#DUDE WHEN DOES HE LEARN. WHEN DOES HE GET CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

midnightwriter21 · 11 months

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demon slayer hcs: motherly hashira!reader x the hashira pt 2

characters: fem!reader x muichiro, sanemi, mitsuri, obanai

AN: this is a pt 2 for the request from @danielle-marie

READ THE FIRST PART HERE

MUICHIRO

I LOVE THIS BABY SM U DONT UNDERSTAND

he's the hashira that ur most comfortable around

he was a hashira before u

but u get promoted and its an instinct

child.

must protect.

at first he probably gets annoyed by you

he's not used to someone caring for him the way that u do

but then one day ur sent on a long mission

maybe a few weeks long

and he finds himself missing something

of course he has no idea what it is that he's missing something

he completely forgot about u

but when you get back to the butterfly estate and he sees u

it clicks

he remembers

he missed you

he missed your overprotective nature

he missed your soft caring voice

he missed the way that you brush and style his hair

he REALLY missed that ^

walks up to u, grabs ur hand and tugs u away

doesn't care if you were talking to someone

and doesn't say a word

brings you to his favorite cloud watching spot with a tight grip on your hand

makes you sit down

and lays his head in ur lap

stop im squealing and kicking my feet from the cuteness

SANEMI

my guyyyyyy

have i ever told yall that i love him?

only in every single thing i post

anyways

he HATES you at first

lmfao rip u

your shy and quiet nature reminds him of giyuu

and if theres one person sanemi can't stand

its giyuu

therefore he don't fw u

and doesn't pay u much attention

UNTILLLLL

he witnesses u pulling genya by the ear to the infirmary after a mission

and telling genya tf off for pulling som stupid shit during the mission

+100 respect right there

not only are u actually talking

but ur screaming??

at his brother??

and taking care of him at the same time?????

my guy is lucky if he doesn't pop a boner right there lmfaooo

starts paying more attention to u after that

and is noticeably a lot nicer and calmer around you

will blush beet red and deny tf out of it if the other hashira comment abt his change of heart

but def develops a soft spot for u

MITSURI

SWEETEST HUMAN BEING TO EVER EXIST EVER

she loves u

ofc she does she's the love hashira

but in mitsuri's mind how could she not absolutely ADORE u

not only are you breathtakingly beautiful in her eyes

but she sees the way u interact with the younger slayers

how u genuinely care for everyone's wellbeing

if she wasn't looking for a husband she would wife u tf UP

she still might lol

mitsuri is gonna go out of her way to become friends with you

she's inviting u to her estate for girl's night with shinobu

she's dragging u along to her favorite restaurant for lunch

she's inviting u to join her at the hot springs to relax

she really enjoys ur presence

even if ur shy she thinks ur very soothing to be around

she loves when you do her hair!!

and when u cook for her??

mitsuri alrdy eats a lot

but if u made the food for her??

girl is not letting a CRUMB go to waste

loves the way u take care of everyone

especially when u take care of her

10/10 would recommend a mitsuri

OBANAI

someone pls love this man

he needs it so bad

so dude had SHIT parents

like bad bad

so when he sees ur interactions with the younger slayers he's prob a lil put off at first

like ma'am?

this is the demon slayer corps??

we don't have time for all ur mothering and coddling

but then he's injured on a mission

and waiting in the infirmary for shinobu to show up and patch him up

and then u bust through the doors???

confused asf

shinobu is on a mission and you've been helping out in the infirmary

so looks like ur the one taking care of him today

and turns out his injury is bad enough to land him an extended stay in his lil hospital bed

and after a few days of u taking care of him

with ur red face and soft stuttered words

he learns that you're not so bad

and he actually enjoys being around you

and being taken care of

won't voice this tho

but when Aoi comes in to give him his meds one day he gives himself away by accident

with a

"where's y/n?"

he's a blushing grumbling mess after that lol

after he discharged best believe the next time he gets injured he's not even going to the infirmary

he's hunting u tf down

nobody else gets to take care of him except YOU

and thats period.

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shesalewa · 2 months

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IM CRINGING. IM CRINGING. I'M CRINGING.

MORGAN FREEMAN SAVE ME.

I HATE THE JIYOUNG X JIWOO SHIP SO BAD.

282 CHAPTER OF ELECEED.

She says "what does your heart say Jiwoo???" Ksbdjrvsj FB eirhbrbfj ugUGHHHHHHHHH SPARE ME THE EMBARRASSMENT.

BRO. SHE SHOULD PICK SOMEONE HER AGE.

LIKE DAWG. The only reason why jiwoo is drawn to Jiyoung is because he's thankful that she was there to help him and protect him. And because she's strong.

OTHER THAN THAT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THEM IS JUST FORCED. IT'S FORCED. FORCED I TELL YOU. IT'S SO DISGUSTING.

Jiyoung actually has no reason to like Jiwoo. "slow burn?" NO. IN THE EARLY EPISODES. Jiyoung blushed at Jiwoo because she was growing fond of him. JUST LIKE HOW INHYUK BLUSHED AT JIWOO'S CUTENESS BECAUSE INHYUK SEE'S JIWOO AS SOMEONE HE WANTS TO PROTECT.

I do not approve of this relationship. It's ugly. It's disgusting. It's forced. I hate it.

BUT FKN DAMNIT THE ART MAKES IT WORSE. "But wdym makes it worse???" THE ART MAKES IT LOOK LIKE IT'LL BE A GOOD SHIP WHEN GOSH DAMN IT DOES NOT. (no hate to the artist. I just hate how it's drawn as if they're drawn to each other when they clearly have absolutely no chemistry.)

Okay let me explain.

In action. Romance is a thing that shouldn't be written in. (Unless you're the dude that wrote down White blood/unholy blood then yes. Because you're a professional.)

TAKE IN FOR EXAMPLE.

LOOKISM. GOSH. Daniel and Jay have chemistry. However there's actually a good ship between Daniel and another girl (NO IT'S NOT CRYSTAL. FOR F-CK SAKE SHE'S A FORCED HEROINE TOO. DAMN.) that girl is ZOE. SHE HAS SO MUCH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. I LOVE HOW JUST FOR DANIEL SHE WILLING PUT HERSELF IN A BAD RELATIONSHIP BECAUSE SHE WANTED TO PROTECT HIM.

NEXT.

Designated bully.

B/TCH IM SORRY. HE'S A GROWN A// MAN WHO HAS NO INTEREST IN YOU. YOU'RE A FKN 14-15 IDK YRO GIRL.

LIKE DAMN 😭

WHAT ELSE. OH.

VIRAL HIT. (How to fight)

OH MY GOSH. UGHHHH

HOOBIN HAS MORE CHEMISTRY WITH TAEHUN THAN HE DOES WITH THE GIRL I DON'T EVEN KNOW HER DAMN NAME.

NOT ONLY THAT SHE HAS MORE CHANCES WITH HER CHILDHOOD FRIEND THE RED HAIRED DUDE. MORE THAN WITH HOOBIN.

Damn 😭

DO I HAVE TO ADD IN MORE???

DO I???

The gays are the most active. When it's Action, Sports, Action-fantasy(ORV, trash of the count family etc.), idc. Idk. There's probably more. BUT. AS LONG AS IT INVOLVES FIGHTING. GAYS ARE MOST ACTIVE.(Yes this involves debating. Like ace attorney. Cause gosh damn. Miles and phoenix have so much chemistry)

Take True education/ Get schooled.

It has absolutely 0 romance. And the romance that did exist. Is gone bc our Mc Warren, lost his fiancee. And this was the best action story that spoke of romance without getting it involved.

If writers wanna write down Romance-action they should learn from White blood . ESPECIALLY IF THEY WANT IT TO BE STRAIGHT.

CAUSE DAMN THE SUCK A// AT WRITING STRAIGHT COUPLES.

#eleceed manhwa #eleceed webtoon #eleceed #lookism #lookism webtoon #lookism manhwa #designated bully #viral hit #how to fight #white blood #unholy blood #pure blood #true education #get schooled #thank you for coming to my ted talk #ace attorney

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mauesartetc · 9 months

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Is it me, or is Vivziepop bad at writing romantic relationships? It feels like she wants to write "problematic", drama-filled romance where the characters start out toxic, there are misunderstandings, betrayals etc cuz the show is supposed to be about "problematic gays", and that's perfectly valid, but she can't write chemistry. So far, it feels like Blitzo clings to Stolas because he's afraid he will end up alone and unloved, but doesn't actually care for him as a person. He often looks uncomfortable with Stolas' flirting even if he reciprocates sometimes.

I've seen couples in children's media with much better written-relationships and chemistry, like Roxanne and Megamind. It's clear they enjoy each other's company, they have mutual banter and flirting and he respects her intelligence.

I know Stolitz is supposed to be "toxic" pre-character development but at this point it still sucks that so far, it's impossible to tell what the characters like about each other other than the sex.

(I've been told that Stolas enjoys how Blitzo made him laugh when they met during the circus but that's not been developed enough as a concept to count).

Yeah here's a thought: When has he made Stolas laugh during adulthood?! Where was that moment? What do they even have in common other than liking dudes?

Oh shit. I think I get why fans of this show accuse critics of being homophobic. It's because this relationship has literally no substance other than "they're gay". (Or Stolas might be, anyway. Their specific orientations are never clarified in the show that I can recall.) Oh, you don't like this mlm relationship? You must hate ALL mlm relationships. Funny how the fans are the ones fixated on that aspect while no one I've seen criticize the show has ever cited the homoerotica as evidence that this relationship sucks. No, it sucks because there's absolutely no depth to it. There's nothing to make us root for it to work.

