#she has no canon personality but she means so much to me
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rivalsispunk · 20 hours ago
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The Interview (Chapter 1 of ongoing series When We’re Alone)
Best friend’s dad!Declan O’Hara, boss!Declan O’Hara x AFAB reader
Journalist Declan O’Hara is in need of a personal assistant as his Corinium career skyrockets, and his daughter Taggie has the perfect candidate: her best friend. What seemingly starts as a professional relationship soon snowballs into something both Declan and reader were never expecting and are no longer able to deny.
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Warnings: 18+ MDNI, (eventual) smut, cursing, age gap romance (reader is a few years older than Taggie), more warnings added per chapter
Word count: 3.1k
Author’s note: Hello! Long time reader, first time poster! Please be kind but also let me know what you think! Proof read but probs still some mistakes. Not entirely canon, Declan still works for Corinium, Maud has disappeared to god knows where and the rest, well, you’ll have to read to find out :)
Chapter One: The Interview
You were going to positively kill Taggie once you returned to the Cotswolds. Only she, your closest friend since you relocated to the country after finishing your university degree six months ago, could convince you to cut your gap year short in favour of interviewing for a personal assistant job at Corinium. And, for her father, Declan O’Hara, no less.
“Oh, go on!” Taggie had pleaded with you over The Priory’s kitchen counter. “I know you’re getting bored out here. You can’t spend all of your days sitting around here, helping me peel the shite out of prawns for dinner parties.”
“Why not?” You plucked a grape from the fruit platter she’d just finished assembling for an event at Freddie and Valerie Jones’ that evening. “I happen to like spending all my time with you. Even if it does mean peeling shite out of crustaceans.” You eyed your friend with faux suspicion. “Are you getting sick of me already?”
“Of course not! I just think you’d be grand at it, that’s all, what with your journalism degree and all,” Taggie explained. “You’ve heard Daddy when he comes home. Always complaining about the sorts he’s had to interview. Plus, he already knows you. That’s ought to win you some points right there.”
“I suppose it wouldn’t be all bad,” you confessed, mulling the opportunity over as you chewed through another handful of grapes. It would look amazing on your resume and you’d have a foot in the door at one of the biggest TV networks in the United Kingdom. Plus, it wouldn’t kill you to have a front row seat to Declan in all his glory every single day. You would never mention it to Taggie, but you fancied her dad a rather handsome sod.
“Say you’ll do it. At the very least, for me?” Taggie bat her thick eyelashes at you.
“Fine,” you eventually relented, a smile cracking over your face at the new possibility. “I’ll go in for an interview, but no promises. And I don’t want you convincing him of me either! I want to get this job on my own merit, okay?”
“Convince Daddy of you? Please, he already adores you.” The sentiment spread fire through your chest. Tag rounded the kitchen bench and grabbed you by the hand. “Now let’s find you an outfit! Mummy ought to have left something halfway suitable behind.”
Taggie nor Declan had said much about their absentee matriarch Maud in the recent weeks since she fled the countryside after yet another explosive argument between her and her husband. You knew better than to ask, but you could tell by the way Taggie’s shoulders sagged at the sight of her mother’s partially empty closet that her absence had a somber affect on her.
You’d only been into the main bedroom of The Priory once before, when the room was overtaken by Maud’s florally perfumes and extravagant evening gowns. This time, however, the space was so intrinsically Declan; all heady cedarwood and whisky and smoke. Shirts with patterns of plaid and tartan as well as numerous odd, natural-coloured socks were peppered across armchairs and vanities, while a stack of memoirs sat on his bedside with a full ashtray perched atop. Your heart swelled, and sunk simultaneously, at the thought of Declan being sat up here alone at night, or early of a morning, thumbing through a book while taking slow drags of his cigarette as he let himself be consumed by a life far different to the one he was currently living.
“How about this?” Taggie’s voice ripped through your daydream, forcing you away from thoughts of her father. You peered at the oatmeal-coloured dress she had retrieved from the closet, surprised that Maud owned something so…brown. You’d always known her to wear jewel tones that complimented her flaming red hair. You shook your head, and thus began a cycle of Taggie suggesting an outfit and you shooting it down. Eventually, you agreed to Taggie swapping out your creature comfort jeans and Wham! T-shirt for an old black pencil skirt that you were convinced had given you hives from the way your legs hadn’t stopped itching since you put it on, as well as a silky fuchsia blouse that stretched a little too tight over your breasts. While your friend had done a good job at assuring you that you’d fit right in at the Corinium offices, you weren’t as convinced.
The receptionists, all in latest season fashion with not a hair out of place, had looked you up and down as soon as you stepped foot in the marble foyer, snickering behind your back about your fashion fauxpas once you’d checked in. Sarah Stratton wasn’t as covert with her judgement. As you sat outside Declan’s office, waiting to be called in, Sarah outwardly guffawed when she spotted you across the floor. You’d met her several times in passing at parties and Corinium events you’d previously attended as Taggie’s plus one, and for the most part, she’d kept her observations to herself. But now, as her red heels clip across the carpet, her gaze set right on you with her matching rouge lips upturned. “I would never have expected to see you here, darling!” she coos down at you, reaching for a strand of hair that has slipped in front of your shoulder. “And playing dress ups, no less!” Another laugh tinkers out of her as she twirls your hair around her finger. “Interviewing for the assistant job with Declan, hm?”
You nod with a taut smile and try not to let her comment about you looking god-awfully out of place get to you. Sarah’s eyes shift to Declan’s closed mahogany door and tuts. “Well, good luck, sweetheart. Seems like you’ll need it with the way the rest of those interviews have panned out.”
“Oh, hop off it, Sarah!” an unmistakingly Irish voice barks from your left. Sarah jolts upright and despite the embarrassment that tinges her cheeks pink, still manages throw a sultry smile in Declan’s direction. Your posture matches her pin-straight stature as you side-eye his office. It hadn’t occurred to you that he wasn’t inside, preparing for your interview the way you had been all morning. You’d crafted your pitch of yourself perfectly, complete with ideas and suggestions for potential guests for Declan’s show, anything to set you apart, make you seem even a fraction less useless that the interviewees that came before you. “Don’t you have anything better to do? Where’s James?” he questions Sarah, alluding to the very common knowledge that she and her co-host James Vereker are having an affair. Declan makes a show of raking through his moustache - god, that moustache - then adds with a smirk, “James and better. Probably not two words that should be in the same sentence, eh?” Sarah’s smile plateaus at that, and that stiff upper-lip culture she was dying to marry into takes its place.
“I’m sure I can make myself busy, Declan. Got a show to prepare and all that. Ciao!” She doesn’t look at you again and you’re grateful that Declan starts to speak before you bumblefuck your way through the silence.
“Ciao,” he repeats once Sarah’s out of earshot . “Doubt that leech of a woman’s ever had a decent carbonara, let alone stepped foot in Italy.” he says, offering you the first genuine smile you’ve received all day. “Let’s get to it, shall we?” He swings open his office door and holds an arm out. “After you, love.”
“Thanks.”
You shuffle into the room ahead of him, completely oblivious to the way Declan’s eyes are trained on your arse in a skirt that’s familiar to him, but he’s unsure how. Right now, however, he doesn’t care, because it fits your body so magnificently, as if it were made for you. He fights to ignore the dull throb beneath his trousers while he watches you sit, the black fabric pushed to its limits as it stretches across the globes of your arse.
God, has she always been so… womanly? Declan wonders, then immediately chastises himself for leering so openly at his daughter’s best friend. Yes, she was a few good years older than Taggie, and always a beautiful girl, but he was glad his middle child had finally made a friend amid the shitshow that was the move to the country and his crumbling marriage to Maud. He didn’t need to muddy the waters with pervacious thoughts about the young lass’ curves. If only she’d shown up to his office in her usual ripped jeans and George Michael-adorned tees.
