#and at least as an adult I have more agency to make these decisions

[misty--nights]

This is not at all coherent, I don't think. I have a cold and woke up from a nap with a weird idea so I'm putting it out into the world in case anyone else finds it as entertaining as I did.

Do you know what I think would be a hilarious Dead Boy Detectives ship? Jenny/The Night Nurse. Now hear me out.

Imagine Jenny who goes to England with the ghosts and Crystal because her whole life has been turned upside down and she needs a new start. Imagine her trying to adapt to a new, completely different place, after spending her whole life in Port Townsend. Imagine her trying to cope with the fact that the supernatural exists and things are not how she believed for all of her life.

Imagine also the Night Nurse who has just been basically relocated from her job and forced to oversee these kids that have made her existence so incredibly hard lately. Imagine her having to live on Earth full-time for an indefinite period of time just because those pesky kids managed to charm her superior. Imagine her being incredibly frustrated about all of this, and not really having a way of venting about it because all of her power is meaningless in the face of her superiors.

Now imagine them meeting at the Agency office. Just a casual meeting once, when Jenny comes over to pick something up while Crystal and the boys are off on some case. Jenny remembers some of her first meeting with the Night Nurse. Not the specifics, of course, because the Night Nurse took that, but she does remember the fear and the weirdness afterwards. And to the Night Nurse Jenny is just some random human of no interest. So that first meeting again is kind of awkward.

But then, they keep crossing paths. They've both become this sort of reluctant parental figures to the Agency kids. Like the Night Nurse is obviously ordered to be Charles and Edwin's keeper, and Jenny has sort of taken it upon herself to look after Crystal (whose parents suck) and Niko (once she gets back to them, because I don't believe in a world where she doesn't make it back to her friends from whatever weird limbo state she is in.) And then because the four teens are now a package deal, Jenny and the Night Nurse start spending more and more time together.

Eventually, they get to talking. Still a little awkwardly at first, but they start finding common ground (complaining about the teens) and spending more time together with the only other adult figure in the group. Yes, Charles and Edwin have both been around for longer than Jenny has been alive, but they still at like teens most of the time. And yes, since Jenny's human the Night Nurse doubts their experiences can truly relate and they're not actually anywhere close in age, but it's not like she has many other options. So they talk sometimes. And slowly those talks become more and more frequent.

They start meeting like once a week. Jenny has opened a new shop down the street from the Agency and they meet there when the kids are off on a case. Maybe they share a bottle of wine or something and trade stories. Mostly complains about the teens, of course, but then also more personal things. Jenny's brain isn't quite able to grasp everything about the Night Nurse's lore, so she just drinks and listens.

The Night Nurse wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she enjoys having someone who will listen to her complains and not act like she's being unreasonable. Why wouldn't she be annoyed that this kids keep making messes for her to clean up and leaving her with mountains of paperwork to fill? (Some things never change, huh.) Jenny understands. She also finds the paperwork tedious. She also thinks the kids have an otherworldly ability to make stupid decisions and get on their nerves.

I think Jenny would be the first to catch feelings. Or at least she'd be the first to realize.

Once their meetings stop being a weekly thing and become almost daily, she starts noticing all these little things. Like how the Night Nurse is actually really soft for the kids, even if they annoy her. How she genuinely cares for her job in a way that goes beyond just being made for a job and preforming it for eternity. How she always does her best to keep the teens safe even when she knows they will try their best to get into as much trouble as possible. How she can be all dry humor and unexpected kindness underneath her business attitude. Eventually, she realizes that there's something about the Night Nurse that really calls to her, that draws her in despite her better judgement.

Jenny wouldn't do anything about those feelings, though. How do you go about romancing an eternal, trans-dymensional being? You don't. You sip your wine and listen to her as attentively as you can manage and you don't say anything.

The Night Nurse would take longer to realize she's falling for Jenny. It's not that she doesn't know how human relationships work or that she doesn't understand that she and Jenny are getting closer. It's just that she has many other, bigger, concerns.

It's not until much later, after a bad case, that she realizes. It's the kind of case that gets them all banged up and somehow, Jenny ends up involved in it too despite her insistence that she wants nothing to do with Agency business. I'm going cliche here, but I think her somehow getting cursed to be trapped inside her mind or something could work well. Because then the Night Nurse would have to go through her memories to get her back or something like that. And along the way, she would realize Jenny has a crush on her, of course, but also she'd realize she has a crush on Jenny too?

These past few months or however long it's been have been so much better knowing that Jenny understands at least some of her troubles. She can't begin to explain how much it means to her, knowing there's someone who will listen and commiserate and give the most human advice imaginable. It's a lot and she cannot ignore it now that she's realized it.

So, once things are back to normal and the kids have gone out to celebrate another case closed, the Night Nurse slips into Jenny's shop with a bottle of her favorite wine. Jenny still looks a little shaken, but she smiles and brings a couple of glasses to their usual corner and blushes prettily when their gazes meet for a second too long. Neither mentions it, but they're both aware of what has changed between them. And as the Night Nurse settles her hand on Jenny's she thinks of a man living inside of a sea monster and wonders if this is also an adventure worth talking about.

#dead boy detectives #jenny green #the night nurse #edwin payne #charles rowland #niko sasaki #crystal palace #my writing #what would their ship name even be #greennight #??? #I don't know #I got way too into this for a random crack ship idea

[cherrysnax]

as a kid I always wondered why I never went to the dentist ever I had a lot of mouth and teeth problems that got worsened by my depression

#my dads rlly big on dental hygiene so its not ignorance #and if he even has a slight toothache he goes #but even when I had multiple rows growing at the same time they refused #I’ve been up and down with this insurance thing just for my mom to be like oh yeah the original one you wanted to go to is fine #she knew it was fine #she kept telling me that my dad loved the place #I don’t know why she sent me on this little struggle to find someone who could take my other insurance even though she knew a place where #I could from the start #I don’t get her at all even chevy n my dad mentioned it #but yeah I have a lot of mouth shit to make up for because neglect n well uh neglect #and at least as an adult I have more agency to make these decisions #so that’s a plus #vent #but yeah this shit hurts so bad lmaoo

[melonn-soda]

❝ LOVE LACED NIGHTS...❞

warnings: dacryphilia, safewords, creampie, bttm male reader, top fukuzawa, praise kink, aftercare

word count: 3k

prompt: basically u meet the detective agency as fuku’s hubby and hang out w/ them a bit then u get it on

notes: fukuzawa’s first name is used the entire fic btw

fem aligned dni

for someone who seemed to like working alone for a majority of his life, the detective agency was very surprised at the sight of the director mentioning him being married. most of that reason was because yukichi never wore his ring during working hours due to him being scared about your well-being and the enemies that would use you to manipulate his decisions. he was very secretive about his home life and you were no different. of course, you worked your own job, never wore your wedding ring outside of home, and never showed any connection to the detective agency in public. the only person who knew at the time is ranpo, who you saw frequently around the household since you and yukichi took care of him when he was a teen.

now, here you were, in your home, standing in front the detective agency with a cat themed apron on since you stepped away from your cooking at your husband’s call. to say being overwhelmed at the presence of all of them was an understatement, you felt like you were being judged by nearly every person in the room from the weight of their stares. the only people who didn’t seem to be judging you was the sliver haired young adult, the little farmer boy, and dazai (whom you’ve heard so much about). compared to yukichi, you were on the more weaker side; however, looks can be deceiving. you knew how to defend yourself whenever it was needed, quick with your feet and with daggers, yukichi taught you most of the things you needed to know about fighting.

“oh! i wasn’t expecting visitors today.” you said sheepishly, hands tightly wrapping around the spatula nervously. being the center of attention was definitely not something you were used to, preferring to stick to the corners if that were an option, “these are your employees, am i wrong?”

your husband only nodded at you, hands tucked into his sleeves. ranpo was the first to initiate a response, glomping you into a hug that caught you by surprise, “ba! do you have any snacks for me?” he asked, slightly jumping up and down.

“ah- could we at least eat dinner first before you raid the pantry?” you asked, holding him down by the shoulders. watching him pout before a small “fine” was mumbled out of his mouth, he walked off into the living room, already making himself comfortable.

“it seems like you and ranpo are already pretty close.” the silver haired boy mentioned before spoke, a smile on his face. he walked in front of you, suddenly bowing which made you freeze up, “thank you for inviting us into your home, sir. i hope we aren’t too much of a bother.”

waving your hands in front of you, a response spilled out of your mouth, “there’s no need for such formalities.. i’m happy yukichi found people he could put so much trust in. if you are friends with him, then you are friends with me.” you reassured, hands returning back in front of you, “you may all call me [name] because i took on yukichi’s last name and to avoid confusion. do not feel afraid to approach me whenever i’m needed and- if you all don’t mind- may i get names to attach to faces?”

the use of the president’s first name was certainly weird to hear out loud, ranpo far too used to hearing it slip out of your mouth to actually care. everyone soon told their names and you returned to the kitchen to continue cooking the meals you left unattended. kunikida and atsushi came to help, setting the table alongside you as dishes and utensils were placed in orderly fashions. dazai and ranpo were playing a game of chess in the living room, a game common in america for those who possess the abilities to smoke those with their higher intellect and strategic thinking to beat the opposing side.

soon enough, you called everyone over to the dining area, everyone rushing in to sit at a spot and chat while eating after they all thanked you for the hospitality. dazai made multiple compliments about how good you looked for someone in your forties, causing you to fluster and stumble on your words and you thanked him. kunikida, of course, seemed to notice what he was going for and told him to knock it off, the brunet playing dumb and acting like he didn’t know what he was talking about. everyone seemed to be very nice and accepting of yukichi’s and your relationship since marriage between two men wasn’t very normalized within japan. it made you feel relieved over the fact you didn’t have to worry about that issue and face the discrimination that would follow after it, making you wallow in a pit of shame and tears that would break your character.

after dinner, everyone picked up their plates and placed them in the sink, you telling them that you could wash the dishes as they could go and finish their game of chess. yukichi snuck up behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist as he planted a kiss on the back of your head, hair separating his lips that begged to touch your skin. you chuckled softly, brushing your palm against his forearm as you felt him smile in your hair.