Sure, the characters have their own personalities as individuals, and there's potential for chemistry in how those personalities and backgrounds oppose each other, but the show never explores it. What would happen if Stolas tried to fit into Blitzo's poverty-stricken school of hard knocks, or if Blitzo tried to fit in with high society? What if they just had a conversation about what life has been like for each of them? Where are the bonding moments that show us this is more than just a transactional arrangement (or at least that it could be)? What made Stolas suddenly fall in love with Blitzo offscreen between Episodes 6 and 7, after treating him like an object the entire season? Why the fuck does he care if Blitzo comes to see him in the hospital or not? Why should we care as viewers?

Funny enough, this neat video by LocalScriptMan just came out (check out this channel, seriously), and it talks about going deeper into writing relationships than just smashing two characters with differing personalities together. Again, differing personalities can create potential for chemistry (as each character learns new perspectives from the other), but a pairing of opposites isn't chemistry in and of itself.

If Helluva Boss's writers gave us a good mlm relationship with actual substance, more power to 'em! Maybe we'll get one with Asmodeus and Fizzarolli, but... ehh. It's doubtful at this point.

#helluva boss #helluva critical #writing #anti stolitz #romantic chemistry #relationships #shipping #ask #chinesegal

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ravenalla · 1 year

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Okay I swear this will be my last rant post before the next episode airs but I have to get it off my chest cause I keep seeing the argument made that people disappointed Din gave the darksaber away are forgetting the lack of plot in the previous seasons, which I very heavily disagree.

I can’t speak for everyone, but at least for me when I’m saying I’m disappointed Din did not become Manda’lor I am not saying I hated the adventure of the week side quest format they had. That’s what I liked best about the show! It was great in season 1 feeling like Din was just the random guy off on his own adventure with this baby he found, I would have loved for it to have kept that small space western feel. Season 3 becoming this big interconnected universe with a corrupted New Republic plot connecting to the sequels is what I was most worried about just because I personally don’t like that direction. The more they’ve tried to go the Andor route and make this show about the Galatic politics, the worst it’s become imo (we literally have two white dudes writing a plot point about droids liking being underclass and serving the soft democratic people that is ruled with the help of a former Nazi, but ohh it’s okay it’s Jack Black and he’s funny and the Space Nazi and the Space Nazi doctor are really sorry for what they did, look the New Republic is just as bad as the fascist imperials 🥺🥺)

What some people are not getting is that the darksaber is ALL. DIN. HAD. LEFT. There was no driving force or goal for him after episode 2, they reunited him with his child in a spin-off show, they have him redeem himself fairly easily without any emotional impact, and now they took away the opportunity to do one last interesting thing with him. Din does not have his own actions or thoughts throughout most of the season, and when he does it’s just retracing the character development they already gave him in previous seasons (i.e. the whole droid fiasco). He’s a plot device, meant to further Bo-Katan’s character and help her with her goals or have him in danger so she can save him. It was okay if Din did not become Manda’lor, but they can’t just make him having the darksaber out to be a huge deal, show him trying to learn how to train with it, and give it up so stupidly through a loophole just so Bo-Katan can lead again when she has done nothing to actually earn it or apologize for the way she disrespected Din’s entire culture again and again. She was a terrorist who has done a 180 into suddenly being an honorable character just because of a few action scenes, no introspection or interesting conflict between her and the covert about their differences, nothing about her actually thinking about her past mistakes, just the covert being there to look like dumbasses who settled on a dangerous planet where their children get eaten so Bo can lead missions, look a million times more competent in comparison, and suddenly be the one who deserves to lead.

There doesn’t have to be a big plot each episode, but it’s not being executed well like it was in the first two seasons. The goal was getting Grogu to a Jedi, and we were given the interesting side adventures on that journey. Din needs to find somewhere he can lay low, he goes to Sorgan and becomes tempted by a domestic life. Din needs credits, he takes a job with some old acquaintances and sees what kind of slimy person he could have been. Din needs to find other mandos to help him find a Jedi, he runs into a small town desperate for help with a Krayt Dragon and showcases his pride in being a Mandalorian but his respect for other cultures and his willingness to do the right thing. He travels to a planet ruled by an former Imperialist because the Jedi he was searching for was there and helps her to save a town both for their sake and his need to give his son the best life he can have. See the pattern? They were side adventures, but they weren’t a random hodgepodge of ideas, they fit the story and the tone, giving us interesting side characters and helping to develop our main characters. Din showed his leadership, his growing kindness, his frustrations, his annoyances, his fears, Grogu becomes more adventurous, vocal, and attached to who he’s starting to see as a father figure. They both aren’t talkative characters, but they had feelings and personalities we saw. They had moments between them that wasn’t just exposition for the plot or a push towards an action scene, it showed their lives and values, their relationships. Little moments like Din being happy to hear Grogu’s name, Cobb sharing his story and why he valued the armor, Omera talking with Din about his life and wondering if he could stay, Frog Lady wanting to get her eggs safely to her husband and Din comedically trying to make that happen. The story was driven by these characters decisions and their personalities.

Season 3, on the other hand, has taken away all the life of these side adventures in its goal to tie in a larger Star Wars narrative that connects to other shows. They are not character driven anymore, and instead the characters are being twisted and molded to do and say stuff that’ll get us from point A to point B instead of the other way around. The point of Din breaking his creed is not to see what that would mean for his identity or how he wants to live with Grogu by his side, the point is to take him to Mandalore so that he can ultimately get trapped and fall down a hole so Bo-Katan can see the Mythosaur. The point of Bo-Katan’s crew leaving her and her staying in a random castle for no reason doing nothing all day isn’t for her to recognize her past failings or show us what their relationship was like and what it meant to her, it’s to have an easy offscreen explanation so that she can come to the covert without anything challenging in the way. The point of Din’s coverts staying on a monster-infested planet where Paz’s son is kidnapped isn’t because it makes sense they’d be there or that Paz suddenly even has a son we’ve never seen before, it’s so they can put in CGI monsters they thought were cool and have Bo save the day so they can have a flimsy reason she does need to be leader again. The point of spending time with the covert and having random pirates attacking Nevarro wasn’t to develop the other mandalorians as actual characters, it was to have them accept Bo easily so that she can “walk both worlds” and give Carl Weather’s character more screentime. And so much more.

Things are happening, but it doesn’t matter whether they make sense or fit the characters anymore, because all the side quest are focused on is bending over backwards trying to make you believe this Bo deserves the darksaber narrative. Before that it wasn’t like the Covert was planning to take back Mandalore, Din wasn’t planning to take back Mandalore, Bo didn’t tell anybody what she saw so there was no real stakes for anybody. Nobody in the main plot has had any purpose as more than side characters besides her. Din may have been the main character, but the people he met on his journey didn’t just do stuff to contribute to his own character or finding a Jedi. Omera had her own goals, Cobb had his own goals, Fennec had her own goals, Boba had his own goals, and they all still worked well with the narrative without diminishing each other, Din developed on the way by learning from the other characters and them him. What the fuck does Din want this season? Paz? The Armorer? The answer is whatever will make it easiest for the plot to retake Mandalore and have Bo be the Manda’lor for these writers, despite it being shown previously they have no reason to care or like Bo-Katan.

Like, some character moments are there. Bo is changing. I’m not saying that’s not happening at all. But it’s being done in a way that is sabotaging every other aspect of the show to force this plot that they wanted, the sidequest are feeling duller because they aren’t for these characters to have fun adventures we get emotionally invested in that simultaneously furthers the actual main characters goal, it’s let’s just have a CGI dragon, let’s have Lizzo and Jack Black guest star, let’s have Zeb from Rebels be in there for no reason. Unless again you count Bo as the main character, but like honestly she’s not even having natural character development. She went from being an antagonistic ex-terrorist to suddenly being kind and charitable with hardly any buildup or insight into her feelings. It doesn’t feel organic. I know she lost everything, but they still made it seem like she blamed Din for it only to have her rescue him once and completely abandon that hostility. The best we really have gotten is Grogu remembering his past while with the armorer and setting up his future as a Mandalorian, but even that feels cheapened when the armor he was given isn’t even talked about with the person who he shares the symbol with him that signifies their relationship, making me think it’s just another merchandise decision.

We wanted Din to learn to rule because, even if we did have to say goodbye to the adventure of the week type format, it would have been in service of his character evolving into something he doesn’t think he deserves or is good at. It would have been the next step in his journey, accumulating everything he has learned, the growth he went through using both diplomacy and his skills as a fighter time and time again. Instead, they chose to really quickly ditch any of the conflicts he had so they could have him free to do this instead. If they had waited one more season, this could have possibly been done well imo. Din’s arcs could have been brought to a meaningful and satisfying conclusion, and then you could have made him and Bo-Katan become co-leads. It wouldn’t have mattered as much then if they decided to focus a little more on her. But instead they essentially abandoned Din’s story they’ve spent two seasons creating to go ahead and tell her own.

The side quest aren’t what people are complaining about. It’s that they have no meaning for our characters other than having everybody circling around Bo most of the time or creating some big connection to the sequel triology and setting up the Star Wats MCU, which wasn’t the style of writing this show did. I don’t care how many ways people want to argue against it, Din is not the main character in this season, which is not what they have been selling us all year, and he doesn’t even have any engaging story or arc as a side character either. That is the problem, and that is why these side quest and the lack of an actual plot do not work.

