#sad old lady

[bumblingbabooshka]

Thinking about marriage/women's rights on Vulcan Some may think that T'Pring not being allowed to divorce Spock was because he was going through the pon farr but if she were allowed to divorce him at all she probably would have done that a long time ago, confirmed by T'Pol when she's speaking with Koss, who isn't suffering from the pon farr. She says that he can choose another mate (without invoking a fight it seems: note the difference between a 'mate' and a 'challenger') and after he makes it clear that nothing she says will change his mind about marrying her, she finally threatens to declare a kal-if-fee. It's clear that Vulcan women cannot divorce/refuse to marry a man they've been betrothed to under any circumstances if A) He himself doesn't consent to ending their marriage or B) She doesn't have someone else waiting in the wings to be given to in his stead. Though, if the challenger she selects fails to win the fight, she'll have to marry her betrothed anyway unless (again) he decides he doesn't want her after the challenge. That seems like an incredibly unfair system, heavily biased towards men. SNW is an alternate universe in many obvious respects but most egregiously in that T'Pring has a lot of non-canonical agency over her relationship with Spock. It's interesting to me that Vulcan society has women in many positions of power and treats women as equal to men from what I've seen despite these laws. We don't really see Vulcans exhibiting a misogynistic attitude towards women in general but in TOS (perhaps because of its general writing style but it's still interesting to note) both Sarek and Spock take on patriarchal attitudes specifically regarding wives. Amanda says that 'of course' Sarek commands her because "he is a Vulcan and I am his wife." It's worthwhile in my eyes to note that she specifies 'wife' instead of attributing this attitude to women as a whole. Again, with TOS' writing style it wouldn't be out of place for her to say "he is a man and I am a woman." Spock, while in a pon farr induced irritation, states that it's "undignified for a woman to play servant to a man that isn't hers" - again implying that there's something specific about being a Wife in Vulcan society which is different from being a woman in general and demands subservience to a husband. This could perhaps stem from the extreme sense of ownership that Vulcan law has permitted men to have over women. A woman legally cannot point blank refuse marriage. There is no option which guarantees she won't have to marry her betrothed other than death. When T'Pau speaks of T'Pring she refers to her as being 'property' and Stonn, before being interrupted, states he's made 'the ancient claim' - we don't know what this is because he gets cut off but it's obvious they're both using the language of Vulcan law. Men are permitted true freedom to choose. If a woman wants to choose someone else to be with there is no option available to her other than the kal-if-fee which might result in the death of the one she wants to be with. And, if her lover fails, her husband can still just decide he wants to marry her and she'll be forced to. T'Pring gives two scenarios: One where Spock 'frees' her and one where he doesn't - it's still ultimately his decision which is clear when he ends the conversation with "Stonn, she is yours." This again isn't just because of the pon farr as T'Pol also goes through this. Koss can choose another mate and when the option is talked about there's no implication that this would result in any sort of fight (both by the casualness of its mention and by the fact that there's no formal word for it unlike the kal-if-fee.) Also, the fact that Koss does eventually grant T'Pol a divorce and it's all fine means that T'Pol isn't lawfully required to have another man waiting if her HUSBAND doesn't want her. It's ONLY required if SHE doesn't want her husband. Tradition must take precedence over individual desire UNLESS!!! You're a man. Then it's fine. Like, your parents might not be happy but legally you're golden.

[notbecauseofvictories]

So I got together with my longtime best friend this past weekend. (When I say 'long', I mean it---she was my college roommate, I still have the emails we exchanged back in 2010.) Anyway, it might sound corny, but the fact that we've reached the age where we get crow's feet when we smile at each other makes me feel all sorts of ways.

[silverspotted]

“ your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing ”

[etirabys]

pretty wild highs & lows since childbirth. renovations still ongoing at a distance with move date uncertain; live-in postpartum care worker my parents dubcon-gifted us who's hard to communicate with (language barrier) and is doing unsafe-seeming food practices; family stuff both sides; health issues from a complicated labor. there's also the actual baby, but right now she's noticeably less difficult than the interpersonal stuff. I'm sobbing multiple times daily from stress

"would I rather be bored" – ah well... er... no. (sheepishly) I like stress

I always regretted not doing the silicon valley startup grind in my twenties when I had energy, and this feels kind of similar. except all the problems are stupid and don't make me money

nonetheless, they are problems, which I seem to adore having

[magicratfingers]

[starfiresky]

Lady and the Tramp but it’s Rokushi

SpAGhEtTi ScENe

[septemberlikestea]

[potatobugz]

i was hacked by a very unhappy man!