“are you enjoying yourself?” he asked, now lowering his head to nuzzle it against your neck, placing a soft kiss just for you to crane your neck away at the ticklish sensation.

you hummed, “they’re lovely people,” you sighed, going back to washing the dishes as you heard bickering coming from the living room, “they seem so happy living this life despite it being at risk almost 24/7. i’m almost kind of jealous. i wish i was able to spend more time with you outside the comfort of our own home.”

yukichi felt the same. he wished he was able to take you out on dinners and shopping but the job he has was way too risky to put you in danger. so he made sure to buy you little but meaningful gifts as compromise for the depressing life you both had to live. even when he returned home, he made sure to make the both of you feel special, dancing slowly to the soft music that buzzed out of the radio as the alcohol started to take its effect. those nights never usually ended the way people think it does: spilled wine and tossed sheets- no. it was mostly just sitting on the bed as yukichi held you dear, your head resting on his chest as the both of you dozed off. your and yukichi’s sex drives weren’t very high but that was because you both got older and less focused on it. when you were both in your mid twenties to mid thirties, those were the heights of excitement in the bedroom. now, you both just wanted to take it slow, enjoy life while you still had it. sex between you two now had become softer and slower, gentle caresses and cries, just focused on the thought of making each other feel good.

you sighed, leaning back into yukichi while smiling. none of that mattered. the only thing important to you now was your beloved and the kid the both of you raised together. now, there was a whole agency you were willing to protect, all of them being too precious to let go. yukichi felt the waves of content radiate off of you, his hold on your waist getting tighter like he didn’t want to let go.

“ewww!!” you heard come from the entrance of the kitchen, whipping your head in that direction, almost hitting yukichi in the process, “you guys are so cheesy!!” ranpo bleghed in mockery, catching the attention of the entire agency. dazai was the next person to poke his head in, overdramatically saying how your relationship with your husband was too romantic for him to handle. kunikida came following after, yelling at the tall man about how disrespectful it is to say things like that. you didn’t mind it, instead laughing at the display of how well the agency members could get along, yukichi laying his cheek onto your shoulder as he watched along too.

once everyone left and said their goodbyes, you sighed and closed the door shut, feeling mentally exhausted after interacting with so many people. ranpo wasn’t going to spend the night here, telling you he was going to a friend’s house- someone named poe from what you remembered. yukichi picked up some of the cups left in the living room, placing them into the sink to wash for tomorrow. the both of you headed to bed, changing into the appropriate sleepwear before crawling into the sheets.

“that was fun.” you said, voice nearly a whisper, the moonlight shining through the window highlighting yukichi’s silver hair and your face. you softly touched his calloused palms, bringing one of them to your lips and just barely kissing it.

“i’m glad you enjoyed your time, love.” he lifted his hand that you just held and pressed it against the side of your head, rubbing your cheekbone affectionately. he pushed himself forward, kissing your forehead, then the bridge of your nose, then under your eyelids, cheek, and lastly the corner of your lips before pulling away.

you whined at the loss of desire, wanting him to give you what you wanted, “you’re so mean.”

he chuckled at you, slipping his fingers between yours, “then come and get what you want.” he teased, closing his hand within yours and tugged you toward him, his right arm wrapping around your waist as you were pressed into his chest.

you smiled and pressed yourself against him more, kissing him softly. it wasn’t long before the both of you started opening your mouths, teeth clicking weirdly from the position you were both kissing in. yukichi lifted you off your side, laying on his back as he placed you to straddle his lap. you settled your hands onto his chest, slowly starting you push his nightwear off, yours already starting to slip off your shoulders.

sighing into the kiss, his hands dipped down to the arch of your back, rubbing circles on your hip dips. you hummed onto his mouth, feeling his erection start to poke through his robes, nudging onto your thigh as you continued making out. you pushed your thigh into it, hearing him groan as his eyebrows furrowed from the contact.

giggling, you pulled away from the kiss, “already this pent up just kissing? you’re so cute.” you pecked his cheek once more before sitting up, feeling his grip on your hips squeeze when his face started to redden.

“you try dealing with the affairs of the agency then.” he nearly growled, moving your hips with minimal force since you never fought back against his relief. you knew how much stress his job caused him and you were in no place to shut down his needs, always putting his pleasure before yours.

“i know, love,” you started undoing the sash that kept his robes from falling, “you work very diligently and i acknowledge that.” you pushed away his wear, hand hovering over his pelvis before pressing down lightly against it, feeling him shiver under your form.

“safeword?” he asked.

“quill.”

that was all the confirmation you both need, the older tearing off the robes on your body, leaving you in your boxers, the cold air of the home making a chill run up your spine. clothes were thrown to the floor, blankets shoved to the ground as the tension started to build. yukichi raised his upper half to nibble at your collarbone, rubbing his palm against your hard on, sounds that were heavenly to him spilling out of your mouth. he was always so gentle with you now that old age was creeping up, he was usually more excited and rough when you were both younger but that spark of youth was gone now.

stripping you of your boxers, yukichi pulled you down with him, reaching into the drawer next to you and pulling out the quarter filled bottle of lube. he uncapped the bottle with his teeth, pouring it onto his ring and middle finger before pushing one of them inside you. you squirmed at the feeling, this type of activity having been put off for too long for when you last done this. he stopped to make sure you were comfortable again. prodding his finger in deeper once you seemed fine.

he poked around for a bit, stretching you out little by little, then felt you jolt and whine, burying your head into his shoulder as your fingernails lightly scratched at his skin.

“are you okay?” he asked, knowing that he just hit your prostate. he felt you nod and sigh slowly, resuming his actions.

he relubed his fingers after pulling them out for the short while, then pushing two fingers in, stretching you further. the sensation soon dulled after a few minutes, yukichi pressing down on the bundle of nerves a few times to tease you. finishing up his ministrations, he slipped out his fingers and wiped them on something you couldn’t see. your positions flipped nearly instantly, surprising you as you squeaked in shock. yukichi towered above you, his thin hips locked in tightly between your legs with a shadow cast on his face.

he went to reach over to the drawer again, in which you stopped him by grabbing his wrist, mumbling, “ah, umm.. can we do it..-” your lover looked at you, waiting for your answer, “can we do it without the…” your face flushed hotly and he seemed to catch on, nodding his head and taking the bottle of lube once more.

slicking himself up, he tossed the bottle to the side without a care and started to slip himself inside you slowly. you winced slightly, forgetting how much bigger he was compared to his fingers. you breathed out shakily, relaxing yourself so yukichi wouldn’t have a difficult time with you tightening up. when he was fully sheathed in you, yukichi pressed kisses up and down your neck, attempting to calm you down since he felt you tensing up.

“mnn- ah, you can move now…” you muttered out, feeling him press against your prostrate but not enough to drive you hypersensitive.

he slowly slid his cock out, pushing it back in at the same pace. this was the slow sex that the both of you had gotten used to, rocking into each other with minimal movement. he seemed a little rougher this time, thrusts a little quicker and precise. his grip on your waist was tight, nails digging into your skin as you whimpered and whined.

you could feel every part of him, dragging against your walls deliciously as you slightly drooled at the sensations. this felt better than the last time you’ve both done something like this. he was treating you with the aggressiveness you liked so much albeit gentler. eyes clenching shut, you groaned once you felt him hit your prostate, breathing heavily.

light scars started to rake up his back from your doing, reddening them as they started to swell. you trembled, yukichi hitting the bundle of sensitive nerves repeatedly, soon finding yourself crying out, “a-ahn-! hah, yu~, is too muuuch~” you slurred, tears starting to dribble down your face.

“it’s alright- nn, you’re being so good for me.” he praised, hearing your moans shift up and octave from how much you loved that sort of attention. he nuzzled himself in the crook of your neck, biting and kissing the marks he made afterward, making you shiver.

yukichi thrusted into you a little faster, noises spilling out of your mouth with a staccato. you felt yourself getting closer to your release, yukichi taking notice and starting to stroke you to your finish as he chased after his.

you sobbed in his hold, legs wobbling as you begged silently for him to release in you, “agh… close! ‘m so close.” you felt yukichi’s hips stutter as you started to clench around him, the older soon coming to his close as well.

“do you want me to-?” he started to ask, only to be interrupted with your constant pleases, looking up at him with desperation. he pumped his fist around you faster, causing you to arch your back, shaking vigorously from heightened simulation.

soon enough, you spilled onto his hand and your stomach, yukichi kissing you to keep you silent. you moaned lowly, him pistoning into you before stilling, filling you up as he thrusted slowly to ride out his high. you could feel some of it leak out, dripping onto the sheets as you sobbed from the aftershocks.

“are you okay..?” yukichi asked after a while, keeping himself settled inside, deciding not to move so he wouldn’t overstimulate you.

“mmmn.. yeah..” you mumbled, feeling his fingers brush your eyes, wiping away the tears that dripped. he was always good with aftercare, making sure you were alright, soothing your cries with whispers of praise.

he picked you up, making sure to slide out of you gently. he cleaned the both of you up, grabbing another pair of robes to dress you in as he changed the bedsheets. you drifted off to sleep as he was tidying the bed up, your husband taking notice and kissing you on the forehead, placing you onto the bed and tucking the both of you in for the night.

ranpo unlocked the door to his dads’ home, mumbling, “man, i can’t believe poe wasn’t home. i was really looking forward to reading his novel..”

he closed the door behind him, heading toward the laundry room, tearing off his coat to throw it into the basket. just as he was about to leave the room, he saw a slight shine from the corner of his eye. he thought it could’ve been jewelry of yours that might’ve dropped into the sheets but as he got closer his eyes widened in horror.

he yelled, running out of the laundry room with and embarrassed look on his face, “these guys are so GROSS!!!”

