#there is an equal level of dedication and obsession

[transsexual-necromutilomaniac]

i have such sick and twisted thoughts about their dymamic

[rinbylin]

friendships as marital ties (and other notes on relational ties) in mlc

this is sort of a third installment in the series of meta on 'mlc as an exemplar of constructing queer narratives out of chinese ideological frameworks' (1. jianghu as queer space and 2. how it manifests in li xiangyi) - focusing on the nature of relationships in it. (which I've briefly mentioned in the first one and finally actually getting to it!!)

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I would like to first call attention to chinese ideological frameworks as a premise of queer reading in mlc. the goal of chinese philosophy is to explore the becoming of human, taking two broad paths of the (mainstream) secular vs. escaping the secular. (these two paths are not a strict dichotomy, and rather, are ever in flux and in conversation with each other.) as said by @markiafc too, chineseness is so much about the rigidity of structures, and in equal part, a desire to break out of them. thus, chinese ideological frameworks can very much offer a rich reading of queerness - that mlc, a story very deliberately structured based on chinese ideologies (more accurately, with good reasons for me to believe that it is as such), has managed to materialise.

if the conceptualisation of queerness is premised on a defiance against mainstream norms, then a reliable way to read queerness in chinese ideological frameworks can be to deconstruct it by the mainstream confucian frameworks.

in mlc, this is implicitly set up with its stage of wulin/martial jianghu. then it is further broken down by asking, hey wulin jianghu is still closely related to the hegemonic values and the mainstream structure of authority (historically, 侠 xia being politically involved says a lot about this), so what is the true meaning of jianghu? what does it then really take for jianghu to be a queer space offering comfort and freedom to those who have escaped to it - to be the space that allow the transcendence of rigid roles and labels? mlc took a step further to resist the proxy to mainstream values that wulin jianghu has become.

this is why there can be a very strong buddhism reading of mlc (suggested here, expounded in the A+++ meta by @markiafc here and here, and also what I've seen discussed by cnet as well), given that buddhism is one of the 'extra-secular' ideologies, alongside (philosophical) taoism. I've also touched on a taoist angle in this meta. both schools are articulated in different sets of languages, but ultimately convey a same ideal of what it means to be human and how to live well - that is, to resist the roles and labels defined by the norms.

so, back to confucian frameworks.

a lot can be discussed about mlc with it. but in the context of this meta about relationships in mlc, it's specifically drawing on how confucianism conceptualises social relationships with familial ties as a cornerstone, and how these relational ties are inextricable from the conceptualisation of the 'self'.

as such, one of the things about mlc that has fascinated me is how deliberately it seems to ignore and reject the conventional familial ties (the kind by blood and marital ties). I've joked about how it is a miracle for me to love mlc as much as I do, as a prime dysfunctional family story enjoyer, despite none of its main characters struggling with any complicated feelings about their (biological) parents. but on closer examination, mlc is also making a comment on the model of familial-based relationships that dominates mainstream society - but through the absence of it.

with this, I want to talk about 1) how mlc rejects the conventional ties; and then 2) how it repurposes these ties in its own ways.

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the five relational ties in confucianism:

father and son 父子有亲 - (natural) affection between father and son

ruler and subject 君臣有义 - righteous relationship between ruler and subject

older and younger brothers 兄弟 (长幼有序) - this is actually about seniority within the family; the order between older vs younger family members

husband and wife 夫妇有别 - differentiation between husband and wife (demarcated by the 内外 spectrum of gendered inner-external spheres)

friends 朋友有信 - trust between friends

logically inferred, all these ties are hierarchical and familial-based except for the last one: friends. ruler-subject is sort of an extension of the natural familial ties, while friendship is the inverse space of 1-4 (ie. you fall back on 5 to define a social relationship outside of the familial sphere that cannot be qualified as 1-4). while all are premised on mutuality, it is only no. 5 that is defined by a sense of choice and equality.

on the surface, 1-4 don't quite exist in mlc in particularly meaningful ways to the narrative or are even outright overlooked, and friendship is the relational tie most valued by mlc. we can tell it's true just by looking at the most meaningful relationships in mlc of difanghua. but at the same time, it is more nuanced. we can take a closer look at how the story plays around with most of the ties as part of a broader queer narrative.

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1) how mlc rejects the conventional ties

mlc's rejection of mainstream relational ties can be best seen in fdb escaping from marriage. and it was not just any engagement with anybody but an engagement with the imperial family. he struggles with the prospect of being married to princess zhaoling, but generally, it's about the idea of complying to mainstream conventions and expectations that includes compulsory heterosexuality. all these point not only to a defiance against amatonormativity - the resistance of the traditional husband-wife tie, but also an irreverence for the ties of ruler-subject (the engagement being an imperial decree) and father-son (matters of marriage being sole decisions made by parents).

of course this is on top of how fdb's own biological father is a p-o-s, and the narrative gives fdb minimal struggles in this aspect, allowing him to sever this tie without looking back (I love it, yeap). along the same line is how lxy is an orphan, who came to gain important relationships that are built on natural compassion among people rather than innate, blood-based ties - even as llh. the sense of defiance from the narrative is especially stark to me considering that he could have a completely different familial-based life - as a son, brother, and ruler, if his biological family was still around. the narrative also deliberately treats his biological brother as a phantom, replaced with an older brother who he was bonded with neither by blood nor marital ties. on dfs's front, absolutely nothing is to be known about his biological family. his childhood history with the toxic patriarch of his life - who is not even his biological father - was afforded a clean break and closure.

we can keep going on, but that's pretty much the point.

ritualisation is one of the most important things of the confucianism school, especially to the honoring of these social relationships (and the officiating of social roles). the one ceremony/ritual we saw in mlc involving the main characters - or more accurately speaking, came closest to seeing - was the imminent wedding ceremony of dfs and jlq. even in that case, it was premised on non-mutuality with dfs being the unwilling, passive party. (fem-coded dfs? 25 marks.)

and that brings us to the next part.

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2) how mlc repurposes these ties

that particular wedding ceremony gets hijacked by dfs and lxy/llh, and gets turned into an important milestone in their relationship. they consummate - what is on text - their friendship after a long time being more enemies and rivals than friends. it is a clear establishment of the trust they have for each other. and here it is where I circle back to the subject of this post: friendships as marital ties.

in this article, as a part of a feminist, egalitarian reframing of confucianism, there is a proposal for spousal relationships to be reframed as a friendship tie. (this aligns with the interrelatedness of the five ties eg. the ruler-subject mirrors father-son dynamic, with the confucian belief that rulers have an obligation to their subjects alike parents to their own children.) by doing so, it removes the functional, gendered differentiation assigned to marital ties, and shifts it to something equal, and independent of gender. you exalt the value of trust between spouses, instead of basing marital relationships on gendered roles. as such, spouses become more like friends, and conversely, friends can also become more like spouses. (romance not a prerequisite. it has never been about romance anyway.)

given that mlc has repeatedly applied marital motifs to llh and dfs's characters in their joint narratives, this opens up a reading friendships as a marital tie. seeing marriage as a bridge for strangers to become family, marriage in mlc becomes a metaphor for the chosen commitment and mutual trust put in by strangers/friends (non-familial ties) into the becoming of family. the blurring of lines between marital ties and friendship encourages a genuine space of queer experience that goes beyond any pressure for strict labels - of sexuality, and relationships as romantic, sexual, etc etc.

(note: despite the borrowing of a feminist concept, I strongly hesitate to call mlc a feminist story. it's a whole discussion - or debate - on its own. nevertheless, it is definitely a gender-conscious story that lays foundation for a strong queer and egalitarian reading.)

