#while i understand he was upset about the bullying the two aren't connected

[marrissacooper]

sometimes I think about the concept of the Hyde and if I had a blood thirsty beast inside of me unlocked by trauma and torture that I couldn't control, I don't think I would've done better than tyler galpin

[demonicintegrity]

episode four was fun. I love these two story set ups to break up an episode focusing on one plot. It's a fun device.

I also love that even fun/more comedic episode have little details that can get to you.

Anya crying in her bed being one of them.

I felt for the poor girlie. Cuz nothing sucks more than trying your best to improve and still not making strides. Nothing sucks like not being enough even when you're truly trying your best. And Anya does try! And she has real passion for doing this for the mission! She's gotten tutored by Yuri, homework help with Loid and Yor, and genuinely tries to study now and again. She wants to succeed and she's not. And I truly think she was crying out of frustration, that kinda let down sucks at any age, imagine being like four or five and feeling the weight of world peace at the same time. Girlie has stress.

And @piracytheorist had a good point as well, Anya doesn't want to be separated from Becky. And considering the thought was enough to make her cry in front of Damien earlier, that probably was why she was so upset. Anya was taking the fact that she was the bottom of the class in stride for a while, but being hit with the fact that now it has upsetting consequences she can better grasp has got to hurt. Like mentioned by piracytheorist, Becky is the only one in her corner when it comes to being bullied. And as I've mentioned before, Becky is truly the only one giving Anya a chance to be a child with no world peace nonsense attached. Loid's not doing it intentionally, but Anya does a lot for the mission. But with Becky it's just to be a kid/just to have friends. Like wanting to understand shipping and romance in the beginning of the episode.

(Side tangent, I think Anya and Yor truly are the neurodivergent representation that hits home. Anya insistent about being friends with her bullies as well as struggling with school despite best efforts, and Yor not grasping the social cues and the office and celebrating when she is being normal.)

Speaking of Yor, absolutely adored her wanting to help Frankie during her lunch break. I love having Yor's genuine love for being helpful and doing good hammered home. I also think Frankie is insane for just mentioning all of his inventions so casually to a civilian. Also having those cat decoys just out. How is the secret police not notice and flag that shit omg.

That being said, Frankie so insistent on pursuing various ladies hes interested in despite being a spy is such an interesting contrast to Twilight. Potentially to the point of being a foil even. Twilight is not doing this because he's interested in Yor or so he says. In fact, he's pretty staunchly done things only for the mission practically ever. That's what he's devoted to above all. In his intro back in s1 we see him easily toss relationships for the mission aside afterwards. Because he's not personally invested and doesn't seem to allow himself to be very often. He even tells Nightfall explicitly that personal feelings aren't to get in the way of the job.

And yet we have Frankie. Who's fairly committed to dedicating time and even company resources to ladies because he genuinely fancies them. And I think that's part of what makes Frankie such an interesting character to put again Twilight. Where Twilight is so for the mission 100% of the time, he doesn't allow himself the connections that makes doing these things worth it. Humans are social creatures, we're meant to have close friends and even partners if that's what interests you.

Twilight does do this for people. But for the betterment of countries and to make kids happy isn't very tangible. That's why you have real people you're connected to in mind. Nightfall, Yor, and Yuri all do and that's what drives a passion. I think Frankie does pick up these connection through romance. Which is exceptional given that his presence is not permanent. He and Twilight very well could be meant to move far away once Operation Strix is done, and he couldn't bring any date along most likely. And he's not dumb, he probably knows this very well.

But allows that time and passion anyways because connections are important. Plus, it's good to have a social life outside of work.

Just the way characters value others has been interesting to me. And I think it's crucial to story as well. The horrors of war are in many many episodes, but despite that there is still love for each other. And that's what drives the desire from the main cast to do what they do in the name of protecting each other.

[crossdressingdeath]

Would you call WWX's behaviour towards LWJ (in CR arc) bullying? Cause I wouldn't, unless you mean it like a joke (so a playful bullying). Otherwise I get kinda annoyed when I see people calling it a bullying cause: a) It wasn't malicious and b)LWJ is ranks ahead of WWX.If he really, really didn't want that,he could have just make sure WWX leaves him alone, beside WWX can read the atmosphere(like in Xuanwu Cave).And LXC for sure wouldn't enable WWX if he thought it harming his brother in any way

I mean, WWX is definitely not being great. It's okay in this specific context because we the readers know that LWJ does not in fact hate it and is just being Very Gay And Mad About It about the whole thing, but I can see why people would call it bullying. In this specific context I wouldn't call it serious bullying because again, we know that LWJ doesn't see it that way, but as an abstract thing... yeah, it's the sort of behaviour I would have concerns over!

It's like... you can't "playfully bully" someone you aren't friends with. Even if you mean it playfully, if you don't know they're on board with it it's just bullying. It doesn't matter that WWX doesn't mean it maliciously if LWJ thinks it's malicious! Speaking as someone who is definitely much more like LWJ than WWX, if someone (even someone I had a massive crush on) was doing things like sneaking porn into my books and deliberately trying to get me in trouble (yes, WWX's intention was to avoid trouble entirely because he assumed that LWJ would just keep his mouth shut rather than get in trouble himself and did try to take the full blame when it became clear that LWJ would take punishment for something that wasn't his fault, but LWJ doesn't know that at the time), I'd be pretty upset! And yes, LWJ could have just pulled rank to try to keep WWX away from him but a) WWX clearly intended to keep bothering him no matter what despite how as far as WWX can tell LWJ didn't enjoy it and b) WWX is constantly breaking rules; good luck keeping him from doing something he wanted to without outright locking him up or getting him sent home, neither of which LWJ wanted to do.

Also, that covers your point about WWX being able to read the atmosphere; as far as he can tell LWJ doesn't enjoy what he's doing, and he keeps doing it anyway. He is very much the little kid yanking on his crush's pigtails in the Cloud Recesses! Now, he grows out of that behaviour because he's a good boy who doesn't want to hurt anyone, but at this point he is doing this as far as he can tell against LWJ's wishes. I suspect what's happening is the start of the miscommunication that plagues their relationship in WWX's first life, because WWX is trying to connect and bond with LWJ in the way he connects and bonds with people, not realizing that not everyone works that way. And he grows out of that! It's good! The two of them compromise and find ways of interacting that work for both of them! But at this point he's just doing whatever without taking LWJ's preferences into account at all.

As for LXC... you're assuming he knows. You think LWJ is going to tell his brother about how WWX stuck porn in one of his books? Hell, I don't think it's ever confirmed that LXC knew LWJ had a crush on WWX before he rescued WWX from the sects! Remember, LXC eventually decides that WWX is a serious problem who will only cause his brother pain; yes, most of that is due to the whole demonic cultivation thing, but I wouldn't be surprised if part of it was WWX's behaviour in the Cloud Recesses. Honestly while I don't think LXC is against their relationship once everything's been made clear I don't understand why people act like he's super supportive; he nudges WWX in LWJ's direction once, and as far as I remember never does it again. Clearly he later regrets encouraging their friendship! I think it's a bit of a jump to say he was fine with WWX's behaviour in the Cloud Recesses when we don't know how much of it he knew about.

So basically I guess my point is that in this context because we later learn LWJ's feelings on the whole thing I'm fine with it, but I can definitely understand why people think of it as bullying.