#also there is the matter of like. other verses. which is something i'd like to talk about in the future too | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bettyshoweduptotheparty · 5 months

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The Albatross decoded

(as requested by @asteracaea's anon, just wanted this for my records too. I hope you see it)

It starts with 'Wise men once said' so immediately we know it's some old white men wisdom, so probably some BS... "Wild winds are death to the candle" isn't a saying I've heard before but English is also not my first language. I'd take it to mean a wild unruly person will destroy something delicate and fragile, just like a strong wind will blow out a candle. As warnings are being issued here, I assume that they are warning the person about this woman because she's known for being a 'wild wind'. The warning then continues into the 'Rose by any other name...' line. Just to make it perfectly clear that it's the MEN who are saying it's a scandal, not Taylor. Taylor knows it's a rose. At least twice on this album does she refer to kissgate as a scandal and with such venom that I'm very sure that that's what the old white men at her label told her it was at the time. And she's still angry about it (as she should!).

In the chorus we have "Cross your thoughtless heart/ Only liquor anoints you" Crossing your heart means you're making a promise to tell the truth, similar to a pledge or a pinky promise. And adding 'thoughtless' would imply she wants the other person to make this promise without any fear or consideration of the possible consequences. So, basically, "promise me something sincerely without thinking too much about it". Only liquor anoints you - Anointment is part of religious ceremonies and is usually done with holy oil to either improve someone's health or make them a saint. It's also done when kings and queens are crowned and I think that's the meaning here. The other person is being raised up to be a monarch or a saint, but with alcohol instead of holy oil. Personally, these two lines convinced me that Taylor is talking to her lover here, because asking for a sincerely promise, almost like a vow, and in return making the other person your king/queen is all very soft and romantic. Very 'King of my heart'. 😉 (and note that she's not saying I'M here to destroy you, she saying OTHER people will tell you that I'm going to destroy you)

In the second verse we're back to what the 'wise men' are saying and this time it's the bad seed that kills the garden (kinda self-explanatory) and then "One less temptress, one less dagger to sharpen". First they were warning the lover and now they're clearly trying to keep them apart by saying that this woman (Taylor) is a bad influence or a temptation. Not sure if I would call this a literary reference, but it's noteworthy that lesbians in early media portrayals (the days of the Hays Code) were often shown as predatory or evil women who would seduce the good straight girls and turn them gay... bad seed/temptress indeed.

Then we have an add on chorus with "Devils that you know raise worse hell than a stranger". This is in fact a saying "Better the devil you know" which means it's better to choose the bad thing you already know over a new one, because you're already used to this one. But again, in this context it's flipped (she does this a lot). In this case, the devil you know is in fact WORSE than a stranger. So they're saying to her lover 'this devil of yours is worse hell and you'd be better off with a stranger' adding to the above warnings, and then they're also adding the warning "You're in terrible danger/She's the death you chose". Boy oh boy, they really didn't want them to be together, very Romeo and Juliet indeed...

Ok, the bridge: "And when that sky rains fire on you/ And you're persona non grata/ I'll tell you how I've been there too And that none of it matters". -> All these warnings are coming to fruition and the sky is now 'raining fire' on her lover. Something bad has happened and they are persona non grata, which is Latin for an unwelcome person, but more commonly used to say the worst person you can think of. So, her lover is in the eye of the storm and is seen as the guilty person, but Taylor tells her that she's been through the same before and it doesn't matter. Like she said in her Lavender Haze video, "We just ignore it and protect the real stuff."

The third verse gives details about what the fire storm mentioned above actually was (just for context, I know you didn't ask about that): some people read some fake news about her lover and came after her because they believed it. The "Jackles raised their hackles" and being dragged from your bed at night very much gives witch hunt imagery, which is a cool choice for two reasons: 1) like the 'witches' her lover is innocent and wrongly convicted of a crime, and 2) all 'witches' were women. 😉

In the last chorus, of course, Taylor's albatross becomes the rescuing angel that swoops in to save her lover from being burned at the stakes. The devil becomes the angel and the anti hero becomes the hero. She says "I'm the life you chose and all this terrible danger". This reminds me of peace: Yes, the life you chose with me comes with shit storms sometimes ('would it be enough if I can never give you peace?') but I will always rescue you if I have to.

(And this part hasn't happened yet, one reason why I love this song so much, it feels like such a sneaky insight into things yet to come, same as FOTS and the Alchemy 😊)

So, there you go, hope this helped, never ask long questions if you don't want long answers ;)

#the albatross #ttpd #tortured poets

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sad-stucky-shipper-107 · 6 months

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The tusken massacre controversial take (both sides)

tw: mentions of rape, torture & racism

People WILL probably block me for this but IDC because I went up ahead and read up on the tuskens on the official Wiki and while I definitely DO see how it could be interpreted as racism (I genuinely believe Lucas Did Not mean for it to be read as such) . But. BUT.

