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thesolferino · 3 years

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⤷ note: apologies for losing your request, anon, but thank you for requesting! this is my first time writing a full fic in second person, so bear with me, and i hope this is what you were looking for <3

The Great American Bake Off

pairing: corpse husband x gn!reader

word count: 3.6k

genre: fluff

summary: you’ve been jealous of rae and her closeness with your boyfriend since the dawn of time, but things change and friendships are made once she comes over for one hell of a cooking video.

Corpse, among many other things, was a man many wished to have.

It’s the truth; even if he didn’t have a YouTube channel through which millions kept up with everything from horror stories to Among Us gameplays, people would still turn heads and whisper whenever he spoke - that attention more than multiplied when he started blowing up and his social media presence grew.

With growth come numbers, and there are always people behind said numbers. Through them, Corpse makes wonderful friends - through them, you had met him, too. All the way back, during his horror narration days, you had grown to like him - really, who wouldn’t?

A DM you once sent after a few drinks, when you claimed to your friends you’d get the “deep-voiced man of your dreams” you often talked about and they, in turn, challenged you to message him, was nothing short of a joke and the idea of him responding was merely a pipe dream. What you hadn’t expected, however, was a response, which wrecked your brain at noon the next day, where your head throbbed with embarrassment, guilt, pride, happiness, a melt of hatred and gratefulness for your friends, panic and the remains of alcohol that tugged at every part of your skull.

It had turned out to be more than a great idea, though, because for the next few weeks you were constantly talking. You learned so much more than he let on in videos, and during late night calls you found out everything from his favorite clothing brand to his favorite color to his thoughts about his own mortality and then back to his favorite cereal. Audio calls and short voice messages turned into hours long FaceTimes that led you from friends to something more. And after a year or so of dating, you packed your bags and made it to sunny San Diego, ready to lay in his arms and sweat bullets.

Safe to say Corpse’s social media presence had its good sides. However, with all good things come bad things too, and you weren’t sure if the bad things were bad at all or you were simply too jealous.

Corpse made wonderful friends thanks to his YouTube channel. He met people he could confide in, meet, people he could talk to about his worst problems, people who would listen - he met people he could have fun with, with who he could forget all about the real world and his own issues, and simply laugh his heart away, play games until the late hours of the night.

If he had to name his closest ones, they would have to be Dave, Loey, maybe Mykie, possibly Jack, and Rae. And that is exactly where the root of the problem stood.

Rae is beautiful, and everyone who denies it must be either dumb or blind. She’s drop dead gorgeous, and funny, and kind, and smart, in a way that made you want to rip your hair out. You wanted to hate her so bad, because the jealousy ate away at you like a damn disease, but you couldn’t, because she was perfect Rae, and as much as you hated the fact she seemed to be perfect inside out, you just couldn’t hate her as her. It was impossible, you concluded.

You convinced yourself you weren’t jealous every time you heard him yelling or laughing at her from his office room - or at least you attempted to do so. Your lunch would turn sour and end up forgotten because you’d be way too focused on listening in on what he was doing and trying to make out what she was saying to even eat at the same pace you previously were. Jealousy ate away at you, no matter if you admitted it to yourself or not.

It didn’t go unnoticed by Corpse, of course. On one late night when you couldn’t sleep and neither could he, as per usual, you turned on a random comedy that you half-heartedly paid attention to, his fingers combing through the knots in your hair peacefully and the slow pace of the movie lulling you to sleep slowly. That is, before his phone rang and lit the mostly dark room. You managed to sneak a glance at the notification before he had, and the familiar bitterness seeped between your ribs as always upon seeing the name displayed at the top of the message, more than awake now.

You visibly stiffened when he laughed at the message and typed something back, shifting your head in his lap as some subconscious attempt at getting him to pay attention to you instead. He put his phone down and you huffed, eyes locked on the TV screen as you pretended to be extremely absorbed in the movie even though you weren’t quite sure of the difference between the protagonist and antagonist anymore. His hands didn’t return to your hair, and that somehow made you even more annoyed.

“What’s up?” Corpse quietly spoke up, barely over the volume over the already quiet movie.

“Nothing.” You said, quicker than you wanted to, and you bit your tongue in cringe when you realised it was an awful lie. Corpse seemed to think the same.

“That’s bullshit. Seriously, what’s wrong?” He asked, and was met with pure silence. In reality, you were hoping he’d simply never realise you were somewhat jealous, because you knew you were being stupid and unreasonable, but you couldn’t help wanting him all to yourself. Admitting it out loud made it so much more real, and so much more embarrassing that you would rather bury yourself alive than admit to being jealous of Rae, of all people.

After a few seconds of silence, save the laughter of characters on screen, he spoke again.

“Are you jealous?” The hint of a teasing tone in his voice made you want to rip your hair out of your skull. Was it really that damn hard to believe that yes, you were jealous of an extremely close friend of his? Was it a crime?

The clenching of your jaw seemed to give Corpse enough of a response, and his hands returned to running themselves through your hair as he giggled to himself.

“What’s so damn funny?” You borderline spat, causing his movements to halt for a second before continuing with even louder laughter.

“I don’t know, just the idea of you being jealous of Rae is so funny. I’ve noticed the way you roll your eyes whenever I text her in front of you. You’re not exactly sneaky, you know?” His words made blood rush straight to your face, cheeks heating up in embarrassment. How long has he known this for?

“Sorry. I don’t…” you exhaled and attempted to smile. “I don’t know what’s up with me. I’m so jealous nowadays. I don’t even know why.”

“There’s enough of me to share with everyone, no worries baby.” he replied, teasing tone still yet to dissipate as you slap his knee in mock offense and he starts wheezing.

“Absolutely not! Fucking excuse you, I’m not sharing with anyone!” you gaped at him as he kept laughing.

That was the end of it - or at least Corpse thought so. Needless to say, he was wrong.

Your mood would instantly turn sour whenever he’d laugh at one of her messages, and you attempted to push down every eye roll whenever he’d sit on his phone, between your legs, back turned to you so you could see everything, and open Rae’s DMs again. Sometimes you managed, sometimes you couldn’t help it, but you did your best to do it whenever he wasn’t looking. Because you truly knew you were being unreasonable, especially whenever you have to relay situations like how he had to postpone a date one time because Rae asked him to play Rust for a bit longer and you almost ripped all your hair out of your skull in frustration back to your best friend who just turned Rae and Corpse into the villains in the situation because that’s what best friends are supposed to do.

Not like he was going out of his way to talk to her a concerning amount, they mostly talked in groupchats and on streams and that was only a few times weekly, but it did absolutely nothing to calm the green monster growing stronger in you every day, fed by every laugh she got out of him.

The green monster fucking loved it when Corpse excitedly announced to you that he’s finally meeting his friends for the first time, and by friends meaning Rae, Sykkuno and Karl. You, however… were far from impressed.

He paced around the room in excitement, a mix of obvious anxiety and joy evident on his face, and he fiddled with the strings of his hoodie with shaky hands as he very proudly announced that he would be the second tallest person in the room through a blinding, pearly grin, and seeing him so electrified couldn’t help but make you shut your jealous thoughts up, even if just for a little bit, and mirror his grin back to him.

What did, however, make you as anxious as him was when he announced they’d a) be coming to your shared apartment and b) making a cooking video - it sent you into a panicked mom mode as you dusted every corner of every room and vacuumed everything from the kitchen to the balcony and Corpse did nothing but record you as you anxiously rambled and laugh at you from his place on your bed.

When the dreaded Saturday finally came, and the first person to arrive, Sykkuno, rang your doorbell, you squeezed Corpse’s hand to stop him from nervously toying with his rings and opened the door, and you greeted the man like he was your own brother and not a person you’d seen probably a total of three times through the computer screen and someone who’s seen you maybe two times, from the pictures Corpse sent him, in your best attempt to make both of them more comfortable. It actually kind of worked - turns out Sykkuno is a pretty affectionate guy, too, and a conversation started as soon as he stepped in. Corpse gave you a look when you pulled away from Sykkuno’s half-hug, and you almost laughed out loud at the irony when his phone lit up with a notification from Rae announcing she was almost there at that exact moment.

She had kept true to her word; ten minutes or so later, another ring was heard and you gestured to Corpse to open it this time as you gave Sykkuno his cup of water and resisted any and every urge to roll your eyes or do something otherwise bitchy and stupid. Corpse did as told, and you watched them hug and listened to Rae squeal in excitement through the open door of the living room and decided to plaster a smile on your face for as long as you could muster before you remove yourself from the situation when they start filming.

Unfortunately for you, the first person she locked eyes with was exactly you, and they lit up an even prettier brown (if that was even possible) as she beelined to you and you barely got a greeting out before she engulfed you in a large hug, arms wrapping around your neck as she swayed both of you side to side.

“Oh my God, you must be Y/N! I’ve heard so much about you, it’s so nice to finally meet you!” Rae cheered into your ear before she finally pulled back, before shooting an infectious grin at you that you couldn’t help but return back.

“All good things, I hope.” you chuckled as she moved to greeting Sykkuno, and nodded her head with an enthusiastic giggle of her own. You eyed Corpse for a second who simply leaned against the door frame, watching the whole thing unfold with somewhat of a proud smile on his face, before Rae turned back to you and your attention was on her again.

“Of course! Corpse is very much a simp for you, you know that?” She said and both you and Corpse laughed, especially him, who nodded his head in agreement as she sat back down, still beaming at you.

“Well, I’m happy to hear that.” you respond before turning back to Corpse. “Where’s Karl at?”

“He’ll be here in half an hour or so, he only landed recently.” he said. You nodded and moved to sit on a nearby chair to leave space for the guests on the couch.

Karl ended up arriving in twenty minutes and apprised everyone of the information that “his taxi driver is a psycho that, apparently, doesn’t fear stop signs or the police” before setting up the camera in your kitchen and tried his best to attach lapel mics on everybody (admittedly, it took way longer than it should’ve, but he eventually managed and that counted as a win in his book). You reluctantly agreed to be the judge of the finished product when they’re done cooking, and Karl was there for the purposes of being a cameraman and making jokes off screen so he agreed too, albeit way more enthusiastically than you.

The two of you sat behind the camera as the three of them lined up, Corpse wearing a mask and his signature eyepatch (that he didn’t really need, but those two did their job in preserving his privacy) and introduced what they were doing. Corpse was obviously very anxious, hands fidgeting constantly and shivering like a dog after a bath despite the hoodie he was wearing in 100 degree weather because of the shower of sweat that was now drying on his body, and that was partly why you were there, supportive smiles, encouraging cheers and all.

They were making Mexican ground beef tacos, and despite knowing Corpse can barely make a sandwich without setting at least two dishes on fire, you still cheered him on proudly and repeated he was part Mexican himself roughly 5 times a minute, claiming he was going to kill it.

“Kill it? More like kill one of us- CORPSE watch what you’re doing with that fucking knife! You’re proving my point!” Rae yelled at him as he giggled in delight, watching the woman gape at him in pure horror and Sykkuno watch his movements completely entranced as he played with the knife in his hands.

“You’re just mad that he’s going to make tacos fifty times better than you.” you said to Rae, chewing down on some M&Ms that Karl and you shared (both of you decided on a genius plan - you’re going to eat the whole bag before they’re done with cooking so you can claim you’re full and therefore can’t eat the atrocity that will most likely be the tacos).

“Don’t gas me up like that, Y/N, you are well aware I’m shit at cooking. Expect absolutely nothing from me.” he replied over the sizzling of the meat on the pan, throwing a whole spoonful of chili powder into it, earning loud yelling and scolding from your side and loud laughter from Rae.

“HALF A TEASPOON! Half a teaspoon, how have you not remembered this already?! We’ve made tacos a million times now, oh my God, you’re actually stupid.” you yelled at him, arms flailing in the direction of the seasoning to emphasise your ‘half a teaspoon’ point as Rae doubled over in laughter and Sykkuno looked into the pan with a concerned and somewhat afraid look. Just as he peeked in, the overwhelming smell of chili powder started biting away at his eyes, and he jumped away with a yelp.

“Jesus, Corpse!” he exclaimed, rubbing his eyes with his forearm as the whole room burst into laughter and Corpse suspiciously inspected his beef.

“What were you saying about your ‘Mexican king’, Y/N?” Rae asked, pulling out a few tortillas and putting them on the table. You huffed, grabbing another handful of M&Ms.

“Giving him up to God. He’s the only one who can help, at this point.” you said. She giggled in response and Corpse let out some sort of protesting sound and waved his knife around in complaint. “I don’t know who this man is. He broke into my kitchen and now I’m here.”

“Hey, I pay half of your rent!” he said, and you were about to reply but Rae dropped her meat into a pan full of overheated oil, and a loud hiss and some sort of a scream overtook the room as a cloud of steam shot into the air and she frantically looked around for the wooden spoon so the meat wouldn’t stick to the pan. You simply sat and laughed, eating the candy like it was popcorn and you were watching a shitty cooking show - it wasn’t that far from reality, really.

“Um, I just realised I don’t make many tacos, actually.” she said as she helplessly stirred the meat, turning to you with pleading eyes. “What seasoning even goes into this? Y/N, will you help me? Let’s team up against Corpse!”

You tilted your head in thought, but before you could even speak, Corpse spoke up.

“That’s not fucking fair, that’s-that’s against the rules.” he turned to you. “You won’t betray me, right?”

You laughed at him, adjusting in your seat. “I gave up on you ever since you added, like, 3 kilos of seasoning into the meat for no reason.” then you turned to Rae. “Sure, let’s do it, babe.”

Their loud yelling immediately started mixing, Rae’s cheers contrasting Corpse’s protesting. She stuck her tongue out at him meanwhile Corpse shot her the middle finger, and she turned back to you with a grin.

“Alright, what do I put in?”

Roughly twenty unnecessary and extremely long minutes later, the tacos were done, two each for each of them. Rae’s looked the best - probably because you guided her through the whole thing - next to Sykkuno’s, whose you were genuinely intrigued to try. While Corpse was arguing with Rae, he burned roughly half of his already ruined beef, and Karl made the very nice observation that it looked like a bird shat in a tortilla, which you proclaimed as the highlight of the video.

Since you and Karl claimed you were full, the three of them simply swapped tacos between each other as to be unbiased, and the two of you watched in amused suspense. You were actually quite interested to see what the end results were - you were first anxious and quite annoyed you even had to participate in the first place, because it meant losing your mind from jealousy, watching Corpse and Rae giggle and act all domestic while cooking, but jealousy simply dissipated somewhere half through the video as you watched the three argue if cheddar cheese belonged on tacos or not and Rae laugh at every stupid joke you cracked. Now, you sat, fully immersed as you stared at Sykkuno’s face; the poor guy ended up with the misfortune of having to try Corpse’s taco first.

