#this ↑ only makes sense in the context of My Au but it couldve been so awesome.... been so cool.....

[kakushusband]

[wakes up from a fever dream] baby shhould have been a brood parasite. Instead. You see the vision.

[henrysglock]

Ohhh my god so re: what i remember you for as a writer theres SOSOSO much to choose from, but I have to go with Ptolemaea!!!!!

And even though there’s SO many iconic scenes/lines in Ptolemaea that stuck wirh me/that I remember you by, the shower scene from Ptolemaea is the one I’m going to talk about right now because it stuck with me and i was flashbanged by it again last night when rereading it HWBDBFN

Like, this part specifically:

“That didn’t mean it was any less appreciated, though, even as the blisters on his ankles burned with it. Hot water meant that the dirt, grime, and blood melted off him with minimal effort. Even so, he took a certain amount of comfort in scrubbing himself pink and toweling off roughly, as though he could peel the past three years off his body the way a spider might shed its carapace. To grow.”

First of all, the line about how the water is making the blisters on his ankles burn is so strong/physical/it’s like I can feel it.

And it’s also such a fantastic line/fantastic use of word choice when it comes to the fact that Ptolemaea being a “Henry got out of the lab early” AU and therefore also a “Henry didnt get sent to Dimension x” AU versus the use of the word “burned” here, especially in the context of Henry trying to scrub off the lab/leave the lab behind versus the way that Henry physically leaves the lab behind in canon being getting sent to Dimension X & getting burned there.

It just works so well to give this subtle vibe/subtle reminded of “what couldve been” and how even though what Henry’s going through right now sucks (ie all of the Ptolemaea horrors, and even just the water from a nice shower hurts his blisters), it could’ve been so much worse/it really nails that “full of horrors but also full of Hope” vibe that Ptolemaea has.

And second of all, specifically looking at this part:

“Even so, he took a certain amount of comfort in scrubbing himself pink and toweling off roughly, as though he could peel the past three years off his body the way a spider might shed its carapace. To grow.”

I cant even describe how much I love this part. There’s so many little layers to the comparison between Henry in the shower vs a spider shedding its carapace, snd how its not just “oh yeah yk hes got the same vibes as a spider shedding its carapace because hes trying to start anew” but instead the comparison *also* so Physical and the mental/emotional change/struggle is convey so Physically and how it’s specifically connected to the way that Henry scrubs himself pink, and the way that this line about how Henry scrubs himself pink evokes the visual of new skin being pink and “sore”/sensitive because it’s new, much like the new flesh under an old carapace.

And then how Henry towels himself off roughly vs that also working so perfectly to really convey that feeling of shedding a carapace in a very very physical way and the Movements of it and im just!!! The WORD CHOICES here are so perfect to convey a really visceral/physical feeling, like with the use of the word “peeling” and with how that use of the word” peeling” is where it all then connects to the mental aspect of it/the bridge between physical vs mental re: henry trying to peel the last three years off of his body (especially with the imagery re: peeling skin off/peeling years off vs all of the mental/supernatural “flaying” in ST vs the peeling skin imagery tying to the idea of literal flaying in the sense of flaying skin off).

And the “last three years” thing always gets me, it’s not only such a good reminder of how long he spent in the lab/how many years he’s lost, But then also, specifically in the context of shedding a carapace/molting, the implication that Henry hasn’t “molted” in three years/that this carapace that’s stuck to him is three years old/literally made up of the past three years really hits me every time re: the fact that spiders shed their carapaces/molt wayy more often than that so he hasnt been Allowed to molt & also the fact that some types of spiders stop molting entirety once they reach maturity (this is the case for black widows)/other types just molt less frequently (once a year) when they reach maturity vs the last three years in the lab being what makes up Henry’s “carapace” & Henry not having “molted” at all in the lab/at all in the last 3 years vs the way that Henry was forced to grow up quickly in the lab but how it Also stunted him & how not molting anymore is a sign of “maturity” /adulthood in spiders.

And especially with all of that/the idea of being forced to grow up quickly but also having your growth stunted as a result vs using the imagery of shedding a three year old carapace to convey that & the way that having a built-up old caparace/unshedded layers would make him seem “bigger”/more grown” when in reality, it’s a sign of *not* having grown/not being allowed to shed it is *stunting* his ability to grow/it’s like he was being forced to “grow” by not shedding (which then also ties SO PERFECTLY into Henry’s canon regen healing & the way that there’s all of this tumor imagery associated with it/unwanted growths) and that weighing up down/the extra “weight”/“size”/“growth” on him re: not “shedding his skin” & how his/a spider’s limbs aren’t going to grow properly unless they shed their skin so then there’s the whole visual of him not growing in a typical Growth way/his metaphorical limbs not getting longer but instead just “growing” by having all of these extra layers/“skin” that hes now trapped in/cant shed to properly grow vs the idea of Brenner wanting him to be like a child and like an adult simultaneously (ie being a Freak & Liking the fact that Henry’s a child vs also stealing his childhood/putting him in a lab/making him behave Like An Adult/making him grow up quickly).

