#''both manipulation and her being genuine''

[forzafinally]

No because, Art is a mediocre tennis player with 6 grand slams who knows that at some level he has only got them because Tashi has pushed him and coached him to that level of excellence. At the same time he feels responsible for living a career for both of them while knowing that if Patrick hadn't fucked things up he wouldn't have ever achieved what he did.Patrick has oodles of talent but has to deal with the fact that despite winning Tashi fairly he lost her due to his pride. You know he's thinking that 'if she was my coach I would have double the number of grand slams that Art does'. But if Tashi hadn't had that injury that day would either of them even have had the chance to have her as their coach? No. Both he and Art would have faded into mediocrity but probably remained friends despite it all. And don't get me started on Tashi. She knows that if it wasn't for her injury she would have probably won 15 grand slams by now and would never have considered stopping but she's reduced to just being the wife! Just being the coach! Just being content with being a hot girl who will be won by the guy who plays the best tennis!! And she has to somehow make herself feel okay with that. So no. She can't genuinely be okay with Art stopping but at the end of the day it's not her decision to make because he's the professional tennis player not her. It's not just about one of them winning or the sacrifice it takes. It's about disappointment, bitterness, the underlying inferiority complex, being manipulative enough to achieve your goals through different means and the inherent homoeroticism of having a best friend from the age of 12 who is the only one worth beating for you after playing 13 years of tennis. Anyway I'm chewing on glass rn. Challengers you'll always be famous

#challengers #challengers spoilers #tashi duncan #art donaldson #patrick zweig #no you don't understand #it's very very dear to me #it's about the disappointments and loss! #it's about the discomfort of the choices you've made #it's about the underlying bitterness and jealousy #the love that was there but didn't change anything because the only thing that matters is winning

[johannestevans]

sorry i finished new episode and i'm obsessed as ever

kabru clasping hold of laios' hands is so insane. laios doesn't remember this little twink's name, all he remembers is that this guy ate monster food with him and showed a slight enthusiasm for him, which to laios is unthinkable

it's hilarious seeing kabru's fervent obsession with and manipulation of laios' feelings and priorities contrasted with laios' depths of pain and distress at shuro's rejection of him and how that was borne of shuro hiding his true feelings

obvs for shuro like. he's explicitly introduced with a level of politeness and also emotional repression that's linked not only to his cultural upbringing in the east but is obviously related to his class position, esp bc the dungeon was meant to serve as his coming of age

or to hone his experiences for a return to rule as lord - and with his proposal to falin like. it's so interesting to me that shuro finds so many of falin's traits so desirable when she and laios genuinely are so similar

falin IS extremely high-empathy whereas laios is very low-empathy, but they find pleasure and joy and intrigue in similar things, they have similar senses of humour, they're similarly inexpressive or overly expressive depending on the moment

at the end of the day like, if you're going to propose to that girl and ask her to come back to your home country and marry you despite the fact that she's so obviously a lesbian, at the very least you have to pretend to like her brother

but like. she's quite LIKE her brother. they have the same broad frame, if laios gained a bit of weight i bet he'd have a similarly luxurious bust, they're both a bit clueless. she's just a woman and laios is just a man

but yeah sorry to move on from shuro's deep and seemingly inherent distrust, nay disgust, of other men that is no doubt informed by the extent to which he's been raised wholly by legions of women vs his inclination to see other men as rivals or opponents

(worsened by the extent to which he sees laios as naive and is offset by the extent of laios' earnestness)

but here you see the EXACT SAME THING happening to laios again in REAL TIME. someone else needs to keep him on side and so they're being polite

kabru is going beyond politeness and is outright lying and manipulating because he's just a delicious bitch that way, but like. the exact same thing is happening to laios - he thinks he's making a new friend and he is LATCHING ONTO kabru just like he did to shuro

is he being intelligent or tactful about it? no. god no. he's infodumping eagerly about monster food, he's answering all of kabru's questions - and!!! kabru is asking him QUESTIONS! he's being so ENTHUSIASTIC!!! and so laios rushes to cook for this new friend, this stranger

and inwardly kabru is horrified because jesus fuck, is this guy SERIOUS? and yeah he's serious about everything, he's earnest and eager about absolutely everything, and kabru is fascinated with this new variety of man but also... fucking hell

i think it's vital that they're introduced to one another initially in this group setting, because i think marcille, who is much naturally more distrustful, would ask more questions of kabru - and falin is very trusting but also would. twig something off about everything

