#They're become very integral to his story

[celaenaeiln]

in like a one person gets one, who would dicks soulmate (platonic or not idk) be? i’ve asked this to several ppl and the answers are usually wally, donna, or jason though i’ve seen some ppl say slade, roy, and bruce.

Anon your ask has literally been haunting me at night. I thought I knew the answer but then you hit me with a Donna!! But between Bruce and Donna, I can't decide so I'll just present a case for both.

Bruce

Bruce and Dick are soulmates on a cosmological scale. The DC universe ordained them to always find each other because they're quite literally a fated pair.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Issue #23

Bruce: The only regret is that I'm out there alone. It felt good having someone at my back, being part of a team...but no sense wasting time wishing for something I'll never have.

Dick: He's cool, dad...d'you think we'll ever see him when we play Gotham?

The universe literally brings them together no matter the circumstances.

Convergence Issue #4

"The bond between you and Bruce Wayne echoes in every reality."

I don't think there's any stronger evidence for Dick and Bruce being soulmates than this.

But if that's still not enough I have more-

The Multiversity: Guidebook

In Bruce's world he lost Dick and in Dick's world he lost Bruce, but still in the end they somehow find each other. In every universe that has Batman, if someone is his partner it's always Dick.

In the medieval ages world-

Batman: Dark Knight of the Round Table Issue #1

The world of "A Christmas Carol" with Ebenezer Scrooge -

Batman: Noël

In a world where Bruce is a doctor at Arkham -

The Batman of Arkham

Dick is always there as his second.

Here's another interesting but depressing fact: In worlds where Dick Grayson has died as Robin, Bruce Wayne has never taken in another Robin.

This is because on top of the fact that Dick and Bruce as fated to meet, Dick means the entire world for Bruce. Like sometimes Bruce will come across a case with a child involved and the first thing he'll think about is Dick.

Batman: City of Madness Issue #2

Bruce's mind and life is literally consumed by Dick Grayson on a cosmologically spiritual level.

Donna

Donna is Dick's soulmate on a twin-sister spiritual level. Dick and Bruce are two halves of a whole, yin and yang. Dick and Donna though are one person. Their relationship is like taking paint and mixing it together to get something new. Like in those comics where two people look at each other and there's a "zing!" and suddenly it's an instant connection. That's them.

Titans (2016) Special 1

additionally:

Titans (2016) Special 1

New Titans (1988) Issue #89

Dick and Donna have no secrets. They're like a jigsaw puzzle, their pieces fall right into place.

He's always there for her-

The New Teen Titans (1980) Issue #38

They're so special and integral to each other that when an evil witch erases Donna from everyone's memories, there is only one focal point for her. One focal person for her throughout the years. Even though he doesn't remember her, Dick literally goes back in time with his future daughter Mar'i to help Donna, his soul-sister-

The Titans (1999) Issue #25

In every. single. moment of Donna's past Dick appears again and again to comfort her and be her pillar from Robin to civies to Nightwing. In the "Who is Donna Troy" Arc, as the story goes from the origins of Donna to the present, it becomes very clear that Dick is her centerpoint.

They're the definition of soulmates.

She knows him better than anyone else and he knows her. She even had him walk her Donna the aisle for her wedding. He was given that honor because of who they are to each other.

Tales of the Teen Titans Issue #42

I...

just-

Tales of the Teen Titans Issue #50

to love like that...

They're made for each other.

#dick grayson #nightwing #bruce wayne #batman #donna troy #wonder girl #troia #robin dick grayson #dc titans #titans as family #cl anon asks #cl asks #thanks for the ask! #koriandr #starfire

[comicaurora]

ooooh the wisdom of 3 AM has just inspired me with a very cool and sad explanation for something in TotK, I'll try to phrase it as spoiler-neutral as possible just in case it breaches containment or tumblr's formatting borks again

so of course if you do the complete geoglyphs quest quickly enough you find out very early that [SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS], and despite having many, many opportunities to tell his friends and allies this information at many relevant points, Link never does. It's never even a dialogue option, even after you get near the end of the game and it becomes very, very obvious.

Mechanically it's a gameplay/story integration thing to make sure the player isn't locked out of major events and questlines just by doing things out of order. Narratively, Link is enough of a blank slate that this decision on his part is interestingly jarring, and makes us wonder why we don't even have the option to get the other heroes up to speed.

There are a number of fascinating internal reasons he might do this - guilt, grief, denial, angsty lonerism - but a very simple factor just occurred to me.

Nearly everyone he has the opportunity to tell this information to is a selfless heroic type who is very worried about not having enough power to beat Ganondorf and save the world, and is willing to do anything to succeed. He's seen the type. He IS that type. He knows how that headspace works.

And he knows from nearly minute one that they're all about to get secret stones.

He has a really good reason not to give them any ideas.

#totk spoilers #tears of the kingdom spoilers #not aurora

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Regarding the great seven, did they win in Twisted Wonderland? Like, for example, did Jafar became sultan and the current royal family of the Scalding Sands are his descendants? Did Aladdin die because of him?

No, that's (largely) not the case! Twisted Wonderland is simply a world in which the characters we know of irl as villains that did heinous stuff are just viewed in Twisted Wonderland as historical figures who contributed greatly to society. It's no different than how we may study our own historical figures and their accomplishments in social studies/history class.

While we do hear stories about the Great Seven and their powers, we rarely hear stories which would imply they somehow "won" in the end as opposed to the heroes. For example, Jasmine and Aladdin are implied to still very much be in love, as Jamil tells the tale of a street rat that married a princess. (If Jafar had "won", wouldn't he have been the one to marry the princess?) However, there ALSO exists a tale concurrent to that one in which we're told the Sorcerer of the Sands revealed that someone had lied about their social standing to trick a princess. There are no indications that these two stories are one and the same, so in the world of TWST it seems they're two separate instances that both draw inspiration from Aladdin. There are also no indications (ever) of the Disney heroes dying because of the Great Seven. In fact, it seems like many of them still got their original happy endings. (ADDENDUM: as a commenter pointed out, it’s also possible that multiple tales or versions of the tale came from the same initial story, something which happens irl as well.) Similarly, we know that the mermaid princess married a human prince, thus alleviating tensions between merfolk and humans with their union. This would not have been possible if Ursula had "won", as that would mean that Ariel would have reverted back to being a mermaid (or that little squishy thing Ursula has a garden of) and would "belong" to the Sea Witch forever. Ariel wouldn't have been able to stay on land and marry Eric in that state. Furthermore, Ursula may have gone on to become Queen of the Seas if Triton still intervened to save his daughter... but then why is Triton still honored as King of the Seas in the Atlantica Memorial Museum in book 3?

There are a few instances I can think of which would imply the villain "won", the main one being that Scar ruled the Pridelands as a wise and benevolent king (which is not true of The Lion King movie). I don't consider this Scar "winning", but more like... a twisted or exaggerated retelling of the actual event. For the villain to "win", that would also imply the heroes are gone or in a position to not stop them, right? Yet there are zero mentions of Mufasa or Simba being out of the picture, or even of Scar banishing family members that opposed his rule.

This all points to there being an alternate telling of history in TWST; it seems that the "evil" deeds of the Great Seven were censored and/or retold in such a way to paint them in a beneficial light, since the deeds of the traditional heroes also exist and are also considered true in Twisted Wonderland's history. (For example, Scar letting the hyenas into the Pridelands is reframed as a good thing, since he promoted the integration of a previously marginalized group into the country; Ursula is actually believed to have "mended all her ways" rather than it being a lie to deceive others.) Lilia even specifically mentions that it's possible to "change" history just by telling it a certain way.

On a related note, it seems that this year's birthday series (Platinum Jacket) will delve more into TWST's history and how the NRC boys feel or think about various classic Disney characters. I'm really looking forward to seeing how those expand the lore~

#twst #twisted wonderland #Lilia Vanrouge #Jafar #Aladdin #Ariel #Ursula #King Triton #Jasmine #Scar #Simba #Mufasa #The Lion King #The Little Mermaid #disney twisted wonderland #notes from the writing raven #question #Jamil Viper #twst theory #twst theories #twisted wonderland theories #twisted wonderland theory

[youremyheaven]

Jupiter Influence Among Korean Actors

Over the years, I have noticed a distinct pattern in the Korean entertainment industry, where most stars considered to be icons have strong Jupiter influence in their charts. Korean general public prefers celebs with a graceful and elegant image, who also have "duality" (they're cute but fierce) and Jupiter natives are endowed with these charms.

I had already mentioned female Kpop idols & Jupiter influence on a previous post, so, this post will focus mainly on Korean actors.

Song Hye Kyo is arguably the most successful Korean actress of all time. She has been in the top billing for over 20years at this point.

She has Hasta Moon (I had mentioned in another post about how Hasta women are revered for their femininity and grace), Uttarashada Ketu (UA gives one a glamorous image) and Vishaka Mercury Atmakaraka.

Atmakaraka is what signifies our soul's purpose, hers lies in the Jupiterean nak of Vishaka.

In fact, its very common for Korean actors to have their atmakaraka or amatyakaraka in a Jupiter nakshatra.

2. Park Minyoung has Venus in Purvabhadrapada as her atmakaraka

She rose to fame playing a young girl who disguises herself as a guy in order to attend school in ancient Korea. It is her family's dire circumstances that push her to attend school in order to find work. This whole drama is very Jupiter coded and the majority of the cast have strong Jupiter placements as well.

Her most popular drama is What's Wrong With Secretary Kim where she plays the secretary to a CEO who is almost inept without her micromanaging his life. I've noticed that many Jupiter women tend to be in this position where, in whatever relationship dynamic, others don't know what to do in her absence because she often single-handedly runs the whole place and makes it look easy and only in her absence do they realise that its far from easy.

3.Kim Ji-won is Punarvasu moon

One of her best known roles is that of Choi Ae-ra in Fight My Way, which I would say is a very typical Punarvasu character. Punarvasu's enthusiasm, almost childlike behaviour and charm can fit the description of a quintessential Asian romcom protagonist and Choi Ae-ra is a very good example of the same. Her rise from the bottom rung of the ladder to working hard to get where she is, is also a very Jupiterean tale (since Jupiter moon natives go through their Saturn mahadasha as young adults).