“Everything okay, Mr O’Hara? Should I sit somewhere else?” you ask when you notice Declan frozen in the doorway with a furrow etched in his brow. You immediately start second-guessing yourself and wonder if this was a bad idea after all. You can only imagine everyone else who lost out on this job before you faced that same expression. He shakes his head at you, at himself, then busies himself with straightening his maroon tie as he moves to sit behind his desk. You shift in your seat, trying to thwart of the lingering itch Maud’s skirt has buried into the back of your thigh. You think if you can wriggle just so, you can ward it off for at least the main portion of the interview. While you think your subtle movements go unnoticed by Declan because he’s perusing your resume - impressive, he’d earlier noted in black pen beside details of your internship at The Times - he’s been clocked onto your behaviour since he’d laid eyes on you across the office. Scared shitless, and he doesn’t half know that Sarah’s sneaky comments only added to it, thanks to the way you’re fidgeting with that damned skirt mere metres away from him. If Declan had any less sense in him, any less dignity, he’d have half the mind to tear it straight from your body. Of course, he decides against it and tries a less barbaric approach to settle your nerves.
“No band t-shirt today?”
Now it’s your turn for your brows to knit together. “I’m sorry?” Declan nudges his head in the general direction of your chest and your chin dips in response to see what he’s referring to. There, your vision is flanked with fluorescent pink and a tinge of flesh where the silky material doesn’t quite stretch to cover your breasts between buttons, and you silently curse Taggie for allowing you to wear something so borderline revealing at her father’s workplace. Plus, you were surprised he’d even noticed your usual attire.
“I thought it was best I grow up a bit in the clothing department if I were to go for a job at Corinium,” you confess. Declan doesn’t miss the way the swell of your breasts arch against your shirt when you take a deep breath and fold your arms across yourself. “But now I’m thinking the bright pink was a mistake.”
You peer across the expansive wooden desk expectantly, and Declan pitches his hands up in mock surrender. “Don’t ask me! Fashion, clearly, is not my strong suit. All I know is, according to my girls, leaving the house with ladders in your tights is a big no-no unless you’re a gothic or Winona Ryder.”
You chuckle at that, even more so for knowing that his youngest daughter, Caitlin, would be all for half-shredded tights.
Declan looks coy as he sips from his tea. “But if it counts for anything, you look lovely.”
“Well, I should hope you think so. These are your wife’s clothes, after all.” Your confession elicits a splutter from the otherwise put together man in front of you. Tea spouts from his lips across the desk, marring your resume and any other papers with brown stains. You immediately spring into action, scanning the room for a towel, handkerchief, anything that could mop up the mess.
“Sorry, love,” Declan says quietly, thumping a fist against his chest. “Wrong pipe.”
That’s when you see it, a pocket square the same colour as his tie poking from his breast pocket. Without thinking, you lurch across Declan’s desk and pluck it from its resting place, and begin soaking up the liquid. Declan ought to help you, it’s his mess after all, but he’s frozen at the view you’ve awarded him as you lean over. Your cleavage fights against the V cut of Maud’s blouse and Declan can just make out the ripple of a black lace bra below the neckline. He can’t even imagine Maud in that outfit. Right now it’s all so you. His cock stirs at the sight and he can’t help the pained groan that bubbles up his throat.
“Stop,” he breathes in barely a whisper. You don’t, of course, you can’t hear him, and you keep wiping at the desk, your breasts bouncing with every swipe up and down.
“Christ, girl, stop it!” Declan explodes, bolting up from his chair. Thankfully, the height of his desk hides his growing bulge, but it doesn’t matter. The look of pure fear painting your face has the same effect as a cold shower. You sink back into your seat and begin spluttering apologies, that you shouldn’t have used his pocket square, that you were out of line and another dozen variations of sorry, tears pricking at the corners of your eyes. Declan mirrors you by returning to his chair, raking a hand over his face.
“I’m sorry, darlin’,” he states eventually. “I don’t give a dying rats arse about the pocket square. It’s just… I’m a bloody fool just standing here while you clean up after me. I can’t have you doing that. You don’t even work for me.”
Despite the shock of Declan’s outburst, you manage to muster up a bit of cheek in response. “I don’t even work for you yet,” you correct him.
Your confidence juts Declan’s eyebrows to his curly hairline and a grin cracks across his face. “Cocky little thing, aren’t ya? Go on then.. tell me why I should hire you.”
You spend the next twenty minutes talking Declan through your university studies and experience, the tension from earlier already forgotten. When Declan mentions he once worked with your media law professor, the conversation detours into the pair of you sharing stories about your experiences with the man, far too senile and set in his ways to do the younger generation any good. The rest of the interview carries on like that, you and Declan laughing and exchanging anecdotes like two friends in the pub rather than an employer vetting a potential employee. You’re about to pitch the idea of getting Farah Fawcett on Declan’s show when the office door thumps open to reveal Corinium’s managing director, Tony Baddingham, at its entryway.
“O’Hara! If you’re done with giggling like a little schoolgirl down here, we’ve got a production meeting to get to,” he bites, barely glancing in your direction. You don’t miss the roll of Declan’s tawny eyes as he waves Tony off.
“Alright, Tony. Give me five, I’m just finishing up here,” he says before introducing you by name.
“Nice to meet you, Mr Baddingham,” you tell him, standing to shake his hand. He doesn’t properly look at you until your palms meet, and your spine stiffens when his beady eyes rake over you.
“One of Declan’s assistant candidates, I presume?” he wonders aloud.
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, you’re far prettier than some of the other trolls we’ve had roll through here recently.”
“Tony,” Declan warns. The last thing he wants is another man leering at you like you’re a rite of passage for them.
“Right, well, lovely to meet you,” Tony clasps his other hand over the top of yours, careening his neck so he’s at your eye level. “Hope to see you around here. You’ll definitely be a much-appreciated addition.”
Offering a tight-lipped smile, you reserve the urge bawk in his face. You’ve worked with enough Tony Baddinghams to know his interest in you has nothing to do with your professional ability and everything to do with aesthetics. Fucking men.
For the most part, they sickened you and Declan all the same, but for the latter, he was mainly sickened with himself for wanting to pummel Baddingham for the way he was eye-fucking you. But who was he to talk? He’d been doing the exact same thing just minutes earlier.
When Tony leaves the office, he leaves the door ajar, a reminder that Declan is expected elsewhere. You’re about to ask Declan if Tony is always so…Tony, but he’s already got his briefcase in hand and is ushering you towards the door. “I have to admit, I was surprised when Taggie said you wanted to interview for this position, with you being on a gap year and all,” he confessed as you strolled out onto the office floor. “But you know your stuff. You’re bloody intelligent. Passionate. That’s rare these days.”
“Thank you, Mr O’Hara.”
“Please, call me Declan. Here, and at The Priory. Just Declan,” he smiles and you return it.
“Alright, then. Declan.”
“I’ve got to get going, but I’ll let you know about the job. There’s a couple more interviews on the books in the next few days, I’m sure you understand.”
“Of course.”
Declan gives you a curt nod, and you start for the elevator, but you barely make it five steps before he calls you back.
“For what it’s worth, I’d be lucky to have ya here. And like I said, you look great, but I prefer the jeans and t-shirts. They’re much more…you.”
His admission sends your heart thrumming against your ribcage, and red creeps up your neck and onto your cheeks. “Thank you, Mr O’Ha- Declan,” you correct yourself. “Thank you, Declan. See you around.” You turn on your patent black heel, leaving Declan standing there with an image that’s bound to haunt him for nights to come: you in that fucking skirt.
~ Chapter 1 end ~
Please let me know if you enjoyed this, and if you’re feeling generous, a lil’ reblog won’t go astray <3
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sapphicstoria · 2 days ago
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This is going to be a long rant, but I feel more comfortable venting here than on twitter so.
