#this is literally us witnessing history

[energetically-exhausted]

ON THE VERGE OF FUCKING TEARS.

[backpackingspace]

I am once again thinking about how odysseus who witnessed the horrors that the captured women went through (one of his main duties in the iliad was taking the women back home and making sure they were as comfortable as possible and safe because he was the only one trusted not to violate them further due to his devotion to penelope. And in the odyssey part of the reason circe sent him to the underworld was so that he'd have to listen to all these women's stories (before he could talk to the prophet) ). Who was one of the few that saw women as people and respected their space and opinions. And was then put in those exact same situations. I don't have the motivation right now to do a full literary analysis of this (I'll site the sources too) but oh man one day I'm going to write a full essay on this.

[deus-ex-mona]

i miss her…

[askthe-r-m-au]

Are you excited for episode 3?

Very.

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

just got to the stupid zaharas chapter and went through dimi and claude's conversation and my god

they really did not use a single quarter of a brain cell when putting that conversation into ag

"your issue is with the church, not with faerghus?" eh wot hootie tootie claude never had a problem with faerghus and hasn't been acting like it. makes it sound like they've been fighting each other (i.e. this is meant to fit gw but and they just copy/pasted the whole conversation bc it just makes no sense).

"we have nothing to gain by fighting you." yeah, you... haven't been and never said you were planning to.

"we could've been friends." and whhhhyyyy can't you? there is an entire zero bad blood between y'all and lorenz has already pretty much said this whole second half of the war thing has been proof of the friendship between the kingdom and alliance soooo...?

"had i joined with you" uh um but you literally did this has been ongoing for half the war now

additional funnies are claude just being so butthurt that dimitri is like this might endanger your life and claude is like aw shucks my life has been endangered since i was born i'm basically an endangered species!

also, dimitri saying it brings guilt to do the things claude would do bc he's been there. lel. claude had no guilt in gw tho (for killing rhea and all that shit).

but fr tho, it just seems like gw claude and dimi got warped into zaharas and the ag ones are just passed out in the normal world having the same yeehaw ass fever dream LIKE

this entire conversation legitimately makes worse than zero sense. i can only imagine how confused people were who played ag first and got this conversation bc it like, legitimately has no place in this route. this is like a fever dream on steroids that were laced with drugs.

i was lucky i was playing ag while simultaneously watching the other routes on youtube or i would have also been absolutely bonkers confused.

[colorisbyshe]

I just came across a tweet saying that Aaron Bushnell--the man who burned himself to death while yelling Free Palestine until he couldn't anymore--will be "in the history books" and that phrase has been coming up a lot. And it chafes me every time I read it, every time I hear it.

Cause, a. no, a lot of this won't be in the American history books. American atrocities, especially those overseas but even those against American people (especially American people of color), don't go in the literal history books. Or the figurative ones. Most American atrocities are wiped from the collective memory... sometimes as soon as they happen. They go unreported (like the first person to self immolate to protest this genocide), they go erased, they go whitewashed, they go falsely recontextualized, and they get twisted into pro-America sentiment--we were right for those atrocities, we were wrong for them but we learned, we didn't learn from it but we felt bad about it and should be comforted for that soreness.

And b. is harder to verbalize but I'm gonna try. It feels... performative in the literal sense. Like we only value what is happening today out of deference for how people in the future will perceive it. We aren't doing anything to change anything NOW, to care about other people NOW, but so that one day... we'll be remembered a caring. Like this man killed himself as gesture, as a move for his legacy.

And I see this phrase--"this will be remembered in the history books"--whipped out in extremely horrific contexts. A child's dead body hanging off a wall, "oh, this will be in the history books." What does that even mean? Was her death worth the historical context? Was it necessary to embellish the horror of it all?

Would the people reading these hypothetical history books not get the wrongness of the genocide without the death of a little girl that you're using as... window dressing?

It just seems so weirdly self satisfied. Like you're eager to note you just witnessed a real moment that people will remember decades from now. When... a lot of people won't which is what is so tragic. A lot of people don't even know it's happening right now.

Because, again, it's not being reported. And when it is being reported it's not being reported honestly.

I'm not saying this well but it just feels like such a gross reaction to things we're seeing in real time.

Why does it have to matter later to matter now? Why is the hypothetical reaction of a history book reader the thing you think about?

A lot of people won't live to read those "history books" because people, right now, aren't doing anything to help them.

[dcxdpdabbles]

DCxDP fanfic idea: The Good Luck Charm

Wes goes to Gotham for a regular vacation, except he somehow has proof of Danny being Phantom. After years of threatening to expose him, Danny thinks he will do it in the big city now that they have graduated, so he follows after Wes, intending to foil his plan.

The redhead has no idea, as he has gotten over his desire to connect the two and is planning on enjoying his year gap before he suffers through college. He came to Gotham for the history stuff since he adored that subject.

He plans on seeing all the famous landmarks and even the minor ones that are only important to Gotham. Sure, he's heard of the crime rates, but as a sheltered boy from a small town whose only crime is paranormal-related, Wes thinks the tales are exaggerated.

Danny tells his parents and friends that he will do some soul-searching and take a spiritual retreat instead of going to College or getting a job for a while.

He does not want to worry them about Wes's proof in case he is exposed and the GIW attempts to arrest them for sheltering him. They hear that Wes is also going to Gotham briefly and assume Danny's random awareness of the redhead is due to an unresolved crush.

They let him shift into Phantom and fly after Wes' plane, shaking their heads at the love-struck fool.

While in Gotham, he attracts the attention of the Bats, who have no idea why a being of such power and long history (due to his time travel chase of Vlad, his existence was recorded, and of course, the Bats found it) is following around this random tourist who, for all intentions, is just sightseeing.

The more they watch Phantom, the more they realize that Phantom is somehow neutralizing the Gotham curse because Wes is far too lucky in this shit show city. The kid hasn't been mugged once and hasn't been caught up in rouge attacks. In fact, whenever he walks around the city, everything always seems to work out for him.

Bruce witnessed him literally drop his wallet only for it to be picked up by a crow who then dropped it on a bus, which drove it down the street until the wind flung it off the bus's roof, where it landed on the top of a hotdog cart umbrella. When Wes stopped for a chili cheese dog, it slid off the umbrella and fell right in his hand after he felt his pockets looking for it.

