#with the whole cycle of violence thing and ‘moral complexity’

[ghostdrinkssoup]

arcane makes me feel so insane because tell me why they had vi (a character who’s introduced as a potential revolutionary) convince jayce to go down to the undercity with COPS (who killed her parents btw) to lead a violent resistance against her own people rather than the oppressors upstairs 😭

[inphront]

y’know i’m writing this fic and it’s making me think that maybe we don’t recognize enough as a fandom that a lot of harrow’s guilt and shame, which make her light years more sympathetic as a character, are a.) not actually that moral, b.) directly caused by the ninth, and c.) probably shared with her parents, the only characters in the whole series that i’ve never seen a single post trying to humanize/analyze as complex. like. harrow hates herself for what her parents did and honestly? the most likely reason for this is just that kids subconsciously recognize themselves as extensions of their parents, and *her parents probably hated themselves for what they did.* regularly explaining your crimes against humanity to your five-year-old but only being willing to discuss it in the terms of it being a horrible sin and having to take a ritual cleansing bath every single time is the action of a very guilty person. i have to imagine that those saltwater baths probably included some really intense self-flagellation on the part of harrow’s parents that she internalized. i’d venture so far as to say that their suicides were motivated by guilt over the massacre just as much as by shame over the opening of the tomb.

harrow’s sense of constant guilt is so often seen as proof of her having overcome the imperial morality pushed by the houses, and that makes sense given the fact that she *has* taken a viewpoint by the end of the series that opposes imperial morality, but also, guilt is like the main export of the ninth house. harrow’s relationship to it, even once it stops being something she projects onto gideon or otherwise externalizes, is fundamentally ninth and ties her to what she herself acknowledges as “the worst flaws of her house.” ultimately it is something she inherited just as much as the 200, which to me provokes a lot of questions about how her parents actually coped with the consequences of their own fucked-up actions. gideon experienced that coping as just straight cruelty, but we know that harrow got a much more complex window into their feelings and behaviors, and my guess is those behaviors bore distinct resemblance to hers.

i have to wonder what sorts of systemic pressures were falling on them and their house that led to them killing off a whole generation, and what sort of transformations they underwent. how *do* you live with yourself knowing that the blood of so many innocent people, people you were responsible for *protecting,* is on your hands? how could you possibly raise a well-adjusted child when she’s basically a mirror into an atrocity you could’ve hardly fathomed up till the day you committed it? do you think they tried to? i think they probably tried to, but ultimately being a good parent doesn’t change being a mass murderer, and it’s impossible to pull off at all when the mass murder is so directly tied to your hopes for your child. the ninth’s entire purpose within the empire is to carry the weight and memory of one of the most horrible things john ever did, to *inherit the mass death and necromantic subjugation of the earth.* in this capacity, harrow’s parents are *victims* of the empire and its doctrine around death who proceeded to perpetuate both the mass death and necromantic subjugation AND the task of bearing the burden of shame onto their next generation. i don’t really know where i’m going with this aside from “the ninth’s cycle of violence is based in shame and is an extension of john’s disbelief in forgiveness, which means harrow can’t break it without forgiving something unforgivable; it’ll be interesting to see how she manages such a difficult task,” and “i think we oughtta talk about the politics of guilt as it applies to the entire reverend family dynamic”

[simblorbo-bracket]

Round 4 - Simblr's Saddest, Wettest Meow Meow - Mainline

Saxen (@herecirmsims) VS. Thrum (@ssspringroll)

(polls are presented left -> right unless stated otherwise)

Who's sadder? Who's wetter? Read on for more information, and vote with your heart!

What is a ‘Meow Meow’?

(taken from tumblr user @/torturelabyrinth) “The thing about a true poor little meow meow is they have to be 1) downtrodden 2) morally questionable at best 3) deeply and pathetically miserable”

Saxen

Things Sax does extremely well: fainting and bleeding (separately), fainting and bleeding (combination), rotting in bed, crying or being completely stoic (no in between), causing more problems while trying to fix his previous problems, omitting certain truths (aka lying).

Now, I don't know if he really counts as an SWMM because he's not a classic villain... but in his pursuit of Doing The Right Thing he has made some awful choices. Good intentions, poor outcomes.

I present the evidence beneath the cut:

Some of his crimes:

In an attempt to save his sister, he left his post and facilitated the escape of a world-devouring entity which he was supposed to help contain.

After his sister died he made another attempt to save her, via necromancy, and instead doomed her to an endless cycle of death and rebirth. Until recently, none of her reincarnations were healthy enough to survive infancy.

He befriended the parents of this latest incarnation without filling them in on the backstory, or his motives. After they were killed by his enemy, he took the baby and kept her hidden for 11 years (did she have grandparents, uncles, aunts? Yes, probably. He claims they couldn't have cared for her like he did and technicallyyyy he's right, since her survival required magic, but...)

He broke the arm of one of his 'adopted' adult kids (he has an enchanted cottage which has been a refuge for a lot of people) when said adult tried to prevent him from killing someone else. Yes, technically he did only push Thom and didn't intend for Thom to hit the wall so hard, but...

Long story short but his home world didn't end, it was just knocked out of its timeline for a while. Unfortunately, due to his actions on the day the Grim escaped (attacking portal guards and forcing his way through the rift, just as an unrelated-to-him group stormed the castle), he was a) assumed dead and b) immediately arrested on his return for treason and attempted regicide.

He's a constant menace and cause of stress to his man, the kindest and sweetest soul to ever live. He doesn't mean to be, it's just that his attempts to keep Fen safe often seem to involve risking himself in increasingly creative and fatal ways.

Why should you vote for Sax? Well, I think his endless complex trauma and the fact that almost all his misfortunes happened because he was trying to fix things/help people makes him pretty damn tragic and definitely very damp. He could do with a win. Plus... look at him. 🥲

Thrum

What makes Thrum a sad, wet little meow meow? His own fucked up, twisted little romance life.

Try to keep up.

Thrum, you see, is incredibly loyal. So loyal, and so, so jealous.

Another thing about Thrum, is that he's polyamorous. He really prefers having more than one partner. His partner, Wither, is not into the whole poly thing. But, for Thrum's sake, he agrees.

Enter Ke'a.

Thrum is the one that notices Ke'a at a bar one night, and instantly has a crush. Has to get him in this newly-opened relationship.

Ke'a is also not too keen on the polyamory, but agrees to give it a try.

He hits it off with Wither almost right away, which is a relief because you'd think that the two dudes in this polycule who aren't into the idea of a polycule might fight over the guy they mutually like.

This is not the case.

Thrum, boiling with white hot incandescent rage and jealousy at the mere thought of either of his partners talking to someone else leads him to violence.

Drinking, to cope with the rage

His outbursts are almost constant, he can't exist in the same room as his partners without further driving a wedge between himself and them. And that's not the end of it, all of Thrum's hot-and-cold back-and-forth feelings about this polycule he built have driven Wither and Ke'a even closer to each other.

They go on dates behind his back, bonding, forming a closer relationship with each other than either of them had ever built with Thrum.

Thrum was always doomed to fail. To push himself out of his own relationship. But can you blame him for craving love? All of the love? Forever??

Thrum, Wither, and Ke'a are all original creations. While Thrum and Ke'a were literally made for each other, Ke'a entered the situation organically, and that's when it all started crashing and burning to the ground.

The throuple that flew too close to the sun 💔

[paingoes]

(long Paris apologia paragraph ahead sorry)

I love both Delta and Paris, and while Delta is infinitely more likable and I have more in common with Delta re: autism and child abuse, I honestly find Paris to be a more compelling character? (Part of this is because I'm also an alcoholic with complex trauma and I so very rarely see the worst parts of my trauma being represented in a sympathetic light.) I definitely get why people don't like him. he's a violent shithead, a menace to society and himself, not to mention he has the emotional intelligence of a rock.