I'm not saying the murder of the tuskens was "justified" but it was definitely a much. much. more complicated situation than people make it out to be. It is CANON that Tuskens are mistrustful to the point of Xenophobia of the other settlers on the planet, settlers who by this point have been there for generations. So the argument has to be made that their culture and traditions would NOT change overnight if at all. And therefore Anakin was right about one thing, (and I am willing to die on this hill.) the tusken children Would have grown up to be the same torturers and killers (possibly rapists, there were very few reasons for them to keep Shmi alive and none of them good)

Now, am I saying that killing children for something they might do or in this case Will do in the future is wrong? I'll be very honest, im only 70% sure my answer would be a definitive No. The other 30% is genuinely considering it. I cannot comment upon the female tuskens as there is literally almost NOTHING about them in Canon verse and so I know nothing about how culpable they are in this. But motherfucker NEITHER DO YOU.

Anyway yeah there are many tribes of tusken and some of them peaceful but this one was Definitely Not. We were sown this. This wasn't a matter of racism. this was a matter of Murderous, Torturing, Kidnappers. Who kidnapped and possibly raped this guy's mother.

Fact: Shmi was an innocent woman who had done NOTHING to the tusken

Fact: She was tortured at their hands for days

Fact: If someone did that to my mom, I'd be pretty murderous too especially if someone had been grooming (palpatine) me to give into my worst nature from age 9.

Idk man, things are definitely not as black and white as we are making them out to be. On EITHER SIDE. And if we're talking about bringing up the consequences of his actions before the senate? Most of them are not Nearly empathetic enough even give a fuck. They need the Hero With No Fear too much and even if they didn't they would NOT give a fuck. The jedi council definitely would but they would ALSO debate this, like a LOT.

EDIT: ALSO ALSO, ONE MORE HLL I'LL DIE ON, ITS MENTIONED IN WOOKIEPEDIEA THAT 1 TRIBE WAS A COMMUNITY OF 20-30 PEOPLE, STOP CALLING IT A FUCKING GENOCIDE. IT WAS A MASSACRE. IT WAS A FUCKING MASSACRE WHICH WAS UNACCEPTABLE BUT IT WAS VERY DIFFERENT FROM A GENOCIDE.

Edit 2: The tuskens also engaged in slavery. Definitely not the "🥺 innocents" people make them out to be.

#star wars #anakin skywalker #padme amidala #obi wan kenobi #jedi council #tusken raiders #tusken massacre #ashoka tano #anidala #sw meta #star wars meta

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beevean · 27 days

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The Devil Forgemasters in Netflixvania: why you shouldn't fix what is broken

I have a lot to say about how the show completely ruined Hector and Isaac, as characters and thematically. Adding more and more to the original post about how the changes made to Dracula and the Belmonts ruin the story would derail it more than I'd like to, so take this as some sort of lateral continuation.

Devil Forging is not tied to Dracula.

This is, admittedly, an obscure detail that not even many game fans know, but it's a good starting point.

Devil Forging (Japanese: 悪魔精錬術, Art of Devil Refining) is described to be a blasphemous branch of alchemy that creates life out of a wisp of conjuring matter. While it's ambiguous whether Hector and Isaac are the only Devil Forgemasters in the world or simply the most talented ones, it has been confirmed that they were infused with Dracula's own power to become Forgemasters.

Igarashi said it in a pre-release interview of the game...

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"Innocent Devils are created out of strong magical essence. Previously when Hector was part of Dracula's army, Dracula himself provided that magical essence, so it was easy to create Innocent Devils..."

It was shown in a page of Prelude to Revenge...

And Death's entire plan in Curse of Darkness hinges on both Hector and Isaac being "suffused" with his master's power, making them the perfect vessels for his resurrection.

In the show, Devil Forging (or just Forging) is nothing of the sort. Forgemasters create Night Creatures by putting souls from Hell into recently dead, intact corpses. Hector in particular knew how to resurrect creatures in a zombie state since he was a child. Neither him nor Isaac, who studied by himself, needed Dracula to become Forgemasters: he met them when they were already adults and well-versed in dark arts.

This, on its own, doesn't ruin the story much: it's not a big deal if Devil Forging is changed from alchemy to necromancy, especially since this Dracula didn't use to be the alchemist Mathias Cronqvist. I also don't mind in a vacuum that the art has more limitations, like needing fresh corpses or tools. But, much like removing any hint that Lament of Innocence happened, it spirals into worse and worse consequences.