Phantom was watching him from alley entrance, tracking the wallet's path as Bruce was on the roof watching the two strangers with a mildly mystified expression.

Phantom's good luck wasn't limited to Wes, as anyone the redhead stood close to gained some positive karma. Once, while he was riding the historical train, a couple sitting behind him had been the random winners of a sweepstake. The middle-aged man in front of him got a call from his doctor, happily telling him they had found a match for organ translation, and the single mother struggling with her kids had been selected by the train staff for a completely free VIP package that she was able to later sell to keep her from being evicted.

All that from an hour-long ride near Wes Weston and the invisible ghost floating above him—the Bats used specialized goggles that allowed them to see the outline of Phantom.

The Bats want Wes to stay so Phantom's good luck can linger around the city. He's somehow cleaning up crime in the short two weeks he's been here, more than they ever could in the many years they've been attempting to stop crime.

[janitorhutcherson]

finnick odair x bunny!reader (fluff)

just some silly fluff hcs. finally feeding u guys finnick content too. not literal bunny, btw. pet name bunny!! :p plz enjoy!!! it’s short oopsies.

—————————

finnick odair and bunny!reader are the absolute best pair. finnick isn’t typically a gentle person. he is elegant, handsome, masculine, but he’s cocky and quick witted, something that can come off as arrogant rather than charming. with you, however, he can’t help but melt into a pile of mush.

finnick had started calling you bunny one day by a fluke. you two had been calling each other assortments of strange pet names, such as ‘bear’ or turtle’. that was, until, finnick froze, his expression softening as the corners of his lips turned up. “bunny,” was all he said, quietly, his voice laced with honey and love. you cocked your head to the side, eyebrows furrowed. “bunny, it’s perfect for you,” he chuckled, leaning forward and rubbing his nose against yours.

after that, the rest was history. finnick didn’t use baby or honey or love much, but instead, he always used bunny. you never even heard your real name from his lips unless it was serious. he’d thought it was so perfect for you. your eyes were soft and round, like a bunny’s. your skin was soft, smooth, and you loved to be caressed and pet. your nose would twitch and you’d loved nothing more than to be cuddled, kissed, but only on your own time. you were moody much like one too, your mood swings similar to the way a bunny may stomp if they’ve not gotten their way.

you adopted the role pretty easily, leaning into him every time he’d say the word. “bunny,” he’d say so quietly, his eyes inviting you to come lay beside him on the bed, and you’d do just that. it was like a command almost, something that fell from his lips in order to remind you that you were his in a way so unique that no one else would get it. you were his bunny. he’d get you bunny ears, shirts with bunnies on them, little shorts that had lace on the hems and bunnies on the thighs or hoodies with bunny ear hoods. he loved to see you in them. he felt it was so fitting.

at night he couldn’t help but to admire you while you slept in his arms, his eyes tracing your body, your mouth slightly open as soft little snores slipped out of your mouth. you were perfect, his bunny, his angel that fit right into the crook of his arm like a puzzle piece. he’d curled up in front of you now, his arms wrapping around you as he pulled you into his chest. he pulled the blankets up to your shoulders, pressing a kiss to your cheek before nuzzling his chin onto the top of your head. “goodnight, sleep tight, my lil bunny…” was the last thing he whispered before his own eyes fluttered closed, his arms warm and his heart fuzzier with love than the coat of a rabbit.

[thrashkink-coven]

Don’t forget that you live in a very incredibly crazy age of maximum information. We often forget how magical that is in itself. I know that most folks don’t consider bluetooth and wifi to be “magic” but I very much do.

It may not seem very aesthetically pleasing to look up the meanings of your tarot cards on Google, or to download the e-book version of an ancient grimoire, but don’t forget how fucking crazy it is that you can even do that. In an instant we can translate entire works into a language we can understand. We can research the histories of cultures we have no chance of witnessing irl. We can learn the names of Gods and demons that should have been lost to time. We can learn the benefits and dangers of any herb, we can learn which plants are native to our environment, how to care for them, and where to find them. We can predict the damn WEATHER!!! We can even converse with other witches all the way across the globe without a moment’s delay!!! That’s some crazy magic right there!!! Any ancient witch, mage, or practitioner would find these things to be absolutely incredible!! There’s so much to learn, and it’s so easily accessible!!!

Don’t ever feel apprehensive about looking stuff up on the regular old internet. It might not look as cool, but you’re probably gaining a lot more knowledge than any of those ancient mages could have even dreamed of. It’s always nice to have a collection of books and grimoires you can actually hold and study. But the fact that you have literally, all of humanity’s knowledge at the tip of your fingertips is amazing!!! Use it!

[bluemooniegif]

Soukoku's first meeting could not have been written more perfectly. Allow me to explain

A quick note on the manga panels: these are fan translations from BSD Bibliophile. At one stage they refer to Dazai as 'the youngest boss in Mafia history,' and the executive meeting as 'a meeting of five bosses.' This is just a stylistic choice! All of the panels shown here are from chapters 8 (volume 2), 10 & 11 (volume 3)

I love this scene more than life itself, because it is literally the PERFECT introduction to Chuuya, his character, and his relationship with Dazai. Let's talk about it!

First: some context. Dazai seems to be in a bit of a predicament- he's walked right into a trap set by the Port Mafia, an organisation that we don't know much about at this stage in the story. What we do know, and what we can observe, is this:

Dazai is a former executive, and appears to have walked into the trap on purpose

He is now being held in a room that Akutagawa describes very negatively- the fact of being here is dangerous

Dazai reveals that Akutagawa was once his subordinate, and that he thought very lowly of him at the time. He claims to still think of him this way. Akutagawa has a violent reaction to this.

This is a PERFECT example of 'showing, not telling' within a story. Rather than making a bunch of asides, describing what Dazai and Akutagawa are feeling and why, Asagiri & Harukawa have plopped us into the middle of a rather awkward reunion. I feel like I've walked into my friend's Christmas dinner and am now witnessing family politics unfold real time. It's like watching a car crash.

