#i think its a broken base

[seventh-fantasy]

friendships as marital ties (and other notes on relational ties) in mlc

this is sort of a third installment in the series of meta on 'mlc as an exemplar of constructing queer narratives out of chinese ideological frameworks' (1. jianghu as queer space and 2. how it manifests in li xiangyi) - focusing on the nature of relationships in it. (which I've briefly mentioned in the first one and finally actually getting to it!!)

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I would like to first call attention to chinese ideological frameworks as a premise of queer reading in mlc. the goal of chinese philosophy is to explore the becoming of human, taking two broad paths of the (mainstream) secular vs. escaping the secular. (these two paths are not a strict dichotomy, and rather, are ever in flux and in conversation with each other.) as said by @markiafc too, chineseness is so much about the rigidity of structures, and in equal part, a desire to break out of them. thus, chinese ideological frameworks can very much offer a rich reading of queerness - that mlc, a story very deliberately structured based on chinese ideologies (more accurately, with good reasons for me to believe that it is as such), has managed to materialise.

if the conceptualisation of queerness is premised on a defiance against mainstream norms, then a reliable way to read queerness in chinese ideological frameworks can be to deconstruct it by the mainstream confucian frameworks.

in mlc, this is implicitly set up with its stage of wulin/martial jianghu. then it is further broken down by asking, hey wulin jianghu is still closely related to the hegemonic values and the mainstream structure of authority (historically, 侠 xia being politically involved says a lot about this), so what is the true meaning of jianghu? what does it then really take for jianghu to be a queer space offering comfort and freedom to those who have escaped to it - to be the space that allow the transcendence of rigid roles and labels? mlc took a step further to resist the proxy to mainstream values that wulin jianghu has become.

this is why there can be a very strong buddhism reading of mlc (suggested here, expounded in the A+++ meta by @markiafc here and here, and also what I've seen discussed by cnet as well), given that buddhism is one of the 'extra-secular' ideologies, alongside (philosophical) taoism. I've also touched on a taoist angle in this meta. both schools are articulated in different sets of languages, but ultimately convey a same ideal of what it means to be human and how to live well - that is, to resist the roles and labels defined by the norms.

so, back to confucian frameworks.

a lot can be discussed about mlc with it. but in the context of this meta about relationships in mlc, it's specifically drawing on how confucianism conceptualises social relationships with familial ties as a cornerstone, and how these relational ties are inextricable from the conceptualisation of the 'self'.

as such, one of the things about mlc that has fascinated me is how deliberately it seems to ignore and reject the conventional familial ties (the kind by blood and marital ties). I've joked about how it is a miracle for me to love mlc as much as I do, as a prime dysfunctional family story enjoyer, despite none of its main characters struggling with any complicated feelings about their (biological) parents. but on closer examination, mlc is also making a comment on the model of familial-based relationships that dominates mainstream society - but through the absence of it.

with this, I want to talk about 1) how mlc rejects the conventional ties; and then 2) how it repurposes these ties in its own ways.

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the five relational ties in confucianism:

father and son 父子有亲 - (natural) affection between father and son

ruler and subject 君臣有义 - righteous relationship between ruler and subject

older and younger brothers 兄弟 (长幼有序) - this is actually about seniority within the family; the order between older vs younger family members

husband and wife 夫妇有别 - differentiation between husband and wife (demarcated by the 内外 spectrum of gendered inner-external spheres)

friends 朋友有信 - trust between friends

logically inferred, all these ties are hierarchical and familial-based except for the last one: friends. ruler-subject is sort of an extension of the natural familial ties, while friendship is the inverse space of 1-4 (ie. you fall back on 5 to define a social relationship outside of the familial sphere that cannot be qualified as 1-4). while all are premised on mutuality, it is only no. 5 that is defined by a sense of choice and equality.

on the surface, 1-4 don't quite exist in mlc in particularly meaningful ways to the narrative or are even outright overlooked, and friendship is the relational tie most valued by mlc. we can tell it's true just by looking at the most meaningful relationships in mlc of difanghua. but at the same time, it is more nuanced. we can take a closer look at how the story plays around with most of the ties as part of a broader queer narrative.

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1) how mlc rejects the conventional ties

mlc's rejection of mainstream relational ties can be best seen in fdb escaping from marriage. and it was not just any engagement with anybody but an engagement with the imperial family. he struggles with the prospect of being married to princess zhaoling, but generally, it's about the idea of complying to mainstream conventions and expectations that includes compulsory heterosexuality. all these point not only to a defiance against amatonormativity - the resistance of the traditional husband-wife tie, but also an irreverence for the ties of ruler-subject (the engagement being an imperial decree) and father-son (matters of marriage being sole decisions made by parents).

of course this is on top of how fdb's own biological father is a p-o-s, and the narrative gives fdb minimal struggles in this aspect, allowing him to sever this tie without looking back (I love it, yeap). along the same line is how lxy is an orphan, who came to gain important relationships that are built on natural compassion among people rather than innate, blood-based ties - even as llh. the sense of defiance from the narrative is especially stark to me considering that he could have a completely different familial-based life - as a son, brother, and ruler, if his biological family was still around. the narrative also deliberately treats his biological brother as a phantom, replaced with an older brother who he was bonded with neither by blood nor marital ties. on dfs's front, absolutely nothing is to be known about his biological family. his childhood history with the toxic patriarch of his life - who is not even his biological father - was afforded a clean break and closure.

we can keep going on, but that's pretty much the point.

ritualisation is one of the most important things of the confucianism school, especially to the honoring of these social relationships (and the officiating of social roles). the one ceremony/ritual we saw in mlc involving the main characters - or more accurately speaking, came closest to seeing - was the imminent wedding ceremony of dfs and jlq. even in that case, it was premised on non-mutuality with dfs being the unwilling, passive party. (fem-coded dfs? 25 marks.)

and that brings us to the next part.

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2) how mlc repurposes these ties

that particular wedding ceremony gets hijacked by dfs and lxy/llh, and gets turned into an important milestone in their relationship. they consummate - what is on text - their friendship after a long time being more enemies and rivals than friends. it is a clear establishment of the trust they have for each other. and here it is where I circle back to the subject of this post: friendships as marital ties.

in this article, as a part of a feminist, egalitarian reframing of confucianism, there is a proposal for spousal relationships to be reframed as a friendship tie. (this aligns with the interrelatedness of the five ties eg. the ruler-subject mirrors father-son dynamic, with the confucian belief that rulers have an obligation to their subjects alike parents to their own children.) by doing so, it removes the functional, gendered differentiation assigned to marital ties, and shifts it to something equal, and independent of gender. you exalt the value of trust between spouses, instead of basing marital relationships on gendered roles. as such, spouses become more like friends, and conversely, friends can also become more like spouses. (romance not a prerequisite. it has never been about romance anyway.)

given that mlc has repeatedly applied marital motifs to llh and dfs's characters in their joint narratives, this opens up a reading friendships as a marital tie. seeing marriage as a bridge for strangers to become family, marriage in mlc becomes a metaphor for the chosen commitment and mutual trust put in by strangers/friends (non-familial ties) into the becoming of family. the blurring of lines between marital ties and friendship encourages a genuine space of queer experience that goes beyond any pressure for strict labels - of sexuality, and relationships as romantic, sexual, etc etc.

(note: despite the borrowing of a feminist concept, I strongly hesitate to call mlc a feminist story. it's a whole discussion - or debate - on its own. nevertheless, it is definitely a gender-conscious story that lays foundation for a strong queer and egalitarian reading.)

