#I mean his family consists of scumbags

[officersnickers]

Okay, stupid headcanon time (again)!

I guess most of us speculated once or twice during our time reading/ watching The Promised Neverland, that Norman could be related to William Minerva aka James Ratri, due to their looks and behaviour and overall savior complex. It didn’t helped Demizu depicted them both in weirdly similiar ways throughout the manga, as for example seen here:

Now, Shirai denied the speculations of the fanbase, stating Norman wasn’t related to the Ratris at all. Here comes my theory playing in.

Certainly James (or Peter) isn’t related directly to Norman, nor his father. But while re-reading Volume 19 of the manga, I stumbled across the profile of Grace Field headquarters.

See this little section here?:

Ratri Clan’s guest room - probably for when the current head of the Ratri clan (or one of his deputies) “honors” headquarters with their visit. Now, what if, in all those years Grace Field exists, one of the Ratris (or maybe even more?) took a liking to a sister working in the headquarters? Having their fun together, resulting in a little poor cattle child with a father, which controls the whole farm system himself? What if one (or maybe even more, again?) cattle child born from this connection was a girl, allowed to grow up and having children of her own? What if some dear Ratri blood flows in some of the current sisters and also Norman, making him related to the Ratris, but only over several generations?

Of course it’s all just speculation, a mere headcanon of mine, and doesn’t change anything for Norman or any other from the Ratri family. The thought alone amused me for the shere comedic potencial 😌

What do you think?

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.183 thoughts

[Rip Has Two Hands]

(Contents: polyamorous gushing, thematic analysis, Latla analysis)

WHOO!!! THANK YOU, TOZUKA!!!

Being in a polyamorous relationship, it means so much to me and my family to see a scene like this. My wife runs a blog dedicated to polyamory in manga (@polyamanga), and so often potential triads or quads or whatever else will dissolve right at the end because of any number of excuses, like one character realizing that they see the love interest as like their mom, or something, or a harem protagonist insisting that polyamory is morally wrong even though he's too spineless to actually make a choice. It's endlessly frustrating, and even a lot of series that are centered around polyamory still miss the mark in certain ways. Kanojo mo Kanojo, for example, has every single character decrying the act of two-timing consistently despite the fact that that's the lifestyle that they agreed to live! Even the main dude calls himself a scumbag constantly, like he's a monster for actually being honest with his girlfriend and continuing to do something she, again, agreed to!

I don't know what Tozuka plans to do with this relationship, whether it's going to get a lot of focus or if it's going to mostly be a background detail or what, but just getting to see a character actively decide to enter a polyamorous relationship and be met with love and acceptance for that decision is extremely refreshing and exciting. I do hope we get to see them actually acting like a triad and that it doesn't devolve into jealous bickering, but from what we've seen of this group, the bickering that does happen is likely going to be mostly playful. More than anything, though, I hope that we get some more detailed characterization for Leila, as one of the major complaints I've seen is that she's just been generically smiley and supportive, not unlike Ichico in Nico's flashback

But what's wrong with that? Two different characters acted in a similar way in a similar situation, asking for their partner to be happy in the event of their impending death? That's not lazy writing, that's theming! Undead Unluck is about finding happiness through sorrow! Would Fuuko's parents have wanted her to kill herself after she found out that she was responsible for their death? No, they would have wanted her to be happy! Did Isshin's dad want her to lose faith in herself after her armor failed to protect him from a UMA? No, he wanted her to know that she had saved the rest of the village!

While plenty of characters enforce despair on themselves, no one in Undead Unluck deliberately enforces despair on anyone else except for God and the UMA, who represent that very despair. "I have to atone for what I did/this is my cross to bear/I deserve this." Those are all self-imposed rules! And if there's one thing Undead Unluck has taught us, it's that rules are meant to be broken!!! If a rule doesn't benefit or protect those it restricts, then it's just a tool that someone else is using to control them!

And that's exactly what we're told here, too. Society tells us that we have to pick one partner, even if it means someone's happiness has to be lost, but why? What purpose does it serve to compromise on what would make us happy? Sure, if one partner would be unhappy with that outcome, then it may not be worth pursuing, but Latla's objection isn't that she'd be unhappy, it's that other people will judge them for their choice

"Why do you always worry about me?! Why won't you just leave me be?" Latla has already decided that she doesn't get her happy ending because she wants Leila to get hers. She thinks that their happiness is mutually exclusive, so she resigned herself to finding happiness in Leila's happiness. But that's a fallacy. They aren't mutually exclusive, they can have their cake and eat it too, and they'll be happier for it because neither of them needs to think that they've deprived the other of their happiness. Do you think Rip and Leila would be satisfied knowing that Latla was hurting? That she was crying behind a tree while they kissed? That she was slowly backing away and would eventually be gone from their lives if they didn't literally drag her back?

Latla chastised Rip in both this and the previous loop for going out on his own and leaving her behind, but in her own way, Latla was doing the exact same thing. Rip was literally distant, but Latla was emotionally distant, refusing to allow herself to indulge in the happiness that would otherwise be lost to her sister. If she and Rip hadn't held each other at arm's length in the previous loop, how differently would their lives have gone? How happy could they have been? Better question, was happiness even possible for them at the time without Leila? Were they being disrespectful of Leila's wishes, or was the hole too great for them to fill on their own?

Nico couldn't fill the Ichico-shaped hole in his heart with Mico, even though that's what Ichico wanted, for fear that doing so would erase what little was left of her in his heart. Perhaps it was hopeless from the beginning that Rip and Latla would be able to move on without Leila, much like Rip and Leila wouldn't be able to smile knowing that Latla was crying

Undead Unluck is about joy and freedom, and its cast finds joy in living freely. Fuuko fell into despair because she couldn't touch anyone, but found joy when she met someone she could touch freely. Juiz was trapped in a never-ending cycle of loss, but found joy when she met someone who she trusted could break the cycle. Rip and Latla fell apart when they lost Leila, but now can laugh and smile without reservation or guilt because they can be with her forevermore without anyone telling them they can't. And who are we to tell them they can't be happy after everything they've been through?

[dazaiizm]

₊˚𓂃 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑖 𝑎𝑚 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 ꒷꒦

featuring — dazai osamu, luma

summary — waking up from a nightmare is not a good feeling, however, luma has their ‘best friend’ to guide them back to feeling safe.

warnings — bsd selfship (osaluma), bsd spoilers to dazai’s backstory (which i haven’t looked completely into yet so bare with me), teens in love, mentions of nightmares & traumatic backstories, hurt/comfort, fluff, japanese honorifics used

notes from dazai’s star: first selfship post <3 i have insomnia as well so i might write an insomniac drabble ! also ‘a little death’ (title is from the song) is so osaluma coded <3 i tried keeping dazai as in character as possible, sorry if there’s any inaccuracies </3

LUMA SHOT AWAKE, breathing heavily and taking in their surroundings. they were in dazai’s home, the boy sleeping soundly next to them.

they ran their hands through his hair, not stopping themselves from massaging his scalp. he groaned, shifting in his sleep. luma flinched and backed their hand away before hesitantly massaging his head once again.

“you certainly know how to make me feel good, luma-chan,” he said in a tired voice. luma’s cheeks burned, catching onto the double meaning.

they weren’t a couple, but more than friends. they were always paired together during port mafia missions and spent a lot of time together (osamu bugging luma).

the only reason luma was staying the night was because they got into another intense argument with their mother.

their nightmare consisted of their father cheating on their mother (which he did in real life) and luma walking in on their father and his homewrecker bitch make out.

luma was disturbed by the dream, beginning to bawl their eyes out when they were reminded he chose his girlfriend over his own family.

“well, i certainly don’t feel good,” they mumbled, looking out the window. “why’s that?” osamu slowly lifted himself to sit on the bed. “i had a nightmare,” they admitted.

luma was scared dazai would laugh at them and think having nightmares were childish, being scared of them even more childish.

however, he gave a sympathetic look and rubbed their hand. “c’mere,” he whispered, allowing luma to lay on his chest.

“tell me about it, just to get it out of your system,” he told them. “it was…i walked in on my dad and his girlfriend kissing,” they explained slowly.

dazai grit his teeth. he hated their father. hated him for not caring about or loving them, hated him for choosing a homewrecking bitch over his own wife and child, hated him for almost selling luma to port mafia for them to use at their disposal in any way possible.

he wished that never happened—that their father could’ve been a kind man who loved and supported his family. but unfortunately, fate had other plans for luma.

“i’m so sorry,” he breathed out, and he meant it. things were never supposed to be this way. they shouldn’t have even met. but, maybe it was a good thing.

luma was osamu’s escape—escape from reality and all things that tormented him. he sought comfort and devotion from them, which they were more than happy to give if he asked. however, their feelings remained in their hearts for now.

“it’s not your fault, you don’t have to apologize,” they mentioned, shaking their head.

“i just wish he loved me,” luma said after a pause, tearing up and choking on a sob. dazai immediately held them tighter and more securely. “he’s a bastard, you deserve far better than that scumbag.”

luma leaned against dazai again. “you know, i don’t deserve you either, yet you keep appearing in my life.” osamu’s eyes widened. didn’t deserve him, he thought it was true.

they deserved so much better.

“we’re in port mafia together, of course we’ll keep seeing each other,” he told them, cupping their face to have them look at him. “not that i’m complaining.” he smiled softly.

this was the softest expression they’ve ever seen dazai have. it made their heart swell and buttetflies erupt in their stomach, blushing and looking away.

dazai tilted their head back, leaning in to kiss them. luma immediately returned the kiss, wrapping their arms around dazai.

all of a sudden, something snapped in dazai. love. that’s what he felt. what a foolish human emotion, luma thought, but couldn’t help but fall in love with osamu.

dazai, on the other hand, wasn’t too fond of the emotion. he wasn’t fond of how comforting it was, how he felt at peace. and it was all because of luma.

he was perfect in their eyes, from his looks to personality, he fit luma’s type.

“i hate him so much,” luma whimpered, tearing up again. “he destroyed my life—my self-esteem, my ability to make friends, he’s the root of all my insecurities. he conditioned me into believing i can never be loved.”

“you are capable of being loved.” osamu tucked a strand of hair behind their ear. “hell, you made me fall in love with you,” he chuckled casually, as if he didn’t just admit his feelings to them.

“what?” luma’s eyes shot open, now completely awake. “i love you, luma-chan,” he confirmed, rubbing their cheek with his thumb. “but, why? i’m a horrible person,” they said, bringing their hand up to show him a floating dark ball with mist seeping through between their fingers, reminding him of their ability—umbrakinetic combat.

“you’re not. you’re kind, smart, funny, creative, stunning, and you’re very empathetic. the world has just been cruel to you.”

luma looked away, not knowing what exactly to say. “i mean it, you once asked me if i ever thought if it’d be better if we never met. my answer to that is, i imagine us finding each other in every universe, luma. i’m grateful to have met you, and for you being the most genuine person i know,” he admitted.

luma’s lips curved slightly, but wondering why he’d say such things. did he mean it? was it manipulation? “how do i know you’ll never leave me?” luma asked, turning back to him.

“because everyday i’ll show my love and how important you are to me.” he pecked their lips again, holding them close. “i’ll remind you everyday that you are loved and cherished by me. i’ve never met somebody like you.”

[jeffchats]

He’s said off and on since his accident that he wants a girlfriend but once Mike actually got one I think that’s where Jeff’s desperation really ramped up. I can sort of understand because Mike was a total scumbag fuckboy and even he was able to find someone that seems like a good girl for the most part (she seems moody and stuck up but not a slut like Mike was is what I mean). On the outside Jeff seems like a total catch; Ethan keeps saying that and that he’s a gentleman (it’s so obvious when people haven’t been consistent watchers of Jeff’s content. He stopped being a gentleman once Tana came around). Even Jeff admits he should be working on himself and has mental issues but never does anything about it.

Yeah I think he’s just desperate because everyone around him has a partner even Tana. He needs to work on himself and any issues he may have first or at least get a hold on it before he thinks of bringing someone into his life. If he knows he’s on and off then how can he bring someone into his life and expect them to want to start a family with him when he is not even really ready for that himself? When he has kids he can’t say “I’m on and off today” because when he has kids they will come first for the most part. He will have to commit to his family. Even Mike is smart enough to know he is not father material at this time in his life lol

[la-danielle-fournier]

lexi x Fezco “The Wallflower” part 3

**AN: Parts 1 and 2 were Lexi’s POV, this one is Fez POV!! Enjoy and lmk what u think :) **

-----

“There’s a short supply of kindness in this world. People sniff it out, and they swoop right the fuck in.”

Fezco’s grandmother had told him that when he was a little kid. She had taught him a lot of things, while she was alive.

Fezco’s grandmother was a mother-fucking-G.

There was simply no better term to describe the woman. I mean, she had raised him. He never knew his mother, and his father was an abusive shitbag who had long since given up on the endeavor of becoming a competent parent.

One morning, when Fezco was ten years old, his grandmother found him sitting on her front porch with a black eye the size and color of an overripe plum. She knew perfectly well who had given it to him. Running a manicured hand over the boy’s cheek, the woman examined the bruise for a couple of moments before letting out a sigh of exasperation.  

“Get in the car, darlin.”

His father had held a management position at the local strip club for years, since before Fezco was born. As an adult, Fezco quickly put two and two together about the circumstances of his conception. At that time, his father had had consistent access to a regularly growing group of young vulnerable girls, all desperate enough to give him whatever he asked for.

Fezco hadn’t actually seen what happened between them inside the strip club. He would later learn that his grandmother, with her gun in hand and her pantsuit pressed and pleated just right, had marched through the crowd of horny scumbags drooling over the gyrating naked women, found his father’s office in the back of the building, and shot him in both legs.

