#worm yaps

[madwormm]

pov a new Thing was announced for Interest but it was announced only a couple hours ago so almost no one's talking about it so you just sit there refreshing the tag like:

[flying-fangirls]

As a music, religion, and literature nerd, the Dies Irae has been one of my favorite go-to pieces of trivia for a long time, which means that this line:

Has been driving me batshit BONKERS since part 42! And also as a semi-professional media analysis yapper, I figured I might as well dive into the exact reasons I jumped up and audibly gasped upon first hearing this line and have subsequently lost my mind since then. So!

Here is why I think that the Dies Irae is the perfect analogy for John and Arthur:

Religion

Let's start with the most straightforward meaning: "Dies Irae" is a Latin term, and it translates to the "Day of Wrath." Or otherwise known as the Judgement Day, the foretold second coming in Catholic canon, when Christ will "come again in glory to judge the living and the dead." It's at this Last Judgement where God will wield perfect justice to send the worthy to everlasting peace and the unworthy to everlasting punishment. (everyone say "thank you" to excessive childhood Catholic lessons for burning this into my brain)

There's a kind of irony to the fact that Arthur so vehemently rejects Christianity and religion as a whole, and that John spends much of his arc trying to distance himself from the role/identity of a god, yet both are given this incredibly religious title, effectively restricting them from ever forgetting the presence/influence of religion in their lives.

This title has a couple layers though, because we have to consider why it's the Day of Wrath specifically that represents Arthur and John. Now, I don't think I have to tell you that those two are bursting with anger 80% of the time. But I am going to tell you that those two are not just angry, but moreso "divine fury" incarnate.

The Day of Wrath, the Final Judgment, is the final and eternal judgment of God on all: "For now before the Judge severe / all hidden things must plain appear; / no crime can pass unpunished here." (Dies Irae, Dies Illa). The final Judge, the all-powerful God, can see the objective morality of every single person, and is thus the sole, rightful determiner of fate.

This assumption of their right to perfectly and single-handedly decide others' worthiness shows up over and over, not just John and Arthur's actions, but also in how they describe these judgments.

When Arthur kills the widow on the island, it's not because she was dangerous, but because she was a cultist who "deserved" to be punished.

When John and Arthur need to get rid of Mr. Scratch's stone, John says they should give it to "criminals" who are "deserving of this curse." Even though, just moments before, Arthur refused to give the stone to Oscar because to do so would be to cursing him to a fate of eternal suffering.

And I can't go into every single detail about the entire Larson plotline because this post would double in size, but it obviously needs to be included here. Possibly the strongest tie between this arc and the idea of the Dies Irae is Arthur's conviction through it all. Arthur vows that he is going to kill Larson in divine retribution not because he wants to, but because he has to. He even goes so far as to admit that killing Larson will be a mistake, a cruel and overly-bloodthirsty action that goes against his compassion. But killing Larson isn't a choice to Arthur, it is the unavoidable punishment for Larson's sins and Arthur is simply the enactor of justice. Just like the Final Judgment, there is no sympathy, no hesitancy— the judgment is absolute, divinely ordained, and cannot be stopped no matter how undeniably horrific it is.

If we look at the Catholic Catechism, principle 2302 states that it is sinful to kill out of desire, but that it is "praiseworthy to impose restitution" and use violence to "maintain justic." So even if Arthur has intent to kill, his actions count as divinely sanctioned. He is acting as the hand of God's punishment.

Over the course of Season 3 and 4, Arthur's fiery rage dies down to a more gentle simmer, but his conviction only seems to grow, and John follows suit. Despite previously reprimanding Arthur for his unquestioning wrath, John eventually becomes just as convinced that Larson "deserves" to face a wrathful reckoning. The "fact" that Larson is wholly unforgivable and is fated to receive eternal punishment becomes more indisputable in their minds, and they both stop questioning the morality of their intentions, entirely convinced of their judgment.

Throughout the story, Arthur and John insist upon the importance of kindness, compassion, and forgiveness, and say that these are the values that guide their every action. Yet, time and time again, they approach certain people with nothing but wrath and resentment. It's a sharp contrast to the benevolent figures they make themselves out to be, and Arthur and John are often blind to the contradiction because, in their eyes, they are still following those values in every action. And in the moments when they do recognize their horrific words or actions, they still cannot let their judgment go, convinced that it is their "duty" either way.