4.Kim Go-eun has Punarvasu mercury & ketu

Kim Go-eun's first ever starring role was as Eungyo in the movie of the same name.

It is the story of a teenage girl who becomes the object of desire for a 70yr old poet. The movie is very Punarvasu coded imo. In fact, regarding her casting, the novelist, whose book was adapted to the film, had this to say:

 "She was perfect for the forever virgin and forever young image that Eun-gyo symbolizes."

This is literally the embodiment of Punarvasu energy which makes the native simultaneously sensual and innocent.

5. Gong Hyo Jin has Vishaka moon atmakaraka and mercury in Purvabhadrapada amatyakaraka

Her character in When the Camellia Blooms is very Jupiter coded. Jupiter energy can often be manifest as a kind of innocence and naivete and a tendency to be a goody two-shoes.

6.Shin Min-ah has Saturn in Vishaka as amatyakaraka

Her most well known role would be that of a doctor in Hometown Cha Cha Cha, in which she plays a person who refuses to compromise on her principles/ethics to get ahead in her career and has to end up leaving Seoul for a small town. This is again, very Jupiter coded because Jupiter influence makes natives very righteous and possess a strong sense of integrity.

7.Han So hee is Vishaka sun

She was recently in an MV for Jungkook's song 'Seven' which features a quarrelling couple. I've often noticed that with many famous Vishaka women, fighting with their partner, often publicly seems to become attached to their public image. This could also apply to their relationships becoming controversial in general. Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, Katy Perry, Lana Del Rey, Jennie etc all have their luminaries in Vishaka with the exception of Lana who has a Vishaka stellium and they've all had relationship drama that caught public attention in a major way.

The role that catapulted Han So Hee to fame was that of a married man's mistress in the drama The World of the Married👀

8. Jung So-min has Purvabhadrapada Sun & Venus (atmakaraka), Punarvasu Moon (amatyakaraka)

in Because This Is My First Life, she plays a broke writer who despite being a good daughter is not appreciated by her family at all, and despite being good at what she does, faces trouble in her workplace and is overall just going through a not so good time . As I've said before, Jupiter natives go through their Saturn Mahadasha as young adults and this phase is a difficult one where they have to work very very hard to get things done and make any kind of progress. Most K-dramas that focus on the adversities of life, as experienced by a 20 something probably has a Jupiter dominant native as its protagonist.

in general, the reason why Jupiter dominant men & women dominate Korean entertainment, be it music or dramas, is because of the kind of content that Korean entertainment focuses on and the kind of people that the Korean public chooses to support. K-Dramas are known for their complex plots, often focusing on people at conflict with their values and ideas, struggling with their conscience, facing life's challenges and overcoming adversity; class struggles, portrayal of wealth/lack of it, rising to the top, underdogs emerging as winners etc. These are inherently Jupiterean.

Even with Korean music, it has a unique system in place where idols have to "train" for several years before they make their debut. Being hardworking and being an "ace" who excels in several areas is prided on in Korea; in such a culture, it makes sense why Jupiter dominants emerge as the ones on the very top of the food chain.

Now, we'll talk about some male actors😋😌

Lee Minho has Mars in Punarvasu & Mercury in Punarvasu (his atmakaraka & amatyakaraka)

Honestly, his entire filmography is very Jupiter coded 🤣 The role that made him a household name was that of rich, spoilt heir to an immensely wealthy family who is the most popular guy in school and leader of his rat pack.

His most successful role is that of a King in the drama The King: Eternal Monarch which is about an ancient Korean emperor who time travels through a portal into modern-day Korea. Both the fact that he's playing nobility as well as the fact that the drama features time travel/alternate reality esque things makes it VERY Punarvasu coded.

(Punarvasu's element is ether and its deity Goddess Aditi is the Mother Goddess and creator the universe itself, many time travel/movies about the nature of reality feature Jupiter natives)

The drama co-stars Kim Go-Eun, who I have already mentioned above as a Punarvasu girlie🥰

2. Gong Yoo is Punarvasu sun (amatyakaraka)

He starred in the movie "Silenced" which was based on a horrifying true story where he plays a teacher at a school who tries to stand up for and protect differently abled children who are routinely subject to extremely cruel and abusive treatment at a boarding school.

Punarvasu natives are known for standing up for others, especially those who do not have a voice/who are unable to stand up for themselves. These natives have a strong sense of justice and empathy and do not think twice about questioning authority.

His character in Coffee Prince is one which made him a household name and in this drama, he plays a chaebol heir who falls for a young guy who is actually a woman disguising herself as a guy 💀I feel like Jupiter men have at least one movie/show in their filmography that is very queer coded (ex: Keanu Reeves, Punarvasu Moon with My Own Private Idaho)

His most well known character is that of Goblin in the drama of the same name, where he plays an immortal who seeks salvation. Very Punarvasu coded.

This is just a personal observation but I've noticed how many Punarvasu men have an androgynous vibe 🥵

3.Kim Woo Bin is Punarvasu sun (atmakaraka) and mercury

His breakout role was that of a wealthy chaebol heir in the drama, The Heirs.

Playing the CEO's son or the CEO, who is initially arrogant and then faces different trials and tribulations and ultimately redeems himself is a common Kdrama trope and I've noticed that the actors picked for these parts the most tend to be Jupiter-dominant.

4.Song Joong Ki has Vishaka moon & saturn (his atmakaraka)

Vishaka is a rakshasa gana nakshatra and I'd previously observed how many mafia movies feature rakshasa gana natives as the main leads. Joong-ki's Vincenzo sees him play a mafia lawyer.

His character is Arthdal Chronicles (featuring fellow Jupiter girlie, Kim Ji Won) is also very Jupiter coded. Its about the birth of civilization and life in the ancient world. Joong Ki plays the leader of his clan.

5.Park Seo Joon has Purvabhadrapada moon (his amatyakaraka)

He is one of those actors who plays himself in every show/movie he does. This means all his characters are charming, slightly awkward or a little dumb, but good natured and caring individuals who go above and beyond for others. This is like a quintessential Jupiter man trope.

Especially his character in Fight My Way, is VERY Jupiter coded and features fellow Jupiter native, Kim Ji-Won.

A slightly stupid but endearingly adorkable guy who works a low end job and trains to be a boxer whilst looking out for his friends and loved ones? Especially his whole side arc with his ex gf on the show is such a Jupiter guy thing; to forgive a woman and be there for her even though she never cared for him and only kept him around because he was sooo nice to her and did everything for her. I've seen this happen with many Jupiter guys because as Claire said in her video these are the nice guys who women keep in the friend zone because even though they're perfect and extremely courteous, women don't feel like they could be a serious partner.

His character in Itaewon Class explores Jupiter in a different way. He is a struggling businessman who is engaged in a long drawn out battle with a chaebol and finally emerges victorious in the end. Despite the chaebol's petty and below the belt tactics, Seo-joon's character always took the high road and held on to his principles and conducted himself with integrity. Jupiter natives are almost always destined to be the bigger person.

6.Park Bogum has Mercury in Punarvasu as his atmakaraka

He rose to fame for playing a motherless prodigy on Reply 1988. His character was a typical Jupiter one; he's very talented, successful and recognised for the same but he takes no pleasure in it and does not really indulge in the privileges it offers him.

His most famous role would be that of a Prince who falls in love with his eunuch (who is actually just a woman pretending to be a eunuch) in the drama Love in the Moonlight. Like I said before, Jupiter guys have at least one queer coded project in their filmography lol.

7.Park Hyung shik has Sun & Mars in Vishaka (his atmakaraka & amatyakaraka)

His most famous role is that of a CEO in the drama Strong Girl Bong Soon.

8.Yoo Ah In has Venus in Vishaka as his atmakaraka and Jupiter in Purvabhadrapada as his amatyakaraka

His character in the movie Burning represents the dark side of Jupiter men.

His drama Chicago Typewriter features him reincarnating in present day Korea after initially living in the 1930s.

Jupiter influence is visible in movies/shows that have tropes of alternate reality, reincarnation, time travel etc.

#sidereal astrology #vedic astro notes #astrology observations #vedic astrology #astro observations #astrology notes #nakshatras #astro notes #astroblr #astrology #jupiter #punarvasu #vishaka #purva bhadrapada #korean actos #kpop astrology

[crystalelemental]

Character Analysis - Carmine and Kieran

I have been trying to write something on this for the majority of the week and haven't been able to organize it in a way I like. So this will not be coherent, but since I've had my second go through the DLC story, I have...a lot more to say on Carmine and Kieran.

Seeking Strength Kieran's big focus by the end is on not being strong enough, and needing to become stronger than you. I think it's largely accepted that this is to defeat you, that he has it out for the protagonist. I disagree.

Consider why strength is important, and when it became clear. The first time Kieran mentions strength, it's in front of the ogre's cave. He talks about wanting to battle, thinking maybe that could impress the ogre. And he loses. Which is whatever, the ogre didn't show. But then it does. To you, and to his sister, but not to him. Internally, the connection is clear: the ogre doesn't trust me, because it sees me as weak.

This goes back even further, though. Think about your introduction to him. Carmine battles you to kick you out, and you win. Carmine's response here is interesting. She comments on everything, and actively makes fun of you if you use a not very effective attack, snarking that you must not know your type matchups after all. She oozes confidence and control, to excess. But when she loses, there's a bit of a fist shake, but rather than anger, she turns away and looks...sad. Losing upsets her, and while she bounces back, that moment suggests a deeper vulnerability and need to seem strong.

And to Kieran, she does. She's constantly in control, and by and large, he seems to follow her pace. If she asks him to do something, and by asks I mean tells, he generally follows through. And he saw someone beat her. There's someone stronger than his sister now. And that's interesting. I think there's a lot more to it, but I'll save that for a later section. For now, the point is, Kieran's always been focused on strength, because he admires Carmine's strength, and wants to be more like that.