You mentioned this in a previous post but I think you did a really good job with showing that a lot of Paris' worst qualities (his violent mood swings, his sense of entitlement, his power tripping abusive behavior etc) comes from a place of his own patheticness and refusal to change (especially the times when he breaks down after getting too drunk) and I think that's what allows me to sympathize with and like him more then anything. His childishness in his most monstrous and vulnerable moments really drives home that he's not really suited to the role of all powerful monarch he was raised to be, and who's abuse and status in the empire caused him both to grow up way too fast, while at the same time never allowing him to develop into a healthy adult and that he's in many ways, a kid in a grown person's body who sees himself as doomed to repeat the cycles of his childhood trauma that created him unless he chooses otherwise. (A horrifying and daunting task for someone like him)

Like the scene where he breaks Delta's arm and almost drowns him? It's scary as hell but what stands out to me it despite the horrible violence and long term consequences of his actions, is just how petty and childish his motivations for doing so is (which does not make them any less harmful). he's acting this way because he feels slighted and abandoned by Lorelai. You hurt me I hurt you. This gives me a lot of leeway into both sympathizing with him as someone with similar struggles while also reminding me that he's not the way he is because he's powerful, like he wants you to believe, but a very weak and jaded person who wants to feel powerful and is given the systemic means to. Which doesn't make him less dangerous.

Sorry for the long ask, I'm just very much enjoying your story, especially Paris's "being humbled by life" arc and I'm super excited about what will be in store for both him and Delta next ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

oh my godddddd this was such an amazing thing to wake up to. i kind dont even wanna post it i just want to hold onto it forever. this is so sweet.

i dont know if i can respond to all of this right now and i might talk more about the different points you brought up later. but generally i am so pleased with this analysis and im pleased you have gotten this much out of it? im gonna say more under the cut

pretty heavy warnings for child abuse. nothing explicit just discussion of institutional child abuse/complex trauma and how it affects people psychologically.

like i said i could talk about them basically forever but re: childishness and being pathetic. YEAH i mean i think it is very obvious that paris’s growth has been stunted as a result of abuse + neglect. in fact i think that growing up in empire alone is inherently stunting because it is a system very much designed to kill empathy and to breed hunger and greed in people. its a problem with the whole society, cruelty and selfishness are incentivized over developing more complex moral structures and even over developing your own identity.

[ people like lorelai are very much an outlier within Empire, but i think its clear that she is….also pretty immature? she has a lot of love and a desire to do good, which kind of makes up for it, but she is childish in the sense that her parents sheltered her and her own ideas about revolution and utopia are very very idealized. i think this delusional optimism is a good thing for paris tbh and it kinda balances out his own cynicism. but lorelai will need to grow up at some point too. its just her reckoning is allowed to be softer. ]

but paris’s case was particularly bad for a few reasons.

the most obvious is that he was prince and naturally the expectations placed on him were a lot greater and the consequences for not meeting them were a lot harsher.

paris was born with pretty severe ADHD and mood regulation issues and his symptoms only worsened the more that he was punished for them

paris at his core is a genuinely sensitive and intelligent person that understands right from wrong

and i think this alone provides a lot of context for how he is now but it also makes it easier to understand why his childhood was basically torture for him. like yeah exposure to complex trauma will kind of naturally stunt your growth at certain points but you also get the sense that paris’s growth was like. deliberately stunted or that the handicap was self-inflicted. paris acts dumber than he is. its how he makes peace with it. its cool to be a callous idiot because if you have to be a self aware and moral person in this environment you will immediately get one-shotted by guilt.

and for what it’s worth i think delta’s growth was also — obviously — stunted. but in a different way shaped by their respective roles.

it’s legitimately really gross for me to describe it this way but it does feel like one of the goals with delta’s conditioning was to make a forever-child. someone who will do what you say and remain perfectly ignorant and docile and obedient. he can be used but is basically incapable of putting up a fight. martino and simon both speak to delta like he’s a child and that infantilization is to keep him pliant and similarly trapped in that same sense of helplessness he felt when he was little :(

i think delta is very low empathy naturally and actually doesnt have an innate moral compass which is what made him such a perfect candidate for the job. but it also means he is super susceptible to getting someone else’s morals imposed onto him as long as he finds them logical and coherent. his ability to morally reason and his way of interacting with people is obviously very underdeveloped but its more immediately obvious why.

ive said before that i think delta is more emotionally mature than paris but i think maybe this paints an incorrect view of things? i mean. delta is not holding his tongue and regulating his own emotions because he thinks its a mature thing to do. hes doing it because he knows not to speak without permission and that if he ever had an outburst the way paris did, he would be beaten within an inch of his life. so i feel like maybe its wrong to attribute this as one of his virtues. (without totally discounting the fact that delta is very sweet and doing his best.) delta would very much struggle with like. setting boundaries, standing up for himself in any way, communicating his feelings. you can describe paris as childish but i think delta is childlike. in that he’s also suffering the consequences of abuse but his specific conditioning has made him more fawny in a way that reads as sympathetic and virtuous.

basically yeah my point was. they were both stunted at some critical point in their development and are both dealing with the consequences of that. paris was a victim but he was simultaneously groomed to be a perpetrator, versus delta who is mostly victim.

anyway thanks so much wow im gonna print this whole ask out ❤️‍���❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

[its-the-sa]

Different anon. God just boiling down the slugcats to 'animals' angers me in a way I didn't think I could be angry. Yes, they are animals, but by all means they are cognitive and understand complex emotions, communicate with a supposedly complex language, are able to be taught to do things. Why else would the iterators use them as messengers constantly? It's not like they're messenger pigeons where it's just going from point A to point B, they understand exact instructions. If this was just some random animal, making groans and grunts, they wouldn't be able to understand what Five Pebbles even meant when he was explaining how to ascend. Even with the mark, could you imagine if he told a lizard this? Artificer, arguably, is a prime example of this. Just an animal would get over their fallen children, sure they'd grieve but in the end they'd just make more. Arti not only is so enraged by their death, that she is physically incapable of ascension, but also swears vengeance upon a whole other species. This isn't just some animal who lost her children, this is a mother who is enraged at her children's murder. Sure, they aren't on the same level as humans are. Like obviously. But I'd argue it makes sense that a scavenger and a slugcat could fall down the path of enemies to lovers. Especially when you consider the fact that death isn't permanent in Rain World's universe. That would definitely change one's perspective on it. I dunno if I make sense, I'm juggling like three things at once, but I had to say what I needed to say. Wording bad, slugcat smort.

tbh it took me a minute to figure out what this was even referring to, because honestly I don't think that anon meant to use the word 'animal' to dehumanize arti in the first place. it sounded to me like they were just using it as a non-human equivalent for 'person', like "why would anyone fall for a person who committed hate crimes against them?" which is a valid question. it never even occurred to me that they could have meant it in the sense of calling her an inferior creature.

that said... you ARE 100% right and you should say it, lmao.

I very nearly got into this exact argument once, bc i saw some comments from a guy scoffing at the idea of arti showing mercy to baby scavs. because by his logic, 'she is just an animal, so she isn't bound by human morality. in the wild, animals kill any young that don't belong to them without hesitation'. and it just pissed me off so much, because not only was it such an edgy "mercy is for the WEAK!" alpha-male bullshit take, it was also just factually wrong. many animals can and do adopt the young of other animals, even other species, especially when they've just lost their own. and like you said, they can grieve, but then they move on. they keep surviving, and making more babies. they don't dwell on injustice, or let rage consume them to the point that it becomes a hindrance to their own survival. they don't go on single-minded revenge quests. they dont try to justify their own violence by demonizing entire species, and they dont end up plagued by guilt in their sleep. those are very, very human things.

and yeah, i see a lot of people theorize that it's the mark of communication that grants the slugcats higher intelligence, but I don't really buy that either. i think the mark just lets them understand the iterator's language. they must've already had the capacity to understand it, or else it wouldn't work at all. it'd be like trying to install windows on a calculator. also, even without the mark, slugcats are obviously shown to communicate with each other. they have their own culture, they tell stories and make art, and they're apparently able to understand karma and the nature of the cycle at least enough to be able to ascend. so like... any creature thats capable of spiritual enlightenment must at least be sapient, right??

it seems like in the absence of the ancients, both slugcats and scavs are beginning to move in to their niche in the ecosystem

[homestuckreplay]

Job Application: Timeline Manager

(page 1269-1283; figuring out the timeline)

OKAY. THIS IS GETTING CONFUSING. There is some figuring out of the timeline to do here before things get even messier, plus some new information on the Felt’s powers and some hints about the far past.

