#this is a disclaimer: I actually have no way of knowing whether line 2 doesn't actually read “stay closet ome” or something

[19th-century-calamity-crew]

Borne frontière/Bords du domaine code translation (spoilers)

(what it says on the tin)

Part 1: Borne frontière. Complete.

·—— ···· ·— — —·· ——— —·—— ——— ··— ·—— ·— —· —

WHAT-DO-YOU-WANT

— ·· ··· —· ——— — — ···· · ——· ·—·· ·— ··· ···

TIS-NOT-THE-GLASS

— ···· ·— — ·· ··· ··—· ·— ·—·· ·—·· ·· —· ——·

THAT-IS-FALLING

·· ··· ···· ——— ··— ·—·· —··

I-SHOULD

···· ·— ···— · ··· · — ··· ·— ·· ·—··

HAVE-SET-SAIL

Part 1.5: comment

it's - easy - to - tell - the - boundary - between - light - and - dark - or - dots - and - dashes - isn't - it - unlike - other - boundary - conditions

(ironically enough, telling the white dots apart from the spaces wasn't easy at all :-))

Part 2: Bords du domaine. Incomplete so far.

the-weather-will-turn

···/—/·—/—·——/—·—·/·—··/———/···/·/—/———/——/·

STAY-CLOSE-TO-ME

•–/•–••/•–••/•––/•/•––/•–/–•/–/•/–••/•––/•–/•••/–/–––/–•••/•/––•/–––/–––/–••

ALL-WE-WANTED-WAS-TO-BE-GOOD

••/•••/•/•/–•––/–––/••–/••/•••/•/•/–•––/–––/••–

I-SEE-YOU-I-SEE-YOU

•——/•/•——/•/•—•/•/—•••/———/—/••••/—••/••/•••/—•—•/•—/•—•/—••/•/—••

WE-WERE-BOTH-DISCARDED

•—•• • — —— • •• •—•• •—•• ••— —— •• —• •— — • — •••• • •—• ——— —•—• —•— ••• ••—• ——— •—• —•—— ——— ••—

LET-ME-ILLUMINATE-THE-ROCKS-FOR-YOU

•—— •••• •— — —•• ——— —•—— ——— ••— — •••• •• —• —•— ——— ••—• — •••• • •• •—• —•—• •—•• •— •• —— ••• •——• •••• •— •—• ——— ••• ••——••

WHAT-DO-YOU-THINK-OF-THEIR-CLAIMS-PHAROS-?

•• ••• • • — •••• • —— •• ••• • • — •••• • ——

I-SEE-THEM-I-SEE-THEM

•—— •• •—•• •—•• — •••• • —•—— —•— • • •——• — •••• • •• •—• •——• •—• ——— —— •• ••• • ••• ••——••

WILL-THEY-KEEP-THEIR-PROMISES-?

•—— •• •—•• •—•• —•—— ——— ••— —•— • • •——• —•—— ——— ••— •—• •••

WILL-YOU-KEEP-YOURS

[hyunjilicious]

most to least kinky [skz ver.]

A/n: this has probably been done a million times before but I thought I could make my own list, right?

Warnings: this isn't full on smut, but A LOT of things are mentioned (from slapping to ass eating to crying to cnc) I can't possibly mention them all. Needless to say, this is strictly 18+, please proceed with caution!!!!

Disclaimer: I'm sorry. I'm incredibly sorry, ok? I don't understand Seungmin 😭😭 I absolutely love him with all my heart, but he's a mystery to me. I've also only been in this fandom for a few months so maybe with time I'll be able to write for him but until then, I'll just keep apologising to my Minnie biased readers for doing their baby dirty. I'm sorry, I promise I'm trying!! 🥺

Please let me know what you thought and if you have other ideas!! I'd love to hear different opinions!!!

1. Lee Know 

Do I even have to explain? At this point, you could basically write an entire encyclopedia only using the stuff this man is into - he knows it all and wants to try it all. The thing is, whether he trusts you enough or not, because if he's too shy to bring up the one thing that's on his mind, he'll bombard you with hints, hoping he'd "manipulate" you into mentioning it first. Not that he'd ever do anything you're not 100% comfortable with, but he'd much rather you be the one who asks. He'd slap your ass, bite it, mark it, grope it, eat your pussy from behind and send you porn links - all while hoping you'd finally get the idea and ask him to eat your ass. Because he's shy like that. But once you do catch on and tell him about it, he's all in. 

And then, as he grows more comfortable around you, all these little games you two play will slowly start to shift. His main priority will always be you, but with time, his teasing nature will replace the old Minho you used to have sex with, and literally everything this man does will be about driving you insane. 

He'd make you beg, whine, crawl on your knees, hump pillows - hump his leg, just so you can prove yourself, only to deny you again, always with a grin on his face. A loving smile as he looks at you, right before he throws a very swift "No" in your face and makes you start over. You have to be spent, exhausted, dumb and drunk on him before he finally gives you what you want. But when he finally does, it's everything you ever wanted and more because he doesn't.hold.back.

2. Jeongin

To be fair, it might be because he had to go through the "Watch your mouth, there's a child in our grup!" phase, which - cute and all, got old very fast. Maybe this side of him would have never surfaced like this, but you can't possibly know, there's only one Jeongin and he's a meanie. He's stern, he's serious and there's only one way, his. 

He takes the safe word very seriously because otherwise, he doesn't take no for an answer. There's no "too much", "too hard", "too fast". He doesn't care. He knows you can take it and you have to. 

You don't move, he moves you. If you don't shut up when he tells you to, it's 'ass up, face down into the pillow' - no questions, no warnings. 

It all starts nicely, though. His good little girl, his angel, who needs to do absolutely everything she's told otherwise his punishments will be downright cruel and you'll be nothing more than a "dumb, fucking whore" until he's done with you. 

One thing that makes him draw the line though, is crying. He loves to see little tears at the corner of your eyes as he fucks you into oblivion, just so he can mock you for it, "Oh, is my sweet, little baby crying?" and then go faster. But if you let out anything more than a cute, little sob, or if you start actually crying, even though you're still down to keep going, he won't. He can't. He's cruel, but not that cruel, it hurts his heart to see you like that and absolutely never lets things get that far.

3. Felix

This man is into… everything. His eyes light up every single time there's something new for you two to try, and he puts his whole soul into it. 

On one hand, he's into the basics - he goes crazy for your tits, will lick, bite, suck and eat anything off of them (absolutely adores eating cream off your body, but yeah, your tits are his favorite spot). He loves lingerie, loves ripping it off of you, loves seeing you dress up, pretend to be a nurse, a teacher or the girl next-door who just so happened to leave the window open. 

Doesn't have a daddy kink but he's just so obsessed with doing absolutely anything for you, he'd go with it. Most likely prefers 'Sir' but it isn't a must. Will melt and cry if you allow him to fall you 'Mommy'

The definition of a switch. When he's a dom, 90% of the time he's soft, full of praises and encouragements, loves making you feel all safe and loved as you degrade yourself for him. He'll whisper in your ear the absolute sweetest, most loving words you ever heard in your entire life, all while completely breaking you in half with his cock. But also, there are times when there's just one way for him to relax and let loose, and during those days, he's lazy and he's condescending, judgy and a little bit mean, and these are the absolute worst moments for you to be brat. 

But all of these are only half of him, because this man is probably the most dedicated and enthusiastic sub in the world. He'll do absolutely everything he's told and then beg for more. Way too eager to humiliate himself for you. Also very, very vocal, he'll cry, whine and beg and will also never fail to let you know just how obsessed he is with worshiping the ground you walk on. 

4. Chan

Also a switch, but it takes months, if not more, for you guys to get there. He's a leader by nature, used to having a lot of responsibilities and a lot of control over the things around him. He likes to be in charge, knows how to do it, and loves the responses he gets. Probably one of the best doms out there because even though you have a safe word, he's so fucking careful with you at all times that he knows to slow down before you even have to think about using it. It only happened once, and your voice still rings in his head - he still hasn't forgiven himself for it. 

But since he's so observant and trusts you to put a stop to whatever is going on in case you need to, he feels free to go crazy. Unlike Jeongin, he likes to hear you cry, likes knowing he has that power over you and the fact you know how easy it is for him to absolutely wreck and ruin you, but still allow him to go crazy, drives him wild. Trust is probably what gets him off the most, he absolutely adores how you give up control and leave yourself at his mercy. 

But then again, as your relationship strengthens and he slowly realizes that maybe he doesn't always have to be the one to do it all, that others can take care of him too, that he can actually let loose and renounce all control, you start to see another side of him. 

He's an exemplary sub, not one brat bone in his body. He tries sometimes to test you, but he goes back to being doe eyed and whiny for you in no time. He's not as vocal and not as eager to let all his enthusiasm show, but just like Felix, he'll do absolutely anything you tell him, and then thank you for allowing him to do it. 

5. Han

Another switch. He can be a dom and he can be a sub, but I think there are two other sides of him. This man will go back and forth between being the absolute, most cocky motherf on the planet, to being absolutely wiped and wrapped around your finger. And while these for aspects of him can pair up in any way, leaving you with a teasing dom, a loving and soft one, or a bratty sub that will try to make you prove to him just how badly you need him to worship you and so on, I think he's not always like this.

You can't really tell whether there's a pattern, but maybe if you spent more time together you'd be able to spot one. Maybe it depends on how his day went, how tired he is, how his social batteries are like at the moment, but I think there are many, many days when this man just needs to feel you, to smell you, hear you. To collapse into the sheets with you, forget about the world and melt in your arms. Yeah, he's down to try a lot of stuff, but what he loves the most are the simple things. Like missionary late at night, with the lights on so he can see every glimmer of anything in your eyes, to wipe the sweat off your temples and to be able to smother you with kisses. Impromptu sex in the morning, lazy sex in the shower, cuddling that turns into you riding him on the couch while watching a movie. That's what I think he's into the most.

6. Changbin

Thank god this man is not the kinkiest because he'd probably break you in half and no amount of aftercare would be able to fix that. This man goes hard. No matter if you're the one that woke him up, all needy and clingy, or if he came home riled and ready to go, he's already ready to give you his all. That dumptruck isn't there for nothing, he doesn't even have to try that hard to make you scream. 

But it's not just physical, he goes all out in all ways. He doesn't just want you on your back, legs spread open so he can eat you out, no, you have to be on his face, full weight down on top of him, and you have to ride. Other than that, you don't really have to do much, because he's a sucker for handling you. He'll hold up your weight when he fucks you against the dresser and he doesn't mind being the one who gets rid of all the clothes in the way when he randomly decides he wants to fuck you bent over the kitchen table. 

So I don't think he needs much more than you two already have. Of course, he's usually fine with trying things you're into, and yeah, he likes them, but that's just more like 'fun' to him. He's not the kind to call you degrading names or spank you until you cry, through he might enjoy a little bit too much seeing his hand print on your ass or the bruises he left on your hips just from hard he was holding onto you while fucking you into oblivion.

Out of all the things you'd get him to try, I think one of his favorites would be wax play. He'll probably ask you to do it again, maybe like 3 months later. Also, one other thing that gets him going and that he still might be shy about it, is just how hard his cock twitched when you called him daddy. Oops. I don't like it, please do it again.

7. Seungmin 

Ok, again, disclaimer with this one. I wanna start by apologizing to Minnie and to all the Minnie biased readers that are here with us today, but I can't read this man. At all. And that's the reason I put him so low on the list because while I do have some ideas, associating him with certain kinks and stuff felt completely empty to me. Like I have no idea what he'd like? But in case you've read this far, lemme tell you what I did manage to come up with and please let me know how you see it!!

I think trust, communication and fun are the most important to him. I feel like he'd have so much fun guiding you and giving you instructions on how to do different things, from how to suck him off just the way he needs it, to how to use a toy on yourself. And I think it goes both ways, he'd love to have you tell exactly how and what to do at all times.

I also think he can be stern and commanding, serious and totally focused, but he also probably adores being a giggling mess, unable to control himself as you give him your all, worship him and make him feel absolutely cherished. I'm sorry, but I feel like this man thrives on love and appreciation. Other than that, my brain is empty, please help me!!

8. Hyunjin

Ok, maaaaybe I shouldn't have put him last. But fuck it. Sue me. I don't think he's kinky at all. I think that again, he'd be the type to try out most of the things you come up with, but I don't think he associates them with sex like that. I think it's just some form of fun you two have, I don't think there are too many crazy things that necessarily get him going. 

He's a romantic, ok? His main goal is pleasure. He's the kind to absolutely not give a shit about anything, all that he needs is you. If he has you and a surface (not even mandatory) he's satisfied. He'll do absolutely anything, worship every single inch of your body. The kind to kiss his way up your leg before eating you out, to kiss you before you even finished swallowing his cum. Nothing to him is gross, to him, bodies are beautiful and made to be worshiped. He'd paint your body, lay back and allow you to do absolutely anything you want to him, he's just full of want and passion. 

I don't think he'd ever be the kind of person to associate pain or humiliation with pleasure. Like he knows they're valid kinks and will not shame anyone about it, but with him, you have to feel like the most beautiful woman in the world, loved, cradled and appreciated in absolutely every way. 

Absolutely the type to eat your ass and then be like "What? People don't do that?". Doesn't think spitting in each other's mouths is degrading because, "We literally kiss all the time, what?" 

Will ask you to slap him just to see what it's like but will probably malfunction if you ask him to do it to you. 