[yeehawitsjakee]

I've finally read every single fic under the Jaheira/NF tag on AO3

I have nothing to read now send help 😭

[fictionadventurer]

A Biltmore Christmas may be the first Hallmark movie to drive me to fanfic.

[cheeriochat]

Hmmmm DMC headcannons 3!!!!

This one's a bit wordy

☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆•☆

• Dante and Vergil are the type of twins that when they are close by, are touching in any way possible. Sitting together? Dante is leaning on Vergil. Standing together? Vergil has his arm resting on Dantes shoulder. Walking together? They keep bashing into eachothers side. They can spend time apart (obviously) but when they are close there is always some form of contact.

• Nero felt phantom pains where his hand used to be, but when his arm grew back they kind of just became ordinary pains. He wasn't sure if it was a side affect of growing a whole ass arm back or something but he was happy when they went away.

• I kind of think Kyrie would have depression. I mean she went through a lot and lost her parents and brother but she lived, so I feel like she would have survivors guilt but due to constantly being busy she wouldn't really have the time to process it. It's a sad headcannon but I feel like it just seems right :(((

• On a bit of a lighter note, I feel like Kyrie would have a good support system though. I mean she has Nero obviously, but also I think she would have Lady, Trish and Dante there for her and eventually Vergil too.

• Talking about Trish, Lady and Dante. I feel like Lady and Trish would go shopping Bayonetta 2 style, and have Dante carry all their stuff around. (He gets compensated for his work when they stop at a Cafe and he gets a parfait, although he doesnt mind helping his friends)

• Nero has a huge sweet tooth, but because of the kids, he can't keep anything to satisfy his need for sugar around long enough. Vergil likes to buy him sweet stuff though as a form of peace offering. He's found Nero likes Lemon Sherbets, Sour patch kids, and controversially, Liquorice.

• Vergil likes Hotpot and Shabu Shabu. I don't know, I just feel this in my soul.

• Dante is jealous that Vergil gets a tail and he doesn't. Vergil is jealous Dante's horns are fancier than his. They are both content with the wings that they have. (Also vergil has long skinny fangs with sharp teeth and Dante has wider, stubbier (but still as equally sharp) fangs with more "human" teeth)

[purplemninja]

Did Six become a Nowhere Resident too in the end?

This is a combined revision of my post on the Tragic Story of Six and a depressing revelation on her ending.

Well, with the new LN lore that was given to us through The Sounds of Nightmares, I wanted to make a revision of these two things, as well as showing another similar interpretation of Six's ending using some lore from TSON on how the LN world works, as well as something that I believe I've missed previously.

Plus, while I vehemently don't believe the 'Six is the Lady/next Lady' theory, I believe that this theory on Six becoming a 'resident' works whether she is the Lady/next Lady or not.

I'm really, really putting my heart and soul into this theory.

~

Something that's been on my mind for quite a while is the possibility that by the end of LN1, Six too succumbed to the Nowhere's corruption and became another of the thousands of Residents of the Nowhere.

First, let's recap on how the Residents of the Nowhere function:

So the Residents are essentially like thralls or zombies to their 'base instinct' that also serves as their identity, following it with no goal, motivation, concerns for morality or question.

I made a post previously about the observations of the Residents showing little to no regard for their own survival when following their base instinct, as well as no goal or purpose in what they do for their base instincts. I'll link it instead to not make this post too long: https://www.tumblr.com/purplemninja/763255998237589504/my-understanding-of-the-nowheres-residents?source=share

And I previously theorised here that the Thin Man isn't searching for anything in particular, but rather that searching is his Residential base instinct/ID

With that said, we can all agree that Mono became a Resident at the end of LN2, the Thin Man, but what if Six did too by the end of LN1?

