shorter sentences are usually more direct by nature, and directness/certainty is often construed as rudeness -- but it might seem strange to see lan wangji’s dialogue full of longer sentences while the narration explicitly says that he uses very short sentences. so what happens is that many english fic writers extrapolated this into creating an english speech pattern for lan wangji that reads oddly. they’ll have lan wangji speak in grammatically incoherent fragments that distill his intended thought because they’re trying to recreate his succinctness. unfortunately, English doesn’t have as much freedom as Chinese does in this way, and it results in lan wangji sounding as if he has some kind of linguistic impediment and/or as if he’s being unspeakably rude in certain situations. In reality, lan wangji’s speech is perfectly polite for a young member of the gentry (though he’s still terribly rude in other ways lol). he speaks in full, and honestly, quite eloquent sentences.

hunxi’s post already has a lot of examples, but I figure I’ll do one as well focused on the specifics of this post.

I’m going to use this exchange from chapter 63 between the twin jades because I think it’s a pretty simple way to illustrate what I’m talking about:

蓝曦臣道：“你亲眼所见？”

蓝忘机道：“他亲眼所见。”

蓝曦臣道：“你相信他？”

蓝忘机道：“信。”

[...] 蓝曦臣道：“那么金光瑶呢？”

蓝忘机道：“不可信。”

my translation:

Lan Xichen said, “You saw it with your own eyes?”

Lan Wangji said, “He saw it with his own eyes.”

Lan Xichen said, “You believe him?”

Lan Wangji said, “I believe him.”

[...] Lan Xichen said, “Then what about Jin Guangyao?”

Lan Wangji said, “He cannot be believed.”

you can see how much longer the (pretty literal) english translations are! every single line of dialogue is expanded because things that can be omitted in chinese cannot be omitted in english without losing grammatical coherency. i‘ll break a few of them down:

Lan Xichen’s first line:

你 (you) 亲眼 (with one’s own eyes) 所 (literary auxiliary) 见 (met/saw)？

idk but i love this line a lot lmao. it just has such an elegant feel to me, probably because I am an uncultured rube. anyways, you see here that he expressed his full thought in five characters.

if I were to rewrite this sentence into something much less formal/much more modern, I might have it become something like this:

你是自己看见的吗？

你 (you) 是 (to be) 自己 (oneself) 看见 (see) 的 (auxiliary) 吗 (interrogative particle)？

i suspect that this construction might even be somewhat childish? I’ve replaced every single formal part of the sentence with a more colloquial one. instead of 亲眼 i’ve used 自己, instead of 所见 i’ve used 看见的 and then also added an interrogative particle at the end for good measure (吗). To translate this, I would probably go with “Did you see it yourself?”

contained in this is also an example of how one character can represent a whole concept that can also be represented with two characters: 见 vs 看见. in this example, both mean “to see”. we’ll see it again in the next example as well:

in response to lan xichen’s, “you believe him?” --> 你 (you) 相信 (believe) 他 (him)? lan wangji answers with, “信” (believe).

chinese does not do yes or no questions in the same way that english does. there is no catch-all for yes or no, though there are general affirmative (是／有) and negative (不／没) characters. there are other affirmative/negative characters, but these are the ones that I believe are the most common and also the ones that you may see in response to yes or no questions on their own. (don’t quote me on that lol)

regardless, the way you respond to a yes or no question is often by repeating the verb phrase either in affirmative or negative. so here, when lan xichen asks if lan wangji believes wei wuxian, lan wangji responds “believe”. once again, you can see that one character can stand in for a concept that may also be expressed in two characters: 信 takes the place of 相信. lan wangji could have responded with “相信” just as well, but, true to his character, he didn’t because he didn’t need to. this is still a complete sentence. lan wangji has discarded the subject (I), the object (him), and also half the verb (相), and lost no meaning whatsoever. you can’t do this in english!

and onto the last exchange:

lan xichen: 那么 (then) 金光瑶 (jin guangyao) 呢 (what about)？

lan wangji: 不可 (cannot) 信 (believe)

you can actually see the contrast between the two brothers’ speech patterns even in this. lan xichen’s question is not quite as pared down as it could be. if it were wangji’s line instead, I would expect it to read simply “金光瑶呢？” which would just be “what about jin guangyao?” 那么 isn’t necessary to convey the core thought -- it’s just as how “then what about” is different than “what about”, but “then” is not necessary to the central question. if we wanted to keep the “then” aspect, you could still cut out 么 and it would be the same meaning as well.

a FINAL example of how something can be cut down just because I think examples are helpful:

“I don’t know” is usually given as 我不知道. (this is what nie huaisang says lol) It contains subject (我) and full verb (知道). you can pare this straight down to just 不知 and it would mean the same thing in the correct context. i think most of the characters do this at least once? it sounds more literary -- i don’t know that i would ever use it in everyday speech, but the fact remains that it’s a possibility. both could be translated as “I do not know” and it would be accurate.

