#and in this context. that matters more

[trekkerac]

Wuh oh did they forget that Bill is a threat 👻💀All Frankenghost drawings💀👻

[chimerafeathers]

you know what i think Mirabelle deserves to get a little fucked up freaky in how she processes learning about Siffrin’s loops post-canon. for fun. as a treat

thinking about this line in particular and stretching out the implications like taffy

this is a more romanticized, cutesy facet of her interests but she’s still framing Siffrin’s situation through storytelling. so like. What If.

i mean. this woman loves horror and gore and monsters and horrible things happening to innocent people. IN FICTION. in fiction!!! obviously!!!! and it’s beyond terrible that something even remotely close to any of that happened to her real friend in real life!!

BUT.

maybe. maybe sometimes, if the conditions are right, she gets a little too wrapped up in her imagination about the bloody, awful poetry of it all. maybe Siffrin tells a joke that's a little too dark and gory for anyone else, borderline or full-on Concerning, but she latches onto it without thinking about the Implications and plays along with increasing gruesomeness because FINALLYYYYY someone will play with her in the Horror Space (like Isabeau does in the romance space!!) and then. OOPS. the implications!!!! and she has to recalibrate out of Fun With Fiction mode into Oh No, My Friend Underwent A Horrifying Ordeal mode.

but being able to joke about things, even the awful things, is...kind of comforting, to Siffrin. makes them feel less like they're being babied and pitied and more like what happened was something...normal, almost? something that doesn't have to feel like the end of the world all over again every time it's mentioned, at least. so he tries to reassure her, and Odile and Isabeau have to go “actually can you PLEASE not joke about dying horribly it’s freaking us out and also might not be the Best for you? mentally???”

maybe Mirabelle will get a little Too Into trying to weave meaning and symbolism into the scant details that Siffrin gradually reveals, like she’s trying to finish the orange poem all over again, or eagerly meddling with the romantic reunion of the two actual people in the House with undelivered bonding earrings, writing their story for them without their input.

it’s easier to justify the tragedy of it all when it has a purpose, isn’t it? finding the beauty in the darkness, the love powerful enough to end the world. romanticizing the horrors until her friend can talk about them without shutting down.

and she feels guilty about hearing something and immediately thinking “ohhhhhhh this is JUST like Blorbo From My Novels,” because she should treat Siffrin’s situation with the gravity and care he deserves!! they’re a real person, not a character who exists for entertainment, to represent the ~themes~ of some story.

but if she admits as much…maybe Siffrin is safe to admit that he had started seeing the rest of them as actors, endlessly reciting their lines. maybe that’s just how people process things sometimes, grasping for metaphors when unfiltered reality gets to be too much. maybe it’s okay to talk about that part of it all, too.

[bixels]

tarpit site.

[pinep-ne]

If one more person misconstrues Arthur's journal entry about how he should have married Abigail as genuine romantic attraction I will actually lose it. OBVIOUSLY IT WAS TO SUPPORT HER AND JACK AND FILL THE ROLE JOHN RAN FROM!!! Marriage for the sake of convenience and support is nothing new folks. It was not lust nor love. I personally don't even think Arthur had anything with Abigail at any point. They were just two troubled souls that had leant on each other in a desperate situation. Y'all are stirring a hollow pot talking about how John would've felt reading that entry. He probably didn't even give a damn because he knew well Arthur's insistence on giving Abby and her boy at least some semblance of stability.

​

[stump-not-found]

hrgh rambled on vc about theraprism bill for hours and i woulda kept doing it . will tuck it safely under the read more

institutes are banal in their cruelty . agency is a complicated subject . bill is a cornered rat who's always been a cornered rat . what does he look like in a scenario where he's back at square one ?