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it is to be noted that it is intended - and also beneficial to take the confucian framework of relational ties beyond face value. the framework offers what it believed to be the most fundamental social relationship dynamics, and sees room for extension and matching to other kinds of relationships (all if not, most). a relationship such as teacher-student, which is outside of the five ties stated, can also mirror the affection of father-son ties, albeit not in a literal and identical way.

speaking of which. fdb and lxy/llh.

indeed they're known by others to be good friends. fdb thinks they're good friends too - insists on it, and puts his best efforts in keeping it that way. but does it really go both ways? if it does not, then can it really still be friendship? my humble take is that, ultimately - weighing in with llh's perspective - this is a relationship that is not so much based on trust, and rather, based on an innate affection that is only unique to family. (in this case, not blood/marital-based but one that was chosen and built aka lxy's relationship with sgd.) in other words, less of a friendship, more of a familial one.

it is a lot clearer considering their relationship from llh's point of view: some brat you never wanted in your life came barging in, and whether he was going to bring any positive effect to your life was secondary to the tranquility - which you have carved for yourself in the past decade - that is so integral to your personhood. no way. but the moment you hear that he's family? well, that changes the game completely. even before learning about fdb being sgd's son (then beginning to take initiative in showing greater acceptance), it is apparent in llh that there was an instinctive resonance with fdb as his shixiong's nephew. (eg. he remarked to his shifu's grave about how alike fdb is to himself.) this is unlike with dfs whom he had taken a much longer time to build trust with. you do not apply trust - aka the quality of friendships - to family. family is something deeper, more instinctive than that. if fdb was never family, I find it hard to imagine given llh's personality, that he would have let some brazen, bratty stranger intrude for that long. (boy invited himself to llh's home, sat himself down eating the owner's dinner and nosing in his cooking abilities!!! ily bb but that was uncalled for 😭)

of course there are many more layers in their relationship. there is a substantial degree of their history as (unwitting) teacher-disciple: fdb is still healthy and alive all thanks to the existence of lxy as a spiritual teacher role model in his life, regardless it being one-sided or not. there is also indeed some part of friendship in it, especially from fdb's point of view. he sees llh as a kindred spirit who he could enjoy a life of freedom with for life. but llh never reciprocates. he knew this was short-lived. and so ultimately, the hierarchical layer of their relationship overpowers the equal one, where llh's treatment of fdb as a nephew/小辈 younger family member and a disciple is the one that sealed the fate of their relationship.

if (blood-based) familial ties are irrelevant in jianghu, then the closest proxy to a father-son relationship in the martial world would be a teacher-disciple relationship. lxy and his shifu are a clear, indisputable example. for fdb and llh, their teacher-disciple tie is murkier and not consistently applied. they were also never ritualised as teacher-disciple, and thus are not teacher-disciple in any official capacity as far as confucian ideas are concerned. yet in crucial moments, it is invoked by llh as a card of authority over fdb to get out of sticky situations with fdb. and there was their final scene together: in a moment of sincerity, llh gives the approval to fdb as his disciple - then entrusting fdb with the secret manual of his techniques, up until his final letter in which fdb was recommended to dfs as a successor to his martial abilities.

in an imperial setting, this would have been the relationship of an emperor and his crown prince that straddles both ruler-subject and father-son ties aka a tag-team of disaster. the teacher has an obligation to nurture his disciple as a successor to himself, and love him like a son too. on the flipside, he holds the final power in their relationship - withholding knowledge and feelings from the younger one. they are only equals in a way a parent-child can be. they are only equals as much as the parent allows. and this is how fdb got left behind in the dust of llh's departure. he was the child treating his parent like a friend, supporting him emotionally and begging to be loved back the same way he loves his parent - but the parent had a lifetime way ahead of him and stayed out of his reach, physically and emotionally.

llh and fdb operate with the trapping of a friendship but have always been family in the core. llh had known that way before fdb did, just like everything else he had known and put out of fdb's reach. because. fdb did not have to know. fdb is different and will forge his own path. and that's a kind of love llh has for him that nobody understands (in fact not even fdb himself) - one that is on a different plane from friendships.

by repurposing the framework of relational ties, mlc showed that the essence of familial relationships aka its intimacy and closeness can be independent from biology and formalised rituals. and it is important to myself for stories to say that people can build close ties and deeply meaningful relationships even without being born or ritualised into any.

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then back to how these relational ties are inextricable from the conceptualisation of the 'self' in confucian worldview: the roles you play in these relationships are intended to define you. there is no 'self' independent from it. while the concept of a social, relational self is fully rooted in reality, being locked into social roles can be a painful way to live - a way that llh has experienced as lxy the sigu sect leader. so, in order for lxy/llh to realise a sense of self that exists outside the norms, it inevitably points to another way that requires a cut from these relationships. that is then the buddhist (or taoist) answer of looking past attachments to the world such as the confucian idea of relationships defining your being. only with a dissolution of a sense of 'self', can there be true liberation.

[munsonmuses]

Emperor Geta x Fem! Reader

Warnings: smut, gladiatorial combat, animalistic tendencies, uhhhg there’s a breeding kink. This was not proofread.

Word Count: 2.3k

Authors Comments: Iiiii was a major Roman Empire nerd as a kid, so if there’s stuff you’re like “that seemed specific” about? I promise you the research was done and I had to consult my notebooks from when I was a teeny tot (like a young teen). And yes, thumbs up signified death because it represented an upturned sword for combat, and the thumbs down signified sparing the loser, by turning your sword down to sheath

The light fabric of the linen chiton you wore felt like chains, the beautiful gold brooches holding it in place and the belt that rested low on your waist like the shackles. Leading you to a life you’d never wanted. To a future you knew you’d loathe so deeply. This wasn’t the life you’d dreamt of as a young woman. Bringing peace to an empire, marrying a man who was made perfectly for you by the gods.

All of these opportunities had been ripped from between your fingers. Your life slipped away the moment you’d heard that Emperor Geta had set his sights on you. He was callous, pompous, the human equivalent of a promenading lion. He thought nothing but the best of himself, and believed he deserved things equally as good. One of those things being you.

Your finger delicately worked on adjusting the raw leather straps of your sandals. The stephane felt like it was weighting your whole body down, veil swishing against your nape, sending chills down your spine. That the earth may swallow you whole in one fell motion was a wishful thought as you carefully examined the large hall.

It was egregious, how much gold one man could have. How many statues of himself an individual could bare to own. Slowly standing from the large chaise you’d been guided too and approaching one. tracing the curve of his nose, the apples of his cheeks. The manic look they’d managed to capture in his marble portrait, captured perfectly within the massive pupils. Scoffing lightly before hearing a laugh from behind you that caused your skin to pebble viciously. Turning around to face him.

The statue somehow didn’t manage to perfectly capture his mania. Pupils so wide they looked almost entirely black. A wolfish grin. His entire body reeked of need and want.

“You, are even more beautiful than Caracalla described…just look at you-“ his hands clamped down on your upper arms. Holding you in place as he hummed. “You’ll do nicely…” he murmured as you quirked a brow lightly.

You prayed that when you asked, he’d give you a different answer than what you’d been prepared for. Not wanting to surrender yourself to matrimony with a man so viciously bloodthirsty and self righteous. “What will I do nicely for, imperator?” You whispered as he let his eyes glaze over your body. Taking in every inch of you before nodding.

“Don’t be silly, you know what I brought you here for. I have chosen you to be my empress. Not Caracalla’s. Strictly my own.” He insisted as he moved a hand up to grip your jaw while humming. “You’ll take to the role with pride. A loving and affectionate empress…and you’ll give me my sons to lead the future of my empire once my time has come. Am I understood?” He questioned as you scoffed lightly to yourself. Fixing your rings and pulling away. Pacing the large floor of the hall as he kept his eyes on you. Ready to pounce if necessary.

“I am marrying you strictly for familial agreement. Through my loyalty for my empire and my dedication to my familial name…it has nothing to do with you.” You murmured as he sucked on his teeth lightly. You weren’t afraid of him, you saw yourself as an independent being, even a possible equal. An equal amount of hatred that matched his levels of obsession. Overall, he was clearly agitated by your lack of throwing yourself at him, the need for you to desperately present yourself to him. Though he wouldn’t push it. To get you out from under Caracalla’s thumb was difficult enough, so he’d take what he could get.

“Your chambers are prepared, you’ll be dressed for our wedding and you’ll smile. You’ll be grateful.” He ordered as you nodded, allowing the two women by the doorway to follow you out as you sighed in frustration to yourself.

These women were terrified to touch you, though they attempted to feebly conceal their terror as you hummed. Hair carefully arranged with an orange veil placed atop. Slipping into the white woven fabric of your wedding tunic, and slipped on orange sandals. Careful with them as you worked on fastening the knot of Hercules around your waist. Nodding slowly as you assessed yourself in the mirror.

It felt like lead lined your stomach as you approached the large garden, eyes meeting with Geta’s own. Your family and his court clearly anxiously awaiting your arrival. Your dowry had been exchanged, and Geta grinned delightedly at the sight of you approaching. Wringing his fingers, rings loudly knocking together as you frowned in mild fury. He was childish and cocky and self absorbed, albeit a bit handsome.

You stopped in front of him as the two of you read over the marriage contract. His eyes constantly flicking up to you as you lifted your metal pen from the inkwell. Scrawling your name with confidence as he followed suit. His hand suddenly clutching your left wrist as your head whipped to look at him. Geta removing the thick red stoned ring upon one of his fingers and slipping it onto one of your own as he hummed contentedly. Clearly awaiting reciprocation for his affections.

You carefully took his face, pressing a pursed lip kiss to his own plush pink lips as he cradled the back of your head and your waist. Satisfied with his win. Cementing your future with your new husband, as empress.

Your wedding was a few months ago, and in that time you’d been growing to know, like, and even love Geta. Although shrouded in cruel mystery, he did have a tender heart when it came to you. Gifting you lavishly, bathing you in riches and praise. You’d never gone to bed on an empty stomach, and you managed to share romantic pleasantries with him regularly.