To be honest Slick is really smart with all this timeline stuff. I think he would be great as a Felt member whose ‘power’ is just understanding the interactions and nuances between all the other members’ powers and planning their operations around it. Most of them seem to be acting as rogue agents in individuals or pairs, without great communication, and Slick could whip them into the shape of a functional gang. Honestly not too dissimilar from how Jack Noir ‘oversee[s] various affairs of a DARK KINGDOM’ (p.955). It’s like he has this head for organization and management and SOMETIMES this overpowers his actual goals and morality. In this way I think someone could talk Jack Noir into being the beta kids’ band manager, something they definitely need post-Sburb if they are going to make it big in the post-apocalypse.

Slick’s businessman side is however balanced out by his Love Of Stabbing And Killing, which is often an equally big priority. He does show some uncertainty about timeline rules on page 1278, where he’s ‘not really sure if that's how it works’ but also doesn’t care because he’s about to break out the Big Knives. In this update we hear about Slick’s SABER RATTLE (p.1271), DOUBLE EDGED SWORD (p.1272), BAIT AND SWITCHBLADE (p.1277), and see the recurrence of OCCAM’S RAZOR, previously seen on page 329 when Dave was reading MSPA.

These are also puns, unsurprisingly for this intermission – sabers, swords, blades and razors are all sharp edged weapons, while ‘saber rattling’ is an overt and exaggerated threat of violence used to intimidate, and a double edged sword is something that has both positive and negative consequences. A bait and switch is where one outcome is set up and then replaced at the last minute, usually with a worse option, and Occam’s Razor is a philosophical rule saying that simpler theories should be privileged over more complex ones. This last one in particular fits well with Slick’s preference for fixing the timeline and getting things back on a more linear schedule – I think he’s in opposition to the author here.

So, as I understand it, this intermission has one main timeline (T1) where the bulk of pages 1154-1264 took place (in a roughly but not entirely linear fashion) right up until Slick pulls Crowbar’s pin from Die’s doll. At this point, Slick jumps to T2.

In T2, Crowbar is alive, and nothing from T1 happened. T2 is defined by a gunfight between the Felt and Midnight Crew, and spans pages 1265-1279, with a LOT of back and forth throughout time due to Sawbuck’s powers. Snowman has only been seen in T2, and Stitch dies only in T2. If we define the gunfight arbitrarily as ‘the present’, we also see the timeline’s recent past (p.1271), far past (p.1273), and near future (p.1277), but sadly never see the far future.

On page 1280, Slick returns to T1, at an uncertain point on the timeline. Sawbuck quickly gets attacked, jumping to a point on the timeline that precedes the whole intermission (but is part of its main continuity). By cycling back to this early point on the timeline, Slick explains how and why a bunch of clocks were already destroyed and covered in blood on page 1175.

We can also define T0 as the timeline featured on pages 1210-1211, from which Die jumps to T1, and T∞ as the timeline where Slick died before he could build this town in the first place (p.1215, 1236). Plus a whole bunch of timelines where various Eggses and Biscuitses come from.

I think that’s it. I think that’s the simplest possible way of understanding all this.

So, in the far past of both T1 and T2 (as well as T∞), we see the same pink and green wasteland, the planet before Slick built the town. I think there’s an interesting Slick-Snowman parallel here – jumping to a timeline where Slick is dead destroys the town (such that it was never built), while killing Snowman destroys the universe. Similar powers but on WILDLY different scales. And Slick is the Midnight Crew member Snowman directly speaks to (and stabs) on page 1267, so, what’s going on with those two? What’s their history from before Snowman went to join the Felt?

But. Maybe my absolute favorite moment in this intermission is the sight of the Straggler in the background on page 1273.

A SCURRILOUS STRAGGLER eyes impromptu desert skirmish. He dismisses them as a bunch of ill-mannered rogues warranting no further investigation. Although he gives a small nod of approval to the plain and serviceable HAT worn by one of the combatants which strikes him as an absolutely smashing display of good fashion sense. (p.1274)

This is the most explicit link yet between this wasteland and the Wayward Vagabond’s (p.248), with the similar wrappings and the ‘Years in the past…’ page title. It is a wilder post-apocalypse due to there being a fight in the desert, and one that sets up a time loop – Slick gets the idea to wear a smart hat from his past self, just like Jade getting into gardening and blue shirts by redirecting John’s package to her own past self (p.1136). Slick does not recognize his future self here, probably because he’s used to interacting with other near-identical chess pieces.

I still have no clue how some chess constructs escape Sburb, and how it’s decided which ones get out, but it’s fascinating to have it confirmed that 1. this phenomenon isn’t exclusive to Earth, and may be built into Sburb, and 2. these constructs go on living and develop personalities and agency that maps onto their initial programming, but also goes beyond it. And this accounts for the differences between Spades Slick (Felt planet) and Jack Noir (Earth), as Slick has had many years to move past that programming, and Jack is earlier in his journey, and has just committed his first act of rebellion. So perhaps it’s this moment of gaining a consciousness that goes beyond the computer programming that causes a NPC to want to leave Sburb, to realize that’s even an option. Which definitely reinforces by theory that Jack Noir will be the fourth character who appears ‘years in the future’ on Earth.

Finally, here’s a recap of the Felt’s powers, which we’ve learned most of since I was guessing them about a hundred pages ago.

Itchy – Can speed up time for himself and go very fast.

Doze – Can slow down time for himself and go very slow.

Trace – Can see people’s recent past via a trail of where they’ve been.

Clover – Uncertain, but he is knowledgeable, cooperative, and asks TIME RIDDLES (p.1252).

Fin – Can see people’s near future via a trail of where they will go.

Die – Has a small effigy with pins for each Felt and Midnight Crew member. Pins inside the effigy are dead in the current timeline.

Crowbar – Can ‘pry anything out of a time loop, stable or otherwise.’ (p.1252)

Snowman – ‘If you kill her you destroy the universe.’ (p.1268)

Stitch – Has large effigies for each Felt member (plus Lord English’s backup coat). Can use them to patch wounds and the fabric of spacetime itself.

Sawbuck – Jumps to a random point within the current timeline whenever his skin is punctured.

Matchsticks – Unknown, dead in T1/unseen in T2.

Eggs – Creates copies of himself whenever his egg timer goes off, destabilizing the timeline.

Biscuits – Hides in the oven until his timer goes off, successfully ‘traveling into the future’.

Quarters – Unknown, dead in T1/unseen in T2.

Cans – Unknown, but he is very large (p.353).

Lord English – Unknown, but he is ‘indestructible… killable only through a number of glitches and exploits in spacetime’ (p.1239)

[cuckoo-on-a-string]

The Moon's Lies

Summary: Kylo Ren x named!Reader. It was never going to be black or white, Light or Dark, friend or foe. Who wouldn't let the galaxy burn to keep their loved ones safe?

Warnings: 18+, Murder/"execution," graphic violence, unspoken threat of bodily harm, twisted morals, Kylo Ren being himself

Masterlist

Canon Divergence Notes: There is no Rey. Finn is the destined Jedi, and he leaves the scar on Ren’s face during the climactic fight on Starkiller Base. The only original canon kept after TFA is the destined Jedi (Finn) leaving to find Luke and Snoke pushing Kylo Ren to the breaking point, continuing the student-kills-the-master cycle. Summary: No Rey. Finn is training to be a Jedi. Kylo Ren takes the throne from Snoke.