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it is to be noted that it is intended - and also beneficial to take the confucian framework of relational ties beyond face value. the framework offers what it believed to be the most fundamental social relationship dynamics, and sees room for extension and matching to other kinds of relationships (all if not, most). a relationship such as teacher-student, which is outside of the five ties stated, can also mirror the affection of father-son ties, albeit not in a literal and identical way.

speaking of which. fdb and lxy/llh.

indeed they're known by others to be good friends. fdb thinks they're good friends too - insists on it, and puts his best efforts in keeping it that way. but does it really go both ways? if it does not, then can it really still be friendship? my humble take is that, ultimately - weighing in with llh's perspective - this is a relationship that is not so much based on trust, and rather, based on an innate affection that is only unique to family. (in this case, not blood/marital-based but one that was chosen and built aka lxy's relationship with sgd.) in other words, less of a friendship, more of a familial one.

it is a lot clearer considering their relationship from llh's point of view: some brat you never wanted in your life came barging in, and whether he was going to bring any positive effect to your life was secondary to the tranquility - which you have carved for yourself in the past decade - that is so integral to your personhood. no way. but the moment you hear that he's family? well, that changes the game completely. even before learning about fdb being sgd's son (then beginning to take initiative in showing greater acceptance), it is apparent in llh that there was an instinctive resonance with fdb as his shixiong's nephew. (eg. he remarked to his shifu's grave about how alike fdb is to himself.) this is unlike with dfs whom he had taken a much longer time to build trust with. you do not apply trust - aka the quality of friendships - to family. family is something deeper, more instinctive than that. if fdb was never family, I find it hard to imagine given llh's personality, that he would have let some brazen, bratty stranger intrude for that long. (boy invited himself to llh's home, sat himself down eating the owner's dinner and nosing in his cooking abilities!!! ily bb but that was uncalled for 😭)

of course there are many more layers in their relationship. there is a substantial degree of their history as (unwitting) teacher-disciple: fdb is still healthy and alive all thanks to the existence of lxy as a spiritual teacher role model in his life, regardless it being one-sided or not. there is also indeed some part of friendship in it, especially from fdb's point of view. he sees llh as a kindred spirit who he could enjoy a life of freedom with for life. but llh never reciprocates. he knew this was short-lived. and so ultimately, the hierarchical layer of their relationship overpowers the equal one, where llh's treatment of fdb as a nephew/小辈 younger family member and a disciple is the one that sealed the fate of their relationship.

if (blood-based) familial ties are irrelevant in jianghu, then the closest proxy to a father-son relationship in the martial world would be a teacher-disciple relationship. lxy and his shifu are a clear, indisputable example. for fdb and llh, their teacher-disciple tie is murkier and not consistently applied. they were also never ritualised as teacher-disciple, and thus are not teacher-disciple in any official capacity as far as confucian ideas are concerned. yet in crucial moments, it is invoked by llh as a card of authority over fdb to get out of sticky situations with fdb. and there was their final scene together: in a moment of sincerity, llh gives the approval to fdb as his disciple - then entrusting fdb with the secret manual of his techniques, up until his final letter in which fdb was recommended to dfs as a successor to his martial abilities.

in an imperial setting, this would have been the relationship of an emperor and his crown prince that straddles both ruler-subject and father-son ties aka a tag-team of disaster. the teacher has an obligation to nurture his disciple as a successor to himself, and love him like a son too. on the flipside, he holds the final power in their relationship - withholding knowledge and feelings from the younger one. they are only equals in a way a parent-child can be. they are only equals as much as the parent allows. and this is how fdb got left behind in the dust of llh's departure. he was the child treating his parent like a friend, supporting him emotionally and begging to be loved back the same way he loves his parent - but the parent had a lifetime way ahead of him and stayed out of his reach, physically and emotionally.

llh and fdb operate with the trapping of a friendship but have always been family in the core. llh had known that way before fdb did, just like everything else he had known and put out of fdb's reach. because. fdb did not have to know. fdb is different and will forge his own path. and that's a kind of love llh has for him that nobody understands (in fact not even fdb himself) - one that is on a different plane from friendships.

by repurposing the framework of relational ties, mlc showed that the essence of familial relationships aka its intimacy and closeness can be independent from biology and formalised rituals. and it is important to myself for stories to say that people can build close ties and deeply meaningful relationships even without being born or ritualised into any.

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then back to how these relational ties are inextricable from the conceptualisation of the 'self' in confucian worldview: the roles you play in these relationships are intended to define you. there is no 'self' independent from it. while the concept of a social, relational self is fully rooted in reality, being locked into social roles can be a painful way to live - a way that llh has experienced as lxy the sigu sect leader. so, in order for lxy/llh to realise a sense of self that exists outside the norms, it inevitably points to another way that requires a cut from these relationships. that is then the buddhist (or taoist) answer of looking past attachments to the world such as the confucian idea of relationships defining your being. only with a dissolution of a sense of 'self', can there be true liberation.

#莲花楼 #mysterious lotus casebook #lhlmeta #lhl #my posts #dihua #can't believe this is how i choose to spend an inordinate amt of my free time 😐😐 being a broken recorder of brainrot 😐 #anw the handful of fanghua moments that have moved me are the ones that are about the unbridgeable gap between them as 长辈小辈 as 徒弟师父 #(me realising lxy telling fdb 这个徒弟我没有白收 actually drives me nuts) #me: a brainrot-level dihua shipper first and foremost. also me: dedicating more of this meta to fanghua than dihua #about how fanghua's relationship is its own unique kind in the story. equally deep as dihua. just in a wholly different way. #dihua are friends and married and familial. but fanghua is family through and through #-> tl;dr of this meta actually #i just have extremely strong feelings about fanghua as a complicated little family unit. #which is independent of “shipping” FOR ME. but for anyone else though you can make anything out of it. #(gotta admit i'm a bit antsy about posting this and is uncertain how it's gonna be read. bc my reading of fanghua is so specific...well) #anyways. obsessed with dihua appropriating the heteronormative rituals <3 #edit: I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT TO TALK ABOUT DIFANG aaaAAAGHHHHHHHHHH #but. it's true they're very purely friendship-based i think

[ra-vio]

im supposed to be studying

#resident evil #resident evil 4 #ada wong #I ACCIDENTALLY MADE THIS CANVAS SO SMALL SO I HAD TO RESIZE AND NOW ITS BLURRY AHHHHHHHH #its fine but ITS NOT FINE IT BOTHERS ME SO MUCH LOL #i had to switch mice for this. the other one was so slippery. i dunno if its because its wireless or whatever. that boy go NYOOM #changing the settings didnt help. #anyway. last week i finished the mercenaries and got leons rpd outfit. it was hell. it wasnt but i was in a rush so it was #i think after everything my favorite is still ada cause that grapple gun is everything. the hardest for me was krauser #krauser should have been the easiest cause you just knife everything but i kept slashing dynamite and had to redo the village like 10 times #it was absolute ass. he's the most broken character why would they do that to me #and then immediately after i started on my separate ways professional S+ #its funny someone said the S+ was harder than base game. base game's pro S+ burnt me out so bad #i didnt touch the game for months afterward. separate ways S+ was a cake walk after. you dont even have to fight krauser ovo)b #the most difficult parts are probably the double garradors and the countdown to get to leon at the end #immediately after i got all my achievements I was plunged into a depression like no other. plus i had a discrete math midterm on friday #i am SO SAD. WHO WAS I BEFORE SEPARATE WAYS #i did the same silly thing i did when i drew Link. the shine in her hair says 'Ada' because i have to derive joy from somewhere

[voldheart]

Wait wait I just scrolled by a mutual that reblogged your Godseeker-Comic. Is that an AU? Is there more of this? This is so interesting! I have never seen Godseeker turning to be a part of Void. Mostly just always getting killed by it.

