#or at least need therapy

[scrunchie-face]

Doesn’t all this “traditional” motherhood hype ever get old? Doesn’t it ever start to ring hollow? Doesn’t the constant stream of “you are doing the MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER by being a mom” homilies and meditations start to reek of just another industry that thrives on your isolation, insecurity, and loss of identity?

[n3crofreak]

[kateksmallcuteowl]

Evil team bonding

Based on this tweet:

[jade-len]

i think it'd be funny if someone transmigrated as xin mo. the goddamn evil sword. instead of taking it seriously, they just really fucked around with bingge. and, somehow, ended up having the opposite effect of what it's supposedly rumored to do.

picture this: bingge, on the quest for revenge and power, comes across the almighty xin mo. this demonic sword killed everyone that dared to even try wielding it. and, the few who were lucky enough to have it by their side, eventually succumbed to the swords' will.

it is said that the sword is unlike any other, that it etches into your head and eats away your brain, until eventually it consumes you whole. it whispers, speaking in lust, greed, and hatred. it slowly beckons the wielder into giving in to the worst part of themselves and feeds off of pure sin. but to him, it is no matter; luo bingge will surely tame it.

and then he gets to the sword.

demonic qi practically oozes from xin mo. the aura surrounding it makes every part of luo bingge scream, "run; get away, away from that monster." his gut prods at him, begging bingge that this is probably a really bad idea. it's a little terrifying, how even luo bingge, the determined, vengeful demon, is now getting second thoughts about wielding xin mo from just being in its presence alone.

but luo bingge is too, a monster. so he ignores the screams of plea; pushing every thought of doubt in the back of his head, and tightly grips onto the handle. the world around him seems to spin and shake, tumble and crack, from the amount of force bingge needs to use in order to pull the sword of sin out of its place.

when bingge finally has it perfectly fit into the palms of his calloused hands, he hears whispering. he knows that the sword has accepted him as its new host.

the sword's language crawls up to him, as if it were feeling around his body and mind. checking every nook and cranny for it to settle into bingge's form, truly becoming one with the embodiment of sin. the words flow through his brain like a tragically broken guqin, a melody that holds him in a frighteningly familiar trance - all while simultaneously eating away at his brain in the worst ways possible, akin to a child and their favorite snack. it seems to beckon something, but even with luo bingge's impressive hearing, he cannot make out any words from the tone-deaf musical notes xin mo sings.

and then, it is clear. the land around him settles, and everything is still. xin mo itself seems to be.. content. at least, that is what luo bingge believes.

the language of this wretched sword reflects the state around these two monsters.

luo bingge expects it to demand for bloodshed, for the erotic ecstasy of multiple women, for bingge to steal the last of the finest gems of these horrible, vast lands.

instead, he hears this:

"yoooo damn that shit was crazy. did you see what i did there? man, you know, it feels so fucking good to get out of the dirt. hey, do you know if people can like, feed their swords or something? i'm kinda craving something spicy. we never know, in this wack world! wait, don't hold me like that, buddy. it'll make things real awkward."

but luo bingge is determined to get his revenge, so he puts up with the swords' constant rambling about.. whatever the hell it's thinking.

"wait, dude, did you seriously fuck a dying girl? that's wild. yeah, like i know she was dying but it doesn't sound like you wanted it. yo, listen to me, consent is very sexy."

"HAHA hey, dude, sir, man. you wanna play some 'i spy'? we don't have anything else to do. no? too bad, we're playing it. i spy a loser who doesn't wanna play i spy. hint: he's holding me right now."

"okay i know i'm supposed to be this super evil sword and beg to be used - woah that sounded real wrong - but can you at least clean me when you're done killing shit? if you don't, i'm gonna refuse to respond to you and you'll look like a dumbass trying to wield me."