So it seems that the Nowhere's influence corrupts those in it and amplifies their worst flaws, turning them into Residents, but there is a protection against it:

Unfortunately it's unclear what a person's 'inner child' is in LN, and when I asked people what they believed it is, the responses were unfortunately mixed, so I'll have to speculate that it's the state that a person is in denial about how truly horrible the world of the Nowhere is, and this denial allows them to resist its corruption and still have their free will to not follow an unending pointless pattern for the rest of their existence. And we see this happen to Mono:

At the beginning, Mono wears a bag on his head to deny to himself that the Nowhere hates him and wants him to fail, allowing him to retain his inner child. His bio states that he is single-minded and rarely gives up completing a task that he sets himself on, basically stubbornness, which is what the Nowhere uses and amplifies as his 'worst flaw'.

After Six gets taken by the Thin Man and he's wounded and confronted by the Thin Man, Mono mostly (but not entirely yet) stops denying that the world hates him and wants him to fail, shedding his bag, his innocence and most of his inner child with it, allowing him to gain the confidence to use his powers on the Thin Man and win. Perhaps him getting closer to fully becoming a resident is what gives him this sudden increase in power.

The reason why his inner child isn't gone fully yet is because of Six, as far as he knows, Six doesn't hate him or want to see him fail, and that is the last bit of resistance he has. That is until Six drops him (here I give my best explanation on why she did it).

With the act of Six dropping him, Mono is left to believe that actually yes, even Six hates him and wants him to fail as well, which was his breaking point (though it's unclear if Six really truly did hate him and want him to fail, I'm just saying that Mono likely thinks so after Six drops him). And with this realisation, Mono's inner child, therefore resistance to the Nowhere's corruption, is finally gone, allowing him to become the Thin Man and another Resident of the Nowhere, searching endlessly and pointlessly as his base instinct.

The world's hatred for him was the build-up, and Six seeming to be no different was the finishing blow.

^ Who knows? And his single-mindedness making him continue doing the same thing over, and over, and over without trying another way or without giving up.

Now finally onto the part where I discuss that Six met a similar fate at the end of LN1.

So a Resident is someone who does a particular action over and over and over again with no goal, motive, concern for morality and sometimes no concern for their own survival either, like zombies. And their worst flaw becomes a feature of how they behave, such as Mono's stubbornness leading to him not trying to do something different when he (as Thin Man) goes back to the past. But a person's 'inner child' is the only thing that's stopping them from becoming that way.

So what would be the base instinct that Six would follow with no goal, motive, morality or questions? Survival itself.

Think about it, the Nowhere is a horrible place to live in, death awaits around every corner, kindness never goes unpunished and morals are non-existent. So why on earth would Six try so hard to stay alive in a place like this? Because she no longer has a choice.

Throughout the series, we see Six behave like a child at times, like kicking a ball in the school yard, drawing on the ground with her finger when idle (in LN2), playing with a music box, and hugging Nomes. Six's 'worst flaw' would no doubt be her selfish tendencies. Her inner child is still intact, but like Mono, her breaking was also a gradual process, though longer and smoother than his.

The Six that comes out of the tower is not the same Six that went in, she used to love playing music boxes, interacting with toys around her, and other kinds of childish behaviour. But in LN1, Six no longer cares about music boxes or toys, and none of her idle animations are something childish, all of those aspects of her inner child are gone. And she doesn't really do anything nice for others anymore. In VLN, she tried to save RCG despite being left behind by her a couple of minutes beforehand, in LN2, she sticks her own neck out for Mono several times (as does he for her), but in LN1, Six doesn't do anything nice for other people anymore, such as using a kid's cage to reach a lever with no regard to any of the kids in the cages (not that she can help them anyway).

However, her inner child is still clinging on, as she hugs Nomes like a child would.

But as we know, this doesn't last long. Her strange hunger forces her to choose between eating a sausage that she knows is made of human flesh, the Nome that is just a critter as far as she knows, or neither and starve to death.

A lose-lose-lose situation that damages her inner child even further, but it's still hanging on by a thread, as she believes that she at least was able to avoid cannibalism (though those who finished the DLC know otherwise, but Six doesn't). But as we already know, this also doesn't last long, as she's soon after forced to choose between knowingly committing cannibalism by eating the Lady or not and starving to death (or give the Lady a chance to regain her strength and kill her, but with Six now at a disadvantage with being incapacitated by her hunger bouts, and the only mirror she could use now broken).

