#the lack of understanding /why/ leads to such gross interpretations of things like consent

[lazaruspiss]

Ive been thinking (unfortunately) about some things.

So antis know that children cant consent, and they apply the same standard to fictional children. But it completely ignores /why/ children cant consent. Children cant consent bc they typically lack both the physical development, knowledge, and life experience required to make an informed decision. /Fictional/ children cant consent because they aren't real, and same goes for fictional adults. Physical development isnt a factor bc they arent real, and experience can just be made up bc they still aren't real. They also can't be harmed bc yknow. They arent real. Harm done onto a fictional characters isnt comparable to harm done to a real person, and implying that it is also implying that the life of a fictional character is of the same value as a real person.

Things that feel super obvious when i say them out loud but shit. Some people are so incredibly dense.

[casually-inlove]

Some thoughts on ear piercings

The latest chapter caused the fandom to spontaneously combust. It ended on a highly ambiguous note and gave way to all sorts of speculations. Let’s admit it: we have raged, we have wondered, we have cracked our heads with theories – which is awesome of course since it means that OX writes something that resonates strongly with fans. Now that heads have cooled down a bit, let’s look at the possible ways ear piercing might have gone and the evidence that might support this or that theory.

It was done against Mo’s will

Mo seems uncomfortable when uttering the truth about his ear holes. He has never been seen wearing earrings on his own volition, and when He Tian put an earring into his ear, Mo seemed to have been disturbed, saying that wearing something like that grosses him out. 

As pointed out by several people, Mo seems to be wary of needles; moreover, when He Tian threatened to sew his mouth shut with steel wire, Mo took it to heart and was seen quite visibly shaking. That might or might not be related to the piercing deal, but nonetheless, in the light of the recent issue, it’s something to ponder about.

During his dialogue with Jian Yi, Mo specifically notes that She Li is not a good person and recommends not to anger him, as if implying that angering She Li leads to extremely dire consequences.

Mo’s answer to He Tian’s question in the recent chapter can be seen as both evasive and affirmative. On one hand, you can read it as Mo brushing it off:

HT: Does it hurt?

MGS: It was two years ago = I don’t dwell on it, it’s stuff of the past, you shouldn’t dwell on it either.

On the other hand, it could be read as Mo admitting to the fact it did hurt:

HT: Does it hurt?

MGS: It was two years ago = It did hurt but it doesn’t anymore since a lot of time has passed.

He Tian regards ear piercing as an act of vanity, however, Mo in general doesn’t seem like the type to be keen on looks and fashion. 

We have frequently seen him sporting bandaids all over his face and being absolutely chill about it, unlike He Tian who not only wears haute couture clothes (underwear ffs), but also worries about having his face scratched (since he fits the pretty boy trope and is generally noted for his good looks). 

Moreover, Mo’s family is in a dire financial situation due to the debts, would Mo really waste money on something as superficial as piercings and earrings? Granted it doesn’t cost all that much, but still.

It was done with Mo’s consent

Now, this may seem less plausible at a glance, however, this theory has a really solid argument: why Mo’s ear holes haven’t closed up if that was done against his will? In theory, he could have simply let it heal – a layer of tissue would have grown relatively fast. Surely they would have closed up after two years. But Momo still has ear holes, meaning he used to wear earrings rather often for the holes to form. Which in turn might mean that it was at least somewhat consensual – Mo agreed to wear something in his ears.

Also, the ear holes on Mo look pretty darn symmetrical and neat. Would they look this way, if it was done against his will (assuming someone had to hold him down in place)? It’s something to think about.

According to Mo, it was done two years ago, however, his answer is really vague in this case and could be interpreted as him stating that he used to be pals with She Li way back.

MGS: She Li was the one who did it.

HT: Does it hurt?

MGS: It was two years ago = We had been on better terms back then, but a lot has changed.

It’s a mark of being a gang member

Now it’s not uncommon for gang members to wear distinct attributes of a gang. It could be tattoos, clothing, common hairstyle, etc. So perhaps ear piercings were to serve a similar purpose and mark Mo as one of the She Li’s henchmen. That theory, however, lacks substantial evidence. If we look at the pictures of She Li’s followers, none of them seem to sport any piercings. 