i die because like. falin left home because she couldn't handle people's issues with magic and also because like. she was constantly in the position, i would have no doubt, of trying to explain laios to their family and friends, whilst also being beset by spirits

like obviously she wanted to go to magic school, but it was more than that - she needed to go out and grow and become an adult, and not do so in her brother's shadow and laios went off on his own, haplessly, and they end up together again bc they take care of each other

falin is a weird girl, she likes to play in the dirt, she accidentally does all this genius stuff, she's a little clueless and a little out of it, but to marcille and shuro, this is desperately desirable - she's beautiful, she's a genius, she's so loving

they see those things in her because they shine out of her like sunshine - especially because she's not intimidating, you know? whereas laios, blundering, autistic, selfish, obsessive laios, who talks a mile a minute and is so tall and broad, people find him to be too much

idk i just. i think for falin a big difficulty she has is actually in setting boundaries - she's always rushing to take care of laios even though it's not her job, she holds back on saying no to shuro because she hates to say no

marcille touches falin ALL over, touches her hair, scrubs her clean, holds her TIT while channelling magic, and falin is overwhelmed by it and you can see it in her face, but saying no is so hard for her - no to spirits, to strangers, to her friends, to her brother

i say this because like. they really don't interact much at all in the course of the manga but i think that kabru and falin actually have so much in common, both of them haunted by ghosts and both of them fixated more than they mean to be on laios

falin because to some extent i think she feels guilty about abandoning him to go to school even though she NEEDED that, and kabru because he's just an obsessive little homo and he can't cope with his need for laios' massive dick

#musings #kabru of utaya #falin touden #dungeon meshi #laios touden #shuro dungeon meshi #long post for ts

[seriousbrat]

you said james changed but did he? no apology in sight... still tricking lily and going behind her back to hex snape.. leaving his wife and newborn alone in their secret hiding spot to mess with muggles..

genuinely lol what is this 'leaving their hiding spot to mess with muggles' thing, I think you're the second anon who has claimed something like that recently and it's like.... where lmao. when did that happen? who r these muggles? 😭

if you're referring to the prequel, that was almost certainly, like 100% certainly, before harry was born when lily and james were fighting for the Order along with the rest of the Marauders and not in hiding. This is what Lily says, years later, in her letter to Sirius:

James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell -- also, Dumbledore's still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance of little excursions. If you could visit, it would cheer him up so much.

doesn't that imply he wasn't sneaking out? and if he had left the hiding spot in the past it was "little excursions" with Lily's full knowledge and approval, with the safety of the cloak. I don't see the big deal, and it's possible that Lily was leaving the house on occasion too when they had the cloak.

people are so determined to see things in the worst possible light it's kind of funny. It's not enough that James was a dickhead and a bully in canon, he has to be this insidious abusive master manipulator guy who somehow conned Lily "you make me SICK" Evans into marrying her and having a kid with him. Like, no offence but it's just not that deep.

We don't see how he changed because the story isn't about him, it's about his son, but there's plenty of evidence that he did, a BIG example being that a girl who couldn't stand the sight of him and was extremely vocal about the fact ended up marrying him. Something changed, and it's just highly unlikely that James, a fictional character, constructed an elaborate ruse behind the scenes that we see no evidence for to trick Lily, and every other character, into thinking he was an entirely different person. If that had been the author's intent for these characters who, btw, do not exist outside the text we're given, there would be proof of it. Rather, we're given evidence he 'deflated his head' and that lily fell in love with him and that they were happy together.

I've already said it but I don't think James not telling her about fighting with Snape (who, let it be said, at that point was also instigating) is a good thing. Obviously. It's dishonest and he should have told her. But I also think a likely reason he didn't tell her was not wanting to hurt her. That doesn't make it okay, but there can be problems and slip-ups and things to work through in a relationship without it being some big evil insidious manipulation.