I think this recontextualizes your final fight a bit, too. Carmine tells Kieran that he can't make Ogerpon go with him, she has her own will to choose. Kieran still insists he needs this battle, and it seems like the perception of this is "he's ignoring it." But I don't think he is. At this point, he's lost multiple times, each time thinking it's his lack of strength that resulted in him not getting what he wanted. It was, at first, to meet and befriend the ogre. And yeah, he'd still like to. He's still trying, given the stipulations of the fight. But he's also fighting for his sense of self-worth. He feels he's not strong enough, and that lack of strength is holding him back. He's seen his sister lose twice now, yet she's still confident. But he lost, and feels like he's losing more of what little he had to start with.

Belonging and Isolation Carmine's hostility toward outsiders is, as expressed, a matter of feeling like her hometown is becoming a tourist trap. I think what often gets missed in this is that Carmine herself is...fairly traditional. She cares about the customs of the village, the sanctity of the crystal pool, and the prominence of the Loyal Three. She even remarks that obviously she likes the three better, Kieran just likes the ogre because he's a ten year old boy and they're always into weird monster things. She considers integration with the village something important, and deep down, cares about it as a whole.

That's not to say she gets along with everyone. The Caretaker seems more than happy to make the conversion if it helps the town thrive, and Carmine actively disagrees with that. Her hostility is clear to us, and she makes her reason known, but it's not clear how much the villagers seem to understand this. They tend to treat Carmine's responses as part of an attitude problem, more than anything. The Caretaker is pre-emptive in calling out Carmine to get along with everyone. They know she's not happy about it, but expect her to just deal with it, and kinda treat her like they expect problems. Calling them the "Lousy Three" gets an almost exasperated comment about her attitude and a correction, like they fully expect her to be this way, and don't consider the why behind it.

By contrast, Kieran...successfully talks them into abandoning their ancient beliefs and understanding of the past in the course of a single afternoon.

For all the emphasis on Kieran seeming lonely, and I do believe he himself feels that way, Kieran...seems pretty well accepted by people. Think about how significant it is that they're willing to listen to him, with such seriousness, that they'll believe him when he says their understanding of history is wrong.

I think this plays into an interesting dichotomy with the siblings. On the one hand, Kieran is pretty well accepted, but genuinely lonely. On the other, Carmine seems perfectly fine being by herself, and doesn't seem to interface well with the others. But when you look at what they want? Kieran doesn't seem to care that he runs contrary to everything the village stands for. The ogre is cool, he likes that best, and sees little of interest or value in the three. He doesn't really care to integrate with the village. But Carmine does care, and isn't successful at it. By all accounts, she doesn't seem to have friends either. But when a new kid rolls in, and her brother takes an interest in them, she still focuses on him first.

Justice and Fairness Carmine is, at her core, pretty focused on what's right. Despite being more aligned with tradition in her village, when her grandfather reveals the truth, she's immediately furious on Ogerpon's behalf. She has no reservations about telling the rest of the village, until he appeals to her sense of reason, and she understands where the concern might be.

Carmine's reactive, but she's not a fool. She's pretty grounded, but in that way where I think it causes her to miss some things and seem unconcerned with feelings. But she does care about how people feel; quite a bit, really. When Kieran tries to give his ogre mask to you, Carmine intervenes and tells him not to. That's his favorite mask, and he shouldn't have to go without. Besides, practically speaking, we just buy the new kid a mask they like at the festival. It's pragmatic. But it also misses that Kieran was okay with sharing his mask for his friend. She cares about his feelings, enough to worry about him giving up something he cares about. But it's in a more...avoidant sense. More on that later.

By contrast, Kieran seems focused more on fairness. It doesn't matter the reason or intent, you left him out of what you knew. You didn't tell him about the ogre. You ran off with Carmine and pushed him aside, and that's not fair. He was your friend first, and he cared about the ogre first, and it isn't fair that suddenly that all doesn't matter. In that sense, he's very emotional, but doesn't really consider the rational cause of things. It's all about how he feels. This runs very counter to how Carmine is, being very emotional, but focusing more on the practical reason than how she's feeling.

I think you can also see this in how they express themselves. Kieran has no trouble opening up the instant you're on your own with him. He'll tell you all about how he thinks the ogre is cool, and that he was only scared of getting yelled at for going to the mountain. But Carmine legitimately struggles with it. She has a tough time being honest with people, and her sense of what being mean to someone is, boils down to "I didn't hit him." It's as if she doesn't really understand that her words can hurt people, or perhaps why someone would be hurt by them. The idea of "What you're saying was rude" is secondary to the practical outcome. If it's true, it doesn't matter how I say it. If it's what has to happen, it doesn't matter that it comes out as "Kiki, get out of here." Her mentality seems to be that she knows best, and is going to act on that, and there's no reason for people to be upset with her if she's right.

Sibling's Bond In one of the earliest scenes, we get a very good sense for the dynamic the siblings have. Kieran has taken an interest in the player, but barely speaks to them, turning his face away and not even listening to them. Carmine intervenes by explaining what he's thinking and asking for you to battle on his behalf. Kieran shies away, Carmine takes control, and Kieran is more than willing to cede that control to her. In this situation, it works out, as he gets to spend time with a new friend. It is the first, and only, time this dynamic works in their favor.

Every other instance of this particular dynamic coming into play hurts more than helps. When Carmine interrupts you talking about the ogre, and insists Kieran not find out, that's her assuming control like usual. Same with telling him to just leave the next morning. Kieran shies away from staying to help with the mask quest, rather than confront that someone else gets along better with Ogerpon. This is a dynamic they've had for a long while, and there is evidence to prove it.

"I hate when he gets like this." Carmine's clearly annoyed, but the phrasing evokes the sense that this isn't just something that happened before, it's happened often. And she's not happy about it. Kieran running off crying is the only time she really expresses anything truly negative about her brother, and it's telling of what she herself can't handle.

If Kieran's crying, it's because something's bothered him, and as the one who takes care of him, that feels like it's her fault. I talked about how Carmine is integrated with the beliefs of the village, if not its people, but there's a bit more to it. Carmine's generally apathetic about whether people like her, she's more concerned with being right, and doing right. Carmine cares about being a good person. And if her brother's throwing a fit, it's putting her in the position of the bad guy, and criticisms about being nice to him evoke an outrage. "It's not like I hit him" isn't just telling of her lack of awareness for how her words come across, it's indignation that her grandfather is implying she's at fault. Kieran crying is the one thing that she cannot tolerate.

And for Kieran, that makes it a very effective play. Because I keep going, I need to be clear: I am not saying Kieran is being manipulative. He's like ten, and highly emotional. He's not sitting around thinking that if he just cries, Carmine will do whatever he wants. He's just having an emotion, and Carmine has a reaction. It's the dynamic that turns this into a recurring feature of their relationship.

The behavioral term is Negative Reinforcement: an outcome that increases the chance of the behavior occurring in the future, by removing an aversive stimulus. When Kieran wants something, and it doesn't happen, he'll get emotional and cry. Carmine, feeling guilty or responsible, folds to make him stop. The initial aversive - not getting what he wants - is removed as a consequence of his crying, making it more likely to occur again. But the same is true for Carmine. She cannot stand that crying, so when she gives in, the crying stops, reinforcing capitulation.

It's a situation where neither is really at fault. They're both kids, and have that sibling dynamic. Older siblings take care of the younger ones. When you have an older sibling who feels responsible for the wellbeing of the younger, and cares deeply about taking care of them without knowing the difference between "helping them do it" and "doing it for them," you get Carmine. When you have a younger sibling who is particularly emotional and withdrawn alongside them, you get Kieran.

And the DLC is the breakdown of this dynamic.

Another really fun behavioral term: Extinction Burst. Extinction refers to when reinforcement is removed as a consequence of a behavior. Effectively, you decouple the behavior and what typically happens. An extinction burst is the oft emotional blowup that comes as a result of a behavior no longer meeting its typical, expected reinforcer. Think about when your computer won't turn on. How many times mashing the button does it take before you check the power cord? Do you stay calm during that or start cursing it out, maybe worrying that something's broken and desperately hoping it turns on if you just hit it right, or hold it long enough? That's the extinction burst in play.

That's what's going on with Kieran. He's finding his independence, but as part of that, he's learning what it means to have it. Sometimes things don't go your way, and you have to live with that. Even crying won't get the situation to change now, and he...hasn't figured out what else to do. Unintentionally, by handling things for him, Carmine's left him in a situation where he's unequipped to manage circumstance. All he can think is pushing for strength, and battling you over and over and over in hopes that this time, he'll win.

By contrast, Carmine's doing...really well. She adapts well, makes quick friends with the player as well, assumes a sort of leadership role in the quest, and demonstrates the reality that for all her bluster, she does care and is fairly well adjusted. She's had the experience to manage frustrations and setbacks, even if they're difficult, to the point that by the end of your last battle, she can earnestly smile and congratulate you. Her dynamic with you is thriving. And, for a while, your dynamic with Kieran was too, before his perception of inadequacy interferes. It's sad but worth noting: the happiest we see either of them is when they're away from each other.

I don't have any profound thoughts beyond this, nor guesses to how Indigo Disk might play out. But I think it's interesting how they managed to create a story with a compelling conflict, where these is no true "bad guy." I was initially kinda down on the DLC, I felt like the legendary stuff was kinda bland. But I've really come around on these two, and look forward to the next part.