Unless they are in some funny places (like tongue), but then I suppose it somewhat defeats the purpose of wearing a visible sign of belonging to a gang. Also, if their piercings are more discreet, why does Mo have them on a visible part of his body (ears)? It’s kinda unclear. 

It marks a bond between She Li and MGS only

I’m cringing as I’m typing it, but it could serve as “BFFs forever” type of thing. In my previous post, I speculated that the spot I used to take for a mole on She Li’s chin could be in fact a hole for a Labret piercing. 

Thus, She Li and Mo are the only people to have visible piercing holes on their bodies. Could it be that they used to wear some kind of a matching set? It’s also curious that as of now, neither Mo nor She Li wear anything, despite apparently having their chin/lip and ears pierced. Could taking it off signify the end of their friendship (or whatever they used to be)? It’s understandable why Mo would want to take off something that strongly reminds him of She Li, but why would She Li do the same? 

The implications are very peculiar, to put it mildly.

Anyway, I’ll state it once again: it’s all pure speculation. None of the theories sports indisputable evidence, all have their pros and cons. Ultimately only OX can shed the light on the issue, so let’s wait and see -- OX may opt for something different. Although I must admit I’ve never yearned so much for a new chapter to come out, ahaha.

[gch1995]

Captain Swan was like the cheap rip-off of Rumbelle. So how did they make their cheap, gross, and shallow pretty boy rip-off of Rumbelle look better than the far superior, deeply beautiful, and complex original couple? Systematically destroying every element of both halves of the deeply beautiful, emotionally complex, and unique original Rumbelle and kill off Neal to vilify Rumple to make their cheap, shallow, and gross rip-off look better by comparison, which they failed to do, anyway…It’s a sure fire way to win tons of viewers, and not piss off a huge portion of your original GA! It’s not like most of them weren’t majorly emotionally invested in Rumple’s story with Belle and Neal…*I’m being sarcastic, btw, in case that wasn’t already obvious...*

Ffs…I really came to hate this show, I’m glad I quit watching after S5 because I read spoilers that it only got worse for Rumbelle with the OOC toxic clusterfuck of the utter systematic character destruction of both Rumple and Belle as individual characters and a couple, which they used the Rumbaby to create for “fun” for A&E and these writers to make CS look better after they made them a romanticized abusive relationship in 5A, and lost half their audience by making Hook the Gary Stu of the show who everyone else got screwed over for at the last minute.

I was worried they would screw over Rumbelle in a way that finally went too far for people to just realistically reconcile after what they did to CS in 5A, and it looks like I was right from the spoilers I read for 6A…Because it’s not like A&E and these writers weren’t already systematically destroying both halves of Rumbelle enough as it already was to prop up Hook/CS when they killed off Neal. It’s not like it wasn’t already bad enough when they started all the Rumbelle drama with the fake dagger proposal, the magic hat, the lies, and the banishment that never was apologized for because it was framed as “girl power” for Belle to “put the beast in his place.” It’s not like it wasn’t already bad enough with Belle’s bizarre OOC newcharacterization of being back-and-forth with Rumple, being cowardly, hypocritical, stupid, unnecessarily cruel, controlling, insensitive, and lacking in empathy with Rumple, refusing to let him get a word in edgewise, even when he tried to reach out to her gently and honestly for her understanding and compassion, and even when he did nothing wrong, while she let Hook, Regina, and Zelena get away with using her to hurt Rumple and trusted and forgave all of them for hurting her and her true love because the narrative “needed” to vilify Rumple. It’s not like it wasn’t already bad enough when Rumple took back the curse because he claimed that “It’s the man that he was,” and “I like the darkness.”

This shit in 6A, though. This shit was just too fucking stupid and OOC to believe.

The unborn Rumbaby being a full grown adult God of Dreams with a fully formed personality and opinions in Belle’s subconscious, who she actually believes immediately without question for no damn reason when he tells her that “Rumple will destroy the family?”

BULLSHIT!

