#Multitude of worlds

[bluestation]

i found you in the future

[immediatebreakfast]

Sorry to the person who sent me the ask about the use of those specific adjectives by Mr. Hawkins in his recomendation letter, and how that relates to the newfound abuse that Dracula is starting to subject onto Jonathan. I was writing the response, and tumblr ate the ask when I tried to save it ;-;

But I still want to talk about it :)

It has been said a lot of times, but the adjectives that Mr. Hawkins chose, and used in the letter to describe why Jonathan was the perfect lawyer for Dracula's properties were very... Subjective.

All of those adjectives can be read as compliments since they paint Jonathan as a first time worker who may be new to solicitor stuff in practice, but he will do a very good job thanks to these qualities. However, for someone like Dracula, for someone who has malicious intent in mind. Adjectives like discreet, and silent, along with "shall take your instructions in all matters" paint a different picture of Jonathan.

That letter, at the eyes of Dracula, paints Jonathan as the perfect victim who will not scream, complain, nor try to defy him if he tries to do something to him.

And, that is what exactly Dracula does in the course of three days, three horrible days.

The Count manipulates, and abuses Jonathan in the most realistic manner that one can put on paper. There is no magic, no supernatural powers, nor vampirical events in these three days, just Dracula slowlyyyy tearing apart Jonathan's mind by playing a horrible game of take, and give.

Dracula gives Jonathan amazing food, cultural knowledge, amazing attitude, a smooth legal process regarding the properties, interesting conversations... basic companionship in an isolated castle with no other human around. The perfect host that maybe is a little too familiar with touch.

And in return, what Dracula takes from Jonathan? His boundaries, his sleep schedule, his privacy, his safety, small stuff like the mirror that gives him a sense of routine. Everything that could give Jonathan a sense of relief, anything that could make him stop being on edge since he got in the castle

YET STILL, if you notice, STILL, the narrative itself doesn't infer that Jonathan is lesser, or in the wrong for not fighting back in a traditional masculine way. Neither on the text, nor the subtext. Hell, Jonathan can even compare his situation to the heroine Scheherezade, and it weights in the narrative because it's an actual theme of his character!

[goldkirk]

hey this isn’t aimed at anyone in particular but I’m saying it for the record here: if I tell you no, please stop messaging me about fundraisers and mutual aid.

I get enough messages that it’s impossible for me to keep up without devoting at least half an hour each day, when I’m not even on tumblr that long most days. Me having a boundary about this isn’t a moral failing, it’s a lifeboat for me on my own blog.

In my personal life I’m already advocating and donating literally as much as I can spare. This is not me not caring, it’s just me not willing to interact with that on the one place I go online to not interact with irl news and world events for the most part.

I cannot be upset all the time. I cannot be upset everywhere. I cannot use all my emotional and mental energy fielding my own upset from ongoing events. My options are to hold boundaries about this or stop coming online at all.

I’m all for sharing information and signal boosting to reasonable extents, but the scale of it this year is so large and so enduring that it is literally not possible to for me to participate on every account I have. I’ve previously shared links to Gaza eSIM donations and a major hub of verified Go Fund Mes here and elsewhere online. We, the online humans, know how to look those things up ourselves by now. There are many, many people choosing to do advocacy work, and right now, I can’t be one of them.

If you’re extremely upset when I tell you I can’t share/donate right now about a Gaza family or personal fundraiser you ask me to share here, just unfollow and block me. That’s what those buttons are for. Protect your own emotions and energy and get me off your feed instead of staying upset and continuing to engage with online people or content that upsets you.

Please don’t send repeated angry messages based on manufactured purity politics and moral outrage into my messages and inbox when I exercise the right to run my own blog.

[dailydccomics]

very important Kory moments from Titans: Beast World #6

[chasingfictions]

WELL I'VE LOVED YOU FROM THE START / AND I'VE LOVED YOU FROM THE START

LOTTIENAT X "AUGUST" - FLIPTURN

[super-paper]

Like I feel like 90% of my problems with 423 (Izuku) could have easily been fixed if Hori had actually stayed true to Izuku's character as someone driven by his empathy for others. Naturally I would have still been extremely upset with Tenko's death, yeah, but I think I would have at least been able to gradually process it and eventually accept it if Hori had actually depicted Izuku as like... actually reacting to the fact that he's killing Tenko and actually attempting to grapple with the weight of taking his life. Any reaction that might come after this chapter is simply too late to undo the damage.