#pokemon #carmine #kieran #teal mask #pokemon scarlet and violet

[carlyraejepsans]

What's your interpretaion of Chara? I mean the one that we see at the end of the genocide run. Because I've seen some people now say that the one we see at the end of that route might be an entirely different species (as an actual demon) and I kind of want to hear your opinion on that

oh they're just human, but most importantly I'm of the very strong opinion that, fandom aside, you can't fully separate yourself from chara. they're the watsonian quantification of our role and influence within the game. undertale as a metanarrative lives in this precarious balance between worldbuilding that stands on its own, and its nature as a videogame, thus it being created to Be Played By Us. it makes some aspects of its world kinda wobbly. take the LOVE/EXP mechanic, for example. there's not really a reason why LV 20 should be the maximum LV you can reach, after all, there's still plenty more people we haven't killed. that is to say, no reason other than establishing when the genocide run is fully locked in. and the moment you try to apply that mechanic objectively to the rest of its world and its characters, it begins to flake apart. but i think chara is the most effective use of this kind of metanarrative in undertale.

there's this really weird moment at the end of the mother games where the game breaks the 4th wall and calls to the player directly. the games gather OUR name (and i mean our ours, the person playing the game at the moment) in... well, very silly ways. like a friend of one of the main characters calling for help on his school research about player names. it's not so much integrated into the plot, as a way to create a touching moment of connection directly between player and player characters (we pray for the safety of ness and his friends. lucas thanks us and says he's so happy to meet us in the endgame) that is not extended anywhere else in the game.

i didn't have the vocabulary for it before playing these games myself, but now i'm pretty much convinced that the fallen human/"chara" in UNDERTALE was a direct response to those moments in earthbound and mother 3. I don't need to recount those moments in the game where it becomes obvious that the intended way to name the fallen human is giving them your own name or nickname, but even if you don't do that, by the end of the game, you're meant to think of frisk as "chara" and "chara" as "your character". that's where the main plot twist of the story jumps off from.

and well... that IS what they are. "your character". the true character, in fact. so instead of the game breaking the 4th wall and calling to YOU, player, across the screen in a way that is alien and separate from the story, the game calls to YOU, THROUGH chara. through your character. remaining within the confines of its story and characters.

chara isn't us, WE are chara, and chara is the spirit of the first fallen human who died and was reawakened when frisk fell in the underground. when we play the game, we play AS "chara" controlling/guiding frisk through the underground (not gonna get into the chara/frisk dynamic here, that's a WHOLE 'nother can of worms).

however, there is an exception. because you see, although chara is meant to represent our actions ingame, we... aren't chara after all. we are real people playing a videogame. and because undertale is such a heavily meta game, it does, indeed, go there. acknowledging us as a separate entity, outside of this world, and more powerful than anything it has ever seen, and the way the game does that is through the genocide run.

it's not a coincidence that LOVEing up as a mechanic results in you "distancing yourself", as per sans' speech pre-judgement. if chara represents us in-game, then genocide is nothing but us pushing that link connecting us to its breaking point. because chara is who we are in the game, killing people is making THEM stronger (we can't get stronger ourselves, we're not fictional characters), but because EXP and LV make you distance from yourself, we are also making them independent. severing them from us and our will. it's kind of a negative parallel to our journey in pacifist, where chara is established as "not frisk" once and for all and THEY get to go on living their own life. hopefully. sorta.

so... yeah! chara is our true character in undertale and, aside from the genocide run, which tears the two of us apart, we have almost no reason to treat them as separate. and yes, that includes the violent acts. i am a narrachara/non-evil plotting mastermind chara believer through and true, but posing them as some hapless victim in our hands is... I'm sorry I can't take it seriously. it was a necessary overcorrection with the way they used to be treated by fanon back in the day, but it is an overcorrection nonetheless. YES, they might kill people. yes they might do that to their former family/friends, for very much the same reason asriel, as flowey, did. they were not the most adjusted person to begin with, but more importantly than that, the SOUL we see in undertale isn't theirs, it's FRISK'S. flowey says as much. when we defeat his omega form, the 6 SOULs disappear. when asriel died, the monsters started at 0 human SOULs, not 1 (ie: chara). chara is as soulless as asriel was when he was rein-cornaceaeted (lol) as flowey, with their ability to feel love and compassion stunted.

and with the added context of the SAVE powers removing consequences to their actions, and the repetitive nature of the game becoming tiring, well... we know what THAT did to flowey, right?

#nic we NEED to WRITE that FUCKING VIDEO ESSAY #answered asks #undertale #chara #entry log

[happyk44]

When Annabeth becomes pregnant at twenty-three, everyone is excited. Percy, most of all. They get married in a small shotgun ceremony inside the safe haven of New Rome, mortal and godly parents in attendance, friends shedding tears of joy.

She gives birth a month early to a screaming, underweight bundle of joy. Everyone adores their son. He has fuzzy hints of black hair and wide curious gray eyes. He doesn't cry much after his birth, is abnormally quiet, observing everyone who holds him like he sees something more beneath the surface.

His quiet demeanour reminds Hazel a lot of Nico. When she mentions this in passing, Annabeth laughs quietly and squeezes baby Oliver's chubby fist. "He does, doesn't he?"

Her words sound unbelievably fond. The tone doesn't shock Hazel - she knows that the three of them have gotten close recently - but it seems... odd. Misplaced in its meaning.

She finishes off her final protective ward on Oliver's crib. "Has he met him yet?"

Annabeth hums. "He was here this morning."

She doesn't say anything more, and before Hazel can ask, she effortlessly glides the conversation to Hazel's training as a witch. Hazel takes the hint and lets the conversation change without any complaint.

-

Grover counts himself lucky in many regards. He's got a wonderful wife. He's Lord of the Wild. He hasn't been eaten alive by any monsters yet. All but one of the kids he's brought to camp are living successful happy lives.

And he knows the truth about Oliver.

They never talk about it - the circumstances that brought him into the world. It was just a few hints here and there in conversation, before he cuts the cord and just asks.

"Nico is Oliver's biological father, isn't he?".

Percy doesn’t even hesitate. "Yeah."

Grover watches from the kitchen, Percy at his side, as Nico emerges from what everyone thinks is the guest room, but Grover is confident is actually Nico's room. Oliver sits on his hip. The one year old is bundled up from head to toe. Nico himself has a matching beanie - bright blue with a warped crochet design of a yellow fish. He waves Oliver's little hand their way before disappearing into the shadows.

The two of them come back a couple hours later with In-and-Out takeout bags. Oliver is chewing on a lone french fry. He falls into Percy's arms with ease. Nico smiles kindly at Grover and comes to sit at Percy's side on the couch. Their thighs press together.

Grover doesn't ask about it.

They're happy. He can tell just by looking at them. Whatever thing is happening between the three of them, they're okay.

That's all that matters.

-

Piper loves Annabeth, she does. But she also believes in integrity. Oliver is three years old and the shadows tremble when he's annoyed. The air goes cold and frigid when he's upset. He doesn't talk very loud, but he's perceptive.

It's one hour into Piper's babysitting time when Oliver tells her that her grandfather says hello and she pieces it together. Oliver doesn't understand what he's done, the secret he's just revealed. She asks him to get her grandfather to tell him a story, just like he used to tell her. Oliver reaches out with one hand, and Piper's world turns upside down.

Annabeth and Percy come home two hours later, laughing and carrying a goodie bag from the restaurant. Grandpa Tom left half an hour ago, right when Oliver murmured a sleepy, "I'm tired", and let go of his hand. Piper doesn't know if he's still around, watching her. But it's the idea that he is, that keeps her brave.

When Percy disappears down the hall to check in on his sleeping son, Piper corners Annabeth in the kitchen.

"Are you cheating on Percy?" she whispers.

Annabeth blinks at her, startled. "What?"

"Are you cheating on Percy?" Piper whispers again, trying not to hide the urgency in her voice.

Annabeth is cool as she puts the leftovers in the fridge. "Why do you think I'm cheating on Percy?"

The question is easily answered, yes or no, and Annabeth's side-stepping is obvious and painful to Piper's heart. She changes gears. "Is Nico Oliver's dad?"

Annabeth pauses. It feels like hours. Then she closes the fridge door and crosses her arms over her chest. "People can have more than one dad, Piper."

Piper scowls and gets in close. "Does Percy know?"

Warm hands plant on both her shoulders. "He knows," Annabeth says, her voice soft. "And I'm not cheating on him."

Piper can't tell if Annabeth is lying. She wants to say more, ask more, but Percy's footsteps are loudly closing in. She takes a few steps back just as Percy rounds into the kitchen and slips an arm over Annabeth's shoulders. The image is sickly sweet. The two of them gaze happily at each other. They're so painfully in love.

Piper's stomach clenches.

The three of them stay up an extra hour. Percy is oblivious to the tension ruminating off of Piper. Annabeth seems fine though. It only stresses her out more. When she finally turns in, she doesn't know how to feel. She pauses just inside the guest room, the door pinched open. She can hear the two of them talking quietly in the hall. Oliver's bedroom door squeaks open.

Another voice, one Piper hasn't heard in a couple months, teases Percy from nearby. Percy protests his protective habits. Piper peeks through the gap. Nico is leaning against the wall. He's smiling widely in Annabeth's direction. Percy is oblivious, sneaking into Oliver's room. Annabeth takes Nico's hand. He pulls her close.

Piper relaxes for a minute. Maybe she doesn't have to say anything, maybe Percy will catch them before they can drift apart.

Or maybe he'll walk out of Oliver's room, shove Annabeth away and dive into Nico's mouth greedy, like he's starved for breath and Nico's mouth is oxygen. Maybe he'll tangle his hands into Nico's hair and push him into the wall with a low growl.

They don't separate, not really. Instead Percy drags Nico towards his - their - bedroom, Annabeth laughing as she follows.

The door clicks shut behind them. Piper takes a step back before pulling her own door closed. In the morning, Nico is gone and Percy is making pancakes. When Oliver asks for pomegranate juice, Piper passes it to him from the fridge and says nothing.

-

Leo doesn't know where this new baby came from. Annabeth wasn't pregnant the last time he saw her, but there's definitely a newborn asleep in the corner of their combined workshop. Annabeth doesn't even let him ask about the kid, just throws revised plans for their latest project in his direction before answering her screaming phone.

Oliver is there next to the baby, rocking her back and forth in her carrier. A picture book sits on his knee. He blinks up at Leo as he approaches. Leo likes Oliver. He's quiet and isn't afraid to use a hammer. The baby girl has small curls of black hair. She is bundled up in a fish-printed blanket.

"Who's this, big man?" Leo asks, squatting down to get a closer look.

The four year old stares at him. Then, "Ariel. She's my sister." He pauses, before adding, "She's really loud."

"When did your mom get a baby?"

Oliver stares some more before answering. "My uncle made her yesterday."

Leo doesn't know what to say to that.

-

Oliver and Ariel are joined a year later by a third and final child. While Ariel's origins are still speculated by anyone not in the know, it's clear from Annabeth's round belly where Eve was going to emerge from. She has thin wispy hair so blonde it blends into her skin. Her bright sea green eyes mimic her father's.