This chapter is the only pre-TFA part of the story. Everything after that is in the AU as described.

A/N: Holy shit, I'm having so much fun with this. You all have no idea (but you will soon). Out here crafting whole-ass mythologies and cultures for this shit. Literally forgot to post this first chapter because I'm neck-deep in the next. Please, please, please do comment! I post for interactions with friends new and old. Otherwise I'd hoard all my embarrassing stories like the grouchy old dragon I really am.

1.

He needed to maul something.

His lightsaber practically vibrated on his belt, answering the pull of itching hands as Kylo Ren stormed into the planet-side depot. Civilians scattered from their orderly lines in front of the First Order’s regional bureaucratic office, startled like so many kaadus. The system had so little to offer, the Order couldn’t even justify a separate complex for the port authority and notary.

A shabby little base on a barren little world. If he could, he’d sink his saber to the planet’s core and kill it all in one, fell stroke.

What a waste of his time.

The rebel insurgent had nothing. They hunted him to the edge of the First Order’s territory only to discover a dead end whose handful of contacts met the heat of Kylo’s blade long ago. They’d missed something. He’d missed something. Instead of fresh leads into the Resistance’s plans, he would leave empty handed. This detour took weeks, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that their enemies were planning something. But in the end, the only thing the dead Rodian had been good at was hiding. Any trooper could’ve shot the scum and been done with it. No need for the Knights of Ren.

He looked like a fool.

Rage tipped over the edge of reason, flooding logic, and plans, and anything but the dark urge to destroy.

He marched through the door, well ahead of his knights. The stormtroopers were nearly as eager to avoid his wrath as the civilians, and he burst into an empty hall. The faintest conversation reached him, a hum of living Force further inside. He followed it. Down the hall. Around the corner. Gathering fuel to further spark his hate for this place and all the people in it as he approached.

A crisp, core world accent he had no doubt belonged to an officer carried farthest.

“I’m afraid it just won’t do. If you want clearance to leave for Gan Moradir, I’ll need those credits in my hand. Today.”

“You already have them.”

The second voice almost surprised Ren. He could barely feel the speaker’s signature, and he rested his hand on his saber, ready for a battle. No one unskilled in the Force could veil themselves like that.

From the sound of things, he had two valid targets to suffer for his humiliation. With new focus, he prepared to take the last corner, the heat in his blood ready to burn through the traitors and fools ahead.

Just out of sight, the officer tsked. “Not enough, I’m afraid.”

“Do you plan on demanding more every time we visit your system?”

“I could.”

“I’m afraid that will be very bad for trade.”

Ren saw the pair before they saw him. A First Order corporal with his hands clasped behind his back and a sneer on his face stood opposite a civilian girl, both oblivious to their approaching doom.

“Corporal.”

The man practically jumped out of his uniform, eyes bugging wide. The girl barely even flinched, following the officer’s panicked gaze with guarded curiosity. Ren would deal with her after he thinned the ranks. It was important to cut out rot before it spread, after all.

“Lord Ren!” The officer’s voice wavered, nearly breaking like a teenager’s as he took two steps away from the civilian and bowed to his superior. “My apologies. We’d heard your knights may be in the system, but we had no idea you’d actually –”

“What is the First Order’s standing on bribery?” He asked like he didn’t know simply so the criminal would recite his own conviction. Let him know how he’d failed. Let the fear string out his last moment.

The corporal’s mind couldn’t keep pace with his spiking adrenaline. He shifted, eyes darting for an escape, an excuse, as he tried to drag an explanation through his dry mouth.

“Well, I…”

Ren had no mercy. And no patience. His hand clenched over his blade’s hilt, and he imagined he could already feel the subtle vibration as it came to life to end another’s.

“Well?”

The corporal swallowed, and Ren watched the confidence roll away down the man’s throat.

“Soliciting or accepting bribes in any form, be it credits or goods, is a class three offense, sir.” He spoke clearly. Responding to a clear order with clear rules he would’ve learned by rote in training. He knew the consequences for disguising this theft behind the First Order’s banner, and now Ren would reveal a new part of the corporal. Blood. Bone. The messy things he wrapped out of sight beneath his skin.

Ren hummed. A mockery of consideration as he swayed nearer, forcing the smaller man to stare up at a painful angle. Decapitation was too neat for such a selfish little traitor. Maybe he’d sheer away half the man’s chest. Or leave him in a dozen pieces for his command to discover.

“I see.” He stalked forward another step, savoring the building dread like a cool wind beneath his mask. “And what is the punishment for class three offenses?”

The officer’s lingering hopes to put off his superior with a lie – Blame the girl, his mind screamed – finally crumbled. The dread Force-wielder had caught him. He knew enough to damn him. He’d been judged. He’d been sentenced. Only one step remained. Kylo Ren loomed, a Loth cat playing with vermin caught raiding the larder, and his uniform was an invitation to deal justice, not the shield the corporal once believed. He backpedaled, nearly foaming at the mouth as he spluttered a final plea for mercy.

“Lord Ren, please! I merely –!”

Red light and a crackling hum cut him off.

Ren speared the traitor through the belly, letting the fool totter backwards, wheezing for a breath that would never come. The corrupt officer groped over his exposed diaphragm as he tumbled to the floor, and his head met the polished floor with a crack as he continued pointlessly gasping.

It wouldn’t be a quick death.

Satisfied, Ren looked at the second actor in this little scene. She’d barely flinched when he struck down the corporal, but her attention remained fixed on the dying criminal. Ren waited for the inevitable wave of panic, ready to toy with a fresh target, but the life ending at her feet held her gaze. Something about her blunted his senses, and he struggled to pry into her mind beyond what she projected: caution and studied calm.

Maybe it was shock. Or maybe she needed reminding of her own mortality.

Ren cut off the corporal’s death rattle with a stroke of his saber, and as the head rolled across the hall, the girl finally looked up to meet his gaze. He glowered back through his visor, itching for her reaction.

She bowed. Maintaining the poise of a diplomat who hadn’t just witnessed a brutal execution, she dipped at the knees, dropping her eyes in polite deference before rising to meet him all over again. Still as a lake.

His lightsaber hissed, twisting in his grip. He pointed it under her chin, demanding she answer every question he hadn’t asked.

“You.” He didn’t bother with the show he’d put on for the corporal. Her careful placidity irritated him, and it felt like her very presence muted his senses when he hunted for her fear.

He looked again, noting the grey stone pendant and loops of beads she wore. A memory teased the edge of his lingering rage, dragging his focus away from his quest for bloodshed. He’d seen that material before. He recognized the numbing sensation in the Force from a failed project to build better restraints for Force sensitive prisoners. “What is that?”

Her fingers rose to the pendant, brushing over an unfamiliar pattern of engraved stars.

“It’s Selenubis, sir.” She paused, flicking her gaze over his mask like she might find a clue to his expression. When he didn’t answer, she pushed ahead. “A traditional protection charm from Lethe. If it’s offensive to the First Order I can come again with out it…?”

Behind his mask, he ground his teeth, clawing against the foggy wall so few of her thoughts penetrated. Selenubis proved useless to the First Order when it became clear the stone did as much to shield a prisoner from other Force users as it did to shackle the target.

She wanted to return without her shield? She wouldn’t leave with it. He’d hack it off her neck, and if he didn’t like what he found in her head, she wouldn’t leave with that, either.

His flickering saber reflected in her eyes as he angled it up, forcing her to expose her throat as red lightning reflected in bottomless reservoirs of control. He didn’t believe for a second she was ignorant of the power in her little trinkets and beads.

Just as he prepared to cleave through her jewelry – and likely leave a deep burn to remember him by – one of his knights burst into the hall.

“Commander. The Supreme Leader requests your presence. Immediately, sir.”

His foiled rage rebounded, arcing like a current through his bones and burning him with his own intent as he growled in frustration. The sound hissed through his modulator.

This would have to wait.