Belle talking about how she’d rather stay in a sleeping curse with her unborn child to avoid Rumple forever based off of what a dream said for no fucking reason, even before Rumple starts screwing up?

BULLSHIT!!

Belle staying on Hook’s ship, and talking to him and Snow about how she spent too long trying to make things work with Rumple, even before Rumple starts doing anything wrong in the arc, even though the writers have conveniently ignored the fact that Belle has an apartment above the library that Rumple gave her, even though she’s perfectly a-ok forgiving and trusting the man who tried to kill her four times to piss off Rumple, even though Hook’s “apology” for attempting to murder her has come too late in the series and he openly admits to letting her stay on his ship is something that he openly admits to doing to piss off Rumple when the worst that Rumple has done to her at this point in the series was keep her in the dark about his shady schemes in S4?

BULLSHIT!!!

Rumple having a Dark One 2.0 2007 Britney Spears style mental breakdown mid-life crisis when he cuts his hair because he doesn’t like the man he sees in the mirror, so he starts acting like a controlling, and potentially dangerous blindly insane dick to Bellle of nowhere?

BULLSHIT!!!!

Like, I could understand it if this bizzarely problematic shift in Rumple’s attitude had an organic lead up without all the stupid magical plot contrivances and twists that come out of the blue, and the breaking of preestablished rules used to force him to that extreme. I could understand it if Belle didn’t “have” to be made uncharacteristically, unnecessarily, and overdramatically cruel, cowardly, stupid, and hypocritical to push him over the edge. I could understand if these writers understood realistic human psychology, trauma, mental illnesses, consistent characterization, and they didn’t destroy or sideline other characters/ships to prop up their faves.

But on this show where I had barely survived through the pain that was S4 and S5 of Rumple’s being framed as an OOC one note stereotypical villain badly enough as it already was to prop up Hook/CS, Regina, and Zelena onto pedestals that they didn’t deserve by ignoring all of the trauma, loss, and grief he had endured, and the near erasure of his fantastic character development and selfless sacrifice from S1-3A? I didn’t want to see them try to portray Rumple’s self-destructive addict tendencies a third time around because he was a “difficult man to love” because A&E and these writers did not want, and/or did not know how to portray mental illness and trauma in Rumple’s character consistently, organically, sympathetically, and realistically.

They usually just ignored all that complexity in his character to frame him as a one note villain to the other characters and the audience, and refused to let them be sympathetic or understanding of him until he had finally come to the brink when it was finally convenient for Belle to actually hear him out, listen, understand why after she had refused to do so for most of the arc to push him over the edge, and he responded with some variation of “Who could ever love me,” which was always tragic with Bobby’s acting. But it was getting repetitive now because Belle should have understood this fact about Rumple after 4A in 6A, Rumple should have known that trying to fix things with magic without Belle’s consent would only make things worse in 6A after 4A, and both of them should have been smart enough to sit back and think about how ridiculous this shit with the dream zygote was. So I did not want to see a third round of character assassination one more time around at all an all time low where both he and Belle were being pitted against each other at incredibly OOC, illogical, and gross low point as enemies in this stupid magical custody battle clusterfuck over an unborn baby who somehow had the power to be the God of Dreams, orchestrate his own kidnapping, and dupe both of his intelligent parents after getting duped by the Black Fairy before he was even fucking born, especially when I knew I had seen a variation of this same plot done before in 4A. While that didn’t make total sense either, it didn’t feel so incredibly cheap, contrived, painful, unbelievable, and stupid as this shit in 6A did with all of the trauma that Rumple had been through in the context in 3B, even if it wasn’t that well written, or sympathetic in the narrative from his POV, either

Golden Queen “romance?”

BULLSHIT!!!!!