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian spoilers #the mandalorian season 3 #mando critical #rant #din djarin #bo katan kryze #grogu #hope this made sense

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cheshiresense · 8 months

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Hi Cheshire! Thank you so much for the Yuzu snippet! It was SO great. I LOVE how fucked up the Kurosaki family is (wonder what Isshin thinks of this? We saw a glimpse but like... Is he an outsider and tolerated because he's the Only Adult Around?). I! LOVE! Poison!Yuzu! It's so great, makes so much sense. Also the easy way everybody was like "Ah, yes, OF COURSE the bowls are poisoned." So Neat. So Fucked Up. Being real I came for the ShinIchi but the UraShinIchi is The Best Trio and I am SO here for it. The fact Ichigo has NO idea he likes Urahara? Amazing. The fact that Shinji is SO LONG the favorite? ALSO amazing. Usuallly with the trio it's almost always the other way around or UraShin incorporating Ichigo later, so It'd be nice to see how this mechanic develops.

I also love "Mizuiro-niisan." Cute and terrifying. I wanna know what you have prepared regarding Mizuiro, he was always one of the most fascinating characters in Bleach taht wasn't 'part of the plot' so to speak (c'mon, dude knows how to make a fucking Pipe Bomb and has a harem of older women. There's A Story. (Also does he still have the 'harem' here or...?))

Anyway thank you for the chapter

Thank you, I'm glad you liked it! Lol Isshin is very much the outsider to his own family after Ichigo neutralized him, they're basically like two strangers who happen to live in the same house, and even then, Ichigo went and got his own apartment once he had the contacts for it. I wouldn't say he set out to alienate his sisters from Isshin, so long as Isshin wasn't hitting them too, he doesn't really care what their relationship is like, but considering Ichigo's also been pretty much raising them single-handedly for the past 6+ years, they're bound to learn from him when it comes to Isshin too. Plus they do remember the way Isshin used to smack Ichigo around before Ichigo put a stop to it. So anyway, the twins still talk to Isshin and let him be his loud dramatic self around them but there isn't really any love coming from their end when it comes down to it, and they live with their brother at the apartment half the time anyway. As for Ichigo, he actually doesn't hate Isshin or anything either after the man left him to his own devices and doesn't bother him anymore. And yeah, the fact that he's the nominal adult of the house is still useful since Ichigo's still underage. It's just that he also very much wouldn't care if Isshin kicked the bucket tomorrow.

The Urahara/Ichigo/Shinji is also a surprise to me lol. Tbh, I didn't really have a ship in mind when I first started this AU, but UraIchi is my otp so naturally if there is a ship, I'd go for that. But then I wrote Shinji, and suddenly ShinIchi became a lot more probable, and then I wrote the Yuzu POV and Urahara elbowed his way back into the race. So the most likely ship now would be UraIchiShin lol.

The UraIchi dynamic actually turned out pretty interesting in this 'verse cuz this Ichigo is the type to get rid of anything that irritates him. If it's annoying and cuts into his time, he's not the sort to put up with it. And yeah, Kisuke's strong enough with enough connections that if Ichigo wanted to off him or even just threaten him like he did Isshin, it would be really difficult at the moment, but at the very least, he'd still work towards it, and he wouldn't spend any time with the guy. But here he is inviting him over for dinner and letting him properly meet the twins and just generally tolerating his presence, something he's never done with anyone else before, and it's a toss-up whether he's even really aware of the exception he's making. And on Kisuke's part, he doesn't know Ichigo well enough yet to realize how much leeway Ichigo's given him.

This Ichigo is just Grudgingly Fascinatedᵀᴹ by this cryptic bastard making his life a lot more complicated than he'd like, but is also strong and smart and offered his life up on a platter the moment Ichigo asked for it like it's tradeable currency so whatever he wants Ichigo to do in exchange has to be something even Urahara can't do himself, and Ichigo has just enough curiosity for that to add to the fascination pile just as much as it adds to the annoying asshole pile. Meanwhile, Shinji's just chilling with his poison rice, and Sakanade thinks Ichigo is yum with an adorable kitten for a sister. TLDR they're a trainwreck in the making but a pretty entertaining one.

I'm not sure what I really want to do with Mizuiro here yet but I'm definitely giving him a powerup in the future, he's Ichigo's best friend here, as much as Ichigo or even Mizuiro can have friends, and Mizuiro is absolutely ride or die enough to invade Soul Society with him. Plus I'd like to see what I can do with a character who's not exactly a frontline fighter but not a healer either like Ichigo's canon friends.

#msg #the-blue-eyed-fallen-angel #stunted empathy verse #headcanon

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waitmyturtles · 5 months

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Last Twilight: Episode 5 reflections

TW: suicide

GORGEOUS EPISODE. OMG.

LOVE THAT WE'RE ALL LOVING ON JIMMY!

Okay, citing meta first. @lurkingshan covers nicely here a summation of the August/Ink LT/BBS comparisons -- yes, the structural motif is there, and I agree with Shan that this whole August situation is more fraught. Shan and @ginnymoonbeam cover Mhok's attraction here and here, and @grapejuicegay covers more of Aof's motifs here.

My own little BBS comparative moment: I was backstage with the boys at the end of episode 8, when Pran called Pat "my boyfriend" to Pat's face for the first time.

ANYWAY. I loved Ginny's meta of identifying both Mhok's caretaking for and his developing attraction for Day.

What caught me about this episode were Mhok's references to his sister, Rung. We saw earlier in the series, when Mhok kicked down Day's door to get to Day -- that Mhok does not want to repeat the mistakes he made vis à vis his sister.

Mhok lost the opportunity to cook for his sister again. He's able to cook for Day now, he's able to care for Day now. Mhok is channeling that energy to Day.

We also see Mhok being VERY. INTENTIONAL. about his timing with EVERYTHING related to Day. He's literally looking at his clock in the car while he and Day are both waiting for August to show up to that restaurant. He's clearly pacing himself vis à vis his attraction to and his courting of Day. The practice date, knowing where he was going to take Day after the failed date with August, taking Day to a bar. Everything is so paced and well-timed. The body spray -- Mhok is an intentional dude at the moment.

In light of Mhok defying expectations of who he could/should be by way of being a former jailbird -- this pacing is another defiance of that. He's a dude who used to -- actually, still, somewhat often -- gets into impulsive fights. Nothing is rushed or impulsive about his caretaking and courting of Day. Everything has slowed down in Mhok's life, much to match the pace of Day re-learning how to live his life without the sense of sight.

I want to say that a part of this slowing down is in reaction to what Mhok missed by way of NOT being intentional and paced with his relationship to his sister. What did he miss, behaviorally, that his sister may have been hinting at, while he was living with his sister, before her suicide? He may have missed some clues. She died while he was in prison. He had to process that while still in prison.

Mhok's regrets, his delicately bringing up Rung during these past two episodes -- are we witnessing atonement, absolution? Not entirely, but I think partly. I love to see a character just behaviorally GROW in front of us. Yes, Mhok is caretaking and attracted to Day -- AND he's growing in the face of a tremendously tragic event. Actually, TWO tremendously tragic events, as he also processing Day's loss of sight with Day himself.

We saw Mhok in quite a bit of denial to start the series regarding his sister. To see him continue to make references to her as he and Day get closer... we're seeing ever more holistic sides of Mhok that are giving full views into his intentions with Day, and it's just really lovely to watch them develop.

P.S. Namtan with the slightly messy hair? Me want more!

#last twilight #last twilight the series #jimmysea #jimmy jitaraphol #sea tawinan #mhokday #mhok x day #day x mhok #morkday #mork x day #day x mork #namtan tipnaree #backaof noppharnach #aof noppharnach

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antianakin · 3 months

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@theneutralmime

I think my personal view on Padme is that she was introduced as a really interesting character who then sort-of got swallowed by the romance and Anakin's story taking more and more precedence over her own development. Lucas said a few times that TPM is, in many ways, Padme's story more than anybody else's. Which is cool, but it means that when she sort-of disappears into being nothing more than a catalyst for Anakin's fall and Luke/Leia's incubator, it feels a little strange and jarring. The Padme of ROTS no longer feels like the interesting character we had in TPM. Even in AOTC, most of her interesting character development scenes (like meeting her family, her speech about the war, even just the extended arrival on Naboo where she talks about how she set aside her dreams of a family to continue a career of service) got cut in favor of (presumably) focusing more on the romance and how that affects Anakin.

Padme is someone who got introduced in TPM as a person who wanted to avoid violence as much as possible, she tends to play things safe because she believes it's the better political choice to make, but by the end of the movie she's learned that sometimes she just has to trust her instincts and do what she believes is right (this is the whole point of her being on Tatooine with Qui-Gon and seeing him insist on continuing with the podrace idea and the way this works out for him leading to Padme then choosing to approach the Gungans for aid in taking her planet back by force, a plan NOBODY ELSE believes in but her). So they take Padme on this journey where she becomes someone who trust herself and her instincts above anyone else, but who also deeply cares about doing the right thing to help the most people which is why she's in politics at all.

When we get to AOTC, she's continued that into her senator years and apparently only gotten even more reckless with age. But when her feelings for Anakin come into conflict with what she knows to be her duty, she has to make a choice. Does she "follow her instincts" and do what she wants, or does she continue to make that sacrifice because it's the right thing to do? And in the end, she makes the selfish choice.