“Zoom in, zoom in!” you whispered into Karl’s ear who complied and zoomed into Sykkuno’s face. He bit into the taco, chewing for a second before his face twisted in disgust and you began wheezing when he grabbed a tissue and spit it out, immediately grabbing his glass of water. Rae laughed at him as well, mouth full of his one, which she claimed she actually liked but it wasn’t as good as the “Y/NRae-co” as she proudly called it. Corpse silently ate Rae’s taco and refused to give a review on it because he was upset he got defeated, but the fact that he scarfed down the whole thing in a minute or so was enough of a review.

“Oh, come on, it can’t be that bad.” Corpse exclaimed when he saw Sykkuno’s bite in the tissue, grabbing the second taco he made and biting down on it. The whole room burst into laughter when he roughly swallowed, tears obvious in the one eye that showed, because of the overly spicy beef.

“What are you motherfuckers laughing at? It’s not that bad, I stand by tacorpse.”

“Tacorpse is actually genius. The one good thing you came up with during the entirety of this video.” Rae said and Corpse mumbled a fuck you in response.

“Well, I think we can all agree that me and Y/N’s taco was clearly the best.” she said, clasping her hands together.

“I actually think mine was better.” Sykkuno said, to which she pushed his plate out of the frame.

“Nobody asked you anything.”

“Don’t bully Sykkuno, I’ll fucking kick you out.”

“Oh yeah? I’m pretty sure Y/N would kick you out before they’d let you kick me!” Rae said, accusingly pointing her taco in Corpse’s direction.

“Alright, let’s wrap up the video.” Karl laughed behind the camera, and the three of them all turned to properly face it and end the video.

“Thank you all so much for watching, this has been an… interesting video, to say the least. Uh, thank you to Karl for filming this whole disaster, thank you to Corpse,” Rae gestured in his direction, “for lending us his kitchen, thank you to Sykkuno for probably getting us more views on this video, and also a big thank you to Y/N, Corpse’s better half for making this video way more interesting and helping me make probably, like, the best taco I’ve ever made.” she grinned and you shoved a peace sign in front of the camera.

“If you liked this video, check out Sykkuno and Corpse’s channels, they will be linked down below, and please click like and subscribe to support the channel! Again, thank you all for watching, see you later, bye!” she finished, and with that, Karl turned the camera off.

Silence engulfed the room. You sighed.

“Alright, who’s gonna clean this shit up?”

#corpse husband x reader #corpse husband x y/n #corpse husband x you #corpse husband x female reader #corpse husband fanfic #corpse husband imagine #corpse husband fluff

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ackerpreach · 3 years

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This ending .... I can name 500 reasons and I will name them right now, because I don’t think I’m the only one who is upset with how things turned out. (Also, A positive message for all of you at the end)

MAJOR LEAKS SPOILERS/ READ WITH CAUTION

Update: after reading more theories from fellow RM bloggers, and sleeping over it one day, this entire chapter might be an april fools... Don't fully lose hope yet beautiful people. It's me just giving a review on a possible fake April fools chapter

After following this franchise since 2013, so nearly a DECADE. this ending is a pure disserve to the entire fandom. I feel like Yams has rushed it just for the sake of being done with the entire manga. So many things are left open, characters and their developemt are reverted back all the way to chapter 1 or are left even worse than that...

Mikasa’s worthless character development/ Aaronmika’s horrible toxic codependent relationship

Oh honey... Let’s start with how horrible Isayama has treated her. We were all rooting for her, because we all felt like she was so misunderstood. She had a horrible childhood and imprinted on a guy who treated her like trash 99 percent of the story. And then, slowly but surely, she starts to realize she has to stop obsessing over him in the uprising arc with the help of a real man who treats her like a queen, more importantly, he treats her like a real human being. This man sees her for her abilities and that she has the power to be self dependent. She learned parts of herself, that she was able to work together with him like no one else could. She learned parts of herself she was unable to do so if she kept obsessing about Aaron. All this love, care, mutual understanding and RESPECT these two shared.

but...NAH FUCK THAT, right Yams?? Throw all this development away, all this bonding. Let’s make the main female lead even more yandere than she already was in the first season. Let her make out with his decapacitated head (like dude, this is also pure disrespect to Aaron’s dead body btw) and let her obsess even more about the guy who has treated her no better than a piece of toilet cloth 99 percent of the time. The guy who was never really appreciative in front of her for saving his ass billions of times, who always pushed her away, who yells at her and snaps at her whenever he can instead of reasoning and talking calmly with her in mature way. (EVEN PARODY YOUTUBE CHANNELS WHO DONT SHIP ANYTHING MAKE IT A TROPE WHERE AARON TELLS MIKASA HE HATES HER GUTS WHENEVER HE CAN)

Then after all that, suddenly Yams tries to last minute persuade us Aaron’s always been head over heels for her??? He should have build their relationship better which he hasn’t even tried to do so... He must be thinking his fans are stupid for eating this from his hands.

Like seriously??? What is this???

Isayama is just fully contradicting himself. It’s like someone tipped him off with a buttload of money for him to write Aaron like this to satisfy shipping needs and to cash in those extra money’s from it. Even if he tried to cater to Erem*ika, this is not how you write a loving and caring couple which people will root for.

This next two panels just freaking infuriates me to the core of my soul. I can’t even describe how dissapointed I am with Mikasa.

Why is she clutching that head so obsessively like that? Why is she walking and turning her back away from her comrades? After everything they have done for her, after all they’ve been through?! After everything Armin has done? Standing up for Mikasa, beating up Aaron for hurting her. I feel like even Jean, Connie and Sasha have cared more for her in a healthy way. Sure, Aaron cares for her romantically too apparently (What a twist Yams :)), but has he aided her to becoming a mentally healthier individual? Has he aided in her mental stability? The answer is a big fat NO! All I see between these two after today’s raw Chapter’s are too Yandere obsessed individuals who have no clue on how to maintain a healthy relationship.

Love should only go as far as the heart can endure and it seems like her character is not willing to be aware of that. Even Armin was able to let go of Aaron in those latest panels. Why does her entire character resolve around this guy??? I really do not understand. Her Ackerbond and her age is not an excuse for her to throw her life away like this.

Shonen’s disgusting portrayal of women

I’ve seen this countless of times in the many years I’ve watched anime. SasuS*ku from Naruto, Ichih*me from Bleach, Shinji and that oranged hair girl from Neon Evangelion.. Why do these women get decreased to simpletons with one single goal? And that is to obsess over a bland male lead who either treats them like trash or doesn’t notice them up until the last last chapter (LITERALLY WHAT YAMS HAS DONE). Some go even as far as the male leading wanting the kill the female love interest and yet the female lead is still in love with them???. It’s disgusting for him to write the MAIN female character this way.

It’s dissapointing we believed in Isayama doing Mikasa’s character right. That she’s finally being able to let go of her codependency and to live for herself maybe live in Hizuru and find more about her roots???, but every single time she shows some improvement, it’s burried deep in the ground again by the Author. It almost seems like a lowkey kink of some of the male Mangaka’s to write about a girl obsessing over them no matter what. I see this so many times to the point that I truly stand behind it that some of them might have this fantasy.

I wished he didn’t portray her last panels like this. Everyone else is living their lives while Mikasa is still grieving about him. I’m not saying she’s not allowed to grieve and everyone takes it at their own pace, but cmon... Show her living her life too. This is too much. Her being next to his grave and grieving him as her last panels just shoves it in our faces that YET AGAIN, BEING OBSESSED WITH AARON IS ALL HER CHARACTER STANDS FOR.

I truly despise how Isayama handles her grieving, kissing his decapacitated head, carrying it around like some handbag, and her last panels being thissss.

The world leaving Paradis alone miraciously after all that???

It’s so weird and out of place with so many political feuds and disagreements between the world and Paradis, the entire Rumbling happening and we can see Mikasa just chilling outside in Paradis with no one bothering them. You can see the rings of the walls in the picture below. I don’t know the exact reason behind as the manga is still in Korean, but from what I see, the story went the route of: throwing a happy ending without enough proper reason and it was all fixed just like that in a snap! It doesn’t fit the entire narrative of attack on titan for things to be so peacful out of nowhere. When it comes to the narrative, how things work in that world, how hard it is to achieve peace, everything made somewhat sense up until chapter 138. 139 seems so so out of place... It’s like I’m reading a chapter from a totally different manga.

Aaron Yoghurt got defeated so easily/ Aaron’s character assassination

The build up on the first part of the rumbling was great, those kids carrying coins. You could feel humanity’s fear and Aaron’s hatred in those pages. As if he truly had a goal and he has turned away completely from his comrades and his closest friends with no return. The world seemed truly doomed, but he got defeated just like that. He was in the nape all this time (because screw the warhammer power of hiding yourself elsewhere in his ginormous titan body). There is no master plan as we all expected, and in the end he just acts all yandere in the paths with Armin and that’s it... They massacared his entire character as well. Many fan theories created a better ending with his character. Him being reincarnated as Historia’s baby would be so much better. For him to still keep on seeking and to strive for power. It has always been his motive. It’s his personality from the start until chapter 138. Even if things are okay, to keep on going and to seek that adventure, but then.. He’s so weak and directionless suddenly.. It’s so weird... This is not Aaron at all???

Using Aaron for him this entire post, because I don’t want others to invade our tags... :)))

Historia’s baby

The only panel we got from Historia’s child was this. Just a normal kid, normal life... Why did Isayama put so much effort in highlighting Historia’s pregnancy if it was nothing too spectacular anyway? It seemed he had major plans for this kid and for their development too??? It’s again, big plans, big developments, big relationship dynamic, but all got thrown out of the window...

Don’t read the next sentence if you are a minor :’)

It’s like almost ejaculating, but stopping right before it and repeating that every single Arc.

My energy when writing about this chapter is the same as Nostalgia Critic and his hatred for atla the live action

In Conclusion...

I know us fans should not be deciding on how this story should end, because this is Isayama’s story after all, but I truly wished for him to wrap up things much more rounded. There are so many unanswered questions... Again, I think for the sake of being done with this manga, he rushed all of it. He’s become a millionaire from this story and now his pockets are jammed full, I guess he doesn’t need to put in any effort anymore, right? Perhaps a controversial opinion, but I really wished he cared for his fans a little bit more with this last chapter by giving some answers that make sense at least. It’s his fans who gave him this platform and the opportunity to tell his story and for him to at least give in a bit of effort especially in the last chapter is the least he can do. Rivamika being canon or not, he truly rushed it without thinking much about the entire story line. He expanded it so much, he didn’t know how to bind it all together.

Even after all this, I’ll still ship them in the headcanon type of way. I do give credit to Isayama for giving us a template for such a beautiful dynamic between Levi and Mikasa. He decides to waste it, but that doesn’t mean we have to. I want to thank all the people with amazing writing skills, the ones who give us beautiful art like @carmenlee @phit chan @vialesana and many more. I want to remind all of you that we can create something beautiful of our own and we don’t neccesarily need canon lore for that. The art I’ve seen, the fanfictions I’ve read have touched me deeper than Isayama ever could at times.The Mikasa in our mind is appreciate of Levi, is mature, classy and has a strong will for herself. They spend their remaining days together peacefully. Keep writing, keep drawing, stay creative.

I love you all so so much, I’ve only been publicly active since March, but thank you Rivamika fandom for giving me so much joy as a lurker these past 7 years <3

#rivamika #snk leaks #snk 139 leaks #levimika #mikalevi

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strangertheory · 2 years

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I'm so amazed at your and kaypeace21's DID theories, as someone with DID myself; I already headcanoned Billy as having DID, but seeing analysis that those DID Vibes & Subtext extend beyond him is eye-opening. I sort of dropped the series after season 3 chapter 7 because I didn't like the way they were handling Billy and the Mindflayer outside of chapter 6 and was spoiled on Hopper dying (or "dying"), but to sum up my view of your theories: "Too many parallels to just be parallels." I subscribe to more your theory on how there are external and internal versions of locations instead of kaypeace21's "alters made externally manifest" (I'm not really a fan of media depicting alters as external from the body anyway, a lot of media that does it tries to make the DID easy for singlet viewership while sacrificing its realism), though. I personally like to believe that the Mindflayer is an alter, but the demogorgons and demodogs are wholly external. Not only because them being internal throws off the whole external plot, but because many of them are killed throughout the series when it's impossible for alters to die without the body itself dying (ha, points for Billy and Inner Hopper).

I'm really glad that you enjoy some of the ideas we've discussed on our blogs.

You might be interested in learning more about what happened next and to Hopper, but I won't spoil it here in this reply since I'm not sure if you'd like spoilers or not.

I do find the way in which Will describes Billy as "a new me" and "a new host" in Stranger Things 3 to be strikingly direct. If Stranger Things truly is about a system, then this statement arguably pushes beyond subtext into the realm of text. I feel similarly about El's confession to Mike in season 1: "The gate... I opened it" if she's a gatekeeper. And since I do currently speculate that what we, the audience, are seeing in the show so far isn't in a physical world but within an internal world, I hypothesize that Will describing El as locking the Mindflayer "out here with us" is a clever matter of perspective and might be how it appears to the characters living in Hawkins, but that this "out here" which Will refers to is, perhaps, a reference to their internal world after all.

Billy Hargrove is a difficult character for me to feel comfortable discussing extensively but I have had many thoughts about him. As a singlet I'm wary of investing too much of my own efforts and time into articulating a theory like this one within the context of a deeply controversial and widely hated character like Billy. I don't want anyone to believe that I'm somehow romanticizing or making excuses for his bad behavior, his abusive actions towards others, and his racism. Many of his behaviors are very wrong and I don't think he should be overly romanticized as some type of sexy, edgy bad-boy. But I will say that I believe that what sets Billy Hargrove apart from characters who do harm like Lonnie and Brenner is that you can tell that Billy has an intense misery and self-loathing and anger and resentment towards his father's abuse which is rooted in him knowing, deep down, that these behaviors that he emulates are wrong. He demonstrates a frustration and hatred of himself and the ways in which his father has had a poisonous impact on his life and behaviors. I believe that we're led to recognize that Billy's bully-on-the-playground personality is a (yes, toxic) result of his attempts to protect himself from, ultimately, being hurt. He's become this caricature of toxic masculinity because he's imitating his dad and trying to be someone that nobody wants to mess with. If I'm the bigger bully, then nobody can hurt me right? If I'm the bigger monster, then other monsters can't hurt me. I currently share kaypeace21's speculation that Billy could be a persecutor alter who imitates their abusers' behaviors in many ways within the system in his mis-led efforts to protect other alters (such as Max) in the way he (incorrectly) believes is necessary. If you're interested in sharing more of your ideas about Billy, what are are your thoughts on Billy Hargrove as a persecutor alter, and is this likely if he's also a host at some point in the system's life? I've done some research and do my best to understand these terms and system roles and nuances, but as I mentioned I am a singlet. I have an appreciation for the story happening in Stranger Things and I've been seeking to better understand what these characters are facing, and when I started to notice certain details that appeared to align with my limited understanding of dissociative identity disorder I started to do more research on the topic and tried to connect more dots. I'm eager to understand what might be inspiring and guiding the writers as they tell this story about these characters that I care about.