I mean, the retcons in the flashbacks were incredibly OOC for both Rumple and Regina. In the present day storyline context, it was wildly OOC for the EQ to sexually assault Rumple twice, and have a crush on him that she never seemed to before. As for Rumple giving into her advances, playing along with her, and using her to kill Zelena for him after those two kisses that she forced on him in the present day storyline? I mean, he flinched back from those two kisses, and we know he was sexually abused by Zelena for a whole year, so I could buy that he would emotionally manipulate the EQ to kill Zelena for him with his sexuality because he wanted the shears, and because he didn’t want to be seen as weak through their whole deal, so he used the darkness to cover up his vulnerabilities. I could see if it really “meant nothing,” and he had absolutely no intention of honoring his end of that indirectly implied deal he made with EQ to bang her in return for killing Zelena for him that he offered, he had absolutely no genuine romantic or sexual interest or intentions with her either way, and this was all just a horribly self-destructive, gross, and unethical way to survive his PTSD for as long he “needed” to do it in their deal. And that’s definitely my headcanon.

Unfortunately, A&E and these writers tried to do everything in their power to demonize Rumple throughout that whole thing with the EQ by shrouding his POV. Rumple’s PTSD being triggered by the EQ and Zelena isn’t an excuse for playing her, of course, but the writers literally forgot about the fact that she sexually assaulted him twice first, and then deliberately cut that scene where he ran into Zelena at Granny’s right before that scene in 6x07 where she walked in on them making out, which would have implied that Rumple had been planning on doing this whole time since the end of 6x04 when she forced that kiss on him, and was very likely expecting her to walk in on him and the EQ when they were making out in 6x07. But Bobby looked highly uncomfortable and dead inside when he was making out with Lana in those scenes, he fought Eddy against the whole GQ storyline, and he knows Rumple’s character better than A&E and their team of hacks do, so I took his interpretation in his acting as Rumple in those scenes to heart way more than whatever the fuck A&E and these writers were trying to imply in their piss poor excuse for writing on a dying show that should have ended three-and-a-half seasons before it ever had the chance to make it to this tragically pitiful and nearly laughable hollowed out shell of the fantastic show with well-written complex characters that it used to be once upon a time (pun intended).

Like I said, I hate this show, or at least the show that it became after “Going Home,” and Nealfire’s death…

I also don’t respect A&E and these writers anymore for how abruptly, cruelly, and deliberately they mistreated Rumple, Belle, Rumbelle, Neal, Emma, and Henry’s characters, stories, relationships, and fans in the writing after “Going Home,” so that Eddy Kitsis and these writers could have their love affair with Hook/CS and Zelena!

I still ship Rumbelle from S1-S3, and I still ship them in fanon where the writing for them, whether it be angsty, romantic, tragic, or bittersweet, is always sympathetically in-character, consistent, emotionally complex, organic, realistic, healthy, well-written, and well-earned.

But I’m glad I quit watching this show after S5 because it became clear that they were systematically destroying both halves of Rumbelle out of spite to prop up Hook/CS, and I didn’t need to see that shit anymore. It wasn’t good for my mental health, and I’m honestly regretting that I ever even read the recaps and spoilers for 6A on tumblr.

As far as I’m concerned, the real show ended with “Going Home” because that was the last time I fully recognized my favorite characters/otp, the last time I was mostly satisfied with everyone from season one’s character development, and the last time that any of the writing on this show made any sort of consistent, meaningful, and realistic sense before becoming a cheesy, stupid, and toxic romantic magical soap opera Drama™️ fanfic rewrite centered around Hook/CS as the lead character/couple with no continuity, no depth, no organic original growth, and no character or storytelling integrity.

Belle being needlessly cruel by telling Rumple that he is “worse than evil,” and “being too weak to be good” for being afraid to fail their son as a father when she knows Neal died not that long ago?

BULLSHIT!!!!!! She had every right to be angry at him for not telling her right away about plotting to use the shears on their son without her consent, and for handing off dark magical macguffins to the EQ, but twisting his words, and using his fears against him by being mean? That’s not Belle.

Belle attempting to kidnap the unborn baby with Zelena’s help, and gloating over to Rumple angrily about how she and his abuser and the murderer of his first son were “alike,” while mocking him about how she was almost “free” when he caught her, and stopped her in 6x08?

BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!