"i can't hear you lalalalalalala you're not being very it girl right now lallalalaalalalla-"

somehow, this is worse than if xin mo was actually eating away at his brain.

weirdly enough though, as luo bingge starts spending more time with this weird ass, seemingly possessed sword, it starts to become more of a.. comfort to have it by his side than pure annoyance. he finds himself responding to it more, like, actually having full on conversations with it. it puts him at ease, wielding xin mo. the hatred doesn't consume him, instead, it seems to soothe the burning rage (and, admittedly, just replace it with small irritation) that holds onto his darkened heart.

xin mo is actually quite kind and caring, for a sword that's supposed represent and be the literal embodiment of sin. sure, it is a hassle to have it cooperate with him sometimes, and it does just ramble on and on about the most random things ever, not giving a single shit if bingge was in the middle of sleeping with maidens and slaying those who get in his way. for the first time, bingge feels so comfortable around something.

it's.. odd. what was supposed to be the turning point in his life, a big step in his plan for revenge, is now something akin to an... acquaintance. not like mobei-jun, or any of the women he's come across, but an actual, dare he say, friend.

sometimes, he finds himself thinking all of this delusional. is this what people were driven mad by? perhaps they simply could not handle dealing with a talking sword. he understands that xin mo was undoubtedly unbearable to be around at the beginning of their alliance, but it has never actually beckoned for blood, power, and sex. if anything, it does the opposite.

maybe he's the delusional one. maybe this is xin mo's way of getting to him.

maybe, xin mo should be considered a thing. the thought feels terribly laughable, as if he were witnessing a person horribly explain themselves. it also makes his teeth grind together in pure agitation.

"hey, you know, you didn't deserve any of the things they did. it wasn't your fault, binghe. the fact that you're half heavenly demon doesn't make you a monster, or any of that wild stuff.. uh, i'm here for you, okay? i know you don't really like talking about all of this or opening up, but i just want you to know that you can.. talk about it. it's not like i can tell anyone else, anyways.

hey- shit i didn't mean to make you cry! wait, wait it's okay to cry! you need to let it out anyways, i promise it doesn't make you weak. there, there. i don't have any hands, so me patting you on the head with my handle will have to do. there, there.. everything will be alright, you'll be okay. i'll be here every step of the way, even if you want to get rid of me."

xin mo, the demonic sword, is more of a person - a good person - than anyone he'd ever come across.

...and then bingge and the xin mo transmigrator become besties or he falls for the damn sword. knowing him, he probably doesn't even know the difference between platonic and romantic attraction anyways. maybe bingge gets a plant body for xin mo using airplane's wack writing. idk i typed all of this down in one sitting.

(plot twist: it's not that the transmigrator xin mo had the opposite effect, it was literally just a placebo effect. luo bingge thought that, and thus it actually did help him lmao)

[purple--queen]

Is every witch traumatized or does tthis come with being a witch like "you want to be a witch get at least one trauma for free"

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Thank you all for voting in the poll to decide who was going to be the leader of the band! It turned out to be such a close race!

[thunderglade]

loading my 22 caliber gun but instead of bullets it fires trigun art

[the-witchhunter]

You know those video games where the character has to complete puzzles and work through their trauma to escape/wake up/something? Obstacles getting in their way and being tied to their past as they delve more into their trauma and have to learn/heal from it before they can progress?

Danny has been around a loooong time. He's old, he's powerful, and has a space in the ghost zone that he controls much like a god. The ghosts have long since started leaving him alone, the ones he's friends with have their own affaires to deal with, and in his ever shifting labyrinthian layer he's too powerful, and even outside of it he can still kick their asses.

and he's without a purpose

His friends had long since passed on after leading long and wonderful lives with him, not even leaving a ghost behind. His Family as well. Jazz had never had children, and try as he and Sam might have, half dead as he was he couldn't have children. He had no one left and nothing to do, and all of eternity to do it in.

Thinking of Jazz is what made him do it the first time

She loved helping people with her psychology, and Danny decided to do it in his own way. It hadn't been pretty, and it hadn't been easy, but he had found his method. Some took to it better than others, and many had different theories about his lair and his motives, but he helped people move past their trauma. Some believed his lair was some kind of purgatory, and... they weren't totally off

So, when Danny moved on to the timeline of the DC multiverse, he had some experience under his belt

He just underestimated how much trauma superheroes can have

[tina-rocket]

You know a character is beyond messed up when 'gay and homophobic' doesn't even make the top 5 reasons they need therapy

[haunted-xander]

Do you think Saix' emotional co-dependence started as a Nobody or did it start as human Isa and just grew to an unhealthy degree?

[notbecauseofvictories]

man, I love when writers get weird with it. I just finished Big Swiss by Jen Beagin, which is mostly about unhinged people getting therapy to very little effect; now I'm reading House of Rot by Danger Slater, and the two characters being colonized by malevolent, otherworldly mold had mutual orgasms to the sound of Eine kleine Nachtmusik. In short, the English language is a triumph, and people should use it to write their fucked up stories forever.