Blood+ is an excellent example of a well done "I had no choice but to kill you" villain death: In this series, The hero (Saya) is ultimately forced to fight and kill her villain (Diva), but the core of her character-- her kindness-- is never sacrificed. It's enhanced by the tragedy of it all, of her being forced to end a life when she sincerely didn't want to. Even though Diva did terrible and unforgivable things, the first thing Saya does when she sees her crumbling is to rush forward and comfort her despite her own injuries, and to express intense anguish over not being able to help her. This cements why Saya is the hero of this story. I haven't watched Blood+ in over ten years, but the final moment between these two is something that has stuck with me all this time-- this is how you write a powerful ending between your kind/empathetic MC and the villain they were ultimately forced to kill.

Comparatively, everything about Izuku and Tenko's resolution feels completely numb. Izuku's lackluster nonreaction to everything he learned about Tenko in the vestige world. His complete lack of distress when Tenko's abuser swallowed him up and took over his body again. Him not expressing any concern for Tenko's safety once AFO resurfaced. Him continuing to beat on Tenko's body as it crumbled without any internal conflict or hesitation.

All of it sacrifices the very foundation of Izuku's character-- him being moved to act out of EMPATHY for others, not out of a desire to simply "beat the villain". The climax of Izuku's long awaited "rising" chapter is ultimately about him punching someone rather than saving someone, which also betrays the core of his character (yes, it's also about how he inspires others by doing his best but can you honestly say him rushing forward to punch TomurAFO to death was "doing his best as a hero". What was supposed to be the cumulation of Izuku's arc ends up being completely surface level/lacking sincerity and instead reads like Hori is just going through the motions).

The boy from chapter 1 whose body moved on its own after seeing someone in pain was ultimately more heroic than the boy from chapter 423, and that's one of the many reasons why people should be upset with this chapter and what it's done to Izuku's character/arc.

[trainingdummyrabbit]

ayin is very much a character i know Damn well is going to inevitably be one of Those Characters (<- putting him on the top shelf) but he is fucking IMPOSSIBLE to talk about because i need to write at least 3 essays before i feel even tentatively confident in talking about him.

[treasureplcnet]

As a LaiKabuMisu enjoyer, I never thought I'd need to see desperate Mithrun->Kabru before in my life, thank you so much for the food in these dark times.

desperate mithrun just makes me GIGGLE like the meme i made takes it a bit far for comedy's sake but it's like. this guy who only recently began to live for something else other than revenge and it's thanks to kabru and suddenly kabru dissapears his from life because he has a "job" . we've already seen mithrun go sulky when kabru doesn't side with him despite having valid reasons not to LOL (sfx: hmph)

i truly can see the momentary disconnect (i doubt this lasts very long or at least doesn't manifest obviously. mithrun is a quiet and ultimately rational guy) where he's like "... i thought kabru was gonna stay with me though?" and not even necessarily in a romantic light (for starters anyway). just in the way that mithrun just counted on kabru's companionship, but when adult schedules and establishing a kingdom collide, i think kabru would also equally have a hard time giving up what he works very hard for (protecting humans/short-lived races and being able to help govern so that this is possible). i can absolutely see kabru accidentally neglecting his relationships for too long, and not realising until his party intervenes, or mithrun 'hmph's at him again and he's like '..what did i do.'

sorry for the essay . tldr: i would like to picture mithrun sulking :)

[cuubism]

as much as i love traditionally married dreamling - and do i - i also have this bruised softness in my heart for 'what we have is outside relationship constructs, define it at your own peril' dreamling, for 'drifting in and out of each other's orbit with each other as perennial anchor point' dreamling, 'i haven't seen you in sixty years but what's that to an immortal, you are always in my heart' dreamling, 'our lives are not quite one but neither are they apart' dreamling. drop in on me, i am always ready to welcome you. and i will always let you go.