#x bottom male reader #bottom male reader #male reader #x male reader #bsd anime #bungou stray dogs #fukuzawa yukichi #bsd fukuzawa #fukuzawa x reader #bsd x reader #bsd x male reader

[transmascutena]

okay so i love drawing parallels between characters -- and i especially love drawing parallels between characters who seemingly have nothing in common -- and in a show where every character is a mirror of one another, i think kozue and utena might be the two who are the least alike. so i wanna talk (ramble) about them.

what does it mean that kozue and utena both have an injured ankle on their 'date' with akio?

i think it has something to do with restricted movement meaning restricted agency.

utena's injured ankle means she can't walk on her own, which means she would not be able to escape her situation if she wanted to. kozue on the other hand can walk, and chooses to go in the car, but i think they're both ultimately in a similar situation of believing they have more agency than they do in their relationships with akio.

kozue is more convinced of this because she's used to using romance and sexuality to get what she wants. she believes that she is using akio just as much as he is using her, and is fine with that arrangement (this is, i think, similar to touga's mentality. they both believe they're getting something out of their relationships with akio, which is why they stay.) but, of course, no matter how nefarious your intent is, it will never make up for the power imbalance between a child and an adult.

utena is... well it's more complicated. i don't think she's at all aware of what she wants, and she certainly does not think that akio is using her. (if anything she might think she's using him, and feels guilty about it.) she doesn't stay despite the abuse, she stays because she doesn't know about it. kozue knows akio is a bad person and doesn't care -- utena thinks he's a good person. akio takes advantage of both of these things in a pretty similar way. he makes all of his victims think that they are entirely in control of their own actions, even when they aren't. he makes kozue believe she is just as selfish as he is, and he makes utena believe that everything he does to her is her own fault. both of these things also conviniently serve to make sure neither of them ever tell anyone. (not entirely true. kozue does tell miki on his car ride, but it doesn't end up mattering at all)

then there's how they each got their injuries. utena's was either directly or indrectly akio's fault, depending on interpretation, whereas kozue's came from a decision she made that had nothing to do with him. i think this mainly reflects that kozue is not part of akio's plan in any significant way, whereas utena obviously is. he needed to personally restrict utena's agency, whereas he only took advantage of the way kozue has limited her own agency via the choices she makes (and the structure she lives in that pressured her into said choices, of course. i hope i don't sound like i'm victim blaming.) this again ties into kozue being able to walk despite her injury where utena can't -- kozue is much more free to leave her situation.

#this is 100% just me rambling idk if there's a point to any of what i'm saying. it stopped being about character parallels pretty quick #revolutionary girl utena #analysis #utena #kozue #akio #m #akio and utena #all girls are like the rose bride

[heliza24]

Wilhelm, The Look (™), and Endings

The recent poll on the confessions blog about the ideal end of the series (King Wilhelm vs leaving the line of succession vs the end of the monarchy) got me thinking about endings. In trying to think of what my own answer to this question was, I ended up reflecting on the way that Season 1 and 2 end, and that got me thinking about the infamous straight-to-camera Wilhelm looks that bookend each season. I’ve always loved those moments and found them crucial to the visual language of the show, but I don’t think I’ve ever really stopped to analyze why. But if I’m trying to decide how I feel about the possible endings of season 3, I should probably stop and figure out why I feel the way I do about the ending (and beginning) shots of season 1 and 2, right? So let’s take a minute and talk through these shots, and what I think they do for story structure and Wilhelm’s character.

I think the main thing those glances to camera do are establish Wilhelm as a protagonist with agency. Just for a second, he’s aware that he’s being watched, and that awareness means that he’s going to make active choices about what happens during his story. I think this makes sense when we realize that the first look to camera happens when Wilhelm is giving his first press interview. Wilhelm has always been in the public eye as a member of the royal family, But this is the first time that the attention of the press has been directed directly at him. It’s the first time that he has been asked to answer for his actions, and the first time he’s had to take responsibility for something like an adult. The camera catches him right as he makes his first decision: to follow his parents’ wishes, do the press conference, and go to Hillerska. It’s not a look of rebellion so much as it is a look of acceptance. All the growth that comes after as part of season 1 comes as a result of the awareness that starts in that moment. I think it’s significant that the gaze at the end of season 1 comes right after Wilhelm has made a very similar decision to the one he made in episode 1. Once again he has obeyed his parents, given the statement to the press that he was supposed to give, and toed the party line. It’s only in the fourth wall break that we know that something is different. We see all the rage and disappointment and heartbreak he has in that look, and we know that moving forward something is going to be different. But the season ends simply on this promise, and doesn’t let us see the payoff. Before we knew whether or not we were getting a season 2, I remember thinking that season 1 felt like a complete story (if not a happy one) but I would be mad if we never got to see all that Wilhelm was promising us come to fruition. 

I think the gazes in season 2 function in much the same way– they emphasize Wilhelm’s agency and show us how much he changes over the course of the season. At the beginning of the season Wilhelm is literally ready to burn it all down, as he stares at us in the mirror as he burns August’s photo. But the look we get at the end of episode 6 is much more calm and confident. He’s taken the rage that fueled his initial revenge quest against August and turned it into the bravery he needs to tell the truth on his own terms. This last look once again acts as a promise; Wilhelm is swearing that he will live authentically, no matter the consequences. But once again the season ends before we have a chance to see him follow through. We know that there will be a whole host of difficulties that arise from his confession, and that last look gives us the confidence that Wilhelm will rise to meet them. But we don’t see any of that, or at least we won’t until season 3. The fact that the season ends here really emphasizes that what was most important about the season was Wilhelm’s growth. The fact that he grew to a point where he could give the speech and stare down the barrel of the camera with confidence meant that the story the season was trying to tell was complete, even though we might expect a longer denouement. I know it’s common fandom knowledge that there was at least one additional shot filmed, of Simon and Wilhelm walking away together. So I think it’s significant that in the edit Lisa and Co decided to end on The Look (™) instead. I don’t want to suggest that the Wilmon relationship isn’t hugely significant to the show, its ending, or to Wilhelm. It is, and I think that’s represented when they lock eyes right before Wilhelm’s final look to camera. But there’s something about Wilhelm growing just enough to tell the truth in front of everyone that means that this chapter of the story is now closed, with no additional Wilmon scene needed.

The other thing that first glance does of course is establish us, the audience, as part of the public that is watching and judging Wilhelm. We’re in the audience for the press conference he gives at the beginning of season 1, and we’re in the stands watching him give the speech at the end of season 2. The relationship this creates between Wilhelm and the audience is really charged. Those looks create an intimacy which makes us care about Wilhelm as a character. But they also implicate us as part of the reason why Wilhelm is always being observed. We’re part of the oppressive force Wilhelm has to deny in order to live truthfully and claim his agency.  When Wilhelm looks into the camera he’s defying *us*. He’s daring us to stop him from getting revenge on August, or disobeying his mom, or telling the truth about the video. We’re brought in as co-conspirators in the same moment that we’re sized up as an enemy. 

Circling back to thinking about season 3, I think it’s a fair guess to assume that the season will begin and end with The Looks (™). I also expect that the last moments of season 3 won’t tie up every single loose end, much like the end of season 2 didn’t address the fallout from Wilhelm’s speech. I expect that last look to feel like a promise, like Wilhelm saying “I’ve got it from here.” 

In general I’m not huge on making super specific predictions. But if I were to guess how season 3 will end, I would predict that any questions about the larger fate of the monarchy will not be answered fully by the show, and will instead be covered by The Look (™). I think this holds true whether or not Wilhelm decides to remain in the line of succession, but that his character arc will feel most complete if he makes the decision to leave.  

If Wilhelm does make the decision to leave the line of succession and this does have national implications, I don’t imagine that we’ll see them fully play out. Wilhelm growing enough to leave will mean that the story that Young Royals is telling is complete. After a lot of consideration, I think this is my desired outcome for the show and my best shot at predicting the general shape of the season 3 finale. I want Wilhelm to grow enough to leave (with Simon) and I want the show to end with us confident that he’ll be able to handle the consequences of that decision, even if we don’t see them all play out.

#young royals #my meta #wilhelm young royals #prince wilhelm

[aurea-corde]

I've never seen a single episode of anything related to watcher but I am eating up all this drama. Also sorry to y'all going through this

i appreciate that anon 😭 i've seen several good nuanced takes on the situation thankfully. the company definitely did mess up how it introduced the streaming service to people: they said in the video they were going to paywall all existing and new content and then in the comments and in the variety article pretended like that was never their intent. the variety article reveals that they were in fact initially told watcher was going to delete all existing content. the CEO in particular but in general all the founders said that the amount they are charging is affordable - specifically that anyone could afford it - which no they can't obviously. As they are now finding out the hard way. The CEO Steven also made an instagram post insinuating people who wouldn't subscribe just no longer want to watch them, rather than the reality which is that a massive majority of the audience can't afford to. Because he is the CEO, people are blaming the entire thing on him, but it's also important to remember there are actually three founder-owners with decision-making abilities in the company. Shane and Ryan are adults, and the way people are acting like Steven is some kind of dictator, Ryan just went along with it but Shane is the people's anticapitalist hero who was simply outvoted is not a great look. Especially the posts that refuse to acknowledge even the possibility of racial biases here. Mistakes were made, poc are not immune to criticism, but let's consider why so many feel like Shane was forced into this by the evil Steven (and people in the comments have literally called him evil for this) and either lump Ryan in with him or give Ryan no agency in the situation whatsoever. Steven is the most likely to have made the proposal as the closest thing Watcher has to a business-minded founder, but the other two clearly agreed with him. They could have just decided not to be in the video. I also don't see a world where they contractually obligated themselves to every whim of Steven's like some people are suggesting.

Do I think they're a bit sheltered in their LA life? Yeah, probably. I'm pretty sheltered myself - I live a comfortable middle class life in Australia, have a good job and am studying law. I could definitely afford the subscription. But I don't want to atm, or at least until they respond to the situation. Are they the worst most evil capitalists because they want to charge money for the content they create? No, not inherently. People supported them on Patreon because of course creatives should be paid for their labour, and ideally paid well enough to live comfortably. But the combo of bad business decisions (e.g. hiring too many staff too quickly while also wanting to pay them above a living wage, not advertising the patreon, not utilising revenue streams that aren't a streaming service like youtube memberships, spending what Ryan has said is hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single season of a series they have called Ghost Files) and the fact the CEO is pretty open about his comfortable lifestyle (drives a tesla which btw folks isn't a luxury car it's just a more expensive one, has a $300 matcha machine, has a series based on fine dining vs more affordable restaurants), means people are understandably mad because they are struggling financially and the founders (from what we know) are not - but they're trying to tell people that 6 USD is affordable for everyone.