My problem with what happens in AOTC is two fold. For one, I don't think it does NEARLY enough to convince me about why Padme likes Anakin enough to throw away her morals for him. The overall journey Padme is taking in this film I think is fine, but I don't think the chemistry between them works and I think the romance has aged like milk, which leaves me just kind-of wondering why Padme would risk SO MUCH for... a dude who can't even be considerate enough to respect her boundaries and who she believes makes jokes about fascism and dictatorships (or more accurately, who she has to CONVINCE HERSELF would make jokes about fascism and dictatorship so that she doesn't have to come up against the much more uncomfortable truth that it's not a joke to him at all). Anakin is creepy, insensitive, and sometimes almost unkind to Padme all throughout AOTC, when I THINK he's intended to come off as awkward but charming, enough to make Padme feel sort-of "young again" (I know she's only 24 in this movie, but she hasn't allowed herself to really ACT young for probably about 10 years) in a way that sweeps her off her feet a little. The romance doesn't work, it just doesn't, and I think a LOT of people would agree with me that it doesn't work even if we might not all agree on why that is. The editing isn't good, the dialogue is clunky, the chemistry is practically nonexistent. So when Padme makes her big declaration about how she loves him so much and then marries him, I find it hard to believe, and that is a problem for the rest of the narrative of the Prequel Trilogy.

The other problem I have with AOTC is that Padme is told to us to be a very MORAL person, someone who believes very deeply in doing the right thing and gets righteously upset at people being mistreated. She's someone who ends up seeing Jar Jar more kindly than almost anyone else and is capable of extending that experience with him to the rest of his people enough that she goes to make a deal with them that allows the Gungans better representation and treatment. She gets upset when she realizes slavery still exists on Tatooine and always treats Anakin and Shmi very kindly. She is incredibly upset by the possibility that her people on Naboo could be suffering and dying at the hands of the Trade Federation, enough that she ultimately decides to leave the Senate behind and find her own solution. She barely is willing to leave Coruscant in AOTC for her own protection because she doesn't want to leave before the big vote about whether they're going to go to war against the Separatists or not. And so I have a hard time reconciling that person with the person in AOTC who hears Anakin advocate for a dictatorship and chooses to laugh it off, or the person who hears Anakin say he murdered an entire village of Tuskens and not only chooses to COMFORT HIM about it, but basically CONDONES what he's done by saying it's only human, and then MARRIES HIM. The moral Padme who cares deeply about people seems incongruous with the one who falls in love with and marries Anakin. Fewer people might agree with me on this one since it requires being critical of Anakin, but I think there'd still be a solid group of people who'd agree that this just doesn't seem to match up.

So by the time those two things come together, that interesting journey of this person who wanted to avoid violence as much as possible but had to learn to follow her instincts if she wanted to get anything done starting to give in to selfish desires because she's sacrificed most of her life to serving her people kind-of... disappears. Because I don't understand why she even HAS desires for Anakin, selfish or otherwise, and loving Anakin by the end of AOTC requires her to be so immoral that it feels out of character for her. I don't think the romance INHERENTLY ruined Padme's character at all, but I do think it was mishandled and ended up causing some unfortunate implications about her with the contradictions that exist due to it being a badly written romance.

I like that Padme is, in some ways, almost equally as selfish as Anakin is. She's giving up her morals to marry him just like she is, her job makes this relationship just as forbidden as his does (more so almost, since the Jedi clearly KNOW about the relationship to some degree and don't do anything to actually break them up until Clovis happens and Obi-Wan feels the need to step in a little more and even with THAT they clearly are still aware of the relationship having continued and don't do anything about it, while Padme believes that if the Queen found out about her pregnancy in ROTS that she wouldn't be allowed to serve on the Senate). I like the idea of Padme paralleling Anakin in this, that she starts off such a moral person and that it isn't Anakin himself who causes her to start veering towards selfishness, but the invasion of Naboo and the corruption of the Senate leaving her feeling like she has no choice but to do what SHE believes to be right. And she IS right in that instance, but the implication we get in AOTC is that she's kind-of gotten... worse since then. She follows her instincts no matter what and it leads her to reckless places, up to and including a marriage to a Jedi that is forbidden to her. I even like that Padme is SO selfishly invested in this relationship that she's willing to lie to Obi-Wan to protect Anakin from committing a genocide and then begging him to run away with her so he can escape justice rather than facing the possibility that this is WHO HE IS and she's just been able to ignore it up until now.

I actually like that and think that that's interesting as a character, this... devolution that she has throughout the trilogy in parallel to Anakin and the Senate themselves. She's an immensely flawed person and her connections to the other narratives about how good things go bad can't be a coincidence.

But what sucks is that, over time, Padme has kind-of ended up getting interpreted as this person who was above those kinds of flaws, who wasn't selfish, who WOULD put her duty over her desires. People see Padme as this person who did everything RIGHT and just ended up an unfortunate tragic victim of it like the Jedi when that just... isn't true. And I think it's a reaction to how contradictory Padme's actions (especially in AOTC) seem to be to her character from TPM to just defend her as being RIGHT to be in a relationship with the person she loved despite the reasons for it being forbidden, as being RIGHT to defend Anakin against Obi-Wan's accusations in ROTS, as being RIGHT to prioritize Anakin's comfort instead of condemning what he did to the Tuskens in AOTC. But it misses that Padme isn't just the catalyst for Anakin's choices, she's not just this perfect thing he couldn't live without, she's someone who ENABLED those choices by being selfish herself. She's ALSO someone who started off with such good intentions, such lofty ideals, and was brought low by greed and selfishness and an unwillingness to be mindful about herself and her own desires. Padme might not have ultimately caused a genocide as a result of her selfishness, but it doesn't mean she WASN'T selfish in her choices and that her selfishness helped lead Anakin down a bad path just as much as Palpatine's machinations did. Anakin's choices are obviously still his own and not Padme's FAULT, but I find it frustrating when people try to exonerate Padme of all responsibility for what ultimately happened and pretend like she never did anything wrong in this story, that her love was pure and selfless and free of any attachment.

So on paper, I LIKE Padme's arc and I find it fascinating and the romance is necessary for that arc, but I do think the romance part of it was mishandled badly to the point that it makes Padme feel contradictory and incomplete and underdeveloped. Like if I'm supposed to believe Padme is willing to set aside jokes about dictatorship and the massacre of an entire village of Tuskens when I've been repeatedly told that she's a moral person who cares about humanitarian issues above anything else, I need more than just "this pretty boy is kinda dorky and sweet sometimes." I need know what would DRIVE her to pursue a relationship she knows is forbidden for a reason with a man who is pretty clearly unstable and almost dangerously obsessed with her. What insecurity is making a relationship with Anakin seem so immensely compelling to her, let alone a MARRIAGE.

So either I think the romance needed to be a little more... romantic and eliminate the things like the jokes about dictatorships and the Tusken massacre so Padme doesn't seem like a complete idiot who believes it's okay to murder people so long as those people are Tuskens, or Padme needed to be more explicitly someone who was a little corrupt herself so that Padme being okay with murdering Tuskens and jokes about dictatorship doesn't feel so out of character for her. Or both, maybe a little of both. She's corrupt enough to enter into a relationship with someone she knows she shouldn't without giving up her position as a senator because it's what gives her power, but she's not SO corrupt that murder of an entire village down to the last child is okay so perhaps leave that bit out.

Padme is a character I REALLY loved as a kid when I first watched the Prequels (which were the first Star Wars films I EVER saw) and so I still really like her generally due to pure nostalgia, but my feelings on her have gotten far more complex as I think about her and her narrative more critically.

Ahsoka I think works fine right up until you get to the Ahsoka show where she's just blatantly and wildly out of character and completely flat at the same time. There's things I wish were done a little differently in TCW for my own personal taste, but I think that generally the idea of Ahsoka as someone who only really knew Anakin through the context of war and as a child actually does work. Some of his more violent outbursts can be more easily explained away through the context of the situation as well as a child's sort-of more naive outlook on the adults around them. Ahsoka also never sees him do anything as heinous as the Tusken massacre or make jokes about dictatorships (at least none that I can remember), so unlike Padme, she's not ever blatantly ignoring anything that should be a massive fucking red flag. Well, there's the abusive training from TOTJ, if we choose to consider that canon, which I think Filoni was technically on the fence about. But even that is something that seems to not cause any long-term damage and that Anakin tells her is for her own protection, so it's easier to set aside perhaps than the massacre of an entire village down to the last child.

What makes the Ahsoka show frustrating is that it doesn't ALLOW HER to have an adult perspective on it where she looks back and sees all of the things her child self wouldn't have been able to notice. She never looks back and sees the outbursts of violence or some of his more unorthodox comments about the Jedi as the warning signals that they were. She elects instead to IGNORE everything that he's done in order to double down on the opinion she'd held as a child (and that she'd been able to KEEP up until Malachor) that Anakin was a genuinely good person overall rather than acknowledging that while Anakin had good MOMENTS, he was in fact a bad person and a bad teacher, and she can only move forward if she LETS HIM GO. Ahsoka deserved that and now she'll never get it and it sucks.