ANYWAYS, getting all the way back to one of your original questions: does chinese have contractions? and the answer is like... kind of...?? but not really. there’s certainly slang/dialect variants that can be used in ways that are reminiscent of english contractions. the example I’m thinking of is the character 啥 (sha2) which can be used as slang in place of 什么 (shen2 me). (which means “what”)

so for a standard sentence of, 你在做什么? (what are you doing), you could shorten down to just 做啥? and the second construction is less formal than the first, but they mean the same thing.

other slang i can think of off the top of my head: 干嘛 (gan4 ma2) is also informal slang for “what are you doing”. and i think this is a regional thing, but you can also use 搞 (gao3) and 整 (zheng3) to mean “do” as well.

so in the same way that you can replace 什么 with 啥, you can replace 做 as well to get constructions like 搞啥 (gao3 sha2) and 整啥 (zheng3 sha2).

these are all different ways to say “what are you doing” lmao, and in this case, shorter is not, in fact, more formal.

woo! we made it to the end! I hope it was informative and helpful to you anon. :D

this is where I would normally throw my ko-fi, but instead, I’m actually going to link you to this fundraising post for an old fandom friend of mine. her house burned down mid-september and they could still use help if anyone can spare it! if this post would have moved you to buy me a ko-fi, please send that money to her family instead. :) rbs are also appreciated on the post itself. (* ´▽` *)

anyways, here’s the loaf jingyeast made :3 it was very tasty.

[kallypsowrites]

Why Kirigan doesn’t think Getting Rid of the Fold will Work

Hey guys. Its me, here to justify the thought process of the evil, toxic, terrible villain. Because I’ve been thinking about this nonstop since my watch and I actually think that the show did very well at SHOWING us why the Darkling doesn’t want to get rid of the Fold--and why he doesn’t see that as a solution for the Grisha. And based on his own personal history...he may be right.

So let’s revisit the story of the Creation of the Fold, as told in the show.

The first time we hear the story of the Black Heretic, Alina is recounting what she learned from her schooling. That the Black Heretic was advisor to the king, he grew too power hungry and the King hunted him and the Grisha who sided with him down. In order to create an army to oppose them, the Heretic created the shadow fold and the volcra and died in the process.

Obviously, the most blatant lie here is that the Black Heretic died, but I’d also like to question why the king went after the Darkling in the first place. Because of course its easy enough to simplify a story into a ‘crazy power hungry grisha’ but the truth is more complicated.

And the show even gives us that truth.

In the flashback at the beginning of episode 7, we find Aleksander in hiding with his people. The king’s men try to kill him, kill his lover, and are coming after his people. Why? Is it because he tried to grab for power? Nope!

Baghra: You made him afraid.

Aleksander: I won a war for him.

Baghra: And brought a war down on us.

 So he didn’t grab for power at all. But because the Darkling won a war for him and the king got scared of what Grisha could do.

Because of course he did. In Ravka, Aleksander tried to find a place for Grisha by getting into a position of power. Proving that Grisha have a use and don’t need to be hunted. And maybe he did that to eventually claim more rights for the Grisha. The right to exist and not have to fight for that existence. But the king only wants them as long as they can be useful.

Baghra confirms as much when she begs Aleksander to flee and then return later when there’s “a problem only Grisha can solve” because then the king will “have to embrace them”. She knows they’ll only be accepted if they can earn it. And the man from the First Army in an earlier episode speculates what will happen when technology has advanced to a point that Grisha aren’t special anymore. Because the tragedy of the Grisha is that even in Ravka where they are not hunted that is ONLY the case because.the Darkling carved them a place where they could be useful--war.

So what happens if the Fold is gone? What happens if the fold goes and Ravka is united and strong and crushes their enemies? What happens when war is over? Alina speculates about this in the fifth episode, optimistically thinking that ‘Grisha will have more opportunities’ and that maybe she can travel.

But the Darkling knows the truth. If peace comes and he has not secured a position with the Grisha...the king and the common people will no longer see a use for them and cast them out once again. The Fold is his way to make sure that doesn’t happen. By using its power and taking over, he can ensure that Grisha always have a place. Because he doesn’t trust kings or any non Grisha to have the interest of the Grisha at heart.

It doesn’t mean everything he does is right. he has no problem with sacrificing innocents for the long game. And while he has given Grisha strength, it could be argued he has made them more feared than ever. But no one is exactly standing around with an alternative solution are they?

In the Grishaverse, it is notable that all of the saints were Grisha. Grisha who either tried to help people and sacrificed themselves for it. Or Grisha who tried to help people and were murdered for it. Either way, they died, many of them violent deaths. They are worshipped but only because they were useful in life and now dead so they can no longer be a threat. They are worshipped because they SUFFERED. And what kind of life is it if you are only loved because you serve a purpose and suffer for that.

Aleksander has lived many years watching this happen. And one can’t blame him for wanting to overthrow a terrible king, or wipe out a general who is currently making deals with their enemies who are a threat to the Grisha. One can’t blame him for wanting to permanently secure a place for the Grisha. No one has yet come up with a better way. And no one has seen all of the previous paths fail like he has.