I think he'd be down for a lot of stuff, but doesn't see any of them as kinks. Doesn't need any of them. They don't get him hard. It's all just for fun. 

Please let me know what you thought!! I'd love to talk about this!!! ❤️

[luna-rainbow]

Do you think Bucky ever got any sleep during all his years of Hydra captivity? Or was it just wipe/kill/back in the freezer? I don't think cryostasis would be anything like normal restorative REM sleep.

Hello nonnie!! I have finally had a light-bulb moment for this ask (I'm sorry it's taken me like 7 months)

I've been going about it the wrong way, trying to research on sleep, when in actuality what I should have been researching is the brain under hypothermia. This is an observational study conducted in the 1980s looking at children undergoing induced hypothermia (lowering of body temperature) during cardiopulmonary bypass (sometimes required during major surgery). In summary, by the time the body temperature cooled to 18 degrees, all brain activity ceased. Sleep - consisting of non-REM and particularly REM - are associated with far more active brain waves. So nonnie, you are very correct in saying that Bucky, even with his super soldier abilities, unlikely ever got any "sleep" during cryostasis. (I'm sorry to all the ficcers that wrote Bucky dreaming during cryo but I think most people are happy to ignore this piece of science)

In terms of whether Bucky ever got "sleep", I think that is hard to say. Even normal soldiers might drive themselves to go without sleep for 36+ hours if required for a mission (heck, even hospital shifts go for 36 hours in some places). As a super soldier, Bucky might tolerate sleep deprivation for longer. This means missions like taking out the Starks - travelling from Russian and back - he might achieve in one sitting without sleeping in between (although I guess no one can stop him from dozing off on the plane).

I think one implied part of your question is "is it likely that Bucky was allowed out of the freezer for long enough periods at a time to need (and get) sleep"? I feel like that is unlikely, judging from the "he's been out of cryo for too long" line from CATWS. The timeline goes: day 1 Bucky makes assassination attempts daytime + night time against Fury / day 2 Steve makes a run down to Jersey arriving there at night / day 3 Bucky attacks Steve on the causeway and then we get the nighttime vault scene where Bucky is "unstable". Even if we add a day or two prior to allow for prepping, that still means Bucky becomes "unstable" and questions his identity within a bare week of being out of cryo.

Credit @lost-shoe (this post)

Now onto the angst...we know anaesthetics is not like restful sleep, so theoretically neither is cryostasis. While the science of cryostasis doesn't exist at the moment, we know from artificial hypothermia in surgical situations that it puts incredible stress on the body and all its organs. Looking at the laboratory derangements during hypothermia it looks like it pushes the body over to anaerobic metabolism and causes lactate to go up. You know when you go for a run and your muscles cramp up because you haven't warmed up enough? That's because your muscles have produced too much lactate from anaerobic metabolism. So...no wonder Bucky can't stand when he comes out of the cryo chamber. It also increases one's bleeding risk and reduces one's healing speed, so take of that what you will for your Whumptober prompts 😂

I also wonder whether, because the brain is not receiving any REM sleep during cryo, it means Bucky has been in a constant state of sleep deprivation for the last 70 years. The theory of "prefrontal vulnerability" in sleep deprivation proposes that functions like language, executive functions, divergent thinking, and creativity are particularly affected, so that can contribute to Bucky's inability to process/produce complex language and his slowness when it comes to working through complex problems. It also has significant effect on memory and attention: it's interesting to note that during sleep deprivation of more than 35 hours, they found that while free recall was affected, recognition was not. (Disclaimer for science: small sample size, opposite result for subjects with sleep deprivation ~24 h).

So yeah, I think there are practical reasons why Hydra would not allow Bucky to have restorative sleep between missions. Consolidation of long term memory (i.e. transferring them from short term storage into long term storage) usually happens during sleep which means it is quite likely Bucky remembers only broken bits of his time (if at all) in the last 7 decades.

[littlemissclandestine]

Why I think Russell Adler is going to make a comeback in COD 2024

WARNING⚠️: Contains spoilers for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

Disclaimer: This is all just speculation on my behalf of course. I've just tried piecing stuff together for fun because Russ is one of my fave BO characters even though he's a bitch but i need more Adler content stat. <33

Let's get into it peeps. HEAR ME OUT.

Buckle up. Gonna be one hell of a ride folks 🤪

We'll start off with some random/background info.

Russ was born on February 12th 1937 so that would make him 53/54 in the Gulf War era. This actually isn't that old because if you think about it, Woods was about to turn 51 in 1981 during the Cold War campaign. What's a few more years?

We last saw Adler in action post-campaign in Warzone 1.0 cinematics but we've been kept in the dark about Adler's whereabouts post-1984 (after being brainwashed and killing Stitch LOL).

This meanie in a beanie wasn't forgotten about, oh no. He appears in the new cinematic intros on startup for both MWII (2022) and MWIII (2023). See below:

He was also featured twice in the 20 year anniversary video for Call of Duty whereas COD Ghosts didn't even get an appearance (ouch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL_w5HmxsPI

I personally believe Adler was a great addition to the Black Ops roster and is essentially the new Black Ops 'cover boy' now. Would be such a shame and a missed opportunity not to include a character like him in the upcoming COD. One who is morally grey, does whatever he deems necessary to get the job done - a bit like Cpt. Price in MW. Got the COD fans riled up about him brainwashing and pulling the trigger on Bell too - he's already got the spotlight in both a good and bad way.

Now, let's explore my main reasoning as to why I think Mr Shades 2.0 is most likely coming back in late 2024...

🎖️First up: Gulf War mission list 🔫

Here are some of the campaign missions that will be featured in Black Ops Gulf War. Obviously, this is subject to change, however, going off what we have, look closely...

Credit: @MWIIINTEL on Twitter/X

Safehouse guys...SAFEHOUSE. Takes you right back to Cold War, doesn't it? Ugh the potential.

🕵️ Next up: The campaign for COD 2024 will dive into the CIA's role/the Black Ops timeline 🕘

I took the following snippet from this official article.

From this, we know there will be a huge focus on the CIA and who's a CIA clandestine special officer? Mhm, you guessed it - Russell Adler.

Now, according to the events of BO2, it's evident which characters have the possibility of returning out of our original BO trio - Jason Hudson, Frank Woods and Alex Mason.

💫 Alex is presumed dead after Frank shot him so he's out the picture in '90/91 until 2025 when they canonically meet again.

🪵 Woods would be in his 60s during this time too so I'll let you decide whether that's too old for him to be in GW.

Edit: Woods got SPAS-12'd in the kneecaps on Dec 20th 1989 by Raul Menendez so uh...yeah

🧊 Hudson died on Dec 20th 1989 at the hands of Raul Menendez.

Feel free to check out this website (Call of Duty Wiki) for an outline of the events after CW to remind yourself. Here's a link to the Black Ops timeline from there.

➡️ Gulf War being a direct sequel to Cold War and what that could mean 💉

That brings me onto the rest of the safehouse crew. Since GW is a direct sequel to CW, it would make sense for some characters to carry over if possible:

We, as the player/Bell, get to choose whether Park or Lazar die (or both lovebirds) in 'End of the Line'. It's highly unlikely they'll return unless the devs make one decision canon maybe.

There could be a chance we see Sims again given his bond with Adler (Da Nang etc.), his age (late 40s in GW) and his status (alive).

That leaves the man himself, Russ. Everything from his age to the fact he's CIA and was the deuteragonist in COD 2020's campaign just makes sense for him to have at least a lil cameo or even a larger role, don't you think?

📱Finally: Hints from official posts 🔎

This post from Call of duty's official Instagram account kind of sealed the deal for me.

Oh lookie - they dropped syringe-lover's famous line in a zombies post. Why would COD just drop it so casually like that without a reason and years after CW came out? They could've said absolutely anything else but no, this was purposeful.

And that's all for this episode guys and gals!

Thank you for reading!! 🫂

Do what you will with all this information but I have concluded in my silly little brain that scarface is coming back.

How he's only in one game is beyond me. Won't get a character like him ever again. Seems like a cliché war dude at first glance but dig a little deeper into the details of the CW campaign, peel back the layers and get into his psychology and WOWZERS.

Am I delusional? Most definitely.

But the possibility he might be returning...that little bit of hope is enough for me and i won't shut up about it.

This will age horribly if he isn't in GW. Forgive me for feeding your delusions too in that case. Please?

What are your thoughts? Feel free to share them! 😊

------

EDIT: Y'ALL IT'S HAPPENING 😭😭

[ox-imagines]

Why I don't ship Tohma and Jin

An analysis I wrote while I probably should've been studying instead

Ok, look. I get it. I started out in the camp many of you are in where you probably prefer Jin to Tohma and just saw this as "omg cigarette kiss! hot!!" Safe to say I do not live there anymore and I will explain why.

Disclaimer: this is an opinion!! it's fine to disagree! if you have a different opinion/viewpoint feel free to share it!

Now, the most obvious reason to some of you may be that I'd rather keep Tohma to myself. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. However, that wouldn't be solid reasoning because I don't mind shipping him with Alan. So:

1. Fundamental Background and Disposition Differences

Jin is the definition of a silver spoon: the son of a powerful president of an organization, he's the picture-perfect Frostheim ideal. Though he doesn't seem to like his father much, Jin was raised with his heirship in mind. Riches and luxuries were his to enjoy at his own leisure. Presumably, his attitude was soured by the Clash, since the MC is told (I believe by Kaito in chapter 1?) that he used to be a strong, charismatic leader. Either way, though, he prefers to spend much of his time in his room or bed and delegate his tasks to others.

On the other hand, Tohma is a go-getter. He started his time at Darkwick in Vagastrom, and though we don't know much yet about his past it's probably a safe bet to guess he hails from a similar background and mental space as most of the Vagastrom students. Vagastrom students are known for being a bit more rough, often trouble-makers. While the Tohma we know so far in canon doesn't seem to line up with that expectation, at a closer glance he doesn't much line up with the typical Frostheim student. Despite his all-business, classy demeanor, he doesn't expect things handed to him or done for him, he loves spending time in nature and doing physical activity, and is surprisingly enough not very good at academics, according to himself. He also seems to rather enjoy getting to destroy the building at the end of chapter 1, an impressive show of physical prowess and exertion that most Frostheim students would either not want to do or would be incapable of.

Tohma's lifestyle and Jin's lifestyle are too fundamentally different to foster a healthy relationship. Tohma likes to stay active and keep a busy schedule, whereas Jin is the exact opposite. For all the things Tohma puts up with, he relatively frequently gets irritated with Jin's laziness and apathy, even going so far as his April Fool's line stating that he'd "like to knock that bastard Jin's head clean off... haha, what's with the face? I'm only joking, of course..." (I don't think that's a joke, at least not fully lmao. Humor-wise, Tohma seems to prefer sarcasm and subtle jabs (shady king) to outright statements.)

2. Motives

We can't really be sure yet why Jin wanted Tohma to be his vice (or if he actually did) but we can guess how Jin sees him. He sees Tohma as useful: hard-working, respected by other students and staff alike, even-tempered. Tohma also presumably replaced Haku as Frostheim's vice-captain, or vice-to-be. He's functional rather than a first choice, a position rather than a person.

Sure, Tohma seems loyal to Jin. He'll do what he's asked, he'll generally defend Jin in conversation(unless irritated and is the one complaining about him), etc. However, whether he's loyal to Jin as a person or not, he is using him and his position to get what he wants. Jin is the son of the president over the board that runs/sanctions the Academy, giving Jin a whole lot more pull than any other students (and likely most of the staff) over decisions about the Academy. Jin has a fall from grace during the Clash and becomes resentful and withdrawn, a shameful leader rather than a strong one; he wants someone else to do everything for him. How wonderfully convenient. Tohma steps into the position as vice-captain and, consequentially, gets access to all of Jin's responsibilities. We aren't sure yet why he wants a position of authority where he can enact change, but we can be sure he's using Jin's accesses and privileges.

3. Treatment/Power Dynamic

There is a very obvious power imbalance between the two of them. As much as Tohma uses Jin's position to his benefit, Jin uses Tohma how he pleases and usually treats him as little more than a servant rather than a friend or equal. He orders him around, speaks down to him, and overloads him with work, and Tohma puts up with it because he knows it makes dealing with him and getting what he wants easier than if he tried to talk back or defy him. Jin also doesn't seem to trust him, immediately confronting him over the incident with the talking painting news report about him and accusing him of being the one who divulged the news about his mother. Tohma told him it wasn't him who'd done it and reminded him of someone it likely was, but the immediate and aggressive way Jin confronted him about it conveyed a deep distrust. Jin also thinks it's fun to occasionally irritate Tohma on purpose, as seen in a campus scene where the MC knocks over a vase and breaks it and Jin reacts by saying how Tohma's gonna flip when he sees it while grinning smugly. Jin's servant-treatment towards Tohma also turns more aggressive and into direct mistreatment at times, as seen in this text conversation between them.

All that to say, I'm not exactly a Tohma x Jin supporter :')) I do believe it would be a toxic relationship and would be unhealthy for both of them. On the flip side, I have my fingers crossed hoping for more Tohma and Alan interactions soon (or just more Tohma in general lol), maybe once we get more interactions from them I'll do an analysis post about them too. If you got all the way through this, I appreciate it! Thanks for coming to my TED Talk lol.

At the end of the day, it's all fiction! If shipping them makes you happy, then do it. These are just my opinions on the matter! <3 we all interact with content differently.