In Part 35, Arthur says "Just because you can't make the hard decision, doesn't mean it's wrong." This is exactly how John and Arthur view themselves. They know that some of their actions are harsh and violent and painful, but they are don't view that violence as wrong, because they are enacting that violence in justice. They move through life with carefully-selected destruction, culling the world of those they view as unforgivable sinners, and punishing them with divine righteousness. Arthur and John carry righteous fury in their every step, bringing the Day of Wrath down upon the world around them.

Now, there's already a ton of meaning just in this religious allusion alone. However, there's another application of the Dies Irae in modern culture, which brings us to the second side of this title:

Music

Back in the 13th century (sounds like a familiar setting...), friar Thomas of Celano wrote a poem for and about the Dies Irae. The poem was recited at Requiem Mass (church services to honor the dead), and it ended up being set to a Gregorian chant tune.

Over time, this melody has been used by a variety of composers, but the one we're focused on is Hector Berlioz. In 1837, Berlioz used the Dies Irae melody as part of his narrative symphony, Grand Messe de morts, in order to communicate that the main character had died. Then a lot of other composers saw that and said "Hey that's a cool idea!", and started also using this melody to represent death in their music. Nowadays, it's a fairly staple part of modern film and musical storytelling. If you've listened to literally any major soundtrack, then there's a good chance you've heard this motif (or a variation of it) used before. It's often subtle, sometimes loud and obvious, but no matter what, it reveals the inevitable presence of death. (essentially, the Dies Irae=death)

Now, obviously there's something tragically ironic about Arthur being likened to a musical motif when he tries so hard to distance himself from it, and there's something tragically ironic about John being associated with such a dark piece of music when he shows so much fascination and joy toward the art. Again, though, we've got some layers here. Yorick doesn't just compare Arthur and John to the Dies Irae, he literally defines them as the Dies Irae, a full embodiment of it.

Even before the story started, Arthur lost both of his parents, his friend and wife, his daughter, and his best friend.

John, when he was part of the King in Yellow, knew only how to harm and attack. In the Dark World, he falls back on this fearful lashing out with violence, harming even more people.

And throughout the story, John and Arthur seem to bring devastation to everyone else around them: Lilly the buopoth, Oscar, Noel, Collins, Daniel, Larson and Yellow.

The arrival of Dies Irae musical motif in a film always indicates that death is approaching or that is has already struck— a host carrying its blight to spread onto others. Just like the musical motif, the arrival of Arthur and John foretells the near-arrival of death. They play a duet together— John and Arthur, and death— always singing and dancing around and with each other.

These two never succumb to death, always finding a way to slip through its fingers and survive every situation. But they cannot escape death's presence because they are death's partner— singing the melody to death's subtle harmony. They cannot escape death because they are its host— destined to carry and spread devastation to death's victims. From the moment you meet John and Arthur, you know that death is inevitably approaching just a step behind, waiting to strike you down.

Whether it's the religious or musical side, we can see that John and Arthur are the literal embodiment of these allusions. They carry these powers and ideas in their every action and word, in their every step, in their very breath and blood.

Arthur and John. The hands of God's justice. The enactors of divine fury.

Arthur and John. The hosts of blight and destruction. The partner of death's song.

The man himself. The voice inside his head.

The Day of Wrath. The Dies Irae.

[hellboundhimbo]

i need them to spontaneously combust into a ball of fire but also have a big fat gay wedding and live happily ever after it’s all very complicated

[fastboatsmojito]

Frank castle finding one of your plushies left over at his place and sending u pics like this with it everywhere he goes throughout the day </3

[krisalyce]

bungou stray cats (ft skk)

and lore under the cut i’ve been thinking about them…

dazai

-shadowclan born and raised

-disappeared and showed up with thunderclan at the next gathering rip chuuya

-keeps raiding the medicine den (yosano has banned him to no success)

chuuya!