One of the things that is so interesting about the Darkling is that when his mother tells him to flee, he won’t. He wants to protect Grisha, not himself. She wants him to be selfish and protect only himself because it doesn’t matter. They’ll all die eventually anyway. He won’t abandon his cause. And goddamn I hope the show digs more into that in later seasons because for all the dark and manipulative stuff he does, he has a POINT.

[philsmeatylegss]

I think people do simplify the john mulaney situation a lot, I for example dont think he just suddenly decided to break up with his wife for no reason after having been in a stable relationship, there were very likely problems that we have no idea about, and it could be that anna wanted to divorce him and not the other way around. And secondly, I absolutely agree him having a child right after rehab with another woman was irresponsible, but I dont think the baby was planned. Its not like they decided to try for a baby, it was probably an accident. I also dont think its fair to say (not that you have said this at all, just I've seen other people have this take) that they shouldn't have kept the baby, because while everyone should absolutely have the right and the choice to have an abortion, that is not something everyone can just do. I know for me personally, if I ever got pregnant, regardless of circumstance, outside of me being in physical danger, I could never make that choice for myself. The point of freedom of choice is that people have the freedom to choose either option.

Anyway I think the situation is far more complicated than people give it credit for, and as much as we may not like the situation, its not our situation to deal with, and we can only hope that that kid grows up loved and cared for and im sure they will.

no you’re totally right about the part where it’s a lot more complicated than what we see. the baby definitely wasn’t planned no offense to him but def an oopsie baby. the one thing i will always have the same opinion on is that the baby is the biggest victim as he had literally no contribution to what led up to him, yet he will have to deal with the consequences. john used to have a mindset of not wanting kids and more importantly he is freshly out of rehab literally barely a year. and i think she got pregnant two months after he was out. this is totally my opinion and i’m not saying i’m right, but john should’ve been spending this period working on himself and making sure he stays sober forever. a baby is so unbelievably stressful and for someone just out of rehab for a substance that makes you feel good and not present in the moment, even if he didn’t relapse, he probably thought about it and that’s not a person who should be a parent. at least at this point. i wouldn’t be as upset if this happened a couple of years after rehab where he was steady on his feet and happy with being sober. when i say i don’t think he should be a father, that’s also not meant in a mean way. it’s in a way that he’s not steady. obviously we know nothing compared to what actually happened, but basic knowledge is that the weeks and months and even years after going sober are extremely hard. john should’ve just focused on that and be proud of himself for making it. i also have complicated feelings about anna because it’s more than likely there is more to the story. then again, even if the marriage was rocky and all that, it doesn’t make it any better that in the months after the divorce john got a girl pregnant. no matter what details we don’t know that’s just a shitty thing. but it is true we don’t know everything. so i still don’t have any hard opinions towards her. nicole (i think that’s her name? the mom of the baby) is someone i really don’t like for the fact that, at least from what we know, she knew john was freshly out of rehab and it may have been better to take it slower. but i feel that way to an extent. it takes two people to make a baby so the blame is 50/50. i don’t like her but in her defense i don’t know much about her. but no matter what it will take a lot to convince me that it was a shitty thing to bring a kid into a shitty situation is okay. one last point is i also saw people who wanted the mom to abort the baby and that also made me so upset. being pro choice is being for a women to decide if she wants to keep a baby or not. and no matter what we think about her and john, it is not our fucking place to say what she should do with her body. if you claim to be pro choice and you thought nicole should’ve aborted the baby, you fucking suck.

that was way longer than i meant oops. i have a lot of feelings because this isn’t even all my feelings.

[variousqueerthings]

Tory Nichols Is Not Okay (and other predictable book-titles)

I’ve been trying to figure out some things around Tory that make me very protective of her as a character + hopeful for more in-depth writing of her character in upcoming seasons.

1. within the story she differs from literally every other main in that she’s the single character without a support network to fall back on. Even Robby, who’s having A Tough Fucking Time, could theoretically have a moment where he figures out that Kreese (and probably Silver once he’s in the picture) is the fucking worst and Daniel, Johnny, Shannon, and Amanda would want him to come back, hell I imagine that next season will have Daniel and Johnny thinking a lot about how exactly to convince Robby to give them a second chance - as of end season 3, Tory hasn’t got anyone fighting in her corner at all.

This isn’t in the sense of characters competing about trauma or who-has-it-worse or who’s more likely to become a villain or anything. It’s just something interesting I’ve noted, because there’s never been a character like her in the movies or the show, one who is going through stuff quite as bad as what she’s being presented as going through: No support, no money, no friends.

2. I find it interesting that she doesn’t (at the moment) have any direct connection to either Daniel or Johnny - the two cores of the show. Sure she was Johnny’s student for a hot second, but I don’t think they had a single meaningful interaction.

She interacted with Aisha first, which - when they wrote Aisha off the show (actually probably the thing I most disagree with in this story, because it left several question marks hanging in the air) - meant that the first grounding element she had in the story was lost.

Then she interacted with Sam and I think the core of their rivalry - that Sam represents everything Tory can’t have VS the complicated mix of privilege (which I’m hoping will be brought up) + the way Cobra Kai took her best friend and boyfriend from her + everything she’s internalised from Daniel - is really really cool and some of Tory’s strongest moments come from that, because the two play off each other so well and this show is all foils and nemeses. Hopefully the show won’t try to simplify this into “boyfriend troubles.”