Regarding your thoughts on the demodogs and demogorgons: I'm very interested in hearing more of your thoughts on them. I had up until now been guessing (re: kaypeace21's observations) that the demodogs were NPCs inspired by Chester and perhaps other dogs in the characters' lives, and I was interpreting the demogorgon as an alter within their internal world that embodies both past trauma but also the system's own subconscious, heartbreaking (and incorrect) opinion of itself as being "monstrous" (El saying "I am the monster") and the classic Dungeons and Dragons imagery of a demogorgon having two heads and two separate minds. Perhaps the thesselhydra may represent the continued growth of the system?

You said that you currently speculate that the demogorgon and demodogs exist in the physical world because they die. I'm really interested in hearing more about your interpretation of the demodogs and the demogorgon. What makes you see them as different from Billy "dying" in season 3? Do you see any way in which the demodogs and the demogorgon could exist within the system, or have you completely ruled it out? Could they still, in essence, still be there and not really be "dead" but simply not be seen on screen anymore because the focus of the story has been elsewhere? I have wondered for a while if Bob and Barb and Benny and many others aren't truly "dead" but someplace else now. However, you surely know much more than I do on this subject and I appreciate that you messaged me to share your ideas about the demodogs and the demogorgon so that I could share them here with others. I'm intrigued by your thoughts on this topic because up until now I've been viewing the demogorgon and demodogs as being similar to the Mindflayer and the Thesselhydra: alters that might exist within the system which are inspired by Dungeons and Dragons lore and that are metaphorically representative of various fears or traumas that the system has struggled with, and the system grappling with self-loathing and a fear of being "monstrous" as it wrestles with various traumas within the internal world. Bob Newby compares his fears to "demogorgons" in a brief promotional video that the official Stranger Things Youtube account shared in which Bob and Mews watch a video of their own deaths. What are your thoughts on this video and what it might suggest about what demogorgons and demodogs could represent?

Thank you for your message! I look forward to hearing your thoughts and insights any time that you would like to share them.

#stranger things theories #the did theory #thank you for sharing your thoughts on this #billy hargrove #demodogs and demogorgons #stranger things

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hafanforever · 3 years

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It’s Good to Be Bad

I’ve described in previous analyses that I have a strong affinity for villains in fiction, including those by Disney. But like any fan of Disney, there are villains that I love and ones that I deeply detest with every bone in my body. So for my last analysis of the year, I will discuss my five most favorite and five least favorite Disney animated villains, though I also want to list a couple of other characters as honorable mentions to explain why I like or hate them.

The reasons I have for liking my favorite villains are simple, if not somewhat shallow, because I don’t exactly have deep reasons for liking them. Regardless of how evil, sadistic, cruel, and ruthless they are, I like them primarily because they are funny or charismatic. But it’s so much easier for me to list why I hate my least favorite villains, which is largely attributed the kinds of traits they display (most of which I cannot stand in people), their motives for being evil, and how they carry out their evil deeds while showing their evil natures.

This essay has turned into a longer one than I anticipated, so I am adding the “Keep reading” feature. Before I begin, I want to thank my dear buddy and soul sis @minervadeannabond for coming up with this title. Here is yet again another analysis of mine for you to enjoy, sis! 😁😄😉❤️

Most Favorites

Scar - Since The Lion King was the very first Disney film I ever saw in theaters as a child, and the first one I remember well from my childhood, many of my favorites Disney things come from it, including Scar being my #1 favorite Disney villain. Yes, he is a sadistic, tyrannical, narcissistic, cold-blooded murderer, but I think it is because of his cunning, smooth, elegant, charismatic nature and how pivotal he is to the story, particularly with how much he turns out to be a dark reflection of Simba, is why I love him so much. Furthermore, his song “Be Prepared” is my favorite villain song and among my favorite Disney songs of all, further showing how much The Lion King has given me Disney favorites since I was a child. 😁

Hades - Another one I remember well from my childhood, Hades is undoubtedly one of the funniest villains from the Disney animated canon. Although he is as cruel, evil, ruthless, and sadistic as any Disney villain, Hades is also so fast-talking, sleazy, sarcastic, cheeky, and hilarious that it makes it hard for me to take him seriously as a menacing villain. And while he constantly goes into fiery rages and blows his hot-headed top when furious, these help make Hades far more a comical, rather than scary, figure. Heck, when I was a kid, I always laughed, rather than got scared, whenever he unleashed one of his temper tantrums (except when he blows up at Meg with “I OWN YOU!!!”). And James Woods’s performance, especially since he ad-libbed many lines, helps make Hades such an unforgettable and memorable, if not lovable, character. So yeah, Hades’s wisecracking, talkative personality made him a memorable villain for me as a child, and I’ve loved him for it ever since. 😆😂

Ursula - Much like Hades, Ursula is sleazy, scheming, and cunning, yet wisecracking and comical at the same time. Besides her dry sense of humor, Ursula’s eccentricity, flamboyance, and elegance have always been the traits that drew me to her, and Pat Carrolll’s performance of the character is pure excellence. 😉

Maleficent - Despite being an incarnation of pure evil, including with her self-proclaimed title as The Mistress of All Evil, to me, Maleficent is by far the coolest, most badass Disney animated villain of all! 😆👍🏻 Yes, she curses Aurora with no true motive whatsoever, and she’s sadistic, ruthless, blasphemous, and murderous, but her display of her ill temper and dark magic just makes her totally awesome, most especially when she zaps her minions for their stupidity and incompetence upon learning they were only looking for a baby during their 16-year search for Aurora. 😁

Ratigan - Again, Disney has an evil, murderous, sadistic villain in Ratigan, but I love him because he is very collected, calculating, sophisticated, and charismatic, not to mention Vincent Price delivers such a great vocal performance as the character. 😉 What I also love about Ratigan is the moment when he undergoes what is known as a villainous breakdown, which is when a villain snaps and goes utterly crazy. During the film, Ratigan has some moments of losing his cool, but just as quickly manages to become calm and regain his composure. However, upon seeing Basil and Olivia escape from him inside Big Ben, along with Basil having having foiled his earlier scheme to kill the queen and take over England, Ratigan finally snaps, turning from a formal, sophisticated, composed rat to a highly feral, aggressive, savage one. It is the moment when Ratigan reveals the monster within and looks like a true rat, with an aggressive expression, hunched back, elongated claws, and running on all fours. The fact that Ratigan’s breakdown juxtaposes what kind of rat he was for the majority of the film is why his villainous breakdown is my favorite of any Disney villain.

Most Hated

Gaston - I have stated this before in “Bride and Prejudice”, but I pick Gaston as my #1 choice as my least favorite Disney animated villain. And it’s not just because of his extreme vanity, egotism, chauvinism, and arrogance, which are the very traits I hate in people, but because of his inferior, sexist, misogynistic views of women. Gaston is THE walking definition of toxic masculinity, the fictional example of the worst kind of man, the epitome of what men should NEVER be! 😡😡😡 He thinks men are the superior gender and that women are inferior to men, with their only purposes being to serve men and be their sex objects. And since I am a feminist who believes in gender equality, I dislike men who have low, sexist opinions of women, and Gaston fits the profile of what I think is the worst example of such a man. I could go on and on explaining just why I loathe this monster of a man with all my heart, but you can just read the aforementioned analysis to find out more.

Lady Tremaine - If it weren’t for Gaston being my #1 pick because of his extreme sexism and misogyny, I would pick Lady Tremaine. She comes such a close second because her motivations for abusing, oppressing, and being so cruel to Cinderella are petty and stupid, ESPECIALLY because Cinderella never even did anything to deserve such treatment from her in the first place! 😠😡 Lady Tremaine hates Cinderella and is very jealous of her purely because Cinderella so much better-looking and kinder than her own daughters and herself. So they abuse her and make her their servant to make her miserable and unattractive so that they can look better than her instead. Additionally, Lady Tremaine has a deep-rooted obsession to be above Cinderella at all costs that she resorts to lying, manipulation, trickery, and cheating in order to stay above. I particularly loathe it when she manipulates her daughters into tearing up Cinderella’s dress just so that she can appear fair and keep her word regarding her side of the bargain (she says ”if you can find something suitable to wear”, and once it’s wrecked, it’s no longer suitable) while simultaneously making sure she doesn’t have to keep her promise since she never wants Cinderella to go in the first place. All that being said, do these sound like justifiable excuses for hating a completely innocent woman? I DON’T THINK SO!!! 😡😡😡

Claude Frollo - Now if weren’t for BOTH Gaston and Lady Tremaine coming first, Claude Frollo would come on top as well! 😡😡😡 Frollo is without a doubt in my mind the most evil villain in the Disney animated canon. Unlike most Disney villains, he is COMPLETELY devoid of any likable or redeemable traits, making me have nothing but feelings of pure hatred for him. Ruthless, cruel, blasphemous, racist, and evil to his core, Frollo holds a deep-seated hatred for the gypsies and seeks to eradicate them from Paris, making him not only murderous, but genocidal, especially since he seeks to kill them simply out of his own racism, supremacy, and superiority. Throughout the years in his quest to eliminate the gypsies, Frollo murders Quasimodo’s mother by violently kicking her, causing her to fall and hit her head on the stone steps of Notre Dame, then tries to burn Esmeralda at the stake, declaring that she must be killed because she has been practicing witchcraft. After killing the mother, Frollo even attempts to drown baby Quasimodo simply because of his deformity. What makes Frollo even more evil besides doing his deeds is that he is a judge with control over the city, yet he proves himself to be corrupt and hypocritical by violating the laws to accomplish his dark, sinister deeds. Perhaps what makes Frollo the most evil villain of all is that he is in complete denial about how evil he really is. He has a delusional belief that he is a good, religious man doing God’s work by trying to purge the world of evil, when all he really does is twist his “faith” and hypocritically use it for his own evil purposes. What’s worse is that Frollo never once takes an ounce of responsibility for his crimes; he makes excuses to justify his actions, painting himself as guiltless and his victims as the only ones at fault. So with Frollo being such a blasphemous, hypocritical, racist, genocidal, murderous, corrupt judge who never believes he is doing anything wrong and always lays blame on the victims of his misdeeds, I can’t say there is a single thing about him that I like, and I’m happy he met his death in a fiery blaze! 😡🔥

Mother Gothel - A character I see as being an amalgam of Gaston, Lady Tremaine, and Frollo, the reasons why I hate all three of these villains are also found in Gothel: vanity, narcissism, oppression, mental abuse, trickery, manipulation, dishonesty, hypocrisy, and flat-out cruelty. First of all, Gothel’s vanity, narcissism, and obsession with her own beauty makes her extremely insufferable and annoying, not to mention the fact that she hoarded the flower to herself for hundreds of years just to stay alive shows how incredibly selfish and possessive she is. And due to her selfishness, she kidnaps Rapunzel, hides her in a tower, lies to her about the outside world, and continually mentally abuses, manipulates, oppresses, mocks, and belittles her just to ensure that Rapunzel will never leave the tower and the flower’s magic in her hair will keep her (Gothel) alive and young forever. On par with her narcissism, Gothel is shown to be a very spoiled, childish, immature woman who seeks to always have things her way and throws tantrums or other emotional outbursts when she doesn’t get her way or what she wants, especially the very moment she wants it. Furthermore, Gothel possesses a martyr, or victim, complex, which is shown perfectly when victimizes herself and places all the blame on Rapunzel whenever any sort of conflict befalls their lives and relationship, especially when they argue. So with all these flaws in mind, like Gaston, Lady Tremaine, and Frollo, I can’t find any good reason to like Gothel at all. “Mother Knows Best”? More like “Gothel Knows Worst”! 😠😡

Governor Ratcliffe - I said above that I hate Gaston because of his bigoted, low views of women, and prejudice is the main reason why I hate Governor Ratcliffe. However, his prejudice is in the form of racism, the kind of bigotry that I hate the most. Ratcliffe displays this attitude towards the Native Americans, considering them savages and seeing himself as better than them all because of his race, which makes him a white supremacist. Besides his supremacy and superiority regarding his race, Ratcliffe is intensely greedy and selfish since he wants to keep any riches found for himself and believes that the Virginia land and anything he finds on it is his for the taking. In relation to his bigotry, he is also quite delusional and self-righteous, which makes him believe that any theory he has is right and he refuses to believe otherwise or listen to reason. For example, Ratcliffe dismisses Wiggins’ correct assumptions on why the Indians attacked the settlers and John’s claim that there is no gold in the lands after Pocahontas tells him this. The hatred I hold for Ratcliffe is significantly less than the other four listed here, but the reasons I gave are virtually like those I gave for Frollo, so I’m confident with Ratcliffe and his place on my list.

Bonus Mentions

Hans - Hans is a villain that I place in the middle between my most loved and most hated villains, because I love him for WHAT he is as a villain while I simultaneously hate him for WHO he is as a character. I have said it to friends and some of my other analyses before, but one of the reasons why I love Frozen is because it took many of the traditional fairy tale elements and tropes used in their preceding films, and turned them upside down. So rather than having another prince as the heroic male lead in this film, Frozen twisted that trope around by making him the villain instead. And when Hans finally reveals his true nature, you realize that he has fooled not only Anna and the other characters who interacted with him, but first-time viewers as well! So while I love Hans for being a villain who keeps his true nature under wraps for the majority of the film and almost gets away with his crimes because of it, I also hate him because of how cold, cruel, callous, ruthless, and sadistic he really is. When he reveals his true nature and explains his plan to Anna, he mocks her intelligence, naïveté, and desperation for love while explaining just how easy it was for him to deceive and manipulate her into being a pawn in his plan to take over Arendelle. Throughout the whole scene, Hans smiles wickedly and sadistically, clearly showing the delight he is getting from tormenting Anna and watching her suffer while he explains his scheme and extinguishes all light sources to accelerate her death. It’s also easy to see his sadism when he announces his plan to murder Elsa, and that he will get even greater joy out of carrying out the act itself (which we see when Hans smiles widely while swinging his sword over Elsa’s head as he tries to kill her on the fjord).

Chi-Fu - While he is not a true villain, and not even evil at all, Chi-Fu is a very detestable character, one whose guts I hate completely because he has the same traits that make me hate Gaston: arrogance, conceit, egotism, bigotry, superiority, and misogyny. Prejudice against women is a main theme in Mulan, and Chi-Fu is the one man whose prejudiced opinions never change. While Shang and Mulan’s fellow soldiers initially hold views that women are beneath men, they learn to change them after Mulan proves herself a capable warrior in the army (even after her disguise is revealed), most especially when she helps save China from Shan Yu’s reign of terror. Despite the majority of his bigotry being aimed at women, Chi-Fu is also detestable because he shows it towards nearly everyone else, except the Emperor. As the second-in-command to the Emperor, Chi-Fu sees himself superior to almost everyone else around him, which enhances his pompous, elitist, arrogant attitude. Because of all these antagonistic traits, I loathe Chi-Fu while I don’t hate Shan Yu at all, even though the latter is truly pure evil and genocidal! 😠😡 It just goes to show that some people who are neither necessarily good nor bad can be even more contemptible that the most malevolent, murderous people.