-former kittypet, still has the collar

-got recruited to shadowclan (similar to firestar’s situation)

-in line to be deputy probably

-trained together while they were apprentices, double black rumors still spread at gatherings and etc

-their names just called to me i swear yarrow and bark just appeared in my mind and wouldn’t go away

-art is during their apprentice era where they were always all over each other (squabbling and cuddling and etc) before dazai left

[grilledcheezy92]

YO WHAT IF

Lasko x Cutie 👀

[gammija]

here's hoping Gwen stumbles in the next day, desperately trying to hide how she failed her mission to recruit a new external in the form of a beautiful cursed monkey's paw tattoo

[the-leafcutter-ant-queen]

What even is a bug then

This definition is laaammee

Petition to change the definition of "bug" to anything that typically has more than 4 legs and anything that typically has less than two legs and is smaller than the average cat and is invertebrate

Shrimp is bug

Lobter is bug

Snail is bug

Crab is bug

Worm is bug

Spider is bug

All of the previous mentioned and any others that fit the definition I want it to be is now bug because I said so and I think my definition is cooler, like if you agree

[not-so-casualenjoyer]

au where.........makarov has a super popular figure skating daughter.........and ghost dates her to get close to makarov.........but then he actually falls in love with her.........oops

mother died giving birth, so it's always just been her and makrov. she's born under a completely different name to separate her from her from makarov and his dealings, because despite it all he loves his little girl and wants her to be safe :(

he indulged in too many of her whims as a child and encouraged her to follow her ice skating dreams but she's actually really good and she got super popular

poor girl doesn't know anything, she prolly just thinks her dad is super rich cause of some big investments or Russian trade deals or something :(( has no idea her beloved father is actually out being a terrorist when he's away on his "business trips"

ghost slides in undercover and woos her, using her to get closer to her dad. except she actually really likes him. keeps asking to meet his friends and family and all that, and he finds himself falling for her even though it was just supposed to be part of the mission.....

[worminurapple]

Me when me when new episode of sanders sides could come out soon and it’s the season finale and there’s music numbers and small chance of a Logan villain song GRARARARARARARRARARAEA /pos

[worms-in-my-head]

Thinking about making a worm parahumans recap animatic series bc talking at my friends and family about it isn’t enough

[majorblinks]

You get to kiss 💋😘 Wony all you want for 1 day every week.

However, you're not allowed to spam capital letters for the rest of your week. And you also can't spam punctuation marks.

So no more "YEAHHHAEOFJAWOIE" and "Mother!!!!!!!"

How far do you think you could go before succumbing to the 🦷🦷🦷🦷🔪🔪🔪🔪 and 🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱 in your brain?

"Here~"

Wonyoung wants your lips pressed against her cheeks in front of her members and not letting go until she says so, even when she is munching on food. Would you fulfill the princess's wishes or would you be too embarrassed to do so?

hiiiii frisky omfg i love this ask!!!!!!!!!! U KNOW ME SO WELL!!!!!!!

unfortunately i regret to inform u i would actually collapse and die if i wasnt allowed to spam capital letters/punctuation marks. would life even be worth living if i couldnt express myself in that way?????? it would be like losing a limb..... it would be robbing me of a core creative outlet........... i am an artist and my mediums are my capital letters and my rampant & glorious overuse of exclamation points and question marks and ellipses................... i do adore wonyoung & she is my baby.................... however i must listen to my heart and my heart tells me to continue to express myself through whatever means necessary no matter the sacrifices i have to make!!!!!!!!!!! </3!!!!! i would not even make it a DAY!!!!!!!! so sorry to wony!!!!!!!!!

anyway to make up for it (and for the MONTHS it will take before karina part 2 is done) here's some shit i have rotting in my when cameras are flashing part 2 doc which IS in fact featuring wonyoung.......

also some smutty stuff if ur a freak or whatever....:

i wrote this like 10 months ago so if none of it makes it into the final product then egg my house & key my car & throw tomatoes at me in an act of public shaming i guess. LOVE U ALL!!!!!!!!!!

(also to the last question YES i would smooch wonyoung in front of the other girlies if she asked......... BC UR SO RIGHT THAT'S PRINCESS!!!!!!!!!!!)

thank u so much for the ask!!!!!!!!!!! <3333

[iocity]

One of the things I love about One Piece is their depiction of pain. Even for Luffy. There are time when he is hit and he writhes and screams. There are times when he doesn’t, and he is stoic. It’s a really valuable lesson that feeling pain deeply is, at times, just as noble as concealing it. No matter how strong a character is, sometimes they writhe and scream and cry. Sometimes they fail miserably and feel as if their world is out of their control. It shows that even the strongest characters experience pain in the most excruciating of ways. I always was really affected by that, because despite how much pain a a straw hat is in, they get back up. When things look the worst, they come back stronger than ever to conquer it. It makes them so much more human to me.