Then there’s Miguel Which, obviously there’s some complicated stuff going on there, but in the end, beyond jilted lovers, I personally find her actual relationships with Aisha and Sam more interesting, although the general sense of “oh great, betrayed again, why did I think anything different would happen” + at the same time getting an insight into something inherently self-destructive, (in that she deliberately went for a guy she knew wasn’t over his ex) has some good elements to it.

(there’s Hawk as well, but that’s more casual-trauma-friendship-with-a-dose-of-egging-each-other-on, the two of them aren’t really close).

And lastly there’s Kreese. Who is. The only person who knows what she’s going through. We have one episode with a couple of scenes + a handful of comments that indicate where she’s at and where she’s at is not good. 

3. Tory is maybe a tough sell right off the bat, because of several factors: she’s mainly angry and violent, she’s (as stated above) not emotionally connected to the two leads and her only other relationships right now are antagonistic or written off the show or... Kreese. Robby is going to be there in season 4 which’ll offer some nice opportunities, but for the moment they’re pretty much strangers.

She was introduced later than anyone else we’ve got right now (characters from the movies notwithstanding, but we do already know those + they are connected to Daniel) and her first meaningful interaction was with Aisha, who, I will reiterate, I feel should not have been written off the darn show, but I digress. There was some really interesting interaction going on between her and Aisha and failing to make good on that kind of meant that there was a sense of floatiness to Tory’s first introduction - suddenly this relationship doesn’t matter, oh okay I guess? Reboot. 

That being said I think she’s a very bold addition to the show and I’m curious about where the story will go with Tory next, since imo her first two seasons were about building her character to a point where she could become an Antagonist with some hidden depths. 

I’m expecting based on the first three seasons of the show that those depths will be revisited and respected.

4. I think I’m hoping for Sam to realise what’s going on there, for Sam to try and help, for Sam to realise that, actually, Tory’s problems extend faaaar beyond her and she was more like the straw that broke the camel’s back. I’d like this as well because while it might’ve been a weakness before that Tory wasn’t connected to Daniel or Johnny, now that can become a strength - the story can really start to move beyond them and into the ways that the younger characters interact with each other in a more forgiving + healing + understanding way (using their lessons, which... might? become more unified now? perchance? since they’re on the same side for the first time in... ever?)

I’d like for another adult to get involved there, but I’d absolutely love it if the first steps came from Sam and Tory, rather than Daniel or Johnny or any other adult noticing this kid needs some help. It’d be sad and hopeful all at once for them to have the realisation that sometimes kids just fall through the cracks, but then Tory can be supported by her peers first and foremost.

I wouldn’t necessarily say this needs to happen in season 4, but the sympathy extended to characters like Hawk, Robby, Johnny, Daniel, etc. in the writing needs to be extended to her as well. And for that to happen she needs to connect with someone other than Kreese.

Also, of course, Tory and Robby are going to be Sadness Bros next season, pretty sure they have horror stories to tell each other while they bond - I’m hoping this doesn’t become a romantic relationship, but it’s a show that likes its romantic relationships, so we’ll see. Fingers crossed. (also if Tory should be dating anyone it’s Aisha, right????) Point is, that’ll obviously give her more grounding with another main that isn’t I’M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!

I think this is where the initial elements of those aforementioned depths can be explored more thoroughly. Robby wouldn’t just be willing to listen - he’d be the first character to really Get It. He’ll probably be the first person to understand her and so the first protagonist we’ll get to really relate to her through (again, to me Miguel doesn’t count, he didn’t know her at all). 

Anyway I want for Sam and Tory to become the ultimate remixed version of Daniel and Johnny, in that they fully cannot stand each other for X amount of the runtime, only to find common ground at the last moment and perchance do some gay, friendly karate matching. 

(Also Tory’s bi, right? Yeah, Tory’s bi. I see your flannel!)

Tory has the potential to be a great slow-burn character, so I’m excited!

[sneakydraws]

From what I can tell this person deleted their reblog so I won’t show their username but since I still have the screenshot I might as well answer. tw for mentions of akio and anthy’s relationship and some screenshots of it

Disclaimer that these are my interpretations and not necessarily the “objectively true” version of what happened in the show, but I think they’re at least partially supported by text and not, like, a complete ass-pull

Q: Did Anthy reveal her relationship with Akio to Utena?

The fact that there’s no surprise in her expression and that she stood up to meet Utena’s gaze is enough for me to think that yes, she was intentionally making Utena aware of Akio’s abuse. 

(contrast with the scene in ep31; passively being seen by Nanami vs. actively showing herself to Utena) 

(Additionally, I have seen people propose that Anthy may have planned on Utena seeing her with Akio and caused Utena to wake up/manipulated her dreams with her magic, so that Utena would come looking for her.)

Q: Did Anthy revel in painting herself as a villain to Utena?