I hope you're doing more with this concept in one way or another because this is a really interesting idea!

ouuu thank you 🥺❤️ its not really an au, its more like my interpretation of a continuation to the embrace the void ending!! :D I think most people are not aware that she canonically doesnt die, and take the ending at face value.... its kind of hard to explain for me since even i am not 100% sure what exactly happens lol but i like to think that theyre perpetually linked or fused together in some weird way. and i feel that this result is pretty intentional from both sides.

Godseeker mentions that they seek gods to "clutch at their greatness and immortality", which i assume that with 'clutch' she means that these traits would be shared with the Godseekers through the "Godly focus" thing. And the knight, besides the fact that it proved its strenght against the local strongest beings, it posesses (via the Void Heart) the void under its will, which is literally said to be an "eternal" force that "denies time", ie immortal.

and this union of sorts would be beneficial for the knight as well, as it can go into Holy Beast mode at just about anytime it wants, which is a really awesome powerup if u ask me. That and also (in my headcanon) it does like her. very much :-)

#hollow knight #the knight hk #godseeker hk #this is also why i made their tag: #symvoidsis #LITERALLY UNION FOR LIFE OF TWO DIFFERENT ORGANISMS!!! BEING OF THE MUTUALISTIC KIND AS ITS BASED ON MUTUAL BENEFIT!!!! #i have soooo many thoughts about them that i really just dont know how to express in drawings #like how she could help on rebuilding hallownest with her ability to build devices out of nothing #her and monomon could be work buddies in this scenario (in this universe it would not have broken the seals btw) #she most definitely knows about leading a whole community out of misery too (land of storms) #and tk as the new monarch (ASSUMING that thats how the king's brand works) would most definitely need that sort of knowledge #as it was raised alone out there on the fucking wastelands it probably doesnt know much about leadership honestly #IDK I JSUT THINK THEY COMPLIMENT EACHOTHER SO WELL I JUST THINK THEYRE NEAT #ITS SUCH AN UNDERRATED DUO IN MY OPINION #'Mostly just always getting killed by it' LIKE FOR FUCKING REALLLLL THOUGH #I ALWAYS JUST SEE HER BEING KILLED OFF IT MAKES ME SO SAD #BEING A GODSEEKER LOVER OVER HERE IS SO HARD #tysm for the ask❤️ btw .i love talking about them hehe

[ccarrot]

okay this is a very personal hot take but i genuinely don't believe dazai is as self destructive as he may seem.

#this is going to be a rant/vent here in the tags but #there's something abt some dz character studies. they really make a point of like... thinness. lack of eating. it bothers me a lot #i actually don't think he's like. actively starving or whatever. maybe his appetite come in waves. sometimes when u don't feel hungry at al #you end up not eating until it's wayy too late then you might eat too much bc u feel that hungry. then instantly regret it. #and then skip the next couple of meals #idkkk i've struggled with disordered eating. i don't like how callously its treated. it often seems kind of.. glamourized #i hate that. #in general dz seems like a glamorized character within the fandom. partly bc he's very pretty and simultaneously broken and self destructiv #** in my personal view based on personal experience** #don't reference my tags btw

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

in tonight's endeavor to be distracted from Everything, i have painstakingly jotted down the base, beginning ideas for a modern human au. it includes a gap-year group road trip in Wally's RV, Home

#& i've only got... the Very base ideas and 1 neighbor done #worldbuilding continues to be my go-to coping method #plotting it out from Tiny Days to established Graduates In Their Late 20s! #a worthy distraction indeed! #the most traditionally successful of the bunch is frank - an entomology professor! #poppy has a tea house! howdy still has his store! barnaby is a bartender for a gay club! eddie does drag performances there! etc! #its fun to think about and even more fun to jot down in a document #im trying to estimate whats most likely for them based on What We Know #which is not must! but i can make educated guesses! #and this is all for personal fun anyway <3 #absolutely unprompted #i thought i would be scribbling tonight... no... au building.... #also since this is a human au and they can all get injured #Im Putting Wally Darling In The Hospital #and im making it as emotionally/psychologically damaging to barnaby as possible #because thats the drama i live for babey! maiming and intense guilt! #nah dw im not gonna Maim him maim him. just gonna fuck em up a lil. broken bones and all that

[cabin10diaries]

you've heard about the hunters of artemis but. have you thought about the archers of apolllo

#archers of apollo #my au <3 #not even an au its just a sillly thing #bc if artemis and apollo reflect each other then. he should have an immortal group too #i knoww the hunters aare based on a thing from ancient greece relating to artemisa nd stuff but its a silly pjo thought<3 #they all are like siblings<3 #shel says shit #pjo #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #hunters of artemis #also hunters of diana and archers of. apolllo but romanized i guess #artemis pjo #apollo pjo #i dont think i shoulld tag the hunters for this but lluv them #my ll key is broken hellp

[everythingshinesunderthesun]

You are now in charge of inventing Boxing 2, the sequel to Boxing, and for the purposes of revamping the sport you have unlimited magical power, what kind of changes can we expect?

Boxing 2.0 patch-notes:

Added 2-on-2 game mode

Stages are now randomized

#serious answer is i would change nothing because boxing is a perfect sport #and all its issues are either systemic (corruption within the multiple organizations) #or cultural (clinching being broken up immediately + never being penalized) #but i do think the idea of team-based boxing is incredibly funny

[imabiscuitinthousandworlds]

wip asks: purple and/or x-p?

Purple:

"I'm Tori," she blurted. "You just said," Aleron said. Tori swallowed. Carelessness like that would get her--wait. No. It was already too late for that. It didn't matter what she did. "Can we just... talk?" she asked. "I don't care about what. Just--anything." Aleron looked at her for a very long time. Tori didn't dare to look away, not even to move. Finally, he sat up a little straighter, his wings shifting until he could lean against the wall and they were folded on his back. "What do you want to know?"

This is set within a fantasy/dystopian sci-fi world. Humans used to have wings, Tori grows up as the first generation who never got to see them anymore. Wings used to be closely linked to dreams--creativity, independent thought, that sort of thing. In this dystopian hellscape, true creativity is highly discouraged and actively worked against. Despite all of that, she grows up a very avid dreamer who yearns for the past and wings, and is constantly paranoid because dreamers still exist, they just tend to... disappear.

She isn't an exception. She's just, like, 15, and it's getting increasingly hard to hide who she is. So, one day, she's kidnapped off the street by the government, meets one of the very last dreamers who still remembers the world as it was, and has to figure out how to find some hope despite everything.

X-P:

[no excerpt because it's in a physical notebook i don't have with me rn]

This story's main character is Kain. Kain is having a bad time all the time.

I haven't done much worldbuilding because really I just desperately wanted to use the X-Punk section of my character development book and create a fucked up character, and it worked!

Kain is... hm. It spends its entire time fighting against the oppressive government, with more and more drastic measures. It's the only right thing to do--it's the only way to change anything, permanently, but hardly anyone understands. Regardless, Kain fights for a better future, even though he knows he won't live to be a part of it.

Enter: Kaya. Kaya was having a normal day and then got dropped in a vaguely different place. He's... well. He's a little too calm, considering everything, but maybe that's the shock. Fact is, there's this older guy willing to help him along a little. He's not sure if he can trust Kain, but he doesn't exactly have other options.

Kain, meanwhile, is having an even worse time than usually. The thing is, Kaya is him--from the past. And if Kaya ever figures out what Kain had to do, he's going to hate it. Or, Kain just found even more ethical dilemmas along with the lurking realisation of what he's become.

Oh, and as if that wasn't enough, an old friend decides to kidnap them both. For "Kain's own good". They refuse to accept the path their friend has gone down.