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dylanconrique · 2 years

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For your unpopular opinion thing: Cassie has done a lot of fucked up shit these past episodes that should def not be excused but if the fandom can recognize that actions of characters like Rue or Jules, despite also being extremely fucked up, are very clearly rooted in deep pain and self-hatred and not just born out of pure evil/selfishness, it should be possible to acknowledge that the same goes for her. Everyone wanting Maddie to actually get violent towards her is kinda unsettling, tbh.

i can totally get behind this. i mean, cassie knew right from the beginning that she shouldn't have hooked up with nate. but we have to keep in mind where we picked up from in s1, and if you really think about it, both cassie and maddie were too wrapped up in their own toxic relationships to really care about each other. nate is... just the worst of the worst, when it comes to boyfriend's; and mckay pm only used cassie for sex. which goes to show in the pilot episode of s2, when nate is getting all up in his face like "did you fuck her? did you dick her down? you missed those big titties, huh?" and the bastard was smiling! laughing!! thought it was funny!!! ..... up until a point ig. personally, i'm a believer that if you're a real man, the last thing you would do is stand there and get a chuckle out of an asshole like nate jacobs talking about your girl like that. but maybe that's just my "biased" opinion?

cassie has just been on this huge! emotional/mental downward spiral since her abortion (which no one outside of her family, or mckay, know about). again, they were both wrapped up in their own business in s1; and come to think of it i can't recall too many scenes of cassie and maddie together, aside from the carnival episode. so, i was actually a little surprised that they slapped the "best friends" card on them this season. cause from what i very vaguely remember, cassie and maddie had little to do with each other s1. i thought kat was maddie's best friend. and weeeell, right now, it looks that way.😬

also, this is just my hot take, but i agree with cassie's argument that maddie and nate were broken up when they had sex. idk, i've never really understood how your best friend hooking up with your ex is taboo. they're an ex for a reason. they may not have been the person for me, but they may be the person for you. however, in the case of nate jacobs, he is one of those people who should die alone.

for all joking purposes, yes, i want maddie to tear cassie to shreds; but really i want them to resolve this, and realize that this man is not at all worth their friendship.

send me controversial or unpopular opinions and I’ll tell you if I agree or disagree 🐸 ☕️

#anon #answered #euphoria #euphoria spoilers #euphoria season 2 #cassie howard #maddie perez #ngl i'm not proud of rue either for outing her like that #i mean it was a genius master manipulator move #but it was mean and cassie's never done a thing to provoke that out of her #she's not gonna be calling her 'rue rue' anymore #maddie has a right to be pissed #but i would hate to see her completely cut off cassie and give her the cold shoulder #anyway #i hope this doesn't sound too messy?????#i feel like i got a little sloppy there with my explanation

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mrsgaryrennell · 3 years

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attic for dicky and gary?? 👀👀

First of all, I'm sorry for the late af response as always 💀I know I'm terrible but 👀👀let's dive into our Chatham boys shall we?

Attic:

What is the character afraid of?

Gary: I feel like he is afraid of rejection and abandonment. I'm going real deep into this real quick lol Because of his daddy issues at such a young age, Gary knew that he had to better himself to remain as the man of the house (example: his devotion to his nan and mother). As he began to physically become more appealing and stronger, he started noticing that people were giving him a lot of attention, majorly from girls. And with this, he's extremely consumed by the attention he never got from his father. That's why he loves to be the initiator/alpha in the Villa because he's the center of the spotlight and that helps him subconsciously cope. Gary is fearful of rejection which can shift to the fear of abandonment from his family/friends or his love life.

Dicky: Our mechanic boy is actually fearful of failing to protect his loved ones. Jason is known of not being the friendliest guy but when it comes to the people he really cares about, he grows very obsessed on the idea of being loyal to them. He'll make sure that he does all he can to be there for them when needed. He's not skillful with his words but making them company and allowing them to vent is his way to show that he cares deeply for them. If he notices that they need more than just his company, Dicky pushes himself out of his comfort zone to provide advice and affirmations. However, if Jason notices that something's gotten out of control and has no way of doing something about it, this is what he fears. He would feel like he neglected his protectiveness and drowns himself in self-blame for not being there more often.

How do they deal with bad memories?

Gary: He's not one to really open up about his bad memories and because he's too caught up on being the entertainer, the optimist of his friend group, he prefers excusing himself and releasing all of the stress in the gym or inviting his friends for drinks. Distraction is key in this situation ☹️ He's extremely good at hiding how he feels so people wouldn't even know that he's just trying to deal with negative emotions when he just shrugs things off . I know Gary does open up to MC at the end of the game but again, it's all the way towards the end. By that time, Gary develops trust in her completely with his vulnerability and becomes more comfortable talking about triggering things, such as his bad memories 💛

Dicky: So Jason is kinda the same as Gary. He doesn't show his discomfort towards bad memories at all (especially when he's got an impressive poker face lol) but instead, he becomes extremely quiet and even crankier/moodier. He'll just sit there for a moment while he remembers and he'll isolate himself elsewhere for alone time. He'll use the excuse of taking a smoke break and just be lost in thought. Gary is probably the only one that knows when Dicky is going through some bad memories but gives him space since it's a tick he's had since he was younger. Usually after he finishes his cigarette, Dicky feels better. Smoking is a terrible tool for comfort and even he knows it but it's the only thing that helps Jason 😭

What is this character’s role in a horror movie?

Gary: lmao yah this guy would be that aloof but extremely hot jock. Later on, everyone will realize that he's actually really handy and pretty resourceful. He's probably one of the main love interests until he ends up as one of the first victims and gets murdered 💀

Dicky: Now this guy would be the extremely hot bad boy of the group. Everyone hates him because he's brutal and mean but he keeps saving everyone's asses from the brink of death lol He's either one of the last ones to get killed or survives 😌

How do they hide their secrets?

Gary: I feel like he doesn't necessarily hide secrets and makes sure he never brings anything up that could potentially reveal a secret of his. And let's say he's under the situation in which he's confronted about a secret, Gary would provide very brief/general details that won't expose much. Now if he's in a position where a secret is completely revealed *ahem Lottie's kiss* this dude does not like confrontation and will either shrug it off until people give up on insisting or literally walks away

Dicky: I'll be honest, I seriously doubt this guy hides anything lol He's too straightforward with people and with himself. If he ever finds the need to hide a secret, he'd actually lie about something to make sure it's never revealed. He knows that lying is terrible and it's in fact a pet peeve of his but if Dicky needs to keep a crucial secret, he will not hesitate to lie. What's scarier is that Dicky can seem very credible and make anyone believe whatever he says 😶

Which of the Seven Deadly Sins does the character relate to most?

Gary: I'd say Gary would relate the most with pride. According to a website called inspirationfeed.com, "pride is defined as an excessive love for oneself, belief in one’s abilities, the desire to excel everyone else. Pride is such a vile sin that it has often been considered as the root cause of the other six of the seven deadly sins."

I've always mentioned that Gary always comes off as a cocky and overly-confident man, especially when he wants to establish dominance when theres's new guys around the Villa. When he does this, he can seem rather pompous about himself and when he notices that someone else, for example - Graham, comes to challenge him, the feeling is threatening and will do anything in his power to "win", even if he doesn't realize that he could potentially hurt someone's feelings. I've actually done a short analysis about Gary's pride on this post. You guys are more than welcome to read it because I definitely think this is one of Gary's negative traits and it really shows in the game lol

Dicky: Now with Jason, he'd definitely relate the most with wrath. According to Wikipedia,"Wrath (Latin: ira) can be defined as uncontrolled feelings of anger, rage, and even hatred. Wrath often reveals itself in the wish to seek vengeance."

There's no denying that Dicky is the kind of man that is impatient and can get his buttons pushed easily. It's always a plus that he has self-control or at least tries to if it's someone trying to poke at him however; if anyone dares to mess his family or close friends, this is when he carries no control of his anger. It can become rather freighting when there's no stopping him. He's certainly not one with short-temper/anger issues whatsoever. Dicky is actually a pretty calm/chill guy but know the exact things that will trigger him and you will wish to have never seen his ugly side.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this because I totally did writing it and thank you sm much sis for asking about the boys 🥺🙈💛I got pretty soft for them lol

Send me a character name + a room, and I'll tell you my headcanons

#love island game #litg #blue and hazel #litg gary #gary rennell #jason 'dicky' emsworth #appreciate the ask girl it was lots of fun #sorry about the tardiness again lol idk why I'm like this 🤡#anyways the last question was 👀👀👀interesting hah #gary your Leo is showing lmao #If dicky was a truly bad person #he'd be hella scary tbh #ask away if you guys have others in mind from the link!#although i can't promise a quick response lol so sorry in advance 😌#but I'm open to Chloe and Minni as well whatever you want 💛

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theleagueof13 · 4 years

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Why I Don’t Care About Tristan/Yara’s Death

Okay that was clickbait but I didn’t care about Yara because... why would I? She has no personality, she doesn’t even speak, and there was no backstory as to why Tristan felt uncomfortable as a boy and wanted to become Yara. It was mainly for cheap shock-value?? And Tedros doesn’t even mourn her, or show any regret that he could have saved her. But like, it’s fine, right? As long as Soman keeps referencing Kiko’s crush on Tristan in every book, it’s FINE, right?

No.

Since there’s No Labels In The Woods, it’s impossible to tell if Yara is trans or gender-fluid or whatever. Usually, when someone is transgender, it’s not polite to say their “dead name”, which in this case, is “Tristan”. BUT, the name Yara is never mentioned beyond AWWP, and she’s addressed as “Tristan” later on??

For the purpose of this post, I’ll use Yara when she identifies as a girl, and Tristan when he identifies as a boy, so just know that they’re the same person.

The problem I find with Yara’s death is that it doesn’t serve a clear purpose. Her conflict is that Yara so desperately wanted to be accepted for her identity that she had no choice but to be Evelyn’s little pet in order to attend School for Girls. However, the readers never knew that Tristan was dissatisfied with his male appearance until the very end, and Yara was never developed to be her own standout character. Therefore, we didn’t have time to root for her, and she was easily forgotten in TLEA and the Camelot Years.

Anyway, even though she was brutally murdered by Aric, it doesn’t undercut the fact that she backstabbed Good, and her gender identity does not make her inherently redeemable.

Now here’s a theory that should’ve happened in canon but never did:

Yara was actually a double agent, working for Evelyn AND Yuba.

During Tristan’s time at School for Boys, BEFORE Sophie and Agatha’s return, he is directed by Yuba to find out what the FUCK is going on. He is an outcast and feels insecure in his own skin, especially when every “noble prince” he used to be friends with has turned into a feral rat. So, he agrees to do this if it means that Good and Evil will be restored to its former glory and everyone stops acting like idiotic pigs.

Then Tedros comes into play. And Tristan has a crush on him, because... Trisdos. Although Tristan still suffers from gender dysphoria, his infatuation motivates him further to continue spying on Tedros for Yuba (since Tedros was the leader of School for Boys before Aric came along).

But Tedros, whose daddy issues and self-doubt have hit HARD at this point, is spiraling. Tedros is so haunted by betrayal and revenge that he is blind to his budding feelings towards Tristan. Yes, there’s Tagatha, but just let poor Tedros explore his sexuality.

Imagine Tedros and Tristan kissing “accidentally” in the moment.

Aric’s bigoted henchmen find out and start beating Tristan up for “being a girl”. They leave him by the border bruised and half-dead.

Of course, Evelyn Sader swoops in. She allows Tristan to become Yara at School for Girls, in exchange for her undying servitude.

Aric claims that Tristan took off on his own. Tedros thinks it’s because of him.

Yara follows Evelyn’s commands, planting tricks for Sophie and Agatha. She realizes along the way that Evelyn is a villain, but she’s in far too deep and she can’t give up her life as a girl, the life she’s always been denied.

Every three days when the potion wears off, Yara secretly returns to the School for Boys to become Tristan again and leaves clues for Tedros. Of course, this is all in vain, as the clues are never found because Tedros is locked in the dungeon.

We could see Tristan/Yara’s struggle with loyalty, gender, sexuality, etc.

Aric becomes Captain and Filip enters the School for Boys, and suddenly Evelyn’s demands are more and more urgent. Yara can’t sneak off, during the most crucial weeks before the Trial, when Tedros is being tortured, when Telip is getting closer and closer...

Eventually, Evelyn finds out Yara’s hidden allegiance to Yuba and burns Yuba’s hideout down not only to send a message to Agatha, but to doom Yara to a permanent gender switch after three days.

In the Trial, Yara takes a hit for Tedros and sacrifices her life to save him. In her last moments, Yara would revert back to Tristan — the form she despises and the only way Tedros would recognize her. Tedros would finally see that Tristan loved him, and he would come to regret his hatred and ignorance when he is alone with his thoughts in Galvadon.

Logistical Inconsistencies:

- The AWWP timeline is so incorrigibly convoluted and messy, I can’t even think about it. Just pretend it works for the sake of the headcanon.

- Yara doesn’t have a chapter. All she needs is ONE chapter to explain her perspective and wrap up the backstory.

- Yara can’t speak. In my headcanon, she can speak, and she’s friends with a few girls even if she’s a little weird. This would increase her love for sisterhood and compel her to stay at the School for Girls. For all you Yiko/Kara shippers out there, your wish has been granted.

- Yuba has a finite supply of Merlin’s “gender bent” potions. He should have more, I mean, come on.

- Filip being Filip for only three days, because there is NO WAY that Tedros and Filip would bond so quickly.

- The entire concept of Telip. Don’t get me wrong, I love Telip. However, it’s another excuse to call back Tophie, and a FAILED, STRAIGHT relationship is not the best example to portray Tedros’ bisexuality. It’s just that considering their history, it’s clear that Sophie is simply trying to get Tedros back for herself, only masquerading as a boy. It doesn’t sit right with me. There is no gender commentary within Sophie becoming Filip, it was a mere plot device.

The reveal at the end when Tedros kisses Filip and he turns back to Sophie wouldn’t solely be for drama anymore. Over time, Tedros could accept that he did, momentarily, have romantic intentions with boys (Tristan and Filip) and he wouldn't just blame it on how “Filip looked like a girl in the dark”, which was plain bullshit. I mean, kissing one boy is a mistake, kissing TWO is not.

It would also show Tedros the difference between Tristan and Filip, between Good and Evil, and push him further to take Agatha from Sophie. After all, Tristan DIED for him, and Filip was lying the whole time.

Instead of Filip being the cornerstone of Tedros “coming out” to the readers, Tristan should’ve been.

#school for evil #school for good #the school for good and evil #tumblr #yara #transgender #genderfluid

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incarnateirony · 4 years

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Realizing I’ve been dodging finishing my video project analyzing the show because it’s hitting too close to home right now is a whole fucking emotional roller coaster of its own.