Sev hid all sorts of things from her too, important things like "I'm thinking about joining the Death Eaters btw lol". People lie and hide things, especially teens. Maybe the simplest explanation here, rather than this weird jamespiracy thing, is that a seventeen year old boy was kind of shit sometimes but ultimately dedicated his life to protecting others, fought bravely in a war, grew tf up, and sacrificed himself to save his wife and child.

idk like to me it's not that deep, and it's continually bonkers to me that some snape fans will have wildly different standards for their innocent baby boy (idk him) than they do for every other character. bro did way worse stuff than not telling his gf he was getting into fights, james did worse stuff, and yet I still love them both and u wont convince me not to

#like if that had been the intent the brief snapshot of them at godric's hollow would have shown that. #instead of showing them being happy together #and lily's letter would have also alluded to it. instead of her caring about his feelings and talking fondly of him #jily #meta #replies #as for 'no apology' did you expect one? haha #''hi snivellus i know ur awfully busy being a death eater and all. but im terribly sorry about bullying you and all that. laters!'' #im joking but really. what would an apology have achieved and how could it possibly have come about lol #james potter #jl #james

[atopvisenyashill]

seeing how some greens act like rhaenyra being groomed by her uncle, and subsequently being unable to let go of him, is HER personal failure turned me into a rhaenyra extremist when i simply enjoyed her character beforehand.

im really glad you're speaking about it because even though it's fiction, it still perpetuates a very dangerous rhetoric

wait this gives me an excuse to ramble, pls excuse me if i phrase things maybe a little crassly here, it’s a delicate topic i’m speaking indelicately about but also, i think i should be allowed bc [redacted] BUT-

obviously i don’t like, love, some of the changes to the show but i think the first half does a great job of setting it up to where you can see both alicent and rhaenyra are surrounded exclusively by much older men who want to fuck them, and have just no way of knowing who is being genuine with them. because no one is really! so you have episode 4, where alicent is sleeping in a room with pornographic art on the wall and being called to her husband’s bed and she can’t say no, and he’s not going to do anything to make the whole thing even marginally easier for her. and then you have rhaenyra, pulled from her bed by her uncle to a brothel, and she’s completely exposed, and she’s experiencing new things, and he’s purposefully trying to make this feel good but also overwhelming for her, then abandons her drunk & confused & half naked. this is The Same Thing - they’re both being used and manipulated by a much older man, but because that manipulation looks different, they react different. but it’s still manipulation.

yes, the type of abuse is different when it’s like, your ugly ancient grandpa grooming you vs a handsome 30 year old stranger you met online that you tell all your high school friends is your boyfriend, but ultimately, both the grandpa and the 30 year old boyfriend are abusers but more importantly, the granddaughter and the high schooler are both victims!!! i think a lot of people when analyzing this whole thing, will pin daemon as a groomer but then completely forget that this also makes rhaenyra a victim. some people will even hee hee haw haw over it because “oh your feminist icon would rather marry her groomer uncle than her gay cousin in the book” DO YOU HEAR YOURSELF. could it possibly be that rhaenyra prefers daemon to laenor because daemon has manipulated her into thinking she is only free with him? she is only safe with him?? could it possibly be that he has been giving her gifts and taking physical liberties with her for her whole life, and being the Good Cop, Sweet Confidant to her parents Bad Cop her whole life, that she feels taken in by him because he is all she knows???? in the same vein that alicent just swallows all the poison and bullshit from otto because that’s her father, and his protection is all she knows????

honestly part of like ~the discourse~ that’s most frustrating is that most greens just refuse to see rhaenyra’s pov or see that she’s also a grooming victim grasping for power to protect her own children, again just like alicent, but on the flip side, most of the analysis from the blacks side is like “if you think nyra is a victim of grooming you are just as bad as the people calling her a whore for having children out of wedlock” and like, how do you even engage with that. with either of those opinions. you can’t wksjd so if youre, ya know, like a normal fucking person who can see how both girls are being manipulated, but you have like a fondness for nyra specifically, it’s just constant bad takes. there’s nowhere to go to escape the bad takes.

i thought we had already hashed out this idea that being aware or unaware of your victimhood doesn’t suddenly mean you’re not being oppressed during the main show with arya and sansa but no, we’ve actually just taken this exact same annoying fandom discourse about which teenage girl is dealing with being abused in the most acceptable way and made it a thousand times worse.