Obi-Wan I sort-of disagree with you on in that I don't think Obi-Wan's ever BLIND to his faults. I think this is part of a major misconception of his character that a lot of people seem to share. But Obi-Wan spends like all of AOTC being VERY aware of Anakin's faults and has to figure out how to let go of his worries in order to have faith that Anakin has learned enough to fix and learn from his own mistakes. So by ROTS, it's not that he's blind to Anakin's faults at all, he's just chosen to have faith that even when Anakin stumbles, he'll always pick himself back up again. We see this most evidently in his reaction to Anakin's temper tantrum in the Council chambers about not being made a master where he's clearly disappointed in Anakin's behavior, but he later tells Anakin that despite that, he's still ON HIS SIDE and tries to give Anakin guidance on the situation. He takes Anakin's apology later as a sign that Anakin is sort-of figuring things out a little more, but he is uh. Wrong. Anakin's apology is sort-of half-assed AT BEST, but I can see where Obi-Wan would at least see it as good first step in the right direction. But I don't see Obi-Wan's faith in this film (or in TCW) as a flaw or a blindness because he cares too much about Anakin. It's his STRENGTH. Much like the Jedi themselves, just because his faith was betrayed and misplaced doesn't mean that he was wrong to decide to have faith in the first place. It was STILL the right, healthy choice to make.

The guilt we see him have in the Kenobi show is more a product of the uncertainty surrounding why Anakin did what he did than it is about Obi-Wan caring too much about Anakin to handle what he did. I think if Obi-Wan had KNOWN about Palpatine, and Padme, and the visions, and how all of those things came together, he might've had an easier time of it. But he knows VERY VERY LITTLE about why Anakin is making the choices he's making, and in that uncertainty, the easiest thing to do is blame HIMSELF. Especially since, at the beginning of the show, he believes Anakin to be dead. In some ways, it might feel easier to blame himself than it is to blame Anakin or even Palpatine. And this ISN'T healthy, but I don't think it's necessarily a problem because he blinds himself to Anakin's faults. His journey at the end is about accepting that he may NEVER know why Anakin did what he did, that there might not have BEEN anything he could've done differently or better to cause a different outcome, and that there is likely nothing he CAN DO to keep Luke and Leia from going down the same path. All he can do is have faith again, faith that he did the right thing by giving Luke and Leia to the Larses and Organas, faith that the Larses and Organas will raise Luke and Leia well, faith that Luke and Leia will not be like Anakin and repeat his mistakes.

Rex is definitely just a product of not knowing the truth. I imagine he'd have a LOT less positive gushy things to say about Anakin if he knew Anakin was the one who betrayed them all and became Darth Vader. I'm STILL waiting for someone to show us Rex's reaction to that because I would maybe DIE to see Rex react to finally discovering that particular truth. With what we do have though, I think Rex is mostly come to peace with what's happened to him. I don't think it's that he's choosing to ignore the things that hurt so much as that he's gotten himself to a place where he CAN just... let himself remember good moments with people he'd cared about. The end of it sucked and there were moments in the middle that sucked, too, but there are still a lot of good memories acquired during the war, good people he'd met, good lessons learned. Rex seems like he's in a pretty healthy place by Rebels, having had to live with the truth about the chips for a while and do what he can to live his life as happily as possible with what's left of his family. He can't do anything to change what happened, so he's let it go. He obviously does still have some PTSD from the war, that's always going to be true, but he genuinely seems like one of the most healthy characters in Rebels despite how shit his life has been.

#star wars #padme amidala #obi-wan kenobi #ahsoka tano #captain rex #anidala critical #padme critical #padme amidala critical #anakin critical #anakin skywalker critical #anti anakin #anti anakin skywalker #ahsoka critical #ahsoka tano critical #anti ahsoka show #ahsoka show critical #kenobi show #long post #this got VERY long since there were a lot of characters to discuss

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faceofpoe · 1 month

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"Don't make the same mistake twice."

Because I am fully in camp 'Clone Operative dude is someone devastating under that helmet' do not clown us all on this writers and a spiteful at condescending assholes on Reddit hopeful part of me just really wants it to somehow be (saveable) Tech so we can have a reunited-for-one-last-fight-full-Batch-back-together finale-

The narrative argument for somehow-Tech-returned:

(also see: my (much shorter) narrative contemplation for Cody)

I have a sneaking suspicion that our character development focus is going to shift from Crosshair to Hunter for the back half of the season. Crosshair feels a bit... done? He chose Omega over the easy out on Lau, he's owned up to making mistakes, embraced his place among the squad again ("much worse" than Hunter - lol), he's had his faceoff/heart-to-heart/mutual saving each other rapid progression with Howzer - yeah I imagine there are still things we're going to learn about what he went through/possible ramifications therein, but as far as accepting who he is/his place/etc I think we're winding down on his focus.

Bringing our attention to the end of ep 7 and Rex & Hunter's convo about walking away, and his convo at the end of s2 with Echo about an unwinnable fight and so on. He just wants to protect his squad but the walls are closing in, and Omega won't be content just running and hiding.

And this brings me to the end of season 1 and Crosshair's rather lacking motivational speech about why they should join the Empire finally - they're meant for more than wandering aimlessly as fugitives, etc, and he tells Hunter - "Don't make the same mistake twice."

Now in s3e5, in what felt like the galaxy's most unfinished conversation ever, Hunter tells Crosshair he has "regrets" - but what exactly are they?

Fleeing Kamino in Aftermath, presumably not.

But the number of times in season 1 when he's given the opening to revisit the whole "leaving our own behind" thing and just - doesn't? Everyone else starts in on the "wait maybe the whole thing was the chip?' convo in ep 3 and he shuts it down to focus on the crisis at hand. He later says he's mad at himself for leaving Crosshair behind, and Omega says they'll find a way to get him back and he nods but - I don't think the notion is ever revisited?

Rex emphasizes how the chips are impossible to resist.

They *see* what it does to Wrecker.

Howzer refuses to flee Ryloth with them because he won't abandon his squad - knows they're good men, hopes he can convince them that they're not doing the right thing. We get a brief contemplative look at that, and the look back at Crosshair after they flee but.

After Kamino and after Bracca, sure, maybe the risk of even trying to get to him would seem too high - but we never even get a conversation about it, about finding a way to recover Crosshair and get the chip out now that they know how to do it.

He's also the most skeptical one about the Plan 88 message even after a presumably decent chunk of time has passed, after he knows the chip is gone, after Crosshair saved Omega on Kamino.

So - thesis, please - my narrative argument for wintersoldier'ified-Tech isn't about very mean visual teases callbacks, and it's not about undoing Tech's sacrifice or carving out room for a Tech redemption arc (because we wouldn't need it) (seriously this one baffles me, what?) -

It's about Hunter getting the chance to not make the same (actual) mistake twice, writing off one of his squad as a lost cause and leaving them behind.

(I'm also still really hung up on meeting Phee on the line "Better late than dead" but that's a different conversation)

Thank you for coming to my Tech talk.

#help we're entering 'poe left unattended with tbb' territory that's traditionally been reserved for andor #the bad batch #tbb #the bad batch spoilers #tbb spoilers #bad batch #bad batch spoilers #look I can't fathom how dude could have survived there was literally a whole cable car falling on top of him #but like #this fucking show lol #this is the part where someone is going to point out a very obvious conversation I've forgotten about that discounts everything I just said #but until then #lol

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omgpoindexter · 5 months

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more nurseydex fics!!!

i’ve been doing my duty properly and reading some different nurseydex fics on ao3 lately 🫡 i tried to find some that are more recent, however i inevitably found some that are older but slipped through the cracks for me.

here are some of the ones i came across that you need to read! i might make this a thing again if anyone is interested, im sure y’all have been much more on the ball with reading nurseydex fics than i have over the years but i do love reccing <3

suddenly this summer it’s clear by @dessertwaffles

The summer before senior year, Nursey and Dex become closer than ever.

Or, Nursey and Dex's developing relationship, as told through their text messages.

i was absolutely grinning the entire way through this. it’s a texting fic, with images rather than plain text (so clever!) but their personalities are so strong and their interactions are just perfect! and you know i love a texting fic

getting used to letting go by @jennybeantime

Dex was supposed to have a fancy job in some city upon graduation, but his plans changed once his uncle died and left the family home in Maine to him. Without immediate obligations of their own, Nursey, Chowder and Farmer follow Dex up there to help him clear it out and clean it up.

this fic is BEAUTIFUL. if you haven’t read it then please do yourself a favour and do it now. it captures certain feelings and emotions so effortlessly and i felt like i was in a little maine bubble living this story with them. i can’t believe i missed this one before, please please read!!

got the feeling you’re the right thing after all by @bisexualnursey

Two and a half years after he breaks up with Dex to go to grad school across the country, Nursey runs into him again when he visits New York for the holidays. What starts as them just rekindling their friendship quickly turns into a whole other thing: a 100% no-strings-attached friends with benefits arrangement while they’re in the same city.

Which is totally chill because Nursey is definitely over Dex. He swears. He’s going back to California soon anyway.

i seriously CANNOT BELIEVE i never read this before but i think i was in my inactive era when this was posted. it’s just so perfect!!! all the feelings and interactions with not only dex and nursey but all the other characters, friends and family, they all felt so real and i loved them so much. i’ll be rereading this a LOT! you should too!!

here i am (leaving you clues) by @averteddeyes

Will loves Nursey. Nursey loves Will. Will isn’t really quite sure how to deal with it.