At some point Sam stopped being who I related my issues through and instead who I hoped to be, and who I hoped to have the happy ending I seem to see in the future for him for a sign, whereas at this point I seem to be living too closely through Castiel especially with my wife and her open Deanisms and identifying herself as Dean.

If anyone notices me being off lately, I’m sorry, just uh

youtube

My head’s somewhere in the middle of this Jungian disaster.

Read out of that what you will.

yes hello please continue deep diving into your own jungian psychological fustercluck right now no big deal

For those who don’t know me, my life was a battlefield. Ultimately, it set me on strange paths. Fun paths. Exotic paths a lot of people like hearing about. But ultimately, a battlefield, proverbial and at times literal. In fight-or-flight, my instinct is fight-through-flight. I’m old. My gas tank is burned up. My ability to source the will to fight is contingent only on fighting for one person. But it’s wall after endless wall, sometimes even from that one person while they, too, deal with their own issues. Years of fighting for freedom, stopped again and again and again.

Those fumes are running low and sparks burn out quickly. I was so close, yet again, for the umpteenth time, of getting our clean break out of here and then everything got locked down. So now not only am I stuck in this state but now as if to take a highlighter in it I’m stuck in this box in this state. Oh you got literally every possible duck lined up in a row in a fool proof plan, don’t worry, the universe will literally make it impossible on a national level. Maybe tomorrow there’ll be the goddamn national guard keeping me from leaving the bedroom at this point. Who fucking knows. Sleep sounds nice.

Add in knowing the on-set leak from 15.18 and how dangerously applicable it is in many ways -- yes, we all should know, I think, how Dabb will subvert it in 15.20. He has his style and his ways we’ve picked up on by now. But even these characters we’ve come to identify heavily with are stuck in this goddamn quarantine box too. So even that catharsis is trapped in Purgatory. If I’m gonna be stuck at least let me see the boys break out, see Cas yes, surrender when broken, but be lifted out. Let my boys find their heaven and let Sam’s work add up to something, just LET IT HAPPEN ALREADY.

I can’t emphasize enough how much I need 15.20 as stupid as it sounds. Jesus christ let me out of at least ONE of my boxes. Just one. Please. For the love of fuck.

As long as Dabb doesn’t pull a “I’m gonna be coy and nullify everything I’ve done to be SUBVERSIVE” showrunner thing, which doesn’t seem this author room’s intent at all, I have faith in /that/ at least. I don’t have faith in the universe.

Maybe this is why I get so primitively mad at people rooting for failures for ANY of these guys, because I know there’s other people like me living these situations and needing a sign it will be okay. Someone’s dark wants or hatred of a character because it got in the way of XYZ of whatever they wanted in a fandom literally attached to mental health awareness is a whole new level of entitlement. Maybe I’m entitled for wanting something semi-specific too, but I didn’t build those expectations out of air, but out of patterned study of a show’s rhythm well beyond anything I wanted (unless people think I wanted Mary to die and Dean to almost shoot Jack for losing his soul, before it happened -- fuck all the base of THIS video is off of an early-mid S14 spec project I built that’s panning out now just like when I updated Grudge [x]). Maybe it’s entitlement to want a showrunner to complete a storyline stably. I don’t know. But damnit. Hell.

And honestly, if I hear “I need my dark shit for cartharsis” abused one more time in the name of what typically reduces to ship warring I’m going to build the world’s biggest potato launcher canon and sling some fucking flaming doggie doo to your doorstep from here. Because no. If you’re literally attaching psychologically to characters, and then want to see them die miserable, failed deaths, or want to impress death and pain on the people around them, that’s not catharsis. That’s as cathartic as a heroin junkie wanting to see people die of drug overdoses to make it okay for them, too, to do/feel/want it. That’s when you’ve been using it as an excuse, not a healing process. And I’m sorry, that’s the damn fucking truth and I am so goddamn sick of people extorting mental health awareness phrases around here I could puke. And if you’re really looking for this and like, seeking death and failure and permissability to seek surrender as a Great Thing like PLEASE go see someone about that. I’m fully aware I’m coming uncorked in my situation but even I’m not that far gone that I’ve convinced myself that suicide is somehow part of a healing process. Holy shit.

That doesn’t mean it has to turn up rainbows and sunshine either. But jesus christ I’m so over this fandom’s talking points.

#tw #cw #suicide #depression #fandom

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mrslittletall · 4 years

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Title: Off Balance (Chapter 3) Fandom: Hollow Knight Characters: The Pale King, The Pure Vessel Word Count: 5.263 AO3-Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21805333/chapters/53757349 Previous chapter: https://mrslittletall.tumblr.com/post/190159993574/title-off-balance-chapter-2-fandom-hollow Summary: A story is told. A name is chosen. And a trip is made.

“Are you alright? Let me see your face!”, the Pale King helped the Pure Vessel up which had a hand in front of their face. He was certain if they would have been able to make an expression, it would be pain.

The Pale King slowly and gently removed their limbs, flinching once again at the ice cold sensation. This was something he should get used to. As their face came in view, he saw the crack in their mask. “The floor of the White Palace can be rather hard.”, he sighed as he raised his own hand and focused soul. The crack healed up promptly under this treatment and he took a step back. “You should be careful with turning around, that still brings you off balance.”, he said and got a nod from them. He then remembered why he even had been out, the letter for Herrah.

He turned around to find a Royal Retainer to give it too, only noticing that he had left the Pure Vessel standing there as he intended to return to his quarters and they were still standing where he had left them.

“...Can you come with to me quarters?”, he said and the Pure Vessel cocked their head, it looked like a gesture of confusion. The Pale King then realized his “mistake”. They weren't used to follow a polite plea, they were used to follow orders.

The real mistake in this case was his old self that had thought that treating his own child like a thing was fine. He cursed at himself for this thought as he felt the so familiar stab of guilt in his chest.

“It... it means that I would like to show you something in my quarters, but you can decide if you want to come or not.”, he said, fidgeting with his claws beneath the cloak. He felt how his tail involuntarily clutched his feet, that hadn't happened in a while. One of his common signs for getting nervous.

After what felt like an age of waiting, the Pure Vessel finally nodded. “You want to accompany me to my quarters?”, the Pale King asked once again, wanting to confirm if he had read them right. They surely needed to find a way for them to communicate. Another nod.

“Very well then, follow me.” This seemed to be more of their liking, because this time they followed him without trouble. As they entered the quarters of the Pale King, the Pure Vessel stepped in, then they stayed in the doorway.

“Please take a seat.”, the Pale King gestured to the table and then was quick to prepare some paper and a quill for them so they could communicate. He sat down opposite to them like the day before and cleared his throat, searching for words. “I know this is a lot to take in...”, he said. “And... I have no excuse for what I intended to do.”

His let his head hang low as these words came out. He wondered why the Hollow Knight didn't hate him. Why they were accepting him as their father. He started to loathe himself at the thought of him delivering the Pure Vessel to the Temple of the Black Egg and then walking away like nothing had happened. Like he fully had intended to do. He felt bile rise at the back of his throat and quickly swallowed it down.

While he had been busy with drowning into self hatred, the Pure Vessel had written something down and pushed over to him. He looked at the words in front of him with dull eyes.

“You did what you thought was right.”

Someone like him surely didn't deserve a child like that. They may have been not of the purity he had strived for, but there was certainly another kind of purity in them. A purity that made them even able to forgive their horrible father.

He spend some time trying to regain his composure, his tail had clutched his legs again, so hard that it started to hurt. He forced himself to release them, for his body to relax and took a few deep breathes before he spoke.

“The reason I have called you here.”, he started. “I want to ask how much you know. About the state of this world. About the infection.”

They looked at him for a split second before they wrote for a while. Once they were finished he picked up the paper and read.

The contents were what he had thought. They were aware that there was an infection that made bugs hostile. They were aware that they were made out of void and came from the Abyss as well as they were his child, obviously. And they were aware that their role had been to act as vessel for the infection and for this purpose they couldn't show their feelings. The last sentence made the Pale King frown a bit. They also had written that they were aware that they had siblings.

He never had introduced Hornet to them and he was sure that they had been the only vessel that climbed out of the abyss. So this last sentence confused him a bit. Siblings? Maybe his root had told them about their stillborn ones though he didn't take his wife as one to say something like this to her own child.

“That is the gist of if, pretty much.”, the Pale King confirmed. “But the root of the infection is another story. I will give you the short version, so pay attention.”

They leaned on the table as if trying to be closer to his words and he feared that they would fall again, these horns were just too big, but they got a hold on themselves and cocked their head at him in a curious manner.

“When I was still in my original body, I came across this land.”, the Pale King started his tale. “I had a certain feeling that I should stop there, so after I spend a while to observe the living creatures in Hallow's Nest, I decided to shed my shell and transform into a form that would make it easier for me to interact with them.” His thoughts wandered to the leftover shell in Kingdom's Edge. He had been much larger back then.

“I wandered this land and whenever I came upon a native bug of this country, it felt like they were controlled by a hive mind. I used my powers to grant them free thoughts.”, the Pale King told further. “I continued to traverse the lands and free bugs of this hive mind, but then I came upon a clan that already was worshipping a god.”

The thought about his old nemesis made his gaze darken and his tail twitch. “She was the source of the hive mind and she was simply referred to as the Radiance.”

While the Pale King thought about how to continue his story he didn't noticed that the Pure Vessel had written another thing and only noticed when he felt a nudge, briefly flinching at the ice cold sensation, which made them retract their limb and stare at it in a way that made the Pale King's chest hurt.

“No, don't worry, I was just lost in thought...”, he said and picked up the paper to read. It read: “What happened between the two of you?”

“It's actually a rather long story.”, the Pale King said, “I will try to reduce it to the bare minimum for now. So in short, we clashed. I was thinking that every bug should be able to decide who to follow of their own free will and she was thinking that everybody would be much happier in her hive mind. So we fought a battle against each other... and she lost this battle and nowadays almost no bug remembers that the goddess named Radiance ever existed.”

He grew silent again which the Pure Vessel used as opportunity to write something down. As he picked it up a sad smile flashed over the Pale King's face. “You want to know why we haven't tried to find an agreement? I have tried... I decided to visit there and offer negotiations, but before I could even present my conditions she decided to get rid of me once and for all.”

He shuddered at the thought of being hit by her lightning blast, heavy enough to get kicked right out of the dream realm, at the thought of the pain and the memory of the blood he had seen on his claws... slowly realizing it was his blood, slowly realizing that he was dying.

If not for his ability to heal his wounds by focusing soul he would have been done for.

“I survived her attack but it left me bedridden for a good while.”, he said. It was Grimm that had helped him back on his feet after this and who also had given him the warning, that it was better not to search a fight with his sister.

“After this I knew that negotiating wasn't working, so I put the fight into finding more followers and slowly but surely Hallow's Nest started to follow me over the Radiance until there was only one clan left who still worshipped her... and even they turned their back to her... ”

He of course was talking about the moth clan, the strongest worshippers of the Radiance. Even today he had the feeling that a few of them still believed in the Radiance, but they slowly but surely had started to die out. Nowadays they were barely a moth alive anymore.

The Pure Vessel scribbled another thing: “So the infection is the Radiance?”

“Correct.”, the Pale King said, lying the paper down with a sigh. “She's upset about having been forgotten and tries to reach out to form her hive mind again, but because she is so upset every bug that gets touched by her hive mind becomes violent. It is a serious danger for Hallow's Nest. And there isn't any chance for us to change her mind. It wish there would be another way, but she can't continue threatening this kingdom by throwing a temper tantrum. And.. you know what my original plan was...”

“Sealing the infection. Means sealing the Radiance. Inside me.”

Seeing it written down like that made him shudder again. “Yes. I wanted to trap her into a being without a mind. The Radiance can only control beings which have a mind. She would have never be able to escape...”, he trailed off and didn't finish the words he wanted to say. An empty vessel. This felt just wrong.

And the next thing the Pure Vessel wrote made him feel even worse. “I am sorry I couldn't be pure.” He shot up and banged his claws on the table.

“What? No, no, don't apologize. It is not your fault. It was never your fault! It was mine!”, he blurted out, breathing heavily, only realizing his outburst when he saw how the Pure Vessel had taken a step back and hugged their tiny nail.

“Sorry, I am sorry...”, he said, sitting back down, leaning his head into his hands. “The last few days have been a lot...”

He only looked up when he felt the icy sensation of the void on his back and saw that it was his child that tried to comfort him. Even though it should be the other way round. They stayed like this for a while until he managed to rise and sit straight on his chair again.

“But enough talking about this.”, he said. “For now it is enough that you know the truth about the infection. We can talk further about this another time. For now I would like to know another thing. Have you chosen a name for yourself?”

They wrote for quite some time after this, making the Pale King a bit anxious and his claws started to tap on the table as he waited. Once they were finished he read: “I asked the others how they got their names. They said that their parents gave them their names. This means... shouldn't it be you who gives me a name?”

As if he hadn't been anxious before, this felt like a whole another stab in his heart. He had been so close to give them a name. He had thought about fitting names before he went to sleep and then convinced him, that it didn't need a name. It was the vessel. There was no need to name a mere tool. And he had buried every name he had thought up deep into the back of his mind.

He stood up from the table and walked to a window, looking outside. There normally wasn't much to see. The White Palace was build far from the bustling zones, he always had enjoyed some peace and quiet. Some of the kingsmould were patrolling the yard and he he could see Ze'mer and Isma talk to each other.

“I... have forfeited my right to give you a name.”, he finally said.

He heard the scribble of the quill for a short while and when he turned around the Pure Vessel was sitting there and presented a piece of paper to him.

“In that case: Call me Hollow.”

Hollow... like in their title, the Hollow Knight. With their face that couldn't bear any expression and without a voice as well as their intended purpose it truly felt like the most fitting name for them.

“Hollow.”, the Pale King said, “Are you sure about this?”

A shy nod.

“Then Hollow shall be your name from now on.”, the Pale King said.

Hollow laid the piece of paper down and hugged their nail again. Had they been worried that he didn't like the name? He had accepted each and any name they had chosen, he was sure of it. He walked back to the table and looked at the nail.

“You are really fond of it. Thinking about it, you have been fond of it since you were a child, but isn't it a bit too small for you now? How about we get you a new one?”, he asked.

Hollow looked at their nail for a long while and then cocked their head. “I won't take this one away from you if you want to keep it.”, the Pale King said, having the hunch that this weapon was some kind of emotional comfort for them. “But you can't fight with this. And you want to continue your training, right?”

They slowly nodded at his words.

“Perfect. Then let us visit the Nailsmith.”, the Pale King said and got up. As they didn't move, he realized that they had never been outside of the White Palace since he had brought them from the Abyss. “It isn't that far away, don't worry.”, he said. “Wait...”, he rummaged around in his desk until he found a map. He spread it on the table and stood next to Hollow. “See, this is where we are.”, he pointed at the White Palace, which was build near the Abyss in the Ancient Basin. “And we have to go to the City of Tears, that isn't too far away. I will help you with climbing up should you get off balance again, alright?”