#and like the ~analysis~ side will be like ‘nyra is a dumb bitch for trusting daemon’ but if you said that about ali and larys you’d get shot #and i’m not even exaggerating the way people talk about her it’s always this ‘she should have known better’ HOW #if u get that ali couldn’t have ever known better when it comes to her own kids. why does this not apply to nyra. #perhaps………….it is bc you cannot concieve of her as anything but the aggressor. #asks #anons

[rxttenfish]

you know, i think the thing about miranda that most make or breaks if any given writing for her is any good, is that you just can't tell if she's doing something on purpose or not.

she switches hard from cute, innocent, head full of fluff and so oblivious and kinda stupid that she matches scott, to having such expertise and cruelty in manipulation and being able to not only get her way but to get it with such violence that it takes everyone else aback — and there is NO way for any other character in the situation to tell if both really are true and equal aspects of her personality and who she is, or if she really is planning this all along and all the innocence was just a farce.

both are given equal weight by miranda, both seem equally likely, and both are roles that miranda inhabits so wholly that there's not really any flaws anyone can find in either one of them. you expect one, the other one catches you off guard. for someone who makes such a show of wearing her heart on her sleeve, it is incredibly hard to actually tell what's going through miranda's brain at any given moment.

#all the care guide says is 'biomass' #monster prom #miranda vanderbilt #yes i still have thoughts about miranda as i always do #ofc my answer to this in my writing is ''its both at the same time'' #''both manipulation and her being genuine'' #because i really like that as who miranda is (and most of my writing deals with who IS miranda really) #but also. i think it really does need to be an open question in text #you need to be able to argue both at a single moment using everything that miranda has done up to that moment #and still feel like you arent getting it Right #which is also exactly the thing i love about writing miranda #open questions and ambiguity are FUN #(this is also where the miravi comes in because that too. is answering the question. of who really is miranda.) #(specifically focusing on who miranda is beneath the crown and the title) #(and who she actually wants to be) #(both with aaravi being able to be the hero and save miranda from her situation and even from herself) #(but also with them both thinking to the future and having no fucking idea what they want or what will happen) #(but deciding to tentatively trust each other to work towards a shared and better future) #(this is also why both miri having an eating disorder and aaravi directly trying to help that) #(and aaravi having an interest in food and cooking is so Important) #(you have to deal with the question and all the problems it raises if you want the solution to grow and become something beautiful)

[earlgodwin]

"Prince to you, not a brother."

#i'm going insaneeeee #cesare at first corrected alfonso when he called him 'brother' by clapping back with 'brother-in-law' #but when alfonso revealed that he's aware that cesare killed his //real// brother juan... he suddenly went all 'brother!!' at alfonso lol #the deliberate use of brother to manipulate him hoping to dissuade him from exposing the truth about juan's death. the strategy though!! #it's so funny help the borgia is truly a sitcom #that being said. i never liked how they juxtaposed juan with alfonso because alfonso lacked juan's charm wit and charisma #at least juan and cesare had great chemisty and dynamic thanks to david and francois! #like if anything...they both loved lucrezia in different ways and met their ends at the hands of cesare #alfonso loved lucrezia purely innocently and genuinely cared for her but he was too weak to be involved in the family's business #juan loved lu in his own twisted ways as he deeply loved her yet acted out of jealousy and pettiness she ended up hating him #juan borgia #cesare borgia #alfonso of aragon #the borgias #theborgiasedit #perioddramaedit #francois arnaud #periodedits #tvedit #by jen

[trustinisms]

*trips and falls and izzney pictures fall out of my pockets*

i love izzney .. theyre so cute snd one of the only occasions i actually actively multiship. heathney is my favorite courtney ship and thats never gonna change but her and izzy are WAY up there also … <3 . such a robbery that they wouldve been on the same team 3 times but were separated every time (izzy was on bass initially then volunteered to switch to gophers, izzy rejoined on the gaffers and was eliminated right before courtney also joined on the gaffers, and the izzy-sierra team swap took izzy off the amazons in world tour)

ough.. the . yeah

#total drama #my txt #izzy #courtney #izzney #theyre also both the only characters to manipulate the game via contract and end up rejoining #and the contrast between the general energies they did it with is entertaining #izzy being genuinely smart and just prefering to be unhinged snd free rather than how courtney utilizes her intelligence has to be something #doesnt it #total drama gen 1 #video