Now, we move between settings a bit, jumping around to watch Yosano DESTROY Kajii, Atsushi rescue Kyouka, and subsequently be injured and kidnapped by Akutagawa. We watch the Agency fall into disarray when Fukuzawa demands that everyone go looking for Atsushi- interesting, considering that Dazai is IN THE BASEMENT OF THE PORT MAFIA RIGHT NOW.

I've had lots of discussions and arguments about the meaning and significance of this. I won't delve too deep into it for now, but the way I see it is this: something the ADA is really REALLY good at is splitting up Mystery-Inc. style and working to solve cases etc., together, but apart. Dazai is also something of a stray dog (... cat), regularly wandering off and reappearing of his own accord. He's been with the ADA for several years at this point, and they would understand the way he operates well. Even if there's no indication whether he explicitly told anyone what he's doing or where he's going (which honestly, does that matter, when Ranpo would know immediately anyway?), we can safely assume that this is more or less a regular thing for them.

Anyway, back to the point. the Agency is not fazed by Dazai's disappearance... and neither, for some reason, is Dazai. He stands chained to the wall in the PM's basement- the same one, we discover later, where he's brutally tortured countless victims and traitors, and he's humming a little tune to himself, smiling, totally relaxed. We as the audience know he's pretty unflappable, and Akutagawa's expression when he sees him confirms this, too.

But. BUT. This doesn't last.

With the ADA descending into chaos, we switch perspectives back to Dazai again. He's bored at this stage, and thinking to himself that they must be searching for Atsushi soon (an indication that he was riling Akutagawa up earlier, btw) when he hears it: A voice that makes his resolve crack. A look of panic on his face that, at this stage, we haven't seen yet.

He turns, and we see Chuuya for the first time! He's got this strange smug look on his face, something deeply vindictive. Here's a current mafia executive, and he's so happy to see Dazai chained to the wall of their Torture Basement that you can't help but wonder... is there something that Dazai did to him, personally, that makes him feel this way? Or is this guy just so deeply involved with the PM that the fact Dazai left is like a personal slight against him?

Now, we don't really have long enough to truly panic over this predicament, because almost immediately these two fall into their old habits. Dazai isn't PLEASED, but he isn't afraid. He goes right into bantering with Chuuya, who surprisingly meets him right in the middle. Their regular dynamic shines right through: it's quick-witted quips, inside jokes, and knowing looks. It's this odd relaxation in their posture. In all of this, we have an acknowledgement of what they were, and evidence to suggest that they still are... whatever that thing is. Whatever you wanna call it: partners, boyfriends, best friends, buddies. That much is up to interpretation; the only undeniable fact is that they once knew each other better than themselves, and still do.

Then, the fight. This, to me, comes across as more of a way to display how powerful they both are individually: Chuuya punches concrete so hard it shatters in several places, Dazai snaps his fingers and breaks out of handcuffs.

We have front-row seats to what is in my opinion one of the best action sequences in early BSD, not just for what physically transpires, but what it tells us: they deeply understand each other on multiple levels. They're constantly predicting each other's moves, and they know where each other's weak spots are.

But there's also been a lot of growth. Dazai surprises Chuuya a few times, and vice-versa. Despite their apparent closeness, it's still clear that they haven't been together like this for a long, long time.

Then, they reach checkmate. It appears as though Chuuya has won, and we're fed some more Dazai lore- he was the youngest executive the PM ever saw.

This is how Chuuya remembers Dazai. Again, I want to remind you that this is the first time so far we're seeing PM-zai, and he is worlds away from the Dazai we've grown to know so far.

Though Chuuya seems to have driven Dazai into a corner, the roles are quickly reversed when Dazai claims to know something about a meeting between all five of the Mafia's executives. Chuuya quickly realises this is one of his 'predictions,' further proving the depth of their mutual understanding.

With hindsight, we know just how big a deal a meeting of this scale is, and knowing a certain stormbro (who I won't reveal just in case of spoilers) will be there makes me lose my mind, personally. It clearly affects Chuuya, as well, which was undoubtedly Dazai's goal.

With the power balance disrupted again, they quickly fall back into that same bantering dynamic. The volatile nature of their relationship is so perfectly portrayed within this short scene that it actually makes me sick, I genuinely don't think it could have been more perfect

Anyway. Chuuya has realised, at this stage, that Dazai had multiple goals when he allowed himself to be kidnapped, and one of those was to piss Chuuya off (which is something I think he could've managed even if Chuuya wasn't physically there). This, in turn, pisses Chuuya off, especially when he realises the predicament Dazai has left him in- let him escape, or the Mafia suffers. A test of loyalty, Chuuya's greatest weakness. Do you understand why I am tearing my hair out and howling at the moon??? This is fucking insanity.

And then, the final moment! The part we all know and love! Not only does Chuuya choose to err on the side of caution, allowing Dazai to escape- he also leaves with the repetition of another inside joke. And Dazai laughs- he looks genuinely happy, too.

That is all. I'm gonna go cry now ಥ_ಥ

read this original thread on twitter

[qqueenofhades]

"Radiant" is a perfect word to describe her. Gosh she's just fantastic.

I just.... am still FULLY in shock. At the start of July we were deep in the sordid depths of BidenDebateGate and the media feeding frenzy was fully underway and things looked bad. In the middle of July we had the Trump assassination attempt and the RNC and backstabbing Democrat stories every two minutes and things looked very, VERY bad. My mental health that week was a mess. I was terrified and could barely function and was seriously contemplating having to plan for the worst-case scenario.

And then. July 21. Biden drops out. 24 hours of terror, anger, and confusion, and then? AND THEN???

At the start of August (after the 6543 weeks of July) we were riding insanely high with the Kamalamentum, on August 6 she picked Walz and immediately launched a gangbusters battleground-state tour, here we are after a basically flawless convention that ran as if she was intended to be the nominee all along, and I just... wow. Thank absolute fuck that Biden decided not to listen to all the people who wanted the nightmare of an "open convention mini primary" and immediately endorsed Kamala. Thank fuck that everyone came in line right away. Thank fuck she picked Walz and the whole rollout has been beyond incredible. AND NOW???