Their head followed the movements of his claws at the map and they gave another nod. As the Pale King followed their movements he noticed the stag station near the White Palace. While it would be a lot quicker and easier to use it, the stags hadn't approved of his decision to build the tramway at all and he very much preferred to not pay them a visit until absolutely necessary. Besides, he had the feeling that Hollow would appreciate the scenic route. “Now that this is settled, let's leave.”

As soon as it had been decided the Pale King went to his root to tell her that he would take Hollow out (she seemed to be delighted about the name) and then left the Palace alongside Hollow, making some of the Royal Retainers turn their head in surprise, he wasn't know for leaving the White Palace very often. Even Isma and Ze'mer who still were in the yard looked at him surprised, asking if he needed a guard, which he denied.

He had enough confidence in his own abilities to not get ambushed by a bunch of infected bugs and besides they only were going to the City of Tears, which wasn't far away. The two knights exchanged a look but let them go.

As expected, Hollow had a few difficulties when it came to climbing the steep tunnels of Hallow's Nest. Their wings didn't provide flight to them, but they possessed a natural skill in jumping and climbing up walls, only that their balance problems were very apparent and instead of climbing up gracefully they struggled to not fall down to the ground and get a nasty crack in their head.

The Pale King had stayed at the ground and called them down once he saw them struggle. “Let me carry you.”, he said, unfolding the extra pair of arms he usually hid beneath his robes, which now came in handy to get a good grab on Hollow as he extended his wings to fly up the tunnel that led to the city. He still was glad that void didn't weigh much. It wouldn't have been any trouble in his old body, but he had decided to transform his body into that of a usual bug.

Hollow just let themselves hang limply as he carried them and carefully set them down once they were at the top. After Hollow regained their balance they looked around, seeming to take in all these new sights. The Pale King assumed that they must have a million question, a million questions they couldn't ask because of their missing voice. He just decided to talk a bit about the areas on his own behalf to satisfy their curiosity.

“You can't see them from here, but this path leads to the Royal Waterways, which we use to keep the city clean. It's Ogrim's favourite place.”, he told and then pointed to another path. “And this one will lead to the City of Tears. You will see why we call it that once we are there.”

Hollow hang to his words when he spoke and looked around when he was silent. The City of Tears was close now and soon they entered it. The Pale King just wanted to tell Hollow where they were headed next when he saw them rush towards the windows build into the city walls, both hands on them, staring at the rain.

Of course being underground weather wasn't a thing and so it didn't surprise the Pale King that Hollow was fascinated by the rain, that wasn't exactly rain, in fact it was the water of the Blue Lake that poured constantly onto the city. He walked over to Hollow and spoke: “Yes, that is the reason why we call it City of Tears. Because of the constant rain that is pouring on it.”

Hollow didn't show the slightest inclination to move, all they did was watch the rain, their head going up as they followed the movement of the droplets from up and going down once the droplets fell down. After they did this a few time the Pale King noticed how they started to sway and extended his arm to support them. “It's a quite beautiful sight, isn't it?”, he said. He wasn't leaving the palace much. And standing there with Hollow he realized just how beautiful this City was. Or maybe he had forgotten about it during the constant worrying about the infection and the guilt about the Vessels that was eating him from inside. But right here in this moment he felt like he could be at peace.

This peace didn't last long. Naturally the city was bustling with bugs and sentries and every time another bug crossed them, he could hear them gasp and then bow. This continued until there was a small crowd of bugs bowing making him turn around and state: “Our presence here is simply for business reasons. Continue with your every day lives.”

He knew that his soft whispering voice was more to the bugs then just a sound, it kind of was able to touch their minds. After he had stated this the bugs started to rise one after the other and continued with whatever they had planned beforehand, though the Pale King could hear some shushed discussions.

“Let us go, Hollow.”, he said and Hollow reluctantly averted their gaze from the window, following him, though their brief sadness was replaced with more wonder as they crossed the city and they saw more and more of its beauty. The Pale King wished they would have been able to get to the Nailsmith quicker but he didn't have the heart to deny Hollow to take in the sights and besides, every time they encountered a bug or sentry they bowed to him and he sometimes had to remind them to go back to their duties.

Soon they came along a lone hut from which only the sound of hammering on an anvil was heard. “We are here.”, the Pale King said and entered the hut. Once the Nailsmith noticed the visitor he said: “What do you want? I am busy.”

“We require your services in forging a new nail.”, the Pale King said and the Nailsmith nearly dropped his hammer and swirled around, bowing as he said: “Your majesty... It's a rare sight to see you so forgive my earlier rudeness.”

“Your rudeness is forgiven.”, the Pale King said and stepped aside to let Hollow come into view. “We would like for you to forge a nail for our companion.”

“Of course.”, the Nailsmith said. “But you are aware of the rules of the Kingdom. You have to provide the materials and the geo, there isn't an exception, not even for royalty.”

“Of course we remember rules we helped to establish ourselves.”, the Pale King said and produced an item out of his robes. “This should suffice.”

The Nailsmith's eyes seemed to glow once he saw it: “Pale Ore... such a rare material.”

“Hollow deserves only the best. We instruct you to forge a nail with this ore. We have the geo you need ready to exchange.”

“Of course. It will take a while though, so would you like to come back later or wait?”, the Nailsmith said, accepting the Pale Ore and counted down the geo he needed.

“We prefer to wait.”, the Pale King said, not being too eager to run into all the bugs outside again. He also had the feeling that Hollow wanted to watch the Nailsmith work.

The Nailsmith led them to nearby table and even provided them with some tea before going to work, the clanging of the hammer a constant source of noise in the house. The Pale King slowly sipped on his first cup while Hollow was already on the third.

“Don't drink too much, there isn't a bathroom nearby...”, the Pale King murmured, prompting Hollow to put the teacup down and the Nailsmith to briefly stop hammering and turn around.

“Your majesty, who exactly is your companion?”, he asked. “I have never seen them before. They aren't a grub anymore but they don't look like an adult yet.”

“Adolescent. They hatched only a few days ago.”, the Pale King said. “Their old nail has become to small for them, that is why we are here.”

“But who are they?”, the Nailsmith asked further, turning his attention back to the smithing. “It's hard to believe that royalty would just bring a random bug into my smithy and request one of the finest nails for them.”

“They are...”, the Pale King said, looking at Hollow. They had been the Vessel. Now they weren't the Vessel anymore, but something more. “...our child.”, he finished.

The noise of the hammer stopped again and the Pale King could hear the Nailsmith audibly gasp. “They are your child? You mean you have an heir?”, he asked. “And so big already? Have I missed something?”

Now that he mentioned it... the Pale King would need to make Hollow known to the public. The Nailsmith's reaction was completely understandable but it didn't help the churning anxiety in his stomach. How should he explain why he had kept his own child hidden for so long? He had planned to introduce them as the Vessel who would safe Hallow's Nest and not at his heir. He felt like he should find an excuse.

“They have been born mute and wouldn't be able to speak to the public so we refrained from introducing them yet.”, he said, hoping that this would sound convincing enough. The Nailsmith made a sound of agreement and then continued his work. After a while Hollow came closer to be able to watch the Nailsmith work better. It took him a good while to finish but once he was he presented a truly fine nail with a cleft blade.

“This is truly one of my finest works.”, he said as he weighed the weapon in his hands before offering it to Hollow, who looked at the Pale King who told them with a nod that it was alright.

Hollow took the nail and weighed it in their own hands, before trying a slash and falling down on the floor at their full length. Not only the Pale King but also the Nailsmith had to chuckle at this sight. “Still off balance, aren't they? It doesn't surprise me, with this horns. They are quite huge.”

The Nailsmith glanced at the Pale King for a brief second and he had the assumption that he had stared at his own crown like horns. The Nailsmith helped Hollow up, wincing a bit as he felt their cold body and said: “Training with it should help you regaining your balance. Cherish it. It is a gift from your father after all.”

They nodded and the Pale King felt that churn in his stomach once more. It still felt wrong for him to be viewed as Hollow's father. It wasn't like he didn't love them, he was sure of it, it was just... he felt like he didn't deserve this.

“We would like to ask you to keep our and Hollow's relationship a secret until we made it public.”, the Pale King said and the Nailsmith bowed and said: “You can count on me, your majesty.”

Once they left the shop Hollow looked at their new nail nearly falling over their own feet. “Careful.”, the Pale King said. “You are already off balance, you don't need to fall because you ignored where you were walking.”

They looked at him and then put the nail on their back, next to their old one they still had insisted to carry around. While the Pale King would have liked to go back to the Palace right away, now that they were in the city it was the right time to get a few more things for Hollow.

“Hollow, I would like to get a few more items for you. Just stay near me and don't say anything when someone talks to you.” He needed a few seconds to realize how insensitive this had been. “I apologize, forget about this.”, he said, though Hollow didn't seem to be hurt. Maybe because they had lived their whole life without having a voice they didn't view it as a disadvantage.

A while and a dozen bugs bowing before him later the Pale King handed Hollow a small journal and a quill. “Until we found a better way for you to communicate you can write down your thoughts in this.”, he said.

Hollow didn't hesitate to open the journal and write something down. When the Pale King took it he read the following words: “Thank you, father.”

“Don't mention it...”, the Pale King said, warmth swelling up in his chest. Though he was surprised that had been the only thing they wrote. “Aren't you having any questions?”, he asked.

After they finished writing and handed the journal to him he read the question he would have at least expected. “Why are you referring to yourself as we when talking to anyone besides mother and me?”

“It's the royal we.”, the Pale King explained. “It's the way that royalty talks to their citizens.” He then provided to give them a impromptu lesson about royal speech until they arrived at their next destination.

“Here we are.”, he said, stopping in front of a tailor shop. “Now that you have grown it is time for you to get some proper robes.”

They entered the shop and the bug running it came towards them with a big smile: “Welcome to...” before her smile dropped into an expression of surprise and she deeply bowed: “Your majesty, thank you for blessing my humble shop with your presence.”

“Rise.”, the Pale King said. Maybe he should show himself in public more often, he felt like an ancient being. In a sense, he was an ancient being, but that fact wasn't relevant at the moment. “We need some robes tailored for our companion here.” He presented Hollow to her.

“Of course.”, the tailor bug said. “I need to take their measurements so could they please come with me?”

Hollow looked back at the Pale King, the familiar look for his approval and he gave them the now familiar nod. He really needed to get this mindset out of them. Hollow followed the tailor and while the Pale King waited for them to be finished, he could hear how she marvelled over them, especially over their horns and their cold body.

A while later some geo exchanged their owner and Hollow was dressed in an intricate looking white robe that resembled that of the Pale King but left enough room for them to move quickly in it.

“What a good and obedient child. I wish all my customers would be like this.”, the tailor said, not knowing that she shoved a nail deep into the Pale King's heart with this words, making him practically running out of the shop leaving a confused bug behind.

“Now that we have everything let's head back to the Palace.”, the Pale King said and intended to straight go back but Hollow had other plans or more, they were intrigued by a booth selling sweets. The Pale King only had to give them one glance and then said: “Do you want to try one?” As soon as Hollow was visibly vibrating at the opportunity to try the new food they stood at the end of the queue and managed to be the very first ones once the bugs in front of them noticed who it was who was standing behind them.

On their way to back to the Palace with Hollow eating the sweet in their unique way and feeling like they were happy the Pale King thought to himself that he had made the right decision. (Author's note: Headcanon time. The Pale King's appearance isn't that clear in game, but I headcanon him to look like some bug dragon under this robes, with four arms, legs and a tail as well as wings that he normally not extends so they are invisible and let his robes shine through. Blood in a bug? They are practically man-bugs so I like to think they have a little blood. Not as much as we but they surely can bleed. The Vessel's can't bleed though, they would leak void instead. It's canon. Pale King expressing concern that Hollow needed the bathroom? Headcanon that once Vessels start to intake food and/or drinks they also need to pass waste. Just a dumb thing that you can ignore, I just wanted the Pale King to say something typical for a parent. I don't think the Nailsmith in game is the same that once was in the city. It probably was the Ancient Nailsmith. But the nail he made is one you can get in game. Just larger.) Next chapter: https://mrslittletall.tumblr.com/post/611130227175849984/title-off-balance-chapter-4-fandom-hollow

#hollow knight #fanfiction #the pale king #the pure vessel #littlewritesstuff

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thegodgaze · 4 years

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Fade to Ash

Obviously, if I had done something like that, I'd be...

I've got nothing but memories right now. There was a time when I was absorbed by the deep sorrow and concern that I had blood on my hands for the choices I would soon have to make. Choices made to abandon someone I clearly wasn't sure would be up to waking up the next morning or some morning further down the line. That potent...ground shifting fear.

"You don't sound so stressed anymore..."

Only because it's no longer this eroding anxiety, but just a pit of well-groomed sorrow. Can't even ask what's happening in the middle of a pandemic; how my questions and concerns fill up every incinerator I've got. It's not that I want to treat it like this... it's just.

- [Ozarks Spoilers] -

Got through watching the recent season of the Ozarks, and the entire story of Ben got me real weak. It made me feel like I watching Of Mice and Men for a bit, but the sympathy grew ever more for a man who was just trying to make sense of a brutal reality. No...you don't actually want to exist on the cusp of the American Dream, you don't want to actually win when the cost is having to give up your humanity. Maturity suggests that absorbing these changes and consolidating "humanity" into bite sized snacks you throw at the dog you keep around is the only way to exist proper - when actually feeling, feeling anything at all, that much is a sin punishable by death. I won't push aside the note of his mental illness, but I don’t think it actually takes away from his argument. We got to see the decline of a human being, who...just didn’t belong there. For all the most emotive cogs in the grand machine they built - his intensity brought home the fact a few hard points. Whether you found hatred for his childish demeanor, or...honestly the guy was fucking charming. Smooth as fuck, weird as fuck, but didn’t give a damn about it and stood with principle. He belonged in the house of Snell. Say what you will of that woman, this season really made her into something...different. Her house was the den of the rejected. Not the iniquitous hovel of they that damn, but a home in the middle of burning world. The Langmore clan’s exodus here was something that didn’t stick out to me until the end, but the transition has been a fascinating one. You can’t help but trust the woman in this circumstance because for all of her wild card plays you begin to realize just how much she values principle. Principle is all the Langmore’s got except...for poor Ruth. Who, given the circumstances, Ruth is portrayed as “mature”, in her dealings with Byrde, and literally everyone else in this fucking world. At first you admire her tenacity, ingenuity...and then loyalty. But that loyalty nearly got her killed. It’s now that it becomes apparent that the Byrdes might not be the people you’re rooting for, no matter how much like Jonah’s character.