i think he'd lock tf in honestly . tbob wasn't a bad attempt . like the book was a mess of him oversharing, but he managed to get something out the door that wasn't meant to . high security facility for tyrants and he still slipped something thru the cracks -- that's interesting ! i wanna play in that space which takes into account bill cipher is competent and more than willing to rip his fate out of the jaws of whatever sick punchline the universe is setting up for him

i think bill cipher can have his moments of patheticness . he's fun to put in the blender for a lil bit i also enjoy a bill cipher jamba juice from time to time

i just also think he got where he was in life for a reason . he's charismatic . he's funny . people genuinely like him, a natural born cult leader . he's extremely smart, and knowledgeable . he's willing to do a lotta shit most people wouldn't which already puts him ahead of the game

i think the thing that's the most fun about bill being in the theraprism is when you acknowledge he's a person . he's been put in a place where he no longer has any agency . his entire life has been chasing any scrap of agency he can get, and never feeling like he's got it . i love that thread, because this wouldn't be anything new for him -- bill's never had agency as far as he's concerned . always clawing his way for the right to exist

he's a cornered rat, he's always been a cornered rat, and he's gotten pretty god damn good at clawing his way back to the top . i think it's fun being able to explore what that looks like, how that power struggle would function in a place where he is pretty well and truly powerless

then if you throw ford into the mix, now he's got a wedge . and it's fun playing with bill trying to reconcile the ways he wants to use ford as leverage, with the reality that ford is his weakness . that doesn't change just because bill beefed it big time . the fact he won't acknowledge that just about dooms him to it, and that's awesome . i love cycles man. keep pretending that love did not undo you in a mind-bogglingly brief amount of time, i'm clapping and cheering about it yippeeeeee

ohhh it's just so fun . take my man and have him lock tf in . i wanna see him clawing at those walls and being a genuine threat to the system, while coming to terms with the fact that reincarnation is just about inevitable

it's such a weird fucking situation . you can talk so much about personhood, and agency, and how he took those things from others, but like . dude you still deserve to be a person . you still deserve to be treated well . so did all the people you hurt . theraprism presents such a good pressure chamber to have a narrative exploring how someone like bill reconciles those facts, if ever

rooting for you man . i think your success is more narratively interesting than failure

oh goddd and don't get me started on the meta implications of reincarnation as a narrative representation of how so frequently "character redemption" equals the death of the original character, replacing them with someone completely different, usually "good" and "domestic" hhhhhhh

turn him into a moth . turn him into a human . at the end of the day his personality has been so twisted and warped it's not even the same person anyways

my tuoyyyyys

[too-many-rooks]

Generally I try to not be bothered by minor historical inaccuracies in KCD fic bc like, who cares! But one that has really stuck out a few times is the hard truth that; Henry of Skalitz has never and will never eat a potato.

It’s a tragedy, I know. This man would love potatoes. But he doesn’t even know they exist 😢

[bloodsbane]

a criticism ive seen leveled at zenshu multiple times since finishing the show and reading others' comments about it is the claim that it doesn't do much beyond making references to old media, as if the context in which those references are made doesn't matter at all. and im not here to argue that the anime is secretly a masterpiece or anything, but like, i just saw a post saying it was essentially doing the same thing marvel movies do?? and i simply cannot think of a more reductive view of what the show is trying to convey!

the ENTIRE point of zenshu's themes is about the power of media we engage with. it is about how falling in love with a piece of art can literally change your entire life.

i hate to make arguments that sound like "well you just don't get it because of xyz", but based on what i've seen, i really do feel like a lot of what zenshu is actually trying to say is getting a bit lost on its more general audience; if you're an artist, or anyone who was inspired to create something because you discovered art that was very meaningful to you, the way zenshu chooses to engage with its own influences makes perfect sense.

it's not just "and for this episode, we will reference THIS cool thing that people know and like!" it's "the character is drawing something referential because art and animation are her life, and these are the things that came before her, which she studied and draws inspiration from." it's meant to be a bit cheeky and referential, yes, but it's not JUST "hey remember This Thing?" it's paying homage to real great works of art that inspired the REAL people making the show - the ART - that you're literally in the process of viewing! it's artists celebrating the art that made them fall in love with creating things and become artists themselves

[madbard]

Thinking about how the Stan twins were both taught from a young age that life is a matter of transactions. How they were valued only for the money they could bring their family, and how this shaped their lives in such different ways.