I also like the concept that Luffy isn’t as used to pain as the others and has a lower tolerance. He has been a rubber man since he was a child, so he doesn’t really get cuts and scratches or broken bones. He never got to build up that tolerance. It makes the scene where he takes a beating for Ace and Sabo even more significant and emotional because this kid who sees pain as a concept that is somewhat foreign is willing to take amounts of pain that even regular adults couldn’t bear. I’m sure his tolerance has been building since the start of the show, but I genuinely think it’s something to consider. This kid who is virtually indestructible, who is relatively hard to hurt, and who is relatively unconditioned to being uncomfortable in his body (like being sore or pulling a muscle) and hurting, is constantly taking a crazy ass beating for those he loves, but also those he barely even knows. Pain is significant to him, yes, but he is willing to put all of his suffering aside for the sake of people who have done right by him. Whether it be saving his life in Alabasta, or buying him a few lunches with their last few cents in Dressrosa; he will always suffer greatly in order to do right by the people he values.

[thepersonperson]

Oooh I'm really interested in your opinions on the flaming trainwreck that is gojo's relationship with women!

I wanted to respond to this topic in this ask, but then I realized it would be better as a part of something else. So I will link you to my yapfest that happens to delve into what I think are Gojo's woman issues.

So thanks for sending me into a mini crisis within a crisis! It gave me that nice little missing piece to pull apart Gojo even more.

I'm also shoehorning your tags on this post into this ask since they contributed to that analysis.

#fjddjdjs hiiii I apologize right back for subjecting you to my yelling in your tags almost all the time fjdjfjd #but WHAT a time for you to post this bc I literally just typed out a whole rant on gojo's sexuality that I bravely chose to not post djdjfjf hj

Post the rant anyways. Or whenever you feel brave enough. The perspective unique to you is valuable even if the topic has already been discussed.

#but you absolutely hit the nail on the head on why satosugu was and is n will always be doomed bc of COURSE gojo would never act on anything #like his whole thing in this story is witnessing human rights violations and only acting when the consequences are fatal

#hes absolutely my favorite jjk character but hes so very full of his own prejudices that I think the fandom doesnt acknowledge bc hes fruity #like we see him let a LOT of shit slip by bc to him (one of the most privileged cogs in the machine) they aren't real problems #which reminds me of cis white gays whose complections and even the random bouts of misogyny and mild racism he matches up with #he has a lil bit of that 'I can't be shitty to women I'm literally gay kinda' vibes and we see how he talks to utahime #and how he doesn't stand up for maki like you mentioned

That's usually my biggest complaint with fan culture in general. They shave off the yucky parts to make characters more palatable. Gojo's racist reveal post-mortem made me love him even more. He's my favorite character in JJK too and he has also unseated my most favorite fictional racist: Oliver Fire Emblem. (Yes, I have a fictional racists tier list. I'm giving myself a pass to have one as a person with a unique skeletal structure and muscles as Mr. Gojo Satoru would say.)

I think the reason people try to ignore these things is because of how subtle/realistic it is. Gojo's unsavory behaviors are the kinds people are most likely to have themselves. He kind of forces you to look at those flaws and that can be a deeply uncomfortable experience.

Also I think Gojo would be more like "I can't be a misogynist, I'm not a Zenin."

(Cough more on my racists tier list. It's more of "Were they written well? Was the racism properly condemned by the narrative? Is the racism relevant to themes? If they try to get better, is the racism properly addressed? Is it funny in the pathetic loser way?")

#but I also have this different vibe that he. despite how much he says so and maybe wants to. does NOT care about 'the weak' beyond his job #we see him literally step on people in shibuya to get to where he needs to quicker #he doesn't even bother remembering the names of the kyoto kids besides maybe todo and mechamaru (strong)

Well the thing is teen Gojo definitely didn't care about the weak. Post-Geto break up and after he started mimicking all of Geto's moral teachings? No idea. Gojo treats people he loves poorly so it's hard to tell when he really hates or doesn't care about someone. And he does posture about those things like with Megumi's body being used by Sukuna.