You sat beside him as you watched a battle in the coliseum. Head perched on your fist in boredom as he smiled wide at you. The folds of your brooches and adornments complimenting the rich purples of your own robes. Your stephane crooked as his hand delicately reached up to adjust it. “Isn’t this delightful my heart?” He whispered eagerly as you scoffed in light amusement. Grinning lightly at him as you kissed his rings lightly.

“It’s alright. Gladiator fights have never…settled my nerves. If anything the bloodsport terrifies me…” you murmured as his own lips pulled into a tight frown. Though unlike usual, he didn’t have a smart or cold comment to make.

You carefully watched the two men fight, though you could barely call them that. Barely older than sixteen a piece as you chewed on your lip. The larger of the two slamming his sword into the smaller boys shield. Reminding you of the kind boys you’d known in your youth who had the whole world in front of them, stolen in war. Your heart heavy at the sight.

Geta’s eyes were trained on you. Noticing the paleness in your face, watering eyes as you left your chair to look over the edge of the balcony at these boys. Heart pounding in your ears as he sighed. He was furious, he was angry…love had “weakened” him, was what Caracalla had lamented before. But in his eyes, it simply made him better for you. Being weak for one’s own wife was impossible.

Your head whipped to look at him as the smaller boy was bloodied and bruised. Whipped to the ground by his foe as Geta stood slowly for the crowd to see.

He lifted his hand slowly, glancing over at you as his thumb rested on its side. He would typically give a thumbs up, signaling the death of the weaker boy…but instead his thumb dropped. The crowd gasping at the young man being spared at the Emperors command.

Geta’s eyes flicked to you one last time. Seeing nothing but adoration in them as he dismissed his co-contributors frustrated muttering, walking off with you to your shared chambers as he hummed in your ear.

“You’re welcome…” he whispered as you rolled your eyes lightly at him. Kissing his cheek lightly as you closed the large doors behind yourself.

With your back to him, you slowly worked on unhooking the brooches of your chiton, letting the fabric pool at your feet as you worked on removing your sandals slowly. Hearing his movements stop, eyes on you as you grinned lightly over your shoulder.

“You have shown such monumental growth…and kindness…and change, my emperor…” you whispered as you stalked towards him. His breath shaky and heavy as he carefully nodded. “I am so amazed by you…” you murmured as he watched your hands making work of the fasteners on his own tunic. It slipping down his shoulders as you smiled.

“I want…to reward you,” you murmured into his ear. Geta was a man who worked on praise, adoration and reward. He needed something for every “accomplishment” he made. This time you’d give him something more.

He let himself be lied back on your massive bed, his cock slowly hardening. Pressed to his stomach. Cheeks and chest flushed as you hummed lightly to yourself. He deserved this, even if it was simple human decency…it was a major turning point for him.

You kissed along his jaw, down his neck, his chest. Lightly nipping at his flushed skin as you worked lower and lower. Pressing kisses down his stomach and licking along the light indentations of his abs before finally paying attention to his desperate cock.

Already twitching lightly, Geta was not a hard man to work up. Lightly pressing warm, open mouthed kisses along his shaft. Tenderly massaging his balls as he whimpered lightly at your ministrations. Following your movements with frantic eyes.

He shivered lightly as he felt your lips lightly wrap around his tip. Lazily sucking and stroking the rest of his shaft lightly. Having used your kisses from earlier as a bit of lubrication. Stroking in time with your slowly bobbing head. Every few moments getting lower and lower. Relishing on the velvety feeling of his thick cock against your tongue. Finally taking your hand away and placing it on his hip. The other taking his right hand and leading it to the back of your head as he trembled lightly. “My heart…please-“ his whisper wasn’t much more than a breath.

The lewd noises of you taking him deep down your throat, slowly sucking while hollowing out your cheeks. Obediently tending to his needs as you groaned desperately against him. Your free hand trailing downward to massage your own clit as he bucked his hips lightly.

“You tease me…” he growled out. “With your desperate hands, your heavenly mouth, your body on full display…you tear me into nothing but tatters of a man…and you relish in my desperation,” he hissed as you pulled your head off.

Stroking his cock lightly as you maintained eye contact with him. Your own blown out with need and want as you continued to tend to your own clit. Sensitive bud twitching under your small, circular motions. Geta’s eyes trained on simply you. Filled with nothing but love and obsession as he growled.

Taking your wrists firmly, he pulled your hands away from both of your own sensitive bodies. Working on lying you back as he pressed his lips to your ear. “You’re a temptress…and you’ll understand just how deeply I want for you…and you’ll give me my sons,” he hissed as he worked one of your legs up around his waist. Keeping one hand on your wrists, pinned above your head as he lined himself up with your wanting cunt. Slowly easing himself into you.

You could feel every vein, every curve. A desperate moan being ripped from you as you arched your back lightly. Geta’s soft laugh and heaving breaths the only other noise you could focus on. His mouth greedily kissing along your soft skin. Nipping at your shoulders and neck. Trailing down to your breasts. Lightly taking your left nipple between his teeth. Sucking and nipping at the sensitive bud while lazily rolling his hips. Breeding you on his terms.

“Fucking…mnghhh…you’re so good~” he mumbled between mouthfuls of greedy kisses. His thrusts short and swift. Though deep enough to give that knot in your stomach a bit of reprieve. Humming contentedly to himself as he watched your lust clouded eyes. “I can’t promise that you’ll be able to do much once im finished…” he murmured as he began to focus on his thrusts.

Deep and swift, pressing deep into your twitching cunt, your wrists finally free of his grasp as your arms wrapped around his shoulders. Holding him close as he fucked deeper into you. “It’s a blessing, to get to carry the future of our empire. Thank me for blessing you…” he growled out as he held your hips firmly. Your moans in time with his thrusts as you struggled to form a single coherent thought.

“Fuck!…thank you, for allow-…allowing me to carry your heirs, and the future of Rome!” Your voice cracked between moans as he laughed lightly. Working on bringing you to your orgasm as he hummed.

Your body felt like it was ablaze, each thrust causing that knot to unravel further and further. Whimpering in desperation and squawking desperately before letting your head fall back. His name spilling past your lips before feeling that knot come undone. Mouth falling open in incoherent babbles as Geta fucked you through your orgasm. Making sure you were thoroughly satisfied and gritting his teeth.

Unable to hold himself back much longer, his thrusts became short and swift before he hilted himself deep within you and came. His own mutters just broken up syllables of your name, trembling arms, and weak kisses along your skin. His body collapsing upon your own as he pressed hot and gentle kisses to your skin.

“I love you…” he murmured, allowing his eyes to close as you lightly combed through his hair. Your own growing heavy as you sighed.

“I love you too…”

[megashadowdragon]

volume 0 of jjk is more important then you think

because the idea that a burdensome level of strength is nothing but a curse, is literalised with Yuta. Rika is literally a curse that's formed out of love. this same plight is not as apparent with Gojo Satoru and Kashimo Hajime. with these two, their mannerisms say far more.

what's noteworthy is that the resolution of Gojo's own crisis is 100% opposite of how Yuta's was resolved, and it looks to be the same for Kashimo as well. Yuta forgoes his overwhelming strength by dispelling the curse on Orimoto Rika, and prioritizes his bonds with his people.

after all, that's the central theme of volume 0. as such, the most interesting thing about the shift between the prequel and the main series is just how COMPLETELY the main series contradicts the themes of the prequel.

the main series, so far, has severely punished anyone that prioritizes their bonds over a robust sense of self + selfish pursuit of power. the special grades are the best example of this. Tsukumo Yuki worked with Tengen and Choso; she didn't fight with her own domain.

only in death could he stand on an equal footing with his comrades. the framing of these demises in the main series is so deliberately opposed to how the thematic framework of JJK 0 functions. and the reason is none other than the King of Curses, Ryomen Sukuna.

Sendai, the City of Trees. established in the year 1600 by the daimyō Date Masamune. Date Masamune was a descendant of the Fujiwara. any JJK reader knows the significance of the Fujiwara clan in the series

the emphasis JJK gives to the Fujiwara cannot be understated. lemme run through some key examples rq. the turning point of the series, the Shibuya incident, happens in the vicinity of the Meiji Jinguu, a shrine dedicated to Empress Shōken, a deified member of the Fujiwara clan.

the revival of the Heian era, which saw the supremacy of the Fujiwara clan in the political scene, also plays a part in this. Onmyōdō, or sorcery, was at its peak in the Heian era. Ashiya Dōman, one of the most prominent sorcerers in history, was a hiree of the Fujiwara.

and this specific fact is called back to in the New Shadow Style: Simple Domain, developed by Ashiya Sadatsuna, being utilised widely in the series. the relevance of all this to the topic at hand is that Yuta is a descendant of the Sugawara clan.

symbolically, literally and meta-textually, Yuta is removed from a position of importance, and a guy from a Fujiwara-established city replaces him.

all of this is why some wouldn't feel confident about Yuta continuing to be in good health for the rest of the series 💀🚩

all the special grades in the series have been murked, except Yuta. you can clearly see why people would think he's next. BUT NOT ME! and here's why: in the Sendai colony, i.e. in the same city established by the Fujiwara, he beats Uro Takako, a hiree of the Fujiwara.

he cyclicality that JJK is obsessed with plays out on various levels, but Yuta is the only exception. and I mean the ONLY exception. not even Gojo was exempt. Yuta, a Sugawara, beats someone that was associated with the Fujiwara. it plays out the opposite of how it's meant to.

in conclusion, i think we should put our stocks in Yuta. someone that won't be the next Gojo Satoru sounds about desirable rn. Vol-0 is a treasure trove of hints when we reread with new context. i hope i gave you new insight, or at least a fun read.