[ihavedonenothingright]

Captive Prince: Historical References and Naming Conventions

Hi all! I've had this idea in my head for a while now, and I finally had some time (and an Ancient Greek dictionary), so I figured I'd give it a shot. I've always been fascinated by Pacat's worldbuilding, particularly the naming conventions, and as a classicist myself, I wanted to dissect them. So that's what this is. My focus is mainly going to be on Akielos since I don't have as in-depth a knowledge of French, but I'll go through some Veretian names too (je n'ai pas étudié le français depuis deux années, mais Arles… je voudrais parler d'Arles…)

I'm not approaching this with any kind of formal, academic structure, so if something wonky gets through, please let me know! And lastly, I have no idea how many of these are intentional on Pacat's part. This analysis is less about authorial intent and more about how the associations inherent in these names can lend to our interpretation of the work. I'll also be doing this analysis over a few different posts since there is a lot I want to cover. For post #1:

Country Names

This post will solely feature Vere and Akielos since that's already a lot, but I will tackle Patras et. al. later on. There's some very interesting stuff there that I would be remiss not to look at. Of our subjects for today, Vere is the simpler, and the one I am absolutely certain Pacat intended, so I'll start with it.

Vere

Disclaimer: I am in love with this choice. The word itself is actually a Classical Latin adverb derived from the adjective "vērus," meaning "true," and in Latin it's spelled "vērē" (though you will not see those macrons in extant texts, those are a modern pronunciation and differentiation aid). Vērē can be translated a handful of ways; often it's used for emphasis, and in that case it's usually translated as "indeed," but "truly," "rightly," "exactly," and "truthfully" all work in different contexts. Extrapolate vērus and its derivatives for around a thousand years and you get the Old French word "verai" (ouah c'est vrai !) which means, well, "true."

It's also close in spelling and pronunciation to the modern French "verre," which means "glass," which isn't entirely relevant, but is cool. It makes me think of shiny, fragile displays of opulence like the Galerie des Glaces in Versailles. 

The first reason I really like this name is that it calls back to Artes, the Roman-inspired kingdom that we're told once encompassed all of Vere and Akielos, while still fitting current Veretian (aka half-old-half-modern French) grammar and pronunciation. The second is, naturally, that it fits so well into the series' themes of truth, deception, and verisimilitude. The second we're introduced to Vere, and by extension Laurent, there's a subtle hint there that both he and his country are, at their core, more real, genuine, and truthful than Damen and Akielos. We're already building towards Damen's Kings Rising line, "I have never known a truer man." Even if you don't recognize the Latin, your brain will make the connection between Vere and verisimilitude later. It's perfect, 10/10 Pacat, could not have done it better.

And just for fun: a Latin example!

Commentarii de Bello Civili, 2:27. Latin and English available here. 

Hi, sive vere quam habuerant opinionem ad eum perferunt, sive etiam auribus Vari serviunt…

Loeb Translation: "Whether they convey to him the opinion that they really held, or whether they only flatter his ears…" (165)

Slightly more literal translation (by me): "Whether these ones truly convey to him the opinion as they held it, or rather are subservient to Varius' ears…"

Akielos

The name "Akielos" is a lot more… nebulous. I don't know if there is a Greek print of Captive Prince, but my guess is it would be spelled Άκιελος (modern Greek speakers please weigh in, I'm only a year or so into Ancient Greek so I haven't really touched accent marks). That doesn't map neatly to any modern or ancient greek word—at least that I know of. What is does remind me of is Ἀχιλῆος (Achileos) from Ἀχιλλεύς (Achilleus), aka, Achilles. They're so close that I actually realized lately I had unconsciously been pronouncing Akielos as "Akileos" for a while; and in fact, this makes the Veretian spelling "Achelos" make a bit more sense. English and French both use a hard "ch" to represent χ in Greek words; so I imagine, in universe, that the word might actually be spelled Άχιελος. It wouldn't even surprise me if this was the way Pacat originally wanted to spell it, but had to change it for ease of comprehension.

I did have some other interpretations of the name, but I think this is the strongest. Because in addition to the obvious association, the name Ἀχιλλεύς is thought to be derived from the words ἄχος, "distress/grief" and λαός, "people," making it either "the grief" or "grief of/to the people" depending on who you ask (you rely on cases for that sort of distinction in Greek and they're not exactly present here. iykyk).

I really like the idea of Akielos being associated with grief; we're first introduced to it as a country in mourning, and then later on, as the cause of grief in Delfeur. And then you have the association with Achilles, himself a prolific brother killer, who Pacat references later in 'The Fall of Inachtos,' our in-universe Iliad. Insane levels of grief on grief on grief. Plus, because it looks closer to the genitive form, I automatically associate it with the opening line of the Iliad:

μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος

menin aeide thea Peleiadeo Achileos

Sing, goddess, the anger of Achilles, Peleus' son

So we can throw a little rage into the equation. As a treat. 

Also important to note that the -os there is a masculine ending. It doesn't have the most bearing, but it does mean that if we want to be strictly accurate to Ancient (and modern!) Greek grammar, I have to throw a quick article in front of it, making our final "how do the Akielons spell Akielos?" answer: ὁ Άχιελος ("ho Achielos"). The ὁ here is equivalent to le in French, with the major distinction being that in French, you don't typically need an article in front of a proper noun, whereas you do in Greek.

That's it for today's analysis! See you guys next time around for Patras, Artes, and (maybe) Arles, Ios, and Delfeur/Delpha.

Part 2 >>

[yanderefairyangel]

What Fire Emblem Fates did better then 3H

I know it's going to be shocking, but after finishing 3H I decided to go and compare it to a game it can actually compete, none other then its predecessor Fire Emblem Fates

So disclaimer, I am not doing this to say "if you like [insert game] you are wrong" or anything, just that after thinking about it, I felt the need to point out what Fates does good and better then a game simingly very much loved against one that is simingly largely seen as bad

1/At the crossroads

Both games have this peculiarity of being a multiple path game with each of them having it's own story while Fates was divided into 3 games, 3H was 4 path in one game.

However, Fates did this part much better.

Fates only has 5 chapter to replay compared to the 12 Three Houses forces you to go through and those 5 chapter are doing a better job at seeling the premise. White Clouds keeps dragging everything and makes you run in circles solving mysteries and mission until you finally get to the point where Jeralt dies. To put it simply, White Clouds is the 3H equivalent of the Awakening Valmian arc... it's a filler. I know, I know, it's supposed to "foreshadow and prepare everything" but how come Fates managed to do this with less then half of the chapter 3H needed to do this ?? Because White Clouds is literaly half of the game. HALF. And seeing how the routes lenght varries, with CF being the shortest, it's sometimes takes the bigger half of the game. This part of the plot might be to prepare the Agartans and yadi yada, no changing that it doesn' t gives the impression that you are moving foward, but rather that the plot stopped while Byleth is running in circle.

Fates has 5 chapter, but they are no filler. It doesn't feel like the plot is taking a break, instead it always gives the impression it is moving foward. This moves pretty well going from Corrin training at night with Xander, to them having to prove themselves to Garon, to the Canyon accident, to them ending up with Rikkah and Kaze, to them reuniting with Mikoto to them having to choose whom to side with.

Compared that to 3H where you have to choose very early on the House you side with all for it to have you end up having to replay the same freaking 12 chapters. Where in Fates the story was the same for 5 chapter, meaning the stakes were the same and that you could just save by that point and make your choice without having to replay the 5 chapters, 3H ask you to make a choice way too early and forced you to go through the same 12 chapters were the only difference are the line and some events depending on your Houses, meaning you have no way to escape it, with the only compensation being the NG+.

2/The stakes of the choice

I also appreciate the fact that Corrin knows what they are getting themselves into when they are making the big decision. Because I know some people tried to defend 3H by saying "foreshadowing, foreshadowing" and I don't care about this foreshadowing because there is no changing that Byleth had no idea they would go to war with their students when they choose a class, the only way for them to know what they are getting themselves into is in the Black Eagles route and when they followed Edelgard to Enbar. Only there can you say that, when the plot twist is revealed and that Byleth has to chose on whether they protect Edie or kill her. And the fact they can choose to "protect her" still meand at the end of the day, they didn't knew they were going to end up in a war !! Say what you want about Fates, but at least, it does this simple thing well and also, the fact that when you make a choice, there is no stakes !

You are told to choose in like chapter 1, you barely got to knew the students and why you should care about a house over another one. In Fates, at least there is stakes : Corrin has a reason to join Hoshido, wanting to discover the truth about Mikoto and defeating Garon, or to join Nohr, the people who raised them even if they know it means choosing the darkness. And finally, the fact that they can't choose between the two because they have those 2 stakes. This for instance makes the betrayal aspects and the tragedy aspects much more efficient because you don't even need to play any of the route first to get emotionally invested since Corrin loves both the Nohrian and the Hoshidan Royals. The Nohrian are people whom they love and who love them as family whereas the Hoshidan is the family that kept on waiting for them to return one day while they wished they could have got to known more about their birth country. In 3H can you really say it's the same ? Of course not. Byleth only gets to bond with the students they choose, not the two other houses leader so when they fight Eddie in VW and that she says "I wanted to walk with you" it makes no contextual sense since neither did she and Byleth intereacted enough for them to have such a relationship, it's entirely relying on the possibility that you may have finished CF before playing VW. And that's not counting the fact that none of the students between the different houses can bond without having you recruit them ! So the whole "I have to kill my classmate booooho" falls flat in every way because they aren't suppose to be friends. And even then, must I remind you that in your own classe they might not be friends ? Some of them have known each other for less then a year ! Other can sometimes not even stand each other !! There is a lot of supports that starts out like this and only in the A support that is to say AFTER the timeskip that they are friend. So... how the heck am I suppose to believe it ? How is that not emotional gaslighting from the narrative ? Take Dorothea for example, when she goes "Professor we kill Ferdie : (" how does it makes sense when her support with Ferdinand begun with her telling Ferdie she hates him and only in her A support can this be solved. So why would she feel sad ? Just because she knew him ? Nonsense.

This reduces the stakes in making the decision. And I get that choosing an House to teach is an easier decision then choosing whom to side with a war involving both of your families... do we see the problem here ? Do we see which choice as an actual stake and feel like an actual decision with pressure and tension ?

And that's not all. Now let's dig into

3/ Your choice don't really matter in 3H

Here is the thing. Aside from the story, there is nothing different in 3H. The monastery remains the same. The quest remains the same.

I already touched on it when comparing the Somniel to the monastery but the lack of diversity in the different path that 3H offers makes the choice even less interesting and with even less consequences. And for a game that braggs about politics, when you decision have little consequences, you know there is a problem.

3H has this big continent with 3 big countries and beyond. And in Garrech March you have people comming from all those different backgrounds. Choosing one Houses is like choosing one country, especially with the timeskip. However.

Things such as the outfits, the meals, the animals and other elements originating from those different regions of the world are all linked to the monastery. It doesn't matter which faction you choose, the same items will be avalaible. The same classes, the same outfit, the same meals, the same material etc. It's not : I choosed Blue Lions therefore I can only have outfits/meal/animals originating from Faerghus avaliable in the monastery. No. This doesn't exist. Even if you join the Golden Deer, you can access to pretty much everything originating from Faerghus via the monastery.

In Fates, that is simply not the case. My Castle is affected by Corrin's choice : the meal avalaible, the classes avalaible, the clothing, the ressources, the building you can create though the use of Dragon veins. Your choice matters, so it makes the My Castle phase fun. Monastery being the same no matter which route ? No fun. No fun at all, especially when the monastery phase during the Part 1 of 3H is literaly the same with only the story for a change. Same request, same missions, same tasks, same side dialogue from the NPC and the units. This is not possible. And even after the timeskip, the monastery phase remains pretty similar between the routes. The same can't be said about My Castle at all.

And then

4/ Art direction in the diversity

So, when Fates came out, there was a clear distinction between the 2 factions. Nohr being inspired by Westernian settings and Hoshido by Asian, especially medieval Japan. This can be felt in the weapon, the name of the character, their outfits, the music etc.

Can the same be said about 3h ?

For half of the game, everyone is dressed the same way. Now sure, their uniform is personalised to fit their personality and makes them stands out as character, but none of them stands out as a member of their Houses. Aside from the House leader, if I showed you one picture of one student and ask you out of context to which house they belong, would you immediately notice ? Of course not. Why would you ? I could make you believe that Lysithea is part of the Black Eagles and you could easily believe it. And while the countries in 3H do have distinct design after the timeskip... they are still close enough for the character to seems like they belong to the same faction. I could still take Post timeskip Hilda and make you believe she is from the Empire... speaking of the students looking interchangeable

5/ Recruiting students was a bad move

Alright, keeping up with what I said in point 3, recruiting all your students regardless of which House you choose is such a bad idea. Now granted, there are some character than you can't recruit or won't join you, but the majority of them will still be avalaible. This makes the stakes in choosing even lower. Because again, you can save your favorite character, you won't need to kill them. And the NG+ makes it even easier to recruit them all. This is pratically the only way to obtain a somewhat emotional tone when Ingrid, Sylvain or Felix when in CF they have to face Dima since you can't have that between character that have known each other for a year or less and sometimes barely get along... in fact, you need to recruit them for them to get to bond with the students of another class !!!

