#Embodied Responsibility

[healingthroughvisions]

Saturday Saturn Day

Saturday Saturn Day Structure Is My Sacred Container Saturday carries the grounded, commanding energy of Saturn—planet of time, discipline, structure, protection, and divine responsibility. Saturn isn’t here to control you. Saturn is here to fortify you. To help you build what lasts. To remind you that your dreams need foundations, and your energy needs form to flourish. Saturday Saturn Day…

[habken]

also rip to this panel which didn't make the cut cause it didn't make sense tone-wise.. you will be missed

[voidwelt]

The mispronunciation of Welt's name used to bother me (as it is canonically meant to be based on the German word, so it should be spoken with a harder V sound). I studied German in school, so I had to work myself out of pronouncing it correctly, just so the game pronunciation would stop bothering me.

But as time passes, I sort of come to think, the way the reason for this mispronunciation IRL is the intent being lost in translation (CN doesn't quite have the right syllables for the German pronunciation and EN direction carried this along in HSR), the reason for its mispronunciation in-game could, if you like, also be chalked up to something being lost in translation (in a different way).

I like to imagine Welt Joyce's name is 100% pronounced correctly. (No EN dub exists to prove me wrong). He got the name right from its source, given to him by a German, and mentions as such when he dies, "Welt" for "World" in German. There's no way it's not meant to be pronounced correctly.

When it gets passed down to Yang, the meaning is still there, but the interpretation is muddied through the inherent perception filter of a young person (as is his interpretation of the duty as a whole). He sees Joyce bleed out against the concrete to save a city and he internalises this as the legacy and the "burden" of Welt. The German word becomes a gifted Title that represents protecting the World first and foremost, and then as its bearer takes off to the stars, off of that original world, in an attempt to save others, it's even further divorced from its original language context.

When Welt describes the meaning of his name to Sunday, he's come up with his own, adjusted and extended definition for it. He's expanded onto it with his own thoughts, influenced by the Trailblaze and how many lives he's come into contact with. "Each person is a world unto themselves, with as many possibilities as the distant stars." (paraphrased)

(He also says some stuff about how the Trailblaze doesn't end when you leave the Express, so it really makes me think of how he might think of... Ahem. Anyway, back to topic.)

Ultimately, Welt Joyce and Welt Yang have the same first name/title in text and in writing, but...

If they're pronounced differently, it just goes to show, that no matter how hard Welt (Yang) attempts to personally embody his hero in all that he does, how hard he tries to carry this legacy in its purest form, they're ultimately still different people, with different experiences, with different souls.

Or, I could just be looking too much into a minor flaw in the translation process! Isn't that the fun of thinking too hard about things? Should we run Mr. Yang over with our shared car? We have to do something about this

[starleska]

sorry for simping for yet another awful greaseball, but Enlighter | Qi Shi is sooo pathetic and chronically online!!! i just know that man has a Reddit account 🫠💖

[mosstrades]

severance poses the question of "is the ethical/moral obligation that we have towards ourselves equivalent to and on par with the ethical/moral obligation we have towards one another" which in itself is so interesting. and then it seems to have an incredibly resolute yes as an answer so far, which i find to also be so fucking sick. the innie/outie consent issues, to me, fall into such stark clarity when you consider it not as two individuals, but as two intrinsically connected individual parts of the same whole. the creation of the innie is in itself a violation of the self's integrity— because their existence is one of forced alienation. but the problem isn't actually held just in the fact that they both exist. the problem is that they cannot work together. the problem is that they are denied the wholeness.

[smile-files]

authority has only found me appealing because they've always known i'd make a great cog in the machine

[tea-cat-arts]

(Disclaimer: this is a vent post)

Jiang Cheng discourse is frustrating because I feel like it always boils down to a debate on whether he's a good or bad person when like-

Such a central idea throughout all her books is that everyone has the capacity for good and evil. The cannibal who's been sewing political discourse for centuries is also a halfway decent dad, the prince who once tried to save all the common people ended up turning on them and releasing a plague, the guy who schemed and killed his way to chief of cultivation sacrificed himself to keep his best friend safe, the world's most dedicated internet hater also improves the lives of almost everyone around him... trying to force this narrow frame of good and bad people on her stories just doesn't work.