Especially with black widows no longer molting once they reach sexual maturity vs the idea of Henry not being *allowed* to molt/stopped early from molting/being forced to reach that maturity early (smash cut to the SA imagery in the lab) when he hasnt Actually reached it physically.

And then that all also ties so well into the idea of being a Child Forced To Behave Like An Adult/Forced Into Adult Activities rather than Actually Becoming An Adult.

I just!! The line about a spider shedding its carapace as a way of describing Henry’s attempts to leave the lab behind is literally such a perfect line, like there’s something so physical and visceral about it, not only is it such a perfect description of the situation, but the spider aspect then ties so perfectly into Henry’s character specifically.

Especially with the next context TFS Henry & the visual of those spider legs bursting out of his back during the attic scene with Virginia & how that’s Also very Physical in a similar way to this scene (and yet again, Ptolemaea ages like a fine wine.)

And then also, specifically looking at the “To grow,” line, this line specifically always feels like so perfectly like Henry reassuring himself/tears in my eyes over little 15 year old henry “spider guy” creel reminding himself of how spiders grow and how it’s okay even though it hurts, because it just means he’s in Spider Mode and Spider Coded and Based and Spiderpilled HWHDBDDNHEHD like he’s reminding himself that not only do spiders shed their carapaces, but they do so in order to grow/it’s Necessary in order for them to grow. Like it almost feels like the way a parent would try and get a child to do something (ie if a kid loved superheroes, the whole “superman would clean his room 🤨🤨🤨😌😌😌😌” vibe/“a spider would go and clean himself in the shower because spiders need to shed their skin in order to grow-“) but it’s coming from Henry and directed at Himself, which then emphasizes how lonely he is/the lack of parents/Virginia being dead & Victor being locked up & Henry having to parent himself (but then also the other side of the coin and the lowkey Freedom of Henry getting to parent himself in the context of Brenner/no longer being forcibly “parented” by Brenner).

And it works so perfectly with the “grow together” stuff from the VR (yet AGAIN, Ptolemaea ages like a fine wine) vs what I said earlier re: Brenner “forcing” him to grow by making him keep all those unshed layers/giving the illusion of growth when in reality in order to Actually grow, he’d need to shed those layers vs the way that VR Henry is described as “eager to please” etc vs the idea of him not properly growing/not shedding his carapace in order to please Brenner…

Like I just can’t express enough how much I love that part- it that makes me feel like I’m back to when I was first getting interested in Henry as a character (in a very very good way) and is just this instant, perfectly encapsulated reminder of what I love about his whole story/the vibe of it.

Especially with this being Henry’s POV vs the way that not only is this whole part such a perfectly, artistic, extremely thought-out line on behalf of the writer, but it’s also such a perfect insight into Henry’s character & his spider nerdiness & what I said earlier re: spiders not molting anymore being a sign of them reaching adulthood vs when he does finally “shed his carapace”/scrub himself in the shower, he’s comparing it to a spider molting/his “childish” little spider nerd vibes are coming back, he’s both growing and “regressing” because he’s growing into the Child/15 year old that he Is rather than being a child forced to behave like an adult- especially then with adult teacher Henry’s continued love of spiders/the way that “childish” interest remains even when he Is an actual adult.

Anyway! Ptolemaea my beloved….. <333333

it's why he's so small in canon actually. bro hasn't molted in years we can all give him a break for being the world's Tiniest boy.

anyway alkdjflsd WOW

When I was writing that part the biggest thing in my mind was a combination of not molting/being held back/being trapped under the layers of what he had to do to survive but specifically in the way of protective layers being added with each trauma/him being forced to grow this thick outer shell layer by layer specifically to defend against what was being done to him/retain his sanity and dignity. Which speaks to a degree of removal from what was done to him, in my mind, this kind of

"It happened to me, and I'm self-aware enough to acknowledge that...but it was done to an outer layer that I can shed, so is it really something I have to live with? Or is it something i can just put away somewhere out of sight and never actually deal with in a healthy, meaningful way?"

and so while he's peeling the carapace that's stunting him, it's like...every light has its shadow. He's able to grow into a normal boy, now, and even though it's sore and tender all over at the moment, it's a good thing. But is the way he's doing it healthy? Is he discarding his carapace without addressing and accepting/healing the ways its weight and prolonged presence warped him?