During the Shibuya incident, he does step on all those people's heads and let them be thrown against his Infinity like objects. But he doesn't hurt them. This is a guy who stepped on ants and made sure his Infinity prevented them from being crushed.

Kenjaku's group uses his love for other people against him here. Gojo tries to posture during it, but his composure breaks a few times when they start killing a lot of them. He also checked in on their survival after he UV'd them.

That being said, he probably cares more about them as living things than as equals. He has a very clear bias for the strong when it comes to putting in time and effort. ...But also Ijichi is so weak and Gojo trusts him the most. Gojo went out of his way to care for him when he was suffering. ...And he also relentlessly bullies him. (As you can see Gojo's true feelings on the topic are iffy as fudge.)

#imo the only reason he cares enough to correct nanamis language when talking abt yuuji is that he simply has a lot of potential to be strong #he took maki in hoping to make another toji out of her but bc he doesn't know how a toji is made he basically gives up #which is why I think he didn't even think to call suguru out for the way he talks to her

That would be really fudged up if he was trying to make another Toji and I wouldn't put it past him. He does put his students in really questionable predicaments in the name of growth. That might also explain why he corrected Nanami with Yuji. Someone with his power experiencing immense discrimination could churn out another Geto.

#like gojo has really lofty goals but his day to day consists of ignoring it all until there's a problem or he needs to talk about his goals #he's very much running around aimlessly like a headless chicken mostly bc of the higher ups so it's understandable that he doesn't have time #to even think about let alone try to unlearn all that internalized shit stopping him from achieving his goals #also everything about your tags YES TO ALL OF IT YOU'RE SO RIGHT AND BIG BRAINED

So true! Gojo is stretched so thin that I think he defaults to "cold logic" as Mahito puts it. If he's going to change things for the better, he has to invest in strong people, so they get all his attention and time. All the little systemic issues can be ignored because he was raised to only care about the big things.

It's such a frustrating predicament because I want to be mad at him for this, but it's also [Joker Voice] Society. I've settled on calling it out as a character flaw that can be explained (not excused) by circumstances.

#also uwu thank you 4 talking about kirara shes my everything and gojos an idiot for losing that entire years worth of students (2 whole ppl) #anyway I am sorry for clogging your tags yet again your posts make the gears in my brain turn very fast

Thank you as well. Clogging my tags makes me reexamine things more. I think after reading this response you'll be able to see the parts of your tags that influenced certain parts of the Ok Dad Gojo Analysis.

[dot-persona5royal]

RAAAH - hello everyone i am here to share the worms in my poor poor brain - featuring my special interest (Persona 5: Royal) mixed with everyones favourite horror story (Alice in Wonderland) !! MAJOR SPOILERS FOR PERSONA 5 ROYAL --- the main character parallels floating around in my neuron soup are as follows; Alice : Akechi Cheshire Cat : Akiren White Rabbit : Sumire March Hare : Ann The Mad Hatter : Ryuji The Doormouse : Mona/Morgana Tweedledee & Tweedledum : Makoto & Haru The Caterpillar : Yusuke The Queen of Hearts : Maruki Sumire being the White Rabbit is akin to Maruki's reality, where she is apart of his palace and leads Akechi to him Akiren being the Cheshire Cat is very important - the Cheshire Cat (in this AU) will be present from the start and will be sort of "leading" Alice to the exit of Wonderland, Wonderland being Maruki's Reality & what it contains in regards to Akechi's demise & death - the journey will be Akechi learning to forgive himself for the crimes he committed, lead by someone who has both worked for and against him, his perfect equal --- i'll be going off of the 1951 movie (as its the adaptation most dear to me) BUT i will be reading both of the books & rewatching the live action versions (the ones with Johnny Depp) to better world build and create a proper AU !! any questions & asks are appreciated, i will be stirring the soup some more later

[ghostlydoggie]

I wanna do things for him !! like… like get on my knees! um I mean get on my knees. oh mh god I’m so sorry I meant to say get on my knees. holy fuck um I want to get on my knees for h