It's a lot less to do with the fact of them charging for content as much as the way they went about it and in particular how it's been phrased to people has come across really insensitive. There's other logistics with the streaming service itself that were not thought out at all for international viewers, but I won't get into that here. And the pretending they were always going to leave their content up and telling viewers not to spread misinformation is scummy to me - at least acknowledge that was a mistake you made and backtracked on. It's just a mess but I really loved their videos and hope they make Youtube's Greatest Apology Video Ever (unironically) and try to undo some of the damage.

edit: someone in the replies made a great point that teslas could actually be considered a luxury car in some countries outside of the US, and I fully agree that 6 USD is 1) too much for what they offer, esp in this economic climate and 2) wayyyyy too much when converted to other currencies. I've seen other Australians say the conversion is too much for them but I know viewers in other countries say it comes out to literally thousands for them - if they can even access the site at all from their country.

#watcher #answered #steven lim #shane madej #ryan bergara

[winterandwords]

✍🏻 WRITEBLR INTRO

👋🏻 Hi, I’m Winter. I write emotionally intense character-driven fiction inspired by city streets and stormy seas, scars and synchronicity, synesthesia and l’appel du vide.

📲 I'm writing-related ask and tag game friendly and I love reblogging your WIP snippets.

📚 You can download my books at 🔗winterandwords.com. It's the only place they're available. More information about each book can also be found further down this post.

☕ If you enjoy my writing and would like to offer support, you can do that via 🔗Ko-fi. I share my books for free with the option to donate if you can afford to rather than selling them for an upfront payment, so your contributions are super appreciated!

🌈 It always makes happy to encounter queer characters whose identity and narrative aren’t limited to or by their queerness, so I’m writing the characters I want to see in the stories I want to read.

📝 I write for an adult audience, but my stories don’t include explicit sexual content because it’s not my vibe (not a genital in sight here, folks). That said, if you’re uncomfortable with fiction that's frequently dark, sometimes spicy, and often chemically enhanced, I might not be the ideal writer for you to follow. Not everything is for everyone and that’s OK.

🛑 I would prefer if minors didn't follow me. I don't follow minors, at least not intentionally. Sometimes it's not obvious and I'm not the age-in-bio police. In the kindest possible way, if you're under eighteen, my writing is not for you and I'd rather engage with other adults only.

💜 My reblogs tend to be writing-related, with a few exceptions. My likes are (mostly) non-writing-related things I get a kick out of, or personal posts that I want to acknowledge but that don’t feel appropriate to reblog.

💌 If, for some reason, you need to contact me outside of the hellsite, you can do that at winterandwords[at]gmail[dot]com

🌊 NOVEMBER BREAKS (complete)

BASICS Genre: Transgressive, literary Audience: Adult Length: Approx 52k words Working title: Project Storm Tags: #november breaks and #project storm More: Book summary

💻 To download as a PDF and EPUB, please visit winterandwords.com

VIBE Crime, weather symbolism and questionable life choices. Hurt me, I need to feel alive. Violence is a drug. Also, drugs are drugs. This is a love story like crude oil is a tea. #ThatShouldNotBeHot. Nothing’s real anyway.

INTRO No conscience, no problem. Noah kills for money. Brett hides a life of crime behind a successful career. Officially, they both protect people from people like themselves. Unofficially, everything is falling apart. Until they meet. And it all gets worse.

🔪 BRIDGE FROM ASHES (complete)

BASICS Genre: Cyberpunk, neon-noir Audience: Adult Length: Approx 70k words Working title: Project Frequency Tags: #bridge from ashes and #project frequency More: Book summary

💻 To download as a PDF and EPUB, please visit winterandwords.com

VIBE High-rise buildings and low-life scum. Everything hurts, but not enough to feel good. Yes, that’s a gun in my pocket and no, I’m not pleased to see you. If mind control is real, why do I still have to make decisions?

INTRO Too useful for prison and too dangerous for freedom, underworld assassin Rafael Turner is sentenced to serve in a secretive military agency. When a mission to infiltrate a criminal operation drags his past to the surface and someone he thought he’d lost forever unexpectedly returns, how much is Rafe willing to risk to settle old scores and have a chance at a future he’d given up hoping for?

💀 FIVE (complete)

Genre: Various Audience: Adult Length: Approx 6.5k words Tags: #five More: Book summary

💻 To download as a PDF and EPUB, please visit winterandwords.com

INTRO A collection of short science fiction, experimental, urban fantasy, and horror stories exploring themes of loss, transition, and altered states.

🚬 SPIN CYLINDER (WIP)

BASICS Genre: Transgressive, literary Audience: Adult Tags: #spin cylinder More: WIP summary

Spin Cylinder is the sequel to November Breaks.

VIBE Slice of life, but life is drugs and crime. They deserve each other (derogatory). Violence as a substitute for therapy. Very elegantly wasted. My favourite mistake, my weapon of choice and the parts of ourselves that we can’t leave behind.

INTRO Contract killer Noah and white-collar criminal Brett retire from successful but stressful careers to build a home together on a foundation of obsession, shared secrets and murder. But when they start to feel restless and the downward spiral beckons them deeper, how far will they go to find their way back to themselves?

🔫 NAME FROM NOWHERE (WIP)

BASICS Genre: Cyberpunk, neon-noir Audience: Adult Working title: Project Aria Tags: #name from nowhere and #project aria More: WIP summary

Name From Nowhere takes place in the same world as Bridge From Ashes.

VIBE Found crime family. Memory is a curse, but it’s also a weapon. What doesn’t kill you makes you deadly. No identity, still a crisis. Life may be more than survival, but survival is a good place to start. Because fuck you, that’s why.

INTRO Imprisoned for a crime or five that she definitely committed, Aria made it through her sentence remembering more than she was supposed to but not enough to make sense. An illicit trade syndicate gives her a fresh start and the acceptance she won’t admit she craves, but her blood family’s betrayal is seared into her mind and revenge is only ever an opportunity away.

📇 TAG INDEX

#the shit in my head | rants, rambles and writer life

#november breaks and #project storm | WIP excerpts, updates etc for November Breaks (working title Project Storm), the prequel to Spin Cylinder

#spin cylinder | WIP excerpts, updates etc for Spin Cylinder, the sequel to November Breaks

#bridge from ashes and #project frequency | WIP excerpts, updates etc for Bridge From Ashes (working title Project Frequency), set in the same world as Name From Nowhere

#name from nowhere and #project aria | WIP excerpts, updates etc for Name From Nowhere (working title Project Aria), set in the same world as Bridge From Ashes

#five | excerpts from and references to Five

#my writing | snippets and other wordstuff

#your writing | other people’s words

#writeblr tags | tag games and memes

#answered asks | replies to your questions and messages

#writeblr connect | boosting writeblrs for the community

#reblogs | what it says on the tin

#reblogs plus | reblogs with my additions

#tumblr meta | hellsite stuff'n'things

#calmwrimo | info, updates and reblogs for CalmWriMo, a chilled-out November writing and self-care experience

📸 IMAGE CREDITS

Profile picture My own

Header and background Original photo by Yaroslav Shuraev on Pexels, edited under license

Five My own

November Breaks My own

Bridge From Ashes Original photo by Drew Dizzy Graham on Unsplash, edited under license

Spin Cylinder Original photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash, edited under license

Name from Nowhere Original photo by Wilmer Martinez on Unsplash, edited under license

#writeblr #writeblr intro #writeblr community #writers #writers on tumblr #writers of tumblr #writing community #writer community #writeblr introduction #writer introduction #am writing #writers community #tumblr writers #writer intro #writing a book #indie writers #indie authors

[foreverunraveling]

Completely devastating that Erik may not have been who Wille thought he was. But…. Does this finally take away (or at least reduce the power of) the Queen’s trump card?

Every time she wants Wilhelm’s allegiance to the royal house, the Queen invokes Erik and Erik’s legacy. And Wille feels like he can’t “betray” Erik by abandoning the crown or going his own way. Well, now Wilhelm feels somewhat betrayed by Erik’s participation in a homophobic tradition. He realizes that the perfect image of his brother in his head isn’t real. It’s just Wille’s limited perception of a more complicated person. Wilhelm has to see that he can’t do this job that is killing him based on contrived perceptions of what others want or would have done. He shouldn’t begrudgingly accept the role of crown prince to uphold the legacy and ideals of a brother who was himself flawed and didn’t always do the right thing. Wille can’t even know for certain at this point that’s what Erik would have wanted—clearly there were things about Erik that Wilhelm didn’t know or understand.

Now that Wilhelm realizes that he needs to stop idolizing Erik and fully become his own person with his own beliefs, there’s not really any reason left for him not to abdicate. In season 2, Wille told Boris that he couldn’t abdicate because of his mother’s expectations—and she has left him even more in the lurch than Wilhelm would have left her if he abdicated. She is an adult, with experience and a support system and preparation. She would still have a backup. At the very least, we know that this is Wilhelm’s perception. If neither Erik nor the Queen are compelling reasons not to abdicate, then what is? (Definitely not the Duke now that Wilhelm has well and truly seen how Ludvig moves through life with all the agency of an NPC.)

So… does Erik being maybe kinda shitty actually mean that Wille might let himself off the hook?

***Obviously in no way in favor Erik being a homophobic sexual harasser; just trying to understand how this new information might play into Wille’s thought processes. Also, I think it’s important that he abdicates for himself and not for Simon, if that’s what happens. To paraphrase my own therapist, “you have to change for yourself—not to save the relationship.” I love the romantic idea of Wilhelm abdicating because he can’t live without Simon, but that’s just too much pressure to put on another human being. Simon shouldn’t have to carry the responsibility of being “the guy who the crown prince abdicated for” (whether in their relationship or in life generally).

Abdication has got to be a decision that Wilhelm makes for himself, first and foremost. And removing Erik’s legacy from that decisionmaking process gets him just that much closer.

ETA: My current pet theory for episode 6 is that the frog from inside the snowglobe gets crushed/decapitated/broken. Don’t read too much into my thumbnail at this point, I guess….

#young royals #simon × wilhelm #wilmon #young royals analysis #young royals netflix #young royals season three #young royals spoilers #young royals season 3 spoilers #spoilers #Wilhelm #oops #this turned into a ramble and I meant to write like 3 sentences #am I too hopeful?

[bruhstation]

Can you elaborate more on ten cents feelings towards captain Star?