Ford was the intelligent one, and this made him valuable. He knew what he had to offer. He knew he was important. (He had to be. Experience had shown him that love was conditional. He had to earn it. He had to be enough.) When Bill Cipher approached him, he confirmed everything Ford wanted so desperately to believe about himself. Imagine that sense of excitement, of accomplishment, of pride and power and relief. Imagine having that final, unshakeable source of external validation - that this being that knew everything and could have chosen anyone, chose you. Imagine knowing exactly what you could do to please this being and, with the understanding that love is conditional, knowing that you could fulfill the requirements for that love. Imagine knowing exactly how to ensure you would be loved, not just by that being but by the family you uplifted and the future you created. All you had to do was satisfy your own curiosity… all you had to do was build a portal. Is it any wonder that Ford fell for Bill’s tricks?

Then we have Stan, the failure. If love was transactional, he could never pay the fee. He knew people only helped you if you had something to offer. And he had nothing to offer, so why would anyone ever help him? Why would anyone care? Of course he didn’t fall for Bill. He couldn’t. When Bill promised gifts and power and happiness, how could Stan believe a word he said? In a world without altruism, such promises could never be trusted. There was always a price to be paid - and Stan had never been able to pay it.

And so the end of the world was triggered and then averted, all because one brother thought he could earn the world’s love, while the other knew he would never earn anything good.

A+ parenting, Filbrick. Truly.

[zylphiacrowley]

Love.

<previous - next>

[bunnieswithknives]

Can we possibly get your version of osma? I'd be interested to see what you did with her

Here you go!! I was putting this off a bit cause, I'll be honest, the way the reveal/transition scene was handled was actually kinda upsetting for me.

I did read on her Wiki though that she's apparently a fairy which is awesome as hell. I haven't gotten to that part in the books yet but I'm glad to have something to chew on in my time of need.

[shelter-wood]

golden retriever and black cat but the golden has killed WAY more people than the cat

[vanilla-bean-buttercream]

"Allies should be okay with hearing hard truths that we have been suffering through for years, because if a child has to experience it, they as an adult can take the time to understand it with their adult brain and their adult emotions, and if they cannot handle that, I shouldn't have to be okay with handling their feelings gently."

and

"Sometimes we go too hard on allies because they're the only person who benefits from the problem who will listen to us, and the anger that we have carried from being wronged for years should not be put solely put on the shoulders of people trying to help us, and they should not have to be okay with being mistreated with the same hatred that people have aimed at us."

Can and should coexist actually.

[hanzajesthanza]

one thing about cahir is that he does not run away from shit. even when he really really should. he is brave and noble to the point of idiocy. isengrim was like ok i am taking you back to nilfgaard to probably be executed for treason and cahir was like “ok” and didn’t even fight back and let them tie him up and put him in a box because he knew he fucked up again and that was the consequence. i’m not calling him a bootlicker because he literally rebels against mentioned evil empire and fights them on the battlefield, but there is something funny about him entirely accepting evil and unfair authority even when it means his demise. he loses the deal he’s made with emhyr like “ok. you can break me on the wheel now. because i failed.” it wouldn’t be honorable to chicken out of his fate, so he won’t run. because he doesn’t want to. it’s all about honor with this guy. i mean regis barely asks milva who is this man, and cahir interjects to straight up tells regis his entire full name. even though that’s sensitive information and he is literally on the imperial wanted list at the moment. like no one fucking asked dude. cahir is literally the kind of guy to respond to a lukewarm online comment with his full name and address (which btw is in vicovaro). because he wears his honor and his name like a badge. he could have stfu as geralt accused and berated him, but instead he defends his honor by fistfighting a witcher (an injured and disabled witcher, but still a witcher who he has witnessed fight and kill coldly and calmly with superhuman agility and speed). and finally, we all know how he met bonhart. like no fuck you it’s my destiny to die by your blade. cahir was just comfortable with speedrunning death. i love how fascinating he is as this deconstruction of chivalry and knightly masculinity.