Fates ? There is indeed a neutral party, but the great majority of the character are linked to the country Corrin choose. You won't have Oboro joining you because Corrin made her some tea or bought her some gift or whatever of the sort. So you have character locked in those routes which gives you another reason then the story to choose the route. And the fact that Revelation allows all parties to join Corrin including supports to unlock gives you a reason to play Revelation, especially with the child units to unlock.

And this doesn't hurt the characterization.

In Fates, the fact that some character will literaly die to remain faithful to their faction is a great service done to their character showing their loyalty and their faith in their own cause.

The same can't be said about 3H especially when some of them just wanted to join Byleth's class and ended up trapped in a war that they didn't knew they were getting themselves into, so such a thing as Felix betraying his father doesn't exist in reality and this hurts the story as a whole.

6/ My castle is better then the monastery

What I said about Engage is truth for Fates as well, my Castle gives a stronger wordbuilding to Fates then 3H has. Cause here is the thing.

Kusakihara said for 3H's worldbuilding they wanted to create the atmosphere of world giving in its own history and has seducing as this idea is... it feels like an history book. Are history book fun to read ? I do not think so. In general they are tedious and boring, so imagine having to do that 4 times with no possibility to escape the expostion dumb with at least 12 chapter of common worldbuilding... torture. That's how it feels like. And I must also point out that the devs said about the worldbuilding in 3H that they made searches and a work worth 1000 year of worlbuilding but that no one kept up with what they came up with and such not only is it that everyone in the staff had a different understanding of it leading to no one knowing the whole story ...Let that sink for a moment. Cause when I did, it explained so much about the final product.

This right here explain why 3H's worldbuilding is much weaker then it should be. Because history is something that is supposed to be precise so when I hear that no one was keeping in check but that they kept adding bones to the skeleton without proper care.... yeah, that's not a good look at all. This makes 3H's world feel bland and liveless.

Fates at least bring it world alive and while not to the extent of Engage, the fact that My Castle can offer so many different features depending on the kingdom you choosed ... says a LOT about how much it makes the experience dynamic. And considering the JPN name of each game is based on the country (Fire emblem if : Kingdom of White night, Kingdom of Black Night and Invisible kingdom) it is pretty obvious that the focus was always on the word of Fates and creating a dynamic relationship with the player as he explores each side of those country while seeing what makes each of them unique. Now it must be noted that the English localization of Fates took a lot of liberties and erased most of those worldbuilding informations, but the point still stand.

And it should be noted that My Castle hurts much less the pacing of Fates then the monastery and it's mainly due to the fact that it is skippable.

Unlike for 3H were you have to host tea party or fish to gain teacher pet points, in Fates, you aren't required to skinship with any of your units, this thing's removal didn't affected much in fact. And it should be noted that in an interview for Hopes, the dev said that tea time was removed (replace with picknic)because "it was tacktless that you could have tea parties in the mist of a bitter war".... gotta saluate the self awareness

7/ Commiting

You know, for a game that gives you so much dialogue option as 3H, this is crazy how the game refuse to let you suffer any grave consequence right ?

Now, some nuance... watch this video

In this video the OP explains why choices don't really matter in the context of self inserting.

However, it's not Persona, but Fire Emblem and a game about war, and politics. Things in which your choices must have a consequence. What's the point of having Byleth being able to choose the destiny of Fodlan if they are left in such a passive position were only one of their choice freaking matter.

All that I said about the only choice mattering was concerning the main story is that it results in the game not having any real stakes. Really the game simply refuses to let you feel bad. The so called "grey morality" of 3H's story is actually nothing but a disguise for the narrative to never commit to anything in order to avoid the player feeling bad.

Don't wanna kill the students with whom you befriend in another route ? Easy, recruit them.

Don't wanna go through the same lenght as in your first playthrough ? Easy, Ng+.

Don't wanna lose some ressources that are originating from only one of the country you choose ? Easy, they are all linked to the monastery so they are all available.

Don't wanna feel guilty about your choice ? Don't worry, there is no bad side, everything is relative and even the real side of history is doubtful. Why do you think people are still thinking the Nabateans actually enslaved the Agarthans despite the fact the devs answered to that question in their interview ? Because 3H creates more question then it answers and not in a good way. Cause it's not creating a dialogue, it's more that this game is afraid of commitment and thus hide behind "mysteries" or "ambiguities". 3H doesn't want to invalidate any of the route to make the player feels validated in any way but does Byleth have the opportunity to reflect on their choice ? No. Never. Why would they considering they don't really make a choice ?

However, Fates for all its flaw is not that kind on Corrin. While gone with the localization, the JPN version has a lot of instance of Corrin questioning their choice after experiencing a failure or a loss. Regreting their days at Nohr or thinking they should have sided with Hoshido after all. And you will suffer the consequence of your choice. Doesn't matter which one you played first, all the character you befriend will die or suffer if you choose the opposite faction. And you won't have the same ressources nor the same gameplay experience. So Fates is clearly not afraid of commitment.

3H never tries to make you feel bad and the fact that you are asked to choose at the very begining of the story to choose a House when you couldn't bond with other students and therefore think you lost something, especially when you get to bond with them AFTER your choice, you end up with a very losy experience

As a consequence this makes 3H feels bland and empty when we finally reach to what is supposed to be the interesting point, the war phase. And this is mainly due to the refusal of the game to let you face consequence. 3H will try to play the sensitive cord to make you feel nostaligic about the academy, but when most of the people Byleth bonded with have joined their class and therefore fight with them in the war, does it really matter ?

8/ The story is not as repetitive

I wish I was kidding. But even as someone who liked neither of the game's story, I have to admit that Fates does a better job then 3H at... well, being a story. And that is mainly due to the fact that Fates recycle much less then 3H does.

I mean, 3H recycle so many location between the support and the main story it feels like you aren't moving at all and while Fates is a 3DS game with less performant graphics, at least there is a change in the scenery with the background matching the location. At least, you can see the snow in Fates.

And I know that some of it is mainly due to wanting to create emotion such as the parralel established between the Battle of the Lion and the Eagle ... that don't exist for some reason in CF ... *sigh*

And the fact that Fates has little common plot points between the different routes or that the common one plays out at different times and differently (for instance Takumi's sickness in Birthright being parralleled by Elise's sickness in Conquest; in Birthright it occurs much later, while in Conquest in occures in the early chapter, right after Odin and Niles joined you)

So that was all the elements I think Fates did better then 3H. However there is one thing 3H does better then Fates and for that matter, then the other game...

it's selling its lore and characters. And by that, I mean that the writers absolutely wants you to notice their work so it's like the game is begging you to notice the worldbuidling and characters by having the character speaks 99% of the time about it, or their trauma or how war is tragic etc, etc. So this would of course strike a player on first playthrough.

And I am going to sound harsh but what Fates did isn't even extraordinary ! It's what any game with a branching story can do ! Makes you wonder what happened right here

[empressofthewind]

Re: your Near headcanon post. How was L easy on Light?

Thanks for the ask! For anyone who happens to stumble across this and doesn’t know the context, you can find the original post here.

Small disclaimer that when I said that, I was referring specifically to Near’s beliefs (i.e. Near would believe that L was too easy on Light). I personally think L and Near’s approaches to the case both had strengths and weaknesses in their own right, and L’s loss was the result of Light having supernatural forces on his side that he could not possibly account for rather than any real fault in his methods. But in my opinion, Near would not see things that way.

The best way I can explain this is by giving a few examples of key differences in their approaches:

#1 - Confidence

L is much less brazen than Near when it comes to his accusations of Light. He makes it clear that Light is a suspect in the case, but he keeps a lot to himself and often undersells his suspicion to the task force. He knows that the task force are likely to skew in favour of Light because he is the chief's son, so he withholds certain deductions and downplays his own suspicion. A prime example of this is his percentages:

The percentages he gives when talking about his suspicion of Light are all extremely low. I don't believe it's ever actually stated in canon whether these percentages accurately represent his level of suspicion, but that isn't entirely relevant to the point here; truthful or not, giving such small numbers makes him appear less confident, and leaves ample room for doubt in the minds of the task force members.

There are even examples of him implying that Light can't be Kira or supposedly clearing him as a test, despite clearly still suspecting him:

And once again, there's a possibility that some of these occasions are literally just him thinking aloud and questioning his own judgement, especially those before he met Light in person, but this still contrasts Near's approach. For context, here are two lines of dialogue Near delivers when he first starts to suspect that Light is Kira:

In the first panel, he gives a low percentage much like L does, but in that instance he's only talking to Rester, who is a member of his team. This seems to reflect his true level of suspicion at the time, as he then proceeds to talk about "fill[ing] in the remaining 93 percent", and refers to his theory as an assumption.

The second panel is a prime example of how he presents his deductions to the task force. He is bold and direct with his accusations, which makes him appear confident and forces the task force to seriously consider his deductions. Instead of downplaying his suspicion, he plays it up to boost his credibility, even lying to the task force about Mogi's death as a means of encouraging them to act on any existing doubts they may have. Matsuda and Light both comment on Near's confidence, and Light seems to be intimidated by it at first, which is a testament to the effectiveness of Near's manner.

#2 - Feeding Light's Ego

L and Light's relationship is a lot less straightforward than that of Near and Light. While being enemies working to achieve opposing goals, L and Light act like friends on the surface, frequently complimenting each other on impressive displays of skill throughout the case. Meanwhile, Near is openly antagonistic towards Light, and makes no effort to form any relationship that even remotely resembles a friendship. Prior to suspecting Light, he calls him incompetent ("even though you've taken over L's place, you've done nothing") and makes it clear that he has no interest in working with him. After suspecting Light, he boldly accuses him and calls him out on his lies in front of everyone.

#3 - Apparent Respect for Kira

This point is pretty similar to the previous one. As much as L wants to see Kira defeated, he actually seems to have some level of respect for him. When the Second Kira appears, he says he "doesn't like [the Second Kira's] style" because "it's not like Kira at all", and proceeds to give a small speech about how Kira would never kill an innocent person unless they were a direct threat to him, also calling Kira "the smarter of the two". The way he phrases this makes it sound as though he really believes Kira's goal to be noble, and this is reflected in his treatment of Light. To be clear, I don't actually think L supports Light's ideals, but he very clearly respects him - funnily enough, I think Near himself sums it up pretty nicely in the C-Kira oneshot:

L does not agree with Kira's ideology, but he still thinks highly of him as an opponent, and the way he speaks to and about Kira reflects that. This directly contrasts Near's view in canon. Near despises Kira and everything he stands for. He believes that Kira is not a God, but rather an arrogant and delusional mass murderer, and he tells Light this to his face. He is the first and only character in the entirety of Death Note to humble Light and treat him like he isn't some superior being.

I do want to acknowledge that even though some differences in their methods may be pre-existing, the circumstances under which Near and L took the case were also quite different, which absolutely impacted the way they approached things. Near was not directly allied with the task force and did not have to rely on them for investigation, so there was no reason why he needed to play nice, whilst L needed members of the Japanese police on his side. Near also had a distinct advantage in knowing about the Death Note and having more information readily available to him when he first started investigating Light. However, I still think Near would take issue with L actively boosting Light's ego and seeming to hold Kira in high regard, and would see this behaviour as detrimental to his investigation. Thus, I think Near would have believed that L was too soft on Light.

[joyswonderland1108]

You're not part of the community.

Disclaimer : What i'm about to say is of course with all due respect to allies who either do their own research or don't speak a word because they know they don't have the right knowledge about this. But also with all due disrespect to those who do the complete opposite.

This is so very spontaneous and i don't have a lot to say but maybe as i'm writing more things will come up for me to express. Anygays, I've noticed how a lot of straight people like to indulge in this whole "shipping" world and believe me, you do you i don't care who you ship or why you ship them, that's your own business, BUT.

The thing is, some people tend to project a lot when it comes to that, even when shipping people in a het relationship, some people tend to put their own unhealthy ways of a relationship in the image they have created for said ship, but today i'm not here to talk about the het ships but more about the ships involving a gay relationship (I'm talking about the relationship itself not the sexuality of whoever is in it). Actually scratch that i'm not even gonna talk about ships but more about relationships in general since isn't that the point of ships to begin with?

So as i was saying i've seen a lot of straight people having an opinion about gay relationships and it's cool you know, you're an ally that's amazing, your support is welcome thank you for that but some opinions are best kept in your own "straight bubble" cause they do not apply to a gay relationship let's be for real.

Seeing people compare gestures that would be an issue or a good thing in a het relationship to a gay relationship and when you try to explain AS A QUEER PERSON YOURSELF they want to call you out for being a hater, or can't accept the "truth".. Patricia the only truth here as that you're an uncultured twat.

This is basically giving me the same vibe as I-army trying to call out K-army for something that is part of the Korean culture, doing so with so much confidence you'd actually believe that a western person knows more about the Korea culture than a Korean person.

I already know that some straight people sadly have this stereotypical image of what a queer person in a queer relationship (let's just call it that instead) should be looking like, i've already talked about this before but you'd get comments that "Said person can't be queer because he is manly" um? You'd be very surprised at how many very manly men are all the way gay and bottoms too.

I guess i'm straying away from the main subject here but anywhosies, i was saying, projection. When it comes to skinship i'd like to remind these people that we are talking about a man who is interested in men but also has male friends or a woman who is interested in women but also has female friends.

Whether we like it or not there's a sort of standard here that even if i'm attracted to women for example i still have very great friendships with other women i'm not attracted to and i will still behave with all friendliness with them, will i hug my friend when i see her? Yes, will i be playful with my friend? Yes, will i hang out with my friend? Yes, will i visit my friend? Yes, will i take pictures with my friend? Yes, etc.. All while keeping in mind that :

1/ My friend might be straight so she's DEFINITELY not interested in me in that way nor am i.

