#rent lowering

[pishifuzul]

i hope cis men always continue interacting with my posts so that I am never at risk of cognitively relegating them to a superclass of wrongdoing that the rest of u are somehow supposed to be ontologically exempt from

[miraclemaya]

oh man thank god i remade having 2k followers would have fucking sucked during basically any of the recent waves of transmisogynisy

[rowanisawriter]

[artsyongallifrey]

Gotta occasionally post about antisemitism like rent-lowering gunshots so here's a periodic reminder that:

1. No one is saying you shouldn't advocate for Palestine. I'm also upset about the treatment of Palestinians and I really hate war. But harassing random Jews is not going to help.

2. If you could accept the fact that random civilizations do not represent their nation's government for every other country except Israel, you're being antisemitic.

3. Even if every single Israeli was completely, 100% on board with Netanyahu's bullshit (which they're not), that does not justify antisemitism. That does not justify October 7th. That does not justify pogroms. That does not justify the intentional destruction of synagogues. That does not justify the mistreatment of Jews anywhere.

4. Too many leftists are preoccupied with finding someone acceptable to hate instead of standing up for marginalized communities. Work on this, please.

I'm tired. I want peace. And I want antisemites to not fucking follow me.

[aromanthur-lester]

I understand why every companion decides to travel with the Doctor on a whim because I, too, if faced with the option to pay rent in London or the option to live in a police box rent-free, would choose the second one.

[dapper-lil-arts]

Fanart of @punkitt-is-here's fursona! Thank you for putting big fluffy stuff on main 🙏

Also Idk what's wrong with me but when I saw this cute art Punkitt made the barbarian painting was the FIRST thing I thought of. lmao

[awnrii]

mercenary boyfriend who still believes in the concept of 'true warriors': some of them are former partners

me [got so hard i got nauseous]: i think i hauve covid

[fyodior]

this blog is anti-censorship and pro-kink and yes that means the kinks you find deplorable and condemnable bc thoughts aren’t crimes

[pishifuzul]

cutting scars are hot as fuck jsyk. especially on tgirls. in case u didn't know.

[foxpost-generator]

In case it wasn't obvious, I'm a queer tranny faggot dyke.

[cloakandbatter]

dear brother bassist

[cantgetworsethanthistbh]

half baked doodles of just a teen boy and his possesive, clingy, old man who acts like the world is gonna end all the time

[stealingpotatoes]

i sincerely love when you open your askbox and flood my dash with art. it’s like a ray of sunshine in my life

aww thank you so much!!! :D :D

[hattiestgal]

I may be burnt out right now, but that'll never stop me from being sooooo Normal

[lu-is-not-ok]

A Narcissistic reading of Hong Lu

Yup, I'm actually doing this.

To lay down some facts first: I have NPD, alongside a bunch of other things that coalesce into a nuclear concoction strong enough to kill every dark empath in a five mile radius. If I find you ableisting it up, I give myself the permission to smite you. This is a threat and a warning.

Now, let's talk about Hong Lu. Because as it turns out, he might just be the most difficult literacy check in Limbus Company according to what I've seen.

I could just say "I'm a narcissist and Hong Lu is just like me fr fr so he's a narcissist too" and end the post, but honestly, where's the fun in that? There are, legitimately, things I want to yap about, so I'm going to yap about them, and no chucklefucks can stop me.

So, to start this off, let's make one thing clear.

Hong Lu is not only a good actor, but also a skilled liar. The way he navigates conversations and the methods he uses are just as important to analyze as the actual words he says, if not more so. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that trying to understand him based Only on what he says and not how he uses the things he says would result in an understanding that's not only incomplete, but potentially outright wrong.

Now, this isn't really tied to why I think Hong Lu could be very reasonably read as having NPD, at least not directly. Narcissists aren't inherently evil liar manipulators, and if that's what you take away from this post, that's more of a you problem (and you can go ahead and block me considering I'm one of the evil liar manipulator narcissists according to you).

However, there is a reason why I have to bring it up. And it's because almost all of Hong Lu's narcissistic traits become a lot more obvious once you look at the exact ways he takes control of conversations.

With that out of the way, what exactly are we even looking for?

NPD, in my experience, primarily affects one's sense of self-worth and self-esteem. I personally found that the analogy of a pendulum makes the most sense to me - a narcissist's sense of self-worth can swing between massive highs and massive lows, almost never staying in a middle "balanced" position, with even the tiniest things being able to throw it to one side or another.

The ways this can present outwardly are. Quite frankly, way too fucking many to count. But there are some common threads we can keep in mind:

High sensitivity to criticism

Need for an external source of validation

Tendency to seek out ways to make oneself feel more special, important, or powerful

So, does Hong Lu fit those criteria?

Well. Yeah. This post wouldn't exist if he didn't.

Let's talk about the first point, high sensitivity to criticism. And, immediately, I would like everyone to remember Hell's Chicken, specifically the scene where Meursault begins to verbally roast his team's dish, and in the process laying down a verbal smackdown on everyone involved. That scene ended like this.

Curious, isn't it? The moment Meursault was about to start criticising Hong Lu, he just jumps in and distracts Meursault with a change of topic - something even Dante's narration points out.