I’m sorry, but I can’t stand a lot of Ch*rlastor fans. I seen one of them try to say it wouldn’t make sense for Chaggie to be endgame, because Charlie is bi and because she and Vaggie have been together for a long time. It made me so confused because how are either of those two things reasons why Charlie shouldn’t end the series with Vaggie? Her long term girlfriend that she’s in love with? And saying because she’s bi, it’d be weird for her to end dating a girl is so ????
It’s been established that Charlie is bisexual, that she’s attracted to men, and may even have had a boyfriend before dating Vaggie. They don’t have to show her dating a man, in the present, for her to be bisexual. And being bisexual doesn’t mean she has to be with a man, if she doesn’t want to. She loves Vaggie. She has never, and will never, be attracted to Alastor.
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I’m tired of people constantly putting Chaggie down to praise their ship, when they could praise them without even bringing up chaggie or Vaggie. Saying she is a horrible girlfriend, that she’s not supportive enough, that she doesn’t care about Charlie. People even give Alastor Vaggie’s traits and say he “encourages” Charlie and cares about her dreams when he… does none of that. He uses her and only wants her for her powers. He doesn’t care about the hotel, and only helps because he wants to see it fail. He manipulates her and does not care about her like Vaggie does. It’s fine for fanon, but in canon he does nothing like that.
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Vaggie cares so deeply for Charlie, because she is probably the first person who has ever shown Vaggie true kindness and love. They spent awhile being friends, but eventually dated and have such a strong relationship. They’re business partners, and best friends, along with being a couple. That’s one of the best types of relationships. Where you’re not just each other’s partner, but also best friend. Sure, they don’t have many too overly romantic scenes, but that’s just how their relationship is. They’ve been dating each other for years, and are adults. They probably went through their honeymoon phase, but now they’re so close that they don’t need to be overly romantic to show that they’re dating. Their scenes are perfect to show a close relationship.
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But when they do have their big romantic scenes, they’re always the most beautifully animated. Like the scene of them first meeting. How Charlie didn’t even hesitate to help her, and when Vaggie finally seen there’s someone out there who does care. It was a touching moment for them.
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I’ll never get over how beautiful their duet is. Not only the song, or context, but how it was animated. Their smiles, the way Vaggie was the one to sing first, when she is isn’t really a fan of singing but she knows how much Charlie loves it. The KISS. It was a perfect song, to show just how deep their feelings are for each other. And it made me bawl, when I realized it was a reprise of more than anything. Showing that Lucifer and Vaggie are the people Charlie loves more than anything.
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I don’t see why people are judging them so quickly, when we’ve only seen eight episodes that were filled more with action and story than anything romantic. We’re getting more of their story in season two, even a look into their ~sexy lives~, and probably even more individual scenes of Charlie and Vaggie for their character. You don’t have to like them, but it really annoys me when I see people putting them down just to praise a mlw ship. :/ again, you can praise your ship, without having to attack Chaggie. And if you’re not able to do that, and can only bring up the positives of Ch*rlastor by picking apart chaggie as a couple, then maybe your ship just isn’t that great. 🤷🏻‍♀️
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themindcastlesystem · 2 days ago
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Beyond the Veil of Hypocrisy... lies chapter 2 (theory)
(Sunny, they/she) okay so this might be my first proper post on this site but we all gotta start somewhere lol
BACKGROUND
In the book of Genesis, Eve was tempted by the serpent (Satan) into committing the first sin. Adam followed suit, and God punished both of them by expelling them from the Garden of Eden and revoking their immortality.
In Project: Eden's Garden, Eva was tempted by her distrust of others (encouraged by Damon, who wears a tie with a snake on it), and she committed the first murder. She was executed - leaving Eden's Garden Academy, so to speak.
So... what happens next?
THE KILLER
Well, Eve convinced Adam to join her in committing sin, right? She took the forbidden fruit from the serpent, ate it, and gave it to Adam. So Adam committed the second sin. But Adam - Damon - is our protagonist here. That can't be quite right.
But I don't think he's going to stay the protagonist much longer. He experienced a much more condensed version of the type of development arc experienced by a protagonist like Shuichi Saihara [v3] - and he rejected it at the end of the chapter. While it is possible that he might continue to resist his primal urges to distrust others, I don't think it's likely - he already had to be pushed out of his comfort zone so much just to consider that Diana might not be the killer in chapter 1, and now his only confidant - Eva - is dead, and on top of that, Diana is still trying to emulate Wolfgang, who both he and Eva firmly believe was leading the class to destruction. "I couldn't hold back my true feelings anymore"; "it pissed me off".
Unless a miracle happens in the midst of this murder game and Damon manages to find other people to trust (not excluding Diana, though it's not likely), I don't think he's going to keep going down the path he started on in chapter 1. The first murder happening means that the chapter 1 festivities (game tournament, co-op laundry, bunk buddies) won't happen in the same manner, and if they do, it'll be through bated breath. If he already had to be pushed so hard just to play some games with the group before anyone died, it'll be ten times harder afterwards. (Naturally, this isn't to say that I think Damon is incapable of trust or kindness - giving or receiving - and in fact, I heavily empathize with him in some ways. But old habits absolutely die hard.)
In essence: Damon is my prime suspect for the chapter 2 blackened, and I don't think he will be the protagonist any further.
THE DETECTIVE
What then? Well, we just heard a very protag-y speech from someone at the end of the chapter, didn't we? It's what pissed Damon off: Diana's "like a chameleon, I will adapt!"
Diana has already had a great spotlight within chapter 1, and she has shown the makings of a leader. She's bright, kind, and energetic; people tend to like her; she adapts to the various situations that come her way. She is trusting of others, arguably too much so, but yet she comes across as mostly level-headed. Her youth hinders her, as she struggles to read the room and is reprimanded for this, but she tries to show the same compassion than Wolfgang - much more organically than he did, in multiple situations. She is emotionally intelligent, able to perceive when others are unwell and offer them genuine care.
Yet, she isn't a natural in her role. When she was forced to bear witness to her friend's death, and everyone and the evidence are against her... much like any normal person, but unlike a protagonist, she breaks. She is traumatized, barely able to speak and holding back tears. She struggles to tell the others what happened to her, even as they seem ready to unanimously send her to her death. It is the kind deed of the actual protagonist that snaps her out of her catatonia enough to tell her side of the story and help lead everyone to the truth.
But I believe Diana has still yet to shine.
BIBLICAL CANON...
Diana is specifically very reminiscent of a Danganronpa protagonist, too. She has one of the most classic DR-esque designs of the cast with her school uniform, her faith in others resembles that of Makoto Naegi [THH], and her personality is reminiscent of Kaede Akamatsu [v3]. While the team behind Project: Eden's Garden has been clear that players should not expect DR tropes to take place in the game, and it can be argued that an early-game protagonist switch would essentially be a parallel to v3, I argue that it's more of a subversion of expectations.
In v3, we start off playing as a lively girl with a kind spirit and a good head on her shoulders, who becomes a natural leader for the cast. She resorts to murder to try and stop the mastermind, completely unexpectedly to everyone around her (including the player, if they don't pick up on the hints that she's up to something). Her death is treated as honorable by the rest of the cast, and she is replaced by more of a typical DR protagonist: a sullen boy with heavy emotions on his heart and a tendency to distance himself from others. His attachment to her helps him carry on her legacy by learning to believe in himself, working with others, and surviving the killing game.