Literally none of them are okay though, and things will get worse, and nobody is even close to safe, either. They're also very silly and I love them and I will torture them relentlessly. (Also if you remember my OC, Clethra, ze's a background character in here too hehe)

Thanks for asking! I love rambling abt my WIPs. Even though both are going very slow (especially purple, there just isn't enough plot/action yet to keep the story going and it's infuriating)

#a biscuit's rambles #my wips #i think dropping kaya onto kain's doorstep was the funniest thing to do ever #suddenly he has to look out for someone and keep them safe. and cant light those bombs. what a nightmare #yes its unhealthily radicalised and fully convinced that thats the only way and his pov will reflect that belief fully #.... purple is actually a remnant from my notes app on my broken phone #i lost all my notes except that one sketch based on a song and revived the basic world/story from scratch about two years later lol

[dustcarve]

i never used to be that into subspecies or rare colors or designer dragons or whatever but this hyperfixiation cycle i threw myself into it and learned how it works and all the terms and its like. i get it now. oh my god i get it now

#so im working on this subspecies right. #i never used to know why people want unhatched eggs so bad. i know now #anyways ive been trying to work out this subspecies for a while actually even before the hyperfix cycle and i just. i found a #color gene combo that is just to DIE for. there is not a single other dragon like it on the site. i looked. #i would post the scyr but.... secwet #this like. gorgeous deep orange complimented by oxidized blue and then broken up by golden flakes of amber. OBSESSED #the subspecies is based in lore/intertwined with clan eolith so fun stuff. heavily based on pyrite and #pyritized fossils #striped agate and jaspers #amber is a beautiful color by the way but i think its like the least populous yellow LMFAO

[shoutyourporpoise]

I do feel like finding peace with your body at the weight its at sort of like...permanently alienates you from a huge swath of women which makes me sad. Like it's such a casual topic of conversation among women to bemoan oneself for being shaped like one is and once you opt out of that mindset you can either remain silent when others talk about it or else jump in with your dissenting opinion which is treated at best with pity because you're assumed to have reached that conclusion because you've "given up" on yourself and at worst with anger because you're assumed to be judging others as shallow for pursuing weight loss.

#and in my experience most commonly with awkwardness and a total stalling of conversation bc you've broken character #the character of course being 'woman who hates herself and always looks at herself like a bug under a microscope' #...I think I'm thinking about my weight and relationship thereof more often rn bc personal training has brought me in proximity to it again #that world that mindset #its not particularly good for me and im looking forward to when my contract is up and ive built a good base #so i can just fuck off to a gym and work on maintenance and being strong without that kind of talk #temeritiveRaconteur

[madtomedgar]

oh further argument that in cql specifically lan xichen and jin guangyao are fucking: lan xichen drinks. he has that whole rules lawyering Thing about how it ~doesn't count~ because he burns off the alcohol with his golden core. between that and the "but we've been having late night talks every night and there were no marks on his body :)" thing, I think we can conclude that lan xichen, zewu-jun, lan zongzhu is only technically not having sex*

#untamed stuff #i'm basing this on the whole rules lawyering #that some catholics do but #essentially #he thinks that as long as its not penetrative then well #it's not really adultery etc #so it's fine #not something he's going to talk about #just like i doubt shufu knows about the booze #but he doesn't have to feel bad because look #no rules were broken

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

Because the week wasn't sad enough, there had to be a new Lenny interview that broke my heart a lot more. 🥺😭🥲

#the whole part about vova and olena NO I AM NOT OKAY 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 #it breaks my heart so much that besides irina olena hasn't been able to see any of her friends/second fam #vova at least saw sasha and zheka #and how you can hear the tears in lennys voice while she talks about vova and olena 😭😭😭 #how heavy and broken her heart is for their family 😭😭😭 #THAT PART ABOUT HUGGING HIM FOREVER WHEN SHE SEES THEM AGAIN 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 #NOT LETTING THEM GO 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 #and how she says she misses her old life/past and sometimes watches the video and cries 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔 #and we have a new statement about kvartal #now its “im gone forever” again 🥺🥺🥺🥺💔💔💔💔 #shes in touch with the fam rarely but she is #she left in fall 2022 because she started the other project and couldn't do both at the same time #also she wanted to do something independently #the fam was okay with her decision #and she doesnt plan to return 🥺💔🥺💔🥺💔🥺💔🥺💔 #i still have the hope that in some years after the war and she healed she might rethink her decision and does come back #based on this and other interviews i think on of the reasons she left was the war and the situation with her best friends #she thinks about vova and olena every day 😭💔😭💔😭💔😭💔😭💔😭💔😭💔😭💔 #and how sad olena is that she no longer knows anything about the children 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 #one more thing about her not returning #i think the way she said it is interesting #its no longer a break #so my guess is it really was a break in the beginning and she thought about coming back (see also what zheka said about it) #but now changed her mind 🥺💔 #im still not over the part that she thinks about them every day #lenny is worried about them every day 😭😭😭 #and she cant even imagine the burden and pressure and horror that is on their family 💔💔💔 #also the hugging them both and not letting them go hugging forever 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔

[wavetapper]

Oh weird question but what are your favourite rhythm game UI/display things?

#if this doesnt make sense ill list my examples #the pacemaker from i.idx is really neat bc it shows ur current progress towards grade targets and previous best for a song #the way the combo changes colour based on whether its a mfc/pfc/fc/broken combo in modern d.dr is really really useful #(to people better than me) #and fucking honestly i like the accuracy spread graph in osu i think its a useful visual

[dontforgetoctober3rd]

Life Eternal (Chapter 3)

This is an HOTD fanfic based off *another* fanfic, Second Sons by @avengingangelfanfic (I highly recommend reading their amazing fic first! )

Read the beginning of Life Eternal here : Prologue , Chapter 1 , Chapter 2

Rating: M (graphic depictions of violence, mentions of depression, death, depictions of war)

Word Count: 3600

Summary: Set 44 years after the initial events of Second Sons, Daemon Targaryen, son of Aemond and Lyanna, struggles to find his way due to his parents' fame. Who will he go to in order to solve this problem?

Disclaimer: The events in this fic are NOT canon to the canon events of AvengingAngel's story! It was just an idea bouncing around and I asked for permission, which was graciously given (thank youuuu), to put it in words. Gif credits for any gifs used will be in the images themselves. With that in mind, thank you for reading.

[18 YEARS AGO]

The war had not been very long, only about half a year, but the losses were devastating.

Most of it had been fending off raider parties and executing spies while amassing the necessary soldiers to match the Dothraki army’s numbers.  Khal Drogo’s advisors had estimated it would take the new King on the Iron Throne over a year to persuade his subjects to form a force as formidable as he had, and so victory had all but been guaranteed to him.  It had only taken the King Jacaerys a little over a month to gather a force of 400,000 to match Drogo’s 450,000.  

A witch who had fled to King Jacaery’s side, her two children in tow, had provided a way for the Northern armies of Lord Cregan Stark to arrive in time: a magic portal that they would arrive with, but not return (whatever remained of them after would have to go back home on foot).  Khal Drogo had his advisors executed.  

King Jacaerys had appealed to the people not only as their ruler, but as a man.  “I want what any man and woman in my kingdom would: to avenge my mother and stepfather, to protect my children and to live free of the cruel yoke of slavery.”  It had stirred the people, to know that their King considered slavery a threat to even himself, having dragons and all.  Many lamented they had to stay where they were, unable to do any “real fighting”.

“No.” King Jacaerys had said firmly.  “We need you just as much as the most fearsome berserker on the battlefield.  We need our fields tended, our animals cared for.  We need a home to come back to.” 

He had repeated the same words he spoke in the giant, majestic Dragonpit of King’s Landing in every village he and Baela flew to.  Eschewing the large cities where the great houses resided (sending family members on dragonback to them instead), they had descended upon the surrounding farming villages and tiny trading hamlets.  Many a tavern owner had been honored to host them, stories of such things sure to be passed down their families in the years to come, how they had once fed Jacaerys the Defender and Brave Baela a pint of ale with a meat pie.