(Alternatively: Will learns acceptance through poetry, hesitant communication, and brightly colored sticky notes.)

this is really gorgeously written. angst warning, because ouch!!! also poetry as a love language, like a really good selection of poetry, i really enjoyed it and how it weaves into the story. and the bittydex friendship is so important to me!!!

volta by @plusoultres

volta (n.) a turning point or point of change in a poem, most commonly a sonnet.

Or, five times a poem doesn’t reach its intended recipient, and one time it does; five drafts, and one work completed; five turning points, and one ending.

the second fic was inspired by this one, and thank goodness it was because this one totally slipped through the cracks and i’m so glad i read it. their banter is just brilliant and i love the variation in medium, and the poetry is beautiful! i could quote lines from this but im not going to. just. read it

things got weird (when we made out) by @andtimestoodstill

Nursey is being stupid about this. He knows he’s being stupid.

super fun and really cute, i love it when these two are just being idiots. great inclusion of the other teammates too. read it for this line alone: “[You’re doing] That thing where you forget to look like you hate Dex and just stare at him like some Victorian lady who just saw a hot dude for the first time.” because it made me laugh out loud

things that go bump in the night by @smashthatlikebitty

The first time it happens, Dex rolls over and flings so many obscenities in Nursey’s direction that even his Grandmother would have to sit down — and she cursed so much at Dex’s cousin’s wedding that the whole family has been banned from that church ever since.

Nursey just stills in the dark, one shoe off. A languid, infuriating presence. “Chill, man.”

essentially all the times nursey’s clumsy ass wakes dex up in the night. oh how i love pretending these two roomied their way into a relationship! this is so cute, smiled all the way through

some things take two people to build by @cricketnationrise

“You are the single most dramatic person I have ever met,” Dex mutters, trying valiantly to hide his grin.

Or, 5 times Dex wishes their relationship was real +1 time he doesn't have to

this was so fun, yet again i love them being idiots!!! these two in new york city is so important to me. and i for one would LOVE to read the work party 5+1 fic. just saying

#heavily considering doing more of these if anyone’s interested #also y’all are so good in this fandom it’s so INSPIRING !#nurseydex #fic rec

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sepublic · 2 years

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Honestly kudos to the writers for throwing in fan service by bringing back fan favorites and making it feel totally natural and not at all awkward nor forced, especially with Steve! Like with the Detention Kids it makes sense, they’re very thematically important given their introduction of multi-track learning, as people who were positively influenced by Luz and vice-versa and go to Hexside. But STEVE man...

There was literally nothing to this dude. He was just a joke covenscout who appeared for one scene and had no personality besides blind obedience to authority and wanting approval. He was truly a one-off while the Detention Kids were at least relevant to their episode, and thematically as a whole. But not only did the writers still give Steve a bigger role as a thank you to fans, but they made it work;

The way Steve is used to give insight into the average covenscout, how they’re all regular witches like our beloved protagonists who got indoctrinated and roped in. How Steve helps Hunter realize just how messed up this all is, as someone with an outside reference for what interactions should be like due to having a family before this; Reminding him of the palismen and promoting another vital step in Hunter’s arc.

The way his expressed doubt pairs so well with Severine’s little arc, and complements Lilith leaving the Emperor’s Coven; How their leader doing that surely inspired some covenscouts, allowing Lilith to actually be a beloved example for people to follow!

AND THIS! Steve being an older brother to King, a stranger he can just talk to without the baggage of everything that’s gone on. Someone who can relate to King and give him advice, with a clearer head due to being far less stressed about it all. Someone who’s done that introspection, also got what he wanted only to realize it’s not the power and fear that he desires. And how Steve validates King’s shift in goals, reassures him he’s not silly or ungrateful or anything else for no longer wanting this. All of which perfectly taps off King’s character arc of wanting power and to be special, only to realize he just wants and needs friends... So when it feels like he can’t keep the latter but WILL get the former, it’s a bitter and hollow victory.

And for a little kid going through a lot, it feels great to be told that’s okay! So Steve is just a great receptacle for other characters’ arcs, a soothing outside opinion to talk to when there’s nobody else. Really just big bro vibes to all, a therapeutic and guiding influence all big bros should aspire to be. And if the theory is true that he IS Mattholomule’s older brother... It really wonderfully answers how Matt’s older brother had a map to the Looking Glass Graveyard that the covenscouts didn’t. Which just loops back to that episode, and also further ties Steve to Mattholomule, another character who’s had an arc, as well as our beloved Gus.

And in turn Mattholomule motivates Steve, since according to Hunter, covenscouts are cut off from their family. So clearly Steve wanted to go back, he was glad to help his little bro and that got along Mattholomule’s adventure and development with Gus, which led to him being a multi-track kid and helping in the rebellion against the very coven his older brother had reservations over; While getting along Gus’ development both times. Then there’s the theory that Steve and Mattholomule are the kids of Ulrich, head of the Construction Coven, and a potential motive for him to redeem himself; And thus help our allies, as his kids did now and are going to keep doing so at a crucial moment!

Just the overlapping web of connections. The way it all feels connected as part of one larger, sonder community. How just one chance encounter can really change your life, butterfly effect. It really does feel like destiny, which it sort of is because this is a story written and planned by people after all. You really get the sense that everyone has their own life and their own relationships with each other, each unique. That we’re all influencing one another and part of this complex, overlapping system, and what goes around comes around, as it all ties together! This show man... It’s one thing to make a return non-obtrusive, but actively beneficial to the plot and character arcs in a way where it’s almost integral yet still natural and not at all forced-

Somebody was needed for a role, something had to be done for these characters and by someone. So rather than make a new one off the bat, the writers cleverly reused someone we’re already familiar with, thus making that character and moment all the more intimate and meaningful!

#the owl house #the owl house steve #king clawthorne #the owl house Mattholomule #meta #speculation #theory

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sokkastyles · 5 months

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What are your thoughts on Pakku going to the SWT and he and Kanna becoming a couple again? Personally, it always felt really rushed/out of nowhere to me. Not that Pakku would go to the South to help rebuild, but that Kanna would accept him back into her life romantically or that it would take so little time for her to decide to do so.

It is rushed, and pretty questionable storytelling wise, and there's no real reason for it to happen. What is especially jarring about it, though, is how little Kanna gets a voice in this storyline.

I mean, forget for a minute the questionable choice of having a woman who went across a continent to flee an arranged marriage just get back together with that person after decades. Even if we accepted this as a choice the writers made, the problem is that we have no idea how Kanna felt at any time about any of it.

It seems like there was an attempt at character development there, but a lot of it is actually assumed by the fandom to fill in the gaps. All we're actually told in the series is that Kanna left because she didn't want to marry Pakku. I have seen some fans extrapolate that Kanna did love Pakku, but that what she wanted was a choice, and that's why she agrees to marry Pakku in the end, after Katara taught him How to Respect Women (another problematic trope that this series has a problem with in general). But even if we assume those things, all of that is still fanon. We aren't told any of this, how Kanna felt or why her feelings changed. Katara actually says that Kanna didn't love Pakku, and while Katara could have been incorrect, the problem is that we never actually get to hear from Kanna about it, at any point. Even when they get back together, we don't know why. All we hear is that Pakku says he made a new betrothal necklace for her.

It would have been very easy to fix this problem by just adding a few lines of dialogue to make Kanna's feelings more clear and present in the story. Maybe Pakku tells Katara how Kanna gave him an ultimatum and said that she would not be another man's prize. And then when the group sees Pakku again with the White Lotus, Pakku tells Katara how her bravery in standing up to him made him realize how he had lost Kanna through his own pigheadedness, and he proposed to her anew if only she would have him. In just a few lines of dialogue, we get a lot more of Kanna's agency and we see that Pakku has actually changed as a person. It's still problematic, but a lot more palatable.

Hell, you could even add in a line of dialogue about how Kanna is helping Pakku open up a school for female waterbenders now, and that would give us some sense of character development that would have helped us understand how their relationship developed. It also brings things nicely full circle from Kanna watching Hama and the other waterbenders from her village being taken away, and solves the exceptionalism issue that is part of the problem with that whole subplot, because we don't get so much of a sense that Pakku has actually learned to respect women vs learning to respect Katara because she is tough or because she is Kanna's granddaughter.

What's even more confusing is how the necklace came to symbolize what it does for Katara, and how that fits with the Pakku thing. It's my personal headcanon that Kanna passed it on to her daughter as a symbol of what she had overcome, of her own determination to be free, and Kya did the same thing with her daughter. Katara had to get her feminism from somewhere. But then that's hard to reconcile with a Kanna who was secretly pining for her lost love all these years and who would accept another necklace from the same dude.

The show just didn't bother to give Kanna a voice here, and that's the biggest problem.

#pakku #kanna #katara #atla criticism

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beansterpie · 2 months

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Not to ramble about es21 but just saw a take on Twitter that presented Hiruma as someone who is clinging onto his persona (so his hair, the piercings, the threats— the things he allegedly does for the sake of scaring people) because he doesn’t see/understand himself, with the implication that he needs to stop clinging onto these things and face reality (eg, grow up). This is within the context of him in university and continuing to maintain his dyed hair. It’s a sentiment that I don't agree with and suddenly felt like rambling on about the topic lol.