because sapkowski also tangles with this idea of “the knight” in the hussite trilogy and he also talks about it in historia i fantastyka and świat króla artura (a little bit) about how historical knights were essentially bandits sanctioned by law, and the romance and chivalry was a literary invention, and cahir gets to do both, because he’s just combining these elements of the modern, real world and fairytale. but unlike everyone else, who goes from fairytale to real—although cahir is set up as the black knight and this Evil Guy Hunting Innocent Princess, which is very fairytale—cahir goes from real to fairytale, because the invasion of cintra is so very real, and cahir’s journey is to leave behind this reality of violent knighthood, to become a kind of virtuous literary knight instead.

because i love how his persistance and determination in his pursuit of ciri, which is initially set up as evil and villainous, becomes part of his honor. because it’s his persistance to follow her down as he was tasked with as the black knight, which transforms into the noble pursuit of her as in a rescue as a truely knightly endeavor. which is just as powerful and insane as the darksided version of it. geralt tells him to fuck off multiple times and he even gets jumped and he still pursues geralt’s company because the only thing that matters is to find ciri. and i feel like he had even more persistence when seeking her for good, rather than when he was working for evil. maybe because this time it was personal and not a punchclock motivation. and that noble calling to find ciri held out even when geralt’s fatherly devotion lost hope. in tower of the swallow, he wouldn’t believe in her death even when he sensed it as much as geralt did. because that’s the same overconfident youth we saw in blood of elves, smirking when emhyr discussed this second chance with him. like no i don’t care what anyone says, even my own premonitions or the emperor i serve. we are gonna find this fucking girl—

like just really a masterclass in how to take a character from villain to hero, keeping his same motivations and obsessions and self-image, and at the same time make it relevant thematically with the whole story, setting, and historical and literary connections that have already been established.

[drain-purge-purify]

Situation preceding the fallen design or something, started out as a doodle but refined it a little bit ✨️I'll take any excuse to draw her all splayed out and pretty

[jichanxo]

Ah, it's the living world! The earthly world!! Long live my flesh!!

[mercymornsimpathizer]

some random thoughts on that literacy study going around, since the op has turned off rbs

one of the things that is hardest for me to wrap my mind around is that literacy and linguistic fluency are different skills. its one of those things that is obvious when you point it out -- i mean, language predates writing! there are languages that have no writing system! --but that a person might not ever consider because we are (implicitly?) taught that written language is the purest or most essential form of language. but there are people who are profoundly illiterate (in the sense that they might not even know the alphabet/writing system of their language) who nonetheless can and do speak fluently, follow conversations, enjoy and understand music/movies/etc.; in fact that is the case for the vast majority of people who are illiterate or have low literacy. it is the written word, not the word itself, that they struggle with, right?

and then you have these students in the study who in a literal sense are literate. it isn't the problem you see with low literacy adults, or with children who are learning to read, where they do not recognize or know how to pronounce a word, maybe they parse a word incorrectly or substitute it with a word they do know. it doesn't seem to me that the literal act of reading is what these students couldn't do; if their task was to produce an audiobook of bleak house they would do a passable job. rather it was making meaning of what they read that they struggled with. its the reverse of what we would expect of a low literacy reader, who has no problem in general with what words mean, who can follow and connect meaning over a discourse, who understands and might even enjoy figurative, poetic, or idiomatic phrases, who may have a large vocabulary, but cannot connect those things to written symbols. presumably (?????) the readers in the study also don't in general struggle with those things, when it comes to spoken language.

so where, exactly, is the problem? it isn't that the language itself is incomprehensible to them, and it isn't that they cannot (in the literal sense) read and write. naively it seems to me like those are the only two points where a person could fail. so what is it??? i guess it might really be the vocabulary that is the issue, in the same way that i could, for example, passably read aloud a piece of german language text without understanding it -- because its written in an alphabet I use, and I know the rules of german pronunciation, even though i don't speak german (i.e. i dont know what german words mean). or the same way that someone could sing in a language they dont understand by memorizing them sound by sound. that seems a little facile to me, especially since the words in bleak house are not really that obscure or unusual.

but like what else could it be. just that they don't read very much, and when they do read they don't "translate" it into their own words line by line? is it an issue of attention, or interest? do they assume (as the op posits) that they don't expect it to make sense to them, so they don't try to make sense of it? or its too embarrassing to admit to the facilitator that they don't get or are having a hard time? really and truly difficult for me to understand