After the soul-crushing trauma of 2016 and what looked like another generation of old white male Democratic presidential candidates before they would ever dare to try again, we have a brilliant and experienced woman of color as our presidential nominee. We could experience the absolute god tier karma of said woman of color both making incredible history and ending Donald Trump's entire career all at once. We just witnessed the four-day convention that was riveting and unmissable television. We are raising absolutely stupid insane amounts of money and volunteers and effort and... I just don't understand how this can happen in the Bad Timeline we have been living in, except to hope that if it is, we have somehow finally left it, or can leave it. God. Wouldn't that be nice.

People keep saying that we can't get complacent and we still have to vote, because we are all as noted still traumatized from 2016, but... quite honestly, I don't think that's the issue this time. People are raring at the fucking BIT to vote, in a way that I, who have spent 10+ largely bitter and thankless years on here telling people to vote, can't entirely believe. People want to do this. The younger among you have asked if this is what Obama felt like in 2008, and: Yes, but this is even more unbelievable. At least we could see him coming and had some context for it and watched him gain steam through the primaries, etc. But there was still considerable rancor and uncertainty around whether THIS GUY was going to be the nominee, and plenty of Democrats were pretty skeptical. They warmed up a bit as it went on, but things were still fairly neck and neck with McCain until the great economic crash. After that, Obama began to pull away and finally won in a crushing landslide.

By contrast, 2024 with Kamala is now the most united and excited I have seen the Democrats, EVER, and I have been voting for Democrats and paying attention to politics for almost 20 years. It's literally indescribable. Wow. That is all I can say. Wow, and of course, LET US FUCKING DO THIS. LET'S FUCKING GO. MADAM PRESIDENT. IT'S TIME.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hello, Raven! I have a question I'd like to ask: if all these dreams are supposed to be where everyone gets their happy ending, why's everyone having dreams about things that they aren't happy with?

It just feels like Malleus is looking at those build-it-yourself toys and he didn't read (or ignored) the instructions. Does that make sense?

[You can read my full thoughts on the book 7 part 12 Cater and Deuce update here! My thoughts on the book 7 part 11 Leona update is here!]

I've been receiving many asks expressing confusion over how the dream worlds in book 7 work, so I figured I'd try to dump all of my thoughts on this topic down in one place. In truth... I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW IT WORKS MYSELF. Like, I thought I understood how it worked at first??? But then with each new update, it feels like a completely different team of writers worked on it without communication with one another, so every update adds new lore that either contradicts what was said in the previous update or just piles on new details that overcomplicates our understanding of the dreams. I think the first ask is right in saying that this feels like "looking at those build-it-yourself toys and [the writers] didn't read (or ignored) the instructions."

So instead of attempting to explain how the dreams work, I'll lead you through my own train of thought (starting from the beginning of book 7 all the way to part 244, which is about where we are at the time of posting):

So Malleus promises everyone happy dreams (something that Silver later states) and that they will "become the protagonists of [their] own fairy tales" before he sends them off to slumber. That makes sense; he thinks that, by banishing them to a convenient false reality, they can avoid the sadnesses and injustices of real life.

... But Malleus doesn't know his peers and the residents of Sage's Island well enough to tailor happy dreams for each of them. How's it possible that he can manufacture happy dreams for thousands of people, most of whom are complete strangers to him???

... Oh, okay! So the game tells us that Malleus's dream magic is autonomous, meaning it operates on its own (by pulling from each dreamer's wishes and desires) and he's not making the conscious decisions as to what's happening in each dream.

... But wait, then why did Malleus offer Lilia a new dream once he's able to intrude into Lilia's dreamscape? Malleus literally starts listing options as though he can manipulate the dreams, should he wish: "What manner of dream do you want? Perhaps one where Mother and Father are alive? Or one where you live quietly with your son? [...] I shall grant any wish you ask of me."

... And speaking of Lilia's dream, why the hell is it so needlessly complicated???? Malleus promised "happy dreams", didn't he?? But Lilia's happiest moment is when Malleus hatched... yet his dream "begins" SEVERAL HUNDREDS OF YEARS PRIOR instead of beginning right at the moment of hatching. What the heck is the logical explanation for this other than "oh, it HAS to start here so that the player and the other characters can witness and experience this tragic history themselves"???? Is this implying that Malleus hatching wouldn't be the happiest time for Lilia had Lilia not experienced the canon events of literally losing everything else in his life to get to that point???? Would it not just be easier to give him one of the more simplistic dreams Malleus later suggests to Lilia???? Why set the dream so far in the past if it takes place in a period of time Malleus isn't familiar with, and thus cannot imagine, and thus cannot enter and enforce control over???? THAT'S JUST NERFING YOURSELF ON PURPOSE. Wouldn't Malleus want to grant Lilia's dream extra attention because he's so attached to him????

At one point, Idia shows us a video explaining how the dreams operate. He explains that Malleus's magical realm is like a server host and each dream is managed individually by Malleus copies while the OG Malleus serves as the server administrator. The server administrator has the ability to both operate and manage the server, while the copies crack down on ruler violators (attempts to "wake up") in each dream. This logic holds, but it doesn't really explain to us what exactly shapes the dreams. Something else that really bothers me is how we keep wasting so much time in each dream when, in reality, we should be on a considerable time crunch, especially since we DON'T want any of the Malleus clones noticing that we're messing with things. How convenient that not once have we had to content with a clone noticing something is off or coming to hunt us down.

In Floyd's dream, Idia remarks that "Malleus-shi has a shallow understanding of what happiness is", which explains the limited scope of the dreams they come across. This... seems to imply that Malleus (or at least his autonomous magic) can only pull so much from the dreamers and seems to manifest dreams from the most superficial aspects of each dreamer.

But wait, these dreams are supposed to be "happy", right??? More specifically, Malleus promised "No longer shall you shed tears over sorrowful goodbyes. [...] Today, you shall all be reborn. Into a world without sorrow, where you will never lose a single person—not friends, not family." SO WHY IS LEONA'S DREAM DEPRESSING... He literally lost several family members and is clearly pissed off or at odds with himself. You'd think the least the dream could do is... I don't know, try to course correct to satisfy him, similar to how Floyd's dream constantly changed??? Like maybe make the people love him or no real negative repercussions for nature. There is inconsistent logic from dream to dream.