And with this act, Six realises that there's no point to trying to deny that she can remain innocent, as time and time again, the world will find a way to make her do things she doesn't want to, finally breaking her inner child and making her susceptible to the Nowhere's corruption as well. Turning her into a thrall or zombie to the instinct to survive. Surviving no matter what immoral things she may have to commit in the process, surviving despite how awful the world is, surviving with no end goal. Completing her transition into a Resident.

And she also has the powers of the Lady to help her do it, allowing her to kill a hallway full of Guests by simply walking by without lifting a finger, perhaps the world's gift to help her follow her new base instinct to survive, which is now also her identity.

Previously I theorised that Six was stranded out at sea at the end, making all the sacrifices that were made, her struggles and suffering, and the abuse she had to endure from the world all be for nothing in the end. Which Skrappo made a more in-depth post on here.

And this may still be the case for Six's ending, but now I propose, what if it doesn't matter either way? Even if she's not restricted to the Maw, she's still trapped in some way, as David Mervik hinted here:

What if rather Six is trapped in the Nowhere entirely instead of strictly the Maw? Or what if her prison is not a physical one, but a psychological one - being a Resident. With this, I believe I really understand now what he meant when he said this.

Maybe her killing the Guests in that hallway is a victory in her eyes because it allows her to continue following her instinct and identity - survival. And we thought that Six won in the end too at first, but with this revelation, she actually didn't, but she's now too mentally warped to be able to see that.

And while I don't believe that Six is the Lady or the next Lady, this can still work for those interpretations too. After all, arguing in favour of the theory that Six becomes either the Lady or the next Lady, she didn't want to knowingly eat human flesh, which is why she ate the Nome instead of sausage, but she soon had no choice when eating the Lady, knowingly committing cannibalism. And being a resident makes her no longer have any regard for morality and amplified her selfish tendencies so that she thinks only about herself. So now that morals don't mean anything to her anymore, would she still be against a ship that kills, cooks and serves human flesh? And since survival is the base instinct she follows as a resident no matter what, wouldn't being the leader of said ship help her tremendously in her desire to survive? Again, unless the games or devs confirm it with 100% certainty, I don't believe that Six is the Lady or the next Lady, but this is how the 'Resident Six' theory can work with those theories.

And so with that, Mono and Six's endings truly aren't that different, both of them were tormented and abused by the world, making them slowly break and accept how horrible it really is and become just another couple of Residents to contribute to it - Mono (now Thin Man) obviously defeated and now endlessly searching for nothing in particular, fuelled by his amplified stubbornness to complete his task - and Six believing herself victorious in the end and now surviving with no goal or motive, fed by her amplified selfish tendencies that no longer allow her to think of others at all. Both following a base instinct which also serves as their identities, with no goal, motives, concern for morality or questions, with their worst flaws contributing to it. And both of them now trapped in one way or another.

Both have differences between them, but are also ultimately the same. Their stories are not of betrayal, but tragedy. I myself did say that Six became just another part of the Nowhere like many many other children did, as an empty, broken husk that can only think of survival and nothing else (though I didn't say that part then) in my post on her tragic story, but I didn't truly understand the severity of it until I came up with this theory.

Will we see any reference to them in LN3? We'll have to wait and see, but ultimately, both of their tragic stories come to a tragic close.

The end.

And here's the music I find the most fitting for this (arguably more depressing) revelation of Six's ending:

[qyrhan]

Y’know I have that little chibi version of Rhys’ ref with her circuits laid out and yet I STILL forget how to draw them

[do not repost my art to other sites]

[oathkeeper-of-tarth]

Pictures taken seconds before disaster.

You might have received alerts about this mod updating a bunch over the past few days, after me saying I was done with it, in true aylin_origin_final_final(2)final.pak spirit. Well, now I am done with it, unless someone finds some glaring issues.