[yngai]

actually hate the ressie wiki for adding ada's falsified backstory from the umbrella chronicles novelization to her wiki page because it claims 'the validity of this account is questionable', leaving people who are otherwise unfamiliar with the franchise's lore who naturally peruse the wiki to assume there's a possibility ada isn't lying through her teeth in the novel, or that there's a nugget of truth hidden in her account, despite it being clearly stated otherwise pretty early on. after ada is done reciting facts about the reunification of vietnam & the treatment of the hoa people to leon the narration states succinctly that 'it had nothing to do with ada or her family in the slightest', without even mentioning the amount of times ada is surprised by how gullible leon is

i'm not even sure why they're treating the novel as a source, other than the absnece of a concrete backstory for ada, but it's like adding the dick valentine master thief background to jill's page. it isn't canon owing to the fact that it contradicts the events of the game, given there is no rendition of RE2, not even the darkside chronicles' own retelling, where ada gives her backstory upon first meeting leon in the parking garage. while the wiki does make note of two pieces of information which are true to the novel's version of ada, as they are told through ada's own thoughts about her mission in raccoon city & her work with wesker, that being the migrant workers who died because of her spreading pesticide on a sweet potato farm + her rising through the ranks of a chinese-american criminal syndicate who was crushed by the FBI, ada almost getting caught but being noticed by wesker & given the job to spy on umbrella right after, i feel like whoever's editing her wiki page didn't read the novel all the way through because they don't mention the most insane part of the whole thing, which is that ada was present for the khmer rouge in cambodia & the rwandan genocide

these aren't things i consider in my portrayal both because there's only so much real world suffering in relation to resident evil i wanna discuss on this blog, the war on terror is already so horrible that i am tiptoeing around it sometimes for the sake of not just going on about how much i hate the united states of america, & that these are narrative elements meant to show us how prepared & ready ada was for the outbreak in raccoon city which contradicts my own portrayal & both versions of RE2 where she is very much flying by the skin of her teeth clinging to desperate manipulations & leon's gullibility to make it through alive & finish her mission. it doesn't make any sense for ada to go into raccoon city having been witnesses to this amount of cruelty already, but its also a little strange to equate a fictional zombie outbreak to horrible things that have happened throughout history

#* file // : OOC — ( 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐀𝐃𝐄 . ) #this is my rant for the day it's been on my mind for a while #i've posted about it previously (fandom wikis are genuinely terrible & this is fandom the company who owns wikis not fandom the community) #the novel is hilarious it's so poorly written but at least ada has fun manipulating leon & it's told from her perspective #which i respect #it also features the endings to both the leon B & A scenarios with B being told from wesker's perspectives because he could see #through the eyes of the tyrant #annette is made out to be completely insane ranting inanely in the sewers before ada even runs into her #it's fun bad i recommend giving it a read #crimson-head.com has the full translation

[fujii-draws]

:( The comic about Ribbons having a nightmare makes the one where she accuses Dusknoir of trying to come back into their lives scot-free hurt even more, ouch

Understand me

#YEAH. HER FEELINGS TOWARDS DUSKNOIR ARE… COMPLICATED #MORESO THAN AIMILIOS’S. #She’s so terrified of him. and seeing everyone else forgive and move on hurts her even more. #it hurts. it hurts so much. she doesn’t even want to restart with Dusknoir out of the fear of him hurting her again #Dusknoir would try so many times to talk and finally apologize to her. but Ribbons would just run away every single time #and honestly? he doesn’t even blame her. she has every right to not feel safe around him #eventually Dusknoir would prove himself to Ribbons that he’s genuinely trying. and isn’t going to hurt her. not this time. #(going into hc territory for a sec)>>> #after the run-in with the Pangaro with both of them returning to Sharpedo bluff injured; they’d finally talk. #anyways sorry for being autistic in the tags. her dynamic with Dusknoir post game is something I love to think about #like??? between hero and partner Dusknoir manipulated hero SO much more #Aimilios might’ve been devastated by his betrayal but Ribbons was destroyed by it

[fagmegumi]

i know I should focus on writing and not poke hornets nests but. though saionji haters of the “i dont care about him & dont wanna hear about him” variety are completely valid . If you for real think saionji is a villain the way akio is a villain. you completely missed the point of the show