Idia tries to explain the sad state of Leona's dream away by likening the dreams to sandbox games where the dreamer has free reign to play however they like and explore possibilities. He suggests that Leona's dream is "too realistic" because Leona, the dreamer himself, decided to make the settings this way. So... doesn't that imply that the dreamer has more influence over how their dream manifests than Malleus's magic does???? And somehow a dreamer can still make a depressing dream even though Malleus promised the dreams would be happy?????? ISN'T THIS COUNTERPRODUCTIVE???? DOESN'T IT GO AGAINST EVERYTHING ELSE WE KNEW UP UNTIL THIS POINT... Shouldn't the Malleus clone in charge of overseeing Leona's dream be cracking down SUPER hard on his????? HELLO???????

But wait!! It gets even more inconsistent and weird!!! In Deuce's dream, he gets upset with himself for dreaming of a school full of delinquents and where fists solve your problems instead of words. He thought he had put all of this stuff behind him, but he guesses he hasn't changed much at all. So???? Even if the dreamer doesn't consciously desire something, the dream could still pull from outdated or subconscious desires??? Or did it make a convenient reality where Deuce's delinquent side can more easily thrive??? How come Deuce gets this instant gratification scenario but Lilia didn't???? What is the explanation for us getting delinquent Deuce instead of honors student Deuce in a school with far easier curriculum (which would be the more realistic option for his dream) other than "oh, it would just be really cool and funny to see bleached hair Deuce and the school doing gang wars!!"?????

And how about Cater's dream??? He claims he doesn't want to be dorm leader and never did (it’s too many extra responsibilities), so how come that's what his dream showed us???? Is that supposed to imply Cater's lying to us??? But we have no reason to believe he is other than Cater being a character that tries to hide his true self. Cater has no reason to lie to us about this though???? At least none that the dream hints at or tries to indicate. Are we just supposed to assume he doesn’t know what he wants himself because he masks so frequently? But if we believe Cater, then that creates another contradiction: how come the dreams can seemingly also manifest as things the dreamer never actually wanted to begin with???? Is it because the devs thought "oh, it would be really fun to show dorm leader Cater!!!"

*LOUD GROAN OF PAIN* But then Ortho tries to hand-wave this away by claiming that dream outputs can be distorted or change quite a lot??? And this information in of itself is fine and true--dreams are loosely defined things without absolute rules. The problem is that this doesn't hold up when Twst has been trying to do nothing BUT define the dreams and establish rules for how they work. Why are they trying to walk this back now???? You shouldn't have tried to explain it in the first place if you weren't going to commit to the logic you attempted to clarify.

So how much of is the dreamer’s own doing (ie not fully understanding themselves or what they truly want), how much of it is Malleus's will or autonomous magic at work, and how strictly the “this dream must be a happy one” parameter stretches??? NONE OF THIS IS CLEARLY DEFINED. Why is the nature of the dreams so… noncommittal???? Even though they keep trying so hard to explain it???

Result: me, a pile of brain mush on the floor

D-Do you understand where I'm coming from???? OTL It feels like so many of the writing decisions made revolving around the nature of the dreams was not done for any reason other than for convenient fanservice and novelty. Several decisions ring hollow or like they make little to no sense in-universe and were clearly made just to justify showing the audience/player base an interesting "what if" scenario. The efforts made to explain away problems only creates more problems in the long run or pushes the onus to explain the future problems on the fans... and that's not necessarily a sign of good writing.

In some cases, less is more. However, that only works if you've actually dropped enough breadcrumbs or clues for the players to come to their own conclusions without the characters having to explicitly spell out what's happening. It can very rewarding to get payoff for a bunch of small clues and details you noticed along the way. But no one in the fandom can agree exactly on how the dreams work despite multiple attempts to explain them so it feels like the devs didn't leave a good enough trail of breadcrumbs (ie the writing quality is poor). It shouldn’t be the fans’ jobs to fill in for writing so vague you can come up with a million interpretations to justify the dreams being the way they are. “Leona’s dream is sad because he doesn’t believe in himself!”, “Cater’s lying to us about not wanting to be dorm leader!”, etc. Maybe that was the intention (to promote unique ways of thinking)??? But it doesn’t feel intentional due to how numerous the plot holes are. Refer to Occam’s razor: the simplest explanation is probably the correct one, and that simple explanation is the writing is just messy and overly reliant on fans to fill in for what is lacking.

When the foundations of the dreams are shaky in the first place (despite magic having rules and even formulas that govern it), it does NOT work. Unless… is this intentional and there’s going to be a reveal at the end that magically patches up all the dream plot holes??? I really doubt it 🤡 At this point, it’s 2+ years of book 7 and far too many issues have cropped up to be feasibly explained by the end. It doesn’t feel like saving for a big reveal, it feels like they accidentally wrote themselves into a corner and are trying to write themselves out of it.

I actually really like the third Anon’s telling of how the dreams work; according to them, the dreams allow people easy ways to indulge in the worst aspects of themselves (ie they’re the ultimate escapist fantasies) without allowing them a chance to improve/work toward a future of their own design. It’s simple and suits most (if not all) of the dreams and falls in line with Malleus’s own stagnation and refusal to accept change. Had the dreams been explained this way early on, we could have avoided a ton of the issues we are now facing. Unfortunately, the way the dreams have been presented is so confusing that it’s difficult to come to this conclusion on one’s own, even if it was or was not the writers’ intent. Alternatively, you seriously could have just said “it’s a dream, anything could happen” and leave it at that; it would have been a simpler and all-encompassing explanation than what we got 💦

Needless to say, I think you can tell I have a lot of gripes with how book 7 has been going 💀 I’m so sorry if this post didn’t help you at all, I tried my best to summarize the flow of explanations offered by the game… but I just couldn’t piece together something that makes total sense myself 😭

[dolliels]

MISSION REQUITED LOVE!

synopsis: in which you lay out a series of objectives in order to get jamil to like you back.

you fiddle with your hands, looking down at your knees, almost having a staring contest. that exam nearly put you to tears. what the fuck was that?! you studied for potionology… not… if using frog legs for a potion would make the frog family start grieving! what even was that question???

you feel a sudden brush on your shoulders and you look up to see a concerned face. what was his name? jaemeel? jade mile? you forgot, you rarely talked to the guy, but for some reason, his genuine expression of concern made you feel at ease.