Prior to his grandmother’s visit, his father had been getting a blowjob from one of the newer recruits, a service he requested regularly from some of the worse off girls who needed a little extra cash.

Fezco’s grandmother hadn’t even waited for him to put his dick away.  

From that day on, his grandmother filled the role of parental guardian. Sure, some of the things she exposed him to were pretty fucked up. But Fez learned a lot living with her. He learned everything there was to know about the drug market. He learned the number of grams in an ounce. He learned how to transport product inconspicuously. He learned that sometimes, violence was the only answer that mattered.

Fezco liked that she never treated him like a child. He was her business partner, an equal. When she died, he inherited her business, as well as the responsibility of caring for his little brother, Ashtray. He wasn’t his biological brother. Ashtray’s mother was a junkie who had traded him to Fez’s grandmother as collateral about 3 years prior, when Ashtray was still an infant. When the woman never came back for her son, Fez and his grandmother took him in.

Ashtray was family now. All the things his grandmother had taught him, Fez taught to Ash. And he was a natural. Ash wasn’t spooked by any of the creepy characters involved in their kind of trade. He was tough.

And, to a certain extent, so was Fezco. At least, that’s what anyone else might have told you about him.

What those people didn’t know was that Fezco was perpetually haunted by vivid nightmares. Night terrors that would have him shooting upright in the middle of the night, sweat pouring down his body, gasping for air. That particular night sleeping on Lexi’s floor, Fezco had dreamt he was back at that New Year’s party.

Nate Jacobs was crumpled into a heap at Fez’s feet, still and cold as a corpse. When he bent down to check his pulse, Fez couldn’t register even a hint of a heartbeat.

Dread seeped into his chest. Fuck. This wasn’t happening.

A shriek pierced the heavy quiet of the room.

Lexi, her beautiful face contorted in horror, stood an arm’s length away from him, taking in the scene. When she finally brought her eyes to meet his, what he saw there made his heart shatter into shards of broken glass.

She was terrified. Of him.

Fezco looked down at his hands, which were soaked in what had to have been Nate’s blood. The blood went all the way up to his elbows. He frantically tried to wipe them on his jeans, but they only became more and more slick with the warm, sticky substance.

His breathing became labored.

Choking on air, Fezco lifted his chin upwards, looking at the ceiling. Above him, there was a reflective glass mirrored ceiling that looked over the bar.

In the reflection, he did not see his own, but the face of his father, grinning widely back at him.  

Fezco lurched out of his dream state and onto his side. He gasped and choked at the air, trying to get a single ounce of oxygen into his lungs somehow. His forehead and chest were cool with sweat. One glance at the clock on Lexi’s nightstand told him it was 5:41 am.

Where the fuck was he? What had happened last night?

A feeling of panic rose in his chest as he took in his surroundings, not recognizing this new and unfamiliar sleeping space.

And then, Fezco saw the angel sleeping on the bed mere feet away from him, and it all came back to him.

Lexi was curled onto her side, facing him as she slept. Thankfully, it seemed that his dramatic dream awakening hadn’t stirred her. Her breaths were slow and consistent. She looked so restful and content, the way her eyelids twitched, and her statuesque nose crinkled. The chocolate brown curls he loved so much, the ones he thought about reaching out and touching every time he saw her, were splayed out across her pillow. She was mesmerizing.

As he gazed at her, looking as peaceful and angelic as he’d ever seen her, he thought of another lesson his grandmother had taught him. Something he had forgotten a long time ago, something that hadn’t come back to him until the night he met Lexi for the first time.

“Don’t ever fall in love. It’s the one instinct you can’t trust.”

[theinvisibledreamergirl]

The Grinch Girl

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x MC (Klaw Craig)

Warning: Nope only fluff content and bits of sadness.

Word count: ~2.3 k

A.N: Hello again folks! Did you miss me? Well this fic came out unexpectedly and wasn’t even planned lol. But I hope you enjoy this and Merry Christmas! And I know you’re impatiently waiting for Part 6 of my OH AU 1 but still is in progress. THIS IS MY FIRST STAND-ALONE FIC EVER OMG AND I’M REALLY NERVOUSSSS.

———————————————————————

Basically from all of the staff of Edenbrook Hospital there was a certain someone who didn't like Christmas as everyone else- Dr. Klaudia Craig. This wasn't something new for everyone because they knew she detested it.

She was occupying herself with lots of different cases in order to escape from the festive moments and the cheering voices of her colleagues ready to decorate the Infamous Christmas Tree.

At least that's what she thought.

She wasn't into the winter holidays or any kind of other holidays. Maybe she was a Grinch but as much as she had information about him it was completely another history- he hated people but not Christmas. Whereas she hated both of them.

Klaw didn't have any particular reason to be angry with anyone but she couldn't bare the fact to be involved in such kind of parties. Lousy and noisy people were always a migraine for her and would drink two strong pills in a day at least saving from that horrible sinusitis.

Her free times would always consist of reading books or scientific researches on internet for new developments in oncology surgery as she was eager to see the latest news. Furthermore she would watch BBC every time when the British Government released new announcements about the future of the country whom she dearly missed it. Maybe for others it was such a granny thing but for her was the best cure.

And as for today she was stepping into the corridors seeing the nurses chirping and decorating the railways and doors in which she let an exasperated sigh while shaking her head.

Why do they like them so much? It's completely nonsense. All of that glitter. Everyone seems so happy but I'm sure this is a façade.

Well clearly from her point of view it was maybe a façade but actually everyone was happy and was enjoying at its fullest. And that's why she hated it.

She never got to celebrate any holidays with her family as they have been always busy in their works and didn't pay too much attention on how this would reflect on their daughter's character in the future. They would always justify their lateness in house because of the "duty". God she thought that word would never get out of her mind.

When one of her patients asked her to do the Gingerbread House together she stared blankly as she had no idea what was this thing and she immediately regretted her lie to the kid.

Oh yeah of course I'll help you but until i finish my shift alright?

The little girl was smart and understood that she wasn't telling the truth and aside from that she could tell that the doctor standing opposite her wasn't even pleased about it and she let a mischievous smirk.

"You don't know what Gingerbread is, don't you?"

The doctor gulped hardly as ever. The patient saw her hesitation and asked sincerely.

"Don't worry I'll ask someone else but can I ask you why don't you know about the Gingerbread?"

"Mary, I think you need to rest now after your long surgery, right?"

"Got it doc."

With that she trailed off furiously as she didn't want to awake again that memory.

She hated herself.

She didn't want to be like this.

Harsh.

Cold demeanor.

Selfish.

And afraid to be happy.

When she went to the elevator she heard Sienna calling from behind.

“Hey Klaw!"

Oh god please don’t tell me she’s going to invite me to that party.

"Hi Sienna, how you've been?"

"Perfect! May I say everything is going to be awesome and I can't wait to celebrate with all of us in our apartment! You'll come too, right?"

God she wanted so bad to celebrate. But her logical answer was always ahead of what heart truly wanted. You can say without fear that she was an introverted ass.

"Uhm actually I won't."

Sienna's smile immediately faltered and shook her head in confusion. "Why?” Before Klaw could explain herself she abruptly said “Look If you're worried about those scumbag surgical residents, don't worry we won't invite them. And also-"

"Sienna it's not about them. It's just..."

"Just what?"

I don't celebrate Christmas Eve and I don’t have any intention to because I just simply hate it.

“It’s about patients Si and we have lot of work to do especially Dr. Ramsey won’t let me to finish the shift that easy so I’m leaving-”

“Not so fast gorgeous." a sing-along voice stopped her. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Oh, Bryce." She put a plastered smile while laughing nervously. As always. "Uhm, well I have to go to a patient now heh."

"Tsk. I don’t believe any single thing what you’re saying girlie.”

She wanted to seem so believable but this time was out of her luck. Before she would protest again he interrupted.

"Come on Klaw. We already know you've been working your ass since five in the morning and you haven't even eaten anything today needless to say- you haven't even wished us for Christmas."

"Oh really?" He nodded "Well- Merry Christmas Bryce!"

He frowned in confusion and was crooking his eyes in suspicion as she sounded differently from usual. Something was wrong and he was about to ask her again when he heard that annoying voice.

"Rookie!" Klaw's eyes widened but in the meantime she thanked him in silence for saving her.

"In my office."

"Yes Dr. Ramsey."

With that she excused herself to Sienna and Bryce who stayed mouth agape and Sienna was finally the one to break the silence.

"So...Plan A and B are ruined right?"

"Yeah" he slid from his pocket the phone in which he called a number. "Jackie." He let a defeated sigh. "Tell the others we need a plan C. That old man Ramsey destroyed everything."

--------------

When the elevator reached the 3rd floor Ethan guided Klaw to his office gently pushing the door for her to enter first. They made an arrangement before she started her residency- to remain professional but her gut feeling told that something not good was about to happen.

What was weird was the fact that the lights of his office weren't turned on but only those of his little Christmas Tree. She rolled her eyes annoyingly.

Great. Now I have to deal with another Christmas enthusiast.

He saw her expression and when she turned as if questioning, he gave her a rueful smile. "Please sit."

She did as he said raising her left eyebrow. "So? What is the reason you called me?"

"Simple. I want to find a treatment for a patient whose brain is not functioning as usual." He said ironically which she didn't get it.

"What are her symptoms?"

Even though it was not an usual question he would ask as every time- she was ready to show her high diagnostics knowledge despite being a surgeon.

"It's a difficult case and a rare one. I'm not sure if you're going to handle it."

"There's nothing I can't handle Dr. Ramsey." She said while raising her head in confidence. "Remember what you said to me in my intern year? When there isn't a path, you make your own."

"Fair well. This girl is about 5 years old and she doesn't celebrate Christmas because she hates it. What do you think we should do?"

"What? I don't-" Then it all clicked.

It was about her.

"You too?" She scoffed in disbelief while standing up "I really can't believe this!"

When she was reaching the door handle a strong grip on her waist held her in place and growled in her left ear that made her shivered. "You're not going anywhere!"

"What happened with being professional Dr. Ramsey huh?"

He shut his eyes and inhaled sharply. "Please. Tell me what's wrong. I know that you're worried about something."

"You don't deserve to know anything!" With that she kicked his crotch with her left knee letting herself free from him. That self-defense instinct she had- it was going to be the death of him one day.

"And you don't tell me what should I do!"

"Is that so Dr. Craig? Remember that I'm your boss."

"Ouch. So scary. What are you going to do then? Pin me to the wall?" She let out a weary chuckle "Remember Ramsey- I'm not going to play hot and cold game again with you because I've had enough! And don't even try to do the victim's face here 'cause you know that it's your fault that we're in this position now!"

She was the most infuriating woman he had ever met in his life and maybe this was the reason why he wanted her so badly. Her gorgeous face etched to his mind every night before sleep. When she was always angry she looked like a goddess to him no matter how and he would bow down just for her. One word or only one action from her and he was her slave.

"What happened Dr. Ramsey? Cat got your tongue?" said in a sing-along voice and when he didn't answer she wanted to use the opportunity to leave but his eyes were trailing her full parted lips.

No. No. No. Don't let him kiss you Klaw. Just don't.

But his actions were faster than she thought and her fear came to life. He kissed her such gently that made her cheeks blush enough to stop arguing. When they parted Ethan set both of his hands to her face trailing her cheekbones and temples saying in a soothing voice.

"Now, will you tell me what is going on with your cold behaviour?"

She nodded forgetting everything in what they agreed on. Maybe she would regret it later but it seemed that she didn't care for now.

---------

"So that's why I hate it. I mean I don't want to hate Christmas. It's just I don't want to leave the impression to the others that I hate holidays. I don't want to look like Grinch but still...Ughh I don't know.” she placed her palms in her temples. “I feel such in shame now like I don't even know what Gingerbread is!"

"Why haven't you searched on the internet before?"

"Well this is the case. I've never shown interest in it. The only thing that I would search were always something about science in general and projects for school. And I've never received Christmas gifts before which makes me well-" the last words she said almost in a whisper. "- not appreciated person."

Ethan could see himself in her somehow. After his mother left he didn't want to celebrate Christmas anymore as that day was one of the worst of his life. But his father Alan insisted that his son should see his future and letting that pain to go by every year celebrating and reminding him to be a strong man just like now. Whereas for Klaw he felt his jaw clenched in frustration when her parents now that they weren’t anymore never celebrated and not even letting her to go at least at her best friend's house.

"Do you think I'm a Grinch Girl, Ethan?"

When she called him in his first name he felt his chest warming as she was slowly becoming more openly to him.

"No." He said without hesitation. "It's clearly that you were raised like this and you should not blame yourself for that. You're not the only one who doesn't celebrate Christmas Eve. There are many people who don't even know what Christmas is so-" he put a strand of her brown hair behind her ear. "No, you're not a Grinch but...A grumpy one may I- agh!" he winced when she pinched his arm then smacked it furiously.

"That hurt."

"You deserved that."

"Seriously? I'm trying to understand you whereas-" she cut him off guard with another kiss but on his cheeks instead.

"Thank you. For always being nice to me."

"Hey, you know I would do everything for you?"

"Yeah, I know. But what am I going to do now?"

"First things first" he stood up from the couch where they were staying "You're going to say to everyone who you meet the magic words: 'Merry Christmas!'"

He chuckled when she let a groan. "And then you're going to pick some gifts in the shop for your friends because this is the value of this holiday- sharing is caring. And about gifts-"

He went to his drawer of his white wooden-metallic desk to reveal an object packed in a rectangular shape with a white strap.

"Wait is that-?"

"Yes it's for you". She stared at him. "Open it."

She took it hesitating at first because this was the first gift ever someone made especially for her and was fidgeting her fingers not knowing where to start because she didn't want to ruin the way how beautifully it was packed.