You might also notice the little icon pop up that says the mod uses Osiris scripting - that's because I now run a little start-of-game script to handle Aylin's tags and some general setup, so she gets tagged as an aasimar in dialogues no matter what race you pick to play as stat-wise, and also to remove the "Baldurian" tag from her, because it just didn't make sense for her to have it. She also, like all origins, now has her own unique "Aylin"/"Really Aylin" tag. This doesn't do much. For now.

Note, since I've seen some confusion about this: there is no new dialogue or reactivity added to the game with this mod. It's all stuff that was already there. Aasimar are simply considered to fall under the "rare races" tag group, which means you'll get a bunch of these "oh, we don't see your kind around here much!" reactions and responses. You'd get the same ones if you were, say, a dragonborn or githyanki. I also don't have the power to change the game's fundamental storyline - this is mostly a cosmetic mod. I say this primarily because of the lovely person who commented to ask me what would happen when they arrived in Act 2 and if playing as Aylin meant the "real one" wasn't imprisoned anymore, which genuinely made my day but also made me vaguely sad.

Alas, no, it will all happen as it always has, no matter my personal willingness to fistfight Balthazar and Ketheric in a parking lot for that face up there. You'll just have two Aylins on screen during some segments which, yeah, is kind of immersion-breaking, but is also honestly a win in my books.

Also redone: her starting equipment! Again, since other origin characters have their own personalised sets, I thought it fitting to have Aylin start with the Vengeance Paladin equipment, except the warhammer is replaced with a greatsword. She also gets a bag with her iconic armour safely stowed away (primarily so that the helmet doesn't interfere with customising her hair in the character creator). It's got the stats of basic plate and no special abilities - it's mostly there for cosmetic purposes.

I also thought she should have a little souvenir.

Wings Unlocked over on mod.io is a nice and simple and noninvasive way I've found to have wings you can turn on and off, aasimar style. This is accomplished by making them an item and equipping them in the underwear slot. You know, truly putting the ass in aasimar.

As a final little starting inventory tidbit, I decided there wasn't enough gay yearning in the game, so I made sure to sprinkle some more in there - while also figuring out the letters/books system. This is something that's probably way too wordy to actually be an in-game text, but I saw a chance to have a bit of fun and I took it.

Full text under the cut.

[Worn Letter]

[A carefully creased and pressed bit of fine stationery, yellowed with age. It appears to have survived much, with parts of it stained and worn beyond legibility despite its owner's clear efforts to preserve it.]

My dearest angel, The days and nights without you at my side have been long, though I try to fill them as best as I can. While I shudder to think what dangers you wade through and what sinister plots you leave crushed in your wake, the thought of you taking the time to write in the midst of it all fills me with warmth beyond compare. We are all as well as can be. Father is as he always is, and I admit to an increasing desire to inform him of our plans to leave for our pilgrimage. But I'm getting ahead of myself; those are words best spoken in person. You asked for tidings - I cannot hope to match your poetic turn of phrase, but I'll relay what sleepy little Reithwin has been up to in your absence. There was an accident with a snapped pulley while some of old master Morfred's men were lifting marble blocks for carving. Miraculously, though I was called to assist at the House of Healing immediately, there were no injuries save for scuffs and bruises. The masons are back on their feet, fretting over ruined scaffolding and delayed statuary work. I took the liberty of trying to reassure them that the Moonmaiden won't mind too badly. In more pleasant news, we found a loving home for the last pup from Squire's litter, so both of you can rest easy at last. She and the potter's children took a shine to each other so quickly, it was a true joy to behold. I'd wager you'll spot them frolicking around when you fly over the riverside fields on your way back. I picture the looks on your beloved, handsome face as I regale you - always so wonderfully expressive! - as we sit huddled together before my fireplace at day's end. Selûne willing, I will have you back in my arms soon. I gaze up at her every night as I await your return, knowing you must be looking upon her yourself, and I pray she keeps you safe in her light. Though your duties to Our Lady send you questing far and wide, I know, as surely as the tides turn and the moon cycles through her path in the sky, she will always guide you back to me, and me to you. Until then, I do the one thing I can, and pour onto this paper whatever feeling these poor words can hold. I love you. I lov--

[sleepboysummer]

realistically i know 388 is gonna die in s3 cause ive never seen a character like him that DIDNT. but that doesnt mean i cant have hope

[alex-leweird]

Exemplaris excomunicationis