Mind you, this isn't an isolated event. This is just the most obvious example of Hong Lu exhibiting this kind of behavior.

Don't believe me? Just look at these.

These are all examples of Hong Lu either backpedaling, changing the subject, or otherwise trying to avoid the acknowledgement of something that criticizes his status, thought process, or (in the last example) which would reveal an emotional vulnerability.

This is a fairly consistent pattern for him, and that's not even getting into the fact that the line he says when hovering over him before a skill check he has a Very Low chance at succeeding in has him suddenly try to excuse himself and leave.

Hong Lu is absolutely highly sensitive to criticism, it's just that his primary emotional reactions aren't ones we're privy to. Instead, what we get to see is how he acts to try and minimize the impact of those criticisms, if not outright find ways to never let them leave someone's mouth in the first place.

Next up - need for external validation.

This one doesn't have as many examples as the previous point, as Hong Lu is a generally closed off person who keeps a certain level of distance from most other Sinners. However, that doesn't mean I don't have any.

One such example comes from Canto 4, where soon after acting out his part in the play, Hong Lu seeks validation from Yi Sang.

Then there's this moment in Canto 6, where Hong Lu, once again, seeks validation for something he's done.

And then there's also these lines from Hong Lu's various Identities.

Aaaand then there's these base Identity voice lines, which, if you ask me, feel a bit like fishing for compliments.

This point is a lot harder to say is a definitive one, mainly due to Hong Lu's more closed off projected personality. That being said, the fact that one can find examples of it despite that is pretty notable.

And for the final one - trying to make oneself feel more special, important, or powerful.

This is one that's a bit harder to provide exact examples for, as again, Hong Lu isn't someone who talks about how he feels often, and when he does it's not always exactly trustworthy. He's not like Rodya, who while still putting on a facade, is pretty open and easy to read about how she actually feels.

But, there's still some non-mutually exclusive interpretations I want to posit here. Two, in fact.

One - I believe that for Hong Lu, the thing he sees as power is control.

See, avoiding criticism isn't the only time Hong Lu steers conversations. In fact, it's something he does All The Time. He's often the one asking questions to get the group moving, trying to gather information that might be relevant to him, and generally taking over the direction a conversation is going in. Chances are, if Hong Lu speaks up, it's likely to alter the conversation he joins in noticeable ways.

This, I think, is one of the ways Hong Lu makes himself feel more powerful. After all, it's not that hard to guess from what little bits of his background we have that Hong Lu lacked agency for most of his life. So, wouldn't it make sense for him that having that agency, that being able to be socially in control, would be the exact kind of thing that would boost his self-esteem?

In fact, the only times we see him rendered completely speechless, seemingly stripped of that confidence in conversations he usually exhibits, are in Canto 7 - specifically in scenes where he's Not In Control of what the others are talking about. Those scenes being when the other Sinners start shit-talking Xichun in front of him, and when Xichun actively tries to bother Hong Lu by alluding to the way he's been treated back at home.

Extremely confident until something external happens that utterly strips him of that confidence... sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Then, there's the second interpretation.

See, with NPD, there are two ways a narcissist can try to make themself feel more deserving of attention. One is the one most probably think of when they think about narcissists - setting out to fulfill extremely high goals to feel amazing when one reached them and then feeling utterly crushed in the case one doesn't. This would be someone like Rodya.

However, there is also another way, one which I personally have much more experience with - to undersell. To set extremely low expectations, so that it's as hard as possible to fail reaching them, and to feel way better upon surpassing them than one would with higher, more "regular" expectations.

This, to me, is exactly the kind of narcissist Hong Lu is. Think about it. He's constantly putting out this image of an extremely sheltered person that barely understands the outside world, with notable moments where it's made clear he's Just Making Shit Up at points. Wouldn't making one seem unable to do anything, only to then proceed to do things you've led people to not expect of you, make it feel like you're much more exceptional than you really are?

The underselling goes the other way too. When the other Sinners point out something odd about Hong Lu in a more positive way, he's often quick to point out how it's Nothing compared to what his Family expected of him. Wouldn't that make one feel exceptional, to make it seem like whatever effort you're putting in to do well is but a fraction of what else you can do? That you don't even have to try to be able to be special?

...So, there. That's all the analysis and interpretation I find important to do to get my point across.

Just to make it clear, I don't think that the only thing wrong with Hong Lu is the narcissism. There's definitely a lot more shit going on in that head of his. But, I'll be honest, the NPD reading felt so obvious to me that it genuinely took me by surprise that other people don't see it.

Though... maybe I shouldn't be shocked. Some fuckers out there still think Faust is a narcissist when she's literally just autistic.

[eve2atom]

can't stop thinking about those "rent is cheap in gotham 'cause your home could get blown up at any moment" tiktoks. no capes au cassandra cain definitely takes that as a challenge i just know it.

she moves in next to a woman her age, who after running into awkwardly in the apartment hall enough, cass learns is a nursing student named stephanie. idk plot plot cass saves steph from a home invasion and they become roommates bc steph's unit got hit with joker gas. mildly crack fic where the two of them accidently become the defenders of the gotham suburbs strata housing. tim drake is their landlord. talia and bruce live down the street, and are only relevant bc steph and damian go to the same zumba classes every week