hob as a fixture, a constancy, a hearth, and dream as a wild creature coming in from the cold. it cannot be kept, and you would commit no such sin of trying to, but it can be held, warm, before the fireplace for a while. let it go, and trust that it will come back.

hob as a wanderer, life to life to life, and dream as an ancient, enduring kingdom whose protection is reachable just by closing your eyes. continuance impossible in the waking world but offered as easily as a kiss on the cheek.

there is no keeping a dream, is the thing. and dream does not want to be kept, but he does want to be held, held and let go and held again with those arms always open to him. there is no keeping an adventurer, either, and hob is an adventurer at heart, always ready to see, do, the next thing, but adventurers need a home, too, one that doesn't mind when they come back a little bit different.

go where you need to, when you need to. carry my love with you. and come back to me.

that kind of dreamling.

[kuruna]

AZ was unhealthily attached to Floette in the same way Xan was unhealthily attached to AZ 💔 it just happens to be easier to tell when you're on the receiving end of this behavior vs. when you're the one perpetrating it 😔

[the-copycat-hero]

wish that Monoma and Shoto had become friends in canon, because y'all KNOW that Endeavor would have never known a day of peace in his life ever again

[gideonisms]

the thing is harrow is obviously the complicated nobleman wracked by guilt just stuffed into a body that is barely 5 ft tall. So then you think oh gideon must be the charming rogue with a tragic backstory and a heart of gold. but THEN you get a look inside her shell and heart of gold does not begin to describe what's going on in there. I wanna climb inside her skull with a flashlight

[futureofthemasses]

Okay but good guy Gabriel fucks

[thebumblecee]

Me: I love that TK chose to be a paramedic because it’s a metaphor for him becoming the person he wants to be not the person he thinks his dad wants him to be, it was part of his healing process and that’s incredible

Also me when I see old photos of him in his firefighter turnouts: *chitters like a cat that sees a bird*

[triangle-strategy-notes]

Piccoletta Concept Art

Piccoletta's concept art! Translation notes and image id under the cut.

Translation notes:

"Yoshitaka Amano" was literally "Amano-sensei." I wanted to convey the respect of the honorific and just "Amano" felt too casual, so I used his full name to sort of make it more formal.

The note about "sparkle charms in her hair" was a little hard to parse - the really literal translation seems to be something like "hair sparkles in charmies" which could theoretically mean "she has charming sparkles in her hair" or "she has sparkle charmies in her hair" or "her hair is charmed to have sparkles in it." I really wasn't sure either way.

"Face of a little imp" was a line that was kind of difficult to make out (just small handwriting). There was definitely something about a little devil/imp, but I wasn't 100% sure about the rest.

"Snobbish" was literally "she turns up her nose" or "her nose turns up". It might have been literally talking about her nose being upturned/pointy, but given the other bullet points, I'm assuming here that it was more talking about her personality.

Image id:

[id: Two pages from the Triangle Strategy artbook about Piccoletta. The first has two versions of her canon portrait, one colored and one uncolored. There is a note at the bottom that reads, "We gave her a more showy design than the main characters since she's a different sort of class. The tentative alias we gave her was "Item Thrower," so looks like we gave her a ball to hold (laughs). (Tatsuaki Urushihara)". On the second page, there are several illustrations of Piccoletta. One note points out her lacy skirt that goes under her dress, and another piece of text labels her boots as "leather." Next to a few drawings of her face, one of which seems to be pouting or reprimanding, there are the bullet points "Face of a little imp," "Precocious young girl," "Snobbish," "Mischevious," and "Paints face white". There is also a note that reads, "Sparkle charms in her hair." Next to a small drawing of her juggling, it says, "Throws all sorts of things". There is also a note that reads, "Item Thrower Character". On the second half of the page, there are more drawings of Piccoletta with a more typical medieval hairstyle. Her skirt is again labeled, and there's another note about her being "a precocious girl." At the bottom of the page there is another note that reads, "I wasn't conscious of it at the time, but this design might have borrowed from the style of Yoshitaka Amano's Final Fantasy art. (Tatsuaki Urushihara)". /end id]