When she let go of the strap she gasped when there was an old book of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey and there were two milk chocolates Fin Carré which was her favourite flavour and a little card were was written:

I'm sorry for being an asshole.

Merry Christmas Rookie!

E.R

"So...uhm do you like it?" He scratched the back of his neck nervously. " I know you're a bookworm and I remembered that Oscar Wilde was the only Irish author whom you didn't read so I went to the National Library and asked if there was still an old copy of it and luckily it was the last one."

She immediately left the gift in his couch and pressed a lingering kiss on his lips and said in a whisper while tearing up "Merry Christmas Ethan. And I'm sorry too for being grumpy and harsh to you."

"You don't have to apologise to me. Your friends and your patient Mary need to hear this. Okay?"

"Okay. Seni seviyorum. [ I love you ] “

“Uhm what?”

She giggled “I’ll tell you when the year ends.”

“But-”

“A girl has to keep some secrets, right?” said when she opened the door and left contently with it.

For the first time in her life Dr. Klaudia Craig felt a radiation coming through her body.

She was happy and grateful.

P.S: The words ‘seni seviyorum’ come from Turkish language. And no- my MC is not Turkish but British lol. She is a polyglot that’s why.

Perma tag: @starrystarrytrouble | @junggoku | @maurine07 | @nadeen-ahmed11 | @hopelessromantics4life  | @lillylavander20 | @caseyvalentineramsey | @custaroonie |  @miss-smrxtiee  |  @drstellavalentine | @archxxronrookie  |  @binny1985

if anyone else wants to be tagged please let me know! xoxo

[screesflanagan]

My New Boss Part 7

Author note: So, first of all, I wanted to say I'm doing this because I want to learn my spelling, because English is not my mother language and because I enjoy it. If you find any spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Please kindly inform me about them, I would be happy. Thank you and now have fun reading! :)

Inspired by: the series: what's wrong with secretary Kim (I haven't taken over everything, just a little. The rest consists of my ideas.)

GIF: My own

Who is the real bad guy?

He looks at Alex and grabs his throat.

"Touch her again and I'll break yer fuckin fingers"

He squeezes his throat and Alex immediately raises his hands

"Boss! boss! stop! I did not do anything! When you were Holding her, her top slipped so I wanted to close her jacket, Ethan let go of Alex's throat and says

"Sairy. I got it wrong."

Alex walks past him and slams his shoulder against Ethan's shoulder

"You are crazy"

He says when he goes out.

It can't be that I misunderstood that. I could swear I saw him pull her top down. But maybe it's also because I'm drunk too. I went to her and closed her jacket without looking at her chest. I closed a button and went to her feet, which I freed from her shoes. I took the blanket and put it on her. I took the pillow and slowly lifted her head. I touch her forehead to make sure that she is fine then I check the pulse on her neck and my eyes wandered to her lips. I looked at her lips and her face until I heard the sound of my heartbeat in my ears. I looked away and held my chest. I wondered why I was getting so warm so I took off my suit jacket and my shoes. I opened a few buttons from my shirt and then lay down on the couch. With the thought of what an exhausting evening it was, I fell asleep soundly.

Kim's POV:

I got up and wondered where I am when I suddenly saw Ethan putting a tray of food on the table for me. "Boss? What are you doing here?"

I say asleep. He kneels and looked so handsome. His hair was still wet and he was wearing a black shirt that was tight around his arms with gray sweatpants.

He puts a hand on my knee and says smiling at me

“Ya got drunk yesterday, Mrs. Legacy. I wanted to drive ya home but ya fell asleep in tha middle of tha drive and since I dinnae know how ya will be tha next day I let ya sleep on tha couch in ma office. I dinnae want to go to sleep with tha thought tha yer might feel bad or what might happen to ya on tha way home"

I rub my eyes and say

"Thank you, I think that's cute of you."

Suddenly my head hurts and I moan in pain.

“Eat and drink something. If tha pain doesn't go away, I'll give ya some pain killers"

Why is he like that to me? I can remember exactly what I said to him that evening. He watches what he says to me, how he treats me. He cares about me and thinks about me. Why can't he just tell me that he loves me? Or does he not. Because in the evening it didn't look like he had any feelings for me.

He was standing in front of me and I blushed when I looked at his gray sweatpants. He knows exactly that women get weak. And he knows exactly that it is early in the morning and that his friend is awake down there.

He took the plate and cup and put them away. I got up and first straighten my top which had slipped under.

In the middle of work, Alex comes towards me.

"Hey, Kim! Great evening yesterday. I don't want to get too close to you, but are you and Ethan together? ”My eyes went wide and I immediately yelled back

"WHAT! No!? How do you come up with something like that now!!!"

He looks at me in amazement and scratches the back of his head.

"Oh well. Ethan grabbed my throat tight yesterday and strangled me because he thought when I wanted to cover you up that I pulled your top-down for you. "

My hands lost touch and my pen fell on the table

"Strangled? The boss strangled you? "

I say back in astonishment.

"Yes. Groundless"

I thought I was dreaming

“No, we are not together. I don't even know how you come up with it. It's unbelievable ”I say and Alex walked then away when he noticed how amazed I was.

"Is that how you treat your employees ?!"

I scream in the room.

Ethan looks up at me from his desk and says

"Pardon?"

I walk closer to his desk and slap my hand hard on it.

"I asked is that how you treat your employees like that? Just to strangle her for no reason"

He looks over at me and slowly squeezes his fist

"I dinnae strangle him for no reason and that's between me and Alex. Tha is none of ya business"

When I heard the sound of his voice, I got angry and turned around.

Immediately a hand grabs my arm and turns me around

"Mrs. Legacy. I'm sorry!. I didn't mean to answer so disrespectfully. Somethin happened between me and Alex and I can't tell ya. I hope ya understand"

I go up to him and slap him in the face

"What? That you pulled my top down to do things to me that I shouldn't know about it."

He looks at me immediately and takes a step closer

"Excuse me? Is that what he told ya. Tha... I.."

I look at him and say

"I don't even want to know what you wanted to do to me. Fortunately, Alex came in otherwise something would have happened."

He takes a step back and says

"I could never do that to ya. Why do ya say such a bad thing? Have I ever bothered ya or harassed ya? Why do ya say something such hurtful"

I saw from his body language that he really wouldn't do anything to me. The two of us were alone so often he could have done something to me. But he didn't. That's why I noticed that it hurt him and he was telling the truth but I still wanted to continue with it.

I reply

"and why not? Yesterday in the toilet I saw how much you like me"

He looks up at me and says

“Ya dinnae understand. I was drunk and so were ya"

I laugh and say

"Yes, it was clear. You blame it on alcohol"

I walked out and just thought to myself

"Typical men"

I don't know why I was blind. My head was pissed off but my heart was pure. My feelings got stronger and stronger the more I was next to him.

I liked that he didn't kiss me because I was drunk. That showed what his real face was. But something in me wanted to annoy him more so that he would finally show me what he feels for me because I'm head to toe in love with my own boss.

Ethan POV:

I went to Alex and closed the door

"We both know what ya did yesterday. what a fucking greasy scumbag animal are ya that ya go to Kim and ya say tha I pulled her top down."

I grabbed his collar and say

"This is ma very last warning. Ya are only here because ya work. I would have thrown ya out long ago. Touch her again or stay closer to her and I swear to god tha I will tear ya to fucking pieces and leave ya bleeding on tha fucking floor. If ya go to her after this conversation ya. Ya can assure yourself that I will fucking visit ya today. I'm tha boss here. Ya is tha last person anyone would believe and dinnae forget. We have cameras here. I have proof. "

I let go of him and he says

"Understood. I need my job. I have to feed my family. You need me. Please"

I close the button on my suit jacket and say

"Then don't screw up yer future and come to yourself. Or I have to destroy yer life. Don't makes me do it. Cause I don't fucking play."

I slowly leave the room and kept my pissed look in his eyes. I think I scared him enough. I came out and smiled at myself.

When I was in my office I got an email that made me smile even more

Kims POV:

When I walked back to his office because he called me he said

"I have stressful news"

I say

"Oh god. What is it?"

He comes closer and says

"We have to fill out and sign papers continuously for 3 days."

I take a deep breath and he says

"Thats why. That's why ye have to spend tha next 3 days with me"

I held my breath

"WHAT!? No. No thanks. You are not serious, are you? "

He looks at me seriously and says

“Do I look like I'm fucking joking? Ye dinnae damn sleep next to me! Ya sleep in tha gesture room, which is far from mine. "

I cross my arms and say

"How many girls were there already"

He coughs and says

"Excuse me!? Did ya just say that I take women home with me?This is the first time and definitely the last time that I will let my secretary sleep with me."

"You don't look like you aren't taking a woman with you."

I say and look up at him from below which made him nervous.

He pulled on his tie and loosened it.

"I'm not going to talk to ya about ma private life. Not about who I take with me and why"

I go closer to him and stand right in front of his face

"Why not? Did you suggest it would take me away from you?"

He destroys his tie again and takes his cell phone. He shows me the email and I take it and read it over.

"There. ya have yer confirmation tha ya will be tha first. And besides, I don't know wha ya think we're going to do besides work"

I put his cell phone on his desk and grab his tie to straighten it.

He takes a step back and I take a step closer. Then I push him to the window and he looks at me

"Mr. Jackson. I also talk about work"

I say and adjust his jacket.

He smiles at me and let his dimples peek out.

"Don't start something tha ya can't finish Mrs. Legacy"

he says, putting his hands in his pocket while he's still leaning on the glass.

I run my hand through my hair and say

"Oh believe me. I'm finishing what I'm starting. I don't know if you will do the same."

I swing my hips as I walked to the door

"I always finish when I start somethin. See ya later. Ms. Legacy"

he says to me and winks at the end.

I closed the door and my heart held a rock concert again. It never got used to the hot, sexy, attractive man in this dangerous office.

I was proud of myself that I took a step to show him that I want him and it looks like he wants me too.

[sinnamonrolle]

Delving into Mammon: Part 1

Mammon character thoughts

Part 2

Hi i just wanted to do some character analysis (if you can count it as analysis lol). Also, potential spoilers but nothing really in depth.

Mammon is the second eldest, meaning that he recieved his name second, which is based off his strength (as determined by the demon king). So that means he's second strongest. This, I assume to mean overall--both magic wise and strength wise.

It's been established that he's extremely good with control for both his magic and his demon form, and emotions wise as well (from what I have seen so far). He's never snapped like Satan or Lucifer before, and he's never gotten truly angry at his brothers before (from what I know).

Despite what he may seem like, Mammon did fight in an extremely bloody war. He didn't have to follow Lucifer, but he did anyway, and he fought for Lucifer. Even when they fell and became demons, Mammon was there to support Lucifer, telling him to be just like the usual. 

In that one devilgram story (the rulebook one?), Mammon kept watch on his brothers as they slept. He tells Lucifer that they were groaning in their sleep, and I assume that it's from the pain of their battle wounds and nightmares.

If all of his other brothers were having a hard time, then what was Mammon feeling? How was he coping with their fall and their loss of a beloved sibling?

Even Lucifer faltered. This is when I think Mammon started acting like an anchor for the rest of his family. He has a consistent personality (lol a scumbag) and he's loud.

Without him, I imagine their house to be silent and broiling with guilt and grief. To distract them from the pain of losing a sibling and their new reality as demons, Mammon became their distraction.

Considering that he is the avatar of greed, it would be expected of him to steal anything that would earn him big cash, even if it's from his family. And he does, he steals from them. But I don't think he has to. He could go anywhere else and steal all he wants without anyone ever knowing that he was the culprit (he is stated as the fastest out of all the bros), and I bet his stealth is high enough to do so, or if stealth is not enough, he could always beat the hell out of them since he is the second strongest of the seven rulers.

He has such fine control over his demon form, and his emotions never dip into the extremes, and while he is a dumbass, he's not stupid. He's smart, he has to be when he's the avatar of greed.

And I think this is part of how he copes with his pain. As he acts as a distraction for his brothers with his stupid schemes and antics, getting caught and letting Lucifer punish him, he hides his own pain behind spending cash (we all know how much he loves Goldie), making stupid decisions, and getting into trouble. He distracts them from their pain because they're all focusing on how scummy and stupid he is, and he's distracting himself with his schemes and his greed.

For humans, spending money causes us to have a rush of "feel good" chemicals/neurotransmitters, so what would it feel like to Mammon. As an Avatar of Greed, it makes sense if he hoards and gets his hands on a lot of money and items, and it makes sense why he would spend his money to get more things, but he spends them all until he's broke. If I was an extremely greedy person, I would take and take and never let go of what is mine because I would want everything. But that's not the case for Mammon. He spends to buy things so he can feel that rush of satisfaction. He spends to feel that short lived happiness.

But for such an emotionally constipated family (of demons, mind you), I doubt they all show their affection clearly and in a straightforward manner. And as a greedy demon, I doubt Mammon is picky about what kind of affection and attention he gets. Maybe that is why he lets himself be constantly berated and insulted by his family (even if they are joking), because any attention is better than none at all, and the brothers can bond together in insulting him. 

Greed is not only greed for money. Greed is endless, and I wonder just how much Mammon desire. There is greed for wealth, greed for power, greed for love, greed for status, greed for control, greed for basically anything. But greed is also a big gaping hole you can never fill. 

(Spoiler warning? This brings to mind the Rub the Lamp event where Mammon passes up on controlling the world. I’m not sure how canon it is, but as an avatar of greed (maybe he’s not an avatar of greed, but his personality is naturally very greedy?? maybe?), he would definitely have wanted both the power to control the world AND MC, right? Very interesting.)