I understand ten cents wants to have freedom and independence like his older teammates. But does he feel like captain star doesn't trust him to make decisions on himself?

Does ten cents feel like he needs to prove himself?

pretty much. ten cents does love captain star and does whatever he is told but because of his firm stance on his personal agency's importance and no-nonsense attitude, he often questions if working under captain star's watchful eye is going to be his fate for as long as he imagines. "is this how I'm going to live for the rest of my life?" "when will things change?" "I'm so bored. there's nothing fun to do."

ten cents is mostly content with the life he has but he wishes he could at least know what it feels like to live a "normal" life like boys his age (going to school, taken to restaurants with their family on sundays, playing in the afternoons, drinking and dancing and going out at nights). he wants to know what it feels like to not be questioned everytime he spends his own money or goes to other places or meets people outside of the star fleet (zip and sometimes boomer) without telling captain star beforehand.

captain star trusts ten cents.... most of the time. the thing is that he has a habit of jumping to conclusions when he gets concerned or too tired to think rationally. he's critical of ten cents' wellbeing and wants him to live a honest, compliant, and disciplined life (and also his own because he rarely talks about his past) because being a ww1 veteran, captain star has seen firsthand how uncertain and depressing the futures of many children and young adults were and doesn't want the same thing to happen to ten cents. however, captain star is not equipped to take on the role of a ""father figure"" to ten cents and often comes off as authoritian rather than fatherly or patient in ten cents' eyes.

ten cents views captain star's questioning attitude and quickness to jump to conclusions as slightly endearing at best and extremely annoying at worst. captain star has good intentions but his ways of doing it don't sit well with ten cents. both captain star and ten cents are equally as stubborn and VERY firm in their personal beliefs on freedom/lack thereof which overshadows their care for each other. "I'm trying my best and doing this for your own good. can you try to understand me." vs "I get it already so can you stop nagging me. can you try to understand me". truly the healthiest "father-son" relationship in bigg city port, just below captain zero with zip+zorran

#asks #isjssjsjshuuuuuuuuuuuuyyyyyyyyyy #this is tugs #tugs captain star #tugs ten cents #fortezza bigg city #now this is where the themes of youth and freedom plays! #tldr: #captain star believes that to live a safe honest life is to live in compliance under those who are above you #ignorance is bliss type of stuff #while ten cents disagrees and thinks that it's too limiting for someone as young and curious as he is #they don't see eye to eye in this different ideologies. captain star even thinks ten cents is making this hard for him #they care for each other. it's just really not very smooth #captain zero's ideals are quite similar to captain star's (in vastly differing ways)

[raayllum]

Partially inspired by the new “Lost Child” story about Claudia and Sir Sparklepuff, partially inspired by my old “Aaravos and Harrow are thematic opposites” meta, and partially something I’ve been kicking around in my head for a little while now, let’s talk about

Aaravos’ view of children

This is one of the most interesting smaller facets of the series to me, partially because all the information we have is quite contradictory (not unlike Aaravos himself). However, we do get some key understandings of how he views things in his monologue scene in 4x04:

Aaravos sees children, primarily, as a threat worth dismissing. He specifically targets Ezran according to age, dismisses them not just as “pathetic” beings, but specifically their youth, even as our cast is two years older than they were previously, with Rayla two weeks shy of eighteen and Soren being close (if not already) twenty. 

However, his manipulation and dismissal feels particularly contradictory given that Claudia - a teenager not much older than Callum or Rayla, and younger than Soren - is currently taking up her father’s mantle, and is the one freeing the being from his cocoon. The Orphan Queen was similarly young, seemingly mid-to-late teens, when she revealed his treachery to the Archdragons and subsequently helped with his imprisonment. So Aaravos knows that ‘children’ are capable, not only as opponents, but also as tools.

So why have dismissal on the basis of youth?

Well, I’m going to posit that Aaravos dismisses children not on the basis of capability, but on the basis of usefulness.

Children in the Narrative of Strength 

I talked more about this in my Harrow and Aaravos parallels meta linked above, specifically the way Harrow admires/cites that “The great illusion of childhood is that adults have all the freedom and power. But the truth is the opposite: a child is freer than a king.” And freedom is very important to Harrow, both from a personal standpoint (“But as a father, I have a selfish wish: for you and Ezran to be free. Reject the chains of history”) and from a thematic standpoint (“Fate is a lie, nothing is written in stone, you are free”). This viewpoint is important, then, in the way the trio embodies this specifically because of Zym, and how he causes people to confront (or not confront) their biases and understandings of personhood. 

To a certain degree, to recognize a person’s childhood and/or that they are a child is to recognize their personhood, but not necessarily. Soren can recognize that Ezran is a child, but it’s not enough to make him defect from his father’s plan at the time (2x02). Aaravos is aware that two of his pawns (Callum, Claudia), at least, are children, and yet he treats both of them as valuable assets. Claudia can understand that Sir Sparklepuff is like a child in her eyes, and accordingly associates it with helplessness, rather than subsequent agency. She’s not entirely wrong to do so, as Ezran’s naivety does get him into trouble, and Callum and Rayla’s young natures are part of their own coming-of-age stories in Arc 1. 

But Soren and Runaan identify youth as an obstacle to Callum and Rayla’s goals. For Callum, he wants to protect the people he loves (“He’s the king, and he’s my father. It’s my duty to help him”) and for Rayla, it’s that she’s already failed at her duty and in protecting her troupe (“I messed up, I know I did. Because I let that soldier go we’re all in danger”). 

An exchange between Viren and Soren in mid-S1 perhaps spells this out most explicitly. The Narrative of Strength - of clear cut power, protection, and subsequent dominion and perpetuation of the cycle - believes that youthfulness and qualities more commonly found in children are weakness.

V: If we are strong enough to make the right decisions, humans may finally return to Xadia, and take back the great magical lands that are rightfully ours. But if we are led by a child king... S: He’ll make bad choices? V: He will make weak choices.

To be a child is to be, not bad, but something much worse: weak. To be weak is to be helpless; to be helpless is to be exploitable, if not also expendable. It means you cannot protect the person you love (and as I’ve gone over before, that tends to be most people’s motivations in the show - or at the very least, it’s what they believe their primary motivation is.) 

But what is the place of a child in a Narrative of Love, and how/why does this factor in for Aaravos - or at the very least, seems to?

A Beautiful Upside Down Truth

Harrow, again, says this most clearly in 2x06:

I now believe true strength is found in vulnerability, in forgiveness, in love. There is a beautiful upside down truth, which is that these moments of purest strength appear as weakness to those who don’t know better. For a long time, I didn’t know better. I ask you and your brother to reject history as a narrative of strength, and instead have faith it can be a Narrative of Love.

Moments of legitimate strength - to lay down arms, to take a chance, to engage in faith and mercy - appear as weakness to those who subscribe to a Narrative of Strength. The same action appearing differently depending on your perspective, as with many things. But how does this relate to Aaravos? Well, beyond the fact that Aaravos’ chest and main symbol is also the fact that he literally has an upside down star arcanum on his chest, there’s also a more complicated, overt layering going on that S4 brought to the forefront. 

A narrative of love isn’t always that simple. A desire to protect someone can lead you to do despicable things (Harrow and Viren believing they will murder Zym, an innocent child). Love can turn and be warped to grief. Love makes people angry; love makes people hurt. The fear of losing love can cause people to make destructive choices, both to themselves and others, and with consequences they cannot fathom. Love can be strength, yes, but it can also be weakness:

And if I stay much longer, you’ll wake up and try to stop me… from doing what I know I have to do. Leaving. But I can’t let you stop me, Callum. No matter how much I want to. I have to be strong. No matter what. And if you said even one word to me, I wouldn’t be—couldn’t be. If I stay even until your eyes open and you yawn your silly morning yawn, I’ll break. I’ll still be here when the sun rises today, and the next day, and the next…

I should go. I have to go.

—Dear Callum, Reflections Vol. 1

Her hands itched with the horrible lightness of each scattered piece, her feet ached as she walked and walked and walked to gather her father back together… And then the voice, the thread she had caught and clung to and used to haul herself out of the darkness.

“Do not fear,” the Startouch elf had said. “You are a dark mage, powerful and potent. With my help, there is nothing you cannot fix. Not even death.”

Claudia breathed in pine and earth, and the faint tang of the water.

It’s up to me again, she thought. It’s always up to me. [...] There I am, she thought. I’m not a mess. I’m a dark mage. And I’m stronger than almost anyone knows. Maybe her mother hadn’t seen that strength. Maybe Soren had chosen to ignore it. But Aaravos had known—and her father did, too.

—Lost Child, Reflections Vol. 2

And Aaravos preys upon this directly:

Viren is motivated by love (“She is not an asset, she is my daughter” / “I have always been ready to do anything to protect my family”). Claudia is motivated by love. Callum already is, and will presumably continue to be more overtly moving forward into S5. Aaravos pushes people into corners where they feel weak (“I felt so weak and out of control,” Callum says of the possession) in order to manipulate them further. This is likely because of his own history of trying to “win” over others and humans and still ultimately feeling betrayed by them:

Tests of Love bring the two aspects of the Narrative together, breaking down the previous binary the series has constructed between Love and Strength. While Strength is easier to buy into, it does not mean that Love is impervious to corruption or coercion. It’s just another path, unless you have the foresight and capabilities to avoid it. 

After all, games are routinely associated with children (Ezran’s hide and seek motif anyone? / Zym playing in the most recent short story by his father’s resting place) and subsequent helplessness (“Entire armies have fallen before [Avizandum] like toys, how can we hope to kill such a godly creature?” 3x06) and Aaravos is playing a game. The main difference is that he’s playing his game with people’s lives, specifically centred around his pawns, with anyone else as collateral damage. He is simultaneously ancient, and yet also stunted in maturity, relegated to a destructive and childish view of the world and the people around him. 

But as anyone who knows me, well, knows, is that for the first three seasons, the most consistently referenced piece in Aaravos’ game is, well

What does this mean for the Key?

Children are, series wise, inherently about potential. Zym has the potential to be destructive and dangerous and to hate humans, and that’s seen as a good enough reason to get rid of him. Ezran has the potential to make ‘bad’ or ‘weak’ choices, and so he and his brother must be removed from the equation as heirs. Rayla could hesitate again; Callum could play into Aaravos’ hands. But all of these are treated like certainties by various characters, and sometimes even the character who the belief is held about themselves.