Or is he hobbling around on eight misshapen legs like

"Lalalala...It doesn't exist because I can walk on these legs. They're a little weirdly shaped, but I can hide them well enough if I make a home in the neatly-trimmed Kentucky bluegrass lawns of suburban America. Could a damaged spider walk around as well as I do? I'm so normal and also healthy. Being prevented from molting definitely had no lingering effects on my well-being. Haha, no there's no reason why I refuse to go out on the pavement and show you guys my totally normal legs. I just don't want to. No other reason. There's nothing wrong with me, I'm a normal spider :) Anyway, look at my web. Could a broken spider make a web this nice? Didn't think so. I'm totally normal and there's NOTHING in my past that I need to heal from."

Something something "I'm not a freak. I'm normal. I'm Henry Creel."

There's also the more surface aspect of the Will-Henry Mindflayer-Brenner "I felt it everywhere/I still feel him" and Henry thinking that if he scrubs hard enough, he can rid himself of the lingering memories, the same way Will thought that if he could just keep running, he could escape the Mindflayer/the lingering trauma of what happened to him in the UD/the slug stuff.

They're both running away from looming, lingering CSA trauma, just in different ways. Will can run all he wants, but the Mindflayer is going to catch him anyway. His trauma will always catch up to him. Henry can scrub all he wants, he can peel off that outer shell and pretend like he's getting rid of everything that happened to him, but the damage was mental. It's something that's inevitably going to catch up with him until he can't ignore it anymore.

That's also where the burning came from in my mind: Will being rid of the Mindflayer by burning, but him still being able to feel it/it coming back later vs Henry trying to rid himself of his history with Brenner via scrubbing himself raw with burning water because he's still able to feel that history physically/that history will come back to haunt him later much like the Mindflayer haunts Will.

—————

Tell me what fic or line of writing you remember me by

[yomiurinikei]

hibiki for the ask meme (annie)

I TYPED ALL THIS UP FOREVER AGO THEN. never uploaded it. it’s just been in my drafts.

cw for mentions of the god awful ship (not /pos and it’s not brought up by name) + brief mentions of her canon trauma and my desire for it to be handled differently (not in depth/explicit)

everything after this read more was written forever ago i don’t even really recall what’s there i just skimmed it for cws

hi annie!!!!! we have the same brain huh (both asked for biki..)

my identity hc for them

just a little girl. uhhhh ya okay. obligatory 'this is an au where things were. not good but Better' disclaimer, im gonna handle this whole post under the context of. i do what i want and what i want is for hibiki to be okay. she's still a system just because of abuse at the hands of her parents which was exacerbated by kanade being toxic. not uh. yeah.

aaaanyways. she's very nonbinary to me!!! i think she likes like.. all the labels. nonbinary trans genderqueer and one hundred million thousand microlabels. she prolly rbs a ton of incoherent "i am like if a bead rolled underneath a industrial refrigerator before eventually being sucked up into a vacuum, slipped out of the garbage onto the ground where it slowly sunk into the earth was a girl but also not a girl" posts.

also i think she's questioning her sexuality/how she experiences attraction but she like. loves loves having qpps. to her its like... a great sign of friendship but also she wants to signify that shes very close with a lot of people. its a high honor but not a rare one to receive. her relationship with it is just like. i have someone who is very dear to me but without any sort of romantic or familial connotations how lovely and cool this is, how happy it makes me <3. she's just chilling!!!

Thoughts on their home life/family

ooogh. okay. actually i never included this in the ask meme. mm,,, how do i want to handle this. hm. i thiiink.. hibiki and kanade deserve some time to be estranged from each other. obvi this is again, within how i choose to write them. so i dont think this will be a relatable take. buuuut yeah. sometimes the best thing for siblings is to not be siblings for a bit. if anyone asks they just share a last name but have no relation. i think that would be good

i have a very normal relationship with my siblings (<- only child who used to be a younger sibling. that is what i am choosing.)