Deactivating his saber, he stepped back, pivoted on his heel, and marched back the way he came. He would have to relive his humiliation at his master’s feet, and there was no time to vent his frustrations.

He left no orders in his rush to answer his master’s summons. No one held the girl or even took special note of her name and business as he knelt before Snoke’s projected image, and by the time he returned to the hall, she was gone.

The documentation the dead corporal had been withholding, a pile on the floor by his headless corpse, had gone with her.

[schrodingers-water-wet]

This is how I’d write Dreamtale and does not reflect cannon. Dream and Nightmare belong to Joku.

One thing that's always bugged me about Dreamtale is the black and white morals of it. ‘Negative’ emotions are evil and ‘positive’ ones are good with very little room for complexity. Another is the themes of the story. It's muddy at best. Forgiveness could be a theme if you turn your head and squint but I'm hesitant to say forgiveness is a real theme because it hardly effects the story. It could be said that the theme is that, “hurt people hurt people” but that theme doesn't work in the cannon that when Nightmare finally starts hurting people he's not himself but instead is possessed. With the concept of possession it could be that the theme is identity but neither Dream nor Nightmare is ever shown to have any struggles within theirselves so that's not it either. I'm sure Dreamtale does have a clear theme I just can't find it.

So in my au of it I would like to give it one. It has so much potential in the context of the greater multiverse as it has two major players who intervene in other aus. I think an attempt to make this theme has already been made with Dreams motivations but as Dreams trauma rarely comes up in the story I'm hesitant to name it as such but: the theme should be the breaking of cycles. I'd also throw in a hint of guilt as an secondary theme. A lot of other aus are concerned with the idea of a cycle of trauma, a literal loop of death, or a character constantly suffering. So what if the point of Dream and Nightmare was the end of suffering?

Backstory: Dream and Nightmares backstory serves it's purpose but it doesn't serve mine. I would keep a lot of elements of it but I think it's important to change the meaning of it to make this theme of breaking cycles make sense. I'd also like to give the characters internal struggles that I feel they sorely lack in the original.

Dream: he shouldn't always be in the right. I do like the idea that he's absolutely sure of his moral soputitory but that should be a flaw not a fact. The main things I would change about Dream in the backstory is I'd make it so his naivity stems from the villagers. I think the villagers keeping him naive and moldable could be him having been groomed. I think in a cycle of trauma Dream needs some. Him being lied to, babied, and manipulated his whole early life would be a good start to giving him that trauma. His complete trust in the villagers will make it much more heartbreaking when they end up dead.

An interesting idea would be that the villagers completely shielded Dream from ‘bad’ things as if he was a child. Not inviting him to funerals, not telling him when people died, not letting him witness violence. Nightmare being the only one who treated Dream like an adult but also having to always be the bearer of bad news would already establish the starts of an emotional rift between the two of them. With Nightmare tired of having to baby Dream and Dream being tired of Nightmare telling him all about this awful stuff.

Dream being that naive would be partially willful on his part. He'd be a bit stubborn and turn a blind eye to Nightmares treatment. He wouldn't be fully aware of how awful Nightmare has it but he knows his friends are awful to his brother. He just ignores it for his own happiness, and for his friends. He's not evil or even bad but he's not perfect. It's also not fully his fault, he's only doing what he had been taught. After more time in the greater multiverse having learned more Dream would feel awfully guilty.

Nightmare: Nightmare could go in so many directions. He's brimming with potential that the possession arc squashed. So I'd throw that completely out. He'd still snap and kill all the villagers, but it would be him doing it. Everything after that would also still be him.

In Undertale Aus, especially the ‘Bad Sanses’ there's a underlying common aspect, that being that everyone who's hurting others is doing so as an necessary evil. It's a lot of ‘everyone I love is going to die anyway so I should be the one to do it' or ‘I literally have no choice but to either do this or die’. I think Nightmares snap should be like that. He put up with hundreds of years of abuse and never thinks he could escape (as in he physically couldn't escape) so when he snaps it's an abuse victim killing abusers. He's not doing it because he's a villain but because it's his only course of action. Or at least in his eyes it was. Dream ought to feel betrayed by that. Everyone he loves and had known has been killed by someone else who he loved. Who he thought cared about him enough not to literally murder everyone else.

If Nightmare feels guilty about what happened to the villagers it would only be because he feels guilty about doing that to Dream.

Nightmare probably isn't good with people and he lacks a lot of knowledge that may be considered common knowledge. His only source of information in the village would have been Dream who was being fed lies but at least Dream had an opportunity to develop people skills from constant interactions with the villagers. Nightmare would not have that luxury. So he's ill-informed and awkward. He also would massively struggle with self-worth. He's been told his whole life that his very existence is inherently immoral. I imagine that would mess him up mentally.

Nightmare terrorizing Aus isn't really something he would do if he wasn't possessed so he wouldn't. I do think there's room for him to get to help the ‘undesirables’ escape from their aus like he does in fannon. He could fill in the gaps that Core couldn’t fill. Taking in violent people who couldn't go to the Omega Timeline for the sake of others. He knows what it's like to be an undesirable in a bad situation and what that can do to you. He probably has more sympathy for those who's mental illness presents itself in uncomfortable ways than Dream does.

Also, Dream turning to stone should be much shorter. 500 years is too long for Nightmare to be out there alone, if he's left alone for 500 years he's gonna resolve all his issues before Dream even starts to resolve his own. Dream should only be stone for a decade or two, enough to make Nightmare more established in the Multiverse but not so much we run into the too much time issue. When Dream is freed he'd also be incredibly hurt, still like he lost everyone yesterday. Everything that was familiar for him had been destroyed, he should feel something about that. I think Dream helping people definitely works. I think him trying to help other people before helping himself is such a cool thing. I do think both Dream and Nightmare have to learn that ‘postive emotions’ aren't always good (joy from hurting others, excitement from awful events, peace at the cost of your brothers well-being) but more importantly they both need to learn that ‘negitive emotions’ aren't always bad (grieving someone who you loved, sadness as sympathy, righteous anger). Dream would learn that from trying to help people who didn't need to be helped, who were sad and needed to be sad.

Nightmare would have to learn it to find value in himself but idk how.

[bleue-flora]

https://www.tumblr.com/proudfreakmetarusonniku/756464056474435585/people-acting-like-canonically-cdream-and-ctommy?source=share

I’m so lost by that take

Umm… I don’t remember the ccs saying that… I once again ask for proof. Like guys if y’all be out here aggressively stating these takes can please cite your sources… like bruh. Just because you say it don’t make it true. Here’s what I know. In Daedalus Dream says this about Exile:

[17:45] SAM: “I mean… I don’t know. You told me that… You had Tommy trapped on that island with you.”

DREAM: “Yeah…?”

SAM: “Wasn’t that bad?”

DREAM: “I— what— what—? Me— After Tommy was exiled by Tubbo? That I— I spent time with him? And gave him food, like I’m literally doing to you right now? And talked to him? You know— tried to rehabilitate him from making the mistakes that he made over and over and over and over again?”

SAM: “Yeah— I guess… it’s not really that bad I guess. It’s…”

DREAM: “Like why was he exiled—? How is it my fault he was exiled?! He— he was— he was like— he was blowing up things and burning things and destroying things and causing tons of problems for no reason whatsoever.”

SAM: “Yeah, that’s true…”

DREAM: “And he was supposed to be well—behaved as like— what— like whatever he was for his country—I don’t know, he was in some position.”

SAM: “Yeah…“

DREAM: “And then Tubbo exiled him. And after he was exiled I took him to his exile spot and I just kept— kept an eye on him, I didn’t want him to be doing bad things. That’s not so bad.”

SAM: “Yeah… I guess it’s really not that bad. I guess it’s kind of… not bad at all in some ways.”

DREAM: “I mean I’d say— You know… I’d say, the things that— I said to Tommy and the things that I did to Tommy, I do— I do… think that they’re not… you know, morally… perfect. But in my mind it was— it was for his greater good, right? And the server, I mean he was destroying things, you know what I mean?”