To deal with this threat to his kingdom, Jacaerys favored a more direct type of approach: take out the leader in an attempt to splinter his army.  Many failed assassinations followed, the bloodriders’ numbers dwindling down to a mere four, but Khal Drogo himself evaded the Stranger and arrived on Westeros.  Swimming giants made landfall first, and the first fight of the war began, occupying the dragonriders in a section of land away from where Khal Drogo then flooded the shores with his screamers and elephants for a couple of months. 

Khal Drogo had planned a sort of pincer attack, but Prince Aemond had relayed this information to the King in time via his own planted spies.  Half of the enemy forces had been waiting in Essos to set sail so they might arrive a few days after a planned battle with all of the Dothraki army together, to replenish the ones who were the first wave arriving on Westeros, in an effort to exhaust King Jacaery’s assembled army with a sustained attack.  

Princess Rhaenys, The Queen Who Never Was, fell first.  She had been tasked with leading the initial assault on the elephant hordes in the first enemy arrival on Westerosi lands and managed to take out most of the scorpions and catapults before being blindsided by a flying wizard’s blast.  King Jacaerys and Queen Baela had still been occupied in dealing with the giants a ways away. 

Prince Aegon the elder and Crown Prince Aemon had been with Rhaenys.  

They finished the job she had started, Aegon’s twins following their lead on their own dragons, bathing what remained of the elephant army in a blinding wall of fire.  The wizard who had killed Rhaenys had attempted to blast Jahaerys as well, only to be stopped by Aegon the Elder’s sword flying through the air and impaling itself through his throat.   Prince Aegon had launched it like a javelin using momentum from his dragon Sunfyre, stopping the assailant midair and sending him careening to the ground.  A long ribbon of blood had escaped from the body as it fell. Prince Daeron’s dragon, Tessarion, had just arrived and snatched another wizard who had sprung into the air behind Aegon, a blast already sizzling in his hand and aimed at him. Prince Aemon’s dragon had latched onto the unfortunate man at the same time, the two dragons ripping him apart with ease, splattering their riders with the entrails and blood.  The group had then allowed themselves a small moment of joy, cheering and laughing with relief at Aegon II’s close brush with death. 

Oversees, Prince Aemond and Princess Lyanna rained hellfire upon the remaining forces that were waiting to set sail, focusing on taking out the remaining giants and elephants. Queen Rhaenyra’s four children by Daemon (Aegon The Younger, Viserys, Visenya and Aemma) gladly helped with their own dragons.  Prince Lucerys and Princess Rhaena provided air support to the thousands of slaves that defected to the assisting forces of Braavos and Pentos. Prince Joffrey and Prince Valerion ambushed the last of the enemy soldiers attempting to flee.  It was a quick battle, but losses still came.  

Gendry, Princess Lyanna’s much loved sworn shield, died on the ground along with hundreds of foot soldiers.  Prince Lucerys lost a leg, but kept his life. Lord Rickon Tully fell, along with both Cargyll brothers.  It was not a happy trip back to Westeros to rejoin the rest of King Jacaery’s army.  

Back in Westeros, the dragonriders could only do so much after the first battle without risking killing their own people also.  Defending from the ground was also not an area that Khal Drogo expected much of a fight in but a fight is what he got as he tried to converge his massive horde into one area.  Prince Doran of Dorne and Lord Royce Baratheon of Storm’s End commanded the ground forces. Men and women numbering in the hundreds of thousands spread out over the Crownlands to fight for their King and defend their homes.  The efforts of Rhaenys were not in vain, having no catapults or spear launchers of any sort to use themselves, Drogo’s land army struggled mightily.  

The soldiers of King Jacaerys' took every opportunity they could to weaken Drogo's forces. Flaming walls of bagged up livestock feces were used to suffocate sleeping enemy camps.  Enemy battalions making their way to the location of battle through the Kingswood were ambushed constantly.

Over and over, the Dothraki were baited and chipped away at, until the day of the final battle.  

Lord Corlys handled the enemy on the ocean, making short work of Drogo’s shoddy fleet of mercenaries and inexperienced Dothraki sailors.  They had thought to keep their supplies off land in order to better protect them, but House Velaryon decimated them. There had been moment where the Velaryon fleet seemed to have reached a wall of ships, but soon all hope disappeared for the opposing side: on the horizon, roaring and spewing huge plumes of flames, were Caraxes and Syrax flying towards them.  It was a short fight and Lord Corlys had his revenge for Princess Rhaenys, whose dragon he had seen fall from the sky in the distance those first few days of the war.

Back on land, no terms were offered on either side.  The armies had at last come together in a sea of soldiers across from each other. 

Villagers had long since fled the area, under protection of the rest of the Dragon Blade’s daughters, Lady Alicent Tully leading them away.  

The carnage immediately began on the fields and went on through the night. 

Several times, Royce Baratheon maneuvered his men to corral the Dothraki into spots the dragons could target with ease.  His wife Catelyn would then burn them to a crisp on her dragon Alduin.

Lord Cregan Stark with his men did the same for King Jacaerys on Vermax, Prince Doran’s soldiers repeating the method for Queen Baela on Moondancer.

A smaller faction of Khal Drogo’s army had thought to steal away towards King’s Landing, planning to loot the city and then flee back to Essos. 

Prince Maelor and Princess Helaena, tasked with defending the city,  met them on their dragons.   Scores of Dornish archers pelted the Dothraki continuously with arrows from all over the walls, many smallfolk stationed beside them spraying those who came close with boiling hot oil. After a time, Maelor came back to the Red Keep victorious.  Helaena had flown off to join her husband in the final fight.  

The turning point in the battle came with the arrival of Prince Aemond and the rest of the dragonriders who had gone to Essos to do away with the threat of a second wave. 

It seemed since they saw the cause was lost, Khal Drogo’s army (what was left of it) fought even more fiercely.  They knew they were all to die and were intent on taking as many as they could with them. 

 

 As morning came, the battle slowed and came to a full stop when King Jacaerys rode his dragon into a skirmish, quickly dismounting and slowly raised the head of Khal Drogo himself to what was left of the Dothraki army.  They tried to flee.  Vermax burned them from the ground where he stood by Jacaerys, with Moondancer showering them in fire from above as she flew by, Queen Baela yelling enthusiastically. 

Victory had come, but at a grievous cost.  Catelyn Baratheon had been wounded, seemingly mortally so.  In his desperation, Lord Royce had taken her unconscious body and declared he would take her to better maesters in King’s Landing.  To everyone’s shock, Catelyn’s fearsome beast Alduin let Royce mount him.  He shot to the sky and flew so swiftly many wondered if they had really seen it happen.

Many of Prince Doran’s family had fallen in the battle.  He had only his wife, children and one sister left. Lord Cregan and his lady wife had also fallen in battle.  So many great houses now had new, younger Lords and Ladies stepping up to take charge.

The most heart wrenching loss of all had yet to be widely known, many dismissing the rumors flying around.  In a secluded group of tents, Prince Aegon the Elder was holding the hand of Prince Aemond, who was fading fast.  Aemond held onto the hand of Princess Lyanna beside him, who was too injured to speak but kept her eyes upon Aemond. 

Aemond looked into her eyes as well, speaking to Aegon the entire time.  Aegon took no issue with this, they were saying goodbye after all. Let their final memory be of each other. 

“Our boy, Aegon…our son..please..!”

“You do not even have to say it, brother!” Aegon spoke angrily, tears flowing freely.“Helaena and I will look after Daemon.”

Aemond began to cry as Lyanna suddenly lay stiff.  She was gone from this world.  At least she had heard Aegon promise…hadn’t she?