There is, however, something that can be mentioned here. The show makes a frequent point, through Carmilla, Lenore and the Captain, that Dracula might have planned to kill Hector and Isaac together with all the humans: Isaac accepted this fate and for this reason refused to befriend Hector, Hector could be manipulated at the other vampires' leisure. This conflict wouldn't have existed if Isaac and Hector trusted Dracula with their lives, as in, if he was the one who "made" them as they were: in fact, a big deal is made out of the Devil Forgemasters' humanity. I will elaborate more on the details next.

Dracula hired Hector and Isaac shortly after Lisa was killed.

In the prequels, Hector and Isaac went to knock to Dracula's door out of desperation (in one version when they were young boys), because there was no other place in the world for them. Dracula welcomed them and taught them the dark arts, on the condition that they would serve him, which they did out of gratitude for being allowed to live. Their talent was enough to earn them the titles of Devil Forgemasters and Generals. Their loyalty was then put to the test after Lisa's death, when Dracula used their powers to make an army to crush humanity with: Isaac was perfectly fine with it, Hector had reservations.

The wording implies that Hector was shocked by Dracula's descent into madness. One can even read his "indiscriminately" as a hint that at first Hector was also alright with punishing the guilty, but then had second thoughts the moment he realized Dracula's slaughter was beyond reason.

Only bits and pieces of all of this was kept in the show. As I mentioned, Dracula met the two when they were already adults and hermits, one in Rhodes and the other in the Sahara, and the two were impressed by how Dracula was the first one who treated them with kindness. Then he returned to them after Lisa's death, more or less telling both of them "I need you to exterminate the human race". Isaac was, again, up to it, while Hector had to be convinced with a lie: Dracula promised to him a compromise, that of culling the human race and using it as livestock. Then, he took them to his castle and immediately promoted them to Generals, because he trusted them as humans against humanity.

Why does it matter? Hector started off with all the building blocks to go through a similar character arc he goes through in the CoD prequels, but he's turned into a less sympathetic character, as he was on board with turning humans into cattle from the get go. An anti-villain who'd enslave his own kind out of a misguided sense of mercy needs a carefully woven narrative to justify, and possibly redeem. We all know what happened to him.

To be fair, the story wasting Hector is not the fault of the lore changes, so there's no point in elaborating here. I will mention, however, that some fans genuinely believe Hector deserved to be enslaved and raped precisely because of his original plan, which makes the narrative even grosser.

Why does it matter? 2: Hector not feeling grateful for Dracula giving him a home, because their relationship is now more shallow and cheaper, makes him weaker to Carmilla's and Lenore's manipulations: game Hector, pre-character development, would have had the right counterarguments against them, and he would have come off as less passive.

Why does it matter? 3: Hector and Isaac only worked under Dracula for a year, and they're already called Generals. In the prequels, it's implied they spent years studying under him and gaining experience, both in the alchemy lab and in the battlefield, which is why they're called Generals in the first place (unlike the show version, who allegedly aren't even physical fighters). While Dracula explains that he trusts them due to being humans willing to exterminate other humans, it's questionable that Dracula would trust their qualifications so much; this is made even worse by the fact that Hector was "hired" thanks to a lie. Their importance and talent are diminished, and Dracula comes off as more impulsive and less caring of those he trusts.

(and while this is more minor, Dracula, who in this version is meant to be more sympathetic, looks like more of a bastard for leaving Hector and Isaac in their isolated homes until he had a need for them. The story could have put Isaac through a character arc where he realized that his "friend" only saw him as a tool and discarded him as such, but nothing comes from it.)

Neither Dracula nor Isaac respect Hector.

In the games, Dracula respected both Hector and Isaac as his trusted Generals, but he favored Hector, which caused Isaac not a small amount of grief. Isaac himself was torn between respecting Hector as a friend and comrade and resenting him for "getting closer to Lord Dracula". In any case, it's obvious that both of them had a role in Dracula's court, it just happened that Hector was more talented than Isaac.

Before talking about the show, it's necessary to talk about the stats sheets that came out with Season 2, that implied that Hector and Isaac were meant to be both physically weak, with the former slightly stronger and more powerful in "necromancing" than the latter. This implies that the original idea was more in line with the games, with Hector being more talented than Isaac: this would have explained why Dracula resorted to lie to him to hire him.

But this, for whatever reason, was not kept at all. Not only the two are roughly on the same level of raw power; not only Isaac eventually is shown to be a menace in battle; but Dracula and Isaac have nothing but contempt for Hector as a person. They insult him gratuituously, calling him "a child in a man's body", "just a little boy", "a creature too simple for betrayal", "easy to lie to", and making fun of his love for animals. Furthermore, Isaac in particular says that he never cared to befriend Hector because he assumed, and accepted, that both of them will eventually die at Dracula's hands, so there was no point in forming a connection - but it could have been just an excuse because it's clear that he simply cannot stand him.