Also, it’s interesting to note the extent Mammon would do for his greed. He’s ballsy enough to steal from the Diavolo who’s in a position higher than him, and if Diavolo was not the type of person he is, Mammon could have very well be sentenced to death for treason or locked up in jail from stealing from the Prince of the Devildom. Yet Mammon chooses to do so anyway. However, when it comes to MC, aside from being clingy, I feel like he’s not as... extreme? Thoughts for later.

With regards to his pride, it's very interesting how he shifts back and forth. He dropped his pride so easily to get Goldie back (maybe because he needs to spend money to ease the pain), going as far as kneeling, but he constantly put himself on a high pedestal, calling himself "The Great Mammon."

It could very easily be a font. He's known as the second strongest among the seven rulers of the Devildom, and he's infamous at RAD (chapter 2-2). Basically no one else can match up to him aside from Lucifer and maybe physically Beel (oh and Diavolo). He's infamous, probably for stealing or getting in trouble, but everyone else knows that's how Mammon usually is. They know that he's full of himself and that he's scummy. They expect that from him.

I'm not sure about the other demons, but for his brothers, it's a reassurance that everything is okay. That everything is okay because Mammon is acting like his usual scummy self.

But I bet that one time, Mammon had to throw away his pride, whether as an angel or a demon. He had to throw it all away to survive. He suffered a crushing defeat in the war, how else did he survive? The first is always the hardest.

And sometimes, it sounds like he is reassuring himself. What if his family no longer trusts him due to all the schemes he pulled? What if his family will never be truly happy ever again? What if his attemps to help them are all for naught? While he anchors his family, who anchors him?

[cartoonfangirl1218]

Riverdale should have been a Disney show

Riverdale should have been a Disney show. There I said it. I'll admit the first season was fine Great even. Self-contained with an intriguing mystery and you waited at the edge of your seat for what will happen next. But then... Part of the problem for me is because I've read the original comics since I was a girl. I still do get some from my mom, and the way they have changed the characters just bug me.Betty used to be the girl next door, always hopeful, smart, trying to figure out the mystery. And it was perfect that she was a reporter because Betty was always someone who valued honesty so her being the roving reporter was perfect. And her taking pills for anxiety or some sort of disorder was also a nice take because she does take on so much, and tries so hard to help and be good and nice and perfect. All the stress. Archie was also great in the first season. A bit horny, but he means well, and he truly is an average American boy so his big trouble of choosing between music and football. He's a klutz and sometimes his plans go sideways but he means well, he's all for family and Riverdale and school spirit. None of this whole Red Hood/semi mafia/wrestling nonsense. I actually really liked their take on Veronica, she still a bit materialistic and thinks she can depend on her wealth to get her out of trouble but I do like their take on trying to be enterneauripal and working to act less high class society girl as she was used to. 

Jughead, I'm conflicted with. Because he's good I guess as a brooding, investigative journalist he's good. It fits the setting of the show. But I do have a soft spot for him as the sane man to Archie. Going about his business, surprisingly philosophical. And you can't forget the most important attribute to him. His love of food! I miss that. Like the one scene in season 1, I forget what exactly but basically he ordered burgers and when Cole Sprouse just protectively held the burger to him...such a nice touch. That sort of guy I can see as a DCOM. The genius ditz I guess it's called. But he's not dumb. He just prefers napping to being awake. 

Now the others...omg.I have a bone to pick when it comes to the other characters in Riverdale. Josie and the Pussycats-- they are such lively musicians who solve crimes, sometimes in space. ABsolutely wasted here. Melody barely had any lines. And they didn't have Alex or Alexandra Cabot which was such a shame. I know, I know they're in the new Katy Keene show but having them be step-siblings who used to date is wrong and weird and bad and no! Stop having the twins in these shows with vaguly incesteous feelings. It's weird!

Kevin Keller, all his storylines revolve around his bfs or lack of bfs or how much he wants a bf. The Kevin of Archie comics was so much more well-rounded. He was head of ROTC, he was class president, he ran marathons, he was Veronica's bff, he was a reporter. He had an appetite to match Jughead's. He even had a brief crush on Jughead! He was so much better than this sham. He was confident in who he was and did his best to help others feel good about themselves too because he knows not everyone is lucky to come out as LGTBQ in a supportive environment. 

Reggie. I think not giving him enough of an arc in season 1 really backfired because if he appears, it's only as Veronica's arm candy. Which is a shame because he is a good contrast to Archie. A bit richer yet a cheapskate. Thinks he's a casanova, loves being the class prankster. A modern day politician with his sweet words when all he cares about himself. Basically like 

Yet he has his hidden depths with his neglectful workaholic parents and jealousy of Archie's popularity. Cheryl. Omg Cheryl. They have ruined you here. I'm sorry, I do NOT find any of her lines iconic. It's like she swallowed urban dictionary and a gothic novel and came out all jumbled in a google translate. She may be abused but the way she still treats others like shit and gaslights her gf and makes everything about her is just...ugh!!! OMg, comics Cheryl is actually fun and iconic. She's as rich and pretty as Veronica and unafraid to use it. She wants to be a star like a modern day influencer. She's a red-haired Sharpay Evans basically. 

Also Jason, her twin whom they sadly killed off. He was also fun like a meaner, snobbier version of Reggie. But with a huge crush on Betty which I think could have been used to milk such drama. 

Polly also got hit badly. She was a good older sister. She was a reporter, and inspired Betty's enviormental-feminist activities. A sane person. Not a cult worshipping cuckoo. Toni Topaz, ah she was so good in season 2 and then they made her Cheryl's arm candy. Alas. I liked her as a friend to Jughead. In the comics, she was his equal in food contests. That's no small feat. She was cool, and joined Betty's band and... she was her own person. Remember when Toni used to be a photographer for the South Side paper. Yeah. Basically Toni as a 3d character with personality. Please return. 

Dilton. Oh Dilton. Once the smartest person in the Archie universe and they turned you into a survival freak to get killed by the gargoyle king. Or whomever. I just remember he got killed somehow. Honestly, they should have stuck to smart Dilton. They need a smart scientist there, cuz no one is using their brains in Riverdale. 

Chuck. They have done you SUCH A DISSERVICE! So so bad. Chuck was a good person! He was a cartoonist, and a basketball player and Archie's friend. (Yeah, that's right Archie has friends in the comics. Even though Riverdale makes some effort to show Archie and Jug's bond, they're mainly consorting with their gfs. In the comics, they had guy nights. Reggie, Chuck, Kevin, Dilton, Moose. Come on show. Friendships are just as important.) And what did they do, make him a lying scumbag, turn him good and then have him arrested because of what Cheryl did! No, no no. Bad writers. Just no. Ethel Muggs. You have also been wronged in season 3. Making her a crazy freak. Ethel in season 1 was nice. Ethel in the comics is nice. Plain but with a good heart even though she had a slightly obsessive crush on Jughead. Here, making her cult worshipper.... smdh.  Okay at this point I know I sound like a bitter, bitter person complaining how it'S nOt liKE tHe cOmICs. But hey, I admit season 1 was good even if they changed the characters a bit. It’s just that I watched Riverdale because of the property it derived from. Because of the comics. At the least I expected some faithfulness to the characters. Not make them all so inconsistent and crazy. 

It's just the writing is so inconsistent! The plots hop around and so do their moods. Bughead and Choni broke up for one episode and then they got right back together. Even though they had VALID reasons to break up. Nope. That made fans mad. So they had to get back together. Ugh. And Archie got attacked by a bear and was so traumatized that he broke up with Veronica because "he's changed" for like two episodes before forgetting about it and going back to Veronica. Oh which brings me to the ridiculous "love triangle" of Archie/Reggie/Veronica where she couldn't choose. Please, Archie and Veronica were reuniting and planning to go run away for a weekend together. Reggie was completely forgotten until he walked in on them. And Veronica couldn't decide because she loves them both? No, she didn't. She may have felt bad to tell Reggie but it's not because she loved him. Forgetting a guy so quickly...yeah great proof of love. Horniness maybe. But her indecisiveness makes her look bad. Don’t tease a will they, won’t they when the answer is so obvious.  If you're going to do something like that, you should have there be something called CONSEQUENCES! They can get back together but at least wait. Wait 8 episodes at least so they can have character development. But who am I kidding. Character development is not the goal of this show. The character's just move because the writer's want them too not because it fits their personalities. Such as Archie's grieved reaction for baby Teeth in season 3. 

Not only do I have no idea when (the ridiculously named) Baby Teeth appeared, much less why Archie or I should care about his death. But sometimes the show juggles too much. Too many characters. Too many plots. It's all so ugh!!! So my final thought on this is... Riverdale should have been a disney channel sitcom. Archie comics are about family friendly entertainment and sometimes imparted lessons... well so does Disney. I get the appeal of having Riverdale reach a new teen generation, but from what I can see the only big thing Riverdale on CW is that it allows alcohol and gartituous sex scenes. 

Which is another small gripe of mine. I can handle sex scenes (hello Magic Mike XXL) but so many at such inappropriate moments too It's like that scene in an action movie where they suddenly kiss when they should be running for their lives. No teen is that horny all the time. Plus there's always less is more. If one kisses so much it loses the meaning. If you think your shirtless Archie is going to distract me from lack of plot haha. No. Plot and consistency still sucks and shirtless Archie does not make it better.

But Riverdale as a Disney show can work. After all the comic stories are a bit formulaic. It's all high school hijinks. And all the characters fit an archetype. Archie, the protagonist. Veronica, the fashionista. Betty, the reporter. Jughead, the slacker. Reggie, the class clown/bad friend. Cheryl, the Sharpay, Kevin, the sane one. And if people want a season long story arc with dramatics, Disney can actually handle it too. After all they had the mysterious "threat' lurking in the background of My babysitter's a vampire season 2. Or the Juliet and Mason saga of Wizards of Waverly Place. And if people want adult situations, look on to Jessie. Rewatching an episode now, there were so many adult jokes and references that flew over my head so they could sneak those in. Heck, Disney channel is infamous for all the innuendos they manage. And they handle consistency. Cody and Bailey broke up in Suite life on deck, they actually stayed broken up for a good half season. Gabe matured from a prankster tween to teen in love in Good Luck Charlie. Actions have consequences, characters grow. Storytelling 101

And the best part is they don't even have to think too hard for the plots of the week. They literally can build on stories from the comics. All 80 years of it. And I have put some examples right here from my own Archie comics. Like Veronica literally being the fashion police. 

Veronica and Cheryl teaming up + rolling around in their money. 

Cheryl changing the Cherry Blossom Festival to the Cheryl Blossom Festival 

Archie doing his classic Valentine's Day mix up

Veronica and Betty buy Cheryl’s maid service when her father forces her to get a job. 

Jughead and Trula (Jughead's nemesis & psychoanalyst in training) get amnesia and become friends. 

A boy dares to change Veronica

Jughead falls in love with the lunch-lady 

Betty and Veronica pretending to be distressed damsels to get Archie's attention (it backfires) 

Toni and Jughead foil each other in a food eating contest. 

Betty's cast causes more pain to other students

Reggie dates Cheryl (for real) 

Reggie helps Kevin dress for the dance and his mystery date 

Riverdale Shore. 

Cabot vs Lodge

I think all this pretty much illustrates my point. Archie comics equals Disney sitcom all by itself. 

[chikkou]

I'd ask this on your Lisa sideblog but you don't have anon on and I'm shy lol, but do you have any headcanons relating to Lisa the First? Like Lisa's views on religion, her relationship with her mother, if any of the various worlds we see mean anything?

hoh man i didnt even know anon wasnt on LMAO... ill turn it on after i post this!

also fuck YEAH i do holy shit i fucking LOVE lisa the first!! i know its sort of the black sheep of the lisa series, since it is a completely different type of game and was clearly austins first game, but i fucking ADORE it dude. the music - which he made ENTIRELY IN THE FREE TRIAL OF FL STUDIO BY THE WAY - is FANTASTIC, the art direction is actually pretty fucking incredible for an rpgmaker game that uses a good deal of basic assets, and the gameplay.... ok yeah that part is a bit lacking but its a yume nikki-style game be nice it was his first time LMAO

ANYWAY back to ur question. first and foremost, i think this is not even a headcanon so much as straight up canon, but lisa DESPISES christianity. marty is christian, probably catholic given the golden crosses everywhere, and he is a fucking scumbag hypocrite. lisa likely associates all of christianity with this line of thinking, as there is one room in the bile area where the melted martys (although i suppose we can just call them joy mutants now LMAO) simply stand in a circle surrounding one big cross. the role of the melted martys is up for interpretation of course, as is everything, but after playing the painful and seeing them described as “mindless sheep,” i think this is how lisa viewed them. so they likely represent other people that, to lisa, are probably just as sick and disgusting as marty

lisas relationship with her mother... i go back and forth on this one a lot. i can never decide if i prefer the headcanon that lisas mom died in childbirth, and so lisa never met her, or if i prefer that lisas mom was around for a very short time and then either left or died. the fact that she says “i didnt want to leave” at the end of the first leads me to believe that she most likely died. in either case, the memory of her mother was clearly important to lisa, as she wears her pendant through the entire game and its explicitly noted as being a gift from her. in either case, i think that the death/absence of the mother is heavily implied to be the primary cause behind martys descent into alcoholism and lisas abuse, since the white room strongly implies that marty did at one time sincerely love and care for her as a father properly should 

as for the meaning of each of the rooms, i think most of them are fairly self explanatory, but some of them are a bit more vague, so ill break it down in terms of how i see it (and ill put them under the cut because its long as hell):

martys house - this is the most literal one. pretty self-explanatory. the dark, yet vibrant colors and the ear-bleedingly loud tv are pure sensory overload, something lisa probably deals with on a regular basis. when lisa goes outside and it turns into a sky of marty faces, i think this is the transition into the psychological part of the game

the lobby - this is honestly just pure yume nikki ripoff LMAO... but if i had to ascribe a symbolic meaning to it, i think its probably a quiet and safe area for lisa to retreat to in her mind when she needs it, but even that eventually gets sullied as tricky rick makes his way there, too (and tells her hes “just waiting” when she talks to him). the majority of gameplay is lisa searching for items with which to kill tricky rick, who always abuses and disparages her whenever she talks to him, telling her she’ll never forget. as for the reason why... well, take one look at him and its pretty clear whats going on there. (the name is also a reference to richard nixon, whose nickname was... well, you can figure it out!)