Potential isn’t always a good or bad thing; our beliefs of where that potential will go can be neutral if they’re measured. For example, Callum once thought that the Key of Aaravos, more commonly and consistently referred to as a game piece / toy, could be beneficial: “I just have a feeling this cube thing could help me.” Seeing every side turn to the dark magic sigil and routes to primal magic feel closed off in 2x08 represented a lack of potential. After all, a set destiny is just one path; it means there is no potential. There is only one path forward. 

Now, the cube could still have the potential for great good; that would be very in line with Aaravos’ and the series’ persistent fascination with duality and well, potential itself. However, I do think the Key will lead to something disastrous first. I have a couple of theories of what the cube may be (the key to his prison, or his heart and memories) but they both hinge on well, probably the biggest Assumption any of those theories make: that Aaravos wants the key at all. 

Simply put, any speculation that Aaravos wants or needs the key is just that: speculation. We have no idea what its capabilities are, although it is implied to be a powerful relic and/or to unlock something (or someone) powerful in Xadia. Aaravos has also required for Claudia and co. to obtain objects he made and gifted to other mages (Ziard’s dark magic staff, now in Viren’s hands) in order to help secure his freedom, so there is precedent for something made by or belonging to Aaravos to have a part to play in releasing him, at least partially. If Aaravos doesn’t want the Key for one of his plans, after all, then it purely exists right now as implied bait for Callum in some capacity. If the Key has any sort of power, it makes sense that Aaravos would at the very least want it for himself. Thus, Aaravos wanting well, his Key, does make the most sense, even if we don’t know why. If it is his heart or tied to his memories, both of those and their associations with childhood (“a child sees with their heart, not just their eyes” from the book one novelization) could help explain why we see child Aaravos on the star chart map in S4′s intro(s). 

But it is still an assumption. It does indicate, though, that if Aaravos does want the key, acquiring it and/or his freedom (whichever comes first) is his checkmate moment, if you will. The moment he Wins the Game, because his instruments - his pawns - are destined to play into his hands. They are destined to lose - to participate in a song of Love and Loss. Aaravos is writing their destinies. At least for now.

Conclusion(?)

What does this all mean? To be honest, I don’t really know. Mostly, I just think the consistency and duality / cognitive dissonance Aaravos is operating under is 1) interesting as hell from a character / theory standpoint and 2) important as hell from a thematic standpoint. The Cycle, after all, is perpetuated by children who grow up to be adults, or by children themselves. Likewise, the Cycle must also be broken for the sake of future generations, as Ezran and Janai say, so that their children, and their children’s children, can live in peace. 

And the you have Aaravos, a character embodied by duality and contradiction, and defined as heavily by this dual view of child/childhood as he is by light and dark. He  has childlike qualities, but he’s also an ancient being fully aware of and responsible for his actions; he plays games, but with people’s lives; Aaravos is monstrous, yes, in many ways, but he was once a child and is still a person like anyone else. I expect that seeing how he turned into, well, what he is now, will be a major part of the show going forward for all the reasons mentioned above, and indeed one of the many reasons I’m beyond excited for future seasons.

Season five can’t come soon enough.

#tdp #the dragon prince #tdp meta #analysis series #tdp aaravos #the cycle #aaravos #the gang's all here #tests of love #theme: duality #analysis #game motif #the key of aaravos #i wrote this all in two sittings so hopefully it's coherent #theme: freedom

[bluedalahorse]

Two decisions I really liked about YRS3 (but not the only decisions)

Also posted on my dreamwidth. Left unrebloggable for the sake of setting boundaries. Comments and thoughts welcome though!

Today I want to talk about two decisions made by Lisa and the other Young Royals Season 3 writers that I really liked. This is an analysis post, to some extent. In line with my new priorities, I also want to talk about how these decisions could work on a craft level to fuel my creativity, and—more fannishly—where they might leave me with inspiration in my fanfiction. Because everything from here on out is spoilers, and because it is long, I am going to cut it.

The writing decisions I want to focus on today are a) starting the season with a private settlement to resolve issues around the video/the gun/the drugs, and b) digging deeper into the ambiguity of Erik. As a heads up, both of these decisions felt particularly catered toward my reading of the show and what I wanted from it to begin with. But I figured, why not start with what one loves about a thing? So we will begin there, and perhaps, if I let myself rewatch episodes during the break, we will move on to other things, too.

The private settlement

This was something @heliza24 speculated might happen in the months leading up to season 3’s release. In fandom, there was a lot of discussion around whether the legal system would be able to deliver consequences to August re: the video or not, and whether Wille or Simon could be prosecuted for the field scene and the drugs and such. For me, one of the most informative posts on the matter was sflow-er’s post about how each boys’ actions would be labeled and classified, and what the penalties might be. I don’t know the Swedish legal system too well, so it was quite informative.

In my opinion, kicking off season 3 with the arbitration/settlement outside of court, and refusing to provide catharsis through the legal system itself, was the best decision the writers could have made. I also love that it was all wrapped up in an episode. We know that rich Hillerska families often settle things discreetly behind closed doors, and the legal system tacitly allows this to happen, so this felt in line with the series worldbuilding and the real world interactions it is grounded in. I also feel that Young Royals works best when it’s at least partially anchored in Hillerska, and secondarily anchored in the family interactions characters have at home. So taking things into the courtroom for too long wouldn’t feel quite right, even if season 3 does, to some extent, open up the world more for our characters.

What also struck me was the way the adults behaved in this scene, and how a lot of it felt… not so great? You can tell that the adults all care for their respective boys (however imperfectly they express it before, during, and after the settlement.) But the way they all swoop in and try to flatten the last two seasons of conflict into who owes what to whom is sort of fascinating, and feels parallel to the housemother trying to mediate between Sara and Felice at the end of 2.6. You realize how little they know of the nuances of what happened, and how quick they are to take away the agency of their boys when they think it protects them. I really want to hit this point hard—the boys all have their agency taken away in that moment, and I use the word “boys” deliberately because it is adults who are putting them in that position. You can see some of that persist in the aftermath of the settlement; FFS Linda is making Simon pee into a cup every day.

(Not to mention the hint of personal investment each set of parents has in the case. Rickard can’t resist doing lawyerly flexes, and Linda’s constant references to Swedish values show that she’s worried she immigrated in vain. I’m sure there’s a blank we could fill in with Ludwig and Kristina, but I’m operating on memory here and I don’t remember their lines precisely.)

As icky as the settlement scenes feel, and as much tension as they create, they are also necessary for marking the importance of past conflicts while propelling the narrative forward. It does matter that August released the video—it matters enough that he had to sell his estate to compensate Simon, and it’s absolutely appropriate that he should have. And it does matter that Wille waved a gun around and Simon brought drugs to school and sold them. 

At the same time, what the show is saying here is, legal consequences and lawyers (especially Rickard) can’t solve all the show’s problems. No amount of money from August is ever going to fix Simon’s mental health by itself. August being locked away forever wouldn’t have magically taken away the fault lines in Wilhelm and Simon’s relationship, which we see over the course of the season have as much to do with Wilhelm’s relationship to the monarchy as everything else. And in some alternate universe where Simon and Wille get in trouble for the drugs and the gun but August faces zero punishments at all, he wouldn’t exactly be magically cured of all his trauma and live a pretty life from then on.

Ultimately season 3 seems to be saying not that the legal system is 100% ineffective, but that it has its limits in how much healing or catharsis it can bring to people. Especially because of the way settlements and trials focus on incidents in isolation, and limit the agency of the people they are supposed to defend. I actually don’t think season 3 is telling us to let go of the legal system entirely. But what it is doing is asking us to understand offenses beyond the strict binaries of crime and punishment, and how they fit into broader contexts of societal prejudice. And finally, it is telling us to look to vulnerable human-to-human connections as another space for healing. Which is where all the juicy, interesting, complicated stuff is. I’m glad that S3 chose to follow those threads instead of just sticking us in a courtroom for five episodes.

A note before I continue: I know I’ve talked to a few friends who were disappointed we didn’t see August sell Årnäs, when we know it’s important to him. I haven’t decided how I feel about that yet. I have decided that this is one of the things I’d love to ask Lisa about in more depth, to see why one of her writing decisions was to leave that out. I suspect August has already started to pull away from Årnäs a bit in season 2 already, given that he’s willing to sell art to buy Rousseau for Sara, but I don’t know if he’s consciously there yet, and I think fans might be looking to see him grapple with that. In retrospect, it also seems like August’s arc over 3 seasons is him trying to figure out who his family is. The material reality of Årnäs and how much he wants to keep it is sort of an externalization of that, but also his way of deflecting from talking seriously about his grief for his father. So, I see why this is a tab left open in people’s brains. Maybe I’ll be able to close it on rewatch. But Simon’s also supposed to be getting that money, and that tab is left open in my brain, too. I hope Lisa reads this and has an answer for me.

Anyway. Onward to those human-to-human connections.

Erik’s ambiguity and his role in the initiations

I never fully trusted Erik. I say this not to “gloat about being right” but mostly to establish what my baseline reading of the character was in season 1. I do think he was very loving of Wilhelm and meant a lot to him, but I didn’t trust him to be a full-on LGBTQIA+ ally, and I didn’t trust him not to have gotten up to abusive fratboy shit in the past. Part of the reason I gravitated toward this reading of the character is that I found it way more interesting than Erik being perfect. In my personal experience, family members are never exactly who you need them to be, and part of the struggle of growing up is knowing when you can lean on someone (or their memory) for support and when you need to protect yourself. Fiction that deals with these themes is endlessly fascinating to me. It’s the kind of fiction I try to write, that I’d want to someday publish. So naturally Ambiguous Erik is my preferred Erik.

As someone who’s always sort of approached Erik’s memory with a less-than-trusting reading of his character, the minute the homophobic initiations came up, I knew that Erik’s role was going to be a key point of revelation. So much of season 3’s momentum was tied up in Wilhelm finding out and processing that, and August being able to put into words how Erik and the other third year boys’ actions traumatized him. The knowledge that August, Nils, and Vincent chose to remove the most homophobic practices when they initiated first years adds a twist of the tragic knife. We have three boys who are trying (however imperfectly) to break the cycle, and yet none of them got the support they needed in processing what happens to them. August even ends up releasing the video and perpetuating the cycle of abuse. But it’s hard not to look at that now and not see an element of untreated trauma driving his actions.