...VS. INTERPRETATION
In my prediction of P:EG chapters 1-2, we start off playing as a sullen boy with distrust on his heart and a tendency to distance himself from others. He is pushed out of his comfort zone quite a lot by the rest of the cast, and he ends up exploring, doing chores, and playing games together with the rest of them... but someone is killed anyway. Then, when another student he doesn't care for comes under fire for the murder, he challenges his base instinct to assume her guilt, instead figuring out an argument that there's more to the story and it can't be her. (Whether it's a logical or emotional argument doesn't matter as much as it seems, as he initially doesn't realize the logical issue and just feels something is wrong; that said, I do like the pathos route much more for this reason.) He is beginning to learn to trust people... until it turns out that his only friend was the killer, and she not only took advantage of him and emotionally manipulated him, but ends up trying to frame him and get him killed. All the while, the person who she initially framed was a lively girl with a kind spirit and a good head on her shoulders, trying to be a leader for her classmates in spite of everything, but being completely shut down by everyone else.
I think that unlike Shuichi, Damon's development is temporary and about to fully regress, and Diana may be a very good friend, but she isn't a universally loved natural leader like Kaede. So, similarly, I think their character arcs will be reversed entirely: Damon will stop trying to trust people and resort to murder, and Diana will have to prove herself as a leader and source of encouragement over an extended period of time. At the same time, where Shuichi retained his affection for Kaede after her death, even knowing she had killed someone, Diana will have to let go of her feelings of affection for Damon to see that he has given up on her (and the others) and become a killer. And yet, she will have to fight on - she has no choice but to live. She won't give up on her friends like Damon and Eva did, and she won't excommunicate them like Wolfgang did. And, even after realizing that her friend not only never trusted her but is a murderer, she will reconcile that with her positive memories of him - accepting that Damon was a complex human being that was put in a despicable situation... and, much like Eva before him, even though he committed one of the worst sins imaginable, he didn't deserve to die at the hands of this killing game's "God".
MARGINALIA
Imagine how much of an uphill battle Diana would be up against Damon if she had to prove he was the killer. He's hand-cranked to be good at debating people, even if he doesn't have the upper hand logically. While Damon has been rigidly logical so far, as is typical of a murder mystery detective, debaters also have tactics like "spreading" - talking so fast the opponent can't process their argument or get a word in - up their sleeves. This tactic is especially useful when the facts aren't on your side and you need to regain control of the room without resorting to obvious ad-hominem and losing favor. (Like Eva did when cornered in chapter 1: "he does want bloodshed!")
Also, this has nothing to do with the theory proper, but I want to give an honorable mention to Grace Madison for making for a good chapter 2 suspect as well. She became friends with Wolfgang, slept with him, and then he fucking died the next morning and she had to guard his dorm room so no one would disturb his belongings. God forbid Tozu cleans out his dorm in chapter 2 to boot. Girl is GRIEVING, and I think people will suspect her out of pure emotion even if she ends up nowhere near the next crime scene.
Anyway, who knows if I'm ever gonna post again on this site. But to anyone reading, I hope you enjoyed this theory, and give me your brain thoughts! Hyperfixation go brrrr
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zvtara-was-never-canon · 9 hours ago
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https://www.tumblr.com/burst-of-iridescent/769146448190324736/you-know-what-i-still-find-it-beyond-weird-that?source=share
I thought about it, but do fn and water tribe have cultural similarities that secretly point to zutara??
1 - Nothing in the show is EVER "secretly pointing to Zutara." You can like the ship, but it is pure fanon that the lead writer didn't care for and that the creators/showrunners clearly don't like. Everything was always pointing to Kataang and Maiko. Again, you don't have to like it, but it is an undeniable fact.
2 - The only things the Fire Nation and BOTH water tribes, as well as the Earth Kingdom, have in common are "The kids are not raised communally, but rather by typical nuclear family (mom and dad)" and "they're not literal nomads." Something SO general that applies to literally everyone except airbenders simply cannot be used as a real parallel between these two nations.
Katara is from a tribal culture where chiefs are chosen by the people, they're all trying to survive a genocide, and they have a very strong sense of community. Zuko is from a industrialized, imperialistic nation that is actively banning/killing it's own culture (kids not knowing traditional dances, dragons being killed, spirituality being neglected) with a royal family that is in power because "divine right to rule", and their approach to "community" is based on royals using "peasant" as an insult and killing their own relatives for power, or disfiguring their own children, in public, because said kid spoke out of turn. HOW are these cultures simmilar?
3 - Aang not liking the food is not the same as him hating Katara's culture, and the ONE time he ever said something genuinely passive-aggressive about their practices was in the Bato episode, and it was clearly just him being a 12-year-old that didn't like feeling left out. That same episode has him engaging with a traditional ritual of ice-dodging in which Sokka is supposed to "become a man", and oh, yeah, KATARA'S ROLE IN THE STORY IS TEACHING HIM WATERBENDING. Ya know. Bending. The thing that is canonically tied to a nation's culture and spirituality?
The closest Zuko got to enganging with Katara's culture that way was by learning lightining redirection from Iroh - something that he developed by "observing" waterbender. Now ask yourself, in what context did a general from the Fire Nation "observe" a waterbender's fighting style? Could it have been during one of the raids on the South Pole or at least fighting people like Hakoda, who weren't home but were still trying to prevent the Fire Nation from killing everybody? Not exactly a heartwarming thought of cultural exchange, is it?
4 - Katara and Aang's cultures might not be that simmilar, but they have WAY more in common with each other than with the Fire Nation, hence Aang being so immediately beloved by Katara's tribe (and immediately being willing to sacrifice himself for them) and water being the element he struggled with the least. Not to mention the whole experience of "we're both trying to survive a genocide here" which literally unites the whole world AGAINST the Fire Nation. And on the personal level instead of broader, cultural one, both Katara and Aang long for a home, while also craving adventures far away every now and then. THE perfect compromise between life just at the tribe and life just traveling.
5 - Even if the Fire Nation and the South Pole WERE super simmilar culturally: that doesn't mean Zuko and Katara would inevitably develop feelings for each other, much like their cultural differences were not the reason why said feelings didn't exist in canon. Cultural clashes pushing lovers apart is a thing that CAN happen but it's not a guarantee because, at the end of the day, people fall in love with PEOPLE, not the nation/culture they're from.
Katara didn't help struggling Fire Nation citizens because "they're just like me!", she was just a compassionate person. Zuko didn't regret his role in the war because "the water tribe is not that different from my home", he just finally realized "Holy shit, they're HUMANS, not just obstacles in my path" and wouldn't have been able to live with himself if he continued to hurt them. Their cultures are really different, and that doesn't prevent them from being friends - but the fact that neither would ever permanently leave their home is one of the core things that would have made them incompatible as a couple, not because they simply see things differently, but because their PERSONAL goals and attachments in life push them in opposing directions
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intertexts · 2 days ago
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biting the bullet and saying this is a fine place to talk about ashe winters also. because i have a lot of thoughts on that headcanon & i know other people do too & it's been long enough that i feel that it would be disingenuous not to at least, like, talk myself through it here so u guys can hear my thought process. prefacing this by saying hey! please don't make any assumptions about me based on one headcanon i don't love!
anyway i deliberately watched pd almost entirely in a vacuum because i didn't want spoilers or fanon to affect my perception of it. transfem ashe & her ubiquity was like. not what i was expecting? it's a headcanon that's Everywhere, & when i heard about & noted this i was like, okay, cool, there's going to be so much thoughtful analysis out there of ashe & their relationship with their dead mom & mark & the pd & that freedom and liberation they bring ashe &grief & guilt & trying to figure out what it means to have something for yourself when it's haunted! of course that's the core of this! of course canon analysis will still recognize that this is fanon and not canon!