the town - the bar area is 100% my favorite from this world; lisa clearly hates alcohol and anyone who drinks it, associating them all with marty, and that music... all i can say is YUCK. the entire section also consists of lisa having to give up something in exchange for what she needs to move on, and usually getting the raw end of the deal out of it (she gives one marty a banana, he gives her a banana peel in return). she does all that while avoiding a marty following her outside who repeatedly tells her “you cant escape,” and upon reaching tricky rick (who is atop a narrow, columnar, PINK mountain), it becomes pretty clear whats happening to her. 

the sea room - fucking marty spiders man. im assuming they represent the sickly feeling of crawling skin she gets when she looks at him or is anywhere near him, but holy GOD they are annoying to deal with. she kills tricky rick with pills here - we dont know what kind of pills these are, but i interpret them as sleeping pills, and given the rumbling music and the rapid cycling marty background, i wonder if he forced her to take these. marty is everywhere here, but the only one she can speak to is seen chilling on a raft of some kind. marty likely spent much of his time recreationally, i.e. drinking, so it makes sense why this would be here

the rope room - theres no symbolism here this is just pure comedy (LMAO). if i HAD to assign some meaning to this area, it would be that lisa likely is so despondent at this point that putting in effort to do anything feels utterly pointless, much like climbing this long-ass rope was

the white room - as i mentioned earlier, i personally believe that this area depicts the previous relationship between marty and lisa (and also has one of my favorite songs in the game). he is shown doing traditional fatherly things - he is no longer wearing sunglasses and is wearing a suit, meaning he was likely employed, and is actually smiling. he also spends time with her in a completely platonic, familial way. when she interacts with him, there is a little heart over his head. after lisa walks through the golden statues (which will reappear later), the entire world becomes filled with bile, and martys appearance returns to that of the other martys, but with an extremely warped, grotesque face. the item she needs in this area to kill tricky rick is found between two golden crosses.

notice that all of the items she kills tricky rick with - a razor, pills, and now a plastic bag - are things that a child could plausibly get their hands on; none of them are explicitly weapons. i think this shows both her age and how often she must have considered using those things against him. 

the bile room - probably my favorite area in the game, and also features what i consider the quintessential lisa song. this area really drives home lisas disgust with marty and with christianity as a whole - it almost certainly has the highest concentration of crosses, and it is also quite literally covered in wall-to-wall bile, dirty water, and disgusting houses. a lot of the most graphic sights, like the melting martys and the pond martys (no idea what to call them LMAO) are here, so i think this is pretty much the lowest circle of hell for lisa. marty gives lisa a freshly cut finger in exchange for a napkin here; im not necessarily sure what that represents, but i think the napkin was used by marty to masturbate (as he says “i needed that” after he takes it), so perhaps the finger is martys?

lisa kills tricky rick here in a cave that is not-so-subtly shaped like a penis, and gets a vhs tape in which he pretty explicitly states what is going on in the game; he even pretends like he doesnt know who lisa is at first, which somehow makes it even more disgusting. the fact that vhs tapes play a role here sort of makes me wonder if marty really WAS filming some of what he was doing, and given that lisa the joyful confirms that brad was forced to somehow participate in lisas abuse, that is.... horrific to think about, honestly

the marty tape - this tape just has the player (as marty) walk up to lisa and suited marty, who are having a tea party with a plastic tea set. they both get hearts over their heads if you talk to them. i think this drives home that he and lisa did once have a normal relationship, and perhaps theres some part of marty who misses that? theres a LOT of ways you can interpret this; having the player become marty really calls a lot into question.

the mansion - the room leading here has a marty staring directly at the player who informs lisa that she needs a sword to progress. unsubtly, the sword must be placed into the crotch of a womans statue. the mansion inside is beautiful and ornate, and easily the most gorgeous area in the game - and it all leads to what appears to be a proto-joy mutant marty, sort of looking like jabba the hutt. i dont doubt that this is intentional, given that jabba the hutt is associated with slave leia, and its not at all a far leap to call lisa martys slave. the golden statues of women, as well as many golden crosses, are everywhere in this area. its actually quite a large space with a lot of thought put into it, so im really upset that i cant figure out more of what it represents LMAO

the final area - lisa seems to go back to her actual house, but upon leaving her room and entering whether the living room would be, the whole area changes. she encounters herself in a blood red room, but when she talks to the other lisa, she turns into marty. i think this represents a clear question - who is lisa without him? IS she anyone? or is she just a vessel for him to do with what he pleases? she encounters a naked marty telling her to give up shortly after, and flees from him, but is followed by voices repeatedly telling her that she must accept her fate. i think this clearly show the mental state of lisas last days. she was tormented, eternally. she truly felt there was no escape from marty. even the background becomes nothing but martys face, over and over again, as the end screen flashes.

at the end text, she finds a video tape, and in the tape sees someone who is ostensibly her mother from behind. she apologizes for not being there for her, but when that figure turns out, its martys face that she sees. the sky turns into marty. the music becomes corrupted and overrun with pretty fucked up laughter. she tries to run, but marty is already everywhere. theres nowhere for her to run. and then the game is over.

note that the video tape comes AFTER the games end screen, which stops not long after the appearance of the naked marty. so i personally believe that the “game over” represents her deciding to take her own life, rather than just give up and accept her fate. by running from him into the blackness, she got away from marty the only way she could have. it is sad and horrible, but that is honestly the best ending that she could have gotten in this game.

the first is definitely not as good as the painful in terms of gameplay, that much i can agree on, but i really think people miss out on a lot by not playing it. i think its really crucial to see lisas life from her own perspective before you can see it from brads - after all, brad may have known more than anyone else about what was going on, but he did not experience it like lisa did. for brad, lisa is a symbol of his own regrets and failures, but lisa was a PERSON (well, in-universe anyway LMAO). she suffered on her own, with pretty much no one to help her, and then she suffered so much that she couldnt take another second of it. 

[atlantias]

past dating lols

i have so many funny dating stories that i wish i documented on here. 

1) the time i went on a double tinder date with my friend and halfway through the night, i found out that the guy i was paired up with had the same last name as me and was from the same state as my dad’s side of the family is from :/ uhh we still made out but slept on the bed with our backs to each other and on opposite ends LMFAO

2) one time a guy i was hooking up with wanted to “take me out on a real date” and that date was supposed to consist of going to planned parenthood and getting std tests so that we could have sex without a condom (he wanted to do that, not me)

3) i have suppressed this memory, but on a second date i had with a guy, we watched tv at his house and i told him i was hungry for dinner and he gave me an unripe avocado and peanut butter :/ i did not eat that meal and there was no 3rd date 

4) once i hit up a guy i hadn’t seen in a few months and who i wasnt actually interested in because i wanted to get a free five guys meal (he had always bought us our chipotle meals before). this time around, i had to buy my own (petty, i know) and he just rambled on about how he used to scoop dog shit up as a job. i faked a headache so that he couldn’t stay and hang out at my place. we mutually unfollowed each other soon after that

5) after a party sophomore year of college, a boy and i came back to my dorm suite and i had to go to the bathroom to throw up. i threw up a leaf??? it must have been in the jungle juice but i was too fucked up to notice i guess??. i said nothing and proceeded to go about my business as usual. 

6) i slept over at a guy’s place at a different college across town and my period started unexpectedly and i bled all over a blanket. he was really freaked out, and i texted my friend since i was so disappointed in the guy’s reaction and i had no period products. she literally ubered to the guy’s place with a tampon. god bless girl friends

7) there are no funny stories about the TA i dated because he was a manipulative, sociopathic scumbag :-) hope he fails in life! jk 

8) before i had ever had sex for the first time, i gave my bf at the time a handjob in his freshman dorm while his roommate slept feet away from us. i cant remember if it was the first one i ever gave him, but he whispered “thank you” to me after he finished and all i said was “uhhh you’re welcome?” i remember just feelin awk

9) when i was 19 i slept with a grad student and he fucking sucked so hard as a person holy shit. he worked for some local politician so he would come back to his apartment wearing a suit and tie. i was so into that shit like ooooo a professional man lmfao. well anyways 1) i learned his mom bred small dogs for dog shows and loved them more than him, 2) his sister is super hippie and does cool art, which is sweet, he had it all over his room, 3) he snores so loud at one point i left at 4am and ran across campus back to my room to get some sleep, 4) he has a weird fetishization of asian women, as he hit on my asian friend at a bar :/ and 5) he accidentally texts me sometimes because i have the same name as his coworker which means im still in his phone? bro it was like 4 years ago and each time i have to ask who you are it’s so awkward... DELETE IT

i will expand more on other things as more memories come back to me. i just like to reminisce and laugh at past shit i used to get into

[wolfsrainrules]

I just watched a music video for "I'm Still Here" from Treasure Planet, and hurt myself by imagining the Midoriyas in the role of people walked out on. I needed to share this pain, thank you for being here.

AHHHHHHH I LOVE this movie and music!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE if you haven’t seen this movie WATCH THIS MOVIE. @north-peach @hey-hamlet @secret-engima LINK to song AND THAT IDEA HURTS ME. 

......

I LOVE IT. 

HERE HAVE A THING

 Most days, Izuku didn’t really....stay home. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his mother, that he didn’t love his home, but...well. 

They struggled. Ever since that asshole scumbag had walked out on them both, when Izuku was younger, and Izuku knew it. He knew his mom had to work harder than most in this quadrant had to. That the only reason they still lived in this quadrant was due to already having paid off their home.

Izuku did what he could, working around the area, under the table jobs and whatever he could get away with, going out into the scrapyards, building machines and trinkets to help at home or sell off for money.

So he wasn’t usually home, unless he was helping his mother with maintenance or the bakery deliveries, out and about earning money to bring home.

He’d met...quite a few strange beings in the process, living so close to a large space port, with so many alien species or ‘quirked humans’ from interbreeding with those species.

And Izuku was fascinated, utterly and completely smitten with the different beings and their abilities, and what made them so different. If he could do it, Izuku knows with a certainty down to his bones that he’d join up with one of the ships that sailed the verse, and try to get his certification for healing by apprenticing under the ship’s doctor. He’d never be able to afford schooling, but if he could convince the doctor to apprentice him...

But well...it was a dream.

He refused to abandon his mother like his father had abandoned them.

Instead he would keep wandering the port, taking what jobs he could, and helping where he could, earning favors and good standing with the people who lived in the area.

LINEBREAK

Dabi cursed under his breath, rushing from his ship under Commander Aizawa, and absolutely furious that he had to leave the ship at all.

His little brother was on that ship, bleeding and in need of the help only Dabi- Touya- could give him, but didn’t have the supplies left to do so. 

If he could have, he would have sent others to get what he needed, but in order to have medical supplies rushed to the ship, a certified healer with a license had to be present.

Dabi had to be there, to get the supplies he needed to save his family. 

He rushed into the shop he usually restocked at while at this port, and up to the counter. They knew him, and wouldn’t have to spend forever verifying his credentials, and would respond promptly.

Two teens were at the counter- pink skin, golden horns- Dabi recognized Mina from multiple trips, the daughter of the man who ran the shop, and a green haired boy that Dabi had seen all over the place on his various trips.

He ignored the boy for the moment, crashing up to the counter and listing out what he needed as quickly as he could to the young woman who would know who he was and not question him. 

Mina reacted immediately, rushing to grab what he needed, but to his surprise the green haired boy was right beside Mina, grabbing what he asked for and helping load up the supplies.

As soon as it was loaded up, he told Mina to charge it to The Alliance’s account, and grabbed the first box. Before he could figure out how to bring the second box with him, the green haired boy is hauling it up, and a step behind him.

Dabi doesn’t question it, just snapping a quick “Keep Up.” before he runs.

The boy doesn’t hesitate, and keeps right on his heels.

LINEBREAK

Izuku had recognized the code the man had given Mina as an emergency healer code- memorized for the various jobs he had done around the city, and when the girl hadn’t hesitated to start grabbing what he needed, Izuku had followed suit. 

He hadn’t hesitated to follow him either, holding the second box of supplies and ready to assist however he could. 

Izuku may not have been ready to go off and apprentice for his dream job, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t taken whatever jobs he could relating to it. 

So when they approached the ship this doctor had come from- large, and hornet’s nest of activity at the moment- Izuku stays on his heels. 

They get to the infirmary, and Izuku sets his box next to where the man had placed his own, and then turned to scrub up next to him.

“I’m not a professional or an apprentice, but I know enough to help.” 

Dabi eyes him harshly for a moment, hard blue eyes looking into his soul, before he begins briefing him on what they would be walking into, even as he strips into new sanitized scrubs, Izuku right beside him.

When they step in to the operating room, Izuku takes it all in at a glance. He knows immediately that Dabi had taken his help because no one in the room looked to have any sort of training at all. There may have been someone who could help in the array of people already sprawled in the recovery bunks, blocked in on all sides in case of accidents in space, but they were unconscious and thus not an option.