When it comes to Jiang Cheng in particular, I feel like the context for his actions gets completely thrown out the window in favor of focusing on the ways in which he was an asshole, but Jiang Cheng isn't really in a position where he can afford to be kind to everyone. The man has a whole clan to watch out for- as a kid, he couldn't just stand up to the Wens because every action he took would be interpreted as a reflection of the Jiang Clan's stance (and they were not in a position to go to war with the Wens). As an adult, he thought he couldn't afford to stand up for either wwx or the remaining Wens because it would risk putting his very freshly reformed clan who just finished a war in conflict with 3 other major clans. He is shown to have the capacity for love and the capacity for kindness (ex: getting all the hiers out of the cave and running all the way back to Yunmeng for help, putting himself in danger to draw the Wen scouts away from wwx, co-parenting Jin Ling with Jin Guangyao, being an attack dog against anyone who hurts his family, guarding wwx from dogs as a kid, standing up to his mom and asking her to stop when she berates wwx), but he rarely has opportunities where he can just follow all of his own values without it putting his clan at risk. I also feel like the ways in which he's kind get dismissed because he doesn't act nice. Like, he's not willing to put on a smile or be chatty like either Lan Xichen or Jin Guangyao. He's an anxious, rage-filled, asshole who hates losing, and that is on display at all times.

And ya- he's absolutely done some awful shit. He's fallen for propaganda, he's hurt and killed both wwx and potentially hundreds of innocent people, he doubles down on his mistakes instead of reflecting, and he votes with the leapords eating your face party, and he'll be spending a lot of time alone and filled with rage and regret because of it. I do not deny that all that shit is true about him, but what I'll argue against is the idea that it's all he ever was and all he'll ever be

Normally, I believe in death of the author, but in this case mxtx's comments from a 2016 interview support my stance on him, so I'm gonna bring it up (Link to full interview. It's a fun read)

But ya: shout out to my fellow Jiang Cheng fans who like him, but think he's an asshole and want to push him down a flight of stairs

[maedhrus]

"i understand the order, sir."

"let me hear it."

"we will live."

[dykedvonte]

Ulysses obsession with the Courier is a special type of sad to me cause the Courier’s part was so important but so unwitting. They had no idea what was in the package they delivered and neither did he. Neither had an idea of what it could’ve done and the Courier was only caring out their job (mind you the Courier could be killed via notes in the express contract if they don’t). To them it was just another regular delivery to the divide and one that they likely thought would help, just like all the ones before.

It’s so tragic for Ulysses to hold so much ire to the Courier when it really was the case of it could’ve been anyone. Anyone could have delivered that package but they did and so he focused the blame on them and it destroys what he is trying to instill in the courier on a fundamental level.

[void0mega]

All Touhou characters (Up to TH18)

[06/04/23]

[chicago-geniza]

Saw picture of myself on bike store social media and didn't get soul-devouringly insane about it even though I was fat because I am fat. Still hate having my picture taken but at least it doesn't shear 24-48 hours out of my life about the irreconcilability between arbitrary embodiment and Denkbild/ideal representation of intangible subjectivity

[starbright-sunset]

Okay wait so I got bored and decided to do something silly to my builderman drawing based off this image

I'm giggling at this

It feel lesbian /silly

LESBIAN HATRED!!!!!!!!!! /silly

[ren-or-rin]

So. Listening to Malevolent episode 28 and I am losing my goddamned mind [SPOILERS AHEAD]:

CAN WE TALK ANOUT THE PARALLELS BETWEEN LILLY’S DEATH IN PART 20 AND ARTHUR’S NEAR-DEATH HERE?

AND JOHN’S RESPONSE?

There’s something about the way John, try as he might, still doesn’t entirely understand how mortal bodies work, how he knows how to harm but knows so little on how to heal. John, and his stubborn refusal to let his loved ones die, his willingness to do anything to save them. John who loves so much more than he thinks he does.

[irequirealobotomy]

Calamity! Venus (and Nicki) have decided to hand out some care packages to the other cabins! We hope that you find the contents well and enjoy what we have packed for you! @tmnt-fandom-family-reunion

ignore donnie, the just around the corner gang from cabin 5 love the present.

the councilor does too, he just doesnt have much of a filter-

[soath]

Of Contracts Between Gods and Men

On the Aeorian Kinsey-Deicide scale I’m a solid 5 (near exclusively god-preserving) which may seem surprising to my many dear associates who want those fundamental truths of existence wrecked. Without digging in any further, let’s do some quick religious history review on the question: Do you owe anything to the gods and do they owe anything to you?