Which is not talking about it as an ego trip. And based on that and what we saw in Exile, which I’ve already talked about to me looks oddly close to Philza’s teaching and parenting in general later, with making Tommy destroy items to teach Tommy not to put items above people. I think I’ll have to disagree with their take.

Firstly, if punching, hitting, or slashing or whatever at Tommy counts as child abuse than I’m pretty sure Everyone on the server is guilty and here’s the thing, are we really saying there a difference between abuse and child abuse in the first place? Why is that so important? Tommy could be the same age and Exile would still be messed up. Who cares if he’s 16, 17? In a world where anyone can run a country and lead a war, what does age matter? Couldn’t you also be impressionable and naive and just as vulnerable to manipulation as an 18, 19, 20 year old? Scientifically you ain’t grown up til you’re like 25, when you brain is finally fully developed. Sure in the real world, age matters but it matters because Tommy wouldn’t be able to do the things he does and he would have a legal guardian. In this situation to me it seems to be put at a higher importance. Isn’t abuse just abuse, or hurting someone just hurting someone?…

Plus, it’s not about equally bad. It’s not about deserve. You’re missing the freaking point if that’s how you’re viewing the story. It doesn’t matter about who deserves what and who’s wrong and right. They both hurt each other, they both abused eachother, they both tortured eachother, it’s not about who did worse and who was justified. That’s not how the world works. That mentality is how the cycle of revenge and violence and abuse continues, until there’s nothing left but ash. How about no ones in the right. How about it’s never justifiable. How about no one deserves it. How bout they’re both terrible people. How bout the Whole Server is full of terrible people…

To me if you are breaking the complex story do the dsmp down to exile and child abuse and oh poor Tommy, then you’ve missed the point of the story. And I’m pretty sure I can speak for everyone hand talking about it, no one is saying that anyone can be deserving of necessarily at fault of being hurt, I think we are more so looking at it from the context of Dream’s perspective and the context of the dsmp world rules.

And Tommy may not have deserved Exile, but he may be responsible for ending up banished. He’s not some innocent child, he never was, he has been. Yes, he is absolutely flawed, they are all flawed, but does dream not get the same reasoning of being flawed? Are they not all people, flawed and imperfect, doing things to the best of their ability, motivated with reasons and purpose. Are they not all wrong, but right from their own point of view…

[raayllum]

like it's just wild to me that in TDP we're well past "this character feels bad about a bad thing they did so they're actually Perfect / Intensely Moral" (hi viren stealing harrow's seal and making a deal with aaravos, hi claudia betraying/attacking the boys, hi harrow's entire magma titan and murdering thunder debacle, hi rayla lying to the boys, hi callum's temper and now dark magic use) and people will still use it as a catch all defense for their particular favourite cause they can't stand the idea of their fave being 1) sometimes or even often times genuinely, deeply wrong, 2) flawed, or 3) not secretly or actually cookie clutter squeaky clean.

like obviously not all these choices and motivations are made equal - some are definitely worse than others - but there are very, very few moral heavyweights actually in TDP (i'd argue ezran, for now, is one, even if he still of course makes mistakes, and rayla's whole thing is while sometimes misguided, she's 'too' compassionate/protective/moral to make a good assassin, although doesn't mean she's not morally complex, either, but like - she and ez both go along with the minimal violence/bloodshed plan every time, y'know?). like don't get me wrong, a character feeling poorly about 'bad' actions is definitely Better in a lot of ways than a character doing something 'bad' and having zero remorse or conflict over it, but it's not as though having conflict is enough for them to not do it again - and to not be challenged to not do it again. these are all Cycles for a reason, and can and should but won't necessarily be broken. and S5 spells this all out for us so clearly.

right or wrong, all these characters chose the realities - the paths, the sacrifices, the losses and regrets - they were more willing to live with than the alternative. and therefore, which one they chose does indicate something about their characters. and i think it's just reductive to pretend or try to engage otherwise with a watered down, less interesting version. i really do.

[anawkwardlady]

OK, a take that crossed my mind: can we discuss how Ryukishi loves his characters so much that he's ready to forgive even the worst of them? EVEN KINZO???

First, there is no debate that he writes with love.

Also, he writes about violence, from the point of view about both the perpetrator and the victim, and without judgement. Which is amazing! He shows how violence is devastating for the victim, but he also shows how the complex mindset of the people that are to commit such acts, related to isolation and trauma.

He shows that it's possible to break the generational cycle of violence, with communication (to de-isolate) and love.

And I love how violence is not shown as a moral failure, but as a product of past violence, and as prepetrator are not depicted as monsters but as humans.

But Kinzo, seriously? Do I need to explain what he inflicted on Kuwadorian Beatrice? And his children? And the lessons I should get from Chiru is "Battler looks like Kinzo, he should be proud of it" and "Ange should remember Kinzo as a kind grandfather". HE DID NOTHING TO DESERVE FORGIVENESS, EXCEPT SOBBING AT THE FEET OF THE MOST TRAUMATIZED CHARACTER OF THE SERIES.

And finally, my hot take: the only characters who are not forgiven are Teppei Hōjō and Rina Mamiya, because unlike Kinzo, Ryukishi does not love them.

I get the point but I think it's more complicated. it's not so much a "we're forgiving Kinzo" narrative and more a "a lot of characters are trying to cope and deal with the complex feelings they're dealing with" thing.

For exemple, I don't think Chiru's message is that Battler should be proud of being like Kinzo but a mix of trying to convey what Kinzo's and Kuwadorian Beatrice dynamic was like through BATTLER and chick Beato, Sayo's complex feelings towards Kinzo's and her circumstances of birth, Tohya understanding Sayo's feelings and coping with his own situation and what Battler represented to her and Battler wanting Ange to be happy. Battler's message in EP8 was not so much to remember Kinzo as someone's kind I think, but that everything Ange experienced was the worst of everyone and therefore her view was distorted and bringing a lot of pain to her. He wants her to also remember to cherish the good they had because he wants her to be happy. He is her brother so his view is biased in favor of protecting her.

All of this will make things more gray and blur the lines because it inherently will bring some sort of romanticism. I do think theres discussion to have on to which extent it does become enabling and so on but yeah, I think it's a also more nuanced than Ryukishi telling us that Kinzo was not that bad. It's tricky! I had the same complex thoughts about the whole Ange taking some "responsibility" on Eva's abuse thing. On one hand, it's her view and way to cope with it and theres not one acceptable way a victim should react and grow, on the other hand... Yeah I left meh about the message sometimes.

And for your last part : wasn't Teppei somehow "forgiven" by the narrative in GouSotsu? (i didn't watched it all so idk) also I have to admit I always was a bit annoyed that Rena's dad wasn't seen in that same light just because he wasn't overtly physically abusive despite being extremely abusive nonetheless but thats another subject. ANYWAY

[ballerinarina]

naruto is actually a very bad written story that wants to show us that war isn't good only by creating characters with very sad stories sticks in this cycle of violence.

and i don't say bad written because of any technical aspect, no. it's because it's a purely political story with shallow views of politics. centric ones in the middle of such a radical context of governmental genocides and children being the military force.

the main character bases one of his main will of lifes about being a political leader, a politician, but he — which has always been in some way an opposition to the government, really being the only one supporting the pain of victims by truly listening and validating then — doesn't really mature his point of view.

it's childish. they want us to believe that simply choosing a better anti-war leader will solve the problems of a fascist system when it won't ever. a system revolution will.