2/ My friend might be queer as well but we're just not interested in each other, we have our own romantic preferences maybe or we just don't see each other that way.

3/ One of us might already be having a partner and there are already limits and boundaries that are set for what is okay and what is not, everything that doesn't threaten to cross the line between friendly and romantic is set on stone.

Now of course as a Queer person you see it, you get it, you understand it and you acknowledge it. We have our own gaydars and we know how to make a difference between what's normal and what's sus.

The issue here is when it comes to straight people that know absolutely nothing about this and still want to impose their very straight opinion on that, seeing a normal playfulness and call it a "couple thing" no, just no.

It's limit disgusting how some people seem to get off on the idea too, they are convinced they are correct and as i said previously, even if you try to explain this since you are PART OF the community they just won't listen because in a way they're fulfilling a dirty fantasy where the reality of things doesn't matter.

Now i came across a snippet from Ateez's Wooyoung's live and someone asked him who was his favorite member to which he replied that he will no longer be answering this question because then people will start saying that he and San are no longer close.

See the fact that a simple answer that for HIM doesn't threaten his bond with San is seen as something else, taken completely out of context by people.. That is sick. And this is exactly what i'm talking about people just have this tunnel vision where they have this standard definition of what's romantic and what's a relationship that they never see the wider image out there.

I guess this whole post started because of how disappointing it is to see the way this fandom views everything as "something sus" they are limit fetishizing the idea of two men being in an intimate relationship which makes me wonder do they think the same thing when they see friends outside just being.. friends?

When the alarms are ringing about some very sus things they pretend to be blind but the smallest gesture is what gets these people's attention? And God forbid you point out that it's normal because no Sir no Ma'am, a simple hug is a big prove that X and Y are dating and in love but having X's mouth on Y's neck long enough to leave a hickey is what a dear loving sister does when she's playing with her dear loving younger brother (Ew people need to seek help if that's their excuses cause what in the fuck?)

With that being said, i'm tagging this under Jikook because those who know, know.

[oboetemasuka]

Amane - 4, 9, 11, and 13!

Alright, let's do this!

4. favorite minigram episode/moment

165 cm (Minigram 130) - Based on a timeline conversation, but they added some funny details. Jackalope "I'm not a rabbit". Shidou and Kotoko show up just to show how short Fuuta is. And Amane is just like, "Yeah. Uh-huh. Wow, you have a great sense of humor!" (Side note: I know this is stylized, but Fuuta isn't actually *that* short compared to Shidou. I'm shorter than Fuuta, and my sibling is as tall as Shidou, and I at least reach my sibling's chin.)

Honorable mentions: - The pancake episodes - Amane wants to make a stool, but she doesn't want to be looked down on, so she orders a saw and wood planks. "This is a prison," says Fuuta. - Curry udon. Poor girl is worried that Es will think the stain is blood and call her a troublemaker.

9. Do you forgive/not forgive the crime on its own?

Yes, I forgive the crime on its own.

Back in Trial 1, I thought she was just doing what she was raised to believe what was right. She was clearly abused, and it was implied that it would be worse if she didn't kill.

So then trial 2 rolls around, and we learn her victim is her abuser. So in a way, she did what she believed was right. Was she being opportunistic? Maybe? She was looking for a way out, and she saw it when her mother broke the rules. And things could have been worse if she didn't--she could have been the murder victim. (Thanks, Nott.)

I have other thoughts, but that might be digressing.

11. what are your favorite points about their story and the narrative surrounding them?

I already answered here, but let's add some more.

I like the dichotomy between Amane's claims that she killed according to her doctrines and that she could kill out of hatred. Apostle and Death is "do you think I can't hate enough to kill?" while Magic is "I was doing exactly what I was told". Of Blessedness and Punishment leans into the doctrine justification, while The Purge March is very vengeful. "It's my turn to tear you apart."

13. any ideas on what would they and their MV be like if they got a different verdict in T1? 

I feel like they'd really try to push the guilty verdict with Amane, like they did for many of the forgiven prisoners.

Let's draw a spectrum with Haruka, Muu, and Yuno on different sides. I'd say Haruka and Muu are closer together, but not quite on the same line.

Haruka shows off more of his destructive side. So if we apply this to Amane, maybe we'd get a clearer idea of her circumstances and her victim. Spend more time in the "real world" than her headspace. See what it really meant when she dropped the flag. Get a glimpse of her victim's face. Confirm whether she had any other victims. See her do the deed instead of cutting to the end.

Muu says, "I am absolutely right!" So maybe Amane might show less of herself breaking the doctrine and more about why her mother was in the wrong?

Yuno's theme is "Don't weigh and measure me against your morality." Maybe if the dominant audience voice was pity over Amane's circumstances, she'd close up and lean on the monstrous presentation. This goes back to "did you think I couldn't hate enough to kill"? I don't think Amane would go full Yuno, but she'd own her actions and say she doesn't need sympathy.

(Psst, I'm open to talking about other characters too!)

[thecrankiestofgremlins]

Aight imma go on a rant about employment law because that's what I'm studying and planning to put my career into. I should note this is UK law, however *some* of this shit is pretty universal. Also, obvious disclaimer, this isn't legal advice.

1. EMPLOYMENT LAW IS WRITTEN IN FAVOUR OF EMPLOYERS. THIS CAN MAKE THEM ARROGANT. UK employment law gives them a huge amount of leeway and is largely written in their favour, and they STILL regularly manage to go over the line to the point of absolute absurdity, to the point of accidentally creating beautifully complete evidence trails for employees to use in tribunal. Why do they do this? Because UK employment law is entirely enforced by individual employees and between the costs of a lawyer and the implied threat that if you take your employer to tribunal you'll never work in your field again (not universally true BTW), they assume they will never be taken to task for it. Employees are generally reluctant to take their employers to tribunal because of the above. What this means though, is if an employee *does* take them to tribunal, the evidence trail is usually extensive AS LONG AS the employee has taken steps to preserve it.

2. SAVE YOUR EMAILS. Any email sent to you by an employer regarding your employment in any way belongs to you. Send that shit to your personal email address, whether or not you think it's sketchy. For every employer. Keep your paper trail. You don't know when you might need it. This goes extra for things like performance reviews/flexible working/reasonable adjustment requests/etc.

3. NOT EVERYTHING IN YOUR CONTRACT IS ENFORCEABLE BY THE EMPLOYER. Employers *love* to stick exclusion clauses in or try to say that handbooks don't form part of your employment contract. They also like to do things like try to classify you as a self employed contractor when really, if you apply the relevant law, you are an employee and have the rights of an employee. Just because your contract says a thing doesn't mean it is the be all and end all. Think of it this way: if you only did what your employer required in writing in the contract, would they be pissed? If so, your contract is probably shit.

4. READ THE DAMN CONTRACT. Make sure you know the ins and outs of your job description, what's expected of you, your pay, overtime policy, where you're expected to work, etc. Just because you might not be able to negotiate it doesn't mean you shouldn't know what it says. This also goes for any employment handbooks. Know what the limits are, know what your hours are, know what your benefits are. Chances are good the employer will ask you to go above and beyond them, or try to pretend you don't have a contractual right to something when you absolutely do. Also, you *can* negotiate on more than you think. For example: employers are not allowed to make deductions from your pay beyond PAYE and National Insurance, UNLESS they have been contractually agreed beforehand. Check to see if they're trying to add a bunch of extra permitted deductions and *challenge* that shit if you feel able to. (My favourite is requiring supposed independent contractors to pay for a uniform. Highly unlikely that you're actually an independent contractor at that point plus fuck you if you want to control what I wear pay for it your damn self).

5. DO NOT OPT OUT OF NATIONAL WORKING TIME REGULATIONS. This is a pretty standard extra inclusion in most people's employment contracts in the UK. It shows up as an extra page of the contract with a separate signing line because they're not allowed to include that requirement as a contractual obligation (in most cases: the big exception is emergency workers) National Working Time Regs limit the amount of hours an employer can require from an adult (over 18) employee to 48 hrs on average, that average being taken over a period of 17 weeks. However, employees can opt out of this, hence the extra piece of paper. The employer cannot dock your salary/terminate your employment/treat you in any negative way if you do not sign this piece of paper. They include it with the contract so that people *assume* they have to sign it. If you're employed and have already signed it, you can opt back in by notifying your employer in writing. Generally this will mean a 3 month period before the regs apply to you again. But *do it*.

6. IF YOUR HOURS ARE VARIABLE, KEEP TRACK OF THEM INDEPENDENTLY. If you don't have a 9-5 contract, this applies to you. This is to make sure that if there's a dispute, you have a record that *you* made of those hours. Ya know, in case the employer decides to conveniently forget about them. I watched OXFORD UNIVERSITY try this shit in a tribunal and they got absolutely wasted because a) it was so obvious (they'd deleted hours spent on marking) and b) the employees had kept an independent record.

7. IF YOUR EMPLOYER DOES SOMETHING SHITTY, YOU HAVE 3 MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF THAT SHITTY THING TO SUE THEM FOR IT. It's one of the shortest time limits in UK law (remember when I said the law is written in employers' favour?), and that time is *only* paused when you involve ACAS (I'll explain ACAS in a sec) and the timer starts again once ACAS issues their certificate. It does NOT stop if you're trying to resolve the issue through internal grievance processes, and attempting to resolve the issue internally is not an acceptable argument if you're trying to extend that time (which you can, under specific circumstances, but try not to rely on that bc it's iffy at best) (yes you can also argue that there have been continuing acts but at that point you need to talk to a lawyer because there are specific rules around that too). There are. So many cases. That I've come across personally. That would be an absolute slam dunk EXCEPT they're out of time.

8. IF YOU WANT TO SUE YOUR EMPLOYER YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH ACAS FIRST. Employment law is the only area of law where you are legally required to try to do mediation first. How much you engage with the mediation is up to you, however the more you do, the better it looks. Mediation does not mean you have to agree with the employer! It just means you get to ask them the questions you want to ask them in official channels. That said, if they roll over and give you what you want during these negotiations, you kind of have to take it: English law says that civil courts can only give you money as a remedy. As much as you might want to have your day in court, civil courts are legally only for getting money out of people, not primarily for the public administration of justice. Yes I hate this too. If you don't take it, the court won't like it and there is a potential that the court *could* award your employer their costs. ACAS can also give you help explaining how the process works etc. Make sure you contact them and start the process ASAP as soon as you decide the thing is worth suing over.

9. READ THE EQUALITY ACT 2010. There are 9 protected characteristics under UK law: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. Broadly speaking, your employer cannot treat you negatively because of any of these characteristics. There are qualifications and limits to how far this goes, obviously, but broadly speaking, this is the case. I'll do another post later going into some of this in more detail because the topic is huge but taking a look at the sections that may apply to you is a good start.

10. NOT BEING ABLE TO AFFORD A LAWYER OUTRIGHT DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN YOURE OUT OF OPTIONS. First, you *can* represent yourself. It's not an option I'd suggest before you've exhausted all your other options but it is possible. The issue is that you probably don't speak legalese or have access to legal databases, but there is still research you can do on Google. Don't trust everything you read though. Law firm websites are a good place to start, as they tend to write decent articles on the basics of a given issue and they can point you towards some case law. You can also call Citizens Advice for a jumping off point. If you're representing yourself though, the only things you can really reference in court are a) legislation, b) case law, and c) practitioners texts. Remember, case law explains how legislation actually works: it doesn't apply to every situation you might think is covered by it.

Second, most solicitors firms offer free 15-30 minute consultations, where you go in, give them the basics of the situation, and they give you some advice and can signpost you to somewhere you can get more information. This can be really, really helpful and I'd suggest it even if you're planning on repping yourself.

Third, a lot of firms also offer something called a no-win-no-fee agreement, which is about what it says on the tin: if you don't win, you don't pay. Each firm will have different stipulations regarding these, so you should ask what these are. The problem though, is if the firm doesn't think you have a winnable case, they are unlikely take it on that basis (because that means they don't get paid and that's a lot of work not to get paid for). If you do win, they generally take a piece of your winnings as payment (so sometimes they won't do it because you're not claiming enough). It's not a guarantee, but IMHO it's a good option if you have a good case.

Last, there are the pro bono organisations. A lot of places will have a regional pro bono law clinic. These may or may not be able to take your case all the way to tribunal, but if not they should be able to refer you to an org that can. London and its immediate surrounding area has the Free Representation Unit, for example (your case has to be referred to them by another org, usually one of the clinics) but if they can take up your case, they can take it all the way to tribunal and even appeals. Since Legal Aid isn't a thing in employment law (except for discrimination), a lot of these organisations have an absolutely fucking massive caseload though, so there isn't a guarantee that they'll be able to take your case.

I'm sure I'll think of more to add to this later, but this is just the bare bones basic shit that *everyone* should know. A lot of cases don't get brought because people don't know that they a) have rights, b) they don't hold onto documents, c) they don't start the claim in time, or d) all of the above. Given that employment law is only enforceable by the individual, the only way to get employers to play by the rules more often is if people start enforcing it. It's a shit way to do it, but it's what we've got at the moment.

If people find this useful and would like this to be a regular thing, lmk.