How i feel about their canonical writing/handling

mmmm,, she is so so so fucking system and i really wish she belonged to anyone but linuj. do u guys remember when i said hm maybe the otono twins were abused by their parents and thats why kanade took control of the situation by hurting the one person she could who would always have to be around her? and then a few months later linuj was like oh kanade is just born evil shes inherently bad because i think thats fun and cool^^ ? i remember. i remember very well.

i think,, hibiki was just ultimately underused. and like. it sucks and was bullshit what happened but also i Understand it within what it did narratively. even if i think linuj kinda dicked up the way it couldve affected the tone of the game. buuut. really the largest disservice that happened was like. the way she ultimately had no agency. according to linuj, no matter what, kanade would be Like That, and hibiki would get hurt, and the end. im not saying what happened to her was her fault, thats not what i mean when i say she has no agency, i mean. there was no in universe reason for what happened, not at the end of the day. she was doomed from conception in and out of universe and it just sucks and makes her feel flat because u cant even go what if not without completely ignoring the way linuj writes a wholeass character. hoping that all makes sense?

buuut yeah. tldr. she couldve been vv well written and handled well, even with her ultimate fate staying the same. but by admitting there's absolutely no way hibiki could have made it out okay, not even a "well, the cards would never line up like this, but if x had happened, and then y, then kanade would've fucked off", but making it that no matter what, kanade is gonna do what she did. it just kinda leaves a bad taste about things

The one thing i’d want to make canon about them

she actually is a person who exists outside of what kanade did <3. yes she has that puppet state sure whatever but also she's part of a system and has alters and one of them is "puppet state" but the others have hopes and desires and likes and etc etc.

My number one favorite ship for them

going off earlier, just assume all these ships are qpps <3! her and setsuka have a really fun relationship. cop out answer but ya know

…Now everyone else i ship with them

i like sora and hibiki!

The thing i will NEVER ship

ignoring the Obvi. i can’t think of anyone? again using ships here to mean like. hibiki having bestie-isms, i think she’s p shippable. she’s fun and friend shaped!

a dynamic/relationship i wish was explored more (in canon, or in fandom)

uhhh i agree w/you she and nikei would be silly. they deserve to be character who is like :D but is then like D:< together.

thoughts on their design (appearance-wise)

hair so pretty eyes so pretty. kinda weird colors

A music-related thought- a song that reminds me of them, or what their music taste is, etc

dreamin chuchu always makes me think of her i cannot explain why

[biipbop]

Ooooh how about the other P5 cast? Strikers and Royal included. In the Flower child au

Havent played strikers yet (I own it and will get to it soon I swear 😞)

The first time Ann hears about Akira knowing gas chamber is from Ryuji. So its no surprise that she thinks he's full of shit and Akira would 100% commit to the bit and never confirm it. Everyone else will similarly follow suit and also think Ryuji is trying really hard to convince them that not only does Akira totally know gas chambers on a personal level but tatsujun isnt just PR. Theyre married and are Akira's adopted parents. It gets to the point that Ann and Ryuji start arguing about it publically. It becomes a running joke among there classmates.

Most of their classmates are pretty ick about it (they dont really think positively of Ann Ryuji and akira as is so they joke about how the deliquent is really out here trying to convince everyone he's related to celebrities). Mishima on the other hand believed it the instant he was told:

Ryuji: *points to Akira* This guy is the love child of tatsujun from gas chamber

Mishima: *sideeying ryuji* reaaaaally?

Akira: *straight faced knowing he looks like he knows you know hes lying* yep.

It was enough for Mishima.

Futaba already knew. She found out while doing a bg check on Akira before he moved into the cafe. She also doesnt tell anyone bc she also thinks it's fucking hilarious that no one else knows.

Haru initially doesnt believe them but she once met Jun at a charity function when she was younger. He had tatsuya with him and she did get the impression that they actually were romantically together. One day she corners Akira to find out the truth but it very much goes similarly as it did with mishima (Akira confirms but is he *actually* confirming it or just messing around??) Haru is eventually able to get a crack in the facade when she tells him how he met the two before and how she thinks they might actually be together. How encouraging it was to see a queer couple who were so in love that they couldnt really hide it. Akira breaks and ends up sharing family photos with her.

If youve seen my flower child au comics theyre kinda inconsistent with how and when morgana and Akechi find out. Earlier comics had them knowing during the events of the game while my more recent comics have them finding out post game. But i think I prefer them knowing during game cause it just makes better sense for me timeline wise so....ignoreing my own comics I guess

Morgana would technically be told the same time as Ryuji except Morgana would have 0 context as to who tatsuya and jun are or even who gas chambers is. So from Morgana's perspective Ryuji thought Akira's dad (who morgana saw pictures of from when Akira was a kid) was a girl. (He will never let Ryuji forget this). Ryuji would later be talking about gas chambers with Ann and she would be the one to show morgana their music and recordings of interviews and live shows. Because theyre fully dressed like a v-kei band Morgana wont put 2 and 2 together until after he actually meets them.