to be clear, the reason i even still find the headcanon compelling and am not just bitter on it is because seraphex has been doing this (the thoughtful analysis) since the beginning n a couple others r doing this, & actively engaging with ashe's narrative as a trans narrative, & i hold affection for the way i would write & think abt her. but, like. for the most part, that's not what people are doing. it feels to me like at this point a lot of the ashe i see is girl ashe, like... just so there's a Girl Prime Defender? which is, y'know, necessarily not bad in and of itself, do whatever u want. and certainly no one's obligated to engage in fandom critically. but i do think we should, and that it's a good thing to do! but, like, effectively "girl ashe winters but im never going to touch on transness or anything and she's just a normal girl with a demon book" is different!! than "transfem ashe winters" which assumes and begs a different and more thoughtful type of relationship With gender. please for the love of god don't take this as me saying "well trans girls aren't real girls" please. this is not what i'm saying. "cassie sandsmark but she's just a boy who does all that instead" and "transmasc cassie sandsmark" are, narratively speaking, two entirely different things. same goes for ashe. this is what i was saying. with genderswapping.
anyway, the thing that does irk me is when people make canon pd analysis while using feminine pronouns for ashe and assume like yeah yeah obviously canon is stupid we all know ashe is a girl!!!! of course i can just treat that as canon. like, i dont know how to clearly articulate this in a polite way, but like-- she/her ashe is a headcanon. if you want to write meta specifically about or in relationship to your headcanon-- sure! but if you're trying to make genuine points about canon while intentionally blurring the lines between fanon and canon like that. i'm not going to really respect what you say about canon? again, this isn't just a pd thing. jane crocker he/him butch lesbian to me but i've never liked, like... canon-alpha-kids non-gender-related analysis where they're he/him ing her. like, like it or not-- if ashe winters Was canonically a girl, transfem or cis-- the story would be different!! similar, sure, but not the same!! things would hold different meaning!! things DO hold different meaning!! if you genuinely think that gender makes no meaningful difference when talking abt media im like going ahaha ok and scrolling on.
this also vaguely loops back around into the uncritical girl ashe so there's a Girl In The Crew thing earlier because like, you know, there's a lot of folks who only use this headcanon who aren't transfem & aren't engaging with her in a personal projection (if you're doing this extremely valid i love u) or transfem narrative way, and Only Ever Hitting Ashe with the Girl Beam, and i cannot lie to you folks-- hey. why's the shy, quieter, level-headed, awkward pc who Keeps All The Boys In Line And Thinks They're Silly and also has Long Hair the Only One you're Ever calling a girl? why is that? what are the biases you might be reinforcing or unconsciously leaning into? earlier i was saying how things. mean things!!! this is like. i don't love it. on the face of it it feels bad and shitty. crazy how only the soft spoken healer guy is ever a girl. it sucks and i hate it. if you're doing this i think you should stop and at least like fucking think about it.
&, y'know, this is certainly a little bit, like. gnc guy staring at vaguely gnc guy character: holy shit hes just like me. trans girl staring at same vaguely gnc guy character: holy shit she's just like me. there's no One Correct Answer here because headcanon & the way we think about characters is!!! personal!! they're both good if they bring both people joy!!! [obviously there is frequently erasure of transfem subtext in fandom i am aware of this it is not what i am talking about in this specific instance] & frequently they both bump up against each others sore spots through no fault of their own. what is crucial is being like. respectful of that & civil & allowing space for both readings to exist simultaneously.
anyway. i don't particularly have any great conclusion to wrap this up. i think if you're she/hering ashe because u think that it's Fucked Up that there are No Girls In PD and you want Girl Characters, you should maybe try getting into actual play shows by and with girls in them. i have recommendations. i have so many recommendations. trying to headcanon your way out of what the show fundamentally is-- four white guys on a discord call-- is not going to make you happy. please. please. god. if you're genuinely engaging with transfem ashe as a trans narrative i think that's cool and its not what im into but i see where ur comin from. keep doing ur thing have fun etc. if you just think Ashe should be Girl u should simply consider cisswapping/genderswapping its awesome it's fun also u should tag it so that people who do not particularly want!! to see girl ashe winters & like the canon character as he is!! or people who are uncomfortable with "hey what if soft spoken long haired boy was Girl, Actually" (for what should be obvious reasons) can curate their experience and won't get frustrated and miserable!!!!
i think that genderbend/cisswap aus have sifted out of popular fandom consciousness for lots of reasons with varying levels of validity & have instead been replaced with "well literally just trans ur character then". which is fine obviously, im transgener, etc. but the thing is, right, that being trans is a thing in real life, which actually means something, and carries weight, and like, very much says something about you. everyone can do fandom however they want forever, its a free country, but for me personally & the way i engage with media & the way i do think it is Good to engage with media, it feels.... disingenuous at best to just. say "well this character's trans now because i want them to be!!!" with zero thinking about characterization and narrative context and the weight which being trans would carry. and, you know, obviously there's narrative worlds where being gaytrans Doesn't actually mean shit or carry weight and shifting genders is as easy and common as making pancakes, this isn't me making any massive generalizing statement, but for the most part, transitioning is, like. that says something!! both diegetically (in-world), in how characters think of and interact w/ their transness and non-diegetically (outside-the-world), in what you are saying, either intentionally or accidentally, by making them trans. if you're interested in just.... having alt gender versions of those characters, genderswapping is free, easy, and fun!!!
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mori-shige · 4 months ago
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I have one brain cell and it is latched onto Cyn Murder Drones
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hyakunana · 7 months ago
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"My friend, my partner… my Guardian."
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dykedvonte · 1 month ago
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I hate the stretch lines in the front of Curly's uniform because that means the devs rushed to make a model in like a month or so and thought "They gotta at least know he has huge knockers, gotta know he's got back pain." Cause like what is the thematic importance of his tits having overhang?
What responsibility is that representing? Breast reduction? It shows an inherent greed in his character due to the excess and heshouldletmeholdone and that he clearly is blinded cause if he tries to look down his damn ladder all he's seeing is his own cleavage.
#this is my curly slander post ig#disclaimer i need you to understand i see all fictional men i like as like butches Curly is no exception#but like they didnt need to add that many polygons to his chest like its unnessary and honestly a little mean he already has so many things#to handle and you expect him to hold those boys up like that just aint right this is like something so stupid but i know you can tell im#having strong feelings about it cause like what was the point why did they survive the fucking crash it has to be a injoke at this point#with the devs it shouldnt make me this mad im turning into a misandrist but only towards large chested men#mouthwashing#curly mouthwashing#shitpost#suggestive#ig because this is just about his chest but like also they made him objectively pretty for no reason like yeah like ideal man and work ig#but they went over the extra mile like i have a right to be mad they did that much for a model we see canonically for like two seconds its#crazy actually how little we see of curly pre crash because we also lose his physical movements to help characterize him the way we see#body language with the other characters and how it gives way to their struggles and personalities and sentiments in certain moments#like all he does and how he emotes is stifled by the fact we always play as him until the last moments where he takes over to try and save#the ship and crew and even right before that the scene is so wrought with tension we cant tell what that look he gave Jimmy meant due to#the limitations of the models and how stiff Curly is like was it fear acceptance denial we dont know enought about how he acts himself#to tell and then everything else is charaterized by what Jimmy had done to where we dont really just get to see Curly as himself like Anya#and Swansea and Daisuke we have no idea how theyd act in a regular moment outside of a few glimpses and even then it is them doing#their jobs like grrrr we hate an unreliable narrator but also its the fact jimmy clearly does not interact with them or try to outside of#his position as copilot and then captain harkening back to the entire capitlist view of utility and how he views all of them as useless eve#Curly which fandom tangent the fandom also tends to do to Curly as they base every trait on what they think he failed to do as Captain#between Jimmy and Anya when the QnAs kinda make him out to be a rather open and willing person but still someone who isnt like a push over#just thinking of QnA three where it mentions hes very open to trying new things and you need to be an open minded person to open urself up#to failure like that and ig this is just the weird view that Curly needs to learn that or that theres redemption he needs personality wise#verses healing and learning from trauma like idk its the idea that people assume he did abosultely nothing when the games points out direct#and throught parallels he was taking actions its just wasnt enough and an over focus on absolute inaction vs ineffective methods used to#tackle the issues and themes the game grapples with plus wanting someone to take the blame and have to make it up to Anya even tho#i think it would mean nothing from Curly because she saw his efforts and would be disappointed it wasnt enough but the idea she would#disregard the attempts or not acknoweldge Jimmy as the epicenter compared ot Curly is weird and too focused on someone
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mimsypoo · 10 hours ago
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(i also see smithers as transfem, i use she/he interchangeably due to my headcanons on how gender feels for her. hope u don't mind 👍)
i don't have time to respond to all of your individual points, but i will say a bit.