“the exam screwed you over too, huh?” he said, chuckling lightly, almost at himself.

you nod, choking back your tears. “what was even that frog leg question?”

“no idea.”

hence was the start of your newfound friendship with jamil viper.

your first impression of the guy was that he was just your average, friendly joe who was trying to get by. you found out that he’s actually quite quick-witted, sharp mouthed and a great cook. his grades are pretty average, but you had your suspicions. he’d sometimes score lower than you in exams and he’s the one that helped you study!

however merciless jamil may seem, he was still pretty caring, just more silently. he’d sometimes pack an extra lunchbox everytime you complained about the lack of food, help out on assignments and tests and however busy he is (with kalim, mostly.) he’d always make some time stop by)

safe to say you’ve harbored a one-sided crush on him.

no matter how close you two were, you knew that you definitely weren’t his type at all. you were a handful at times (most of the time actually! you’re just too stubborn to admit it) and had a hard time fully functioning at school by yourself without some sort of support system. from how jam packed jamil’s schedule is on a day-to-day basis, you assumed he’d probably want to date someone independent, who can take care of themselves and kiss jamil on the forehead goodbye so he feels a little lighter starting his day.

so you devised a plan.

OBJECTIVE: get jamil to like you back

PLAN A : show you independent capabilities!

jamil is often complaining about how kalim can’t do anything on his own. that puts you into thought… neither can you! (lol) you get embarrassed thinking about the numerous assignments and exams jamil has helped you trudge through. your mind gets boggled when you think about it. you’re literally in the category of people jamil probably finds annoying and seeing how much jamil seems to dislike doing kalim’s bidding because he’s too simple minded to do it on his own, you decided that showing independence and that you’re capable on your own would be the most attractive to him.

so here you were, eye bags forming as you loosely write about the history of dwarves. this was a long and tedious assignment and due to your own negligence, you had to stay up to do it. usually at times like this, you’d call for jamil and ask for his help (sometimes even managing to snag a quick glance at his own work)

you felt your hand slowly lose grip of your pen as your head slowly started nodding off. dwarves are so terribly boring! your eyelids felt heavy and the last thing you saw was something about seven dwarves who housed some runaway princess…

“hey.”

“hey. wake up.”

you felt a tap on your shoulder as you lifted your head from your arms. as the blurriness in your eyes cleared, you started seeing a familiar figure… oh. it’s jamil.

jamil was seated right beside you. it was the late hours at the library, what was he even doing here?

as you turn your head to properly look at him, jamil’s eyes widen as he suppresses a grin.

“you- pff- have ink on your face.”

huh?

you look at your pen, then your hand. oh, the pen’s ink must have leaked (or exploded) when you dozed off on it due to the pressure.

the drowsiness left you as you suddenly felt yourself wide awake, face turning an embarrassing bright shade of red.

“what are you doing here? it’s late.” jamil asked, as he looked at the table with all your notes.

“mmph. history of dwarves. essay.” is all you managed to spur out.

“isn’t this due tomorrow? you had, like, 2 weeks to work on it.”

“i know. i was lazy. my bad, i guess.” you shrug as you put your broken pen away.

“why didn’t you ask me for help? you usually do.”

“i dunno. didn’t want to bother you, i guess.”

jamil frowns. “you do know that i don’t mind, right? this happens with kalim all the time.”

he wipes off some of the ink on the side of your face. you can’t see it, but from the smear of ink on Jamil’s thumb, you could probably take a guess that it didn’t help at all.

“go wash your face, and i’ll help you with the essay.”

plan A was definitely a failure…

PLAN B: show your helpfulness!

jamil is a great cook. just the thought of his meals makes your drool. you know that he overworks himself trying to prepare food for kalim, as well as you if he ever has the time to spare for it.

wouldn’t jamil find it attractive if someone could help him cook meals?

unfortunately for you, you’re not as good as you’d hope to be.

it’s not like you’re completely bad, no. as long as you follow instructions, the food turns out fine. the problem is that it’s a carbon copy of someone else’s recipe, so it’s not that special. another issue is that you use the recipe as your complete and total guide, since you don’t know how to work anything without it. so if you were in the kitchen helping jamil, you would need him to i trust your every move and… that isn’t really helpful, is it?

so you decided to try practicing your cooking skills without the guidance of a recipe!

you’ve asked riddle to generously lend you the kitchen (you hope there’s no silly rule about kitchen destruction) as it is already pretty run down from how often trey uses it, so you assumed that no one would notice the small nicks and cracks you might make if there are some already.

to your horror, maybe everyone might notice?

the kitchen was a mess, with sugar and salt flying everywhere (you got confused— why are they both white?), runny egg yolks dripping from the side of the counter (you dropped them after your hands got slimey from the other eggs) and a pitch black face, from the ashy burnt meat that exploded as soon as you opened the lid. now you’re stuck with a wonky oven that won’t stop beeping and you don’t know the cause for it.

“y/n?”

you turn around. did trey or riddle get here? from the whole chaos you weren’t able to discern whose voice was calling your name.

oh. it’s jamil.

“what are you doing here???” you ask, completely forgetting the mess you’re in right now.

“I was just dropping off some beans… because trey asked for a box… what are you doing here?”

“I’m… cooking?”

“i thought you were moderately decent at cooking. this is the type of mess kalim would cause.”

you sigh. “i wanted to try something different.”

“you should’ve called me up. we could’ve made it together when i had the time.”

“i wanted to try it myself..!”

jamil rolled up his sleeves. “here. let me help.”

you frantically shake your hands.

“n-no. it’s fine! it’s my own mess anyway, i should be the one to deal with it…”

“it’s fine. i really don’t mind.”

you disappointedly cross out plan b when you get back home.

PLAN C: make jamil feel special!

you know that jamil is overworked. he’s following kalim by the tail everytime while both managing school and his own personal time. and now he’s stuck with dealing you too. sometimes you’d feel really bad because you knew he’s exhausted, but he’d always insist and that he “doesn’t mind”

jamil is kind. even if he has a sharp tongue and tends to keep to himself. he’s wary, but he’s kind. you want to give back to his kindness.

but how…?