[izamationbroker]

Hey there ~

If you're still doing the diagnose-ur-fave thing, do you agree with wawawawawawawawawawawawawa-senpais take of Izaya having aspd? (okay i know you probably do i just really like talking about Izaya)

And also, would you diagnose Shinra with anything?

Sorry to only just now be getting to this, I had a lot on my plate the past few days lol! I didn't want to just bum-rush this and send it out because I've been really wanting an excuse to go ham about this topic in particular!

You're absolutely correct in assuming I agree with Wa-kun's ASPD Izaya take, and I actually think Shinra ALSO fits the bill for ASPD pretty well, too, just in a different way! I wanted to go pretty thoroughly through the actual criteria of the DSM-5 available on OpenLibrary to illustrate this point, but I have a few disclaimers to get out of the way first:

Most people with ASPD (Aspids, as my fiance and brother like to call them, both of which are Aspids themselves) rather dislike the DSM's criteria for diagnosis on the basis that it is rooted purely in external behaviors and never the internal experience of the person WITH it. It gives the image that Aspids don't actually suffer from their ASPD, but ASPD is, in fact, a personality disorder. They suffer just as much, and so I ask you to please be mindful of that despite how the criteria is worded. Even in the professional psychology field, ASPD is heavily stigmatized as "evil bad criminal disorder", when that is actually not what it is at all. I want to use the criteria just to drive home how much Izaya (and Shinra) lines up with it, but I'll try to be nuanced in the way I go about it. I don't want people going OH BUT THEY CAN'T HAVE ASPD BECAUSE THEY CARE ABOUT CELTY/HIS SISTERS/ETC. or whatever, because Aspids can care about people! It's just different from how non-Aspids do it! My fiance and brother both care about me very much, thanks for asking lol

I am not a psych professional, which personally I don't think matters much because of how stigmatized ASPD is even in the professional field. However, I also do not have ASPD myself, so most of what I go over are things I've taken from fiance and brother's experiences

Now with that out of the way, Izaya and Shinra display clear symptoms warranting the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). In this essay I will…

… go through the DSM-5 entry of ASPD section by section, beginning with the official Diagnostic Criteria. Criteria and indicators that I feel fit Izaya and Shinra will be in bold, followed by my reasoning. Criteria and indicators which do not fit them will not be bolded. I just want to include them for the sake of clarity and transparency, so it doesn't look like I'm claiming they match EVERY SINGLE CRITERIA, when they don't necessarily.

Diagnostic Criteria

A. A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the following:

1. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors, as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest

Now right out of the gate we have a very clear example of why I put that disclaimer there. This one part of a part of a criterion is put on a pedestal and lauded as one of the most defining aspects of ASPD and that all Aspids must have this criterion to qualify. That is actually not the case, as this criterion alone has seven indicators, and one only needs three to qualify. A criminal does not an Aspid make, and not all criminals are Aspids. Even so, Izaya and Shinra both fit this indicator as they deal a lot in criminal behaviors as an information broker and underground doctor both with the Awakusu-kai as their primary clientele.

2. Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure

3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead

This is textbook for Izaya because a majority of his actions are jerking people around for personal gain, whether it be suicidal teenagers, his clients, or various members of the main cast. What of Shinra, though? I would argue yes, mainly based on the sneaking around he does to hide Celty's head and influence her to give up her search to stay with him. I'm sure there are other examples, but this is the one that stands out the most in my mind.

Also, an interesting note I'd like to add: A lot of these acts of "deceitfulness" aren't actually just done for shits and giggles. Like I said, this is the dichotomy between external behaviors and internal experiences, the why behind the actions. A lot of Izaya and Shinra's deceitful behaviors are often attempts to connect with other people. For Izaya, humans as a whole, and for Shinra, Celty in particular. Something I feel the ASPD criteria lacks is the internal experience of being pervasively disconnected from human connection, which I feel is the core of ASPD as a disorder. What does it feel like, to be stuck in a situation where you seem to be incapable of connecting with others on a fundamental level no matter what you do? Despite what the stigma says, people with ASPD are still humans, and humans are social creatures. It's lonely. Terribly and painfully lonely, and honestly? I can't blame anyone for wanting to find connection with others by any means necessary. It's like being deprived of good food, that whenever you try to eat it melts into a tasteless slop that barely keeps you alive but watching everyone else getting to enjoy that food as it is. That's no way to live, and it's not the fault of the victim that they are deprived. Why does it turn to slop? It just does, no matter what they try to work around it. Maybe sometimes something works a little and they can have something keep its shape, but the taste is still wrong. The full nutrition is still deprived. There's something outside their control that keeps them from having it all, no matter how hard they work, and that's tragic and no fault of their own. I feel like I'd certainly resort to deceitfulness as well just to get some modicum of the connection that others seem to enjoy freely.

I wouldn't say that these two really have much impulsivity, really, however I do find it notable that when Izaya starts getting backed into a corner he starts making SPECTACULAR impulsive mistakes. It isn't very pervasive unless he is already losing control of the situation, though, so I'm not counting it here.

4. Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults

5. Reckless disregard for safety of self or others

This is Izaya only, but I feel like his repeated altercations with Shizuo count, particularly because literally every time they cross paths it devolves into a fight. Depending on your source material, Izaya even goes out of his way to antagonize Shizuo and seek him out for fights (primarily the anime/manga). I haven't read all of the light novels, but I've seen people say Izaya tries more to keep away from Shizuo in them. If that's the case, then maybe this indicator is debatable. However, I do think it's notable that Izaya goes out of his way to create enemies that start physical altercations for him lol

And here I want to go into outward behavior and internal experience again because the motivations behind Izaya's beef with Shizuo are VERY complicated and rooted in things I already mentioned under Indicator 2. Everyone in the fandom agrees that Izaya hates Shizuo because of how easily he is able to connect with others despite being a monster. I don't need to beat a dead horse, there are plenty of analyses on that already. Izaya hates that Shizuo of all people seems to enjoy the good food just fine without any veneer like Izaya has to use just to get a fraction of the flavor. To add insult to injury, from Izaya's perspective, Shizuo seems to take the connections he has with others for granted, and even spits in the face of it when he claims he can't connect with others because of his strength. My fiance actually made a REALLY good analogy of this while I was writing this, too:

"like. izaya sees that shizuo doesnt connect w people but people connect to him and all izaya can see is this fuckin meme

he thinks like 'you have trouble connecting with people but you do it SO MUCH BETTER than i do and you have actual people that love you. why are YOU complaining?'"

So, what is an Aspid to do? He tries to bring Shizuo down to his level, teasing out that rage and monstrosity within Shizuo to enforce that disconnect in Shizuo, because if Izaya can't have any meaningful connections, then Shizuo shouldn't either.

Another insight from my fiance that was so good I couldn't think of anything to elaborate on it with:

"it also could be out of desperation too- remember he got two brain scans in the novels? he doesnt WANT there to be anything wrong with him

so shizuo HAS to be able to fall into the same pit as him

it CANT be just him who experiences this, it just CANT!!

he HAS to see other people in this pit along with him because if more and more people experience it, the better he can convince himself that this just Happens To Some People and there isnt anything fundamentally wrong with him that causes him to be so isolated in a way nobody else is"

With that, we already have the minimum of three indicators for Izaya to qualify him for Criterion A!

6. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations

Izaya is very disconnected from the safety of others in the way he uses them for his own motivations. While it is true that no one actually dies at the hand of his schemes, they have absolutely come to plenty of physical harm. He also seems to see no problem with the dangerous situations he puts himself in, either, as he's gotten his ass handed to him more than a few times without much thought of self-preservation. In Shinra's case, I feel like as an underground doctor, he doesn't have many qualms with things like the Hippocratic Oath lmao, and beyond that I've seen the posts circulating around lately regarding how blasé he was towards Izaya when he called to tell him he was in the hospital. I think that kind of speaks for itself, but time and time again he only seems to have any semblance of care for the wellbeing of Celty.

And she's an immortal dullahan who for all intents and purposes cannot be harmed in a meaningful way, so...

With that, we also have our minimum of three indicators for Shinra to qualify for Criterion A!

Inconclusive data, because to my knowledge, they don't focus, in any iteration of the source material, on actual work ethic or financial obligations like paying rent.

7. Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another

Final count: Izaya 5/7, and Shinra 4/7

Neither Izaya nor Shinra exhibit remorse for their various actions which cause harm to others, even (in Shinra’s case) those they care about. Izaya seems fine with anything that happens to those he fucks around with, and even delights in seeing it as it keeps him entertained, citing his love of all humans at their best and their worst. He definitely doesn’t feel bad about anything he’s done to Shizuo, citing his rationalizations under Indicator 4. The most we get is his comment about feeling bad about how Mairu and Kururi turned out under his care, and honestly? One exception in the face of everything else does not usurp his qualification for this criteria in my opinion. Not to mention there is an entire debate to be had about the difference between regret and remorse, and the motivations of such feelings.

On Shinra’s side of things, he doesn’t show any remorse about anyone he’s hurt as a means to the end of keeping Celty’s head away from her. He justifies each and every decision he makes, usually behind his love for Celty. He’s divorced himself with connection to humanity altogether, in fact, in favor of attempting to have that meaningful connection he craves (because either way he himself is still human) with Celty instead.

So both qualify for Criterion A! Moving on to…

B. The individual is at least age 18 years

Simple enough.

C. There is evidence of conduct disorder with onset before age 15 years

Now we don’t have the time to unpack A WHOLE SECOND DIAGNOSIS (unless y’all want me to later), but I’ll give y’all some highlights from the main criteria here based on Izaya and Shinra’s time in middle school and high school, given that in Japan high school begins at age 14 (my memory of their younger days is a little foggy, though, because Wa-kun and I haven’t gotten there yet in our watch together). You only need three of the list of 15 indicators to qualify:

1. Often bullies, threatens, or intimidates others

I think Shinra’s begging Shizuo for samples from Shizuo since grade school speaks for itself. On Izaya’s end of things, while he may have been more reclusive before meeting Shinra, he has no qualms threatening Shizuo from the moment they met.

2. Often initiates physical fights

This is primarily Izaya with regard to Shizuo, honestly.

3. Has used a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others (e.g., a bat, brick, broken bottle, knife, gun)

Izaya again.

4/5. Has been physically cruel to people/animals

Shinra vivisected Celty at the age of four, need I say more? Sure, one could argue his father coerced him into it, but he didn’t exactly put up a fight and continues to promote this course of action with Shizuo later on.

11. Often lies to obtain goods or favors or to avoid obligations (i.e., “cons” others)

Izaya exemplifies this spectacularly when he takes the fall for Nakura just to laud this debt over him well into adult life. I can’t think of any specific examples for Shinra, but I have the foggiest feeling that there IS an example SOMEWHERE.

Final count: Izaya 4/15, and Shinra 3/15

It’s the bare minimum, but there is a case to be had for evidence of conduct disorder in both Izaya and Shinra. To be fair, there are some more criteria that could be absolutely plausible for them that we just don’t know because their childhoods weren’t elaborated on in very much detail in the source material. That speculation moves into headcanon territory, so I will leave it out for the sake of transparency. (However, there may be some evidence in the light novels that I’m unaware of because I haven’t finished them. Who knows?)

Also, as you may have noticed, the criteria for conduct disorder are arguably even worse than ASPD with regard to exclusively listing outward behaviors over internal experiences. I could go on and on about child agency and how professionals don’t typically consider the reasons behind a child’s actions in favor of just smothering the unwanted behavior, but I’ll leave that for another time! Let’s move on to the final criterion for ASPD…

D. The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder

I don’t think I need to explain why Izaya and Shinra aren’t schizophrenic or bipolar.

So that’s it, then? But wait! There’s more to be said under…

Associated Features Supporting Diagnosis

Now, these are not criteria and therefore NOT REQUIRED for diagnosis. However, as the title implies, they are often associated with ASPD, so I want to touch on it anyway. This section in the DSM-5 is not a simple list like the criteria, so instead of using it verbatim I’ll be cutting out relevant quotes.

“Individuals with antisocial personality disorder frequently lack empathy and tend to be callous, cynical, and contemptuous of the feelings, rights, and sufferings of others.”

“They may have an inflated and arrogant self-appraisal… and may be excessively opinionated, self-assured, or cocky. They may display a glib, superficial charm and can be quite voluble and verbally facile (e.g., using technical terms or jargon that might impress someone who is unfamiliar with the topic).”

Izaya is easy to associate with this sort of behavior towards others, and I would argue that Shinra fits the bill towards other humans as well as towards Celty. Shinra seems to be inquisitive at best, most of the time. I do want to note though that “lack of empathy” does not necessarily entail an uncaring attitude. Empathy is sort of mistakenly attributed to caring about another’s feelings. What’s actually going on is that a person is able to understand because they feel how another person is feeling. Shinra has displayed forms of caring in his own way when Celty is distraught, by taking an inquisitive interest and asking questions. That’s not empathizing, that’s sympathizing. It is a cognitive action where one thinks about and how a person is feeling and understanding purely through cognitive consideration rather than emotional connection. If you think about it, Izaya is easily capable of this as well—understanding what people are feeling on a cognitive level—it’s just that more often than not he uses it as a weapon instead of a salve.