First of all, I didn’t say she was happy, because I think it would be a disservice to the complexity of Anthy’s writing in this scene to simplify her feelings like that. But yes, I think she was taunting Utena with the knowledge of what she saw the previous night, and deriving some kind of complicated, joy from it. 

I think she maliciously enjoys Utena’s feelings of betrayal because the unquestioning, and at times willingly blind, trust Utena placed in her previously was built on Anthy’s deceit and ignored Anthy’s suffering - Anthy resented being put on a pedestal, so she takes a twisted pleasure in destroying that pedestal. 

I also think Anthy feels some amount of genuine possessiveness and jealousy over Akio, so she’s undermining Utena’s relationship with him by bringing up her own, however abusive it may be... But more than that, she’s undermining Utena’s idealised vision of the happily-ever-after the three of them are supposed to share by exposing and reminding her of the fucked up elements of the arrangement. 

As for direct examples: 

Here, Anthy clearly wants Utena to think poorly of her. Utena tells Anthy she can’t forgive her, and Anthy makes no attempt to communicate to Utena that she’s the victim in the situation but rather emphasises her own hatred of Utena, further breaking the image Utena had of her as pure and innocent. Like I said, she resents being perceived as the princess archetype, and would rather make herself look like the malicious but proactive antagonist than as the innocent but passive victim.

Utena: Everyone has secrets they have to keep, right? (...) (To Akio) Look, if you’ve got the time... If you’ve got the time today after school... can you and I hang out togeth-

Anthy: I’m sorry. (To Chu-Chu) This isn’t mine. It’s yours, isn’t it?

Here Utena tries to ignore what she saw (brushing it off as a secret that has to be kept) and asks Akio out, taking a step towards the kind of idealised, peaceful existence that she was hoping for after the duels ended. But Anthy interrupts her with a comment that, while supposedly directed at Chu-Chu, relates obliquely to the situation at hand. She’s passive-aggressively telling Utena “I’m sorry, he’s yours, isn’t he?” and doesn’t let Utena forget about the conflict that has arisen between them.

(After her date with Akio, during which she’s obviously thinking about Anthy)

Utena: Are you mad?

Anthy: About what?

Utena: Of course you’d say that.

Here, Anthy is again passive-aggressive. Rather than openly tell Utena she’s angry, she politely pretends as if everything’s fine - silently telling Utena this is what you wanted, right? to ignore the bad and pretend everything’s fine?

Finally, there’s the cantarella scene, which I won’t quote in its entirety - but essentially, it’s Anthy once again showing off her “evilness” by obliquely suggesting she poisoned the cookie Utena is eating. Of course, this time Utena doesn’t shy away from the confrontation and, rather than pretend everything is fine, she makes a similar confession - symbolically admitting that yes, the current situation is fucked up and can’t be maintained, and she had plenty to do with it. It’s a beautiful moment of reconciliation and of facing reality head-on on Utena’s part.

So yes, I do think Anthy revels in making herself appear antagonistic to Utena and consciously rejecting the innocent, pure-hearted version of herself that Utena had up to this point insisted on seeing her as.

[calangkoh]

What do you think is the difference in Al’s characterization/development in 03 vs. BH? Which Al do you prefer?

i could be totally wrong about everything im about to say. this is all my takeaway, and its going to differ from other people’s.

i think the main difference is in 03 al is the deuteragonist and in bh al is just a few steps above side character. In 03 al is as important as ed and has a lot more say on things. he acts more like an actual brother by butting heads with ed and speaking up more. bh al most of the time comes across as a sidekick. bh al’s character development isnt a big thing because theres not much TO develop when he’s more of a supporting role vs in 03 where he has many established flaws to be expanded on.

i am not criticizing bh here, and its not something im mad about in the slightest. but it is why i prefer 03, because the appeal of fma for me was always the brothers, and 03 focuses way more on the brothers (their growth, their struggles, their relationship, etc), ironically, more than brotherhood which has a wider cast and world it divides its attention on (and i like a wide cast and big world as much as an intimate character study, it just so happens in fma’s case it was always the brothers that captivated me over the world, so naturally the show that zeroes in on the brothers as opposed to zooming away from them more and more is the one i prefer).

03 al is rougher around the edges, has more obvious flaws, and his development seems to be about becoming more decisive and proactive and less passive, with a heavy emphasis on survivors guilt and the effects the armor has on his psyche. it spends more time giving al the attention his horrific situation deserves.

in bh, al is a sweet and supportive brother who serves to motivate ed and be useful to the plot when he can with his body. his development seems to center around accepting how useful his body is? which good for him, but illustrates my point of bh having its characters be more like set pieces. al only gets development in scenes where he can move the plot forward.

i love both als. bh al is easier to love because he’s very “nonoffensive” and “unobstrusive.” hes sweet and kind and has funny moments and is just an endearing boy. its impossible not to love al. 03 has the same qualities but with more of a challenge because 03 actually gives him substantial flaws to overcome. 03 al can be harder to love sometimes because of his flaws, because he makes mistakes and acts like an idiot and gets angry and is wrong sometimes. but he’s a much more deeply-written, well rounded, dimensional character for it.