No, it’s...in this den of the principled few that I can’t help but admire. Ben...Ben got there too late. The first time he sets foot in there is his last, and he’s unsure of how to fix anything and the music played along these scenes gutted me. It was...it knew what you knew. From the start, his introduction, I was left wondering who would become the next fodder in the scene of character development - nearly as a joke, I teased the tropes but I didn’t immediately expect this one, though, to an extent, I always knew. Initially my thought is that it would’ve been about him gallantly taking out some douchebag’s life down with his own, considering his stark introduction at the school - even from then its clear just how principled he is. But what I got was...painful. I don’t always sit around to watch painful things, because usually they are presented as levels of cringe I don’t see worth in waiting around for, but this level of pain was something I couldn’t tear my eyes away from. Maybe it’s a personal thing, I can hardly know but for my skirting encounters with mental illness, I’m left adrift when it comes to Ben.

Ben died like a child. The music let you feel that...slowly growing into a melody that wouldn’t leave. Everytime you heard it, you knew what was going on, what was growing. It was methodic pacing; Ben didn’t belong anywhere. After the fact...you almost want to hear it again, but it never fully comes back, only in pieces, only in fading as if it was memory. It got too real, I mean...frankly I’ve never known what it’s been like to lose a loved one; but for all the simulations these dramas pose, this one...was really effective. I’ve never been one to latch onto character so quickly in fiction - sure this man or woman might be exceptionally badass, but as any writer dreams, the real chalice is getting a handful of the audience’s heart strings. Sure, several tropes can tug and pull and generic excuses for conflict may work as a standard bus, but then you’ve got to get specific. Ben’s illness, specifically, is not entirely a component of his character. I feel like it’s nearly asking me to believe that’s why he had to go, but cosnidering how it’s portrayal, and very possible mismatches with reality, I feel this misdiagnosis and key character point are not at all important. His interactions with Ruth define this, and for all his cool-headed light at the start of the season and throughout his decline, he doesn’t flip out against her. The show keeps repeating that he’s dangerous, to himself, and what is seen, others as well, but not to Ruth, not directly anyway. Maybe this isn’t grounds for determining his misdiagnosis, but it is grounds for consider the way his mental capacity is treated going forward. The pills stop him from feeling. As the audience we’re confused as to what should happen. His ability to experience life as most himself endangers everything, and honestly seems like poor judgment; obviously if you’re using something to get by and stay functional, by no means is it ideal to undo for a bit of feeling - but... He’s given pills...not therapy.

I get it, there is a lot of his story that’s off screen, but the solution to Ben is not the pills. Ben just doesn’t belong. Granted, the pills would help Ben keep himself in check, but there is no indication that he wasn’t using those pills at the school? I guess that is the implication, but going into the Byrde house, it’s clear that he’s been taking them rather regularly. No...Ben’s solution was the Snell’s abode. It was Ruth - and the show makes you feel so close to that closure, then rips it away...slowly...and that’s why it hurts. You can’t just kill off one of the kids...no, they’re not kids anymore. But this guy? Yikes.

As if any of this is decent analysis of anything but frankly...it just...brings back memories. Many of them I don’t really want to think about. Ben didn’t belong in not just a world like the one the show presents, but...anywhere, here in the states. For the regard of central themes, that old hearty American principle is what makes you admire him and his new clan but...they don’t belong either. The mainstay of America prosperity is profit at any cost, and the Byrdes are pristine examples of that. Everyone is “protecting their family” but...that’s a lie. Too many ways out were presented, such that the entire season, I was waiting for the big reveal of him just bowing out to the feds but, they won, instead.

---

I looked at her and shuddered. Every day I peek over some platform to see...something, anything, I’m reassured that what she said about herself getting by just fine was more than true. While I am at ease, I sit down still very perturbed. Either she was lying to me for the longest time for the effect of that principle, something had changed while I was around, or it all was an unconscious attempt at keeping me still; whatever it might be, I hardly feel well about signing it off as such. It’s easier to just absorb the blame because that means I wasn’t suckered into something twice as toxic; it means that I was trying so fucking hard for a decent reason. It means that I failed, but I was not fooled. I’d much rather take that than assign villainy or that much confusion to someone I still admire, but can’t. It’s easy at a first glance to say that this “Ben” reminds me of her, but frankly...it feels more like a mirror. Being lied to or omitted at all angles for the perception of just not having it together enough to be trusted as an “Adult”. You can’t fix this Benjamin, go back to sleep; the music will fade soon enough, you’ll be fine.

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enixamyram · 4 years

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Been a while since I did one of these! I stumbled upon this and it made me curious. Now I like to think of myself as reasonably fair, but I also have a deep hatred for Regina. So let’s see how this works out as I react to another Screen Rant.

I’ve already expressed my complete and utter loathing at the way OUAT had Regina handle Emma bringing Marian back many times before. No matter what way you try and spin it, Regina essentially got pissed that one of her victims being alive meant she couldn’t keep her boyfriend. That’s practically the definition of being self centred and selfish.

So, from a selfish persons point of view, yeah, this really is an awful thing Emma did to Regina. How dare she save the life of someone who might inconvenience Regina’s happy ending (note the heavy sarcasm in this last paragraph).

This one I do agree with if only because one of Regina’s attempts to get Emma out of Storybrooke was to literally try and kill her with a poison apple. And that’s not including all the other nasty and spiteful ways she came up with over the season. Though - with that said - I wouldn’t personally list this on the “worst” things Regina has done to Emma. I feel like there are a lot more worst things that could be named instead.

Disagree. Because Emma didn’t put a strain on her relationship with Henry. The writer does acknowledge that there was already a strong strain between them because Regina was lying and manipulating Henry in order to keep the town under her curse but the fact is Emma didn’t do anything but help Henry find a little happiness in his otherwise miserable life. (Starting to notice a pattern that all the “worst” things Emma’s done to Regina, all involve her trying to help someone else/making someone else happy...)

Agreed, Regina casting the curse put Emma (and a lot of other people) on a long path of misery for many years. This was one of the worst things Regina did full stop but since Emma was the most affected (I say this because the cursed people didn’t know they were living awful days every day while Emma did) it is definitely one of the worst things she did to her.

Okay, disagree and for a slightly more deeper reason. Because ignoring the black and white of this matter, Emma breaking the curse actually HELPED Regina. The writer says it “caused more problems for Regina” but the only problems it caused was making her face her victims and own up to the bad things she did. And in the end this helped Regina “redeem” and gave her more happiness than she ever had before, right down to finding love with Robin and being accepted by the people of the town and having a proper relationship with Henry. Whether or not you believe this was all just, the fact is, Emma breaking the curse is one of the BEST things she ever did to Regina.

Well... While I agree, I again don’t see it as the worst thing she did to Emma. While this no doubt upset Emma... If anything I think this also ended up helping Emma become a better mother who finally made roots and therefore settled down. While not necessarily the “best” thing Regina did for Emma (like I said Emma did for Regina in #6), I definitely can’t see it as the “worst”.

Again, worst? Really? While I actually agree with the writer (maybe Emma should have stayed out of this one) I do feel the need to say that at least Emma’s heart was in the right place. She wanted Regina to have some happiness back in her life and she though this was the way to do it. And while it didn’t work out, again, I REALLY wouldn’t have called it among the “worst things Emma done to Regina”.

Well I kind of put this under the same category of “trying to get her out of Storybrooke” but either way, definitely agree. This was one of those truly evil moments and honestly, anyone who tries to excuse it is obviously overly bias in Regina’s favour. There is no reasonable way to argue that Regina was right to try and murder Emma.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! This does NOT belong on this list AT ALL! Emma developing feelings for Graham was not one of “the worst” things she did to Regina. It was simply one of the best things for Graham since it helped free him of the curse and it’s really messed up that people try and act like Emma “stole” Graham from Regina or something. Treating it like the worst thing she did to Regina is like treating Graham as a toy rather than a human being with his own thoughts and feelings in life.

Now this I do agree with. Once again one of Regina’s more hideously evil acts during present day in Season 1, she full on murdered Graham simply for not being her sex toy any longer. And Emma was so devastated and it really was heartbreaking to watch.

...

I think the problem I have with these lists is that they’re not really sure what their subject matter is. This list is meant to be the worst things they did to each other, but like I said for #6, in the grand scheme Emma breaking the curse was one of the best things she did for Regina. And then there’s things like #5, which while awful, I wouldn’t really class as the worst thing Regina did to Emma per say. Some of these things seem more just like “awful things these characters did” in general, but then again you have ones like #10. Which, you can only see as a “worst” if you’re a selfish person.

Honestly, if I had to make my own little list, I’d say among the worst things: - Regina did to Emma was making her feel guilty for saving Marian, therefore making her doubt herself which later no doubt added to the doubt in her own powers. And as a result she nearly allowed herself to be tricked by Rumple, and all because she saved a life. - Emma did to Regina, I’d say was not trusting her own superpower when it came to Regina’s innocence in S2. Her not only doubting Regina but accusing her and taking Henry away, basically pushed Regina into her evil ways again because she figured there was no other option for her.

Anyway. Those are just my personal thoughts.

#Once Upon A Time #Screen Rant #Regina Mills #Emma Swan #I don't want to tag anti tags #because I'm judging actions more than characters #but if someone isn't happy then let me know #and I'll add an anti tag.

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sponfawn · 5 years

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MTH - Mojo Jojo

Mojo Jojo is the most well known villain in the PPG show. I was really happy when he finally got an appearance in More than Human, and especially since he was so in character. I wanted to write about him, specifically regarding his conversation and relationship with Brick (since he only really has a serious interaction with him).

Mojo is Dad number 1. He made the Boys. And tbh I don't think he fully realized at the time, the enormity of the responsibility that comes with creating life. They were plan 578,923 of his schemes to beat the Girls, and I think thats about as far as he got in contemplating their lives, initially. I mean he made them in a prison toilet, and he was perfectly fine sending them to their possible doom at the hands of the PPGs. Him wasn't much better. He brought them back and gave them cootie shots but had no qualms over sending them out again. In the episode "Custody Battle", I think he and Him finally both saw the Boys as more than just tools. They share a tearful moment of pride in their Boys' evil minds, and I think it's at that point where they start to see them more as individual living kids rather than just disposable tools to an end. But I feel like that just gave them more expectations to heap onto their 6 tiny shoulders, along with the initial directive to destroy the Girls. Even after seeing them as more or less people, Mojo can't see past his own expectations and wants for them, much like many real parents.

We see some of this in the conversation between Mojo and Brick. This conversation is so well written. We are given a lot of information about their past and current relationship, exactly why Brick became disillusioned with his Dads, and why he chose to bring the Boys to JS, rather than start their own operation or a normal life. And we are given all of this without expositional monologues or stilted conversation. It feels like an old argument with new circumstances, and we are given just enough information to be able to reconstruct the info as a cohesive picture . Mojo considers the Boys' work with JS a questionable choice, and a disappointing one. Brick counters his disapproval saying, "you speaking for Him now?", likely referencing similar lectures Him has given in the past. He explains a bit of what JS Inc. does, criticizes Mojo for prioritizing credit for his evil over subtler, secret evil, and therein lies the root of the conflict. Brick at one point, and even now, admires Mojo for his resources and abilities, but is frustrated with his strategies and what he perceives to be a futile, small-minded, obsessive struggle. He wants Mojo's approval, wants the dad that he looked up to to recognize his efforts and accomplishments he's made. Mojo calls him a disappointment and, "a boy who shunned his duty, his destiny, the very reason for which he was created”. It's kind of an old school vs new school conflict, where Mojo is the traditionalist and Brick is the son who wants to move the family business in a more modern direction, and ends up leaving to make his own business. Mojo is the dad who wants to keep the family store, and Brick is the kid who wants to sell it or make it a chain rather than inherit the same exact duties. Likely due to the way that Mojo and Him treated the Boys first like tools, and then their custody battle, and no doubt their following manipulations, Brick is hyperaware and protective of his freedom and ability to make his own choices. (Ironically, he treats his brothers like he owns them and they aren't able to make their own decisions. But I think that is a product of feeling responsible for them, since he's the leader and he's the one who got them free. That responsibility was forced on him so young - when they all should've been learning emotion regulation, communication, and coping skills, and weren't able to. He's taken care of them all this time, for better or worse. But I think, along with the childhood abuse, it's made him more like Mojo and Him than he'd like to admit.) All of this is particularly evident in the following excerpt:

"... I would advise against dismissing that which you are obligated to do.”

“I am not obligated to do anything,” he said. Mojo, this idiot, couldn't see, would never see. None of them ever would.

Brick stared at him, letting his hatred simmer. He wanted to remember this. This was why he had left. This was why it was so important that he get out of here as soon as possible. He would drown in inadequacy here, in this city, listening to drivel like this. He didn't owe anyone a fucking thing. No matter if Him had created them, and Mojo before. They belonged to nobody. Brick belonged to nobody.

“Of course you aren't. Nobody expects anything of an utter disappointment.”

~ ~ ~ ~

I want to delve into another specific part of the conversation, just before the previous excerpt. I'm gonna bold the parts I wanna talk about, and color code them by theme cuz theres a lot to unpack. I think Mojo Jojo gives us some pretty big insights, and possible foreshadowing for More Than Human's progression:

“You say you rejected a destiny that holds no option for you other than failure, but did you ever make the effort? You accuse me, and those with similar inclinations like me in this city, of wasting our efforts, of essentially not being 'evil enough,' the Devil Himself included, the absolute paragon of Evil, the very Being who recreated you! You have no grasp of how significant your origins are! You are a part of something you cannot even begin to comprehend, and instead of taking that opportunity and living up to the responsibilities you shouldered—”

“I shouldered nothing. I was a kid, a stupid kid who didn't know any better—”

“And remarkably enough, nothing has changed. Listen closely so that you may remember this later and I will not have to repeat myself since you have already listened to it and taken this into consideration. You may submit to the idea that being evil means manipulating the world from behind a dark, secret curtain of secrecy, but in the end, how much more devastation will be brought about by you killing whatever rich person it is that you kill who has a lot of money because they are rich, than by destroying those that signify eternal hope and salvation? Those that have become symbols of love and beauty—”

“A symbol is only a symbol. Humanity is fickle. Symbols come and go.”

“Your youth does not excuse your stupidity,” Mojo admonished. “The devotion of the pitiful human heart is not to be underestimated, Brick.”

A silence passed between them, marred by the deep snoring of the sleeping guard.

“You and your brothers were created to destroy the Powerpuff Girls. Both times. Him even placed you with that duty, which is yours no matter what you believe. A task from the Most Evil One is not to be taken lightly, at least, not in my recommendation; I would advise against dismissing that which you are obligated to do.”

First, the section bolded in red is an important exchange. To some degree, Brick knows that it was wrong to hold children to any serious, life-changing responsibility even if they agreed to it. I'm not sure if he recognizes that he, and likely the Boys as a whole, were subject to at least emotional abuse. But he knows it was fucked up. The line where Mojo says, "no one expects anything of an utter disappointment", really shows the kind of dad he was. As much as he's a comic relief villain who doesn't allow cursing, its a sharp reality check for how he probly treated the Boys as soon as they began showing disinterest or different goals from what he wanted. No wonder they emancipated themselves.