The answer is not as universal as many raised in the nigh inescapable miasma of Christian theology may think! Reciprocal (or even unilateral) responsibility in religion comes and goes across history and geography. The Norse Aesir, for example, created humans but don’t owe them nada and only rarely bothered messing with them. The Greek pantheon are significantly more touchy on the subject of their pride but a person could manage offering no prayers or sacrifices as long as they didn’t promise any prayers or sacrifices. Probably. Compare this to Mayan theology, wherein both gods and humans have significant co-responsibility in maintaining balance; with ritual and sacrifice key to the continued safety of the polity. Divine-mortal relationships can be classified as nondirectional, unidirectional, or bidirectional with various advantages and disadvantages to each model. Gods come in lots of shapes and the demands they make aren’t universal!

A phrase that will often come up in any divinity studies is “covenant”. Originally a translation of the Hebrew berith or Greek diatheke, and also present in Islam, the Bahai’i faith, and possibly historical Phoenician religious practices, covenant theology has metastasized in Christian scholarship to the point it was genuinely hard to research this piece while dodging blogs by guys named Richard. But, broadly, it’s the idea of making an explicit deal with power(s) greater than yourself where you both have sides of the bargain to uphold.

Contract law is not the solution to every problem on earth or in fiction, but when the issue is a large disparity in power and mutual fears of future adverse behavior…. to quote Kate Bush “I’d make a deal with (the) god(s).”

Vitally, compared to other bidirectional pacts in world religion, Exandria has some advantages. For one thing, they have a godeater they’re right now helping to suppress. As long as the gods remain behind the divine gate they need mortal champions to effect their will—but that only holds true as long as the Divine Gate stays up. And unfortunately the problem with a fence someone else has erected is that you don’t know if they’ve kept a key.

If I was mortality’s lawyer? I’d ask for a second layer to that divine hamsterball I’d ask for anything left of the godkilling spark to be kept by the temples of Vasselheim—if they can’t be trusted with it no one can. And I’d promise cooperation from people of a certain degree of civic responsibility, not coerced or threatened out, whole hearted. But terms and conditions may vary.

Anyway, I guess the thesis is that it’s a terrible sin to destroy something you can’t comprehend with no idea of what the outcome will be (and a lot of you don’t seem to get the inconceivable joy of having/knowing/being a god, even just in fiction) but you can bring any monstrosity to the negotiating table. Don’t kill your gods, unionize against them.

[sannyo-appreciation-posts]

so what actually makes sannyo your favorite character? what do you see in her that you don’t see in other characters

this image:

Im just kidding. Though she is really cute in it.

Truth be told, when UM came out I thought Sannyo was Super cool. Her "You darn fool" expression was probably the best expression in the whole game. but somehow, when the full game was out, she wasn't my favorite. I liked Tsukasa and Megumu and thought Chimata's outfit was crazy fun.

Though even then i preferred Sannyo's outfit design to everyone else's.

But Sannyo slipped from my mind due to what I'll call "Stage 3 syndrome" meaning, after the demo, Everyone likes the 3 stage demo characters for a while and pick a favorite among them, but when the main game comes out they get pushed aside really quick and people, more or less just move on to the new characters

But when I read her power and stuff in her Omake.txt she quickly became the coolest character in there. Of course she's a newer stage 3 boss so I obviously never expected to ever see her again.

(Though tbh my dislike of the smell of smoke probably wasn't scoring her any points, she was honestly at a disadvantage the whole time. I just like her enough to think it's cool when she's using her power instead. Besides, given what she says it's made of, it probably just smells like strange flowers anyway)

But then despite my assumption I'd never see her again, She appeared in Lotus Eaters chapter 29 and continued to appear occasionally after, Not only that......

She had the COOLEST, most cinematic intro in the entire touhou series. It was like 5 pages of slow walking through her Den politely greeting people, using her power, and even making aside comments with cynical gambling advice. Then meeting Mamizou at the door with a confident bow.

she's also got a crazy gap moe range of interests from obscure flowers to Dragons, proudly wearing the name Madame Komakusa, the after what is called the queen of Japan's alpine flowers.

And a crazy range of emotions. (Plus Lotus Eaters loves having her do something fun or cute in the background during her shift hours, even if the script dialog isn't calling for her)

she's mysterious, yet she's as expressive as an actual main character, she's got a range of principles, interests, and an incredibly cool gap moe thing going on. It's so rare for characters that were more or less side characters in their respective games to be this well rounded, I mean she's from freaking stage 3. But, She's awesome, adorable, and mysterious.

And it's not even a headcanon, or a fandom take on her, she is just genuinely like this in canon.