Still, Izuku breathes deeply, and steps up beside Dabi anyway, taking in their patient, and the supplies they had brought in with them. He can see this is going to be difficult and time consuming, but he doesn’t hesitate, providing information and tools as Dabi asks for it, and sometimes before he even needs to ask.

LINEBREAK

When it’s all over, and the boy- Todoroki Shouto, Izuku learns- is sewn up, the compounds on the spike they had operated on and removed from his side and arm preventing them from healing it the quicker way, Izuku finally slips out of the focused mindset he had allowed to take over.

He breathes.

Beside him, Dabi had collapsed backwards, the gloves he had been wearing at his feet, bloodstained and forgotten, as he presses the heels of his hands into his eyes.

“...are you okay, sir?”

Izuku almost doesn’t want to interrupt, but the man looks close to tears.

He looks up and those icy blue eyes have warmed considerably, the relief plain to Izuku. 

“Call me Dabi, kid. I’m alright. That was my youngest brother, and if I could live the rest of my life without having to pull Hew’efe spikes out of his body, that would be great.” his eyes close and he heaves though a deep breath, before reopening. “...what’s your name kid?”

“Midoriya Izuku.”

The next time Dabi looks at him, his eyes are considering and impressed “That was excellent work, especially for someone with no Master Healer to teach them, and under pressure.”

Izuku turns beet read, staring down at his feet immediately. “Thank you sir.”

Dabi scans him head to foot, makes a low considering noise, and then asks “Would you be open to an Apprenticeship?”

BONUS FACTS:

--Inko is invited along as a Sous Chef during the conversation Dabi has with her getting permission for Izuku to apprentice

--Aizawa- Captain of the ship- falls in love with her crepes and coffee and is ALL FOR this

--Izuku could break down and cry when he finally gets to go live his dream, learning under Dabi, with his mother there with him

--The first time the ship is attacked while Dabi and Izuku are operating on a crewmate, and the enemy breaks into the infirmary, Izuku shows himself to be a BAD ASS protective Medic of Death despite his Soft Demeanor

---Aizawa’s ship usually works as a transporter of goods, expensive RARE goods, which means they are a target of bandits and looters....a lot. 

Aizawa’s crew consists of:Mic, Shinsou, Kirishima, Katsuki, Dabi, Shouto, Midnight and Denki- and now Izuku and Inko.  With various ‘fill ins’ that usually trade off from port to port. 

Toshinori is a regular, but due to health reasons can’t stay on board in space for long periods of time. He writes about the adventures of Aizawa’s crew and shit (The Alliance) though, and is rather well known. 

Izuku is a huge fan and loses his entire mind when he realizes his fav stories are BASED ON THE PEOPLE HES WORKING WITH.

[yoursummerfrost]

Hogwarts House Sorting: Lucifer Characters

After hemming and hawing for weeks, I finally decided to commit to making this character analysis. I’ll be using the @sortinghatchats​ system of house sorting because I really love how much nuance it allows for!

You can find excellent explanations of the system on their blog, but a brief explanation for the un-initiated: Primary houses explain WHY a person does things. Secondary houses explain HOW they do them. Frequently, people may model another house, meaning they borrow that system or approach, but will fall back on their “true” house when the chips are down. Additionally, people can lose touch with their house(s) in a process called burning/falling/petrifying/stripping. Without further ado, here we go! Sortings under the cut. [Spoilers through Season 4].

LUCIFER MORNINGSTAR. I’ll start with Lucifer’s secondary, which I think is more straightforward. Our chaotic Devil is a Slytherin secondary through-and-through. He’s at his best when he’s improvising by charming other people, waltzing into a drug dealers’ home base, or paying off a traffic cop. While he can look like a charging Gryffindor or a favor-dealing Hufflepuff, these are ultimately tools that Lucifer uses to be a more effective Slytherin.

At first glance, Luci looks like a Slytherin primary, too. However, I actually think our titular Devil is a burned Hufflepuff primary who resorted to modelling Slytherin when he Fell. In fact, Luci’s character arc over the course of the show is to un-burn, a journey that starts even before he meets Chloe in the pilot. Hufflepuff and Slytherin primaries are both loyalist; the main difference between them is in the scope of their loyalty. Slytherin primaries prioritize a smaller circle of people whom they have decided to prioritize. In contrast, Hufflepuffs believe in the innate value of people, and seek to prioritize people based on need or a sense of what is fair–in Lucifer’s case, this revolves around the basic right to free will.

Hufflepuffs tend to burn when the world has treated them so unfairly that they end up believing that caring about everyone is an impossible goal. Facing this rejection, they narrow their circles and start to prioritize looking out just for themselves, or a few loved ones. This often comes with a sense of shame: if the Hufflepuff were a better person, they could be kind to everyone (and remember, being kind doesn’t mean being nice). Lucifer is constantly asking himself this question. Is he a monster? Can he be a good person? In the pilot, his first interaction with Amenadiel includes asking, “Do you think I’m evil because I was born that way, or because dear old Dad decided I was?” 

At the beginning of the series, Lucifer mostly looks out for himself and, to a lesser extent, Maze. However, even in the pilot, we see glimpses of his inherent sense of justice and compassion for humanity. His interactions with Delilah (and his reaction to her death) set the stage, and his work with the LAPD–beyond his fascination with Chloe–continues the trend. Linda says it best when she tells him, “I think you’re starting to enjoy seeking justice for the good ones.” He only punishes people who have betrayed his innate sense of what is kind and fair–people who hurt other people–and he detests when someone takes away another person’s choice.

This isn’t to say that Slytherins can’t have this innate sense of fairness and compassion; it’s that a Slytherin would still put their “own people” first when the chips are down, and feel good about that decision. A Hufflepuff would feel like they’ve done the right thing when they put the collective good first. When Luci gives Marlotte her own universe at the end of season 2, he’s prioritizing the good of the world–and God and all his siblings in Heaven, estranged they may be–above keeping someone he loves very dearly: his mom. It’s a pretty significant character moment that this is the moral act which gives him his wings back.

Similarly, Lucifer’s pivotal decision at the end of season 4 also shows his Hufflepuff primary. He makes a huge personal sacrifice by going back to rule Hell, and hurts Chloe and his other loved ones to do it too. At the end of the day, Luci wants to do what’s best for humanity, even if it’s at cost to his inner circle. The flip side of this is the very Slytherin decision he makes at the end of season 3 which triggers the reappearance of his Devil face: killing Cain. Lucifer has killed exactly two people, both for the Slytherin motivation of protecting Chloe. Now, we can argue that Luci’s Slytherin model actually served him pretty well here, and the show generally wants us to support Luci after these difficult choices. But the key is in his reaction, which is an intense level of guilt uncharacteristic of someone who genuinely believes that the ends justify the means when it comes to protecting the people they love. 

For our true Slytherin primaries, we need to look no further than the occasional murder-buddies, Maze and Dan.

MAZIKEEN SMITH. Maze is a classic Slytherin primary through and through, and she petrifies over the course of season 3. Her Slytherin primary clashes with Lucifer’s Hufflepuff primary as he slowly un-burns; she can’t understand why he cares so much about humans and why he would change for them. It also explains why she’s so betrayed by his refusal to take her back to Hell: For Slytherin Maze, Lucifer refusing to prioritize her must mean that he cares about her less. For Hufflepuff Lucifer, he has to consider the good of the system–and taking Maze back to Hell could endanger everyone else by angering his father. Plus, it would break up the family!

At the beginning, Maze’s circle consists of herself and Lucifer, and she’s willing to go to any length to protect him–including almost killing Chloe and siding with Amenadiel to bring Lucifer home.  While her stance on humanity ends up changing, it’s primarily because she finds some humans that she happens to like–Trixie and Linda, first and foremost, though she adopts more as the series goes on. She tells Chloe, “I’m glad I didn’t kill you,” not because she suddenly decides murder is inherently bad, but because she ends up looking at Chloe and thinking, ‘This one is mine.’

Maze petrifies when she slowly loses everyone in her circle besides herself. This starts by Linda and Amenadiel lying to her and spirals out of control when Lucifer refuses to take her back to Hell. “None of you deserve me,” she tells him, and suddenly finds herself with no one to protect but herself. However, Maze un-petrifies at the end of the season; the first step is when Amenadiel shows her compassion, but she ultimately finds her place again when she rushes to save Linda from the bluffed threat from Cain.

Maze is a Gryffindor secondary. She’s at her best when she charges head (and knife) first into situations. However, she also has a Ravenclaw model that, similarly to Lucifer, she uses to make her a more effective Gryffindor. Maze collects weapons and fighting styles in a very Ravenclaw-fashion so that she can be the best possible torturer and bounty-hunter, but when trouble arrives, she’s not going to stop and make a plan–she’s going to kick trouble’s ass.

DAN ESPINOZA gets along with Maze so well because they’re both Slytherin primaries. Dan’s willingness to feed Warden Perry to the mob–and his lack of remorse afterwards–because Perry is a scumbag who hurt someone he cares about is clear evidence of his primary. He also knows exactly where to look for a little backup in Maze, who’s always down to offer him the means to his end. At his “Detective Douchiest,” Dan is leveraging his Slytherin primary to justify his bad behavior. He’s loyal to himself, after all, and throws himself into his work to avoid being attached to anyone else. However, Dan’s primary is also a strength. It makes him fiercely loyal and dependable to the people he loves–willing to do whatever it takes to protect them, or get them the revenge they don’t believe in getting for themselves.

Speaking of throwing himself into work: Dan is a Hufflepuff secondary. He’s a hard-working detective who keeps his head down–which makes him clash with his Gryffindor ex-wife, Chloe, who would rather make loud, controversial decisions in the name of justice–and puts in steady hours to chip away at his goals. When he’s in a good place, he puts a similar work ethic into the people he loves. When he’s in a bad one, he hides behind his work and detaches from the “human” side of his secondary.

CHLOE DECKER. Like I just mentioned, Chloe is a Gryffindor primary who desperately wants to pretend that she’s a Ravenclaw. Her Ravenclaw model–attributing morality to the legal system, carefully considering the facts when making decisions–can serve her well, and she falls back on it when she’s trying to wrangle Lucifer’s Slytherin antics. However, Chloe’s real strength has always been following her gut–occasionally to the point of self-righteousness. This also explains her base moral conflict with Dan, who both prioritizes people over ideals. A similar conflict could exist with Lucifer, but Luci is constantly encouraging Chloe to trust her instincts–he values her true primary more than her model. She has an innate sense of right and wrong that she has to fight very hard to overcome, and things normally go worse for her when she does. 

I’m talking about the clusterfuck that was early season 4, obviously. Chloe sees Lucifer’s Devil face at the end of season 3 and is faced with a reality that her Ravenclaw model was stubbornly refusing to accommodate; she has a gut reaction of fear that tells her to run away. This initial need for space wasn’t actually the issue. I think that, if Chloe had met anyone besides Father Kinley, things would’ve been just fine. But when she meets Kinley in Rome, Chloe is manipulated into ignoring her Gryffindor instincts. Her heart is telling her to trust Lucifer–that he’s a good person who she loves. However, Kinley manipulates Chloe into trusting an external source of morality instead: his twisted brand of Catholic pedagogy. What restores Chloe’s conscience is tossing out everything Kinley tries to tell her and realigning with what she feels, which is love for Lucifer.

Chloe is also a Gryffindor secondary, although her Ravenclaw secondary model is more useful and stable than her primary model. Like Maze, she borrows the thoughtful planning and skill-collecting of a Ravenclaw. Chloe tackles cases by examining every angle, carefully interrogating suspects, and weighing the pros and cons of every solution. I would hazard a guess that most of her colleagues assume that Ravenclaw!Chloe is all there is–especially because she seems so much more sensible that her reckless partner. But if we dig deeper, Chloe is more than happy to charge into situations with a stubbornness and bravery that’s nearly unmatched. When push comes to shove, Chloe will take a psychologist on a date rather than wait for special permission to speak to a suspect, leverage Lucifer’s impulsivity to shake down perps, and stand between Lucifer and Cain’s henchmen while daring them to shoot.

AMENADIEL.  Our resident solider of God is a little harder to pin down than most of the others for me, primarily because I really want to know more about his time in Heaven before the series started. Amenadiel reads either like a Ravenclaw or Gryffindor primary, though I lean towards a stripped Gryffindor. This is complicated by the fact that Amenadiel was stripped long before he realizes it during season 2. Stripped Gryffindors learn that they can’t trust their own moral compass and have to find a new system to follow instead. I think this happened to Amenadiel when he was still living in the Silver City, perhaps around the time Lucifer Fell, if not before.

Amenadiel functions by being his father’s loyal solider–by doing exactly what he’s told, because it’s supposed to be the right thing. He labels his brother as selfish, reckless, and evil despite harboring a clear love for him at the same time. This cognitive dissonance exists because someone else taught Amenadiel that he should believe those things about Lucifer. He survives in Heaven by falling in line–essentially adapting his father’s party line, like a Ravenclaw would. The issue is that a Ravenclaw would be satisfied with adapting such a system, and would not struggle as much to revise this system later if they found it inadequate.

In contrast, Amenadiel is constantly struggling to figure out what’s right. He’s horrified by his own behavior during season 1, causing him to Fall from angelhood and lose his wings and powers, but can’t seem to re-orient himself. He tries on different hats–first being like Lucifer, then following their mom instead of their dad, and finally trying to follow their dad again–but nothing ever feels right. Amenadiel’s greatest comfort is found in the realization that angels self-actualize. Once this realization comes, Amenadiel learns to trust himself again and regains his wings once and for all.

