#on dbd

[vermillioncrown]

hey so dbd really just resonated w/ me I used to live outside my native country when i was a kid and moved back when i was seven. the culture shock i got when i moved back, the general isolation, the rumors about the foriegn girl (kids just walked upto me and said 'do you speak hindi?' yes i've been living in this country for five years and hindi is a subject you need to know to pass the fucking exams, you think i don't?) the alienation in my own home and coping with the internet, dbd just sorta

continuation of last ask, i also just masked a lot and i see that is zyx too and just. this fic means a lot to me and i think about it weekly. thank you so much for writing it. like it always gets me how deeply human the characters are and how much i relate to zhu yunxun and the navigation of life in your country but it's alien to you almost and the feeling that your cheating almost because you had the luxury of knowing stuff (eng) beforehand and people who didn't are infinitly cooler.

hey! sorry for the late reply, i legit have just been barely 🤏 making it through all week. thank you for such a heartfelt ask! 🥰

your experience is different than what i've experienced as chinese diaspora (i was born outside of mainland china and only occasionally visit), but it still fits. dbd is exactly about that not-quite-fitting-in experience. isekai as an analog to the diaspora and cultural...mismatch? misalignment? something.

you know more bc you've been outside, but that comes at a cost of not fitting in. and "fitting in" isn't like one is trying to conform---it comes with social advantages in the (ahem) society that you live in! so obvious but there are so many stories about how one needs to break the mold to the extreme and that's obviously one type of story that has to be told.

dbd says that there is no cheat code for "doing it right." but at the end of the day, you need to do it because you live there, and you have to try your best.

hope you're doing well and getting through it. i wrote dbd kinda as my own thing, not trying to force it bc at the heyday of mdzs fandom there were some Very Loud Voices around and those voices were needed to fight against western biases and nonsense in fandom, but idk. it was super disorienting to feel both connected and alienated to my culture in one go. i didn't feel chinese enough. but at the same time, i didn't connect with a lot of my fellow abcs online, the ones that felt like they only wore being chinese for brownie points and were more likely to make fun of their culture than actually engage it. weird place, always in the middle, always feeling alone, but surely, i couldn't be? that would be the height of arrogance, almost like solipsism, to believe that.

writing si fic is the same way. it's a very niche way to engage with fandom, if you break down fandom works by percentage. and meta, too; an si writer makes hard asks of a reader to not only buy their version of canon, but buy into a whole bunch of original content. buy into them as a person without using fandom to hide behind. si writers all read other fics; mainstream fandom rarely seek si writing.

so like, you have the cultural aspect of feeling alienated, you have the subgenre (?) alienation, you have the premise of isekai also being one of alienation

which equals dbd as a tres leches cake about alienation lol

[chloesimaginationthings]

Springtrap making friends in Dead by Daylight,,

[vivi-llain]

butcher

[lemonmoonmochi]

Me and who?!

[hansoeii]

Ohh look, it's the dead boy detectives!

[robinartblog]

[kwadlayns]

Good detectives do what they need to in order to solve a case. 💀🔎✨

[scarlibis]

The number of scarily accurate textpost memes you can make with these mfs is insane

[blakbonnet]

my gay ass just assumed crystal was experiencing beautiful lesbian love

[chloesimaginationthings]

FNAF Springtrap's first night in Dead by daylight..

[tokenducks]

Please for the love of god let Edwin say twink

[morebird]

The Shape

[hansoeii]

this one's for you, edwin paine

[sherlock-is-ace]

[shhhhimwatchingthis]

Sort of bums me out that so many people didn't seem to Get the Cat King so here are my thoughts:

So let's start with Edwin's crime. He uses something the cat desires (a sardine) to lure the cat to him and then uses an enchanted string to trap the cat with magic. He demands the answer to a question in exchange for its release. Edwin knows it is dangerous to use magic on a cat, that it violates Rules but he does it anyway.

Binding a creature and agreeing to set them free under a certain condition is very Classic Fairytale. its also a favourite trope of Neil Gaiman's (he did not write this show but his influence is there). In both the Sandman and his novel Stardust (and the film adaptation) trapping a creature with magic and demanding a task/favour in exchange for their freedom is an extremely important plot point. Edwin binding a cat and demanding an answer in exchange is exactly in line with this Fairytale trope

And so is the Cat Kings response. The Cat King is a trickster. What he does to Edwin is exactly what Edwin did to one of his subjects. He entices Edwin, he binds him with magic and when Edwin demands to be free he turns his own words against him "why all the fuss for one little spell?" Edwin did something wrong. He imposed his will/magic on another creature and the Cat King is punishing him for it in a way that is poetic. Its fairytale. its trickster. its classic.

I've also seen people complain that the task Edwin was given 'count all the cats' is 'impossible'...except its fucking not. Edwin does it. He does it so well he actually BEATS the Cat King ("you didn't count yourself" Are.You.Kidding.Me. Classic!Fairytale!Vibes!)

The Cat Kings choice to bind Edwin to Port Townsend is good on so many levels. From a storytelling perspective it forces characters who can travel anywhere in the world to stay in one place, and increases the stakes for these characters who are supposed to be on the run. From a genre perspective...its an excellent use of fairytale tropes using both Rules of magic, a protagonist who is unkind to a seemingly weak creature who is punished by a more powerful law, a binding, a task to complete, etc

Which just leaves the character perspective which it ALSO does really fucking well and introduces the final aspect to the Cat Kings character. He's seductive. He is responsible for Edwin, 100 years old ghost boy, finally unpacking his internalized homophpbia. he is the catalyst (cat pun not intended)

He pushes Edwin, challenges him, at times literally forces the truth out of Edwin, but he really never does violate his consent. Significantly Edwin is attracted to him, like its an important part of his character that he is. He may not like the Cat King but he is attracted to him!

The Cat King is such a great example of a trickster, a morally grey character who imposes a sense of justice on Edwin after he crosses a line, but also has his own selfish interests and meddles. Hes so important to the plot of the show, to Edwin's character arc, to the genre.

And he's just fun. Unapologetically queer, powerful, complicated. Silly little outfits. Petty cat behavior. Deep heart.

Some of you just didn't get it. And I'm sorry for you. because the Cat King is Excellent actually.