"

I can’t wait for Yuta vs Sukuna, the themes of strength, loneliness, love and modernity vs history finna clash like crazy

The Queen of Curses vs The King of Curses 😤😤😤

Furthermore Yuta as the previous MC whose succeeded despite contradictory themes with Sukuna…

"

[olderthannetfic]

It makes me really upset when people say thing such as "being into fandom isn't an autism thing," because. Like. I'm autistic, and I would say that my fandom hobbies are pretty much on the same level as my other special interests, and equally important to me. They are all things i spend a lot of time collecting information + tchotchkes about, that i write + draw + read about, that i spend a significant amount of my background processing power thinking about at all times because of the inescapable nature of THE THING. I didn't get this obsessive + dedicated to & emotionally compromised by a given piece of media because I'm neurotypical! The cherry on top is that one of my other special interests is literally trains.

--

That's a bit silly of them. Fandom has always been rife with deeply obsessive people who do their hobbies 110%.

[mdhwrites]

Thank you for defending Amphibia S3A!!! You don't know how many times I've had to read people saying that Anne should've had an angst arc like Luz did in TOH over what happened in True Colors. That kind of take completely ignores that a.) Anne is her own character who responds to things differently (by compartmentalizing and trying to fix what she can), b.) Amphibia was trying to preserve its essential Amphibia-ness and not become a dreary angst-fest, and c.) Luz's arc wasn't even good lol so why compare it to that? I think there are a couple story things that could've been streamlined in 3A but overall it is a perfectly good entry into Amphibia canon and it wasn't "filler" or "pointless" by any means. (P.S. I would love to hear your thoughts on Commander Anne since I also think that's a really strong episode!)🦎

Send me another ask about Commander Anne because that is one of the episode fragments in Amphibia actually dense enough for me to talk about on its own. For now, I'm actually carjacking this ask to talk about trauma reaction in fiction using Anne, Sasha, HOP POP and Luz with Hop Pop and Luz being the extremes you need to avoid and then talking about both where Anne falls and why she's so good.

Though with any discussion of this, I do actually just want to quickly mention that I did a whole teaching blog a good long while back about Fantasy Trauma and why Luz's just plain sucks. I'm not going to talk about the event here but more the reaction but I still think it's worth mentioning that fantasy trauma like what happens to these characters is a trope in and of itself.

Also, welcome Amphibia fans, I like to use asks as a way to teach and your show lets me be POSITIVE while teaching for once which is a nice change of pace... But let's start with the bad.

Or let's start with some defining. See whenever you have a major event happen in your story, there's a pendulum of reaction. On both ends of the pendulum, you have equally bad reactions to it but in different ways. Those ends where either:

A: You don't react at all. Despite the fact that the event should have had an effect on you, you're seeming to be mostly fine and yourself. It often can make the character come off as callous or stunted in some way if they just don't even seem to be needing to cope with it in someway. Stuff like Sprig focusing on being a part of the family and Polly focusing on Frobo stop them from quite getting to this extreme because they're more genuinely interacting with the new world they're in and their problems. Hop Pop is the problem one here but we'll get to it.

B: You ONLY react to the ONE event. The rest of the story and your character DON'T MATTER now. You are only your angst arc. This actually works well for VILLAINS because the single minded obsession and refusal of logic is actually usually useful for justifying them going to such extremes. The problem comes when a character should theoretically know better, the level of reaction is unwarranted or you can point out that they're just wangsting (whine/angsting) because they have sunshine and rainbows around them they're blatantly ignoring. This is Luz's side of the problem.

This is technically an Amphibia ask though so let's start with Hop Pop. For some very, very minor proof I'm not a contrarian: Hollywood Hop Pop is easily the worst half episode in S3A. There's something to be said about there being about two episodes before the mid-season finale that are kind of janky. The problem isn't just with Hollywood Hop Pop.

Hop Pop has a lot of internal issues with danger, change and worry. A new world should panic him in some way. This is actually the greatest sin of Hollywood Hop Pop because the lesson from that one feels at best like an over correction to... The majority of S2A's characterization of Hop Pop. Similarly goes to him just enjoying being a house guest. Even if yes, this is his adopted daughter, he should have an episode segment dedicated to being worried about the new world they're in, trying to protect Polly and Spring, etc. like that, especially since his old world just turned inside out. SOME sort of reaction would be warranted... And we don't get it.

Instead we get him being overly trusting and thus getting scammed, his stuff about making the Boonchuys hating him is good but it's entirely disconnected from the trauma you would expect of the character and then he honestly takes the BIGGEST risk of them all, even using his actual name instead of a codename like Sprig does for Spider Sprig.

It genuinely feels like he is treating coming here like a vacation, not helped by that explicitly being a part of one of his episode segments and that's bad.

So what's the good version of this side of the pendulum? Well, if this side represents underselling the reaction to trauma, the good version is subtlety and that's what we get with Anne and it's done really well. It mostly is in the first couple episodes in S3A when the wounds are most fresh which makes sense. As she processes it privately, she can return more and more to who she was.

The biggest thing here is that Anne is overloading herself. She is burning out from the second Andrias stabs Marcy. Not even once she's home, but even by the final trauma having just been overloaded. She's 13 after all. 15 if you want to go off of what seems to have been the original intent for her and the rumors that Disney forced the trio to be younger.

A 13 year old CAN handle death. They CAN'T handle seeing one of their BEST FRIENDS die and the other one likely doing so too, let alone right after she assumed her third best friend also died, even if he didn't. True Colors is a TIME for Anne. Anne is a very simple girl after all. Stakes like these are not what she is capable of even processing at that point. She's never seen anything that bad.

And her trying to recap and summarize it shows it EXPERTLY. Even trying to actually think about what just happened tires her out and has her constantly having to correct herself because she doesn't want to admit that not only is she powerless, it's also too much for her to handle on her own. And that's WITHOUT acknowledging the high probability of her friends being dead, something that was on her mind since her reaction to seeing Sasha is disbelief/relief that she's ALIVE.

Then there's the other elements where Anne is the one pushing research the hardest, the fact that she's brushing other things off to find answers that will make her less powerless, her protectiveness of those around her and then yeah, the one episode segment that has her burnt out and dead tired because she's working herself to the bone.

And this is all in character with Anne's arc. She's grown to do things. To want to help. To not just coast through life and just as she was getting used to the idea of that... She now can't do anything. So we see her doing what she can which is just not a lot.

Alright, let's move on to the other side of the pendulum though. I often talk about Luz in the second half of The Owl House as "In her angst arc" because that's how it feels. She may as well have put on a dark brown hoodie, flattened her hair and declared everything sucked. None of her optimism, none of her enthusiasm, little of her care and complete distrust of EVERYONE.

OH WAIT THEY DID THAT! They made her as close to her BETA design for S3 Ep1 as possible to finish out that miserable attitude for her. And I'm not going to say all of it is unwarranted. Just like Hop Pop caring about being a good house guest is in character, Luz getting more serious to match the stakes of the show is theoretically a good thing. It needed more of a real transition (Hi Commander Anne as a good example of this) but there is a nugget of a good concept in it.

One that's stabbed repeatedly by never letting it end or be affected by anything. Stuff she'll say to Eda and King she will act like will kill her if she tells literally anyone else no matter how much more justified it is for her to be honest to them, she CONSTANTLY lies to the point where she breaks her word several times and part of why Amity theoretically likes her is just GONE and then we get the theoretical conclusion to it which is "I want to be understood."

When the fuck haven't you been? This is the true crime of this side of the pendulum. Part of the reaction requires the character to entirely forget and actively ignore the actions around her. Those friends who have constantly forgiven you and backed you up? Didn't understand. That supposed found family who constantly told you you weren't at fault and to take care of yourself? Didn't understand. Your mom, who supported your interested until you backed her into a corner by accidentally assaulting people, including your principal, with wild animals? Never. Understood. You.