“hey jamil!” you yelp in a sea of students. jamil can easily distinguish your voice and swipes his head to look for you. once his eyes land on you, he slowly trudges through the students, meeting you up close.

“you need anything?” he asks, as you look back at him with excited eyes.

“close your eyes.”

“why?”

“just do it.”

“why.”

“oh my god stop being so wary close your damn eyes.”

jamil closes his eyes.

he feels something stick to his forehead.

“what are you doing.”

no answer.

“what are you doing?”

no answer again.

he slowly opens his eyes to see that you’re gone. actually, he knows you’re hiding behind a wall but he’s just gonna pretend you’re not there.

a sticky note is on his forehead. he takes it off to see what it reads.

“you’re working very hard!!! remember to take breaks and drink plenty of water!!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ”

jamil smiles.

within the rest of the afternoon, jamil saw these sticky notes everywhere, with forms of encouragements placed in areas that somehow only jamil would manage to catch. sneaky.

however, one of them stood out the most to him

OBJECTIVE: get jamil to like me back!!

PLAN A: show my independence!

(note: just be smart and work on projects early…)

PLAN B: be helpful!!!!!!

(note: NEVER cook without a recipe ever again)

PLAN C: be nice to jamil! make him feel special!

odd. he’s pretty sure that’s not supposed to be here.

he puts the list in his pockets and walks away. he’s gonna pretend he’s never seen the list. he quite likes the attention, and enjoys watching you struggle to impress him, even though you’ve won his affections long ago.

plan c success(?) you can’t find your list anywhere though. oh well.

[septembriseur]

“Yet I have been pondering not the English, prosecutorial witness, but the Arabic. In this, our, language, the verb to witness comes from the root شهد . This is also the source of the much-maligned word شهيد, shaheed, which means, literally, witnesser, but is often translated as martyr. It is a word with many folds of meaning and history. It carries connotations not only of seeing, but of presence and proximity. To be a witness is to make contact, to be touched, and to bear the marks of this touch.

Shaheed is the word Palestinians use to describe those lost to Israeli violence, a word which has drawn condemnation from American universities and press, who once again presume to know the meaning of Arabic-rooted terms, without bothering to investigate. They allege the word martyr glorifies death for death’s sake. But in this context, it should be read as honoring the truth these brutalized bodies speak. Their flesh, marked by colonial violence, makes visible the wild injustice they endured. Which is to say, their martyrdom tells us the truth about our world.”

[mothmans-side-ho]

Armand called Lestat a clown in the most round about way

s2e3 hot wired the two passions in my brain into this info dump, however seeing as a central theme of this episode (and the season) is power, status, and their subversions, it seems relevant. for context, I have 2 degrees in theatre, specifically theatre history and how trends effect form. (I am in no way an expert though, and this is very simplified). long story short, I'm relishing in being a big ol nerd about this entire season

FINALLY, we got to see Lestat (a version of) strutting his stuff on stage in a scene with peak commedia dell'arte shenanigans. Commedia dell'arte is/was an originally Italian form of theatre which was defined by lazzi (comedic bits), improv, and stock characters. these stock characters have been around from Roman times and are still super familiar to us today - the young lovers, the pervy old rich man, the soldier with bravado, etc. It's been seen as a somewhat formulaic form of theatre which relied on quickly identifiable characters and situations so audiences can sit back and enjoy the butt jokes and servant beatings.

In the book - specifically The Vampire Lestat - our beloved Lestat RELISHES in playing a character called Lelio, one of the young lovers. It is in playing Lelio that he "found a tongue for verses and wit [he]'d never had in life" (TVL pg 31). It is in playing Lelio that Lestat first gets a taste of the person he can become, and it is in Lelio that we see the first glimpses of the Lestat which so fully seduces Louis. In short, Lestat casts himself as the suave and handsome romantic protagonist, here to sweep people off their feet. The young lovers are also notably some of the only roles portrayed without masks, to emphasize their youth and natural beauty.

SO IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN LESTAT SHOWS UP IN S2E3 DRESSED LIKE THIS:

He has a half mask! He's wearing all sorts of colors! He's clearly acting as a go between between two other characters who seem to be of a higher status than him! As I said before, commedia dell'arte can be very formulaic (especially by the late 1700s when it is being codified away from being improv focused to being cemented into scripts). From all of these visual and characterization clues, Lestat is not playing Lelio the young lover, he's playing a Harlequin! And his costume seems to be heavily based off of this Harlequin (Arlecchino, Arlecino, etc.) which is literally the wikipedia image of a Harlequin.

(note, if you give a fuck, this image is depicting an Arlechino from 1671, roughly 125 years before Lestat on stage. in my mind, this accounts for the changes in silhouette, styling, why Lestat doesn't wear the mask for the entirety of the performance, etc. Also, just while we're talking about costuming, I believe the late 18th Century was still a time in which actors would have been expected to provide their own costumes, which would explain why Lestat's version is made with expensive fabrics and includes cunty little details like the bow in his hair. At the very least, I can see him making looking good a priority as the owner of the theater and as...well...Lestat.)

Okay, okay, okay. Why does this matter?

Harlequins are not characters of any social status. They're servants who are quick witted enough to get into antics but stupid enough to be commanded by animalistic instincts (lust, food, you name it). The Harlequin being beaten by their master was ENORMOUSLY funny, and is the origin of the term "slapstick comedy". They a memorable iteration of clown.

In this scene, which I'm willing to bet was inspired by (if not outright) Carlo Goldoni's A Servant of Two Masters, Lestat plays a servant who interacts with two characters. One appears to be a young woman in a breeches part - another common trope of commedia performance. The other appears to be the young male lover! We see Lestat prancing between the two, seemingly facilitating some romance plot, being paid for his compliance, and doing a good ol fashioned butt lazzi. (Could he be presenting his ass for beating? Maybe.)

So why is Lestat not the young valiant lover, but instead A LITERAL CLOWN? Three potential, not conflicting, reasons. By the time Lestat is performing (mid to late 1790s, based off Armand's earlier comment about Robespierre's 1794 execution), the Harlequin characters were the most sought after roles! At this time, we are seeing the emergence of "Celebrity Culture" where audiences sought out actors for their off-stage personalities as much as their on-stage ones. This is an extremely fitting position for Lestat to fall into. Yay a semblance of historical accuracy!