Amenadiel splits himself between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw secondaries and somehow manages to fail at both. (I say this with love). This is mostly because, I think, his Gryffindor primary is so stripped that his HOW is too detached from a WHY that makes internal sense–this leaves him ineffective and lost. Looking at season 4, though, I think Amenadiel is a Ravenclaw who models a Gryff secondary. While he’s still up for a Gryffindor-esque charge into the fight, Amenadiel approaches Linda’s pregnancy and impending fatherhood with a desire to learn as much as he can and make a better world for his son.

LINDA MARTIN is a Ravenclaw primary who briefly falls when she sees Lucifer’s Devil face, then promptly picks up herself back up and builds a new moral system for herself. It takes her about a week and she’s fairly satisfied with the result, even when her emotional and physical fears flare back up and she has to baby-proof her ceiling. Pre-fall, Linda believed in a system of compassion and warm skepticism, which made her an excellent therapist. She liked to think she might be reincarnated as a chameleon. She enjoyed the process of questioning the world. During her fall, Linda found her current system incapable of accommodating the simultaneously massive and personal scale of Divinity–and post-fall, she builds a new system that largely looks the same as before but, as Amenadiel helpfully points out, contains “different questions.” 

With Linda, we’ve finally found a straightforward Ravenclaw secondary, no modelling to be found. Linda likes to plan for trouble, and she flounders when that opportunity is taken away from her. She’s constantly trying to remind people that she’s not that kind of doctor, and while she lets herself get swept up into Lucifer’s schemes–like breaking God out of a psychiatric hospital–she’s never comfortable in that kind of situation and the decisions she makes impulsively don’t tend to work out well for her (see: the resulting interrogation from the ethics review board). 

ELLA LOPEZ is another “double” house, and our second Hufflepuff primary. While many people who have a strong religious faith can be seen as Ravenclaw primaries, Ella’s connection to her faith is driven by her innate love for humanity. She believes that people–including the Devil, who she says gets a bad rap–are basically good and deserve love and kindness. After Charlotte’s death, we see that Ella’s response is not to lose faith in her approach to life like a Ravenclaw might–instead, she resents a God who she thought shared her Hufflepuff morals and clearly doesn’t, if such senseless bad things can happen to good people.

Her Hufflepuff secondary is a fairly classic kind, combining cheerful work with an interpersonal warmth that endears people to her. Ella’s natural charisma is a sweet, understated variety that makes even Azrael, the Angel of Death, want to look out for her. While Ella rarely leverages this consciously–and her lack of desire to do so feeds into her charm–there are multiple points in the series where people casually go to bat for her. Two prime examples are when Charlotte tells off Pierce in an immensely satisfying fashion and when Lucifer scares Ella’s brother straight.

CHARLOTTE RICHARDS. Oh, dearest Charlotte. So much of her time is spent in a existential crisis that she’s another hard one to pin down. but I think she’s a Slytherin primary. When Charlotte finds out about the Devil of it all, she doesn’t run like Chloe, and she doesn’t have to reconstruct her view of the world like Linda does. Instead, Charlotte struggles to understand how to be a “good” Slytherin. Pre-trip to Hell, it’s implied that Charlotte lived fairly selfishly, extending her Slytherin circle to herself, her clients, and perhaps her children. Post-Hell, Charlotte is rocked to her core by the realization that she was not living free of guilt.

Now, some could argue that this means Charlotte isn’t actually a Slytherin. However, Slytherins aren’t free from other aspects of morality just because their first priority will always be their chosen people. Charlotte prioritized protecting criminals who she knew did terrible things, and she put herself first to an extent that many people would feel guilty about, even though most would agree that it’s good to put yourself first sometimes. When she’s trying to become a “good” person, Charlotte initially tries to give up her Slytherin ideals entirely. She quits her job and joins the DA’s office, trying to more like the cheerful Hufflepuff Ella.

This ultimately fails; it simply isn’t her. But Charlotte finds success–and a tragic redemption–when she learns that there’s more than one way to be a Slytherin. She turns some of her Slytherin loyalty outwards, towards victims and survivors of domestic abuse as well as new loved ones–Dan, Ella, and Amenadiel. She’s willing to go to great lengths to protect the people in her circle, which is still a very Slytherin motivation, but one that she feels much more at peace with in the end.

As for Charlotte’s secondary? Look, anyone who steals a dude’s motorcycle while cheerfully informing him, “Don’t worry, it’s for God!” is probably a Gryffindor. I don’t make the rules here.

MARLOTTE. The thing about being a Hufflepuff primary is that people matter, but not everyone has the same definition of “person.” At first glance, the Divine Goddess might look like a Slytherin primary. However, I argue that she actually values all “people” equally, it’s just that she considers Celestials to be people, and humanity to be both too foreign and simple to matter. (This logic is, by the way, the same reasons Hufflepuffs are no less capable of racism, homophobia, etc. than anyone else). 

Goddess’s primary goal is to reunite her family, sans God, and she’s willing to roast a bunch of humans on the Santa Monica Pier to do it. Humans are fundamentally expendable–except for her “favorite human,” Dan, who essentially gets a loophole when she spends enough time with him and stops seeing him as “other.” But Goddess doesn’t consider any Celestial to be expendable. She’s not willing to harm Luci and Amenadiel, even when she realizes that they were planning to betray her. She doesn’t value herself more than she values her children, and she doesn’t play favorites. If she did, she might be content to try and stay on Earth, or to wage a war in which some of her children (i.e., the ones who didn’t side with her) died. If Goddess were a Slytherin, it would be possible to “kick” people out of her circle, like Maze does when she petrifies. Instead, Goddess’s natural state is essentially inclusive, much like her son, Lucifer–they just have a pretty substantial conflict over who gets included.

Goddess is a determined Ravenclaw secondary. When she needs to make things better with Lucifer, she learns how to make “cheesy noodles.” She throws herself whole-heartedly into learning  how to live as Charlotte Richards–including reading every legal book every, apparently. While she’s certainly cunning like many Slytherin secondaries, Goddess actually doesn’t function very well without a plan. Things fall apart for her pretty quickly when she runs out of time in her body and has to make decisions off the cuff. Unlike Lucifer, who works best when he’s under pressure, she needs time to set up her course of action.

EVE is another difficult one to sort because so much of her characterization is about not knowing how she is. This makes her primary fairly obscured, and I hope we’ll see more of her in season 5 so I can revisit this sorting. For now, I’m going with a Gryffindor primary. Eve is motivated by doing what feels good–whether it’s leaving Heaven because she’s tired of being someone’s wife or convincing her boyfriend to punish people. She has an instinctive solution to every problem–even when logic says, ‘Hey, maybe don’t release demons from Hell?’ because she knows how things should be–and that’s with her and Lucifer together.

The reason she clashes with Lucifer is that while Eve’s primary is about ideals, Lucifer’s primary is about people–whether he’s operating on his Slytherin model or his true Hufflepuff primary. Lucifer cares a whole lot about other people’s desires–including Eve’s–but he doesn’t care that much about his own if they hurt other people. Interestingly, Chloe and Lucifer have this same idealist vs. humanist conflict; Eve and Chloe just have very different flavors of Gryffindor morality, and it turns out that Chloe’s ideals match up with Lucifer’s Hufflepuff values more of the time. Furthermore, Chloe comes to accept Lucifer’s Hufflepuff-ness in a way that Eve doesn’t. Chloe actually prefers Luci as a Puff–her Gryffindor righteousness says that they should protect other people, which is the same thing Lucifer wants to do.

Much like Ella, Eve uses a Hufflepuff secondary to build connections with other people that she can depend on. However, Eve leverages those connections on a much more conscious level than Ella ever does–in fact, it’s essentially the first thing that Eve ever does, both in her life and in the series. She starts by connecting herself to Adam, trying to be the perfect wife. Then, she leaves Heaven and seeks out Lucifer, relying on him to help her accomplish her goals. After getting dumped, Eve jumps to Maze instead. She’s a particularly effective Hufflepuff because of her Slytherin model, which allows her to adapt to whatever the other person needs her to be (see: the entirety of “Super Bad Boyfriend.”) You could make the argument that Eve is actually just a Slytherin secondary, since the “chameleon” aspect is so central to how she functions. However, Eve has a level of discomfort with her constant mask-wearing that a Slytherin secondary probably wouldn’t. In fact, deciding to part ways with her Slytherin model and figure out who she is represents Eve’s big character moment at the very end of the season.

MARCUS PIERCE/CAIN. I saved Cain for last because (in my opinion) he’s the closest thing to a pure antagonist that we have on the show, but frankly even that’s debatable [EDIT I FORGOT KINLEY EXISTED LMAO]. Anyways, Cain is a Slytherin primary who has been petrified for so long that he’s ready for a hard-out on the whole immortality thing. The only person in his circle is himself–we see, mostly in flashbacks, that this is because he’s tired of the pain that comes with losing people he loves. Cain only wants to live again once he adds Chloe to his circle and she reminds him what it feels like to have people to live for.

The neat and/or horrifying thing about Cain is that he’s a fantastic example of a truly insidious Hufflepuff secondary. His entire Sinnerman persona revolves around crafting a network of people and resources he can depend on. When Luci and friends put his back against the wall after the death of Charlotte, Cain doesn’t resort to charging, improvising, or leveraging his own skills. Instead, he calls up a bunch of people who owe him favors and are too terrified to betray him, and they do all the dirty work for him. It actually very nearly works, too. 

[helihi]

The Good, The Bad, and the Dirty: RWBY Vol 7 Ep 4

Thank you for renewing your Punch Jacques Club Membership, I cannot confirm or deny that you’ll accomplish your goal this season, but we’re family.

Overall rating of the chapter: 7.5/10 

*Spoilers Ahead*

The Good

To start off this chapter, we learn more about the true dynamics of the Ace Ops and, more importantly, about Atlas Academy. At Beacon, teams are chosen by interactions and collaborative efforts during a recorded test. Ozpin chose teams based on trust, leadership skills, and bonds. In Atlas, teams are chosen based on effectiveness. The students are not viewed as people or individuals, they are viewed as numbers.

In the previous episodes, there were a couple of things that didn’t quite sit well with me: Harriet’s original comment to Ruby regarding her Semblance felt more mean than playful, and the fact that Marrow was everyone’s punching bag. At first, you might think that this is just playful banter between friends, like Yang and Ruby referring to Jaune as Vomit Boy from time to time, however, that’s not true. Since Harriet declares that they are not friends, you may realize that they are not “picking on Marrow”, they are actively bullying him. There’s no complements thrown his way, there are no mutual laughter or apologies, it’s just drag after drag after drag.

I have the slight feeling that Marrow might consider them his friends, and that’s why he’s letting the comments slide. We should also consider that he is the only Faunus in the team, and although I believe their comments don’t come from a source of casual racism, but rather at pointing out the fact that he’s the most childish of them all, we should pin that for now.

I get Harriet, there’s a difference between co-workers and friends. Though some times you may befriend your co-workers, playful banter and after office outings don’t translate to friendship. I say this as someone who has worked for a big company. There were coworkers I genuinely befriended, and other who I was friendly after office hours, but never hung out with outside work parties or outings.

That being said, I find it hard that you wouldn’t bond with those whose life you’ve saved before, the same who’ve saved yours. Interestingly, when Yang inquires about this and gets dismissed by Harriet, you can see the way Blake reacts in the background. Have we bonded over trauma? Is that all that this is?

Let me be clear: people can bond over trauma, but at the same time, going through a lot of things with a person can show you sides of them you never noticed before, you see them in a different light. That being said, Team RWBY’s enemies haven’t been random people: Cinder killed Pyrrha, their friend; Emerald was someone they trusted; Mercury framed Yang in front of Remnant; Adam was Blake’s abusive ex and his goal to destroy Blake and Yang was personal. During the arcs these characters have gone through, they have grown as people as they faced death, obviously they are going to bond.

This may have been pure coincidence, but it’s interesting that an anti-bee section of the FNDM posed the idea that Yang and Blake’s relationship is based on mutual trauma. This claim is ridiculous because both of them cared about each other before the Fall of Beacon. The traumatic event made their relationship take a turn, and realize some things that they didn’t notice before or made things clearer for them. (On a side note, Asami realized she had feelings for Korra when she thought the avatar was going to die at the end of book 3). Sometimes certain situations change your perspective about things and people.

I want to note that Nora’s comedic relief landed perfectly, and Jaune’s sass was on point. Once again James is presented as someone trouble seeking the best outcome through the wrong means. That being said, Tyrian and Watts plan seem to be to overthrow him and generate chaos through political manipulation, and as someone who comes from a country with high levels of corruptions and suspicious murders, this is true real. Also, don’t think James is a good poor guy trying to be his best. He’s actively choosing one portion of the kingdom over the other and dooming certain populations.

Next stop is Jacques “Scumbag” Schnee making his first appearance in the volume. TBH it was about time. Given how the opening frames him, he had to show up soon. Just like I expected the moment he started bickering with Ironwood, he turned around and will now help Watts. At first, Jacques might have had power over Ironwood, but now he doesn’t, at least until he get his seat at “The Council”, which I’m expecting him to win.

As someone with an abusive parent, Jacques’s mannerisms make sense. The shift from his violent approach to a more manipulative one are common abusive tactics of an abusive person when in public or when their victim stands up to them. My parent used to be more physically abusive when I was a child, but when I grew taller and stronger, they switched to a psychological one since I could defend myself. In this case, Jacques was super close to striking Weiss again, but stopped the moment one of her true dads stepped in (Ironwood).

Jacques using Willow to guilt trip Weiss was dirty and awful, and once again adds on to my theory that she might be the Winter maiden. Thankfully, like Ruby promised, Team RBY is right beside her.