For one, I don’t think the way he presents himself is solely for the sake of intimidating others. It’s definitely a factor, but I also think he just likes it. It’s like everything else he does— the renovated club room doesn’t do anything to intimidate rival teams but he did it anyway because he likes flashy, gaudy shit. His cartoon violence guns are certainly to intimidate people, but he also just likes guns. His trick plays are to confuse the opposing team and to make up for the lack of formal training that the Devilbats have, but he also just likes trick plays! It suits his personality, that’s just the kind of dude he is. He exaggerates aspects of himself to get a rise out of people, but they’re still aspects of him. Imo, what unnerves people is that he’s so unabashedly himself, and who he is is unhinged and calculating and contradictory and unapologetic. I’d even argue that his ‘unhinged’ side is him at his happiest, and when he gets quiet and pensive, he’s at his most tense or disappointed or like, bored with life lmfao.

And as far as canon goes, at least imo, it presents Hiruma as a person who is very honest with himself about who he is. He has no illusions about his limitations and isn't shy about letting people know that, not to mention how shameless he is in his goal of winning. He doesn't give a fuck what other people think of him, which I think is a pretty good indicator that he's comfortable in his own skin.

That being said, I do think he’s got trust issues when it comes to letting people in emotionally or allowing people to see his vulnerabilities. I think there’s enough in canon to suggest that this is probably because he’s been totally independent for so long and so learned to rely only on himself. Like, all we really know about his background is that he’s been living alone since middle school and has an estranged father lol. Throughout the series we see the exceptions to this in Kurita and Musashi, as well as new people joining those ranks like Mamori and to an extent Sena and the rest of the devilbats. Hiruma's arc is coming to trust and believe in his teammates, rather than solely operating on statistics and probability.

But I don’t think a guy having some trust issues necessarily means that he doesn’t know himself. For such a trickster-like character, he’s remarkably frank about what he wants and why.

And tbh, on a personal preference level, I find any future where Hiruma matures in a way that has him becoming more ‘normal’ low key a tragedy lmfao. I could see him choosing to stop bleaching his hair somewhere down the line because he can’t be assed anymore, but I cannot see him getting a more conventional haircut or developing more conventional tastes. Hiruma would continue to be a goth-punk who’s too into football and gambling even as an old man, change my mind.

#bean talking into the void #eyeshield 21 #es21 #hiruma yoichi

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ssaalexblake · 11 months

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What do you think about Ryan's character development? I think I really like it but I always have trouble putting it into words

I love love love LOve Ryan's entire A-Z, we witnessed a whole ass coming of age story and it was so nice to see him grow into the person he is when he says he's done and wants to stay at home.

Because like, both Yaz and Ryan's arcs are coming of age stories, but they have one key difference that meant Ryan was always going to choose to leave and that Yaz was always going to wait till she had no choice but to leave. That difference is, of course, that Yaz saw travelling as a way to grow up, to gain independence as an adult and gain that power to help people she had craved for years. A way to escape the cage of home that was limiting her, she saw it as an increase in responsibility. Ryan, however, saw travelling as a break from growing up. Ryan saw it as a fun pass time, because to him, growing up was going back home to his responsibilities. To be present for those around him and be reliable. To him, in the end, traveling became irresponsible, and irresponsibility is Ryan's worst fear.

They have similar narratives, but that one key difference in perspective leads them to taking totally different paths in the end.

Because we meet Ryan and he has his mates and all, and he's a friendly guy and obviously cares a lot about them, but his person is Grace. His mum dies, his dad leaves him high and dry and who was there for him the whole way through? It was is Gran. To a kid who has basically suddenly lost both parents, one to a sudden death and the other who abandoned him in his grief, having a rock like her would have been a lifeline. And then she dies.

Now, at that point, it's clear Graham does care about Ryan but from Ryan's perspective he's basically just lost everything suddenly, Again. I think it would have been fair for him to think Graham would just leave at this point, he's never liked him and it's not a great relationship and if even his actual dad packed up and left and didn't even bother to go to his own mum's funeral, then why on earth would Graham stick around?

But. He did. Graham didn't care that Ryan didn't like him, only that Ryan would let him help him anyway. Graham stuck around and looked out for him and cared for him even if really, very few people would have judged him had he not managed to make a good relationship with his late wife's grandson who notably did not like him. Graham wasn't morally, legally or for fear of overt judgement required to stick it out for him and he still did.

And Ryan, he's a smart dude. He notices this and he notices it pretty quickly, and he reacts to that by softening on Graham and deepening their relationship, and letting Graham guide and mentor him in a grandparental way. He talks to him about his frustrations with his dad, that he's annoyed he's acting that they can be a happy family now, when he's never put in the work and is putting Graham down when Graham Did and Has put in all that work. Then they get interrupted by a gargantuan spider, but nvmd.

A few episodes worth of Graham proving he's not gonna up and leave and will be there, even if he's not perfect, and Ryan's learning that that's what family really does for you. He's learnt that family isn't always what it's supposed to look like and that the people who show up for you are important, even if the people who show up aren't who you were expecting them to be. He continues to learn from Graham through the two seasons, his conflict resolution skills improve vastly through his tenure and he sure didn't learn it from anybody but Graham. He puts in sincere effort into being there for people as the most important thing you can do and he learnt this from Grace and Graham.

In Can You Hear Me? His fear is not Only that earth is wrecked and destroyed, it's that he wasn't there to help! He ran off and abandoned the planet and it died! He wasn't responsible enough. He was irresponsible like his dad and look what happened! In the same episode he's also hit with the fact that despite the fact that he's been off galivanting the universe, life at home had gone on without him and maybe he left people who needed him there for a bit Too long. Like, nobody's gonna begrudge a guy just out of school his gap year travels and that's basically what went on, but after a while it's not being on a fun trip for a while, it's shirking to a point. And like, you can live a life where it's not irresponsible and you're not beholden to one place and its people, but Ryan is categorically NOT this person because he has no urge to be this person. He's not the wine aunt who drops in every few months with cool gifts and wild advice who swans off again without a care. He saw his friend was really suffering in his absence and could have used his help and presence and is suddenly hit with the fact that he's running away, kind of sort of like his dad. A bit. and That hits him hard.

Can You Hear Me? Is when Ryan decided he's going to leave. His talk with Yaz about this demonstrates their differences but kind of makes it clear he's had this revelation, he probably was going to give it an adventure or two more and bow out, except the next adventure was the haunting of villa diodati and it snowballs and at the end they're all forced home anyway. He's not okay with the situation, but he can do being at home, he wanted it anyway.

(and damn, Ryan being the one who was strong in the face of 13 going off to be responsible for her actions and blow up the planet (and herself) kills me. It hits me in the face. He's used to losing people he loves. At least this is her choice. At least she's being responsible for her actions. At least this is an act of saving people. The least he could do is not make it harder for her to do. He can be strong. Yaz couldn't, she's not used to this, and Graham was clearly having a harder time here, but Ryan can be that guy for her. It just eats me up inside in all the good ways that storytelling can do.).

This whole thing with 13 ending up in prison and not being able to go back to them, and his disappointed but not over-reaction to it also showed us he'd learnt an important lesson in the arc with his dad as he's handling this very maturely. His dad didn't abandon him out of cruelty or apathy, he didn't fail to show up because he hated him or wished him ill. Not everybody who isn't present for you is being malicious. He sees in with Hanne's dad in it takes you away and he sees it with his own eventually in resolution. They were two men who failed because they couldn't do it, weren't strong enough to step up. The lesson that not everybody is Trying to hurt us is painful and not always one we want to hear, it can be comforting to make the other person the Malicious guy, but that just isn't always realistic. He learnt his dad was swimming in his own grief and it was too hard and he didn't step up from the pain. It had nothing to do with Ryan. This is not good, but it's also him being human rather than not caring for Ryan. So when 13 appears 10 months later... He can take it. He doesn't react how Ryan of S11 would have. He knows better now. He grew. He's sad, but he knows she didn't try to hurt him. He sees she's sorry and knows she's not often sorry, so that has to mean something.

There is also his Doctor arc, which is different from Yaz's in flavour because he's not trying to be her, he's trying to be him inspired by her, he's taking inspiration from her and graham and taking what he needs. He takes in what she has to teach over the era like a sponge. Ryan who thinks guns are cool in TGM and goes to shoot those robots to live out a gaming fantasy has it blow up in his face and gets his ass chewed out by 13 for it. He learns from her, takes in her lessons of compassion and care, appreciates her guidance even though she's a massive weirdo.

She teaches him the kids guide to the universe, in effect imo. No violence, no guns, we are peaceful, we do not hurt people and we live the idea of pacifism, which is the height of goodness... But the thing is, that's a very reductive view of the world, isn't it? In reality, The Doctor is a pacifist till they're not, which is code for they're not a pacifist (kind of an all or nothing thing). When it gets down to it, the Doctor Will do bad things in the name of good even if they hate themselves for it (or sometimes when it doesn't pass their mind to fell bad at all). In The Timeless Children, the master takes the doctor out of play and the fam have to -in effect- join forces to be the doctor, Yaz and Graham have different roles, but Ryan's final personal lesson in doctor school is that when it gets bad and the doctor is the last line of defence, they take up arms.

When Ryan is confronted with the choices the doctor makes every day he does what she'd have done, and blows up the cybermen in defence of himself and the people around him. He lost her protection and had to be the 'adult' here and he steps up, and to Ryan stepping up is The most important thing.