Secondly, Lestat's ENTIRE ROLE in season two is to come between this season's new pair of young(ish) lovers: Louis & Armand. Lestat's function is to repeatedly detract and distract from their relationship through Dreamstat's antics (appearing at the piano calling Louis a whore, having Louis re-kill him, etc.). Additionally, simply put, Lestat (and Sam Reid as Lestat) is a lot of fun to watch. He is absolutely a stand out (if not THE stand out) of the show! His constant ability to serve cunt is often what your eye is drawn to, he pulls focus to himself, and often undercuts the more subdued, philosophical, and morose nature of others. Both on-stage and on-screen, Lestat continuously upstages his screen partners. He does kinda function as a Harlequin. But in the end, the Harlequin's antics are also what ultimately drive the young lovers together. If not for Lestat's actions, Louis and Armand would have never met nor bonded over knowing this fucked up brat prince.

But we also have to remember! This portion of the episode is presented by Armand the mind fuckery master. It is absolutely in his best interests to paint Lestat as some sort of ridiculous, lesser being driven by animalistic nature. Especially if - by extension of the metaphor - this frames he and Louis as the virtuous and optimistic young lovers, striving to cling to each other in a world of chaos. I would be EXTREMELY interested to see if, when recollected by someone else, Lestat appears in a different role or characterized differently.

Again, given the celebrity culture of the time and Lestat being himself, it is entirely believable that he would appear in the Harlequin role (Truffaldino, if this is Goldoni's Servant). However, I think it's extremely telling that in Armand's iteration of the story Lestat is not the dignified, refined, and sympathetic young romantic. He is instead a literal fucking clown.

[babacontainsmultitudes]

🤔 Admittedly I was a little disappointed by the reveal (but certainly not surprised the foreshadowing was heavy in this episode lol), but not actually against how Beth (and Will) seem to be playing with it thus far- which is to say that I do think it has a lot of potential, and I suspect there's more to what we're seeing).

;) Big ol' ramble below

Mostly the theory has turned me off until now (at least insofar as I've witnessed it transpire in the fandom at large) because it struck me as so painfully ironic to see Trudy, a 1950s housewife, struggle to exist under the system that she's in, fail to fit the mold assigned to her, and be denied her personhood very literally for it (this being ironic insofar as how it mimics how she would have been treated back then). This and because frankly I just think she's a lot less interesting if she's fully a robot LOL, but I'll hopefully get to that in a bit.

Not that the hints at her mechanical nature and the relevance of Tucker's background were lost on me; I can appreciate why those would contribute to a plausible, fun and I think still mostly harmless theory (now fact). However, minus one or two specific posts I've seen on the matter (namely a recent one suggesting that if Trudy is a robot Beth is probably taking inspiration from The Stepford Wives, :( sorry person who made that post I couldn't find it I wanted to credit yoouuu), I've seen the theory just about exclusively presented in a manner that, rather than explore the metaphorical and political significance of Trudy being partially or fully mechanical, at best disregards the parts of her narrative that are at their core about sexism (among other related things), and at worst negates them entirely (i.e. Trudy only thinking and acting how she does because she's a robot malfunctioning and not because the world itself is causing harm and she rightfully wants something more than the role she was forced into, Trudy not even having any real thoughts and feelings of her own, etc.). I just think it kind of sucks to shove all those important things about her aside and say "actually, there's no person suffering here, she's just a robot" and perhaps worse yet to imply that she does have thoughts and feelings but because they result in Weird™ behavior it must be a problem with her code and not at all relate to what women were subjugated to during this point in American history.

CONVERSELY I don't think Trudy being a robot (or at least partially one) at least from what Beth and Will have presented us thus far, inherently suffers from any of these issues? First and foremost because Trudy definitely appears to possess sentience, thoughts, and emotions of her own, matters which immediately complicate her degree of personhood and don't inherently box her behavior in as a bug in her programming rather than an issue with the world she's been put in, quite the opposite in fact! I think they have a very solid groundwork laid out here to make a strong statement with Trudy's narrative (and perhaps ask the question of what is really malfunctioning here), all the more so since [I pull out a Rebecca Swallows-style conspiracy board] I don't think she's entirely robotic in nature? Actually you should just read Mack's tags in this post cause he has great thoughts on the matter (of which those are just some of them), but if I can direct your attention to one thing in particular, it would be Beth's fact (I *believe* from episode 2) about Trudy never graduating high school because of her essay where she suggested that "perhaps women could one day domesticate themselves", a statement that could of course be interpreted a number of ways but ultimately threatened the patriarchal status quo enough (in suggesting women's independence) to cost Trudy her diploma. Taken on its own this fact appears to contradict the theory that Trudy has always been robotic in nature, because it doesn't really make sense that Trudy would have been set up to go through high school (or school at all really) when Tucker's intention was/is for her to be the perfect housewife. You may then suggest that Trudy's memories of this are fabricated and not actually her lived experiences, in which case firstly perhaps you should reread my earlier point on the robot theory being used to actively negate and otherwise disregard the portions of Trudy's narrative that pertain to sexism and feminism, and secondly it really doesn't make any sense to me that Tucker would implant those kind of memories into Trudy's brain? To be completely honest if she's been a robot from the very beginning (rather than someone who became a cyborg, which is what I'm trying to suggest here), then I don't see why Tucker would program her with actual sentience in the first place (suspending my disbelief here with regards to the possibility of programming sentience to begin with). It seems much more likely to me then that Trudy was not always a robot, and instead altered by Tucker to force her into a role of subordination and remedy her """imperfections""". This option is significantly more interesting to me one, because it implies that Trudy has actually lived a life up until the present, full of its own complexities and strife (and dreams, and real actual memories worth exploring, etc.), and hence is not by any means "just a robot", and second because it amplifies the hypothetical statement being made on the lives of the real living women of the era and how they were treated and seen as being "in need of fixing" for not conforming to gender roles or otherwise acting "out of line" with what was expected of them.

OKAY THIS GOT OUT OF HAND SO I'M CUTTING MYSELF OFF HERE but I wanted to my share my current thoughts what with this ending and where I'm at so hopefully that was at least interesting to whoever has chosen to read through this one okay thank you byyyyyyyyye~