And even then, she still doesn't break out of it after the first TWO times in S3 where she is forgiven and she makes a statement about moving on. She just throws a dreamstate pity party and doubts herself until GOD tells her she has never done anything wrong in her life.

It's too long, the resolutions are too contrite or eye rolling for the amount of time and pain spent with it and they also rarely have anything to actually do with the trauma itself. It feels like the character is reacting to something BAD rather than something SPECIFIC which robs it of its bite just as badly as not reacting to it at all. And that's if it even feels like the character and Luz in the second half of TOH, especially S3, just doesn't feel like Luz. Period.

You know who does feel like herself? Sasha. By the time S3B comes around, she's had to deal with too much to really still be dealing with the trauma (and she still is to some extent with her constantly worrying about her relationship with Anne, obsession with second chances, etc. like that but that's more rounding out her arc to me) so it's really just her one segment in S3A that needs to be examined.

Except we actually have to roll back first. All the way back to Reunion. Sasha's reaction to this all starts with the end of Reunion. That moment when, just for a second, she decides Anne is worth more than herself. That "maybe you'd be better off without me," and letting go. S2 handles the fact that Sasha dying actually made a REALLY bad inner conflict for her, let alone once news of Marcy being fine without her too got to her, but that's the fun of character arcs. They SHOULDN'T be a smooth curve. *coughs at Amity and Hunter*

Keeping on track though, we have Sasha not only facing the end of her at her most powerful but also the potential end of her friendships. She betrayed Anne again and while they fought together, that was for survival, where are they now? Worse yet, Marcy almost died in front of her and she was POWERLESS. All that talk of trying to do things so they all could be happy, that she knew best... It was all ash.

So she at first doesn't know what she's doing. She emotional and ready to lash out but she doesn't know what her target is. She just knows part of it is her fault and unlike in S2, she can't ignore it now. It haunts her until Anne shows Sasha what having been a good friend could have gotten her. What they could have been.

And so now, it's time to make good on her word. To become a protector and try to see a bit more in people than she assumes. This is ALL a reaction to True Colors primarily. It is addressing it all VERY bluntly minus Marcy's lie (I have complicated feelings on Marcy at this point) but it's still working within the frame of the character. This is still Sasha and we know enough about her to genuinely follow her train of thought while also getting to enjoy the character we have grown attached to. She isn't gone... But she's changing and if this side of the pendulum represents replacement as its bad extreme, change and introspection like what Sasha goes through is the good medium ground.

I want to finish this by saying that you CAN use the extremes well. Someone reacting to a teammate's death with indifference can genuinely turn a character who seemed a little cold to being seen as callous or like they believe the ends justify the means, no matter the sacrifice. Someone letting an event consume them can actually be a great start to an arc where the point is to criticize their reaction, instead of trying to invoke sympathy through it. That they are going too far and letting this be too much of who they and they need to find balance. They need to properly introspect. These are not hard rules by any means but there is a spectrum. A pendulum.

And as always, the best thing a writer can do is recognize where on that pendulum they're writing and use it as best as they can.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[death-in-a-handbasket]

Your blog has been lacking some headcanon drops. I gotchu homie, I'll change that

I'll talk about our boy cus we love him and his weirdness

I think a very big way to bond with Ayatsuji is by having a hobby. Like any sort of hobby. It doesn't necessarily have to be anything particular, just something that you are passionate about. I think if you have something you're happy and passionate about, and lets say will put plenty of time and money into it, he appreciates it. Because he himself has a hobby of collecting dolls and I think if your hobby coordinates with his, it'd make it even better. A good bonding experience is just sharing the things you both are passionate about.

I think what can correlate with this too is if you have something you like a lot, for instance a TV show or movie or a book, and just talk about that, it's another good way to bond. He's got that thing for hating most people and thinking most people are boring. I think you having wacky hobbies or "weird" obsessiveness over things gets his attention more. Having hobbies and extreme interests in things will amuse him more than not having any at all.

Just a simple hyperfixation exchange would be a great way to spend your time with this dude lmao

(Me telling him my obsession with dinosaurs)

HI HOMIE <33333

thank you for the ask pookie I love you bbg 🫶

AND I TOTALLY AGREE

I feel like most people really aren't that interesting to him and for that reason alone he tends to stay away from most people. He doesn't really live the kind of life suitable for small talk to begin with but even if he did I don't think it comes naturally, a lot of surface level stuff is short lived so the weirder questions you ask, the better. And of course if you ask about his personal hobbies he'll definitely love that my god

He probably loves body doubling while working on hobbies and the idea of a lover doing any kind of passion beside him feels so perfect to him, he just needs someone with the right kind of weird. Love is stored in the infodumping fr fr, the idea that you have something meaningful to talk about is so delightful to him and speaks volumes about your own commitments and passions, which seems like something he'd deeply value. If he's looking for something more than a fling he can't do casual, he needs someone locked in and the fact that you could dedicate yourself to a passion shows that you could equally dedicate yourself to him as well

I also think he prefers weirdos and creative types in general, the more opinionated the better, he loves discussion even if you and him have opposing opinions. If you and him read the same book or watch the same stuff 100% be prepared for active discussion with full arguments and opinions laid out for analysis. Hell, he'd probably find it fun if you and him could mutually shit on something for sport and explain why it's bad and totally sucks. Intellectual stimulation is totally a must, whether it's infodumping or deranged debate, he'd absolutely love it. Plus is you and him had a hobbies that overlapped he'd probably have a field day trading methods and techniques, and even if they didn't overlap, I'm sure he'd find the hobby process interesting in it's own right

basically, fuck yes talk to him about dinosaurs (imagine he takes note of which dino is your fav and makes you a dino figurine as gift)(ahh that would be so cute wahhh)

thank you for the ask broski, sending love as always <333

[misscrawfords]

Watched Bridgerton with a bit too much wine and a new cross-stitch. Immediate thoughts:

highly watchable. Four hours sped by. Whatever else it might be, it's a very addictive, winning formula. Liked it much more than I anticipated despite feeling that a) Penelope's unrequited friends-to-lovers fantasy is going to hit me very hard and b) Colin Bridgerton is not attractive and never will be.

Francesca Francesca Francesca!!! I don't remember much about her book and from the trailers/promo pics didn't think much of the new actress but I am now obsessed with Francesca. Adore her being autistic coded with a music special interest. Adore that for her. Adore the music. Absolutely everything. She's my girl!!!!!! Love her being silent with John. I'm so sad knowing what happens but I want this for her. I cant stop thinking about how he listened to her info dump about that violinist and then got the damn piece transcribed for her to play. I mean. Listen. My hear, you guys, my heart. I don't care about anything or anyone else!

Penelope's glow-up is awesome.

Love Alice and Will Mondrich. Again, did not see this coming but finding their storyline pretty cool.

Love that we get more Hyacinth. She's my favourite Bridgerton because when I read her book I related to her so hard I had some kind of life crisis, so the fact she has more to do and is growing up just fills me with joy.

Weirdly love the Featheringtons and the very bizarre inheritance/pregnancy plot. The girls don't know what sex is and neither do their loser husbands? The whole thing is so utterly off the wall, it's compelling! Their S02 plot was so dull but I'm finding this completely bonkers and compelling. Maybe it's the wine?

Cressida and Eloise??!!! Like, Cressida is ticking all my "mean rich bitch with unexpected trauma and hidden depths" box and I hate myself for it but there we go. Here for it. I hope she isn't completely villainised.

Eloise's development baffles me. I hate that she's all "I'm not like other girls" with the sewing and she seems to veer towards learning that maybe she can get on with girls and change and then she's dragged back into her insufferable superiority. And how is the character who is written like this supposed to end up as the stepmum to Marina Crane's children vegetating in the countryside? It does not make sense at all for show!Eloise. Actually the only thing that makes sense is to make her a lesbian, or at least bi, which would be in keeping with her "I don't fit in/I'm different" narrative. Otherwise... what? ngl I want Cressida/Eloise fanfic and I did not think that would be my takeaway from this show when I woke up today.

Colin is just not sexy. He's not sexy, he has an unsexy name (4th on my ranking of "how sexy are the Bridgerton boys' names" btw: 1 is Benedict obv - top tier sexy name; 2 is Anthony - mid-level but clearly worked for Cleopatra, has definite potential in the right circumstances; 3 is Gregory - not sexy especially if abbreviated but could work with a lot of effort in a particularly charming individual but Colin? Nope. Can you imagine screaming "COLIN!" in the heights of passion? No, didn't think so.) And I just don't buy him as a character. Why must maturity and new-found confidence equal having threesomes? He lacks coherency to me. Oh well. I don't hate him but I would take John Stirling's silence and top tier gift giving or Lord Debling's honesty, kindness, and dedicated to real interests over his... whatever it is is Colin has... any day.

Penelope's glow-up is great and she looks hot af and I'm here for it and her arc is certainly compelling but it's actually... not the most compelling part of the show for me. Whoops!