But Nico is her favourite. By now everyone knows not to bat an eye when instead of "Daddy" or "Mommy", her first word is "Papa". She reaches for him more than anyone else. As soon as she is old enough to crawl, her favourite place to wiggle towards is his lap.

Frank watches as she tries to pull herself to a stand. He runs a hand over the head of a nearby cat. It purrs loudly. Nearby Nico's hands are outstretched, ready to catch her if she falls.

Like Grover, he cuts the cord fast. "Is she yours too?"

Nico doesn't falter. "No."

Eve doesn't make it to a stand, but gets close enough before she falls face first into Nico's arms. He bundles her up to his chest and she squeals, reaching out with one hand to tug at his necklace.

He doesn't wear the camp beads anymore. Instead, it's a silver band looped through a golden chain. The band has three different jewels studded into it - a diamond, an aquamarine gem, and an onyx. What each jewel represents isn't a question. The fact that Percy and Annabeth wear the same silver band just above their wedding rings isn't much of a question either.

Frank takes Eve when offered and holds her close. Her green eyes look exactly like her father's, look exactly like her sister's. Her blonde hair is soft against each stroke of his fingers.

Nico comes back with drinks. Frank doesn't go for them when offered, content with where he is. Nico puts his can next to his foot, before lowering himself back to the ground. Frank watches him for a moment.

Then, "I thought you were gay."

Nico shrugs as he pops the top to his soda. "Annabeth's pretty," is all he says after a slow sip and Frank snorts.

He hands Eve back when Nico reaches for her. "Is that why Oliver was first?"

Nico's grin is wicked sharp, but happy in all its angles. "No," he says. "That's because I'm pretty."

-

Jason watches as Ariel and Eve team up to drown their older brother in the lake. In retaliation, he summons skeletons that ignore Ariel but grab at Eve. She screams, loud and unholy, as she’s tossed through the air and lands with a gigantic splash. Oliver pulls himself out of the water, shaking wet black hair out of his face. Ariel bats her eyes at him as he approaches, unafraid even as he picks her up and tosses her into the lake himself.

The two girls laugh as they surface, before swimming speedy laps around each other. With a short scowl, Oliver settles on the towel next to Jason. He does not enjoy swimming. Jason remembers the first summer after his birth.

They had tucked his feet into the water to splash and he’d screamed bloody murder. People joked about how Percy’s ocean powers clearly hadn’t made themselves known yet. But now it was pretty well known that Oliver didn’t have any ocean powers.

It had been pretty funny when Ariel came around. She took to the water like a fish and Oliver had panicked himself into a stressed out ball around the edges of the lake before he accidentally summoned a dozen ghosts to wrestle her from Percy’s arms and bring her back to the safety of dry land.

Percy hadn’t been allowed to hold Ariel for the rest of the day after that. If he tried, shadows would whip at him with Oliver’s frustration. He stayed tucked around his little sister while she cooed at the ghosts still protectively hovering nearby.

After that, everyone had pieced together what they had already started guessing at, if not outright knew.

The three of them never said how, or why, or even when, it had all come together for them, but they seemed happy nonetheless. And Jason was good with that. Nico deserved to be happy in whatever shape or form that came in. He didn't bat an eye whenever Nico kissed Annabeth's cheek before leaving with Jason. He didn't question it whenever the two of them came back and Percy clung onto him like needy barnacle.

Nico would flush a soft pink, and his smile was gentle, almost hidden sometimes. But he was happy, genuinely happy.

And that made Jason warm to see.

He pulls out the book Oliver had packed for their day out. Oliver puts on his glasses, thin round frames just like Uncle Jason’s, rolls over onto his stomach, and begins reading. In the lake, the girls are still splashing one another. A couple times they glance over at Oliver, like they’re thinking about pulling him into their game. But they know better than to bother their brother when he’s reading.

Oliver hums curiously and kicks his legs. Jason glances at him. “Good book?”

“Yes,” Oliver says.

He still speaks quietly and slow, each word a deliberate thought. It makes him the worst person to argue with. Ariel and Eve get loud and passionate - Ariel like Annabeth, cutting sharp like a knife, each spit of her words an uncontrolled punch; Eve like Percy, thunderous and vibrant, fast and off the cuff.

Watching the three of them fight a genuine fight is a masterclass in terror. The last time it’d happened - Eve blowing out Ariel’s candles on her sixth birthday and Ariel throwing a tantrum that exploded cake all over Oliver’s face - Jason had thought the whole city was going to be destroyed with every scream and thrown punch.

It had taken nearly half an hour to separate them. Oliver remained furious, refusing to cry even as Jason helped him wash the cake out of his hair, and stubbornly avoiding everyone for the rest of the day. Eve, like her mother, refused to admit she was wrong, steadfast in her determination not to apologize (although she caved fast when Nico came back with Ariel). Ariel got over it fast, she always did, which Jason found hilarious considering how emotional each of her fathers’ were. But her eyes remained red rimmed and she would tear up each time she caught sight of her siblings’ bruises.

She hit the hardest. Always did.

But when they fought together? In defense of one another? Amazing to see. It reminded Jason of the wolves, of the Cohort - working in tandem with one another, flying seamlessly off one another. A well oiled machine, each cog fitting together like the pieces of a puzzle. Oliver was the leader, in charge of each attack, Eve assisting in his command, and Ariel the powerhouse ready to take aim.

It’s clear where they picked it from.

-

The kids are half-asleep in a pile on the floor as Nico crawls across the couch cushions and into Annabeth’s lap. He dangles mistletoe above her head. She laughs and rises up for a kiss. In the chair nearby, Percy watches with half a grin across his face.

“That’s gross,” Eve mutters tiredly.

“Go back to sleep,” Nico calls back before kissing Annabeth again.

Ariel makes a gagging noise. Oliver swats at her before he slips out of their pile to rise slow to his feet. His glasses are lopsided on his face, but he doesn’t fix them. Instead he leans down to pull both girls to their feet. Eve yawns as she ducks her face into his shoulder. He slides one arm across each of their shoulders before tucking them in close and dragging them off to bed.

Percy pushes off the chair and flops against Nico’s back. Annabeth groans under the added weight.

“Seaweed Brain,” she grumbles. “Get your fat ass off my boyfriend.”

“Fat?” Percy huffs. He leans in harder. Nico laughs while Annabeth groans louder. “Woman, I am toned.”

“You have a dad bod,” Nico says. He tilts his head back and Percy accepts a kiss.

“You’re just jealous because you can’t put any weight on your bones.”

Nico rolls his eyes. Percy squeezes his hips and pulls away. Annabeth breathes easy, and then easier when Nico pulls himself from her lap. Percy turns off the TV as Annabeth rises groggily to her feet. Nico tucks her under his arm, and the two waddle off to bed.

Percy crawls in soon after.

In the morning, Eve will ask for pancakes, which Percy will make while she helps. Ariel will braid Nico’s hair in the bathroom and he will braid hers. Oliver will argue with Annabeth about the philosophy of Plato.

In the evening, the kids will ask the question that no one else has ever been brave enough to ask. And without falter, their parents will answer.

It was never a secret to begin with.

#percicobeth #percy jackson #nico di angelo #annabeth chase #percico #percabeth #uhhhhhh do annabeth and nico even have a ship name #nicobeth #idk #i'm trying #this took three hours and i skipped dinner so PLZ enjoy it #my fanfic #my writing #pjo fanfic #happy talks pjo #might upload to ao3 sometime later idk

[pikahlua]

It's strange Izuku didn't think of Bakugou in particular. We didn't get a flashback with Bakugou when he died or when he came back again, and now only Kudou and En brought up Bakugou. . Bakugou is important to both Shigaraki and Deku. He triggers Shigaraki's trauma twice. Because while no one saved Shigaraki, they mobilised for Bakugou. He is Deku's symbol of victory, the most important motivation for him to get stronger and become the greatest hero. Do you think that in the process of saving

Just for the readers' benefits, I'm gonna say I'm setting aside how you've worded some assertions since you've stated you're not confident in your English. I won't respond to those other than to say I would have to add a bit more nuance about how, while Katsuki may be a very important symbol to Izuku, he is not Izuku's only symbol nor is he the only relevant symbol in this case. Other characters (especially All Might) are relevant in this fight too. While everything to ME may be about Katsuki Bakugou, that isn't true for the story itself.

I don't think it's the right time to make criticisms of MHA about these things in the current story arc when the arc isn't complete. For all we know, Katsuki (and others) WILL continue to play a role in the final battle. As you said, Katsuki WAS mentioned by Kudou and En.

I'm not saying I think Izuku will have a reflective moment about Katsuki. I don't know what sort of moment Horikoshi may have in mind, but there are two things I would like to acknowledge at this time I think we should all keep an eye on.

Izuku is using OFA to break Tomura's defenses, but we have no idea what he plans to do once those defenses are finally broken. Will OFA be of any use in this moment? Will Nana or All Might be part of that? Or will this be the moment where Izuku employs something of his own to save Tenko in a way only he could, OFA or no?

Horikoshi has chosen this memory battle for a reason. We should all note how he has set this up. He COULD have chosen to make it so Izuku would break inside Tomura and see all his memories, but no, Horikoshi CHOSE to include Izuku's memories too. Their respective memories are blending together. They're not just there for show--they're integral to the process in how Izuku will ultimately save Tomura. That means Tomura's memories AND Izuku's memories will be important in this fight. Which memories has Horikoshi identified that we need to revisit, and why? This is a very obvious opportunity for other characters to have an impact on this fight in at least one way.

If you recognize the opportunities present in the above unresolved story points, you'll see Katsuki and plenty of other characters still have some easily-identifiable avenues for participation in this.