but yknow sometimes a simpler and more clean cut character like bh al is what a story needs, and what the audience needs. a black and white wholly Good character who inspires us and simplifies things for us in impactful ways is just as valuable as a flawed and complicated one that makes us question ourselves. i love both als, i think they are both fantastic. obviously i prefer 03, though.

i think in terms of personality differences, and this is just my interpreation of their characters (and my interpretion of bh al could always be way off since i dont remember details of bh as well as 03), if they met youd be able to quickly see that 03 al is more outspoken. Even if 03 al is still the rational calm and observant one to eds impulsivity, he still has opinions and is attempting to broaden them. hes more inclined to question things, offer new possibilities, reach out to other people for connections, all for the purpose of understanding things, in my interpretation. Bh al is more strictly an observer. both are introverts, but 03 al comes across more extraverted because he reaches out more to find answers and will also actively converse and discuss with people, while bh al is almost all quietly thinking to himself.

03 al at the end of his journey is also noticibly rougher. bh al is still the big idealist and softie. hes smily, always beaming, always excited to indulge in life. 03 al is like that too but more often feels fake, because it partially is. theres more sadness behind the same smile thats on bh al’s face. bh al’s smile is bright and happy and cheerful but 03’s masks longing and regret. bh al is much less confrontational but he is much more sassy and snarky, now confident enough to embrace that inner snark and “dam im real done with ppls bullshit but im still a nice person so im not afraid to throw some shade.” 03 al is actually confrontational. he actually is able to get up in your face and tell you off (or if youre someone he cares about, lecture you to take better care of yourself because dammit life is too fragile and he wont stand idly by letting shit happen in front of him any more—hes very much like winry in this sense). hes snarky, yes, but his snark is more strictly for joking and when it comes to conflict he’s straightforward and direct.

Edit: not to say 03 al IS confrontational—hes still a sweet boy who will avoid it, but just by comparison to bh al he’s less afraid of conflict when its necessary. like “i hate conflict and will avoid it because i dont like to hurt other people but i WILL confront people if its necessary, even if i dont like doing it” while bh al is “i will avoid conflict at all costs but you WILL endure my snarky tongue if youre getting on my nerves, but if it actually bothers you and could potentially start a legit fight ill obviously keep my sassy comments to myself.” important to note they both still give everyone the benefit of the doubt and trust everyone is good at heart and no one wants to do any harm, and always have that assumption in their interactions. altho again, 03 al is more inclined to be paranoid “yes i will give everyone the benefit of the doubt but doesnt mean im not watching my back cause i dont trust so easily anymore and i dont want to be manipulated or taken advantage of ever again”

[cocoarchives]

The Monument at the End of the World

There’s this port town that exists at the edge of the sea.

The people who live there are all fishermen or farmers or children of the two, who live in homes made of stone or wood or brick, or perhaps a combination of the three. When you step into one, you’re greeted with the creak of the floorboards and the squeaks of the mice in the walls. When you gain the rare opportunities to creep up the steps to the second floors, it feels like the ground will collapse underneath your feet.

The perpetual fog makes the air feel like honey. On the warmest days it cools your face. On the coldest days… They suggest it’s best to stay inside.

By the town there is a forest, and it’s not that uncommon to see people hiking along the trails, mesmerized by the songbirds and the fresh air. The roads they follow aren’t exactly roads either; simply dirt left trampled by years of travelling.

But there’s another trail too, though it’s not as well traversed. As all who walk off the protected paths eventually make their way to the cliff overlooking the sea, the place that can only be seen from the inside and not out. A cliff with a fence to keep its visitors safe. A cliff with a monument that was small, and yet looked like it stretched out infinitely into the sky. A monument made with an onyx’s imitation, covered in chains and locks, older than the town itself. A monument that was there before the first settlers, left unmovable in this ordinary little port town by the sea.

This story is about the monument. The monument that took the lives of two teens, and became an urban legend of the town.

The story that ruined the town it resides in, that forever made them wary of the strangers that dared to approach them.

And it all begins with a boy. A boy who only saw love.

The target of his affection was a traveler. A young girl with hair like melted chocolate, flowing like water in the wind as she ran behind him, one hand in his and another on her straw hat. Her freckles were barely visible over her red cheeks, and her legs were covered in cuts and scrapes from the vines that tried to warn them of the events that are to come.

“How much further?” She cried, breathless.

“Not a moment more.” He replied, as the trees parted for them and revealed this place; the cliff and the smell of salt springing up from the lapping waves.

The girl gasped, tugging out of the grip of the boy and rushing her way to the railing. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of the drop, but it rose at the sight of the clouds skimming the water’s surface like strange animals taking a drink.

“It’s beautiful.” She whispered. “It’s like being at the end of the world.”

The boy took her hand, and she turned, lips parted in awe. Her eyes had the look of a dreamer, of someone who had risen from an impossible world.

“There’s more.” He said, as soft as she, and the girl allows herself to be dragged away. Away from the edge, away from the thrill.

Away from the clouds.

“Look at this.” He told her, guiding her movements, and his laughter when he saw her jaw go slack was enough to bring the sun just that much closer.