"just because it doesn't revolve around your ship." firstly, please don't condescend to me like that. yes, i enjoy burnsmithers, but that's not really the point i was making here. anyone who knows me personally will know that i don't care that much about canon/canon ships. even with burns and smithers, i don't actually think about them getting together very often. i like it, but i don't need it. my attention towards the ship comes more from the fact that i like both of them a lot individually, so it's convenient to have them in a little package like that. (and i like seeing smithers win.)
i am glad that you are able to personally enjoy and accept the characterization of smithers in more recent material, i truly am. having so much content of a character you love is very lucky.
i'm incredibly picky, though, and i don't think all of the changes in her personality can be reduced to 'character development.' she was written by people, writers who make decisions and have thoughts and change things based on their experiences and biases.
just because the writers may be trying to give their characters 'happy endings' as you put it doesn't mean i'm going to like their creative decisions. it's the simpsons, it's so highly episodic, and even moments that were advertised as big changes in the status quo were eventually abandoned. the writers do not like having to see big changes through. (cough cough cough the burns cage cough)
their dynamic, at its roots, is based around codependency. that's where it was born. without an understanding of that, they lose a lot of their nuance and depth because of how much they're defined by each other. this may not be true of modern writing, but it is true of the early seasons. i don't mean that they can't exist at all without each other, and i apologize if the way i said this lacked clarity, but what i meant was that their personalities were developed with room for their codependency. even when they aren't near each other, they are still people who are capable of relying on each other. the way their characterization has shifted does not often leave that space in their personalities.
i do not mean they always need to be around each other or thinking about each other. what i mean is that their personalities were created as foils, and they are losing that in the writers' inclination towards projected individualism.
in earlier seasons when they're pictured without each other, i like them just fine. i agree that there is more to them than each other. my critique was not that their characters have no potential, it was aimed at the writers' inability to properly utilize that potential.
they have their moments in modern simpsons, but overall, i think it says a lot that my favorite independent modern smithers appearance was one where she doesn't even talk. (werking mom)
on werking mom, i need to bring up that my complaints about smithers' identity come from ME being gay, transgender, and hell, even a doll collector! i see SO MUCH of myself in smithers. and yet, with modern smithers, i experience a palpable detachment. like suddenly, there's something off.
a lot of that does come from the new way they use smithers' gayness. i like it in earlier seasons because it feels so casual, like it doesn't have to be said for us to know it. it's more human like that. modern simpsons is OBSESSED with saying it. constantly. over and over again. in every scene. and it annoys me because it feels like they forgot that there IS more to smithers than that. smithers' experience with gender and sexuality will always inform her life and interests, but the modern emphasis on that doesn't feel like a nuanced exploration on the influence of lgbt identity on everyday life or something. it feels cheap and performative.
when i say "smithers has been reduced to his gayness," what i mean is that his characterization has become a lot more stereotypical. the fact that her writing has become more shallow makes this noticeable to me because most of her episodes revolve around gayness in some way. even if bottle episode wasn't about her being attracted to men, it was still dependent on gay stereotypicality to make the episode work. even the wine court stuff was tied to her involvement in the lgbt community. part of this comes from the simpsons' inclination to make her nicer- it feels like they see 'gay' as being a positive trait rather than neutral, so they struggle not to see gay people through a positive lens. that's stereotyping, even stereotypes that intend kindness can be condescending if they lack depth. smithers being depicted as better than he was in the past is, at least partially, intrinsically tied to her identity as gay.
lackey is in and of itself an example of this double standard. it's noticeable that nowadays, smithers doing good deeds always feels intrinsically linked to her gay experience rather than her individuality. along with that, it's hard to read as 'character development' because, to me, smithers already feels like a husk at the beginning of the episode. his being a good person is tied to his relationship with michael, how she wants love but won't take it at the expense of others... then keeps working for mr. burns. you relate this to in-universe explanations, but it isn't a real thing that happened. it was a thing that people wrote. along with that, it doesn't feel like a development or change. it feels like an easy thing for the writers to do because it would be annoying to let smithers have a new boyfriend. it would do too much to change the show's overall formula, and it's easier to just make smithers drop him to keep things the same. it doesn't matter if your excuse as to why is incoherent, so long as they've dropped the new player by the end.
when i say, "smithers isn't allowed to be gay for mr. burns" anymore, what i mean is that acknowledgments of that attraction feel half assed and chorelike. the writers do not care about the way smithers likes mr. burns. i stand by what i said. the writers don't want to write burns and smithers being codependent, they want to write AROUND it. as in, i believe they want it to affect their plotlines as little as possible. their lack of chemistry is an important signal at the writers' lack of interest in their relationship. to me at least, it just doesn't feel like the writers understand how or why the two could like each other, and bottle episode really encompasses that frustration for me.
i just don't like the decisions they make for their characters in modern simpsons. you mention flanders' grief, so i'll say i didn't like o c'mon all ye faithful's handling of that, either. it has the same problem as smithers' relationship with michael, it has to do with a fundamental fear of change.
at the beginning of lackey, smithers doesn't have a boyfriend. by the end, smithers doesn't have a boyfriend. at the beginning of faithful, flanders believes in god. by the end, flanders believes in god. any "changes" that occur in the plotline are illusory because these episodes pose no threat to the writers' routine. my complaints are not just me wanting burnsmithers fodder. i think the way they're handling the characters is bland, clunky, and uninventive. any 'innovation' is wholly performative or intended to lampshade a flawed understanding of the characters themselves and why they were entertaining and charming at their inception.
thinking abt bottle episode now -_- i think it's so exhausting to watch burns and smithers in recent seasons because it feels like the writers are trying to write AROUND their codependency? they can acknowledge it exists on paper, but in practice, they fail to anchor their interactions in a logical understanding of it.
like, they had burns pestering smithers for help early in the episode to the point it was a catalyst for the plot, and yet, when smithers is INCARCERATED burns doesn't notice until he's specifically told? it just feels like the writers don't want to engage with how these two need each other to function, not just from the watsonian perspective but doylian as well.
without smithers, burns becomes just an evil old rich man. without burns, smithers kind of just exists??? they are both SO important for contextualizing each other and creating respective depth.
along with that, i think smithers' personality has become way too reliant upon his gayness. in the name of "representation," they've brought it into the forefront of his characterization and, in doing so, dropped most of the shit that actually made him unique in the first place. of course the writers can't see why he would like mr. burns anymore! they just see him as a nondescript spineless gay guy! i believe his writing is way more homophobic than it was in the early years because it feels like being gay is all he has at this point. and yet he's also not allowed to be gay FOR mr. burns. and mr. burns is a pathetic old man, but he's not allowed to need smithers because he has to be one dimensionally evil and capable of performing functional independence.
their newfound lack of chemistry drastically impedes their ability to be enjoyable and entertaining, and i think the writers know that but don't realize it's their own fault. it seems like they don't have fun writing the two as the unit they're supposed to be, so they go to great lengths to mischaracterize them even further just to keep them from interfering with each other's plotlines. i mean god, take thirst trap for example. i'll just post what i said about that one on discord.