This is what I meant in the very beginning about Aspids being able to care about others. Shinra cares about Celty, and Izaya cares about his sisters (I know it’s elaborated on more in the novels and Narita’s testimonials). It’s the way that they express that care that gets refracted through ASPD to come out differently than non-Aspids, and this refraction coupled with the stigma of the diagnosis can lead to a lot of distress for an Aspid. What if they don’t really care and it’s all just a fluke? What if they’re manipulating the people they care about without meaning to? It’s because of this need to mask and cognitively reach others rather than emotionally that inherently taints human connection for Aspids. My fiance explained to me that there are essentially two options: you can try to have “normal” connections but hide the part of yourself that blocks you from a direct emotional connection with them, or let that part have the spotlight and resign yourself to being seen as uncaring by the people you’ve connected with. My brother told me that sometimes it’s easier to just not connect with someone at all—no matter how much you want to—than to try, only to watch that connection fall apart and prove you right that it was poisoned from the start. No matter how you slice it, the first option feels fake and the second condemns you from having a “true” emotional connection.

I kind of feel like this struggle can be seen in Shinra’s obsession with how Celty views the world as a dullahan. After discarding any possibility of connection with other humans, he turns to an otherworldly creature in the hopes that maybe she thinks and feels just like he does. It also is clear to me in Izaya’s outright rejection and jealousy of Shizuo’s connection with others despite his monstrous strength and temper, for all the reasons I already covered under Indicator 4 of the Diagnostic Criteria.

Izaya’s god complex largely speaks for itself here, as well as his very opinionated and jargon-filled soliloquies regarding death and humanity. I’m pretty sure there’s even a scene in the light novels where the narrative directly calls Izaya out for the exact example provided in this quote of using excessive jargon to intimidate and impress. Shinra on the other hand is a little less explicit because a lot of his grandiosity and superfluous charm is played for laughs when it comes to his love for Celty (at least, it is in the anime/manga). That doesn’t mean it’s not there, though! Shinra is very sure of himself that Celty doesn’t need her head, and that she only needs to continue living her life in Ikebukuro with him.

Now here are some things associated with ASPD that often go ignored by many people, including psychology professionals:

“Individuals with antisocial personality disorder may also experience dysphoria, including complaints of tension, inability to tolerate boredom, and depressed mood. They may have associated anxiety disorders, depressive disorders… and other disorders of impulse control.”

“Child abuse or neglect, unstable or erratic parenting, or inconsistent parental discipline may increase the likelihood that conduct disorder will evolve into antisocial personality disorder.”

Inability to tolerate boredom coincides with Izaya’s motto that you have to constantly evolve in order to escape the everyday. A lot of Izaya’s actions can be chalked up to thrill-seeking, entertainment to quell the intolerable boredom of his everyday life. Shinra, meanwhile, chooses to swing in the opposite direction by focusing all of his efforts on one thing: Celty. As for the second highlighted issue…

There’s a common stereotype that Aspids cannot feel fear or anxiety. A speaker in one of my fiance’s psychology classes even claimed as much. This, by definition in the quote highlighted here, is inherently false. Aspids are capable of feeling fear and anxiety, they are capable of having all feelings! They just feel and/or approach those feelings differently than non-Aspids. That said, Izaya is terrified of death. It’s a key point behind nearly all of his actions and beliefs. That fear does not disqualify him from having ASPD.

In conclusion

Izaya’s parents were known to be seriously neglectful, and Shinra’s father is also very unstable in the way he parented Shinra.

It’s here I’d like to make another point: ASPD does not make people into monsters, and does not make them undeserving of care and love and everything good in the world. Aspids are humans, too, and more often than not they come out of very unstable and abusive homes. They are victims, and their disorder is another mark of that. Yet the pervasive stigma behind it erases this fact in favor of demonizing them as inherently evil when these symptoms come out of a place where a child was only trying to protect themselves in the only way they felt they could. Don’t perpetuate the wrong narrative. Just don’t.

Izaya and Shinra both absolutely have ASPD. Izaya fits 5 out of 7 of the main criteria, and Shinra fits 4 out of 7. They are both over 18 and have evidence of conduct disorder before 15 (4/15 criteria for Izaya and 3/15 criteria for Shinra). They also have a slew of associated attributes, including struggling to empathize with others, self-aggrandizing and superfluous behavior, chronic boredom, pathological anxiety, and a history of abuse and neglect in childhood.

While the criteria used for the diagnosis of ASPD focuses primarily on outward behaviors, I feel like the internal experience of Aspids is an inherent disconnect from society. Not necessarily in a criminal way, but rather in an emotional/social way. A pervasive struggle to have meaningful connections with others and a pervasive awareness of that struggle. There is an acute awareness that others are able to enjoy the luxury of human connection that they somehow always fall short with, and as a result, they either continue to pursue that one “true” connection through maladaptive behaviors or break away entirely and attempt to fill that void with something else, be it criminal gratification, a complete rejection of humanity, or a very desperate attempt to bring humanity down with them.

This by no means warrants the stigma that is so common towards Aspids. In fact, I feel as though such stigma only serves to prove an Aspid’s point, a self-fulfilling prophecy of an inherent inability to connect with others. No, I feel like the best thing you could do for an Aspid is prove them wrong, that they are worth connecting with and that they are worth caring about. I can’t fix the disconnect between my fiance or brother’s perception of human connection and mine, but I can at least fill their relationships with me with love and kindness and understanding, to give them the most I can so they can get as close as they can to obtaining it. I feel like they deserve that much, after everything they’ve been through and continue to go through to this day.

[randomsnakesimp]

Okay. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna take the leap and say: Phobos is the victim (sorta).

Quick disclaimer: I am going to abuse plot holes and cartoon logic for my cause in a very nitpicky way. If you dislike that, I can completely understand, and I hope this warning will save you a lot of reading.

Also, this won't go into just headcanon territory, I'll put those in a separate post. Everything here I'll try to keep based on actual information from the comics and what I made of them.

That said...

Let's take a look at this scene:

(for a quick translation of the important part, the mother says: "No, Phobos, Meridian is meant for your sister. That's the law. The crown is hers.)

What we can see here are a few very important things:

1. Phobos is at most 5 years older than Elyon.

2. The name "Phobos" is not an edgy nickname he gave himself. Five-year-olds don't go around calling themselves Phobos. So his parents, for some reason, gave him that name.

3. His mother is very adamant about him not even touching the crown and reminding him of his sisters' birthright.

So, after establishing what I would call more or less facts, what else can, relatively savely, be deduced here?

- Since Elyon never noticed anything weird about herself, she can't have aged slower than earth children. So neither can Phobos. This would mean that, as she was kidnapped after her mothers death as a baby, he would have been five. So, he either tried his best to rule at age five, or the council we see as Elyon rules stepped in for him for a while

- this would then mean two things: we need an explanation as to why Miriadel, Alborn and Galgheita fled explicitly from Phobos (I'll give my explanation a bit further down) and second, Phobos' reign of terror wasn't even thirteen years, and a lot of that time he was a child/teen and could not even have been mature enough to rule.

- This also means that Kandrakar pulled up the veil when Phobos was at most five, likely younger, and that the so called "Seal of Phobos" also existed at that time, as both the veil and the seal are seen in the flashback depicting Elyons abduction. For Kandrakar, this, too, I will try to explain soon, but as for the seal, I find it most plausible that the theory @ror-witch used in their fanfiction, of the seal being a royal heirloom and named after each ruler, is true.

- His and his mother's relationship was neither as bad as some assumptions go, but neither was it that good, probably, or at least it wasn't in his perception. See how his memory is of her cradling the baby the entire time and talking more about his sisters birthright than about what he has/can do? Yes, it's only a short memory, but I think it's clear that it's a summary of what he remembers of his mother.

- Phobos desire to rule Meridian does not stem from something deeply sinister, but rather from a childish spite. Five year old Phobos probably just wanted the crown cause it looked nice and shiny, and he was fabulous even back then, but after his mothers words, he sulked and decided to show her. That's his motivation.

So, now let's go a bit further and look at some other things we can deduce from the rest of the comics:

- Phobos has a huge dungeon, a wall of roses that turn people into more roses if they touch it and his plan for the annihilation of Meridian is "Well, Cedric and I hide in the castle and...we'll see". He hates the people of Meridian, but he doesn't seem to have it in him to directly attack anyone until Elyon is there and even here, when he has her knocked out in their duel or locked up as Endarno, he isn't unnecessarily cruel. He's not evil in nature, he's more of a very dangerous child throwing tantrums. ( Cedric is kinda similar, and they both start losing it toward the coronation, but I sincerely believe that before that, there would have been a chance for them to come around )

- The only person he ever tortures or even hurts directly is Cedric. Because one, he likes Cedric and so gets more extreme emotions around him, and two, Cedric never says anything, and just plays it of afterwards, so I don't know if he even fully realizes what he's doing, like a child hitting someone. If Cedric ever just said "Stop it, you're hurting me", Phobos would probably need an entire week to process that input.

- Phobos is VERY reclusive, and he doesn't want anyone to have even pictures of him, and while that could be a God complex, I get some highly insecure vibes out of it, in a vulnerable narcissist kinda way, in that he is massively overcompensating. I gotta admit, though, that I cannot put my finger on why, so maybe take this with a grain of salt and decide for yourself if you agree.

- Kandrakar never orders the guardians to help Meridian in any way, just to make sure nothing oozes out. They likely pulled up the veil for their own protection, so Phobos wouldn't be able to spread far enough to become a real danger, rather than to protect innocent people, as clearly the Meridian people mean shit to them

- while the guards are widely feared in Meridian, Cedric seems to be viewed as... not very frightening or important, as some random merchant feels comfortable clinging to his cape (and rightfully so, apparently, as Cedric just tells him to piss off and doesn't care any further). This further leads me to believe that Cedric is rather unhealthy devoted to Phobos and his tantrums while their shitty ass reign leaves a lot of free space for unsuited people to become guards and tyranize the people.

- the King and Queen seem to have died in rapid succession, and shortly after the scene shown above, yet she looks perfectly healthy in that scene.

Now, what do I make of all this?

I believe the line of events to be as follows:

I don't think Phobos traveling back in time is a viable theory for mainly two reasons: I think his mother would be less chill around him if she saw/heard about his reign herself, and I believe that it would have been mentioned somewhere along the way if that were the case. Instead, what I believe happened is that the oracle had a vague vision of Phobos nearly taking over Kandrakar. Deciding in their random mood swings that today was a day of action, they had the people of Meridian informed that the next male born to a queen would become a dangerous tyrant, pulled up a veil and set their guardians to make sure nothing oozed out.

The veil, of course, made the people of Meridian feel trapped and a horror of the unborn prince who would ruin their lives spread.

So, when Weira gave birth to that prince, a full blown panic spread, so much so that she, in a fit of hysterical emotion, named him after that boust of panic. Of course, people tried to kill the prince basically from the moment he was born, and he was met with barely concealed resentment.

Soon after, Weira and her husband died - whether they were killed, or fell ill, or died in an accident, I have no idea, but I wouldn't completely rule out an assassination either aimed at Phobos and accidentally hitting them or the strain making at least one of them fall terminally ill.

Either the people rioted and Phobos' magic panic reaction or the leftover loyal guard was enough to fight them back, or the people succumbed to their fate at this point, slumping into the state of despair seen throughout the comics. But in the end, five year old Phobos had to be handed the throne. I assume the council still had some say at this point, but he did manage to get all pictures of him destroyed - this order was likely due to the fact that they were mostly caricatures.

So he grew up with the very volatile combination of a shitton of power and no one able to tell him if he was being stupid on one hand, and feeling unloved and unwanted on the other. He withdrew, likely also due to countless assassination attempts or things he perceived as such, and went into a negative feedback loop of being unable to mature and take responsibility, therefore being a shit ruler, therefore being hated, therefore having no one to help him, therefore being unable to face and grow from his mistakes, rinse and repeat.

So, Meridian was plunged into chaos, yet he seemed fine more or less just sitting in the new playroom he made for himself in the gardens, sporadically giving out an order or two and having generally no idea about anything that didn't directly concern him.

Enter Elyon. Now, she send him of the rails, as she was a danger to his lifestyle AND a reminder of all the sentiments he'd be drowning in alcohol if he wasn't too much of a recluse and education denier to know of that option. He doesn't even try. He just lets Cedric, the one person he trusts, handle her, like everything else, and somewhat plays along sometimes, when he feels like it. This is where he passes the point of no return and starts actually trying to kill people, culminating in him creating an army to wipe out Meridian. I still believe that even at this point, in his head, what he's doing is just throwing a nice toy out the window just so his sister won't have it.

[faeriejukyung]

True Beauty’s Gaping Mother Wound

*disclaimer*: I understand that all the listed traits are things which are often very common in Asian households, and it may seem that rather than being concerning, these are just a part of Asian culture. That is why, I feel that it’s necessary for me to make it clear that I am, in fact, Asian (Indian to be specific), and parental abuse is something that is extremely normalized here. As someone who has experienced it firsthand, I want to say that just because something is common/normal, doesn’t necessarily mean that it is correct. If you or anyone you know is in a situation like that, it’s very very important to speak out. And it’s not your fault, i know it’s easier to believe that way but it’s really not. We deserve to be in a loving environment, regardless of what culture we are born in.

Throughout the drama, Jukyung’s mother shows many traits of an abusive mother. I have been able to outline 4 of them. I don’t mean to write her off as an evil character,, because overall she is well intentioned, and just like any other mom, she does love Jukyung. This is shown in episode 8 too, where she shows remorse for her actions. That however, doesn’t justify her abusive behavioral patterns in any way. Because we can see how badly it affects Jukyung, her self esteem and her overall view of herself.