13 had shown him the nice parts of the universe, and gotten her own hands dirty instead of making his dirty over and over again. But she wasn't there this time, and he had to grow up and take the mantle. And was not warning him harsh? possibly, but it was also an act of love. We don't (ideally) tell our young people the harsh realities of life until they get to have a childhood for a reason. It is a gift, one she tried to give him, but he had to 'grow up' before he left and that he did.

by the time revolution of the daleks happens, Ryan knows absolutely that he is done. He will help save earth because he's one of the few people in the know and he views it as his responsibility, but he doesn't want to travel the universe anymore. He has important things to do at home, things that are just as important as anything out there in the big universe. He went travelling as a young adult, saw how vast and wide the world was, and went home and hunkered down and got to making the world He has a better place.

What a charming arc.

What a good person, and what a beautiful man.

#dw shit #i love ryan more than i can say i love his arc i love him as a person and everybody who #doesn't think he has a personality or arc is suspect as hell :)))))#taiey #dw meta

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shin-meddlesome-hero · 6 months

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Some of my notes from watching Zeta Gundam very, very slowly (up until ep. 34)

(Needless to say that it contains spoilers and that I get very annoying about the female characters because that's my thing)

-I'm 6 episodes into Zeta Gundam and I still don't know what to make of Kamille. On the other hand, it took me a look at some screenshots of SD Gundam Kamille to know that I'd die for him.

-I was very surprised to see Kamille openly declaring that he's autistic. Why don't we have more of that?

-20 episodes in, now (watching v. slowly). So... Z isn't exactly that great about women... right? 0079 left me gladly surprised on that front, but my expectations were super low. Maybe I should turn off that part of my brain while watching this.

- I hate to say this about a female character but so far Beltorchika is so annoying. Wake up, sis! You can't fix the dude, you barely know him! He's not opening up to you, and please leave the 15 year old out of your problems with Amuro!

-"I learned karate and how to make Mobile Suits to become a man!". Kamille isn't beating the transmasc allegations /J

-It makes sense that Kamille resents her mother for apparently caring more about her job than her family, but this does speak more of that general anxiety about women in the workplace than of anything else. Might be a common cliché at the time, still don't like it.

-She's allowed to be a terrible mom, but maybe for other more nuanced reasons? Also the fact that Kamille mentions that Fa made things that his mother should've done for him... it's gonna be really awkward if Kamille/Fa is the endgame ship.

-So, if both Kamille's parents were responsible for the development of the MK-II, then when he fights in it, one can say that his parents are still protecting him. On the other hand, we could also consider the MK-II as Kamille's little br- *gets shot*

-Ep 21: The titular Zeta Gundam appears. -Male Feminist guy is creepy. -Bright has the vibes of an exhausted High School teacher. - Fa rescues Kamille in space. This two are soo endgame

-Bright: Emma, you should do something about Kamille and Fa. Emma: Nah. I'm not Kamille's mom, besides, teens like to make drama as a form of recreation.

Emma is so cool. (Also, she and Reccoa should kiss)

-If there's a fanfic out there about Bright Noah being a clueless high school teacher/principal, please let me know. That's like the perfect AU for him.

-Girls can also fuck up in the battlefield and get slapped as a form of military disciplinary tactic! Hashtag equality. (But seriously though, I wasn't expecting Fa to become a pilot. Interesting).

-In the comment section of the dubious site where I'm watching this show, people are saying that Zeta is ahead of its time. And yeah, in many aspects it is. On the other hand it took Gundam 40+ years to have a girl protag. Suletta Mercury should've been invented like 30 or 20 years ago.

-Meanwhile, Scirocco is high-key trying to get Jerid killed and failing. They're both huge losers.

-Also, Kamille is slowly and steadily growing on me.

-Kamille becomes more mature and thoughtful. - The story brings Katz to be the new impulsive boy who fucks everything up. -Katz matures after a couple of episodes. -Now there's a pair of annoying kids whose only purpose is to awake Fa's maternal instinct (???) It never ends!

-On the other hand, I did enjoy those five seconds where Quattro was babysitting those kids. Would've preferred more of that.

-I love that in-universe everyone refers to teenage drama as "recreation". Even Kamille at some point admits that he and Fa are engaging in such recreation. At least their relationship is evolving in a healthier way than Amuro and Fraw's in 0079.

-Between Reccoa possibly having feelings for Scirocco and Mauar protecting Jerid, it's evident that in this universe everyone suffers from having Bad Taste in Men. Y'all could do better, queens!

-Also everyone punches and slaps each other so much. And it's not a love language. It's just another language that everyone just use. (There's even a punch compilation in tumblr, it's hilarious).

-I really hope to eventually get an explanation of what's up with those kids that Char brought from Earth, because so far their only purpose is to fuel Fa's maternal instincts.

-Episode 33! We're finally meeting those funny guys from Axis. This is also full of high quality Char moments.

-*Char has flashbacks of him playing with toddler!Mineva and also gets angry when he realizes how much they have manipulated her* Aww, daddy Char.

* Char unnecesarily beats the crap out of Kamille, five minutes later* Hey! What the hell, Char?!

-Char: "I have never betrayed anyone in my entire life! Ever!

lol, a classic.

-Help! Char is starting to have a similar effect on me as the one that other horrible and pathetic fictional white men have on tumblrinas.

-Seriously though, if UC Gundam were more popular in the western hemisphere, Char Aznable would totally be a Tumblr Sexyman. *shudders*

-Me: I see, so Reccoa actually has a death wish, she recklessly jumps into the battlefield on a desperate attempt to find her own demise, but she doesn't know it.

Z Gundam: Actually Scirocco is brainwashing her with space magic and she's sexually frustrated with Char.

Wha-?

-Reccoa has so many death flags that I'm always surprised whenever she survives. Her fake "death" and its consequences were really well done. I particularly liked Kamille's reaction.

-Maybe the most effective death flag in Zeta is being close to Jerid. That's more letal than the birthday song or being near Amuro's range.

And that's all for now. Join me next time as I try to watch Z less slowly so I might be able to watch "Char's Counterattack" before Christmas 2023.

#zeta gundam #gundam #mobile suit gundam #kamille bidan #quattro bajeena #char aznable #fa yuiry #reccoa londe #paptimus scirocco #emma sheen #Jerid Messa #amuro ray #bright noa #suletta for some reason #gundamblogging

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paradoxcase · 8 days

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John 5:4

THE TOWER HAS BEEN REACTIVATED

So I guess that is for "Earth" and then "Alecto" and then "Harrow". It's interesting that this little secondary story does not actually tell us anything about where the name "Alecto" came from. Was it a name that John gave to her? Or one that she gave herself? Given John's obsession with the name Gaia, I would have thought he'd pick that

You've proven over and over again that no one should trust you with anything, dude

Harrow mentions "waking up" as being a separate thing from resurrection again later, but it's not clear what this means at either point

Are you telling me that John made them forget everything just by doing something physical to their brains and Mercy the anatomy expert who definitely figured out what Harrow did to her brain after only a few months never figured this out in 10,000 years? I cannot believe that

This makes it sound like the other planets were already populated before John destroyed everything. So how did those people die? Did just killing the planets cause that to happen? Did John kill all the people on the planets in addition to the planets? I figured that at least the technology to make the other planets habitable had come from after the start of the 10,000 years, but apparently not even that was invented during John's regime, the whole society has just been completely static the whole time. This is straining suspension of disbelief here

There's no way they decided they wanted to do whatever John did with Alecto, because until the end of Harrow the Ninth, all of the Lyctors thought Alecto was just someone that John resurrected who came back wrong, they didn't realize she was Earth, and they definitely didn't realize she was John's cavalier, that was the whole point of the reveal at the end of the last book

So confirmed that John only created the Lyctors so that they would be roped into fighting the resurrection beasts for him. And then he talks about ripping his fingers from his hands and throwing them to the resurrection beasts, but what he really means is sacrificing his friends so that he can continue on

Oh my god, I don't think I've ever been this mad about someone misinterpreting a bible story before. The whole point of the flood story was that God said, oh, no, this was a terrible mistake, I'm so sorry, I promise I will never destroy the world again no matter how bad it gets. The point was not that the world was evil and needed a "fresh start", the point of the story was that destroying the world just because there are some evil people there is wrong. And like, this isn't a one-time lesson in the OT, either, it comes back again in the Sodom and Gomorrah story when God wants to destroy the cities because there are some bad people there and Abraham has a big argument with him and argues him down to agreeing to spare the cities if there is even one good person there other than Lot and his family. This was like, character development for God, he went from someone who destroyed the whole world because of some bad people and he is learning and relenting and getting some perspective from Abraham. And then later you have the story of Jonah, where now it's Jonah who wants the city destroyed, and God is lecturing him about why that's not right. Like, to the extent that the OT, which was written by like four or five different people with very different ideas of who God was and then frankensteined together by an editor hundreds of years later actually has a coherent narrative and consistent themes, this is pretty consistent. How does someone who grows up with these stories fail at understanding them so badly? How is it possible for someone who probably has advanced degrees to have such shit reading comprehension? This is the most infuriating thing John has ever said in these entire last two books

So this is what she meant by "where did you put the people" at the end of the last John chapter. I would guess the answer is either that he actually consumed all of their souls for power somehow, or that their souls are somewhere generating power in some way. I guess this probably won't be answered until the fourth book

The "tower" that's been menitoned... but it doesn't seem like this is meant to be Canaan House, as people have indicated on previous posts, and at least in this case it seems to be something that's in the River, or maybe she is just travelling through the River to get there?

Also, since this is the last John chapter, I have to ask, for poll-making purposes: Is it ever clarified in this book or elsewhere which country was the one that hired John to puppet around their dead head of state?

#the locked tomb #nona the ninth

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