[serialreblogger]

the thing about the joker

is that - well, even canonically, he’s not actually “insane.” in the most canonical version of his backstory (bc there are many conflicting incarnations, but this one is the touchstone for a lot of later canon), he was part of a street gang before falling into a vat of Nondescript Toxic Waste that damaged his melanin production and That’s It. he supposedly “lost his mind” after seeing his reflection, which is absurd on many levels. no. he’s not “insane.” what he is, is an angry white boy.

the thing about the joker is that he exults in his own uncontainability. He laughs, because all of gotham - all the world - is built to be his playground. the only lunatic thing about him is the lunacy of ~Society~, to borrow from the joker’s own playbook; the lunacy of the joker lies in the world that grants him power: in the inheritance of loss: in white privilege, and what it means for everyone else.

“to prove a point.” those were the joker’s exact words, when he shot and paralyzed Barbara Gordon. she asked why: he laughed. “to prove a point.”

because that’s all he ever does. he hurts people because he can. and because all the power in the world can’t save him from getting hurt - and isn’t that just peachy?

because the thing about the joker is that he can get hurt. he has been hurt. but he has so much more capacity to harm than to be harmed. he is immortal. he and he alone will never have to face the consequences of the hurt that he inflicts on other people.

so then: why not hurt them? misery loves company, after all.

the joker is the embodiment and end result of our own social system: the madness of the exception: the laughter of the white man: the imprecation to smile, as he kills you.

(no one ever says it, i find, but it’s still true: barbara deserves to kill him.)

and who, then, is the batman? if the joker is the yin to his yang? if they’re two sides of one irredeemable coin, if they represent the “balance” of an unjustifiable system - who is he if not another white man?

because he is. Bruce Wayne is a white boy born into unspeakable privilege and forced to endure suffering anyway; who copes with his suffering by taking it out on others; who copes with his suffering, not by taking advantage of the world as it is, but by attempting to reshape it. to make it in his own image - as if it isn’t already his, as if claiming it further will crush out the pain.

the batman is the benevolent oppressor to the joker’s malevolent one. he changes nothing, in the end. two privileged white boys with their own respective navel-gazing grudges - where, after all, lies the difference between benevolence and malevolence?

because they are not “chaos” and “order.” not really. They are laissez-faire laughter and law. Joker exults in the disease of the system, Batman seeks to treat its symptoms, but neither of them will ever change anything about the root cause. because they may have suffered the faults of this system, but they still benefit so much more from it as it exists. Uphold it or break it, neither of them wants to change the law.

but the law is only as good as the people it’s made to protect. and who does that law protect, really?

waylon jones is, in one issue, explicitly depicted as Black. between that and his skin disorder, there has never once been room for his character to be any more than a monster: king croc is, always, a character to be violated and brutalized, over and over and over and still - always - written as the villain. (he tried so hard to scrape out a place for himself, so many times, in so many incarnations, and each and every time he finds himself relegated once more to the sewers. he will never be anyone’s king. there is no place under the sun for people like him.)

victor fries only ever wanted to save his wife, and a capitalist mogul decided a few extra numbers on his eight-digit paycheck were more important than the people whose lives depended on that money. fries’ body was damaged to disability by that choice, left without the resources to find a cure for his wife, and he robbed banks because there was no other option available to him. we seem to have forgotten, or maybe never really understood, why that matters. why a desperate man trying to save his life and that of his loved ones under the crushing gears of capitalism is a villain, and the one who stops him is our hero. why, under the law batman upholds, a bank vault and a CEO’s hoard is worth more than a life.

poison ivy just wants to live, too. wants a life not defined by the devastation of her body, of the beings that exist as extensions of her, a life where green and growing things are not commodities to be plowed up and poisoned and destroyed for the sake of another man’s profit. these are villains; they are written as such. these are their motives.

who does batman fight for, really? who is our hero, this emblem of our law?

is he our hero? ours, the broken and bleeding members of the world he claims to protect?

who does the law protect, except him - him, and the joker?