#anon ask #ask pika #my hero academia manga spoilers #final arc spoilers

[butchhamlet]

hi i consider you to be the ultimate authority on turning shakespeare characters into lesbians, so do you have any thoughts on wlw macbeth and lady macbeth (so far my only thought is, "that would be hot. and tragic")

the macbeths are in the same category as benedick and beatrice for me, that is, the "these characters being a man and a woman is very integral to their story, their development, and the way they interact with one another but also i want them to be lesbians soooooo fucking bad" category. which. well. there's the answer i guess KDHFKNSDFKNDSFNS. i'm not sure i have a proper intelligent answer here, because a LOT of things about the dynamic are less thematically rich if macbeth is a woman, but, like. maybe i want him to be a woman. what then. maybe i think it would be sexy for a woman to be the best warrior in scotland. maybe i think it would be interesting for the macbeths to do a murder to become dual queens. maybe i think the implication that the macbeths have lost a child hits in a different way if it's seen as something preventing them from being/having a "proper" family. maybe i think about two women who love each other so much and so fiercely that they would do anything to be together, and the tragedy that comes with the two of them then disintegrating so far from each other that they both die alone. maybe i think they're hot,

also i know i'm the guy who butches people but in my heart of hearts the lesbian macbeths are femme4femme. except lady macbeth is femme like a femme fatale in red velvet with sharp eyeliner and macbeth is femme like that picture of the muppet in a sweater

also ALSO. this makes macbeth and lady m vs macduff and malcolm wlw/mlm hostility, which compels me

#or lady macbeth is butch. that's also an option #which personally i find more interesting than the obvious butch macbeth / femme lady m #because . i dunno. maybe i'm thinking with my d[gunshot] #max.txt #asks #macbeth #lady macbeth

[justatalkingface]

Everything Changed When The War Arc Attacked:

Or, why do I hate the War Arc so fucking much?

At this point, eh, why not? Writing every day is supposed to be good for improving as a writer.

ECWTWAA is a simple, quippy line that holds all of my festering loathing for watching MHA gleefully hurl itself off a cliff once the War Arc happened, and, much like someone jumping off a cliff like an utter moron (or the Air Nomads after the Fire Nation attacked), it has never truly recovered.

*sigh*

In retrospect, MHA had been going downhill for a long time before that point, and a lot of it was something I noticed unconsciously, but didn't quite rise to me really paying conscious attention to it, beyond a few notable points (*cough*, Bakugou, *cough* FuCkiNg NIGHTEYE), but as my brain was somewhat in the off position as I read, I was still enjoying the ride, even as it bumped; the enjoyment was as much, if not more, that I used to enjoy it more than the actual content, but there was enjoyment.

If MHA before The War Arc was a somewhat imperfect roller coaster ride, the only way I can describe the War Arc is if the roller coaster ride abruptly ended in the side of a cliff, only somehow dragged out for months of slow paced agony. I watched, in vaguely real time, as Hori systematically trashed the last foundations of his story, the swan song of one of the best, most interesting characters in the series, toss aside the sudden yet exciting development of it's main villain, and escalate to a higher gear than ever before the constant work to protect some of the most vile characters, including said mass murdering villain, from even the slightest criticism by sacrificing everyone around them, as well as the very integrity of the story, to the alter of, 'They're not that bad, honest! Don't hurt their little feelings, you bully!'

And, I watched him finally finish the lobotomy on his main character, permanently ripping away what remained of his original personality and intelligence, leaving an empty puppet, a Deku, with the singular purpose of driving the story faster, and faster, and faster towards that thing that Hori seems to crave above everything else now: The End.

Freedom, freedom from the strangling chains of a merciless Jump schedule, of a plot long grown too complex for him to manage, or for him to even want to try, and from the burden of writing characters and stories he so clearly seems to despise, for some reason. And if they only way he feels he can get it is by burning everything he's done down to the ground, well, Hori's clearly more than willing.

In all honesty it became obvious that, in all of MHA, he only actually liked six things: Endeavour, Bakugou, body horror, dramatic, flashy fight scenes with flashy super powers, attractive women in minimal clothing and vaguely fetish-y torture scenes on attractive women in minimal clothing.

These things, from that point on, are the only things he has spent real, actual time on, developing, giving focus to. Everything else, everything else, is rushed, pushed constantly forward by Deku, the puppet, as he runs from plot point to plot point as fast as he can, never allowed a moment to rest, to reflect, to really think at all, all in the name of progression as empty as he has become.

In all honesty, it was a needed, if unwanted, shock to help me realize the truth, but at what cost? At what cost is this clarity? The joy is gone now; once I dropped my unconscious acceptance of the narrative, everything I had been ignoring came to me a rush of horrified realization, even the most mild of flaws became glaring, and now reading the early chapters that got me into this story in the first place is just... hollow now, like I'm watching my old self enjoy them, rather than enjoying them myself, and I can't help but be both jealous and vaguely contemptuous at the innocent pleasure that person had.

I'll admit, I'm being more dramatic than I'd like to be, but... I've said this before, I'd been reading MHA for years before this point. Years of enjoyment, interest, and focus, and it's all ash to me now. I'm somewhat bitter about it.

#bnha critical #mha critical #everything changed when the war arc attacked #bakugou critical #endeavour critical #nighteye critical #izuku deserves better #izuku is a person #deku is a puppet #me looking at the dimension where hori didn't do any of this shit #reference post

[cf56]

As a fellow yaxxer, I’m curious. Do you have any headcanons on the blending of the Warner and Goof families? How Yakko warmed up to Goofy (and by extension the rest of the Disney gang, cause let’s be real those guys are Max’s family too), and how Max warmed up to Wakko and Dot?

This ask has "only" been in my inbox for around 6 months instead of a year like the others. Still, I'm sorry for taking so long to get to it.

Seeing this ask for the first time was what made me start officially considering myself a yaxxer! I certainly have some thoughts, many spurred on by my great friend and Yax master @cringetownusa.

I think Yakko and Goofy would warm up to each other very quickly. Goofy would become a father figure to Yakko. He would support Yakko's interests and accept his personality for what it is, instead of rejecting him like so many others. Yakko would rib him but respect his goofiness, his disarming genuineness, and how much of a family man he is. I can actually see Yakko being more genuine with Goofy than even Max. Goofy thinks that Yakko is a nice young man- Max can even get confused at just how calm and respectful Yakko is with his dad.

The rest of the Disney gang is certainly a different story. Yakko and his sibs have a distaste for Disney. Max and his dad get a pass, but the rest would take some getting used to for Yakko. He would probably pick on Mickey and the others until he realizes that they're not evil or sappy killjoys or anything. Even then, their relationship might not be the warmest. It would be filled with wacky hijinks. Mostly playful, but toeing the line.

Max getting along with and genuinely liking Wakko and Dot would be a prerequisite for Yakko to even consider a relationship with him. Wakko and Dot may have been suspicious of him at first, teaming up to take him on with protective toony antics. But after Max didn't turn on them and treat them badly like everyone else, they would quickly warm up to him. Like Goofy to Yakko, he would become a sort of father figure for them.

Max would love their goofiness and their mischievous personalities. Max and the Warners would be a very tight knit group, Max would almost become a fourth Warner. He'd hang around the water tower all the time, play with Wakko and Dot, engage in their interests. He'd take them out to do things like shopping for food (Wakko) and clothes (Dot). He'd be the only one besides Yakko who is willing to do things like that with them. Yakko would be happy to have a little pressure taken off, too.

So yes, I think Max would love the little sibs from the beginning. It's part of what attracted him to Yakko at all- seeing his softer side with his family. Their families would pretty seamlessly integrate. Goofy loves being a father figure and the Warners need one. Wakko and Dot would love having another playmate, someone outside their family. Max would be happy to oblige them. It'd be a super close family unit, because it would have to be for Yakko and Max's relationship to work.

#animaniacs #yax #yakko warner #max goof #goofy #goofy goof #disney #answered ask #cfposts

[sleepymccoy]

Still thinking about a Star trek TOS Firefly au. So I'm gonna have fun writing it out.

I love the dynamic between Mal, Zoe, and Wash, so that's certainly becoming the triumvirate. Mal > Jim, Zoe > Spock, Wash > Bones. However Wash's job doesn't make sense for Bones so he's going to change to doctor.

Jim was on Tarsus 4 and suffered the same as in canon, famine leads to who lives lottery and he wasn't chosen but survived anyway. I think that makes perfect sense in the Firefly universe too, but I think unlike in trek Kodos is celebrated by the federation in Firefly for making tough choices and leading in a strong way. So he's not on the run, he's a constant background side threat who's still in power. The face of the federation in this version, but not the head of it. You feel me

After Tarsus, Jim and Bones met and became mates. I think Bones moved to a big fancy planet for his wife and child after a bit. In the meant time, we have Spock!

This got massive, have a readmore

Spock is the result of eugenic experiments (there's no aliens in Firefly 😢) like the serenity thing that the og story is about (but generational eugenics not brain poking)(because I want there to be many others, just also in hiding and with their own political factions and opinions) but his resulted in Vulcan-like stuff. I think he's still got the pointy ears and has excessively strong emotions that he's learnt to hide completely cos he was raised in a medical facility by cold scientists instead of parents and love. There's schools of thought about them, some want to integrate, some want them exterminated, some want them to form their own society. The federation stance is these eugenic things don't exist and if you see one kill it because it officially doesn't exist. So Spock is forced into hiding and hasn't really had a chance to form his broader opinion, cos it's academic anyway. They're all hiding now.

So, Spock's escaped (more on that later) and in hiding. He meets Jim and they click, probably meeting in some silly battle. I reckon Spock has ways to get away from the feds that Jim wants to learn, so Jim pushes for them to team up. They spend some time together either on someone else's ship or on a smaller ship just them two.

After a while that comes to an end and they put together a crew and buy a ship together. They hire Sulu and Chekhov who are a criminal team who need to get off this rock very fast please. Chekhov can fly wonderfully and has enough engineering knowledge that they're like hey we maybe don't need someone in the engine room!

Sulu is a jack of all trades. It takes a few months for them to realise how useful he is, he always has a skill they need and always knows someone who'll play as a contact. Absolutely invaluable.

Eventually the engine breaks beyond Chekhov's skill to fix and they've all heard of Scotty. Everyone knows about Scotty. I think this would make a good episode one.

They work Sulu's contacts and find Scotty who is, lo and behold, having a drink with his mate disgraced Doctor McCoy. Spock, immediate dislike, this guy is a doctor. Jim, holy shit! Bones! Why the fuck aren't you emailing me back!?