[lastofthe20thcenturygirls]

lakan is written to be annoying he does not gives a single fuck how he's perceived unless you're luomen or maomao. he let jinshi think he forced himself on that courtesan. he told jinshi that he should think about how can a courtesan's price could be lowered and left. he never even finished the story. he was mad at jinshi for getting to maomao before he could so he went there to jinshi's office everyday to bother him and also to move the pawns (aka people) across the board to stop the assassination attempt at a certain high nobility. lakan dislikes jinshi yes but he's not a traitor ffs. when lakan and fengxian slept together it was consensual. fengxian did not tell him she was going to get pregnant and drive down her value. they hadn't slept together before that and fengxian was a courtesan who wasn't selling her body so the whole verdigris house took a hit when their number one courtesan got pregnant. it was fengxian's plan lakan didn't know. none of them confessed their feelings. he did not abandon fengxian after sleeping with her. luomen's case was why his father decided to send him away he actually thought he was gonna be back in three months. that dumbass just didn't realise why her contract deal fell off that she was pregnant that she loved him. same guy who would years later think that meimei was being nice to him only because of guilt and wouldn't realise she had feelings for him. just la clan being bad at these things it's almost like it's genetic

lakan is written like that. you're told he's a freak that maomao avoids because he wants to buy maomao. jinshi reached the conclusion regarding fengxian same as the most of us (unless somebody spoilt it for you) and maomao's hatred for him added to that conclusion. but it was all on purpose writing-wise and character-wise too. the actual story of his is told to us but not jinshi. he doesn't minds if jinshi keeps on thinking of him as a piece of shit yk. what i am saying is that lakan is meant to be read or watched that by going through a range of emotions. hating him is fine still. most characters in the story aren't his fans either. they just avoid him he's that kinda guy but the "he ruined maomao's mother's life" isn't a great take sorry. fengxian's life took a tragic turn but it's more because of circumstances than just one individual. and not like she didn't cut maomao's finger off in her frenzy. there are good enough reasons for why maomao feels how she does towards them both

[gunsatthaphan]

"okay. I will be your boyfriend."

[sleepyorchidmonster]

After we get the Sad Furina backstory with mandatory cutscene, I hope she mentions how Traveler and Paimon are the first ones to know about this, and how she has been carrying all of that burden alone for the last 500 years or so.

Paimon: Not even Neuvillette knows!!??

Furina was about to answer no, only to be cut off by the sound of a booming thunder. Lightning strikes, illuminating a previoulsy obscured part of the office, where we can now see the imposing figure of the Chief Justice.

He came to the office to deliver a few papers and overheard the entirety of the conversation. He is currently bawling his eyes out, mentally listing everything the melusines like to do when thy're sad to see if he can help Furina.

Meanwhile, Fontaine is just dealing with a torrential downpour of cataclysmic proportions.

[stellocchia]

I think Killer should sometimes just drop incredibly concerning pieces of information in casual conversation. And not as a manipulation tactic or as a way to lower an enemy's guard or whatever, just because he genuinely doesn't realize that what he says is concerning to people who haven't spent years getting conditioned and abused.

The first time Color says "You look like you could use a hug right now" Killer's answer is "What's a hug and how do I use it?".

After he and Delta grow closer, Killer starts offering for Delta to hurt him every time he sees that Delta is frustrated about something because "That's how people calm down". He also sometimes offers to hurt people when they're having a mental breakdown because "that's a great distraction".

When he saw Color eyeing his soul curiously for the first time he just shut his eyes and started trembling, and when Color asked if he was okay he just answered he'd be as soon as it was over. (Color did not touch his soul, for the record. He just turned that into a lesson on establishing boundaries).

Killer's incredibly nonchalant about others wanting to hurt them or them hurting themselves out of curiosity or a need for a distraction from stronger emotions. Stage 2 especially. And that in and of itself is worrying, but at some point they confess that they don't even know if they actually like it or if they simply have no other choice.

When Epic talks about his horrible nightmares, Killer tries proposing just not sleeping at first. Then everyone starts hounding him on when's the last time he slept and he just shuts down and dismissively says it's not that long since he last collapsed from exhaustion and to get off his case. Unsurprisingly, this worries them more.

He also makes casual remarks about how he doesn't eat, though Color gets on his case for that one quick

[thetoastedalmonds]

Im never gonna be normal about Simon Blackquill

😭