“Aegon, please..love him-” Aemond gasped.  He was pale and sweaty, bloodfever having long since set in.  His skin was the same ghostly shade as his hair, no color left in his lips.

“Like I said, Helaena and I will care for him.” Aegon promised fiercely, clutching his brother’s limp hand to his chest. He had noticed Lyanna and knew Aemond was not far behind in following her.  His chest felt like it was on fire with the grief but he had to get the words out before it was too late.  “Of course we will!  He is our blood, born of the little brother and good sister who we love with all our hearts, love more than anything.  He will never suffer what you both suffered in childhood!  We will tell him of you both, we will teach him the sword! We will drag him to the library, to your favorite reading spots, to the very place where you asked for Lyanna’s hand!  We will-” Aegon suddenly went silent, looking at what used to be his brother and Lyanna.  They were no more. Aegon screamed and screamed until Heleana came running, and then she too joined in the screaming.  The next tent over, King Jacaerys and Queen Baela were being tended to.  Jacaerys looked to Baela, their faces shattering with the realization upon hearing the horrible wailing.  Circling above the sky, Vhagar and Skydancer roared in agony.  

[18 YEARS AGO, A FEW MONTHS AFTER THE WAR]

“He is here, my Lord.”

“Make ready the chambers.  I can’t see him staying the night, but the gods might gift us another lovely storm and I’d rather not have our new king calling for my head for sending his uncle home in such weather. Inform the cooks to butcher a lamb.”

Lord Royce Baratheon looked at the scene outside his walls.  Prince Aegon the Elder, calming Sunfyre, greeting the guards who came up to him and then making his way towards the castle.  

Royce reflected about the war while he left the balcony and went to the nursery to wait for Aegon…

The entire kingdom was just pulling themselves from the ashes of the Great War against Khal Drogo’s army, rebuilding their homes and healing their wounds.  Catelyn had not been the same since learning of her parents’ deaths. Everyday, she wasted away in their chambers, eating only when Royce fed her himself. The maester had informed them both she would never carry another child again.  Her sisters visited in turns, but rarely so.  Their own families needed them. 

Little Daemon would not stop his sniffling, his older nephew Alphonse his only comfort aside from nurses. 

The children clung to Royce whenever he visited the nursery, crying all the while that they wanted their mother.  Alphonse, in particular, had sensed something was very wrong. 6 years old, Lyanna herself had tasked him with protecting Daemon, a job he had taken very seriously.  Everywhere the little lord-to-be went, he carried his uncle with him.  He had kept asking his father these past months when Lyanna and Aemond would be back for Daemon and could he please go visit King’s Landing with him when they did.  He wanted to keep teaching Daemon how to hold various practice weapons, he was showing promise with the sword and would surely know how to properly swing one by his second nameday.

He asked again today when his uncle’s parents would be back.  It broke his heart, but Royce had to finally be straightforward with his eldest son. 

“Do you remember our old hound?  The one with a gimp leg?”

“Biscuithead! I miss him.” Alphonse had learned of death before the start of the war, thankfully though things that weren’t quite as violent and traumatic.  He looked at his father expectantly, swaying his sleeping uncle in his arms from left to right.  He looked far older than he should, bearing such a responsibility.  Royce hated to be the one to be changing his son’s view of the world for the worse yet again, but it had to be done.  He had shielded him from everything for far too long. 

“Aemond and Lyanna have gone the way of the dog, my boy.  They are dead.  They will not be coming back.  Not ever.”

Alphonse immediately teared up, worry in his whispery voice.  The lad was still afraid of waking Daemon. “...but they are Daemon’s mother and father.  How can a mother and father die?”  Alphonse choked back a sob, trying to be brave but quickly spiraling into distress.  At Royce’s nod, a nearby maid claimed a sleeping Daemon from Alphonse, spiriting him away to a different room in the nursery. “Father…are you going to die?!  Is mother going to die?!”

Royce quickly embraced his crying son.  “No, no, no…I am not dying, my sweet boy, I am not dying.”

“I don’t want you to die!” 

“Hush, now!  Your mother and I have many many years ahead of us.  We are not dying.”

Royce looked to the doors opening, guards announcing Prince Aegon.  

Alphonse had not even noticed, he was still sobbing, face buried in his father’s chest.  Royce met the gaze of a very haggard and tired looking man.  Aegon had come for little Daemon, finally.  He had been told in the ravens he did not even need to ask it, but Aegon would keep his son safe as well, until Catelyn was well enough. 

More than likely until Alphonse felt ready to leave, Royce thought.  He did not see his son betraying a promise made to the Princess of Hearts.

[PRESENT DAY KING’S LANDING]

“Alphonse, come!  Daemon has business he needs to see to without you hovering about.” Royce called, already mounted on his horse, ready to ride away with the rest of the remaining Lords in the keep to the hunting camp.  His two other sons laughed at Alphonse, though not in a bad-natured way (Orys had been chosen to remain at Storm’s End with his dragon and so was not present).

Daemon smirked at Alphonse.  “Go on, then, nephew.  An honorable son always obeys his father.”

Alphonse scoffed as he mounted his own horse.  “Hmph.  As if you obey yours without question?  Have you yet spoken with him?”

Daemon laughed.  Others might take it to mean as a jest against his dead father, but he knew who Alphonse spoke of.  “Never you mind.  Off with you, and do not forget what we talked of a few days past.” he admonished. “You know what will happen if you do not take action.”

“Yes, yes…” Alphonse rode away smiling.

Daemon watched as the large party left the courtyard.  It was the final group to leave to the hunting camp, before Aegon and Heleana made to arrive with the twins to get the celebrations going.  They would leave tomorrow.  A full day with them to himself, Daemon thought.  He made a note to thank the King later, for surely it was his doing that the hosts themselves would be staying here for a whole day.  Lady Alicent Tully was also staying behind.  She had difficulty walking now, at her great age, and preferred to spend her days in the library or being wheeled around the paths in the Godswood.

A great deal had occurred upon his return from Storm’s End.  Daenerys, for one, had been nowhere to be found.  Helaena had informed him she had gone ahead to the site, to “help set up”. 

To avoid my nephew, more like…Daemon had thought.  No matter.  He had persuaded (and slightly threatened) Alphonse to finally seek her hand.  His mother’s dagger had been of some help. 

“Present it to her as your betrothal gift.  Do not make it seem like duty or an obligation.  Tell her the choice is entirely in her hands, and mean it.”  Alphonse had looked a bit panicked at this. “No, do not give me that look. When my father asked for my mother’s hand, he made it clear it was she who would be deciding if they would be wed.  He didn’t even tell her that he was her potential betrothed until that was understood.  No You must marry me! None of that.” His nephew had grumbled at the time, but now he was on his way at least he had seemed more agreeable and Daemon was satisfied with things.

To truly love someone, you had to be at peace with the idea that their happiness might not lie in being with you.  It had been a tough tonic for Alphonse to swallow, but swallow it he did.  Daenerys was the only one who held his heart, and he wanted her to be happy. 

Daemon walked through the keep, steeling himself for what was coming next.   He hadn’t been the easiest child to care for, but his aunt Helaena and uncle Aegon had managed. They both treated him well and reassured him they needed no apologies but he still felt extremely guilty.   Every childhood tantrum had been met with punishment, but also gentle patience. 

“I HATE YOU!!” he had screamed one day, just shy of 8.  The dragon keepers had declared Paarthurnax large enough to ride and Daemon had wanted to fly immediately, wanting to visit Alphonse who had been on his yearly visit home for the harvest.  Nevermind the fact that a saddle still needed to be made and fitted properly.  Helaena had not allowed it.  They had been breaking their fast and Daemon had thrown his pumpkin juice at her in response.  The maids had frozen in horror, not sure what to do, but Aegon had sighed and simply dragged a screaming Daemon from the table by the wrist. 