“Can… can I touch it?” She asked uncertainly, fingers already moving to brush its strange surface.

“Well, you can do more than that!” He exclaimed, digging his fingertips into invisible groves in the rock like it was muscle memory. With a light tug, a portion of the monument swung open, and the words in the girl’s throat dissolved.

This strange structure — the structure which must have stood from the beginning of time itself, which must’ve endured wars and battles that the girl couldn’t even imagine — was hollow. The thickness of it was maybe only a centimeter or two, obviously too thin to even begin to support its own weight and yet… it did. Miraculously, somehow it did.

“It’s an abyss.” Were the only words she managed to say.

The boy laughed again, and the girl’s cheeks went warm.

“No, no! I’m sorry.” He apologized. “It really is not as terrifying as you make it seem. I think it’s quite wonderful actually. Please. After you.”

Tentatively, with his aid, she took a step into this strange claustrophobic space.

“You may start hearing-” The boy began, but as she crossed the threshold into this small, compact room, the sound vanished.

Her eyes widened, as she turned swiftly in a panic but...everything was fine. Her companion was still there, beaming up at her like a dog waiting for a bone. The sky continued to lower itself to kiss the ground. The wind continued to brush the leaves on the trees with the delicacy of a mother to a child.

His mouth moved soundlessly. Like there was a barrier between him and her, like they were worlds apart despite being almost right next to each other. Just an arm’s length away.

She saw what he was going to do before his own body moved to do it.

“No, wait!”

But as much as she screamed, as much as she cried out, her desperate words were futile. The door enclosed her into the dark. Into the abyss. Into the unknown that she’s willingly made herself a part of.

In the chamber, the only thing she heard were her own heavy breaths. The only thing she could feel was the warmth on her face, the cold in her hands. The rock, slick and without dents or weaknesses under her fingertips. It was like being in the embrace of the night herself, her mouth so close to the girl’s ear. She could imagine the intake of breath, the lady’s lips parting.

But the noise that came out was not a singular voice. It was a roar, a multitude, an infinite wave of sound. The sound of every man, every woman, and every child who has ever lived and will live. The sound of laughter, the sound of bliss. The sound of terror. The sound of agony. Life and death, love and hate. Every human constant. Every human language. All of time. All of space.

All of it, the complicated mess of history. Physics. Science. All simplified into a wall of noise.

Of course, the immediacy of it startled her. The way it began with no warning, no end in sight. Time playing in infinite loops around her, every scream embedding itself into her memory. But with it brought her a thrill, a magical sort of wonder as she experienced the world with nothing but her ears.

“Oh my god.”

The voice — echoing a thousand times over — suddenly shocked the girl out of her awe. Because… it was familiar. Because it was a sound she’s heard every single day of her life. A sound that chased her wherever she went.

“Please.” The girl heard herself say.

“I’m sorry.” A boy’s voice. The voice of her companion. The voice of her trusted friend.

She didn’t understand how the light could have blinded her more than the dark, how it could leave her so cold despite the sun brushing her cheek with its rays, wiping her tears away.

“Is everything alright?” He asked when she stuck her head out, and it was him, and it can’t be him. The boy she heard in the rock was not a boy with soft features, who looked at her with kind eyes, who offered her a hand.

“I—” She began, as her hand cautiously reached for his, but she choked on her words as her body lurched forward. As her mouth landed onto his, warm and cold. Pleasure and pain. Bliss and anxiety. Her hat fell, then was whisked away in the wind.

“What’s wrong?” His quiet voice was like a knife to her, and the reaction she gave said as much. “Please, if… if it’s—”

“I- I heard your voice,” The girl couldn’t keep her voice steady. “I heard your voice in there, and mine, and… I can’t. I’m sorry.”

His face didn’t fall like she thought it would. Like she’d hoped. Instead, the shadows seemed to cover him like a shield, and she stepped back.

“Kas?” She whispered.

“I knew you would hear it.” His voice cracked. “But I brought you here anyways. Isn’t that enough for you to trust me?”

He turned to lean on the railing, to listen to the creak of his weight on the bars. He turned to watch the clouds on the water, who’ve barely moved since their arrival. To the world outside the town. To a future he will never see.

The waves roared. And he lost himself in them. The waves roared and he forgot himself. The waves roared and he had a pistol in his hands.

His entire world went mute. He only saw white.

“Oh my god.” Her hand was on her mouth. She sounded like she was worlds away. It sounded like they were a thousand years apart.

“Please.” The terror was apparent in her voice.

“I’m not… I would never hurt you,” It wasn’t a promise. He was begging. Begging her. Begging his cruel world and its mistresses. “Please.”

“Kas, put it down.” She said, slowly approaching. And he listened, his knees bending slowly. He listened, through the pain in his heart. He listened. He listened.

But time and fate have bitter tempers. They do not like being tricked and toyed with.

A crash of water on the rocks like cymbals and a bang that echoed through history. A bang that echoed in the ears of every man that ever lived, a sound mistaken for anything except for what it actually was.