Turns out Bones has gotten divorced and threw a bit of a fit in a hospital and can't work on a core planet anymore. He agrees to join the crew and Scotty has some issue that forms most of the episode plot and joins too cos hey, crims gotta keep moving

The ep ends with meeting Uhura, who manages a lot of the residual resistance movement's comms. She's the most political of the bunch, but Jim is absolutely in agreement and so chuffed to meet her even tho he's never been too war-y before. Scotty and Sulu already know her. She takes a kind of Inara role on the ship, but she's not companioning, she's boosted the comms in the shuttle and is continuing this work. It's great for her cos she gets to move around and be hard to catch, and it's great for the ship cos it gives them access to loads of underground people who aren't the hated federation

I also think she helped Spock break out back in the day. I'm not sure if she was part of it and they've met, or if she helped run things so she knows Spock but he doesn't know her. She's gonna be their reason for getting accidentally involved in larger things in the story and why they get more altruistic with their jobs. Spock also pulls them into some of the eugenic stuff

I reckon episode two needs some Spock eugenic stuff to happen so that Bones can solidify himself as on team Spock in action even if he has a go at Spock. Cos everyone else follows Jim's orders and Jim is team Spock, so I think Bones needs a chance to prove it. To great danger to himself ofc.

Repeat characters (like in Firefly they have Badger and Saffron who rock up as major non crew characters) are Chapel and Rand. I think Chapel is still on a core planet as a nurse. I would have her join the crew in season two, to look for her missing husband. But in season one she can be an insider informant for the hospital heist episode, which they do mainly for the medical equipment cos Bones has like nothing to treat people with. And maybe Spock has some additional medical needs that Bones needs to learn (Spock hates this)

Rand is like a bit of Saffron energy but less totally untrustworthy. I think she works them for her benefit but in a way where when they meet again they're like hey Janice you're not allowed on the ship but it's great to see you! Like, maybe she hijacks them to get her somewhere or stows away super inconveniently. Or maybe she just steals from them old school style and has a very all's fair in love and war vibe about it. She just doesn't hold any resentment, so it's hard to resent her

If I were to cast this show I'd cast Bones and Jim and women because I think it needs more women, might as well put them in positions of power, and honestly I think Spock's character with the emotional repression and all would change being cast as a woman whereas the others wouldn't. Spock's character in this is gonna be playing into stereotypes and expectation to stay in hiding, and those change as a woman

I've definitely got less tension on board than Firefly. There's no Jayne equivalent making life hard for everyone, but you could write an arc in for Chekhov like that if you wanted to. He could go from disliking the danger Spock and Uhura bring to absolutely admiring them over like two seasons. Could be interesting, but it's not got much to do with trek really

There's no shipboard romance here either. There could be something cool in the Scotty/Uhura that happened later in trek canon. Maybe they've got romantic history, so when she joins the ship there's tension and they just fall into bed together pretty quickly. But I'd only put that in if it added something else to the story, which it might! I'm not actually writing, I'm brainstorming

And similar to what the did in Firefly I think Spock/Bones makes the most sense. Cos we don't need proof that Spock and Jim understand each other, they're captain and first officer. They have each other's back absolutely. And similarly with Jim and Bones, they'd have old loyalty and friendship to draw on. And I think they also just obviously get along. But Spock and Bones could do with some plot prodding along, so I'd do something like the Simon/Kaylee romance where there's tension and clear desire but they're bad at making it happen. There's too much in the way. But it adds reason for Bones to have Spock's back (cos we're coming at at the start of their friendship, not years into their five years mission) and you can occasionally see Spock relaxing the emotional wall with someone other than Jim as he develops more serious a crush

I want to see! The Niska episode where Jim and Spock get nicked and tortured, and Bones goes in to trade for them back. He can only afford one but true to the Empath ep he just trades himself and volunteers for the torture.

I also want to see a Jaynestown style ep where Scotty or Sulu are the hero. I think probably Scotty. He'd be easy to write as selfish in a he only cares about tech kinda way and then to find that he accidentally did this would be funny. He also likes to keep a low profile generally so it's extra hilarious

Hospital heist ep, with Chapel cameo. I don't think anyone's handing Spock over to the feds, but maybe they get caught and Chekhov tries to trade Spock for their freedom? Not in a pre planned malicious, but more that he just doesn't prioritise Spock's safety over everyone else's. He sees it as a last ditch leverage effort, for the greater good. Could be good drama

Saffron style ep with Rand but she steals from them. I do think that's hilarious, showing them be the mark. And I'd let her win, leave them stranded without whatever thing it is she fleeced and having to find a new magical tech engine bit. But hey she left some booze as an apology and made out with Jim so it's not too bad

I really like Firefly

#star trek #star trek tos #firefly #uhotty #spones

[shortpplfedup]

Love ain't easy, and I greatly respect dramas that show you how much it's a miracle that through all of humans' bullshit they still manage to connect to each other. I'm not really interested in convincing anybody on Step By Step, but I'm compelled to get my perspective down for the record.

I feel very strongly about love not being about what folks deserve, but about what they decide. An idea I struggle greatly with is the one that you earn love, that if you somehow hit upon the right combination of attributes and actions you get 'love points' or something and then somebody will be justified in loving you, but that you are undeserving of love if you are flawed or erroneous or stumble and do the wrong thing. I am just not a person who believes that any human being is undeserving of being loved. People can get together, and break up, without being deserving or undeserving of love. Deciding to love is not a reward. Deciding not to love anymore is not a punishment. Love isn't a game with winners and losers. This is my life's philosophy.

Step By Step is not a romance. It's got a romance in it, but the romance is only one story among all the stories the show wants to tell. The show wants us to see and understand how queer people exist at work in a corporate environment, how they navigate its hostilities, and especially its specific hostilities to queerness. They give us 3 archetypes of queer character at work to follow (Pat, Jeng and Chot), and then they expand outward to show us some of the other aspects of their lives that are also acting and impacting upon how they exist at work. Is this done cleanly? Yes and no. The throughline is strong, but the show occasionally focuses too hard on trying to explain something that's happening tangentially (Ae, Kanun and Beam), or on hammering a thematic parallel home (Jaab and Jen).

Why the romance if it's not the point? Because a) it's a thing that happens, but also b) because a lot of queerness for non-queer people simply isn't visible without sex and romance. 'It's about who you love', 'love is love', and similar phrases are how queerness is generally translated to those not on the inside of it, those who don't live it and have an intrinsic understanding of it, those for whom it is an othering thing. So the romance becomes a shorthand as it were. Look at Jeng and Pat this episode, especially Jeng called on the carpet in that meeting. His queerness becoming visible via his relationship with Pat is the 'problem'. Jeng's been queer the whole time, and they all knew it, they're not just finding out. Pat becomes the subject of vicious gossip over whether he has earned his accolades because his queerness has now become visible. Meanwhile Chot, who is visibly queer, outside of the love relationship in his life (which is cleverly rendered invisible by Krit's closet) has been subject to the commentary all along.

In building the romance out, the show naturally wants to use it to underscore some other ideas about work (capitalism) and queerness if they can. Ideas about passing and the closet. Ideas about what it's like to be a young person trying to build your career. Ideas about how you separate and balance or integrate your work and the rest of your life. Ideas about how you need a team to get things done. So yes, the romance ends up carrying a lot of the story without being the point of the story, and yes I can see how that could cause some dissonance.

The romance itself feels unsatisfying at this point because that's how it's meant to feel, I stand by that. Jeng and Pat didn't build a solid relationship, they liked each other and let the feelings carry them. They haven't yet decided to love, with all that entails. There is no emotional catharsis for the audience because there's no emotional catharsis for the characters. Their romance to this point has been an infatuation and a series of false starts. Pat and Jeng didn't know each other's core premises. They don't understand each other. They didn't really choose each other yet, they each held back. Their 'incompatibilities' are exacerbated by the workplace and their roles in it. They can't trust each other with all that in the way. But they DO like each other, and that hasn't gone away, and they can build that into a love in the future if that's what they want to try doing. But that's not about whether Jeng or Pat 'deserves' to be loved, that's about what they decide.

Step By Step has meant a lot to me. I'm confident that it understands its characters and the core story it wants to tell, and for me that story has worth in being told. The execution is somewhat messy, but I will always forgive a little messy execution for a good strong story.

#step by step #step by step the series

[tyran-the-tyranical]

Baldur's Gate & The Human Condition

I want to rant about the themes in bg3 because I've been stuck thinking about them for a while, so now I must rant.

*Also just a recap on the definition of the human condition (haha rhymes)

"The human condition can be defined as the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, and death."

I think on the surface it's very clear that there is let's say a motif of breaking cycles or behaviors, liberating oneself from perpetual toxic cycles put upon the characters. From the beginning, I definitely could see that, but furthermore, I think it all comes back to the human condition and its importance throughout the story (Also, yes, the human condition doesn't need to strictly relate the humans as a species or race in bg3)

Time and time again we see these higher powers abuse their subjects or followers; Mystra, Cazador, Shar, Vlaakith, and so on. The common throughline with all these people is that in some way they have lost their humanity or never had it to begin with, and that's where they inevitably fail, and why on the other side our main characters can succeed.

If we look at the good endings for the bg3 cast, when they do not ascend or go back to their masters/leaders they end up much better and perhaps not perfectly but still it's the best endings for them since they still managed to keep their humanity and experience the human condition. If we look at Gale or Astarion, if you choose to ascend them, they're clearly not the same people anymore, they lost some integral part of themselves that allowed them to understand and I suppose emphasize with humanity, with mortals. Though now, if they lose that ability, they are doomed to repeat the faults of their predecessors, incapable of becoming anything more or seeing what they once did, they are forever changed.

On the other-other side of this, we see that even if the characters don't ascend, they're still doomed. Lae'zel is sacrificed, Karlach burns out (tho both of her endings are kinda glum), and so on. There are some exceptions since Wyll still can keep himself (unless u kill Mizora and doom him lol) but at the cost of his father's life and having to replace him when he really doesn't want to anyway.