I suspect for some fans of the show, that revelation about August (and Nils, and Vincent) essentially being a sexual assault victim is a pretty uncomfortable one, because it can feel like an excuse for his actions. But I don’t think the show is excusing August’s actions so much as explaining them, and even more importantly, the show instead seems to be focused on just how challenging breaking the cycle can be, and just how much time and effort is required. Moreover, understanding August’s vulnerability is crucial for Wilhelm’s character arc.

In my restorative justice meta a while back, I talked about the dangers of the Hillerska students being able to villainize someone like August, because they could so easily deflect from their own actions by imagining him as an individual monster and ignoring the parts of the system that enabled his worst deeds. When I wrote this, I was primarily thinking of characters like Nils and Vincent. I did not expect it to be Wilhelm buying into the myth of August the Monster while disavowing his own flaws. And yet, in season 3, we could see Wilhelm’s black-and-white villainizing of August as something that got in the way of his empathy and better judgment, primarily toward Simon. Like. Wilhelm is, to put it lightly, a pretty crappy boyfriend to Simon at the beginning of the season! (If this post also included a third thing I loved, it was that a lot of the wilmon boyfriends stuff early on in the season was always just a little too yikes to be fully cute.)

And yes, you can look at the part where Wilhelm’s making Simon delete stuff off social media, and eventually delete all his social media entirely, and talk about how Wille is responding to the pressure of the palace, and his mother’s mental health struggles and so on. But IMO it’s similar to the way August lets himself get caught up in the pressures of his social role at Hillerska to try and escape his grief and trauma. Both boys fear and disgust the ways they’ve been made vulnerable (something they react to when they see their vulnerability reflected in one another) and try to play their social role within the system they are most familiar, to gain back a sense of strength and agency. Ultimately, however, they become the weapons of that system, and hurt those they love and care about. It was pretty smart of the show to recognize that Wilhelm reconciling with August and Simon reconciling with August are actually two different flavors of Thing, and the reason a Wilhelm-August reconciliation is different is because of the amount of social power that they hold in the system.

No character symbolizes the reasons for August and Wilhelm’s struggle with the system more than Erik. This is not to say that Erik Is Evil—he’s not! We also know that August and Wilhelm love him, and that he has helped them and cared for them—merely that he strands for what they’re both grappling with. Both boys have to recognize Erik beyond the idealized version of him in order to heal and move forward and actually break the cycle. And they have to recognize Erik’s place in those cycles too. In the last scene we see of Erik, he’s day drinking, and we know he visited Boris for therapy. Could he have struggled with guilt over what he did in the initiation? It’s possible. In a way, the biggest tragedy of Erik’s death is that he doesn’t get a chance to break the cycles alongside Wilhelm and August. But maybe his soul can rest easier knowing they are a little closer to being brothers than they were before.

Where this leads me as a writer, especially of fanfics

I likely started with these two aspects of season three because they already line up so much with what interests me in storytelling. When I think about the kind of writer I want to be, I want to write the complex entangled family history stuff that’s hard to sort through, and I want to write it well. Young Royals gives me another solid mentor text in that regard, alongside books like Patron Saints of Nothing and A Sitting in St. James.

On the fanfic side of things… well. I’m glad the legal stuff is taken care of already! I honestly didn’t want to have to be dealing with the courtroom all that much in my fanfics. Maybe someone else will want that, and I think the option is still there. Someone could do some really cool fics with a character choosing to study law in the future, or similar. But I’m glad to have that off my plate for the time being.

As for what these parts of the season have made me more interested in than before, I’m really captivated by the idea of Wilhelm and August becoming brothers to one another, even if—especially if—it’s a fun multi-year slowburn with lots of heart-wrenching emotions. What would their relationship look like? How would they navigate around Wilhelm’s break with his mother and August’s newly forged relationship to one another? What kind of time would August and Wilhelm choose to spend with one another to work on their relationship, and what do the boundaries look like? Could August one day leave the monarchy too, and would Wilhelm support him in that? (I hope so.) For some fans, I think they’re just content to leave Wilhelm and August’s reconciliation as that conversation at the party, and I think that’s valid. But I do know that in whatever I write going forward, I’m interested in seeing how their relationship can develop and change over time. And that feels hopeful in a way I like.

So maybe… just maybe… some of the things I’m going to write will involve Wille and August developing a better relationship. And I think I’m ok with that.

#yr s3 spoilers #yr spoilers #yr season 3

[anonymousredactedconfessions]

Since this is a safe space, I too have my confessions for the Summit Audio and other plot stuff as well. This is very long so bear with me

*drum roll 🥁🥁🥁🥁*

I am disappointed with Darlin's storyline! :DD

What the hell happened to character development? And can we please keep talking about how it's getting annoying when Darlin just stands there while everyone else just speaks for them? I've been waiting for so long for the moment where we get to see that Darlin' finally stopped hopping on the fight/defensive option immediately without thinking shit through.

Cuz I know damm well they were already planning on giving Alexis the business when they heard her voice. I was waiting on them to be more verbal and civil with their confrontation rather than jumping to "You know I've fought vampires before, right?" Like COME ONNN MAN

I agree with the other recent confessions in this blog cuz yeah, will they ever get the agency they deserve?? And what the hell was up with Porter coming in to "save the day" and Sam zipping back out of know where (btw where the hell have you been bro??). And even when Alexis left, Darlin still wasn't able to get a word in.

Does Darlin notice this too or are we never gonna get that moment where they finally snap and make people remember that they are an adult and can progress their life by making their own decisions. They don't always need someone for that and it takes away from their "independence".

Plus ( as much as I love my cowboy) woulda been more upset to Sam when he not only not listened to Darlin talk as they told him what bullshit she said to them and give them the reassurance they needed in that moment, mf started sayin shit like "she's a real person under there, I know it" because no way in hell would I believe that if the person we're talking about is proud of ASSAULTING a person she "claims to love" and also waited until the Monarchal Summit to confront Darlin where there's tons of people around to confront them like a pissy, jealous school girl.

Also I feel like Darlin and David's relationship hasn't been done well enough. Not even just them and David but just the pack in general. The smash tournaments and Solstice party's are cool but when are we actually gonna have a video where it's just the pack? No mates, Sam included and it's just the four of them? (i.e. David, Ash, Darlin, and Milo)

To me, it makes a lot of sense why Darlin felt out of place cuz they don't get mentioned a lot when they're not around, only when Sam is included in the conversation. It feels like they don't exist without their mate around so it's not fully Darlin's fault that they left and ended up in the wrong crowd.

And it's frustrating to see those chat group posts where it's supposed to be The Packs Mates Groupchat thingy but instead of Sam they put Darlin in. Or Sam is there but so is Darlin. Like huh??? Is Sam a part of the damm pack now???? All the more reason why I get Darlin' almost leaving the pack, they seem as someone who's forgettable.

Erik should at least give Darlin a nickname name or some code shit to address them without just having to say "my pack member" or "my partner", and (my least favorite) "Sam's mate". Just give them the nick name Tank like everyone else so you don't have to worry about addressing them by saying anything vague and unspecific.

Sorry but Darlin feels too much like a character than a listener to be written as someone who just stands there from the sidelines and watches as everyone speaks for them. I NEED them to be making a decision that continues the plot, not someone who made it for them. They deserve better as a character and I will die on that hill. BUT that's just me. Have a good day/night!

-💜🐺

.

#redacted asmr #redacted audio #confessions #💜🐺

[thingsiwannareblog]

What follows is a long rant that comes from my personal experiences with disability and chronic illness. I think a lot of people may agree, but many will disagree too and that’s fine. I can’t and don’t speak for everyone who is disabled. But I hope that for others who feel the way I do, this might help you feel seen and heard.

Autonomy is a fundamental human need. Like breathing, like sleeping or eating, and like trace nutrients, humans genuinely require a minimum level of agency and self-determination.

When you are a captive or institutionalized - either literally, as prisoners are, or subtly, as schoolchildren are, or physically, as many disabled people are - most of your autonomy has been stripped from you. Depending on the exact nature of your captivity, you may have somewhat fewer choices than a free adult, very few choices, or none at all.

So to some extent, you are being railroaded, even if it’s by well-meaning helpers. You are a package on a conveyor belt in an automated shipping department, being pushed and pulled to various places you can’t choose at times you have no say in. Now you are going up a ramp, now you are being put on a shelf, now the conveyor belts have jostled you - and you are tipped onto your side like a stranded turtle, with no recourse but to go along for the ride.

Is it any wonder, then, that humans who have so few chances to make their own decisions sometimes make bad ones? When most details of your daily existence are not up to you, but are forced upon you by wardens and walls, adults who swear they know what’s best for you, or the limitations of your own disabled body, you will likely seize every opportunity to make a choice. If you literally have no options, no ability to do anything other than what you are forced to do most of the time, then when one presents itself, it’s incredibly tempting and genuinely satisfying even if it’s detrimental!

A student acts out, or speaks out of turn, or throws the ball over the playground fence. Why would they do that? Don’t they know that it only hurts them? They likely do - but their human need for autonomy supersedes the importance of paying attention in class, or gaining social standing, or even the fun of a group game. The fewer chances to make decisions for yourself that you have, the worse the decisions you’ll be willing to make, because at least it’s freely chosen!

All of this is to say… disabled and chronically ill people spend far more time and thought and deliberation and energy on managing and controlling their symptoms than able-bodied and non-ill people can possibly imagine. So many of us have modified every conceivable detail of our lives to revolve around our disability or illness to try to reduce its impact. Many of us pour countless hours and tears into making ourselves as well and as able and as palatable to the world as we can. And the ways that we can’t do that are most often just not an option. Everything that we do, we either MUST do (in order to manage our symptoms) or simply CANNOT do otherwise (because of the severity of our symptoms).

We pass up opportunities for enjoyment to avoid triggering flare ups. We back out of plans when our bodies or symptoms simply will not allow us to follow through. Choice after choice is stripped away from us.