#and i dont even mean that theyre the same but akio is much worse #i mean that we are literally shown - textually - that saionji is a steadfast; loyal; honorable boy whothinks he is upholding a strict but #fair moral system and genuinely means well #but he like everyone else (male and female) is groomed into the fucked up partiarchal worldview of possession and control that says that #people like him (men; ‘princes’) are responsible for protecting others at the cost of their own well-being AND the well-being of those they #are ‘protecting’ #and we literally see everyone at some point or other fall into this slippery slope at akios behest INCLUDING utena both in tje first arc #when she thinks she can’save’ anthy just by telling her what to do and later when she slaps wakaba (the SAME gesture as saionji to anthy in #ep 1) after being manipulated by touga #in fact saionji being the boogeyman in the first arc and bein shown being abusive in such a self evident and ‘uncomplicated’ way at the ver #y beginning. is the POINT. bc from then on the manipulation abuse etc gets more subtle complex layered and complicated by many different #interpersonal rships at the same time. #but saionji is also literally again TEXTUALLY shown in the final arc #to paradoxically be a better person than touga who seems the least bad of the 2 and goes around calling himself a feminist #bc when saionji sees the truth of what akio is and what the duels and prince/princess roles do to people he immediately is disgusted and #wants nothing to do with it and cannot even STAND the sight of akio. whereas touga sees it just as clearly and has for a much longer time #but he still will not separate himself from akio because he wants the power he thinks he can gain regardless of the consequences and hurt #to himself yes. but also to others; anthy utena nanami AND saionji. #and this isnt even to say that ohh the real bad guy is touga actually hate touga instead. tougas situation is also complext #none of the kids are bad people (though some are better people than others i.e. utena and wakaba) #they are all victims of a system in which they are being groomed and manipulated to play roles that disregard their humanity and cause them #to be in pain and to put other people in pain #and lastly you can say ‘well but saionji was still an asshole he slapped anthy while she was in a sort-of gf role to him that’s literally #abuse.’ and YES. he was and it is. #however rgu isn’t about finding The Bad People who do The Bad Things its about showing how these toxic systems perpetrate themselves to the #misery of EVERYONE involved. #and that happens because people buy into it from a VERY young age. but that doesnt mean they cant learn better. #the only truly bad guy in rgu is akio and that isn’t because hes an exception to the ‘everyone is a complex morally grey human and people #cause hurt to each other without setting out to do so’ but because he’s NOT a normal human being he is basically a thought experiment. #of what would happen if someone LOST the ability to change and question themselves and learn better. or you could say. to revolutioniz

[nonokoko13]

You know what's funny?

In every episode where Nobita was a girl Takeshi has a crush on her. It's basically canon but I don't see anyone talk about this

#♡ — shut up noko #doraemon #I would watch a show where Nobita lived as Nobiko instead tbh #only because there is sm comedy potential of him (her?) being terrified of giant and oblivious of his pinning #what I liked most is that the first two episodes are almost the same but Nobiko's characterization is altered #Nobiko from the old show was oblivious of Giant crush and seemed to genuinely see his behaviour as him being friendlier to his girl self #while Nobiko 2.0 was aware of her effect on him and used to her advantage as a manipulative gaslight move. She seemed smug too #i mean both used him but there's a difference. The second is more devilish/mischievous imo and has that smug confident aura around her #I like both #the creators knew what they were doing. They made it three times how much proof we need to know it'd be canon if Nobita was a girl 24/7 #anyway enough rambling #back to the normal schedule #also the first two are my fav episodes or at least the two I remember better + the one where Nobita has a sister #(Nobita sister also called Nobiko. Man they didn't think too much)

[flanneryculp]

i feel a little disappointed that the reason victoria hated rachel was that she was jealous. imo if there's a character who everyone in-universe loves and is fascinated by, there should be someone who doesn't like them. someone who either thinks they're an awful person or someone just who just doesn't buy into their charms and doesn't see why anyone else would. to have it all explained away as jealousy (which is almost another form of admiration in itself) isn't as compelling to me

#what i think is far more interesting is victoria being jealous of *max* #who doesn't have half of her money or status. #but i think rachel should have somebody who earnestly doesnt believe shes all that interesting or talented. #maybe you could frame it as victoria seeing the same traits she hates in herself in rachel #like being manipulative or attention-seeking #but the difference is that with rachel; no one notices. everyone else finds her genuine #but with victoria; she's hated for those same traits. she knows how people talk about her. #and victoria resents having to live in rachel's shadow; both after and during rachel's life. #combine that with victoria being the only person who could see through rachel and not finding her all that special #or rachel having wronged her specifically (other than the tea thing in bts) #that could be fascinating and deepen both victoria and rachel's characters #idk there are so many routes they could go with this and victoria being just jealous because rachel is prettier or whatever seems like the- #least interesting one #does that make sense? i'm just rambling haha

[llycaons]

in a hunger games-style scenario I think that the majority of the cql cast would immediately die because 90% of the main cast are 1. bonkers self-sacrificial for their loved ones and 2. incredibly ready to kill themselves in dramatic ways out of despair. when the dust settles jgy will walk out of it wearing a perfect customer-service smile until nhs snipes him from the shadows