(because, yes, that's what konoha is: a state which has been founded above the exclusion of a people, pruning their social powers accusing and pressing to a boiling social situation to the point where they erase every living drop of their blood. that's fascism.)

but we all know that's not what we have in naruto. they created very well the extreme product of their own fascism: sasuke. a child so broke he ends up a violent revolutionary.

and don't tell me that sasuke is not a revolutionary: he is. he makes it very clear in the end valley that his goal became to completely modify how the hokage system works, sacrificing his own happiness so that the rotten way the system worked would change.

i'm not saying he had a brilliant plan or was totally right. again, he was a kid, a very messed one who went down bad paths of terrorism before. but again, this is the consequence of actions and if anyone has to be held accountable it is konoha. fascism has consequences like this.

but what i'm saying is: naruto, who was slightly more sane, who questioned his whole life about konoha and being a hokage, ends up not learning that the problem was the system. the feudal military system remains even after danzou's death and the cleanse of the conseul seniors, the tobirama's ones.

sasuke ends up being “excused”, but never received real excuses or change. he was destroyed to the point where he was so mentally bad and suicidal that he gave up his revolution, even if he always had strong morals.

what changes has konoha had? a statue of itachi? big thing. what has improved in sasuke's life? sasuke spent his adult life working for redemption for a village that destroyed everyone he loved, everything he had and everything he was. he lost his babybirl growing up because of this.

besides, when i watched that robin hood boruto arch i was even more disappointed. in a unfair system, a discussion about taking from richs to give to the poors begins. everything socially indicates it's the most moral thing to do in this unmoral situation, when we literally have this multimilionaire company of a bad guy in konoha. until suddenly they reveal the leaders of the robbers were wicked.

when we have a too complex political trama in the hands of a poorly political person, we end up with a childish (which is different than for children), too optimistic and right center fake-progressist work.

then, for no reason, all the morality created (and reforced by naruto's words, actions and positions in this conflict, as the hokage) stabilizes and becomes the morality “both sides are wrong!” as if socially they were equivalent situations. they are not: one arises as a result of the other, as a response to survive. peace isn't the answer!

i deeply love the naruto characters and i love how some of the lore is created. i could talk for hours about other points that i consider just as serious and adult as this one. and that's why i'm so sad. and i understand that it is a children's story, but that only makes it worse because it is poorly written: they don't know how to write such a complex lore for children, or they don't have the balls to write such a heavy and adult lore for young people and adults.

that's why i hate naruto. it really makes me sad.

naruto isn't about who's morally right or wrong, it's about who's your favourite child soldier perpetuating the cycle of violence

[radexpertturtle]

Finding a deep meaning in Denny Ja’s chosen work 35: Apart from the bomb, I called your name in silence

In the world of Indonesian literature, the name Denny Ja is familiar. The writer, also known as a political activist and culturalist, has given birth to many works that have received high appreciation. One of his works that should be traced his deep meaning is “Apart from the bomb, I called your name in silence”, which was chosen as Denny JA’s work in his 35th birthday commemoration. This article will explore various aspects in the work, reveal the strength of the message contained in it.    Pertamatama, the title of this work “Apart from the bomb, I called your name in silence” has given instructions about what will be discussed in the work. Bombs are a symbol of violence, destruction, and uncertainty. Denny JA through his work wants to invite the reader to break away from the cycle of violence and replace it with peace and silence. In that silence we can find important names, which may have been forgotten in the midst of world chaos.    One of the interesting things in this work is the use of beautiful and descriptive language. Denny JA is able to describe the atmosphere, feelings, and thoughts very detailed and clear. This makes the reader carried away in the storyline and feel the emotions that the author wants to convey. Each word and sentence is chosen carefully, so as to produce a strong picture and live in the mind of the reader.    In “Apart from the bomb, I call your name in silence”, Denny Ja also presents complex and diverse figures. Each character has a unique background and journey of life, which illustrates the diversity of humans and the complexity of life. Through their story, the author invites the reader to see the world with a different perspective, understand differences and accept diversity as wealth.    In addition, this work also contains a deep moral message. Denny Ja uses stories in his work to convey important values such as love, sacrifice, justice, and courage. Through this work, the author wants to motivate readers to think more deeply about the meaning of life and how we can contribute to building a better world.    In this work, Denny Ja also shows his expertise in combining various literary genres. He combines fictional, nonfiction, and poetry elements in a whole and structured work. This adds to the uniqueness and wealth of the work, as well as attracting readers from various backgrounds.    Overall, “Apart from the bomb, I call your name in silence” is an impressive work and has a deep meaning. Denny Ja succeeded in describing the reality of life in a beautiful and charming way. Through his work, he invites the reader to reflect, question, and look for meaning in every second of life.    In a world full of violence and chaos, works like this are very important to remind us of the importance of peace, justice, and humanity. Finding a deep meaning in the 35th Denny Ja’s work is a valuable experience and can change our perspective on the world.    In the conclusion, “Apart from the bomb, I call your name in silence” is an extraordinary work and deserves attention. Denny Ja has succeeded in creating a beautiful work, meaningful, and motivating readers to think more deeply about life and how we can contribute to creating a better world. Through the story of the story in this work, the author invites us to break away from the cycle of violence and replace it with peace and silence. This work is a strong reminder of the importance of humanitarian values and justice in a world that often loses direction. Denny Ja has gone through an extraordinary journey in his work, and “Apart from the bomb, I call your name in silence” is a concrete proof of the author’s expertise and mill. This work is a valuable gift for Indonesian literature and is an important note on Denny Ja’s journey as a writer.

Check in full: Finding a deep meaning in the 35th selected work of Denny JA: Apart from the bomb, I called your name in silence “”

[redrobin-detective]

I have read a thousand fluffy, happy Batfam fics and I read one thousand more but when the happy sanitized fanon is put away and I really think of the characters, I can never believe it.

The Bats love each other, I honestly, truly believe each and every one of those weird, repressed assholes would die to save one another. But the day to day is hard. They’re not just a family, they’re coworkers and soldiers and enemies. Bruce doesn’t do normal and shows his love through control, paranoia and shared violence and he taught that to his children. The siblings never feel quite at ease around each other, too many betrayals, cutting words, stinging injuries. In the field, they are a well oiled machine, when they’re at home playing the part of a happy family, they can’t quite relax.

Dick is a demanding perfectionist who sometimes can’t separate himself the job. He’s burned bridges at some point with every family member and though he dearly loves them, sometimes being the happy, welcoming, forgiving big brother all the time to too many siblings is exhausting. It’s hard to keep so many different people happy at once so sometimes he just lets them go.

Jason never fully integrates back into the family. He doesn’t legally reclaim his name and return to his life, just keeps his head down and sticks to his turf in the alley. He’s simmered down a lot since his resurrection and can hold conversations with his so called family but it’s tense and soured by the past. He occasionally still murders and break B’s moral code but B is so tired of the fighting that they’re in a bit of a stalemate over it.

Tim has grown used to feeling like an outsider in the family. He stays out of obligation and because he has no one else left to turn to. Sometimes it feels like he’s just going through the motions of being a brother and son. He dreams about packing up and leaving but knows he never can. Is still bitter at the fallout of previously good relationships (Dick, Steph and B) and in general wary and untrusting of Jay and Dami. He wishes things could go back to how they were.

Cassandra has never truly understood the concept of a happy family. The Bats are comfortably familiar with their frequent brawls and generally being on edge around the other. To her, this is normal. That said, as much as she loves, she keeps her distance because its hard for her to deal with and express that love. She’ll spar and cuddle and smile and then disappear for months making it hard to the others to feel connected to her. She feels most comfortable alone.

Damian’s inferiority and superiority complex are at constant war with each other. He’s learned to see the error of his earlier thinking and realizes that everyone will always see him as an assassin. He hates how much he looks up to his older siblings, their skills and experience how easily they seem to have his father’s love. His pride prevents him from admitting this, opening up to them and instead perpetuates the cycle of insults and fighting.

There is love and connection in the Bat family but also cracks from hundreds of little interactions brought about by stress and pain and misery. When the stars are right and the moon is bright, they can come together and be a family. But it’s never the whole group and never for too long before uncertainty and fear creeps back in. In battle, they are an unstoppable force that works in tandem. Outside of costumes, just themselves, they are broken people awkwardly trying to hold together a facsimile family.