The girl, cold even before she fell, blood like a flower on her chest.

The boy, stumbling back from the shock and recoil. The boy, who landed too hard on the railing. The railing that gave out under him like it had given him his judgement. Like it gave out through the weight of his sins.

“I’m sorry.” The words fell out of his mouth, his final words as he left the girl and the open monument behind, escaping from one unfair world and into the next.

[qqueenofhades]

1/2 Hello! French anon again, thank you for the references, I'll check them out. I have to say that I am very French in my way of thinking, so I sometimes struggle with the idea of American integration and communities, often wondering what binds all the people together then. Not to say that the French one works better. There are a lot of problems and geographical segregation alone (and the many forms of everyday racism) are evidence of that. My ask this time was more lighthearted.

French anon 2/2 I have started watching Timeless (I'm at the 3rd episode, so...) after discovering it on your blog. It didn't truly click with me and it will probably stay as my ironing clothes TV show... I know it brings some degree of history awareness to the public but isn't it grossly simplified? I know the format doesn't really allow for deep exploration but still. Also, the whole "we can't change the past", well, by going there they already do, it's more like mitigating damage after that.

French anon 3/3 So I know you love it very much and I've read some of the reasons why but would you tell me if it gets better? I guess it also feel very American (not in a derogatory way!) and speaks less to me than history I've learned in school would... Anyway, I hope you're doing as well as can be, thank you for sharing your thoughts! :) 

Ahaha. Timeless. Ahaha. Haha. Hah.

Hah.

(Spoilers will follow below, just so you know.)

I have, shall we say, a complicated relationship with that show. Let me be the first off to say it is not Quality Cinema; there are a lot of plot holes, the usual time-travel caveats that you kind of have to shrug and go with, and yes it is, as you say, especially American in its outlook, especially early in season 1 when it looks like the conflict is “oh no we have to save this scary Eastern European baddie from Destroying America Tee Em!!!” Believe me, I also side-eyed it a lot  for exactly that reason, though it was fun enough that it kept me going. And then I fell DEEP in the trash bin for said not-actually-a-baddie at all, and... sigh.

There are still things about the show, especially in individual moments, that I thought are really well done, and I did love it (once) for a lot of reasons. You have to understand that American history is SO sanitized that for a lot of people, actually discovering the contributions of women and people of color and other unknown figures that Timeless, at its best, tried to highlight, really WAS revelatory. It inspired a ton of passion and public history examination and things that I, as a historian, obviously endorse. While still coming at everything from essentially a well-meaning white American liberal perspective (and yes, it was co-run by Eric Kripke of Supernatural infamy, hence all the fridged women in the character backstories), it did do a lot for making the average American cable-television viewer think about parts of history that they simply didn’t know about, and it inspired a devoted cult following for this and other reasons. But this fan following was a double-edged sword. It saved the show from cancellation at the end of season 1 and gave it a 10-episode season 2, which has some of my favorite episodes in the show for Reasons. But then once it was again cancelled after that, we got stuck with a two-part “Christmas Special” to wrap things up which, in the way of rushed finale so-called fanservice movies everywhere, was unspeakably ghastly on every single level, slaughtered the characters and the story, and left people (especially me) with such a bad taste in our mouths that Timeless canon (at least post-2x10) is dead to us and means we can’t revisit it without a certain amount of pain. Because yes. It was so bad. It’s generally known as the Abomination and it doesn’t actually exist.

I still love the characters, for the most part, a whole lot. Rufus, Jiya, Lucy, and Flynn are my absolute baes and I would die for every one of them. Wyatt, frankly, is the most boring, least compelling, least developed, and un-nuanced out of the lot of them, and in the way of White Fandom everywhere, he got woobified first by the fandom and then the writers, who ruined everything in the Abomination to “fix” the mistakes he had made in the course of season 2. I have rehabilitated and improved him in my fics, but I hate canon Wyatt with the burning passion of a thousand suns, not sorry, and the way everything else got dragged down by his deadweight. Basically, I enjoy the setting and the characters and the premise as inspiration for fics and fanworks more than, at this point, I enjoy anything about Timeless show canon itself. I’ve never felt the need to revisit or rewatch after the Abomination, sadly, because it was just that terrible. But I DID finish the story by writing a full-length Season 3 and 4, a major fan project that I’m very proud of, at @timeless-season-four​. I did it because I was just that full of spite at how the “official” ending handled things, I knew I could do it better for every single character and story, and I did. I think that I do handle a lot more of the complexities of history in my episodes than the show ever did, but then, I’m coming at it from a different perspective.

So... there’s that. You’re obviously under no obligation to continue if it’s not your super cup of tea (and as I said, the Christmas Thing will never be forgiven by me, but hey, it’s cool). I still love parts of it (characters, lines, episodes, my beloved OTP that they did so dirty) even if not the whole, so if you still need to have something in the background while ironing clothes, it could be worse. But yes, well, there’s my relationship with it in a nutshell, and I definitely agree with everything you’ve said, especially for someone approaching it from outside the U.S. It’s definitely made from that perspective, for better and sometimes decidedly for worse, and that’s just what it is.