#wwx HAS survived scenarios like this but if his loved ones are involved he's die for them immediately #I don't imagine lwj and wwx fighting each OTHER in that poll I think they'd both rather die #lwj would be hard to take out since he's physically indestructible and not super prone for dying for others #but he's not really got a survivalist instinct and other characters are way more clever than him #IF being able to manipulate people and events matters then nhs is going to win but wwx is also super smart #and he and lwj are op enough to just break out of the constructed setting anyway and walk out together #but that's less fun #anyone remember the crit role battle royales? those were fun #in THAT case. wwx would win due to being so so powerful AND so so smart and wily and clever and inventive #nhs and jgy don't have the physical power to defeat him #nor does anyone else #even lwj. I think #I don't mean to make light of suicide either. in canon they were dramatized and excessive in number #but they were all genuine tragedies and stemmed from legitimate distress grounded in character writing that made sense #mxy wanted revenge. wwx lost everything he loved and felt it was his fault. myu saw her husband fall and was alone #against a horde of conquerers who took her home and were going to kill her next. such a proud and imperious woman couldn't stand that #xxc realized he'd been deceived by someone he abhorred and had murdered dozens of defenseless people #wq and wn were resigned to dying together and paying back the debt they owed to wwx #qin su...okay yeah that was a bad one #but she was also horrified by the reveal about jgy and her son's death #they all made sense! even if they were extreme reactions #cql txp

[paldogangsaan]

i love the idea of tory and sam becoming friends as much as the next person but are we ever going to acknowledge that tory broke into sam’s house, tried to kill her and hasn’t apologized?? and is probably never going to apologize?? and are we also going to acknowledge that sam doesn’t owe tory anything and therefore it makes sense that she doesn’t want to hear her out or help her when she comes knocking?? like yeah they’ve both been mean and rude to each other but yall act like tory’s a saint and sam is the devil when sam hasn’t gone out of her way to try to kill/maim tory

#like tory literally gave sam physical scars #and broke into her HOUSE and tried to KILL her and yall act like that’s fine #like i genuinely can’t get behind tory and sam being friends unless they both apologize #sam started the ‘rivalry’ but tory escalated it to a point where it didnt need to go #and yeah she was being manipulated by cobra kai but that doesnt change the fact that she needs to apologize #and i know that the writers wont ever put that in and even if they did yall would still find a way to paint sam as the villain #yalls hate for her is fucking visceral #yall see tory try to kill sam and go ‘girlboss!’ and then when sam doesnt want to hear her out yall hate her #and tbh sam didnt have to accept tory’s attempts at peace in (what i think is) s3 because again tory tried to kill her #and most of the fandom brushes that aside #also if the situations were reversed i KNOW yall would still be on tory’s side #and most of you will never acknowledge that tory’s past/home life wont ever excuse her trying to kill sam #yall love to talk about wanting to see women be allowed to be angry and enraged but when it’s sam yall hate it #like #if you don’t like sam that’s fine but don’t be fucking stupid #cobra kai #sam larusso #samantha larusso #and the thing is even if tory does apologize sam doesnt have to forgive her lmfao #like i know she will #and if she doesnt yall will literally call her satan incarnate #but she doesnt HAVE to #and highkey it’d be more interesting for their dynamic if sam and tory were ‘friends’ but sam made it explicitly clear that she will #never forgive tory for breaking into her house trying to kill her and repeatedly taunting her/seeking out fights #and sam also acknowledging that tory was manipulated but that doesnt make what tory did okay nor does it erase the trauma sam went through

[trans-leek-cookie]

Hm I'm not putting this in yhe main tags bc. Yeah but I'm blocking ppl who call the step mother hot