Even though he would also do a background check on Akira, Akechi doesnt know that about who Akira's parents are. (Jun and tatsuya couldnt legally adopt Akira so technically Katsuya and Maya would be Akira's legal parents but everyone in sumaru knows bc Jun and Tatsuya never hid their relationship. Also all the members of Gas Chambers go by a stage name for privacy reasons)

Like Ryuji Akechi also grew up familar with Gas Chamber bc his mom was a fan (side note: I think both Ryuji and Akechi would have young moms who couldve been good friends). Akechi, gun to head, would never admit this to anyone especially not akira but Jun would be his gay awakening. Akira only finds this out after Akechi meets his parents. They dont break up over this but they get close to it. Akira would refuse to talk to his dads for a week when he finds out leaving his parents panicked bc their bby boy is big sad and might have broken up with his first bf but doesnt want their help. They stay together and all is good but lord help Akechi if he ever points out any similarities between Jun and Akira.

Yusuke has no fucking clue who Gas Chambers is. But when he meets Eikichi he will go to stalker level to get a chance to draw him. Luckily for him Eikichi finds out about the little weirdo thinking hes beautiful and is all about it. He keeps every piece Yusuke gives him and even has Yusuke's paintings in the family restaurant as well as his home.

Sorry this is rambly!

Edit: I forgot Sumire!! I'll be honest, I have no clue. I dont believe she would know who Gas Chambers is. Futaba would probably only know bc she's a gremlin and constantly online.

Sumire most likely would think Ryuji is trying to tease her and not believe him either. She would be with the squad when they go visit Akira and find out Ryuji didnt lie. Shed be glad that Futaba and Akira got the pleasure of their long con going through without failure.

Also the p2 squad will realize that the metaverse was a thing when they hear Morgana talk.

[1tsjusty0u]

zelda ask game!! 🐦👑😔

!!!!!

🐦 - Any Opinions or Headcanon(s) about a certain Zelda Race?: OUGH ok so. i had a ramble for disconnected races, and im going to keep that in my notes for now. however for a specific race. hahahahehahaha for a Specific race. im going to talk about the zonai. i also have hcs for them however those hcs completely disregard who and what they are in totk it might as well be a different race entirely. so anyways; i think they suck 🎉🎉. sorry zonai lovers. mostly in execution honestly, if there was a separate game that had no lore ties to other games or wasnt a direct sequel to one the zonai Could Work. theres still some problems (raurus imperialism but thats mostly a character thing, the secret stones couldve been handled. A Lot Better, they could have actual motives), but it could work. like how the minish cap handles the minish. however in the context of specifically botw they contradict Everything, as well as just make for bad plot elements in totk. theres the obvious stuff, like the hamfisted zonai ruins being in placed in odd locations, the zonai replacing the ancient sheikah as a whole and it going completely unmentioned, building the Majority of ruins including gorondia for some reason??, plus more things i cant think of off the top of my head. but to add something new ish to the conversation is how it goes against botw. like . before totk the terminology for the people who made those animal ruins all throughout faron and the ones who made the thyphlo ruins and the thundra plateau were considered to be the zonai, a barbaric tribe who may or may not have descendants from lurilen. like we had the barbarian set, we knew where all the ruins were (including doorframes. thats not a joke), we knew their crest and we had creating a champion info that contextualized some of it back then but now doesnt align with what totk did if that makes sense. theres still some similarities (dragon motifs, powerful magic users), but theyre clearly not the same race (gestures to the architecture and just they way theyre spoken about before and after totk). they try to handwave it by saying those ruins were either a monument to king rauru (thyphlo ruins), or in game the animalistic ruins try and cover zonai ruins for some reason, hiding it. even then the trailer ruins were different and fitted more closely to the style of the animalistic lomei labyrinth ruins. and on one hand this kind of feels like mad man ramblings because. we Didnt get that. all the thoughts made about the zonai pre totk could theoretically fit (worshipping a water dragon, the pillars being used for magic), especially with how vague the totk zonai Are. plus who cares it didnt happen. plusplus its probably just because i Expected something and didnt get it. it just feels like the set-up of the zonai was either a prank or Was thought about until being scrapped. and its like. i dont want to more or less justify theory videos here? if they made a game without the zonai At All that was a sequel to botw that would be alright! some of the conclusions made In those theories kind of suck! you wouldnt have to call them the zonai or even have them Be There. but take creating a champion and the trailer for an instance- when you Specifically give us information only to go back on it like it wasnt there . Why. you can even see the divide in what we thought the zonai were from ocs like in the prince ganondorf au i believe or just. searching up zonai oc before:2023. like keep in mind when i say “the barbarians/zonai” im Specifically referring to pre totk zonai and its so hard to clarify that. i dont know i could probably come up with more substantial arguments here its just. brain ramble. on the bright side it creates a neat time gap and a point in History. i dont like totk as a whole for multiple reasons but it sure did that. should probably just call them the faron tribe. also sorry i didnt talk about any actual problems but you get the gist.