We are shown these people in a higher power and not even necessarily supernaturally higher either, like the dead three, since they're still all well mortal. Each of them could've kept themselves but each of them couldn't see past themselves, past their sight for power, grief, and desire for destruction. They were either blinded to their human condition or chose not to acknowledge it, which is what enables them to perpetrate the will of their gods without any remorse. They could be seen as victims, especially in Thorm's case, but at the same time, they inevitably chose what they chose with full knowledge of the consequences.

The difference between the Dead Three and our main characters is that our main cast can let people in, they can depend on each other and be vulnerable. They allow themselves to express their fears and thoughts and let others know about their past and their pains. I think it's interesting that the dark urge is probably the only one of the chosen that even comes close to this, as seen with their relationship and affinity for Gortash as well as their later self-reflections throughout the game.

I also think it's cool that the cast longs for connection and can both do so figuratively and literally since they all have the tadpole and can actually mentally connect with each other.

I hope this makes sense and doesn't just sound like absolute shite, or maybe it was already super obvious and I only realized it late lol, I just never put it together that it was the human condition lol.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 #Baldur's gate #bg3 astarion #bg3 gale #bg3 lae'zel #bg3 karlach #enver gortash #bg3 durge #bg3 rant #I'm actually so cooked #teehee

[bvnga-aprikot]

VERY long overdue, this was wip that was supposed to be a sketch of what i want Athy, Jetty & Kiel’s outfits to look like in my Reincarnated!Jennette au that continuously haunts me for some reason. except i got bored at some point and just now i decided to rush coloring them now for some reason now that i remembered it's existence.

first attempt at my r!jetty au debutante dress my wip from last year

more under the cut :0 it's a bit long so sorry for that

i did this because i ended up feeling dissatisfied with my first attempt at designing a debutante dress for r!jetty since to me i just don't like how i executed things. granted i'm not really serious about my art but the colors looked too muddy lol. aside from that though, i also wanted to finally draw Athy's and Kiel's outfits mention in my other posts since they're obviously integral to this au.

i went more in depth in my first design post, but i decided to stick more true to the neoclassical silhouette that came after the rococo era which heavily influenced Jetty's dresses in both timelines in the manhwa. obviously a huge departure imo bc i think Jetty and her bows are too iconic to be left out of this one and i find it unfortunate that even when redoing my design i still couldn't find a way to incorporate bows lol. besides that, i'm quite happy with how her dress turned out this time.

i didn't point this out in the actual photo but if you're wondering why there are green marks on her neck and hands, long story short it was Viscount Patterson's fault (not to spoil on my own au but they do meet earlier).

Athy's dress is an homage to traditional debutante dresses being white, with the added edge that Athy's dress isn't supposed to stay white and turns into the iconic pink the more she dances. i wanted this to look more elegant and as if she is becoming a blooming flower as the night goes on. though i do wish i did more with the dress since it's supposed to represent how Athy is fully taking her life in her own hands to become Ruler of Obelia and thus, blooming into a new person. i should do a separate sketch for her dress bc it's more complex than what i had intended.

Kiel basically went full-on duke of the north with this one haha. full-disclosure, yes Kiel and Athy do have a thing with each other in this au though i don't intend for them to end up with each other, so i drew his outfit to compliment Athy's which ended up making him look like a Izek clone. however i specifically chose the dark colors because at that point, he and Jennette are still grieving the death of the Duchess due to... very unfortunate circumstances.

for the accessories Ijekiel and Jennette are wearing i'm keeping their connection to Duchess Alpheus, she's like the Lily in this au except she tragically passes away in their late childhood. it's an event that acts as a turning point for their characters and puts a strain on their relationship since she was the only adult in their lives who saw them for who they are outside of being Roger's pawns.

#rosie's txt #my art #also sorry for the lack of wmmap posts these days focusing on other things rn! #reincarnated!jennette au #who made me a princess #wmmap #wmmap au #wmmap athanasia #wmmap jennette #wmmap ijekiel #athanasia de alger obelia #jennette margarita #ijekiel alpheus

[no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist]

The way Chloe Gong pulls off fake deaths the way she does is an amazing testament to her skill as an author.

Usually fake deaths cheapen the blow of losing a character. You have to go through all of the emotional turmoil of losing a beloved character and watch everyone mourn them only for everything to be okay because actually they were kind of integral to the plot and the author needs them but also they also wanted to make the book sad for a little bit but hey everything is okay now!

But Chloe Gong doesn't do this. She gets you invested in what you usually know from the start is a doomed story. She makes you very desperately want to believe that the character that you know is going to die won't die. And then. She kills them.

And it's horrible. You mourn for them. You have to watch the other characters react to the death. But most of the time, it's a fake death. And even if you know or suspect this from the beginning, it still hurts, often just as much, if not more, than it would if the death were real.

And not just because of the way she writes grief, which gets more and more painful with each new book she releases. But instead of killing off a character for a quick gut punch and bringing them back because they were actually way too important to kill and she needs them for the plot, she uses fake deaths to create these absolutely insane scenarios that are often, at least in my opinion, more painful then just killing off the character.

When Marshall fake died, for example, she could've just had him die and forced Juliette to deal with the grief and guilt of killing her friend as well as the implications of Marshall's death for her relationship with Roma plus everyone else's grief and then created a weird situation where Roma can just,,, get over her killing Marshall and still like her. Instead, she creates this absolutely insane situation where Juliette is still grieving for the loss of her relationship with Roma, and Roma and Ben are grieving for Marshall all with Marshall still being alive. And rather than just using Marshall as a plot device to be sacrificed to make the other characters more interesting, she makes him more interesting as well. She forces him to watch as Benedikt and Roma grieve for him, making his relationship with both of them, as well as Juliette more interesting in the process.

And then when Roma and Juliette fake died at the end of OVE, even if you suspected it, it being fake doesn't take away from the pain very much, especially knowing what happens in Foul Lady Fortune. Alisa, whose only real family was arguably Roma and Benedikt, is left behind to raise herself and she is too afraid to check to see if Roma and Juliette are really dead. Because if they are dead, then she's truly alone, clinging onto the false belief that hope won out while everything she ever knew disintegrates around her. Plus, even though Benedikt and Marshall figure out pretty quickly that the death was fake, they're still forced to cope with the grief and guilt of having had a hand in the situation and forced to flee the country with only each other, thrust into a world where their best friends are dead and the hope that they are relying on to get themselves away from everything is based on the same sense of hope that ultimately lead to the "deaths" of Roma and Juliette. And then there's the cruelty of the sense of responsibility Rosalind feels for their deaths. And how after they died, she became deathly ill, but like them, was inexplicably saved. But she can't move on from their deaths and spends every waking hour and every unsleeping night of her immortal life trying to put the broken world they left behind back together. And Celia sees Alisa and Rosalind regularly. As she watches two people who she cares about immensely suffer for years after the deaths occurred, she can't say anything. Even though her first loyalty is to her sister, she's forced to watch Rosalind grieve and become a ghost of a person who seems to derive purpose solely from the pursuit of an impossible mission. And Roma and Juliette, who so deeply wanted to make the city better are forced to watch as things get worse and worse and the people that they seemingly sacrificed everything to save continue to suffer.

In Foul Lady Fortune, the fake deaths are a little different. So far, the only characters who have fake died are Dao Feng and Lady Hong, the later of which falls into this trope a bit more loosely. In Dao Feng's case, it leads to worry then betrayal on Rosalind's part. Her worry was all for nothing, and she's once again put in a place where one of the few people she dared to care about has left her and likely never truly cared about her in return (at least as of the end of FLF). Assuming that he did genuinely care about her based on As You Like It, I am very interested to see how this ends up playing out.

Lady Hong's case is somewhat similar. Although we never really think with absolute certainty that Lady Hong died, Orion suspects that his father could have done something to her and has no concrete explanation for her disappearance. He grieves her absence even though her relationship with him was always iffy at best. Only to find out that she never cared for him as anything other than a tool for her to take advantage of. Like Rosalind, he is left feeling used and as if all of his grief and pain were for nothing.

(Hiding the part below this because of huge Immortal Longings spoilers)

In Immortal Longings, you know that either Calla or Anton is going to have to die at the end because of the structure of the games. And as their relationship progresses, you dread the resolution more and more. You want a fake death. You want them to find some hole in the rules that will allow them both to survive. And Calla comes up with a plan that allows this. She gives you false hope. She lets you cling to the idea that the horrible ending you can so clearly see coming won't happen. And then that hope is snatched away, and you're even closer to the ending. And you know what's coming. You know that Anton has to die. And then the final crumb of hope is snatched away from you and they're in the ring together. And just when it's too late, Anton tells Calla that they could run for the wall together. He's finally willing to set aside Otta Avia, without who they wouldn't even be there in the first place. But it's too late. Because this is bigger than either of them. And Calla knows that she has to kill him. And she sinks her knife into his back in some of the most excruciating paragraphs I have read in my life. You see Anton realize that although he was willing to make a run for it with her, she has bigger plans. She isn't doing him a kindness by killing him first, and even though she may be planning on ending her own life as well soon, she cares more about killing King Kasa than she ever did about him. So when, at the very end, it is revealed that Anton somehow survived, it's somehow a million times worse than if he had actually died. Even though you so desperately wanted the book to not end in on or both of them dying, this isn't what you wanted. Now, he's alive and remembers just how willing she was to sink a knife through his back. And Calla must grieve for him all over again because even though he's alive, she surely can never truly have him back after what she did.

In conclusion, Chloe Gong is a legend and a genius. Thank you for coming to my tedtalk I guess.

#help i just realized how long this post is i genuinely have no idea how long i spent writing this i think i was in a trance #this has been sitting in my drafts since i finished immortal longings ooops #this is also a testament to how she handles miscommunication incredibly well #will forever defend 90% of the most hated tropes because usually they're just badly carried out and not recognized when done well #i think this is probably the longest analysis i've ever written oops #oh the things i will do to procrastinate my homework #chloe gong #secret shanghai #these violent delights #our violent ends #foul lady fortune #foul heart huntsman #last violent call #tvd #ove #flf #fhh #lvc #immortal longings #flesh and false gods #il #fafg #juliette cai #roma montagov #marshall seo #benedikt montagov #rosalind lang #celia lang #alisa montagova #orion hong