The dig about embroidery was very unnecessary.

Don't know what Benedict is doing in this plot but he's still very entertaining and has more character than Colin.

Yeah. I enjoyed it way more than expected and I only feel mildly heartbroken about the whole friends-to-lovers thing but that's probably the wine. Part 2 is released on my birthday so happy birthday to me, I guess!!

[hwnglx]

can you please do jake as a boyfriend? <3

jake as a boyfriend based on tarot and astrology, take it with a grain of salt

2ofswrx, knofw, pagofw, 8ofp, death&kingofc, pagofc, strength

phew. whoever is dating jake and managed to tie him down must have him by the collar, because wow does this man take his time to settle. he is the type of boyfriend who will not commit to you right away. it seems like there's this "the grass could always be greener on the other side" sort of mindset in him. so mans will still be looking and you'll have difficulties completely trusting him at first. you'll need to stay consistent and put in a lot of work in the relationship in order for him to change this trait of his.

however, the following death card is extremely telling. once you work through the shaky beginning stages and manage to tie him down, jake's scorpio venus will transform him into the most compassionate, dedicated and deeply loving boyfriend ever. since people with a scorpio venus are very all or nothing, he'll surprise you with how devoted and trustworthy he can actually be once he sees you as the one. you'll be able to enjoy a lot of quality time filled with passion and intensity, the scorpio makes him an incredibly sensual lover. his way of loving can easily border on obsession and problems with jealousy can become an issue in the relationship. there'll be the desire to have complete control and he'll want you all for himself. he'll crave emotional and physical intimacy a lot. so he'll prefer dates in more private and intimate places rather than public ones and enjoy connecting with you on a deeper level, whether it's through deep late night conversations or physical encounters. even if you spend time together outside, he'll have eyes for you and you only, and expect you to only look at him as well. there'll also be a surprisingly dreamy and sensitive side to him, so he'll probably get shy and embarrassed a lot more easily than you'd expect. probably also daydream about you whenever you're away and send you "miss you" texts a lot. he's a very cute, but equally as intense lover once you manage to break down his walls.

[finniestoncrane]

Your One True Nemesis

Chapter 28: also on AO3 Masterlist Here Arkham!Riddler x Female!Reader, word count: 850 we are reaching critical levels of shitty behaviour from eddie, also just a short one this week, sorry! 💚 request info • prompt list • send me a request • kofi • masterlist minors DNI!! 🔞 cw: angst, so angsty, the most pining angst ever

“Why are you so interested!? Huh? Why do you care?”

You tossed down the hammer with a loud clang, watching it bounce on the table slightly in your peripheral. Eddie was shocked into silence, only momentarily, his seemingly never-ending barrage of questions pertaining to who you might have moved on with finally stopped.

“Because... Because…”

He elongated the last word, stretching it out as he stalled, trying to think of an appropriate answer, since the truth was the last thing he was prepared to admit to.

“I think you will find I don’t care. But I just want to… make sure that we don’t have a repeat of last time.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know very well. Your dalliances with your lovers causing havoc? Bringing the enemy to my front door? I would just like to be certain that nothing is in danger, and there’s no chance of you ruining all of my hard work with your unchecked libido.”

With your mouth open, ready to unleash your anger at him, you were interrupted by him again. He lifted his hands up, shaking his head with an irritatingly nonchalant expression on his face, trying to gain the upper hand by seeming as though he were being entirely reasonable.

“Now, now. No need to be upset. I am merely speaking the truth. See, the unexamined life is not worth living, and I have been wondering lately why you aggravate me so. And it is because you are careless. A dilettante, a purveyor of my works, masquerading amongst your intellectual betters. Me.”

He waited for your retort, but you were so blinded by rage at his words that you couldn’t yet speak, so he took it upon himself to fill the uncomfortable silence, only digging a bigger hole. Part of his brain, and all of his heart, screamed at him to stop. But his ego, his inability to confess or face his feelings, pushed him to drive the wedge further.

“It’s just that you are stupid. And the person you are seeing is also, most likely, stupid. I just want to know what kind of danger I’m in before-”

“Fuck! Eddie!”

The silence was deafening. Once he had recovered from the scare, his whole body flinching at the volume of your words, he stood perfectly still, eyes wide. Your chest heaved as you panted, deep breaths, trying to calm yourself, a futile effort. You were filled with emotion. Anger, hurt, love. And they needed to come out.

“I’m not with anyone! I haven’t ever really been with anyone since I came down here. I wasn’t with Mark. I’m not with anyone now you… fucking moron!”

Eddie opened his mouth to say something but you took a step closer to him, raising your hand. Surprisingly, he took the command and closed his lips, letting you continue what he could only assume was going to become a tirade.

“You’re right though. I am an idiot. Because I have spent so long, so much wasted time, literally worshipping you. And you know that. You know why I came here. You know why I wanted to work for you. Even before I did your stupid interview, you knew. I was willing to do anything for you. Willing to worship you. And I literally do now, since I spend more time at your feet, begging for a shred of compassion, rather than as your equal. But no one is worth you, are they? Not in your mind.”

Dejected, hurt by your own words, spoken out loud and therefore more real than they were when you thought them over compulsively, obsessively, as you lay in your bed.

“I’ve dedicated myself to you, Eddie. For so long.”

Eddie tried to remain still, but his stomach shifted so violently that he couldn’t help but wince. He was in physical pain at the sight of you, at your outpouring. It all felt very real, and unsolvable. Irreparable. It was possible that there was no going back from this point forward. Whatever he did now, it would be his last chance. His only opportunity to make some kind of effort, to seal his fate. Whichever way he chose to let it fall.

His heart rate increased as you moved closer to him again, his pupils dilating as he caught your eyes, focusing on them, intense. There was a heat between you both, one that tortured him. He wanted to say something, but he wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. His brain couldn’t catch up with itself, and his body, his mouth, had no chance of figuring it out on its own.

“It’s you, Eddie. It’s always been you. It’s fucking… pathetic. But it has been.”

In complete shock at the statement, the raw emotion behind it, Eddie was taken completely aback. There was only one word that made it’s way through the cloud of fog in his mind, down to his trembling lips, and he whispered it so quietly that it was almost impossible for you to hear it. But you did.

“Sorry.”

Brushing past you with no further words, and not even a look, Eddie left you standing in the workshop alone.

[pinkomcranger]

(another messege on saga)

The saga hate is 100% racism, sadly, and its sad how these ppl refuse to accept it. Like, i wasnt sure about thr beggining - i waited for a sequel for 13 years and now i have this new character taking the larger role in the story. But the game was good, story was good, she was fine. But now these ppl want her gone or erased, "only alan parts were good!!" What??? They are the same!!! I loved alans gameplay (execpt the teleporting enemies) but i dont believe you would hate sagas gameplay if you loved that one, its like, the same.

As in all recent gaming sheres, it makes me mad becuse there are critiscsm to talk about, real discussion, but it gets buried under these fuckers. Cant tall about my issues withiut some stupid guy busting in to complain about black pepole in his games, thinking we are the same. Im so more confident in my decision of cutting on all these sites.

I can't see any other reason to ignore Saga than racism, and I was FULLY aware it would be a problem, but I only expected it from gamer bros crying that it was Alan Woke now, and their fav white man was replaced with an unnecessary black woman. I could handle that because I've been seeing it for YEARS, but I always discounted them just for the fact I knew that they would never see beyond their surface level woes and wouldn't actually be in the fandom proper.

Their racism was loud and proud but it didn't hurt me or concern me. It elicited nothing more than an eye roll because nothing was going to satisfy them the second Saga was created anyway, even if she WASN'T black. I'm not even going to get into their reaction to Abby from The Last of Us 2.

Covert racism is the shittiest because you're thinking, ooh tumblr! this is where I'm going to find the GOOD stuff, this is where I'm gonna see people that played the game, are content creators and are going to overthrow the gamer bros because they're not blinded by the white man being joined by a black woman who's equally awesome.

I was wrong. I was a case of not being nervous at the idea of Alan being replaced in his own game after waiting 13 years because I didn't get to play AW1 or AN because I didn't have an Xbox. My older brother did, but I could only play at certain times, so I just didn't bother with AW.

That changed with AW2, the funny thing is that I didn't have the time to buy it until last month. I've focused solely on watching playthroughs, so Saga was written so well that I didn't NEED to play the game to be able to relate to her and adore her.

I'm not the least bit worried about the gameplay and I KNOW that's just an excuse to complain about Saga. It sucks that the content creators obsessed with FBI Alex Casey won't just admit they don't find the black woman appealing. I think that's a stupid as fuck opinion and not worth entertaining but at LEAST be honest about it!

FBI Alex Casey wouldn't be even a tenth of a bit interesting if he wasn't paired with Saga for the majority of his time. And that's the rub of it. I love Saga's Casey, but I wouldn't enjoy him if he was on his own, or if he and Saga's places had been reversed.