👑 - Favorite version of Zelda?: HM!!! on one hand you. should not be asking me this i have chronic starting but not finishing games for zelda. from what little i know . actually hang on i think ive been spelling sheikah wrong. or sheik. or both shit. Ok Anyways n NO I HAVENT ALRIGHT!!!!! ok but firstly the kakariko sheik gif is so funny out of context

cringefail gamer moment 10/10. though. i dont know if they exactly count as a zelda in this sense? given the differing pronouns + people tend to separate sheik and zelda. which makes sense because nintendo does this too. so uhm. honorary mention? otherwise i like alttp zelda both for her casual design but also just because you can talk to her. she has one piece of dialogue (except for telekinesis tiles) and she doesnt do anything, but for halfish? of the game you can Go Up to her. and Talk to her. im so used to cutscene zeldas or just. no zeldas. i also like tetra though i do wish we got to see her more. or i may need to replay it as my memorys probably spotty. design wise i also like casual sksw zelda. the belt and the.. ccoat? and the fabrics and the ribbons in her hair. its great. also i like botw zeldas subtle crown, her braid being similar to a crown braid though not exactly. i also like young oot zeldas design specifically the headpiece. tis neat. anyways ! either oot or alttp.

😔 - Least Favorite Zelda character? something something they hate me and are going to beat me with rocks. thats a bit how i feel right now. alright so. once again i am zeldas georg adn should not have been counted. that being said i dont! have many! well. alright so im sorry for the slander but. so far what ive played of tp (ive gotten to the very start of wolf link) im not too much of a fan of ilia so far. rival love interest or just love interest whos done kind of poorly to me. she might get better as a character but for now. meh. then theres the alttp npcs in kakariko who send a guard towards me. on one hand yes i am wanted from. the story that is fair. however Cmon.. i dont even talk to them they just spot me and run into their houses as the guards come to kill me. i guess its because the other kakariko residents are chill with link that it bothers me slightly but it does make sense. however free my man he did nothing wrong!!!!!

[blood-starved-beast]

I attribute this competition to being a consequence of Arcane's tragedy. The idea that the sisters are doomed in some capacity holds over even to the AU. That regardless of whatever universe, something always tears the sister apart. Arcane, seen through those lens makes a lot more sense. Vi's arc and the "failure" of her protector role, Jayce and Viktor's ends, the failure of Mel's dream in Piltover all reflect that fall.

The competition exists, and it was good for no one. The show acknowledges this. It is another cycle of hatred. Jinx escalated this, or rather, the circumstances led to this which Jinx's traumas escalated, and Vi'sown maintained/supported it. The slap led to Vi's memory being permanently marred in Jinx's mind later when it heals. Their co-dependency was always gonna get between vi and her own happiness, as well as Jinx's. Jinx even put the ultimatum in Vis head to have her and kill Caitlyn, or else. This was in s1ep9, in the context that Jinx had violated Caitlyn's privacy, kidnapped her, Silco and Vi. The point drawn here is that curently, jinx's and vi's relationship is doomed. They do not really know each other, only though past memories overlaid with trauma and tragedy. Every time they meet this tragedy continues and they either ruin it for each other, or circumstsnces either tied to their decisions do. Jinx makes the realization hence her decision to run away and end that cycle. Both her and vi and their respective traumas make each other worse, not better. As for the passivity of Vi's choice - does it need to be a statement? In Vis ideal world, she gets both Cait and Jinx - that is her family, and her need to protect em both would be satisfied. But what she wants isnt what she gets in this tragedy, and at least she has Caitlyn still. She couldve made that choice to chase after Jinx after Caitlyn freed her, but she decided to stay. And for once, Vi gets something positive out of it. She gets Caitlyn yes, but she also gets the freedom to not be a protector anymore. She is freed of the burden of being just an older sibling. She can be vi, someone who has options ahead of her. The tragedy is, it comes at the cost of her relationship with Jinx. But unfortunately that is the price of Vi's greatest srmtrength and her fatal flaw - inability to not stop loving Jinx. As long as jinx stayed around, shell never escape thaf role of being the protector. She could never discover herself.