-

Act 1: “I’m going to kill you today and go to jail” -- Physical Violence.

Throughout the series, we see Jukyung's mother being very violent. But one scene which particularly stood out to me was the scene where she finds out about Jukyung's dad getting scammed. (in episode 1). While it is true that her dad caused a huge financial loss to the family, and anyone would feel angry in a situation like that, it is also true that there is never a good reason to physically abuse someone.

After hearing the news, Jukyung's mom is overcome by anger. It's completely okay to feel frustrated, but the way she violently jumped at her husband, clearly intentioned to hurt him, and the way she needed to be held back by juyoung and heekyung highlights her abusive nature. And this isn't a one time thing where she momentarily lost control of herself. She constantly shows similar behavioural traits throughout the drama.

In the scene where we see Jukyung's mom and dad together properly for the first time, their relationship dynamic is established. He's meekly massaging her shoulders while she orders him around. Their is an obvious power imbalance in the relationship, and the way Jukyung's dad cowers in fear around Jukyung's mom is a proof of that.

-

Act 2: "Why would you kill my precious son?" -- Conditional Love.

We see examples of Jukyung’s Mom’s conditional love in the kdrama AND in the webtoon. Conditional love is when a parent or a parental figure makes their child compete for love. They withhold their affection until the kid acts in ways that are desirable to them, and if the kid fails to do so, the parent often punishers them through different methods. This is their way of maintaining control over their children.

Jukyung’s Mom’s conditional love manifests itself in the form of favoritism towards her eldest daughter Heekyung, who’s not only conventionally beautiful but also very smart and has a high paying job, and towards her youngest child and only son, Juyoung, who is also written to be very attractive. Both Juyoung and Heekyung have gifts that Jukyung does not posses -- beauty and brains. The conditions that are established in order to attain their mother’s affection are getting good grades at school, and being conventionally attractive, which is why Jukyung often gets the shorter end of the stick

In the scene where we are first meet Heekyung is the drama, their mom’s affection towards her is very evident.

This is shown in the webtoon too.

She displays this favoritism towards Juyoung too, and even more so. In episode 1 where Jukyung tries makeup for the first time, and gets ridiculed by him for doing a bad job at it, she naturally feels angry and yells at him, “do you want to die?!”, but instead of telling Juyoung to stop, their mother yells at Jukyung for yelling at Juyoung (”why would you kill my precious son? why?”). It’s already very evident that Juyoung has picked up the habit of constantly taunting Jukyung for her face from his mom. In the webtoon, when Jukyung decides that she wants to pursue makeup arts and asks for her mom’s support and fees for academy, her mom flat-out refuses, saying that they don’t have enough money. However as we find out later, money wasn’t the problem, because she had enough money to send Juyoung to a cram school for acting.

I find it hard to believe that any good parent would constantly compare their children and pit them against each other like this. In the webtoon and the kdrama, it is made clear that Juyoung doesn’t have particularly good grades either, but he doesn’t have to face his mother’s wrath by the virtue of being good looking. Jukyung on the other hand, does not have any redeeming qualities.

-

Act 3: “I’m going to throw all your makeup away” --Excessive Anger.

Another sign of parental abuse is display of excessive anger. It’s usually used as an intimidation tactic to keep the child in line. Sometimes, it can simply happen because they lose control of themselves. Either way, parents who get angry more often than what is supposed to be normal, and hurt their children (physically or verbally) in the midst of their anger, repeatedly, are abusive. I feel like I don’t even need to elaborate on this one. Jukyung’s Mom is angry during half of her scenes. And the way she acts upon that anger crosses the limit too. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to express your the way you feel, but the way Jukyung’s Mom does it, is extremely unhealthy and hurtful to others around her. Whether she’s jumping on Jukyung’s dad or talking down on Im Jukyung, she’s very inconsiderate of how her anger affects others. She almost always expresses herself in an extremely volatile way.

Jukyung described makeup as a hopeful light opening up a new life for her. There’s even a whole music segment of her discovering the powers of makeup, characterized by pastel and bubblegum tones, and the segment has a magical feel to it. Suffice to say that makeup brought an almost magical kind of hope and optimism to her life. In episode 6, Jukyung's Mom goes to her school to get her report card. When she sees her low grades, she gets so angry that she threatens to throw away her makeup, without once considering why Jukyung is so attached to it. In my eyes, she's actually very similar to Soojin's dad who also uses intimidation and physical violence to keep his daughter in line. If we put the same background music for the scenes where we see Jukyung's Mom threatening her, as the ones where Soojin's dad abuses her, they'd practically be identical. The only difference is that the show often plays Jukyung's Mom's behavior as a joke.

In episode 7, after seeing that Jukyung didn't improve as much as she wanted her to, she actually threw away all her makeup. Even though Jukyung did try, and did improve, it still wasn't enough for her mom. Jukyung's restlessness after not seeing her makeup on her table was palpable through the screen. Finding out that her mother threw all her makeup away sort became her breaking point. We see her yell at her mother and express her feelings for the first time.

I think it's important to note that Jukyung, who's already finds it very tough to reach out to her courageous side, was inspired by this incident to stand up to her mom, to express her outrage. Saying that makeup meant a lot to her is an understatement.

-

Act 4: "What's the point of looking beautiful with all that makeup on if you're ugly underneath?" -- Verbal Abuse.

We all get into arguments with our parents from time to time, and I’m sure we’ve all been yelled at by them at some point. Verbal abuse however, is not something that is normal, and the two shouldn’t be confused. A parent who constantly humiliates their child, yells and screams at them, talks down on them is in simple terms, an abuser. 

In episode 1, when Jukyung tries makeup on for the first time and goes to school, she gets ridiculed by her bullies and her classmates. Crestfallen, she returns back home after school and goes to her mother for reassurance. Instead of providing that, her mother ridicules her even more and calls her makeup “Ghost Makeup”. This is something abusers often do. Under the guise of teasing the victim, they often attack the victim’s self esteem, appearance etc, to make them feel insecure and to maintain their position of power over them. Jukyung’s mother isn’t very different from those bullies who told Jukyung that she was ugly and made her feel like she could never amount to anything. 

Another example that irks me a lot is from episode 3, when Jukyung’s Mom is chewing her out for being late, and suddenly the conversation turns to cosmetics and makeup. This is also one of the traits of verbal abuse. Instead of arguments surrounding the basic issue, they branch out and turn into character assassination. Her mom accuses Jukyung of wasting all her time on makeup instead of studying, even when Jukyung clarifies that she got late because she missed her bus, not because she was out buying cosmetics. But her mom doesn't listen and says to her, “What’s the point of looking beautiful with all that makeup on when you’re still ugly underneath?” 

Jukyung’s face after hearing her own mother say that was heartbreaking. Unfortunately, this type of mother-daughter relationship dynamic isn’t something  that is rare. Mothers frequently project their own insecurities on their daughters and put them down. Jukyung’s Mother’s behavior explains her self esteem issues, it gives an insight about where her insecurities really stem from. Sometimes our abuser’s thoughts and image of us start maligning our own self image. Frequently hearing them tell us that we are worthless, and that no one will ever marry us or love us, makes us believe that we are in fact, worthless and incapable of being loved unless we change something about ourselves. We frequently get an insight into how Jukyung thinks of herself throughout the drama. 

“It’s not my fault that I was born dumb” (In episode 7, after finding out that her mother threw away her makeup.)

“You know that I’m messed up” (In episode 2, referring to her face, while asking Lee Suho to keep her bare face a secret)

The drama is yet to end so I don’t want to completely write Jukyung’s Mother off as an abuser. I hope she becomes a better mom in the show, I really do. Because Jukyung deserves a loving mother. And Jukyung's mom does in fact have a few redeeming qualities, however, simply love and caring isn’t enough, you need mutual respect, reassurance and effort in each every relationship. We know that Jukyung’s mother is also often labelled as an ugly woman, and she believes that she could only get by through studying well. (“It’s going to be okay as long as you study well” - episode 1). In a world where a woman either has to a exceptionally beautiful to be considered worthy, or be exceptionally intelligent and professional lest she isn’t blessed by beauty, it’s very easy to internalize self hatred and direct it on to other individuals (especially if those individuals are your children). That is why i genuinely find myself rooting for Jukyung’s mother and hoping for a character development arc -- because i understand where she comes from, and because i can empathize with her. 

-

Fin.

[nightlydreamer]

DELTARUNE SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 2 : Ralsei Theory please skip if you do not wish to spoil yourself for chapter 2 in any way! :3 I talk a lot without being vague, so if you haven't played yet, there may be some big spoils! . . . . . . .

.

. So I know a lot of people think Ralsei is gonna turn out to be Actually Asriel in some way, shape or form, especially because of the anagram nature of his name... and I would like to posit that I think this is actually unlikely! I don't think Ralsei is Asriel, and the reason I think this is a few things that have cropped up, particularly over chapter 2.

1. Darkners being items from the real world.

When you return from the darkworld with Lancer and Rouxls in your pocket, they are little cards! I'm sure folks have already talked about this a bit, but there's a theory that Ralsei may be represented by that headband Kris would wear when they were a kid!

which brings me to the idea of...

2. Ralsei and Personal Agency

chapter 2 gave us this great line!!!

I think Ralsei may be aware that he has some visual similarities to Asriel. He's very thankful when Kris tells him that they like that Ralsei is Ralsei, and that it "means a lot coming from Kris" (eyes emoji). The whole boat convo seems to seriously imply that Ralsei doesn't necessarily know entirely who they are yet as a person, but have an idea of what they -should- be... and seeing Susie being Susie in particular, being a strong individual who makes her own choices and isn't always nice....

Well, I think we're at some point going to get an arc with Ralsei insisting on his own personhood, seperate from being perceived as someone else. He is his own person!!!.... even if he doesn't know how to be or what that means just yet.

3. Born from a Wish

This is perhaps a bit more like, my own thoughts on things... but Ralsei is very aware of the lightner (and game) world, more than we know. Things like asking Kris to collect everything from the room in the school, implying that they should try to have mercy wherever they can, having conversations with Kris that the Player can't see. Even the boat conversation implies something more, because why does it mean more coming Kris?

This branches a little from what I was talking about, but I think Ralsei is a bit of a Born from a Wish situation - a wish to help better Kris' life, and maybe brighten their days?

Whether that wish is Kris' own, or Ralsei's.... Ralsei wants to be Kris' friend, he wants to do things for them, he wants to make sure that Kris gets along with other people (like Susie and Lancer in ch1), he's constantly getting Kris to make decisions and happily handing over the reigns to them and I think that's an attempt to give Kris agency. Which Kris appears not to often have from what i've seen - things like Toriel holding their hand into school (Kris' head seems to be down in this scene, almost... unhappily??), the situation with the (recent?) divorce, having a bedroom not entirely their own - things that can make a person feel powerless and without agency, not even counting the Player control.

you could also argue that that's him giving the player agency, but (if I am recalling correctly) Ralsei's choices seem to be geared towards doing something for Kris, and moving AROUND the player's awareness at times .

So yeah!!! Like, disclaimer because yes, this theory could still be wrong!! It's still early. But I think Ralsei is going to be very much NOT Asriel, and I think that that may actually be a big part of Ralsei's personal arc?? How MUCH Ralsei wishes to be his OWN person, and what that means for him going forward.

[lovecolibri]

I like Alex, I do. But I can’t stop thinking about how his words show how little he thinks of Michael. Like, this “I want to protect you” line is getting old. Michael is a grown up with fucking superpowers and fucking syperbrain, he is fully capable of protecting himself and people around him. I don't understand why Alex can't trust him and rely on him. I'm sorry to put on you but my brain is melting 🤍

So, like in the other ask, I'm giving the disclaimer that I adore both Michael and Alex and I can see where both of them are coming from so I'm not here to spread hate about either one of them, though I can understand fans on both sides being frustrated.

I think it's important to remember that Michael has tried to protect Alex before, in Caulfield where he tried to get Alex to leave without him and would have died if his mom's words and Alex's declaration weren't enough to get him to leave, and in the shed where his hand was mangled and (as far as Alex knew) was the reason Michael gave up on a full ride college scholarship. And he found out his dad was targeting Michael and then that his dad was running a genocidal prison camp. It's not that he doesn't think Michael can protect himself, it's that every time Michael has gotten close to him, he has been hurt. Badly. Alex wanting to keep Michael away from that, whether he goes about it the right way or not, is an instinct born from trauma and reinforced multiple times. Also, Michael stepping up and taking blame or injury, to protect someone else because he thinks of himself as expendable is a thing that Alex is aware of Michael doing.

This is where the two of them need to start communicating, so they can build up that trust where Alex can rely on Michael and trust that Michael isn't going to throw his life away, and Michael can trust that Alex isn't going to take on the world trying to protect him, but in doing so, leaving and hurting Michael's vulnerable heart.

I'm hoping we will start getting that, and that this scene is the set up for them to have a moment to clear the air, lay their truths out on the line, and start to heal and move forward. I know season 2 tried to pretend that Alex is emotionless and can handle anything and Michael can just be happy and looking to date someone after everything he went through, but these two men are deeply traumatized and are just now in a place where they can start dealing with what all that means and how it affects their ability to communicate and set healthy boundaries especially with each other. This season looks like it might start actually dealing with all of that, seeing the growth that Michael is going through, but we still haven't seen enough of Alex to know what all is going on with him. Fingers crossed 3x06 starts giving us this journey. We've waited long enough.