“I HATE YOU!  Let me go!  I HATE YOU!!” With each yell from Daemon, a curious face turned to look.  Aegon nodded greetings to the stunned passersby, as if nothing was amiss. 

“Yes, yes, you may hate me all you like, but do so from the nursery.”  Aegon had said.  “You are not to leave the area for the rest of today.  Supper will be brought to you.  This will be your punishment for what you have done.  We do not throw things at others, especially our own kin, we use our words.”

Daemon had been sure an injustice had been done to him.  “I’m not stupid!  You won’t let me ride because you HATE ME.  You and aunt Helaena HATE ME!!”

At this, Aegon had issued a vehement denial “We do not hate you and we never will.  We both love you with all our hearts.”

“Then why can I not call you kepa and aunt Helaena muña?”

He still remembered how sad Aegon had looked when he had asked that. It had caught him completely off guard.  Only now as a man did Daemon understand how much it probably tore at his uncle’s heart.  

Stopping right before the library, he saw the doors were wide open, Ser Tommen standing guard right by. Daemon went in to speak with the two people who had raised him.

#welp this little drabble has now officially turned into a fucking behemoth...idk when it will end! #lmaoooo what have i gotten my self into #fanfic based on fanfic #hotd fanfic #second sons by avengingangel #i really cannot stress this enough but my writing is nowhere near the caliber of AvengingAngel's so plz judge me kindly! #i'm begging #i'm trying to improve my writing #and by god if the only way to do it is by embarrassing myself on this hellsite then SO BE IT #I can't believe what this has evolved into tho #i think i've broken 10k words by now #ive never written 10k words for a single subject IN MY LIFE #but Second Sons really is that top tier #its so good it inspired me to do fanfic of it #you have to read it especially if you love soft Aemond fics where he lives happily ever after! #anyways here is my mess

[todayisafridaynight]

Right??? Thanks so much! I actually first fell in love with Jo's character when RGGJo's voice lines came out haha, so it's super fun to be able to share them.

But I can think of a couple of reasons for the wild personality gap, and for me it starts at their respective roles. Obviously main antagonist and major supporting character are going to draw different levels of attention to themselves, but I think it's chiefly that RGGJo is not just Jo, but he's both Jo and Masato as one character.

RGGJo is much, much closer in age to Ichi, and though they're not "twins" like Ichi and Masato are (RGGJo is a little more than 2 years older), it's thematically there I think. The whole "twin dragonfish," dark and light, two sides of the same coin kind of thing.

And just as Ichi was initially conceptualized as a sort of "greatest hits compilation" of the previous protagonists' most compelling traits, I think there's a strong case for RGGJo being the same for the previous antagonists--specifically Nishiki, Ryuji, and Mine, who are pretty clearly Yokoyama's favorites anyway lol.

I have a feeling casting has something to do with it as well. RGGJo's actor, Hiroki Takahashi, is actually the exact same age as he is, and he's voiced his fair share of fun, flamboyant villains. If I wanted to speculate, he's also voiced his fair share of BL, so that may be why RGGJo's voice lines have a Certain Slant to them; directing his delivery to capitalize on his established appeal (although he has quite a range) makes sense.

Tsutsumi is also only a few years off from Y7Jo, and he was cast for having the dignity and screen presence to "make every word feel like it might have a deeper meaning." Yokoyama (and Takeuchi) wrote the games, he and Nagoshi handled the casting, and Yokoyama generally handles the voice direction for the main story, so a lot of it's specific to his vision.

Within that context I think it's relevant that he wrote Y7Jo while picturing Tsutsumi specifically. RGGJo was more malleable and less "consequential" in terms of the franchise, so, y'know, why not have a little fun with it? I think that's reflected in their designs as well. RGGJo's is larger-than-life while Y7Jo's is relatively subdued.

Overall, I get the sense RGGJo's role is more akin to "son" and "brother," (aniki, if you will), like Masato, whereas Y7Jo's role is more akin to "co-parent" and "father" and I guess "Evil Stepdad" in a Cinderella kind of way. It's not exact across the board, it's not literal across the board, but it's the archetype, right? And I think that does, exactly like you said, have far-reaching consequences for their backgrounds and who they've become as a result.

BTW, you actually are up to speed on Ichi's story, because uh… that's where it stops lol. It was discontinued at roughly the equivalent of the start of Chapter 12 in 7; the rest of the story was written, but not published. It Kills Me.

But I think, despite any concrete backstory, the implication for RGGJo is that (if I assume he joined earlier than Ichi, which would make sense given he's captain), he was at most 18 or 19 when he joined, and he's exactly the same kind of Arakawa fanboy Ichi is. The 15th anniversary book goes on to say he "was purely in love with [Arakawa]'s greatness" and so cannot tolerate the idea of allowing him to live and die in obscurity at the bottom rungs, of Arakawa being in a position not equivalent to his "greatness" in his eyes.

But Ichi thinks that's regardless of what Arakawa himself may want, since RGGJo is apparently not going to stop until he makes him chairman, which the Arakawa Ichi knows wouldn't really care about. I think there's an interesting mix of selflessness and selfishness in his desires that reminds me of Mine.

And that's explicitly as opposed to Y7Jo, whose loyalty remains the same, but whose feelings and motivations are complicated by the existence of Masato; the usage of "purely" before is notable here, as another suitable translation would be "uncomplicatedly," which to me would suggest that degree of admiration is a component of his loyalty in 7 as well.

So I think you're absolutely right the circumstances with Masato are a major aspect of what's going on with Y7Jo. It's inextricable because he's got this immense gratitude towards Arakawa for raising his son and also a need, a primary driving force, to be a part of his son's life at (almost) all costs. The natural result of that is going to be reluctance to do anything that tips the balance.

I think that's one of the things that make him so compelling, he's forced to make a lot of tough, meaningful decisions and there's often (but not always) no right answer. And that's really clear to see with Aoki, as you say.

(Kind of a side note, but somewhat contrary to the above, Masato may actually have existed in RGGO's timeline. There was a comment from Yokoyama or Takeuchi suggesting he's not in RGGO not because he simply "doesn't exist, but specifically because Arakawa may not have opened the right locker or may not have made it to the lockers in time. I guess the other implication would be that Masato would've been Arakawa's biological son in RGGO instead, since RGGJo would've been too young and there was no need for a switcheroo? It was just an off-hand comment, but it's interesting to think about.)

Also, loved your tags haha. It's SO funny you start off like you're going to say something crazy and then it turns out to actually be something I wanted to write about in the previous ask, but that I cut out because I couldn't make it flow. I guess it might just be the case that I'm crazy on the same wavelength?

But yes! I think a lot of the time, impressions of that aspect Jo's backstory sort of begin and end at Evil Stepdad Perpetuates Cycle Of Abuse, perhaps understandably, but there's genuinely so much that's established in both his and Arakawa's backstories that have clearly stayed with them that I'm positive your take on it is at the very least least true to the character, whether or not it's intentional.

Because like, Arakawa and Jo both came from abusive households. And they're both affected by Aoki's "parental abuse" (although Aoki doesn't know it himself, I guess he doesn't need to). But the way Arakawa has always dealt with abuse is defiance; I think the implication of one of the first scenes is that that's how he got his scar. Jo, on the other hand, has always dealt with abuse with avoidance. Running away. Brushing it under the rug, like he says he and Ikumi had done all their lives; I think that statement's fairly clearly linked to abuse and neglect.