I agree that some aspects of s2 feel a bit fanfic-y. The Vander hug scene kinda, the AU episode, etc. But imho i dont agree on the whump aspect because of the show being again, a tragedy. It's whump if say Hamlet or any tragedy is whump. The reason bad things happen to Vi or any of the characters is cause the decisions they make lead em there. Vi chases Jinx whom she has a toxic bond with and it leads to Caitlyn abandoning her. Caitlyn, jinx's foil, prioritizes her obsession to right her mistakes with not taking the shot and her grief costs her Vi. It costs her her moral beliefs and gets her into a puppet dictatorship which she did not want. Jinx, on her split choice between Silco and vi in s1 - she loses Silco, and later she thinks she loses Vi (to being an evil cop). She comes to realize she's hurt her regardless. As for the Caitvi weirdness, i think they were always gonna be weird about it.they bonded over Vi nearly dying and being saved via shimmer and various other near death experiences. They made out in a sewer. Ive mentioned in another post, just cause sex and perhaps kink exist, doesnt make it bad. It doesnt make it fanficcy either.

This is just my personal opinion, but how the greater fandom responds to things, it's not my concern. People are free to see things as how they choose. Fanodm especially in recent years seem to prefer trope-y, formulaic storytelling. If characters don't do xyz then the writing is bad instead of trying to engage with what the author actually meant. Dont realize they mightve been wrong.

that being said - there is a strong recency bias with timebomb. They went from barely having anything to being an actual ship. So ppl rejoyce, but forget they had one scene in s1 and deleted scenes. Caitvi had that honeymoon period in 2021-22, but id still argue it is better written by virtue of actual having development,not just limited to actually having onscreen development tgat arent deleted scenes. Timebomb and it tragedy is very much the idea of "what could've been" and not what was. Cause really, main canon Jinx and Ekko barely had a thing and frankly no way in hell there wouldve been the way things were turning out. Jinx's choice sealed that fate. Caitvi was and is the main ship and it had 2 seasons to develop. And it paid off. From the start it was always a show, not tell ship, and ended so. I think once the initial hype dies down, things'll stabilize.

Also, there is uh, a certain expectation that lesbian relationships have be portrayed a certain way in fandom, we cannot ignore this. Hence my talk about the fandom trend of being prudish and puritan. And that's not including homophobia and why some fans hate caitvi regardless of kink involved- we cannot remove irl from fandom. This is not a major part of the fandom but i have seen ppl express the sentiment under thinly disguised lenses/pretexts. Ive been in fandom long enough to know its stench. Caitvi is queer, which is trangressive, and then kinky/intimate (and not just about the sex), which is transgressive. So yeah. It was doomed for controversy. But i respect authors who want to do something, and they do it than if they feel as though they have appeal to the masses. Challenge ppl, how they precieve writing and stories, than submit to them I always say. Imho, ive seen more ppl on an individual level talk about caitvi and arcane, but i dont watch many yt cideos that arent riot song playlist lmao.

Now, i dont mean to say your opinins are vad, just to clarify. Or that you cannot read the story. These are just my opinions

@blood-starved-beast

My concern with ViCait isn't really that it's bad or illogical or unhealty.

It's more like:

“We finally get to answer ‘What would Vi do if she didn’t have anything left to protect?’” Overton says. “She would choose Cait.”

Source

This bothers me due to:

1.) imo it has consistently felt like Amanda feels possessive over ViCait vis a vis Vi&Jinx. That ViCait and Vi&Jinx is a contradiction, it's a competition. And that is always going to rub people the wrong way who either think it shouldn't be a competition (why can't Vi have both? Why should Jinx being in Vi's life be a threat to Cait? Is that kind of fucked up way where Cait has to possess Vi completely and there can't be anybody whether Jinx or Vander or whoever to take away Vi's attention or emotional energy?) or that if it's a competition then Vi should choose her sister and it's immoral to not put her sister first.