[sforzesco]

i fully consider you the italian renaissance guy so i am going to ask you this because i’m genuinely curious <3 do you have Thoughts on the pazzi conspiracy…… i have sooo many tbh it makes me really crazy <333 i read this book about caesar’s assassination a while back and it said something along the lines of “Why were the conspirators apparently surprised by the panic their deed caused in the city?” and i think about that every time i think about the pazzi conspiracy…. the parallels between classical/late republican conspiracies and the ones present in the italian renaissance era…… aughhhh it’s. 😵‍💫

thank you, but I am merely standing on the shoulders of the work of all the other italian renaissance guys (gender neutral) who came before me!!

that said I have so many thoughts about the Pazzi conspiracy, the Pazzi conspiracy my beloved, my best friend, my most ardent love, I'm obsessed with it. hashtag Francesco de' Pazzi apologist etc etc

It has EVERYTHING it shows that people did not sit idle in the shadow of Medici power, the politics of banking and generational humiliation, it has cannibalism, it has such hate that the act of retaliation cannot simply be exile and death their memory must be wiped out too, faces removed from portraits, it has a private affair (conspiracy) being made public (the assassination) and the failure to control the immediate aftermath (everything is an echo of the Ides of March assassination but worse, and also the Pazzi conspiracy in a larger discussion of renaissance assassinations and conspiracies? Stefano Porcari, I'm sending you flowers), there's the whole thing with churches as a bloody theatre for spectacles of violence: Galeazzo Maria Sforza, killed on a feast day, the Pazzi planning assassination during a High Mass, the way potential assassins cower under the eye of God and refuse to spill blood on sacred ground but a priest has no such fear.

it's also got that dramatic and tragic foreshadowing, like god, it has it all, I think about this part out of Machiavelli's Florentine Histories constantly

Lorenzo, flushed with youth and power, would assume the direction of everything, and resolved that all transactions should bear an impress of his influence. The Pazzi, with their nobility and wealth unable to endure so many affronts, began to devise some means of vengeance. The first who spoke of any attempt against the Medici, was Francesco, who, being more sensitive and resolute than the others, determined either to obtain what was withheld from him, or lose what he still possessed.

it's all or nothing, baby! (admittedly this overlaps into an adjacent category into a larger discourse on morality and personality with political slander in pro-Medici works regarding the Pazzi, Pontano has a similar line about Orsini, but I think it's fun! bite chomp kill away, Francesco)

this is not to imply that Machiavelli was a pro-Medici writer (imo it's a lot more complex than that), Poliziano attributes this Do or Die trait to Francesco, and Machiavelli was writing after Poliziano. Machiavelli and conspiracies is a whole topic on it's own, it's just that Machiavelli's writings live rent free in my head and I'll always reference them first. like. every time I think about failed conspiracies that cycle to tragedy, I think about Machiavelli's commentary on power in Discourses on Livy, about how one must slay the sons of Brutus too, and how inevitably, this genre of conspirators always opt for less bloodshed, which always leads to their own demise.

there's this fascinating topic of Greek narratives as a mold for Roman biographies in regards to Plutarch's Lives, and there's something similar going on with the Pazzi, Sallust and Suetonius, and Poliziano's Commentarium that compels me too, ngl.

on the topic of the Commentarium, tho

Conspiracy Literature in Early Renaissance Italy, Marta Celati

the Pazzi conspirators 🤝 the Ides of March conspirators

In a larger historical dialogue, I think Medici retaliation for the assassination really highlights the later violence that the Medici will inflict on a much larger scale in the 1530 siege of Florence. it's like, the Pazzi are the most obvious crack in the Medici facade.

April Blood, Lauro Martines

The Medici, Mary Hollingsworth

oh boy, this is getting out of hand, but to go back to what you mentioned about Caesar and failed conspiracies, I'm thinking again about Machiavelli (this time his chapter on Conspiracies in Discourses in addition to the You Must Kill The Sons Of Brutus line. Like, you must also slay the sons of Brutus, but no one wants to do it!!!!). time is a flat circle for real, tragic repetitions all the way down 😔

[lionheartedmusings]

hey i thought your post about the moral glorification of natalie is super interesting. but what do you think about the moral glorification of lottie? by the show and the fans? the ending of s1 set her up to be this ominous figure, only for season 2 to humanize her at every turn and emphasize her good intentions. i have mixed feelings because while i do love lottie's arc this season, i can't help but wonder if we were robbed of a more morally grey lottie

thanks for enjoying the post! it had been driving me a bit insane but i'm glad it resonated! as for lottie… oh boy, buckle in because this is going to probably be long and a hard one to answer.

from the fandom's perspective, i have spent a lot of time watching the yellowjackets reddit and tumblr seems to be a lot more sympathetic to lottie's character than the sub — over there, lottie is as bad as the devil and she's a massive evil mastermind which… i vehemently disagree with. i will even go as far as to disagree that she was ever really set up to be anything other than she is: she's a teenage girl doing her best to help people keep hope, and she fully believes that her reverence and submission to the wilderness is actively doing good, so she keeps doing it.

the show has done a brilliant job with humanising every character enough that they're all (at least to me) deeply understandable and relatable in both their good moments and their bad — i'll use misty as an example for a moment. misty isn't all there before the crash and she's clearly desensitised to violence to an extent, but her destroying the black box? i understand that. i don't agree with it, but i can 1000% understand how an isolated teen got a glimpse of friendship and acceptance, and wanted to keep it going for a bit longer. in misty's mind, maybe it would take them a bit longer to be rescued (a couple weeks vs a few days) because people were looking for them —she was completely unaware of the consequences of her actions. i understand misty's actions, she just didn't think of what the ramifications of them could be... like lottie.

lottie, a mentally ill completely neglected teen, goes into the wilderness and communes (or believes she does at least) with something bigger than herself and starts listening and appeasing it... and it starts "rewarding" them, so she keeps going. she's helping, it's helping, so she pulls as many people in as she can because the more they pay respects to this entity, the bigger the chance of them surviving. she's just doing her best to help — by the time she realises that she's been made into a prophet and is being deified, it's too late to turn back, and she ultimately passes (or tries to, i definitely don't think it'll stick) the power off to someone else who she hopes will do a better job.

but the interesting thing is, her actions directly lead to the escalation of violence and the ritualisation of their survival — it's her faith that leads the others down the rabbit hole and regardless of good intentions, she actively starts a religion that ends up being one of cannibalism and blood. how do you analyse the morality of it? i think teen lottie herself would see herself as a villain, if her suicidal ideation and martyr complex are anything to go by.

adult lottie is, i think, set up to be a lot more morally grey by the show — she's pulled back into this way of thinking by travis, and she spirals further when natalie arrives at the compound (the cult-like society she created to try and help people, the same way she couldn't help her friends twenty years ago, because lottie's a character about cycles more than anything else). she's the one who suggests a submission to the wilderness again, it's her actions that lead to the hunt and to natalie's death, but in the end in her delusion she thinks it will all have been for a good reason (keeping van alive, which is a whole other can of worms i don't have time to unpack).

when did lottie go from a teenager horrified by the consequences of her actions, to a grown woman who sees death as vindication? in the wilderness it was a coping mechanism, but adult lottie is fully aware that the line between the wilderness and their actions is very blurred — when did that happen?

i think seasons 3 forward are going to have us see a much more morally grey lottie, but up until now i think her characterisation makes a lot of sense because it establishes intention vs. consequence very very well, and it allows us to do what the girls couldn't do in the 90s — see lottie matthews as a person and not some prophet or messiah, so we can now see how the well-meaning and kind go down the rabbit hole of fanaticism to the point of seeing death as a bargaining chip they can actively play all to justify the horrors they've caused so far.

her characterisation is about the deterioration of lottie's character and thinking, and you have to rise characters up to let them fall. now, i support all her rights and her wrongs but by god, is lottie a wildly interesting character with a lot more layers and thought than she's usually given.

i'm so sorry this turned into... this.