And yes, it would have been attempted kidnapping in this instance in real life that she would have been arrested for in this episode because the only evidence she had that Rumple was a serious “danger” to their unborn child with the shears at this point, and that he was having an “affair” with the EQ was all hearsay from Zelena. Zelena was not a reliable source to Rumple’s motives with the shears, or Rumple’s true intentions with the EQ. She didn’t actually know whether Rumple actually was planning to bang her or not, and I really don’t think he ever was because he told Belle that it meant nothing, anyway, and swatted away the EQ like a fly as soon as she broke their deal by hurting Belle, and didn’t kill Zelena for him.

Rumple threatening to speed up Belle’s pregnancy recklessly in a dissociative panic when she already had that fucking cuff on her wrist, and wasn’t going anywhere because he was so obsessed with these stupid shears?

BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know a lot of people who watched said that it was strongly implied that Rumple was, even subconsciously, trying to deescalate himself by warning Belle to come back to him before doing it ahead of time, and showing her the aging dust in that little bottle in his hand when he terrorized her in the library with the threat to do it before calling him out, and talking him down. I do believe that the writer of this episode was trying to imply to the audience that Rumple was looking for a “no” from Belle, even subconsciously, because he didn’t know how else to descalate himself, and I do believe that. However, it still was a wildly OOC nearly unforgivable extreme that they forced him to, so they could bring this story to the unnecessary brink of past the point of no return for Rumple and Belle ever reconciling again for absolutely no reason, other than to give Belle a reason to genuinely be afraid and distrustful enough of him to give up their baby to the Black Fairy (in disguise as Blue) to give him his “best chance.”

It’s just like how Belle didn’t actually “need” to attempt to kidnap their unborn child in the episode before this, or how Belle didn’t “need” to banish Rumple across the town line with nothing. It’s just like how it didn’t make any sense for Rumple to try to give Belle the dagger at all, considering how terrified he was of being controlled again. I could see if his heart had started blackening before he left for New York, and the dagger was his veiled plea for her to help him fight the darkness because he couldn’t tell her the truth with his heart being consumed by the curse, but they never made that explicitly clear in the narrative and they ruined most credibility in that when they had him take the curse back because “it was the man that he was.” It’s just like how Belle’s back-and-forthedness with Rumple in S5 made no sense. It’s just like how Belle agreeing to take Rumple’s car and go see the world in a middle of a crisis in town after proclaiming “A hero never runs away” two episodes a day earlier in the timeline before, just because she was having relationship doubts. These writers forced their characters into OOC directions and extremes that weren’t actually necessary, just so they could fulfill their (oftentimes character assassinating and disappointing) plot twists, especially with Rumple and Belle post 3A, and I was finally fed up with it by 6A, even though I didn’t watch any of that clusterfuck.

The Rumbaby being the villain of the week under the hood after being duped by the Black Fairy to dupe his parents to turn against each other, so that he could orchestrate his kidnapping from them at birth before he was even fucking born because Rumple using the shears on him would have prevented this shit from happening?

BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Adam and Eddy claiming that all this systematic character destruction of every element in Rumple and Belle’s individual characters and relationship together was “fun” and “hopeful,” and that they had been planning this storyline with the Black Fairy for a long time now, even though we all knew by now that they had no sense of self-awareness or ability to learn from their bad writing choices, every Dearie/Rumbelle fanfic writer was writing stories for the characters and relationship that they created a billion times better than they ever could imagine for free on ao3 and ff.net than the vile garbage these piss poor excuses for professional writers and show-runners were still getting paid to spew after they ran out of ideas on their after 3A and shit on Rumbelle deliberately to prop up their faves, and most people planned ahead more thoughtfully for their graduation speeches, what to wear on a date, and school projects than these hacks spent on their now dead trash show?

BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!! At this point, I was just laughing bitterly at them still taking themselves as such “genius” storytellers. I wasn’t even blaming the characters for being this wildly OOC and badly written anymore because it wasn’t really even worth it anymore when A&E and these writers fucked them up for their stupid sensationalist plots, CS pandering, and inability to stick to any sort of consistent realistic characterization, development, timeline, rules, or storytelling integrity, let alone even trying to tell any story with any sort of deeper purpose or meaning at all at this point, anyway. This show was just a cash grab for them at this point for Disney product placement, and Hook/CS.