#Like ok she kills people and is rebelling or whatever. She abused 2 children. One if whom we saw be abused physically and mentally in CANON #BEFORE NOW! YOU STUPID FUCKS. And I don't want to overstep bc I am not Black but both of her main victims are Black and I feel #Very very uncomfortable with people being able to. Ignore that? Like I don't know if she has a Canon/coded race so I can't speak to #In story dynamics and I can't say if it's intended as a pattern but it's genuinely something I think we should like. Acknowledge. #I dont CARE about you enjoying her killing people. That's like fine who gives a shit. I do care about the fact people seem to have assumed #That her being given nuance means it's like. Fine to gloss over the fact she is Canonically an abuser? Like look me in the fucking eyes. #She has abused Cinderella Pinocchio and her stepdaughters! I don't CARE if you want to say the first parts are because of the authors. #It. Happened. Oh wow she was written this way she didn't chose CINDERELLA DIDNT CHOSE TO BE ABUSED! AND OH HOW TERRIBLE THAT YOU WERE #ABUSIVE SO WE COULD LOVE THE PROTAG. HOW DO YOU THINK SHE'D FEEL IF SHE KNEW HER ABUSE WAS A CHOICE MADE TO MAKE HER ''BETTER'' AND #''MORE LIKEABLE''. LIKE SHE HAS TO HAVE THIS KIND OF PAIN JUST SO PEOPLE LIKE HER. DO YOU THINK THATS BETTER? THAT ITS LESS SOUL CRUSHING?? #AND THENP PINOCCHIO. She. CHOSE. That. Pinocchio chose to lie to save his father. She chose to hurt his father to control him. Also more #Lore based but it's implied she did her story again. She has Cinderella's father in an etching. So. It's likely after she got this power #She STILL chose to hurt Cinderella. She chose to be the villain. She CHOSE this. She chose to hurt her again. She chose to be abusive again #Again. Implied. But I don't know what else it would imply. She broke off Pinocchio's nose. She saw him Vulnerable literally told in #By his father (even untrue as it was) that he shouldn't have been made. And she used that. She lovebombed him with promises of a mother and #Reassurance and GIFTS TO FUCKING MANIPULATE HIM. And I believe in adventuring party it was said that Pinocchio literally could not #Recognize what she did to him as abuse/manipulation because of the fact he had been taught that if something hurt him he like. Deserved it. #Or that it was in some way Correct. And that getting what he WANTED was wrong. She took advantage of that to use him literally use him #To the point he was willing to use his strings (something he saw as a trap for him literally representing CONTROL OVER HIM just to escape #Her he was literally GIVING SIGNIFICANT PARTS OF HIS AUTONOMY UP TO ESCAPE HER I DONT THIMK THIS IS FUCKING SUBTEXT GUYS) #Ppl say they want evil women and then act like the women who aren't evil aren't that bad actually because that would COMPLICATE THINGS HUH? #I'm so FUCKING MAD. Like use your brain you stupid cunts

[lindwurmkai]

One of the worst things I've done in my life was to tell my socially anxious friend that if she was so worried about accidentally offending me, then the one thing she absolutely had to avoid was ignoring me. I was trying to outsmart her anxiety, thinking she just needed to understand that the thing she was afraid of was even more likely to happen if she didn't speak than if she did.

I said this because I was like 15 and had no idea how social anxiety worked. The fact that I'd been misdiagnosed with the same condition and therefore had no reason to suspect it was a whole other experience unfamiliar to me didn't help.

But I never realised until today that I was in fact speaking the truth: her silence did hurt me so much more than anything she ever said. And not only did I have previous trauma from being ignored, this friend also contributed significantly to my general "allistic people refusing to explain to the autistic person why they're mad" trauma. It wasn't always anxiety.

Now don't get me wrong; I still shouldn't have said it like that. I remember my intentions very well and they're not made less manipulative by these circumstances. But I suddenly understand why I felt so insulted by her claim that the reason she sometimes ignored me was a fear of making some kind of horrible faux pas. I was the one always making mysterious mistakes and getting no answer when I asked what I did!

I don't doubt the existence of her anxiety order, nor do I even necessarily think she was using it as an excuse. That possibility never crossed my mind at the time btw. All I could think was that 90% of the mistakes she made over the course of our friendship precisely consisted of ignoring me in some way.

#the existing trauma also explains my strong reaction ... i thought this was my chance to affect change just once #since it was abundantly clear that i had no control whatsoever in the previous situation #(which was still sort of ongoing but had for the most part been replaced by different conflicts) #here was my chance to make it stop for once! all i needed to do was exploit the loophole in her disorder! that's how that works right 😳 #we both hurt each other to approximately equal degrees growing up tbh #don't get me started on how my mother's parenting style directly primed me for this #of course the best way to help someone is to manipulate them into getting better! how else #and the most effective way to convince someone of something was finding a loophole to exploit. that was normal right #so in conclusion i feel a little less evil for this now #yes i was being combative instead of just trying to help but i had so many reasons to be genuinely hurt lol #weirdo chronicles