So sometimes we make choices, take the opportunity to make a decision, even if it makes us worse. We try a risky food, even if it might (or even WILL) aggravate our symptoms. Or we stay up late, even though we need the rest. Or we drink or smoke, even though we know it has consequences. Most of the time we have to be “model citizens,” making every one of the precious few *choices* we have juuuuust right, or else we slip off the tightrope and get worse. Is it any wonder that sometimes we say “screw this!” and do things that we know will make our condition worse? At least then we are the ones making the choice!

It’s often seen as self-destructive, and when it’s common or out of balance, it can be… But ultimately it is an effort to meet a genuine need. Criticizing chronically ill people for doing something that exacerbates their problems is awful for many reasons, but this is one of the biggest.

#actually disabled #actually chronically ill #chronic illness #disability #revenge bedtime procrastination #self sabotage #autonomy #self determination #agency #free will

[twilightmalachite]

2×2 - Grown-Up Situation 4

Author: Akira

Characters: Yuuta, Hinata, Anzu

Translator: Mika Enstars

"He actually made 2wink shine, unlike other people who are nothing but talk."

[Read on my blog for the best viewing experience with Oi~ssu ♪]

Season: Winter

Location: Meeting Room

Yuuta: …And so, those in the faction who want to disparage Anzu-san are trying to get YamadaP appointed in her place.

Hinata: There’s talks about bringing in a well-known independent agency from the field to ES and make them the head of P-Association, huh?

And transfer the power and authority Anzu-san currently has over to YamadaP.

Yuuta: Well, it might become a hot topic. It’s an undeniable fact that YamadaP is competent, I have a feeling it’ll change the way we see the P-Association, which is currently being laughed at.

He actually made 2wink shine, unlike other people who are nothing but talk.

Hinata: Watch your words… Why have you turned into such a bad kid, Yuuta-kun?

Yuuta: I’ve been like this for a while, though? Wasn’t it just everyone else who misunderstood me?

I just realized that it’s impossible for others to understand me even if I kept quiet, so I decided to not hold back anymore from revealing my true feelings.

I don’t care if I’m hated for it. It’s better than being slowly chopped to death.

Hinata: … …

Yuuta: Well, whatever. Maybe I just don’t get it, but what do we have to do with this unsightly P-Association infighting?

I don’t want us to get involved in this~, can’t you idiots just squash each other instead?

Hinata: I told you, watch your words, your words…

Anzu-san said that since there’s no point in fighting forever, they decided to settle with a match.

In a production showdown between AnzuP and YAmadaP.

Yuuta: Sounds fun, adults.

Hinata: Better than a never-ending internal conflict that could lead to violence—I mean, it sounds pretty healthy.

Yuuta: Anyways, we 2wink have been chosen for the production showdown’s material.

Hinata: We’re the balls being used in a ball game.

We seem to be the only idols that both Anzu-san and YamadaP have both produced—

Yuuta: As an external producer, YamadaP doesn’t seem to have much involvement with ES idols.

I guess that means we’re convenient~. Well, I do feel that in terms of how long we’ve known each other, Anzu-san has a bit of an advantage.

But, YamadaP has spent more time working as a producer, right? Meaning his experience and track record are on a whole different level.

Hinata: I guess those reasons are why they felt we would make suitable “balls”.

I sound like you saying this, Yuuta-kun, but adults seriously are always making selfish decisions without knowing it.

Yuuta: As usual, our autonomy is not taken into consideration, isn’t it?

Hinata: Right, right, do we get anything out of going along with this mess?

Yuuta: Hm, hm… Eh, for real?

Yuuta: Really… From now on, we’ll be able to have our very own brand-new weekly name-sake program during prime time?

Hinata: I wonder if that’s what the Vice Prez was referring to when he called it a “large job offer”.

That program—2×2, will be produced alternatingly by Anzu-san and YamadaP.

Yuuta: And then, you’ll compete for viewer ratings, or something?

Hinata: As of right now at least… It seems the program’s scheduled to air a total of 12 times for a season, meaning Anzu-san and YamadaP will be in charge of 6 each.

The total ratings earned for those 6 sessions will be compared, the winner being who has the highest.

Yuuta: Ahaha, isn’t this just some game?

Just what do these oh-so-hard-working people think of the work they do as?

Hinata: I think it’s good and easy to understand. Also, Anzu-san and YamadaP will be in charge of the first and last episodes respectively, which are the most likely to get large viewership ratings.

Yuuta: It kiiiinda feels like they’ve made a solid plan already, somehow… If we refuse the request, the whole thing will just fall apart, is that really alright?

But if we say no, then I bet some other idols will just be put in our place… Honestly, there’s probably millions of them out there ready to toss us aside and replace us.

Hinata: Hmm. And it's true this is a disproportionately huge job, where turning it down isn’t really an option.

I’m willing to take it on, if anything. It sounds like it’d be a little interesting, and I think it’d be beneficial to 2wink too.

So Anzu-san, there’s no need for you to do anything like kowtow.

Yuuta: We’ve been used to being swung around to other people’s conveniences for a while now.

You can apologize now and say that you’re sorry for causing us trouble, but all I can say is if you’re going to apologize, then don’t do it in the first place.

Hinata: I’m still concerned about how you phrased that, but… Well, that's how it is.

We’ll cooperate with you the best we can, so don’t look at us like that—okay, Anzu-san?

We owe both a lot to you and YamadaP, so it doesn’t bother us, although we can’t just pick a side.

Yuuta: I suppose that’s why we were chosen. Any other ES idol—Especially those from Yumenosaki, are likely to have a bias towards Anzu-san.

Where if it were us, who don’t really have favor towards one side or another, it’ll make for a fair game, right?

Hinata: Right. So, well, it’s hard to not want Anzu-san to win, but we’ll do our best as professionals!

It seems to be somewhat of a troublesome position for Anzu-san, too…Well, do your best.

As a producer.

And we, too, will do our very best as idols, with pride.

[ ☆ ]

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#2×2 #2x2 #yuuta aoi #hinata aoi #anzu #translation #event

[veilkeeper]

Wyll: I spent seven years choked by Mizora's leash. And I spent seven years hoping to break free. I never knew freedom could taste so bittersweet. Roz: You are your own man now, Wyll. It's better this way. Wyll: I have to believe that. I'm not the Hells' puppet in life, nor its warrior in death. The Blade will be guiding his own hand. But freedom will be paid in my father's blood. Tomorrow, I celebrate my gain. Today, I mourn my loss.

huh, freedom costing everything you thought you had? having to rediscover your purpose and make your own decisions for the first time in your adult life? that doesn't sound familiar to roz at all.

i do have to say though.... this would feel a lot more impactful if wyll made this decision himself. at least some of the companion quests let you step back and let them make their own choice; i.e. you can let shadowheart choose what to do with Nightsong, and when astarion finds his siblings at fraygo's you can let him choose how to deal with petras without stepping in. but with this, there's no "this is up to you, wyll" option. just 4 different ways to say "here's what you should do." plus the PC being the one to decide if you bargain for his freedom in act 2... it feels like wyll has no agency in getting his own freedom back.

#wyll #roz pt #bg3 #bg3 spoilers #bg3 dialogue

[midnightactual]

if I had to articulate the problem with Bleach, it's that Bleach ultimately doesn't work well as a shōnen story centered around one dude (Ichigo). that structure works fine for like, Yu Yu Hakusho, because that follows Yusuke's small group pretty much exclusively; and it works fine for One Piece and Naruto, because Luffy and Naruto are just the foremost guys of many, many independent competing teams. but Ichigo becoming Soul Society's pointman who must Do All The Things™ every single time gets really old really fast, and reduces everyone else to supporting characters in a really lame way

this feels extra dumb because the adults are still having all the adult conversations and making all the big decisions and we just don't see it happening because we have to follow a teenager. so we're following a relatively clueless guy with little to no agency as he plays gofer for those around him. like, so don't make it about the teenager then? you can split up the POV character and the protagonist. Mad Max: Fury Road did this perfectly. it would still be lame to have Ichigo being the solution to every problem, but it'd be a lot less bad if he wasn't also the focus. and no, saying this is vital for J. J. Abrams mystery box reasons doesn't excuse it, the mysteries and their payoffs are simply never that good

and you know what? the teenagers are the least interesting part of the series. of course they are! because teenagers… are teenagers! the most interesting teenager in the world will never be as interesting as the most boring thousand-year old in the world. their main function in a story driven by and composed of adults is to question the values and premises the adults are operating on (also given most of WSJ's readership is adults, as this 2012 survey by Shueisha shows, and Bleach was mostly read by girls, "it's for boys" is not an excuse so miss me with that)

and like, yeah, it's a shōnen. I've been accused of wanting things to be a different genre before. well, duh! because they very clearly want to be a different genre themselves! why do you think Kubo ditched Karakura as a setting when he'd planned to highlight everyone in Ichigo's class by turn? why do you think he dipped to explore so many other characters in FKT and TYBW besides Ichigo and company? why do you think LSS was a weird horror plot? why do you think SAFWY and CFYOW don't feature Ichigo or any other mains at all? because he (and everyone else involved) was sick of it too! in One Piece, even though the story follows Luffy and the Straw Hats, you get the sense everyone else is maneuvering around in their own ways even if you don't see it. in Bleach, pretty much everything waits for Ichigo. and it honestly sucks

I'm obviously super-biased, but to be what it clearly wants to be by series' end, the premise of Bleach should've been a seinen focused upon the Urahara Shōten on one end, and the Captain's meetings on the other, intercutting between those as events unfolded and focusing far more on the lives and perspectives of the people actually making the calls, especially given, unlike oh say Mobile Suit Gundam, as is there is virtually no payoff in the form of how all this actually affected the child soldiers who are the "main characters"

just the wrong damn format for the story it wanted to become, sorry not sorry. if you wanna focus Ichigo & Co. and Rukia, keep the story small. if you wanna focus a big sprawling epic, deemphasize them. pick one. you're not Tolkien, Kubo, you can't do both, and you clearly wanted the latter (yet you're still frustratingly obsessed with both the format and "mystery", both of which you also suck at)

#Out Of Character #Long Post #Negativity TW #[ I'm calling it like it is tbh ] #[ but some people ain't like facts ]