Saga could star in her own spin-off game dedicated solely to her backstory and her problems independent of Alan, and you'd find a treasure trove of things to talk about with her. But you're not getting that now, because "ohmergerd Alan is so hot with Casey!" When that was never the point.

[sweetcloverheart]

Clover Rants Miraculously: Train(crash) on the Brain

Hi, I’m gonna complain about “Style Queen” (and “Queen Wasp”) Again! (Warning for S5 spoilers)

For all I see the traincrash complained about, I never see anyone actually talk about how messed up it and Chloe’s motive are in context with how it’s handled - because you have the show present to us/the audience that Chloe is obsessed with getting her mother’s love and approval. So much so that she copies her every mannerism and got upset that she was more interested in her daughter’s bully victim than the daughter herself as well as mocking her on live TV, and was willing to endanger an entire train full of civilians over it on the premise that she believed doing something “heroic” would make her mother reconsider her being “unexceptional”.

It, at both it’s base and deeper levels, is messed up and awful. That Chloe both decided on this course of action and that the effect her mother’s absence has had on her influenced this are equally horrible things. And instead of addressing that, instead on tackling that obsession, instead of talking about how messed up it is Chloe felt she needed to do this to get her mom’s attention (or that Audrey, for whom she did it for with said attention in mind, responded so dismissively at the whole fiasco), instead of talking about how this was the wrong way of handling whatever trauma Audrey’s abandonment had on her and she might need to reconsider how valuable that love is if it’s driving her to try and crash trains and having her needing to ask her mother why she doesn’t love her - the show just has Marinette encourage them to bond through their shared evil and treats it like the problem begins and ends with Audrey staying in France instead of everything else it just presented within these two episodes.

And I’d be more forgiving of it if MLB was one of those black-comedy parody superhero shows, but even they manage to handle those types of topics with a bit of tact. If the entire point of Audrey’s treatment of Chloe was meant for comedy, they would (and should) have just kept things limited to the whole “Audrey’s so detached from her family and such a raging narcissist she can’t even remember her own daughter’s name” instead of dedicating the entire following episode and later ones and several mini-moments in this and the prior season to how this treatment has had a negative impact on Chloe and is one of the main reasons she’s so awful to everyone before having it drive her to almost cause a citywide tragedy and give her a magical artifact because of it. The show runners spent so much time showing how Audrey’s been such a toxic influence on Chloe even in her absence and gave such an extreme case example via the attempted train crash of why it’s bad she doesn’t seem to recognize what a terrible person her mother is/her effect is on her, so having them act like Chloe just needed mommy dearest (and how Marinette needs to give up her dream to help achieve this when there are a million different canon ones for why she can’t go to New York and why another character could and should be involved in this arc instead) to spend time with her is just baffling? Especially when they then proceed to turn around and go “LOL JK! Chloe never had any depth actually, KA-PRANK!” at everyone in the season 3 finale for having dared to get invested in the storyline they introduced in the first place! And even then, it didn’t actually solve anything because Audrey’s still a neglectful POS afterwards and Chloe goes from schoolyard bully to cartoonish psychopath before the show then decides to use her mother as a “punishment” for her Also don’t even dare talk to me about Zoe - no she is not “proof” that Audrey isn’t an excuse for Chloe being a bad person because “she still turned out good despite Audrey doing the same to her” because 1)we have zero info on how Zoe was raised in New York. All we know about her backstory is that Audrey left too and that she got bullied for lying. We aren’t told what the Lee household is like or how they treated her or what sort of life she had lived before the liar reveal forced her to moved. For all I know, Mr.Lee donates yearly to the orphaned penguin fund and his wife (if he has one) reads to blind streetlamps. We can’t say she had the exact same backstory but turned out different when we don’t know what her backstory actually is. And 2)Audrey barely effects her backstory. Audrey isn’t the reason she moved. Audrey isn’t why she got bullied by her classmates. Audrey isn’t why she was mean to Marinette after meeting her again (Chloe was). Audrey has no involvement or connection to Zoe or her character outside of birthing her and validating Chloe’s claims that a Bourgeois must be “perfect”. I could literally make Zoe’s mom any other character in the series, and not only would “Solecrusher” still play out the same way as canon - it’d still run into the same issue as mentioned. Zoe isn’t good “in spite” of Audrey’s neglect, but because that just happened to be her default setting. I can at least say Audrey is, more or less, partially responsible for how Chloe turned out as a person and involved in her character arc because the show actually bothered to show this in series. Can’t say the same about Zoe though, because the writers didn’t try to give the two a connection outside of Audrey being her ovary-donor because they cared more about making sure everyone knew Zoe was anti-Chloe and better for it instead of proving the point the fandom claims she represents.

Like, if the show had Marinette (or maybe one of the other characters they had shoving her towards getting involved) say “Chloe, your mom’s a huge b-word and you absolutely should not be hanging around her anymore than you already are. It’s the entire reason I dropped the apprenticeship offer with her. Also, you should maybe think of investing in a therapist if she has you so twisted up that you decided crashing a train was the optimal solution to her disinterest in you.” and then have that advice rejected, it’d be fine - but instead they had Marinette say they should be bonding over how nasty both are and made it out to be like Chloe being exactly like Audrey was good and necessary, before then chiding anyone and everyone for still being attached to her afterwards because how dare! Don’t you know Chloe’s evil? So much so that she’s even more evilier than Hawkmoth! She’s just rotten to the core - always has been. What do you mean we had an entire arc showing she potentially could be a good person and it’s because her mother’s a bad influence? You’re imagining things. Chloe’s just evil because evil, nothing more nothing less!

(and it’s so frustrating they only had Marinette say this so they could justify keeping Chloe as an civilian antag when they could have just had Adrien, who would be justified in saying this seeing as how he has such an unhealthy view of family relationships thanks to Gabe, take her place and have the same result - or better yet, focus on Lila, whom they brought back in “Chameleon”, and have her take Chloe’s place as the civilian antag so we could better have the set up for her eventually becoming the new Butterfly holder!)

“It’s just a kid’s show. It doesn’t have to take the subject seriously. They just didn’t want to make Chloe a hero.” Alright then. Fair. If MLB just wants to be a silly kids show, it can be that - just don’t include the topic of Chloe and her mom then. If you want to be a dumb heeheehoho show about two kids with magical super powers who want to date, then don’t include heavy subjects like child neglect. Don’t make the child neglect part of the character backstory. Don’t make it be revealed the reason she bullies people. Don’t make it lead to a 2-season long arc about the character potentially joining the good guys, and then suddenly go “LMAO nope” after stringing along the audience the whole time! Don’t give depth and character focus to character you have no plans on actually utilizing it for, and then I can happily say to myself “it’s just a dumb kids show” and leave it at that!

[blockgamepirate]

Inspired by @doyouknowthismcyt I wanted to highlight some of the more obscure MCYTers that I enjoy

This is part 1, where I decided to pick three completely different but equally unique and interesting channels:

PiroPito (nana825763)

PiroPito has one of the most fascinating Minecraft let's plays I've ever seen, because he refuses to look up any hints or guides. His goal is to figure everything out based on the game itself. He's been playing since 2017 and he's still going (altho slower these days).

He has gotten spoiled a couple of times (mostly by his nieces who sometimes show up in his videos to be little menaces) but overall he's literally figuring everything out just using ingame guidelines, which Minecraft famously has very little of (and even less so when he started out).

Sometimes he misses some really basic things or develops some wacky misconceptions, but he's also really smart and very good at deducing stuff based on the smallest of hints. It's a joy to watch him figure things out. And it really changes your perspective on the game like no other series.

He also has an absurd level of patience and tenacity, and a little bit of an obsessive personality, which you really need in order to thrive with a challenge like this.

The Mojang team have also mentioned being inspired by his series:

Video rec: (you should watch from the beginning but if you want a quick taste, here's a fun one of him trying to figure out nether portals via trial and error)

Playlist rec:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbqkLu2V1bJJUQ2aLZjFdz8decGs1kHg-&si=w_tQ3JyJ6JvI4emd

Squibble

Squibble is a redstoner who specialises on stupid and useless machines and bizarre obscure mechanics. Their creations are almost always either too impractical to ever build in survival or just entirely pointless in the first place, like absurdly elaborate ways to display text, 3D printers, flying machines that count distance based on hoe durability or the fastest way to automatically destroy the largest amounts of iron (the anti-iron farm)

The videos are never longer than they need to be, they're presented with a lot of dry humour, and the dedication to optimising completely ridiculous contraptions is just beautiful to watch. They will regularly reiterate how impractical or useless their projects are and then put hours and hours of hard work into making them the best versions of themselves.