And I think that shows both in Arakawa and Jo's respective responses to traditional authority figures and in how they choose to handle things with Aoki. Arakawa defies Aoki's plans in his own way at every turn, and he ends up getting killed for it. Jo, on the other hand, ignores it until there's nothing left to do but sever himself completely, in the same way there was nothing left to do back then but run. IT'S SO. Ugh.

Each Jo's respective role in the overall plot of their stories definitely plays a part in why they turn out different from each other the way they do; it's interesting to see how RGG decided to handle Jo's character to sort of 'adjust him' to fit better as more of a background figure than The Big Bad, and to especially see how his relationships end up is spectacular. Choosing to divide that devotion between his son and his boss in Y7 is something I'm just positively obsessed with: it's clear he joined the yakuza predominantly for Masato's sake, but the concept of Jo gradually coming to genuinely respect Arakawa as an individual opposed to someone that he just happens to have to follow after because his son's involved heightens him as a character for me (I might have to write a side piece on the psyche of Jo- there's just a bunch of aspects to him that I want to explore better and really intrigue me, but I refuse to try and squeeze any of that into this long-as-is answer lmao).

I definitely recognize Ryuji and Mine the easiest in RGGJo (Mine's influence still persists a bit in Y7 to me, if not solely for his devotion and his own version of The Knife Scene existing as The Eye Scene; though Jo's anger wasn't purely due to Arakawa's death in that scene like Mine's was due to Daigo's 'death', it was clear Arakawa's passing was a sore subject). Jo's dedication to Arakawa in RGGO really is totally reminiscent of Mine's devotion to Daigo: both willing to take drastic measures to secure the ones they idolize the spot they feel they deserve and to exterminate any opposition to that dream (if I'm remembering Mine's RGGO story right wherein he partakes in the Okinawa deal as a HUGE ploy just to secure Daigo remains chairman should he wake up, but I don't have to clarify how that didn't go as planned).

As for Nishiki, it's clear Jo borrows his 'position' in the story, just as Ichi obviously takes Kiryu's. To yoink a phrasing from another ask I got, they're 'dark parallels': though they both clearly want the best for Arakawa, they're going about it in different ways (in that sense, Y7Arakawa's line about him seeing the Arakawa Family as his 'sons' makes this situation a little funny: just two kids fighting each other for what's best for their dad lmao). It's a shame the story didn't go on any more after the Millenium fight, but I'm a little happy knowing in that I'm not missing anything (what I will scratch my head over is what RGGOMasato would've been like. I guess it's not exactly certain whether or not he survived The Locker Incident or he was just so considerably normal he wasn't worth bringing up, but regardless I'll have a ponder about it..). It'd be rad if RGG ever decided to release at least the drafts of the rest of the story one day, but I won't hold my breath.

I've peaked over at Takahashi's past roles (I didn't realize he's voiced so many characters I know omg), and I think that's a fair conclusion to come to: he repertoire combines characters with sort of 'harsh' tones to their voices/dialogue, but as you said he does benefit from having voiced some 'lighter' characters! As for Tsutsumi, I think I've made it a little clear on my blog that I've taken time to look at his past projects, and though I haven't seen all of his roles, Jo's an interesting inclusion to his list (but by no means an inappropriate fit. If I were to compare him to one of Tsutsumi's past roles, Nobunaga Oda from Honnouji Hotel is similar in being an intimidating man with a violent reputation but still having a 'soft'/deeper side). It gets more fun when I think of it: Tsutsumi, from what I can gather, is a tad renowned for playing loving fathers (whether they're perfect fathers depends on the character, but they all absolutely adore their kid/family- this might be the only time I've seen him play a father and he isn't doting on his kid, lmao). Yokoyama and Nagoshi are definitely masters at deciding who should play who and how to utilize their talents efficiently, and having prior knowledge to Tsutsumi's roles, I feel as though audience members would have been able to get a hint at Jo's whole character early on (just as RGG had capitalized on Takahashi's reputation) which I personally find to be a fun tidbit, if not just grateful that they chose such an excellent actor to play such an intricate character. Ergo, his ability to give 'deep' performances and have that sort of presence and give his character that type of atmosphere definitely helps enhance the human aspect of Jo's character.

It's a great blend into Jo's otherwise cold demeanor, and going off the idea that RGGJo was a combination of Masato and Jo, the decision to have Jo be a committed father to Masato (as much as he's allowed to be, anyhow) while Masato became the power-hungry villain (even if RGGJo's motivations were ironically centered around Arakawa succeeding moreover himself), it's somewhat of a roundabout way to have them still be connected: though they're not the same character anymore, there's that bond that keeps them stitched together that I find neat.

AND THANK YOU ABOUT MY TAGS I can't sugarcoat it, I'm not a very confident person, so I'm glad you've gleamed there's some validity to what I'm saying. And I'm glad you've expanded on not just Jo, but Arakawa's upbringing as well: though they both come from abusive homes, they do handle it differently, and I feel so blind for not even having wholly noticed it in how they react to Aoki- it's so brilliant I almost want to scream. It's a tragic irony that despite Jo resolving to not 'half-ass' things anymore and to face things head-on, to 'take responsibility', he incidentally falls back into trying to avoid the problem for as long as he can. It's poetic really, and I'm positively going to go insane over the fact.

#long post #fave #i AM faving all of these because any disucssion about jo/the arakawas is my favorite ☠️ #snap chats #i'm still screaming about the parental bits at the end though like god how could i have been so blind.. thank you for pointing that out #it always fascinates me how abused kids turn out based on circumstances #I'm Rambling Again but i think arakawa got some benefit of his dad being there for him. until he died of course #even if kids come from broken homes so long as they have at least one positive adult figure in their life theyre likely to turn out alright #i guess 'alright' is subjective- i wouldnt exactly say becoming a yakuza leader is the most conventional lifestyle but hey what can you do #in any case jo's absolute abandonment certainly paved the way for- despite his wishes to reject it- him to fall back into being avoidant #ouugh that hits close to home im gonna throw up but its so also so good i love these details so much #also can we all ignore like. The Phat Chunk i dedicated to mr tsutsumi LMAO i really have become a fan of his work through all of this #AND I REPEAT HE IS SUCH A GOOD FIT FOR SAWASHIRO another role i can think of is mr tatsuya kanda from meishi game #he's more blatantly an antagonistic and selfish figure but we find out he's such an asshole because he's trying to make his daughter proud #so yeah definitely not mr tsutsumi's first time playing a dickish dad who loves his kid #i feel like im everywhere with this response ngl- im always so crummy with organizing my thoughts #but of course again thank you for writing in ! always fun reading your asks ^^ #AND DEFINITELY THANK YOU FOR TAKING TIME TO DEDICATE TO THE WIKI i cant type enough o7's to convey that respect

[unbornwhiskeyy]

gallows humor i guess but the funniest thing about the “forever plague” piece getting shared around here is that the entire text of the article has been copied and pasted into the tumblr post except for the c.s. lewis quote that opens it, which, if you didn’t notice the url suffix was “.ca,” a c.s. lewis quote would be the other most canadian thing about it

#as for the piece itself #well #'our governments have abandoned us and are making a bad situation worse' is an evergreen point #but i clicked on most of the sources that article is drawing on for its arguments #and a lot of its claims struck me as conjecture #which #fine #we know very little still two years in #and the virus is mutating at an incredibly accelerated rate #and it is possible to get infected by one variant then another #objectively this blows and is our current reality #still #i find it rich that a piece that opens with a c.s. lewis quote about facing the truth is full of conjecture based on uncertain studies #i'm also continuously depressed than an entire industry based on fearmongering about this and other viruses has sprung up on twitter #but also what do i know! i'm not a medical professional #and i'm likely telling myself these things to make myself feel better #still the piece made me think less about being stuck in a pandemic purgatory forever #than it made me think our systems of communication are irreparably broken #and were probably never that functional in the first place