The section bolded in black might be a hint of foreshadowing. Mojo talks about how Him remade and tasked them with destroying the Girls, how they're part of something bigger than they can understand, whether they like it or not, and that they cannot avoid that. I think Him has a plan for ensnaring the Boys as well as the Girls (which I will get into more with Him's post). And I have a theory that it relates directly to the blue coded sections.

In blue, Mojo and Brick discuss symbols and human nature. Specifically, Brick dismisses the Girls as lasting symbols of Hope, Love, and Justice for the public, and Mojo warned him not to underestimate the devotion of the human heart. He specifically says that the Girls have become a symbol of Love and Beauty for the citizens of Townsville, which parallels how they have become symbols of Beauty and Love for the Boys as well. In my theory, this ties directly into how Him's scheme will go down. Again, I will go into detail in the next post, but I think He's going to use the devotion of the very human hearts in our 6 more than human teens. How much more devastating would it be for the Boys to destroy the very ones theyve come to love?

#sbj more than human #chillin with the villains series #mojo jojo #its a long one

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tumblunni · 5 years

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Rambling about my new watchholder oc Mallory

* absolute gremlin child. Eats dirt. Probably more of a monster than most of the yokai.

* at the same time tho, she is like super sunshine friend! She looks kinda gloomy ominous but her personality is actually super bubbly and her biggest priority in life is making new yokai friends and loving them forever. Like, creepy in a wholesome way? She does indeed love horror movies and creepy crawlies and could probably fistfight god, but that doesnt mean she's evil!

* kinda always bored but also easily exciteable? One of her biggest recurring jokes is just ignoring the normal or sane solution to a thing and doing something more fun even if its more difficult or dangerous. Actually i guess its more "fearless" than bored? Or bored of fear, lol. Fearless and doesnt really give a shit about any rules. But again not in a mean way, she doesnt break rules because she wants to piss people off, just like "im not gonna believe this if nobody bothers explaining why its supposed to be so important". But not exactly phrased like that cos that would be rude, lol. So uhh more like just relateable autism feel of not grasping social cues but mixed with a personality thats quite outgoing and uncaring of being judged poorly for not being normal, as opposed to me who's always worried about what people think.

* oh wait thats the word for it!! Free-spirited! Trickster! Like a peter pan type of trickster tho, more than loki. Like just "i am naturally outside the obligations of normalcy" rather than "i am intentionally trying to prank/illusion/manipulate people cos its funny". Or uhh i guess "manic pixie dream girl" but without all the stupid shit that trope has got associated with.

* pretty much just wish fullfillment of "what if i was confident enough to not care what people think and just act like myself no matter what"

* anyway in summary she likes to climb trees n stuff and her reaction to yokai being real is "yay" and her reaction to seeing an undefeatable giant kaiju is to run at it and try and suplex it with her bare hands. She's kind of a badass! Tho lol also her biggest character flaw is her badassness, cos she can be reckless due to the lack of fear. But then also sometimes when everyone is hopeless she really does manage to save the day no matter what, and help inspire everyone else to be brave too!

* though i'm thinking of maybe a character arc where she starts off seeing this as just a fun adventure with no stakes, and it doesnt matter if you take risks cos nobody's gonna get hurt anyway. Like a "this isnt really real, its just my hero's story" sort of thing? When things start getting more dark and she faces things she cant just defeat with simple optimism, it kinda stops being fun anymore. And she has to realize that even if she doesnt care about her own self preservation there's consequences that could happen to her friends and family. And maybe she's already made mistakes that she can't take back, and now she's neck deep in a conflict thats a lot bigger and more insurmountable than she thought. You can't just fistfight something like the abstract concept of hatred for humanity which will continue to be perpetuated as long as the idea keeps taking root. And maybe even yokai you befriended could start to believe it too, after all you've kinda been treating them as just fun toys and sidekicks on a story that's all about you, and dragging them into danger with your recklessness. Even though you're fighting the villains, are you really doing it because you actually care about saving the day? Do you even know what you're saving it from...?

* and similar to her unflappable victoryness being shaken, i think her fearlessness and confidence could also be deeper than they look on the surface. I feel like maybe as the story goes on it could be revealed that its less being fearless and more just not caring about her own safety. You start to see her get more actual consequences from her fights, and it starts to become sort of concerning that she keeps brushing it off as no big deal. Laughing it off. Wondering why her friends are even sad that she got hurt. And maybe she isnt really happy all the time and 100% secure in who she is, she just tries to hide any signs of doubt because she feels like nobody would care. And that she has to always be the funny class clown or else nobody would want to be her friend. And like.. She doesnt even really believe that she's great, believe that she's fine as she is. She's more aware of her weirdness than she lets on. She's constantly, paralyzingly aware that everyone thinks she's a freak. She did use to try and change herself to fit in, but she kept failing at it and it never helped her get any friends. Or when she did think she made a friend they'd turn on her whenever she slipped up and showed a crack in her mask of the perfect normal person. The perfect normal person they wanted her to be.. Constantly changing into WHATEVER anyone wanted her to be. The only reason she doesnt do that anymore is that she lost all hope in it working, not that she actually gained confidence in her true self. And even when she's npt conciously doing it she's still subconciously trying to be what people want her to be. She has to always be funny, always be fearless, she has to cling to the few parts of her weirdness that people dont seem to hate. And now she has to be the hero. She has to carry all the dreams of everyone she's met along the way, while never letting them know when she's scared she wont be able to help make them come true. She's always just laughing it off and never being fully open with any of her friends, because she's scared they'll hate her. ..

* so uhh.. Yeah. Personal experience of that. Personal experience of trying to fit into negative stereotypes of autism because thats what everyone saw me as no matter how hard i tried, and also it was the only form of autism theyd treat positively, somehow. Like just be the "funny one" and dont challenge any of their assumptions ans they'll leave you in relative peace. Put up with some degree of degredation to avoid the even worse version. And i was doing all of this at a very youbg age before i even knew i was autistic or what autism was, but i could still feel how people treated me differently and how i had to friggin agree with it or else they'd never let it go. Gahhh.. It was all way too complicated and dark for a kid to understand!

* so yeah anyway her story arc is going from being a badass funny to being a funny badass? Like she just becomes more genuinely tough and cool when she's not always winning and the stakes dont seem so low and comical AND most importantly you know her real feelings and see that she will indeed continue fighting even when she's scared. And she doesnt try so hard to be cool all the time so it just lets her be more genuine. And form actual relationships with everyone with genuine feelings. So its less "she is badass because its funny" and more "she is a badass because she's a badass". But she's still funny, just in more varied ways than simply "the only reason she won this fight so fast is because jokes". Fighting legit threatening enemies in fights that arent over in five seconds. So they can contain... SEVERAL joke..!!! And also some actual fighting for once!!

* hhh i dunno i am very tired im probably not explaining this well

* oh and i think possibly she has a bit of a complex of feeling she's nothing without her yokai watch? Like the yokai are her first friends who never abandoned her. And she always felt like she was useless and it was her own fault that she didnt have any friends. She first started off being all irreverent and goofy when she got the yokai watch cos she was well into her "i dont care anymore" phase of depression and felt certain these new friends would all realise she was awful eventually and leave, so like.. Why get attatched? Just have fun while it lasts. So maybe actually she shows early signs of her depression by trying harder to be normal whenever anyone shows her friendship. Maybe something where she starts straigjtening her hair or dressing more feminine and then you just see this look on her face like her heart has shattered when someone agrees that she does look better now. (Maybe a new yokai she recently caught who was like super cool and she wanted to impress them?) And she gets compulsively obsessed with it, exaggerating it to a ridiculous degree and starting to change other parts of her appearance and everyone goes from giggling about this weird circumstance to getting REALLY DAMN CONCERNED! And in the end something something the yokai who was an asshole abput her needing to be more feminine slips up and shows his true assy colours to the other yokai and theyre like IT WAS YOU and he's like "what? You should be thanking me for fixing your shitty trainer!" And Then Everyone Beats Him Up Forever. Etc etc moral that real friends accept you for who you are and anyone who tells you you have to change to impress them is not worth impressing. Also maybe some aspect where the yokai dude thinks that mallory is trying to impress him cos she has a crush on him, and thats the moment that manages to snap her out of her depressive funk. Self hate overrided by sheer EWW NO IM A LESBIAN, DUDE i just liked ur cool hat, geez. (Wait was that entire plot idea just an excuse to find a way to foreshadow her getting a crush on hailey in yw3...?)

* and maybe i dunno some sort of dramatic episode where she loses the ability to use the yokai watch and is faced with her self worth issues all at once and its super fuckin sad and we all know eventually she will get to see all her yokai friends again cos the plots not gonna end before finishing all the games but still MEGA SUPER SAD MOMENT ANYWAY (also tearful reunions!)

* also i just heard theres a yokai called furgus thats a big adorable hairball that gives people big hair. So maybe that could be one of the comically easy victory episodes? He uses his power on mallory but her hair is already too fluffy to be floofed! Maybe it backfires and turns his own hair into a boring bowl cut, lol? And then maybe a sequel where he returns for revenge a million episodes later but it just so happens to be during the maddiman boss fight and he accidentally cures his balding. "Noooo dont thank me nooooo" *is forced against his will to become a popular advertosing mascot for hair cream* *like straight up just gets sucked into the nearest bottle and sealed like a genie* *cursed forever to fame and fortune and a million dollar salary*

* lol i dont think im as funny as the actual yokai watch writers but i have a few ideas at least. This will be fun to draw!

#bunni plays yokai watch

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backtomybookshelf · 6 years

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ASEOE: An Analysis of The Reptile Room

(Before I begin my review, I would like to formally apologize for the long wait that has been between these two blog posts. I have no excuses- I’ve put aside this for a while and had been easily distracted by other obligations and video games. But, here it is for your enjoyment. Please, feel free to comment in the reply box, and I would be more than happy to discuss with those who do read these posts about ASOUE!) Coming right off of the shelves from The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, the second installment of the harrowing series, the Reptile Room, plays with reader’s expectations more than it really should. It keeps in line with the well-meaning guardian trope and starts the tradition of killing off the Beaudelaire’s guardians, fueling the hatred the reader already has against the antagonist, Count Olaf. Running at a decent rating of four out of five in most book review sites, Handler keeps up the train of misery and woe he started with the Bad Beginning, and further into the world that these characters inhabit.

The second book sets itself in a very particular way; some world building is introduced as the Children and Mr. Poe are driving down Lousy Lane- a place where it smells very much like horseradish- to Uncle Monty’s home in the country. Handler’s subtle use of world building expands the world that the children are occupied in. What is even more satisfying as a reader is that this isn’t the first time that this town/place is mentioned. In The Vile Village, Book the Seventh, the reader is harkened back to this point in time when the Children are asked which town they would like to live in as part of “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child” Initiative after The Beaudelaires are refused by long lost relatives, public shelters, or any other soul who would want to take them. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s talk about the Guardian of the Book.

Uncle Montgomery Montgomery- or Uncle Monty, as he wants to be called- is one of the prime examples of the Well-Meaning Adult, as I discussed in my last post about the adults of the world of ASOUE. As soon as Mr. Poe drops the kids off at his home/laboratory, Monty is very keen on getting the inept banker, a word which here means “showing or having no skill in a particular subject,” in this case, not finding an excellent guardian for the children the first time and putting them into the hands of the wretched and disgusting Count Olaf. Throughout the first half of the book, Uncle Monty recognizes the Beaudelaire’s skills and adapts to their needs- a raw carrot for Sunny which she would prefer over a slice of coconut cake, a whole library on Herpetology for Klaus to peruse through, and Violet helping Uncle Monty with his tools. This is what the Beaudelaires wanted- a loving and caring guardian who knew their parents and felt a deep connection with them. The Justice Strauss that they were denied and now have is here in the flesh.

And yet, there is that single moment that breaks the illusion of happiness. Enter Count Olaf, calling himself “Stephano,” who inserts himself into the narrative yet again to bring misery and woe to the Beaudelaire orphans. As this is the first disguise of the series, the reader is already aware that this is Count Olaf, as are the children. What is more jarring to the reader is that it was Mr. Poe who was at first scoffing at the idea that Count Olaf was an evil person, but now Uncle Monty is now under the same idea, but in a different execution. With the villain in disguise, Monty finds himself suspecting Olaf to be a spy from the Herpetological Society, not as a terrible and heinous person. Though, in a way, it still plays through with the ”Well Meaning Adult,” and also focuses on one literary theme.

The major theme in this book that Handler uses is “Dramatic Irony.” In this case, what the Beaudelaires are going through is a point of dramatic irony, a phrase which here means, “when a person makes a harmless remark, and when someone else hears it knows something that makes the remark have a different, and usually unpleasant, meaning.” Keep in mind, this definition is taken straight out of the book, so bear with me as I work with this definition. This use of the phrase dramatic irony is lightly sprinkled throughout the story- from the beginning until the end. It is no coincidence that Handler explains this in the third chapter and so soon too, so that when the reader continues to read, they can understand that almost everything that comes out of Uncle Monty’s mouth could be used in an ironic purpose.

The Reader of this book could also claim that The Reptile Room can be the first time that Handler uses a form of Dark Humor. A classic definition of Dark Humor- or Black Humor- is the idea of deriving a sick twist of humor in a relatively dark point. Any Reader in the modern age can easily derive a form of dark or black humor in select titles. In mass media, a superhero with Canadian roots could shoot a guy in the face and then make a pop culture reference to show the lighter side of the horrific act, or a camera crew taping four vampires living in a flat in New Zealand with their consent to learn what it is like to be a Vampire. Both consumable media formats execute a different form of Dark Humor, but it’s still within the umbrella term.

My personal take on the Reptile Room is where Handler really plays into the role of his pen name, Lemony Snicket, and he starts to develop his voice as a singular identity as well as a narrator. Along with writing down the events to follow, Snicket is found to be punctual, maybe charming, and maybe have a voice that would coincide with the Jude Law portrayal than that of the Patrick Warburton portrayal. Not to throw shade on the Netflix series, but at this point, I still see the narrator as this very shadow covered man, hunched over his typewriter with every intent to write out the whole series of thirteen books, hidden or thrown out in every place imaginable with his poor editor to find the complete manuscripts, along with the artifacts to cement the truth, and to intrigue the reader into what could come next.

The Reptile Room, or in other words Murder!- as its title is later called- is a dial from 10 to 11 as the saying goes in ASOUE, and it only gets worse in later titles. Handler did well with these themes which carries on through the series for a good while, only stopping after the Vile Village, where it only gets darker and bleak as the books go on.

The Reptile Room: Book the Second of A Series of Unfortunate Events

5/5

#a series of unfortunate events #book review #Back to my Bookshelf #the reptile room #Book analysis #ASoUE

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