(They're actually a lot like Zedaph in theory but not at all in terms of presentation. Zedaph in a different font, I guess)

Video recs:

Gneiss Name

Gneiss is a real life geologist who makes videos explaining geology via Minecraft and analysing Minecraft from a geological perspective. His videos are really cool because he's also a skilled coder and he makes cool displays ingame to help demonstrate what he's talking about, and he uploads the worlds so you can tour them yourself. They're like virtual science exhibits.

He also talks about colour theory a lot, also with cool displays and coding magic.

Video rec:

Playlist rec:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG3c6xiWL1crm2Ajd0aw3TmnwQZjqo1p8&si=MwPcMZ7BW8jO_z5k

[redsolon]

Real Democracy

Despite liberal claims, Athens wasn't the source of our modern bourgeois states. Even the most democratic of the liberal democracies is only a "democratic republic", a marketing gimmick if there ever was one. Athenians did not recognize republics as democratic, but as what they are: oligarchies. Republics have always emerged out of the desire of elites to divide political power fairly among themselves. Key to this project has always been the maintenance of the ruling class as a ruling class, and the prevention of any one faction within it from siding with an outside class force to overthrow them. Greek Tyrannies, despite the inevitable dysfunction of hereditary rule, usually came to power on the back of popular discontent, as a way to discipline the aristocrats and force through reforms.

Election is a filter process that privileges the most eloquent, the most well-connected, the most acceptable and personally appealing, and those with the most time and resources (which in a settler-colonial context, means able-bodied cis-het white men). Unless re-election is forbidden, once in office an official can use their position to enhance their wealth, influence, and notoriety, and thus increase their odds of getting re-elected. Thus the "democratic" office becomes a kind of property, even hereditary property. The ideal of election says that the people own the office, but the reality shows that the incumbent political class do.

While direct voting is a possibility, in reality asking everyone to vote on everything translates quickly into asking everyone to be a professional politician, or to spend all their free time obsessing over politics. This is unrealistic. Some claim that only having a motivated minority vote on any given issue is ideal, because the uninterested are usually both uninformed and unaffected; that the non-voting public implicitly consents to their concession of power. Anyone who's dealt with voter turnout has had to confront the material, social, and psychological barriers to voting, even for people who can be identified as having a material political interest in the issue--and yes, this also applies to ballot initiatives. Not everyone can be perfectly informed about every upcoming vote that affects them--and is that even how people want to live?

To concede to the limitations of voting-based systems is to accept that the most structurally disadvantaged people don't deserve a say, and that if people miss an opportunity to intervene in an issue that it turns out affects them after all, then they are out of luck. Statistical, demographic representation is the only system which guarantees everyone an equal chance to have a say at every level, regardless of background. It also possesses many of the benefits of electoral systems--a dedicated body of people who are employed full time to investigate an issue before voting on it--and some benefits beyond pure election--breaking the incentives for corruption and vote-buying. Both bourgeois and proletarian republics have shown the severe limitations of a purely electoral system. Even if we include election and direct voting in our systems, sortition needs to lie at the core.

During crisis, if delegates are killed, then every republic relies on unelected officials to be interim officials, breaking the system's legitimacy claims. Systems of mass voting require secure, wide spread vote collection and tabulation at all times. If the voting system is every disrupted, the entire system ceases to be democratic according to its own standards. Sortative bodies, however, can be reassembled at any time with no delay, and only require that the few individuals selected by lot are able to be escorted to wherever they'll meet (or that they have access to secure communications). No other system possesses such a high level of speed, efficiency, and robustness.

Remember: every ancient republic, and most modern, fell to reaction and tyranny. The Greek democratic model never fell to internal enemies, only to external invasion. In fact, while Rome fell to tyranny forever, Athens was the system which rectified itself after a brief period of tyranny. And from a communist perspective, sortition is the system which most embodies the Mass Line at large scales.

[nightmarist]

Rilyr Devhaeraun — LV 3 Assassin Drow Haunted One

STR 9, CON 12, DEX 17

INT 15, WIS 14, CHA 16

My potential Strahd PC. DM said we’re likely starting level 3 or 4. I still have months to finish the current campaign im DM’ing but I’ve been wanting to mull over a good PC and decent backstory to work his personality off of.

“A signature piece of clothing or distinct weapon serves as an emblem of who I am.”

Ril wears a gold mask as per his dedication to the god Vhaeraun. It also serves to protect his expressions, he’s very emotive with his eyes and would prefer not to give away himself. He hardly ever removes it unless he’s by himself, including sleeping with it. Its metal hooks around his ears, and leaves them rather sore.

“Obsession: I've lived this way for so long that I can't imagine another way.”

He grew up in the hyper vigilance of drow society. He wants to trust others but finds himself unable to, much to his own and others’ frustrations. He is good at underhandedness. He is good at surviving. He struggles with much else to the degree that when offered a calm life of simplicity on the surface, he instead returned to join the Vhaerunites.

“I owe much to my vanished mentor. I seek to continue their work even as I search to find them.”

Ril was taken under the wing of a Vhaeraunite darkmask priest, Imal, an older drow and fellow trans man intent on aiding and uniting the drow as a singular equal species, to disrupt the extreme stratifications of their culture.

Imal helped him transition and smuggled him out of the Underdark to the surface. After Ril wasn’t able to find peace living a simple life, he returned to Imal, wanting to help save others like himself. Imal taught Ril much of what he knows now, and encouraged him to hone his dark, haunted feelings of remorse, guilt, and anger into his assassination skill set.

Imal was slain in the Underdark after he, Ril, and others attempted to rescue other drow from the clutches of the Lolth priestesses. Ril has since dedicated all he can to implore towards Imal’s cause. He takes it upon himself to set out to kill the drow who have taken on unwilling consorts.

“I believe doom follows me and that anyone who gets close to me will face a tragic end."

In addition to pre-existing trust issues, Ril keeps people at arm’s length. After Imal’s death, he believes anyone who tries to help him will simply be punished by Lolth and her cult. He desires connection terribly, despite it all.

The petty details of his backstory aren’t as important as the fact he’s so deeply untrusting and yet craves affection that I think Strahd could try to manipulate him with it. Plus it could add a level of empathy between him and the consorts, perhaps make him unwilling to fight or attack them if it comes to it.

His mask acts as kind of a conversation piece as well, he’s willing to talk about it if anyone were to ask but Will act out if you try to touch it.

[hellsvestibule]

People talk about how meme brain can poison people’s ability to interact with artists who post online but it’s also kind of endemic even to how people approach academic texts or classic literature at this point and it’s frustrating bc when the persons primary vantage point is already ironic detachment and dismissal, You look like the “pretentious” asshole for asking them to be more nuanced and considerate. Especially when we are talking something with cultural or subcultural significance to a group of people most of the people joking about it don’t belong to. And maybe on an individual level memes are harmless and genuinely funny, but when in greater numbers this constant dismissal starts to feel dreadful, to the point where you feel reflexive hostility towards the meme bc oh my God can we fucking talk about something else? Ever?

it’s not fun to be obsessed with something people meme on or even obsess over for a singular facet. Just bc it’s something vaguely understood in cultural consciousness people will joke about it as if they have equal authority on what its about as you, someone who has dedicated days or weeks of your time studying this in its entirety and like I can’t entirely blame you for wanting to be included and not necessarily understanding the full span of this thing or my knowledge of it but a lot of people are actively resistant to learning more, they are literally just here for the sense of intellectualism or trendiness being able to dismissively meme about an intellectual or cool thing brings them, which ultimately serves the purpose of trivializing something you really like or at least something you wanted to dedicate your time towards understanding in a deeper capacity, and which had cultural significance for its place and time for a reason. And it’s like. I don’t need you to be Like Me, I don’t think having a more involved perspective of everything is always necessary or productive for everyone, but gdi does it suck when people talk past you about something they’ve engaged with far less than you and even get irritated by you being genuinly knowledgeable and enthusiastic about it, letting you know they don’t care and in fact are actively hostile towards caring. They want to wave the flag that says “I read the most popular book in high school, I listened to the most popular song, I am vaguely aware this important thing exists ” and presume suddenly this gives them equal authority as someone who read all the books or has listened to the musicians entire discography.

And it’s equally frustrating knowing what it’s like to be on the other end and trying not to be that pretentious nerd who is always like, fuckin, loyalty testing randos and shitting on them for only reading one adaptation of the thing or only liking a musicians most popular songs. Bc sometimes you engage w the totality of something a genuinely pretentious nerd insists you have to engage with before you’re allowed to talk. only to be like yeah it’s really not worth it, I genuinely just like the most popular installment and wish you hadn’t wasted my time with all that lol.

A lot of it just amounts to getting annoyed at childish behavior often from young people who don’t know any better, and are insecure, and project this insecurity by alluding to having greater knowledge of something and then cutting it down.and it’s not even a clear cut line between genuine appreciation from a fan who just makes the joke from time to time, and someone whose entire perspective of this thing is A Joke