(I personally don't care that deeply, but imo that explains some of the fan reactions)

2.) Even if you see it as a competition. Of it's "Jinx versus Cait". And as a romance you NEED to have Vi pick Cait over Jinx. The fact that Vi chooses Cait only after she has (passively) lost Jinx, after Jinx has forcefully and against Vi's will removed herself from the equation lessons the romantic power of the choice. Yes from a character point of view Vi choosing Cait over her sister is more fucked up. But from a romance POV the bigger choice is Vi does it proactively and with intentional agency, because she loves/wants Cait just that damn much because the promise of a life with Cait is just that damn appealing and not because everything else has been taken away from her first. That feels like Vi is being cornered into that choice rather than Vi making that choice as a big powerful statement. (even if the cornered choice is something that Vi does genuinely enjoy and likes, the fact that she has been cornered into it rather than proactively choosing it makes Vi and the romance weaker)

3.) Some of Arcane feels like fanfiction made real. That doesn't have to be a bad thing. Ekko going to the happy AU is pure fanfiction plotting but imo they pulled it off. There's a reason why so many reviewers name it as their favorite episode. Because they did pull it off.

But part of me looks at season 2 in particular and feels like somebody writing a Vi Whump Fic. And there you just run into the problem that there are just some thing, some cadences of emotion and plot that make sense in fanfic (like ie exhaustive curtain picking fics) that just don't work as well as a main work. (ironically that's one thing I really noticed in the 50 Shades of Grey movies, that they follow the cadence of a fanfic [main character gets threatened and saved, then they have sex, guy gives her a gift, then they have sex, main character has an unpleasant run in, then they have sex, guy gives her another gift, then they have sex], that fanfic/porn plotting, and that's why the pacing of those movies feels super weird for a normal movie, why it's hard to put them into a traditional act or character arc structure).

I don't really begrude ViCait as a little bit of "my weird, messy, slightly kinky side thing", but if on some level you were trying to write the big BAMF f/f OTP of all times, the Han and Leia for the gays, imo general, shared audiences are always going to favor agency and proactiveness.

I don't dislike ViCait and I can still like them as the messy chaotic thing. But imo the squee over ViCait has been muted compared to what it would have been (imo) if Vi had just been a little bit more proactive and forceful.

(admittedly, that could just be my youtube algorithm throwing way more "Ekko and Jinx is zomg so deep!!!" analysis videos my way compared to undiluted and unmarred ViCait squee)

[umbrellamemorabilia]

basically my dream rewrite-- specifically rewrite, not just an au, like the actual show would literally be more compelling and coherent this way-- would have leonard actually getting to be fully honest about his motivations, telling vanya his past upfront, and having vanya earnestly connect with him about that sense of jealousy and isolation and bitterness... the main thing is i feel like he would have loved vanya even without finding out she had powers. i was continually waiting for her to pause and ask "isn't it okay if i don't have any? didn't you like me anyway? can i still be special to you without them?" and ideally he would honestly say yes.

hell, it couldve been stronger if they were already together before the show starts-- he found her through the book, felt so earnestly connected; the bad side of things that still keeps vanya low is that his need to Become Special has endured while vanya has wanted to just build a very small safe box of a life without excess pressure or expectations. he would end up trampling her often or trying to push her forward in ways that dont match her needs. he has a sharper bitterness about her family than she does, because he didn't (get to) live in their spaces, because he assumes his brand of anger is the standard or most valid reaction to abuse and that feeding it to vanya is better for her than being sentimental and easily bruised. it wasn't going to work but they wouldve wanted it to because they cant have anyone else.

so going with vanya to the funeral sets him off too much (the action figures), the dumpster snooping happens, the notion of vanya's powers breaks his world open and there's still that jealousy but also pride in how he can direct her and be special even just by proxy-- even knowing he probably didnt have powers, he just wanted to be somewhere safer, happier-- and so the same controlling behavior comes through but she's used to it and knows so thoroughly why it's important for them both... and doesn't flip-flop erratically in who she trusts for the sake of drama and bad writing... it builds smoothly, and allison trying to get through to her has more true depth-- recognizing that the whole relationship has been toxic if not already outright abusive and trying to make up for the lost love that keeps vanya there, instead of just... "omg actually this dream guy is definitely so evil!!" "omg leave me alone!! i dont care that he's blatantly shady it's true love!!!!" [endless back and forth bullshit endures to the end of the season] lmao

basically-- it's not like i think theyre good together. but the actual parallels in their character premises were so wasted and the show really deeply suffers for it. if you want to tell a story about how these superheroes cant function in the real world or be genuinely heroic, why would you fail to explore how that intersects with how that outside world felt about them? truly, what about the other kids from that day? what about the people who needed to identify with the image of the ua that was crafted? (what did they as a team ever actually accomplish? if it was nothing and they weren't actually very well known or respected, why isnt that a key part of the context?) why does an abused kid's idealization of superheroes who turned out to just be differently abused kids only matter to the story as rushed backstory for a 'twist' that'd been telegraphed since the moment leonard came onscreen? what an absolute failure