Blake is ready to kill him, and Yang is processing how awful the man is. Ruby is utterly confused at his attitude. Following this, we find that Winter was siting for him to leave before showing up. She looks around to confirm that he’s no longer there, and Weiss points out “Winter, it’s nice for you to finally show up”. Just like I've talked about before, while Weiss got out of the abusive environment and found a real family (Team RWBY), Winter escaped Jacques by joining the military. James Ironwood is only missing one Schnee child to adopt, and we’ll get to that soon enough.

All our kids are now huntsmen! Congrats! Just like they say, the licenses feel hollow after all they’ve been through, and TBH I agree. It also shows progress for the characters, specially Yang who had the most superficial goal out of the 4 Team RWBY members. Regardless of that, it’s nice to see the goof around, take pics, and eat cake. Something I thought it was adorable is how Winter interacts with Penny: she’s so caring and nice. I love them.

We got a really good moment between Ruby and Qrow, and some background on Summer. The DC comics have helped us understand Summer a little bit ore, but this confirms that she was a brat (hell ye). Apparently, her last mission was a “Summer mission”. I really need those Team STRQ flashbacks. I bet Raven know more than we think.

I also think it’s important that Qrow pointed out how Ruby is not Oz since she doesn’t keep the secret to herself. I think certain conditions should be met to be open about Salems existence, especially considering current circumstances.

Jaune offering to protect little children is the most Jaune thing ever, never change boy.

Lastly, Watts finds an ally: the douchbag who married into the Schnee name. That small interaction with Whitley and Jacques might be a small sign of foreshadowing him having a reception arc. His father doesn’t trust him to invite his heir into the meeting, and he treats his son rudely. Whitley looks genuinely dejected.

Watts faked his death, that might be an indication why Ironwood doesn’t have a clear suspect yet. Now, he’s part of the Asshole Mustache club.

Anyways, next episode it looks like we’re going to meet Robyn. The sheep faunus and the tattooed guy next to her might have been part of her team.

The Bad

Those quick animations for cheap comedic effect have started getting kinda annoying. I wish they didn’t overuse them ass much.

The Dirty

Where’s Klein.

--

Final Rating: 7.5/10. Good, but not above expectations.

A.N.: Alost 18 mins, keeping up with the consistent episode length, congrats!

[hacelee-mp100]

Thoughts after (re)watching S2EP3

*The translations for the quotes might be a bit off.

I think the key element Mob keeps tripping over here is emotions. Or rather the role of emotion in human conduct in a society where there are moral codes or, at the very least, external rules. When Mob’s put on the spot it’s because the emotions from the clients—fear and disgust—propelled them to use the social function of request and payment in order to get what they want. At the same time when Reigen tells Mob he doesn't have to eradicate the family of ghosts he also mentions Mob’s emotions. That if he didn’t feel like it, he didn’t have to. “I trust your feelings on this” is his exact wording. Poor Mob was probably frantically scrambling for rules to abide by in his head, but Reigen unintentionally worsens the problem by drawing the focus back to emotions. There’s no moral code for Mob to follow. Just a clash between differing objectives resulting from something as fickle as emotions.

Shuffling through the episode summary might be a good framework to work off from. The episode starts off with a client who wants to put a curse on someone. He already has the malice and the actual intent to do harm, and had just been seeking the means. Here Mob zeroes in on the intention. For someone who already has the power to hurt, what matters to him is not whether or not the intention to harm succeeded, but rather the intention itself. He asks, “Is it really alright for the client to live on believing that he had followed through with his intention to curse? Wouldn’t that be a scary thing.” 

Then we’re introduced to how the majority of people treat spirits versus actual humans via the stalker next door. The client’s fright is understandable since for her spirits are in the domain of the unknown. Of course she’d be exasperated if the cause of her week-long anxiety and stress turned out to be some lame scumbag next door. Mob is only questioning the contrast in reaction because he’s already familiar with the spiritual domain—it’s no biggie for him, he probably even feels safer with the spirits since he has the power to eradicate them. Unlike real life criminal situations like the stalker next door. Here we get a taste of the clash between society and having your own realm, a realm where you’re the boss if you have the power.

The third client of the day, a group of teenagers, leaves Mob and Reigen stranded next to the haunted house because nothing happened and they didn’t want to pay. The poor guys didn’t get to go for soba after all.

Then the bullies come along. Dimple, Ritsu, and Mob’s body-building club members all pitch in to bail Mob out of the situation. Tenga Onigawara reminds Mob that he should learn to act on his own, especially since he has the power to do so.

Mob is immediately put on the spot, but not just in self-defense—he has to choose between the ghosts’ right to live on (or exist, whatever it is) and the clients’ (teenagers from the previous day) emotions. Or rather social obligations since Reigen emphasizes that it’s their job to put the clients’ needs first.

Reigen is concerned for Mob when Mob practically starts breaking down, and tries to put the whole thing in perspective as an adult in charge of a kid. I can’t let him go through this, I can’t let him do such a terrible thing. It’s the best he can do, since Mob functions in a completely different dimension inaccessible to him—for Reigen Mob is still a kid who doesn’t have to shoulder such tough responsibilities yet.

When Reigen attempts to validate Mob’s feelings, however, that it’s alright for Mob to go with his gut, it’s unintentionally the worst thing he could’ve said. Reigen is a creature of social rules and moral codes. (Not going to get into the argument whether moral codes are a construct of society or something inherent in humans, but it’s true that it’s a mode of conduct that goes against the whole structure of the strong preying on the weak.) Mob wants to be under his wing, and looks to Reigen for guidance so that he can integrate into society like Reigen has already done. Except with that advice to ‘go with your feelings,’ Reigen just makes it clear that Mob’s utterly alone in this. The gravity of the situation hits him hard here. Mob realizes, “no one understands my position.” Even after Reigen gets them out of the situation with his special salt splash attack, the incident still stays with Mob. He wonders, “Would there be anyone to scold me?”/“stop me?” (dub version).

The power-emotion-rights function is still unfamiliar to Mob, and he’s not willing to take it up.

So the basic theme here is acting alone vs social rules, or power vs society. Weaker members of society depend on social functions to secure their rights. The first client is willing to pay to put a curse because he probably couldn’t go up against the person by himself. The stalker victim calls the police to take care of the technically physically stronger man. Reigen puts his clients’ needs first because that’s what getting paid means. Here the basis is that everyone is on equal footing. Society has rules and systems for weaker people to live as rightful members of society, for them to get back at ‘stronger’ people that might threaten them. ‘Stronger’ in this case would quickly be redefined as ‘criminal’ once other people’s rights are breached.

Mob is used to living in such a society. Admittedly he’s still in a phase where Hobbes’ state of nature is somewhat applicable; bullies slash stratifications in middle school exemplify the natural power dynamic that would’ve been the norm had there not been engrained social rules. He’s working towards the established social structure from this ambiguous state—he looks to Reigen, someone who’s already gone through the highs and lows of society and basically has it down, for guidance and conduct.

The contrast between the two worlds Mob functions in is even more heightened because spirits don’t have a society. It’s just the strong against the weak, a chaotic mess of eat or get eaten. Of course this goes against the whole grain of what Mob’s been working toward. The situation is even more complicated because the power to see the spirits is also associated with the power to destroy them in Mob’s case. So he’s really thrown into the abyss when he tries to bridge his conduct in the two worlds. There aren’t more eyes from the ‘weaker’ members in the human society to categorize and make rules for the spirits from a human perspective. As the alpha in the spirit realm Mob has to internalize the moral codes from the human society and carry them over to the domain of the spirits if he wants to keep consistent with his actions, if he wants to remain sane and himself.

Not sure how to wrap up this weird jumble of a review...just thought the episode did a good job of showing how morality could be held in a different light for someone in Mob’s position.

[draw2much]

Rant: Harems are Diamond on a Gold Plated Turd

I pretty much hate the harem genre.This includes the “reverse harem”, so don’t think you gals are getting a free pass either.

Before I begin my argument, there are series that get called “harems” that I’m not even sure should be labelled as such.They need some other tag to describe them, because harem isn’t quite right. Examples are a girl is surrounded by guys, but there’s a clear love interest in that group and the other guys are basically just friends... how is that a harem? In the same way, a guy surrounded by girls, but he's clearly interested in just one girl (or not interested in any of them and constantly getting sexually harassed), how is that harem part two? One person being around multiple people of the opposite sex does not a harem make, so I wish some other tag could be used to describe those kinds of scenarios. 

Everything else, where multiple guys or girls are interested in a single person, and that single person doesn’t strongly and consistently turn them down, is definitely a harem. And there’s plenty of terrible harem stories that fit that mold.

To explain why I hate harem stories, I’ll need to use math.

Let’s imagine everyone has 16 Romance Points they can give a day. The number 16 comes from 24 hours a day, minus 8 for sleeping. So 1 point per hour a person is typically awake. RP can only be used towards people that are viewed as romantic love interests. Other kinds of relationships, friends and family, have a different point system and don’t take from RP and vice-versa unless something goes catastrophically wrong (incest ain’t cool yo).

How many romance points you give will determine how much you like a person. 1 point is basically that initial flutter of “oh,I’m physically attracted to this person” and 16 is “have all my babies, devoted to you for life, will even risk life for you”. Naturally it’s difficult to get to 16 points total but easy to get to 1.

Now lets look at a harem of 1 guy and 5 girls. The guy has only 16 points he can give a day. If his points are split evenly between all five girls he can only give 3.2 per girl. But the girls can collectively give him 80 points a day if they really like him. Even if they only give him 5 points per person per day, that’s 25 points. If they’re only moderately interested in him, that’s 5 points.

Think about this, the guy gets a minimum of 5 points and a maximum of 80, but the girls will only get 3.2 points if the guy is being fair. And let’s be honest, he’s not going to be fair.

Why? Because there’s no incentive to be fair!

In a typical harem, the girls are giving all 16 romantic points to the guy. And they’d have to, otherwise why would they bother with him? Why would a super hot chick “share” her man unless she was head-over-heels for him? Under any other circumstances, she’d kick him in the balls and go find a loyal man (or make her own harem). She’d never degrade herself for anything less than “true love”.

What this means is the guy is always going to get 80 points every day, even if he plays favorites. So one day he can give a single girl 12 points and then give the other girls only 1 point. Another day he could give two girls 6 points and split the difference with the other three. And they’d all tolerate it because tomorrow could be their turn to get the most points!

Every day they’re going to wake up wondering who’s going to be the favorite, who’s going to be “blessed” with the guy’s affection. Every night they’ll go to bed wondering why they weren’t picked, what they did wrong, how to fix themselves so they’ll be more appealing tomorrow. 

Even if I’m super generous and say the guy is rich, gorgeous, and kind he’s still receiving more than he’s giving. No matter how you slice it, he’s always the winner and the women are always the losers. Collectively, the women are always putting more effort into getting his affection than he is at earning theirs. 

You can invert all this and have it be a girl with a group of guys and it still applies.

From the “Main Character”s perspective, having a harem seems wonderful. So much attention and adoration, all the time. Everyone telling you how wonderful and loved you are, everyone looking out for you and protecting you. All you need to retain their love is to keep doing whatever it was that attracted them to you in the first place. No need for self improvement or anything, just maintain the status quo and you’ll be rolling in love.

But from the harem’s perspective? Everything is limited, love in negotiable but only one way and that’s never their way. There’s always a sense of insecurity in their love life, and a fear of being treated as the “3rd wheel” if they don’t get things “just right”. Do they even dare get in a fight? Express dissenting opinions? Couldn’t their love just ignore them and spend time with the more amiable member who makes them feel good? Then must they conform themselves totally to their love in order to get even a tiny bit of affection? Without any guarantee that will even be enough?

Some harem stories try to paint it as though the harem members are OK with sharing, but I call bull honky. Usually the Main Character is this Nobody from Nowheresville and the harem members are Amazing from Awesometown. Realistically speaking, if a gorgeous person had the option of an inconsistent 3-12 point return every day or a solid 16 every day, which would they pick? Which should they pick? They’d go with the solid 16! Especially since, being gorgeous, they can easily attract gorgeous people who would give them 16 points!

Unlike the pleb Main Character, the gorgeous harem members can usually find plenty of people to chose from. And if they can’t, if for some reason only the MC will do, that just means they were forced into a harem when they’d have chosen otherwise.

When I think of a Main Character in a harem story, I think of a person allowing--even glorifying in--keeping people in a constant state of anxiety and fear in the “name of Love”. Truly good guys and good gals don’t take joy in tormenting other people, especially people who earnestly like them, just so they can “feel loved”. So that brings me to the conclusion that anyone with a harem is basically a scumbag. I don’t care if the story writes them to save the world, they’re still a scumbag. (Who just happened to save the world.)

And I think if I left it there, most people might tolerate my opinion, but I always take it a step further and say things like:

Authors who glorify harems are no better than authors who glorify abusive relationships in their works. People who like harems, who admire them and wish they had them, are either pitifully lonely immature basement dwellers and/or wannabe scumbags.

Yes, harems are fantasy, but they’re also real. And the real version of harems are terrible and oppressive, mostly in the direction of women and children. The fantasy version of harems is just taking a crap marital system and glazing it in gold. No matter how many diamond you put on it, in the end, you’re still liking crap. In fantasy you can escape to anywhere, why are you escaping into crap? 

PS: if you’ve come this far, hats off to you. If this rustled your jimmies and you’re thinking of laying some smack down on me.... well, I don’t recommend it. Not because I’m scared of a counter argument or that I’ll rip you a new one, but because I really don’t care what you think. Really. And, in fact, if you try to justify your liking of harems... you’ll just fall into “putting a diamond on a turd and calling it a work of art” category in my mind. You will not change my mind, and it’s unlikely you’ll change anyone else’s mind either. So you’re just shouting into the void for no reason.

However, if you also hate harems, but for different reasons, please share. I’ll be super interested. I love dumping on harems and never get tired of it.