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[text: they got the "smithers likes mr. burns" thing down and they don't seem to know anything else about them and i'm just staring at them like there is no world where mr. burns marries a random shady woman who is blatantly using him for his money and smithers is just like Yeah she's cool because she likes Mr. Burns too!
No. He would want to kill her and wear her skin]
more than anything i wish that burns and smithers would be allowed the codependency that defined them in the first place. they don't just like each other, they NEED each other, and that fact is supposed to create an obstacle that defines them intrinsically. that's where their writing begins. can we just go perform a simpsons coup d'état
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massiveladycat · 5 months ago
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me asf with nick davis
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kavehater · 6 months ago
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Chappel Roan saying she’s sad she’s demisexual and then there’s me being aroace as a whole like don’t you think I’m even more sad 😭
#not saying she’s not allowed to feel sad at all#just makes me think about myself LOL#I hate being aroace it’s like everyone’s part of a secret club I will never be a part of#and that people don’t tend to understand and if they do they never uphold that fact#like I actually have thrown up before from the concept of being in a relationship because it’s horrifying#and disgusting to me in a practical sense#like I don’t want to throw up every time I start thinking about those things I just want to be normal#and not panic like a relationship sounds like even worse than a death sentence#ppl think aroace is cute and problem free but it’s literally so uncomfortable and inconvenient when you’re in a world which a) doesn’t#understand wth aroace is b) doesn’t respect it at all c) has shit povs on what friendship is and how it can be more fulfilling than somethin#and d) how badly it impacts some ;-; like ik it sounds easy but try telling yourself omg I want to have a forever bestie#but then said forever bestie will never end up truly putting you first because they’d have a partner who will be their number one#and as usual you won’t even be second place you will be last like always#because I’ve noticed that the moment ppl get a partner suddenly they become their forever bestie role and then I can’t have that cause it#freaks me out and disgusts me all at once so I’m literally just cursed with forever feeling lonely and not meaning anywhere near as much to#someone who you wish could even look your way the way you do to them …#honestly by the day these reminders make me feel more and more aplatonic but it’ll simultaneously always feel like a hole in my heart#because apparently being aroace is like being some weird person and some freak#and not in the 𝒻𝓇ℯ𝒶𝓀𝓎 type of connotation LMAO I mean just plain freak#and then that loneliness will always accumulate and accumulate and accumulate until I physically cannot handle it anymore or I take matters#into my own hands and just off with her head to myself LMAO#dora daily#and that is why despite aroace being cool to me it’s just not placed in an environement which makes it cool#as those assholes tend to say oh meh meh meh you never struggled girl … we’re in the 21st century every person in the lgbt community is#living the life dating who they want and being with who they want#but allegedly it is but a crime I can’t like anyone and that nobody fucking listens to me when I say I have an attraction deficit#and that they take it upon their hands to define what I’m attracted to or head canon me as whatever they are#I swear I’m not even fucking worth that shit just leave me alone 😭#I promise like if I was with somebody they will regret the day they were born by being with me LOL I am not all that in fact me being aroace#is saving them from torture ☠️ anyways ! rant over :3
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angeldrawsstuffs · 15 hours ago
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Oh people hate on Wu as well and, personally, it’s just as obnoxious. If you think critically about most of the things Wu’s “caused”, it really boils down to one of three scenarios:
1. It would’ve happened in some form regardless and Wu’s involvement had little to no actual affect on the outcome.
2. Wu was in the general vicinity of whatever occurred and had no involvement in the actual incident.
Or
3. He was a literal child when it happened of course he was being stupid and irrational, that’s what kids do.
To make this point, I’ll go through all the main show villains with ties to Wu (or that I’ve just seen generally pinned on him for one reason or another) and how they fall into one of these categories:
Garmadon - Wu was a child and had no reasonable way to know the Great Devourer was outside the Monastery, nor did he even ask Garmadon to go get the sword, Garmadon chose to do that on his own. Even if Wu somehow “caused” it or knew there was a risk, it wasn’t intentional and he spent the next millennium or so blaming himself and trying to help his brother by whatever means necessary (this really shows in the canon Spinjitzu Brothers books where we actually get to have Wu’s POV shown to us).
The Serpentine - The whole alliance was being manipulated, and so were the serpentine themselves. I won’t absolve Wu of blame entirely but like if he’s at fault so is Garmadon, Ray, Maya, Mystake, etc.. But overall it was Master Chen’s fault any of it happened at all because the Serpentine War wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t trick both sides into fighting.
The Overlord - This guy is older than Wu by a LONGSHOT, I do not think I need to say more on this.
Morro - I love Morro as much as the next guy, but I think this fandom is long overdue for a conversation about how Morro had a big hand in his own fall. Yes, Wu had and has blame for building up the Green Ninja idea in Morro’s head, but Morro himself I firmly believe would’ve become a villain regardless if he met Wu or not. The flashbacks show us Morro had little to no empathy for other people or how his actions affected them. He deliberately went too hard on his fellow students to show how he was “strong”, and, this one I cannot stress enough, actively refused all of Wu’s attempts to help him grow as a person and diverge from his path. Morro’s famous final line in Possession, “you can only save those who want to be saved” is the perfect summarization of his character. Morro did not want to be saved, he refused to be saved when he was alive, and continued to do so in death. Wu did not tell him to go look for the tomb, nor did he know Morro was looking for it. Morro is a cautionary tale of how, if you don’t introspect and try to grow as a person, if you don’t accept they you are flawed and other people aren’t the sole source of your issues, you’ll only doom yourself in the end. Nothing was black and white with Morro and Wu, they were both flawed people. They were both at fault in their own ways, but Morro’s path and eventual fate was ultimately determined by him and his choices to not change alone.
Time Twins - WOO, after that character analysis, time (ha!) for a simple one. They were evil on their own, Wu had no hand in that.
Aspheera - Wu. Was. A. Child. Being. Manipulated. By. A. Grown. Person. Like, this one actually pisses me off because trying to say Aspheera was Wu’s fault is victim blaming at its finest. Wu did something stupid by sneaking into Mambo’s kingdom, yes, but he was a child! Kids do stupid stuff like that because you don’t understand consequences! Aspheera tricked him into thinking she was his friend and, when you think about it, Wu doesn’t seem to have had any other friends outside of his brother. We don’t even know if he had any long term connections or relationships outside of his father and brother. He was a lonely kid who just wanted a friend, can you really blame him for that?
Alrighty, before I end this this post, I’ll lightning round address the “why didn’t Wu tell the ninja?” thing.
Garmadon - He did, that’s the plot of the pilots and the first two seasons.
The Serpentine - He had every reason to assume they were a non-issue and were already dead or sealed away for good. How was he supposed to know Lloyd would go from petty harassment to trying to assemble a snake army??
The Overlord - Some combination of Wu again thinking he was a non-issue (at least for the time being) (also like- Wu didn’t realize The Overlord could have a role in the prophecy until Misako said so), and, based on the way Wu talks about him and what we know of him, it was probably a “names have power” situation. By speaking of him and spreading knowledge of his existence, people can become afraid of him, and we know The Overlord feeds of darkness and fear, so it’s not out of left field to extrapolate that not talking about him and letting the memory die out of the public consciousness is a legit strategy to keep him at bay.
Morro - Hadn’t talked to him or heard anything about his whereabouts in 20-40 years. Wu’s of a similar age to the Serpentine War during the Morro flashbacks, so we can guess the general timeframe of how long ago they were (also we know it’s before Garmadon’s banishment because he has the Golden Weapons). Wu had absolutely no idea Morro went looking for the FSM’s tomb, much less that he died doing so and became a cursed ghost out for revenge- again, I pose the question: how was he supposed to know?? Nobody in their right mind would come to that conclusion on absolutely zero information.
Time Twins - This is the ONE instance I will say Wu should’ve told them because he DID know they were coming back. But also Wu gets crap for “dragging his students into his personal battles” so it’s a little hypocritical when those same people go back and say he should’ve let the ninja help. The one time he did know an old enemy would return, he wanted to settle that score without burdening his students, which I personally find commendable (not like he could’ve predicted the fight going south- or that Krux had returned much earlier and been scheming for DECADES to foil Wu and reunite with Acronix for their plans).
Aspheera - Same deal as the other serpentine, as far was Wu was aware, she was a done deal. Aspheera was sealed away for over a millennium before S11, either she was long since dead or not going to be an issue ever again.
OK NOW I’M DONE FOR REALISES- Wu obviously isn’t a perfect person, but I’ll be damned if I let his name be tainted by misconceptions that keep being perpetrated in this fandom! /lh /nm
(I could go on for so long about Wu and his trauma and the cycle of abuse in his family and-)
/gen /nm
I'm kind of new to the Ninjago fandom, and I've noticed ppl complain that like... Misako is overhated, and people can't understand a morally gray character (Which I can believe, but I have only seen it once), and I'm wondering if the same thing has happened to wu.
He caused, like... Half of the shit in the show, and has done probably worse things than Misako has. So I'm wondering if people treat him the same, or is it just Misako?
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bulletbilltime · 14 days ago
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Looking at hetero ships and male characters and thinking "what if they were gay and girls. this is a normal cisgender thought to have"
#bulletbilltime rambling#the number of transfem headcanons I've constructed in the past few months...#this includes flavien bouchard from dans une galaxie pres de chez vous. give that 'boy' some estrogen RIGHT NOW#AND there's also brad spitfire that has a literal episode where he switches personalities to a girl named linda#it's played for laughs but surprisingly not the worst I've seen#it's a fascinating trans allegory too because this character is literally happier this way & everyone likes her so much more this way#and this is acknowledged IN CANON#but since she cannot actually do her job in this personality she's forced back into the closet where she's angry and miserable#AND in another ep it's shown that as a kid Brad wasn't allowed to do ballet by his dad which is stated to be part of why he is miserable#so like... there's smth there#it's a show from the late 90s so it's far from perfect & probably has transmisogyny I missed but idk smth speaks to me in here!#that being said there's a chance this could be a 'seeing transmisogynistic parody as representation' moment sooo yeah... grain of salt.#also his canon character is kind of... literally a fascist. which doesn't help the case here#maybe transitioning would save her. who knows#the show likes to hint that he wouldn't be this shitty if he had ppl actually show compassion to him thru his life#although the fascism kind of makes this point a bit difficult to really justify & his case harder to sympathize with.#(I should make a post about the conflict over brad's characterization as a tragic figure and an evil bastard. it's an interesting topic)#oh well we still have flavien trans girl headcanon which is not NEARLY as contentious!#I did not mean to make this post all about Dans Une Galaxie headcanons but yeah. these girls should transition RIGHT NOW.#I will probably make another post with any other transfem headcanons I can think of#for now have niche quebec tv show trans headcanons :D#the post is stored in the tags
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alwaysoc · 9 months ago
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#YES! GIVE ME THAT FANFIC ANGST!#IT'LL MAKE ME CRY BUT IT'S WORTH IT!#it's just so rare to see Katarina so self-depricating in the first place#but now she has good reason to be#if I was her I would be too!#Hamefura#honestly On The Verge of Doom is SO much better than I thought it would be!#like new plot#new struggles#Katarina's done a lot of horrid things but she's desperately trying to make up for them#hustle hustle hustle!#my poor baby doesn't have a big harem that she personally helped to rely on#like Alan and Keith (Keith especially) are such DIFFERENT people!#Alan Nicol and Sophia hardly appear#and only Geordo (and maybe Mary and Maria) seem to actually be lovestruck and that isn't until towards the end#this means that lots of the characters also act differently with each other!#Keith and Geordo don't have a rivalry and it's more of like a “Keep her safe will you?”#we get more insight into Maria being all insecure and don't see her mother at all#because even if Katarina still wanted to see how real fields looked#she wouldn't have any reason to go to Maria's hometown if she feels like she's made Maria suffer so heavily!#which makes sense#I adore that there's more focus on sword fighting too!#also Sienna is the sweetest baby ever! it's a shame that she doesn't appear at all in canon but it makes sense#anyway! yes! Verge of Doom is good!#I finished it all in one four-hour take!#I wouldn't mind getting maybe an anime spin-off based on Verge of Doom#goooosh! I love it! I'm going to go read some fluffy fanfic stuff now!
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raiiny-bay · 10 months ago
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it’s honestly kinda crazy to me that kel & co were literally the first OCs i ever made
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omarwolaeth · 8 months ago
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thinking 'bout how the lads interact with what the bracelets represent, especially in their decks
#marwospeaking#Yuuya is by far hardest to work with on this because he Varies. but that might just be him being opposite to Yuzu so it might count?#anyway Yuuya is a bushfire made by fireworks set off without proper precaution (the improperly set off fireworks being Zarc..#.. being influenced into the position that made the lads through his desire to both destroy and entertain his crowds)#It's small sometimes. but in the right conditions is an unstoppable conflagration#Yuuto literally does not die. In a world where we never truly get the other two (Yuugo and Yuuri) interacting with their host (Yuuya)..#.. outside of duels. he very much does. He is undead in a way the others don't quite match (pre Zarc revival) and it's opposite to..#.. En Bird's life (assuming it counts death too as part of its cycle)#Yuugo uses machine monsters - things that distinctly don't breathe. and in most cases have exhaust pipes billowing fumes#and machines can be warm to the touch at times. which you could feasibly slide against Rin's Windwitches for being Very Cold Ladies#Also he's trapped no matter where he is. Neo Domino has a stronger grip on him as a person than anyone else. and when he might finally..#.. escape that. he's trapped in someone else's body with no canonical recourse. because the story ended on Yuuya's terms and no one elses#Yuuri is hardest to place but I think he's very stationary. Sere's monsters are dancers - constantly moving - and she's very able to#adapt as she goes despite how stupid she can be book-wise. Yuuri is rooted into his role. even when he discards his loyalty his role was..#.. always in Zarc's interest no matter if he knew or not. The Professor's loyalty from him is an add-on to that#... I'd argue Zarc cared more about his pieces than Ray cared about hers also? He made cards for them on the fly so they'd Win#Even in moments where that victory is not in a wholly positive light - Odd-Eyes Raging and Gatlinghoul - but we know he's capable of it..#.. a la allowing Yuuya to debut pendulum monsters on his behalf in order to win against Ishijima#something something this can then apply to the other lads. they never lose except to each other and Ray's girls (at least on screen)#Yuuto survived 3 years of war. even despite Yuugo and Yuuri showing up. so methinks Zarc must've had a role in helping him survive#Like. Zarc's distinctly present for his Lads. Ray's not present for her lasses until one of them speaks through her#Sure it's very possible that's a bracelet thing - they are floodgates at the end of the day - and not a Ray thing. but it also wouldn't..#.. surprise me given Ray is an Akaba. we know they will sacrifice others for a gain later on - Ray's was sacrificing a whole world to make.#.. a safer one for everyone to live in. irrelevant on if they remember it or if they never existed originally. Except Leo Akaba. He does#(with memory reading tech) and it tortures him the whole time. she didn't mean to hurt him but Still#Zarc's distinctly not better than Ray - he's still broken wide open when it comes to his hatred of humanity (but not his human half)#and it resulted in multiple near-deaths the second time around - but I can't say Ray's that much better if it turns out the bracelets..#.. weren't floodgating her ability to help her lasses#Completely unrelated but. I don't like what Arcray represents ngl. makes it seem like Zarc could never move on with the help of his lads#and has to rely on someone who killed him and sent him to purgatory about it in order to heal.
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