This is not just petty bullying, it's baffling writing.

Why does it matter?: this Hector should not even be in the castle, let alone with an important role like a General of Dracula's army. If Forging is a branch of magic well known in certain circles, unrelated to Dracula, why couldn't he attempt to find another one that would be on board with his plan? Especially since it seems to be common to shun them for their blasphemous powers, so there has to be another Forgemaster with a chip on their shoulder that wouldn't need to be manipulated.

Hector is kept in the dark about Dracula's real plan. He is considered so stupid that anyone could sway him. He yells in the middle of the war room that he doesn't enjoy paddling in the blood of children, confirming that he doesn't want to target innocents. He is also not special compared to Isaac, who is also shown to be quicker in Forging and capable in fighting. Hector is nothing short of a liability for Dracula, and it's all his fault for not realizing how much of a detriment hiring a naive "manchild" for a plan that goes against his very morals would eventually become.

But then again, Dracula in the show seems to like having liabilities in his castle.

Hector did not challenge Dracula of his own volition.

While the details are unclear and can only be inferred, it is pivotal that, at some point, Hector decided that he couldn't be an instrument of slaughter. He may have come to this conclusion out of principles (PtR) or out of pride for his own humanity (MF manga), but what matters is that he decided that he would rather flee to live in the human world that rejected him than to keep living in Dracula's castle where he was respected as a Devil Forgemaster but not as a person.

Hector's choice to run away in search of freedom, while understandable and admirable, has terrible consequences on Isaac, his foil and rival. He had to leave the castle to pursue the traitor: the two fought, and Isaac lost. Not only Hector left him alive instead of mercy killing him, letting the failure soak in, but thanks to their absence from the castle, Trevor and his companions had less obstacles to overcome, so they managed to reach Dracula and kill him. Isaac was beyond furious at Hector's betrayal: not only the rival he respected turned his back on both him and their Lord, but with one act, he stripped Isaac of everything he held dear in his life, from his position to the Lord who accepted him to his very home. Thus, the tragic cycle of revenge the two get stuck in during the game.

In the show, the real agent of S2 is Carmilla. She is the one who has decided that Dracula is an insane old man and she has to stop his insane plan (because it would harm vampires in the long run, of course). Her plan is to manipulate Hector into convincing him to convince Dracula to move the castle at Braila, all while praising his skills and reassuring she only wants to save his life from Dracula's insanity. Hector, who already had doubts, easily goes along with Carmilla's will, and by the time she reveals she disdains him as well, he doesn't have the strength to rebel, which leads to his beating and imprisonment in S3.

Why does it matter?: the most important theme of Hector's character is him gaining agency and choosing to amend his mistakes by being a better person than those around him. He is meant to be a parallel to Isaac (who close loyalty over freedom and couldn't rise above his bitterness and anger), Alucard (who is burdened by his family, not his wrong choices) and Dracula himself (who lost his heart out of grief and, like Isaac, kept spiraling downwards). Stripping him of his thematic relevance leaves Hector with nothing to his name: while Hector is canonically someone who clings in search of affection, the show takes this trait to absurd and frankly humiliating degrees.

Contrast the climax of game Hector's character arc of facing his former benefactor, telling him he has no right to judge mankind, and swearing that this time he will fight him face to face instead of running away:

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with the climax of show Hector's character arc of protecting the woman who abused him, gaslighted him, raped him through deception and imprisoned him, and then allowing her to die on her own terms so that she won't have to face the consequences of her actions, crawling back to her (and Dracula! He wanted Dracula back after everything he had done!) because up until the end, he never acknowledged the fatal flaw of weakmindness and insecurity that led him to being tortured in all sorts of ways.

(Isaac telling us that "he changed" is the biggest lie of the show. "He never had agency", he also says, and not only it's true, it keeps being true until the end of the show, in the face of any character development)

Hector's character is much more than being a generic badass: he is meant to be an inspiration to not falter and succumb to your weaknesses because you are valuable as a person and human, regardless of how others see you. Even if you make mistakes, you can choose to become a better person, and you can find people who love you for who you are. It is incomprehensible how much his show's counterpart ends up promoting the complete opposite message.

Why does it matter? 2: while the story beats the viewer over the head that Hector is a simpleminded manchild, Dracula and Isaac actually look like the biggest idiots in the castle. Carmilla makes clear from her entrance that she has no respect for Dracula and would rather do as she pleases, yet Dracula keeps her alive, allowing her to talk with the "manchild easy to lie to", and Isaac flippantly agrees to her plan to "stop her from causing mischief". Hector gets all the blame for his naiveté and is punished beyond measure, while the other two gets off scot free from their plot-mandated stupidity. It's one thing when in the mangas Dracula and Isaac trusted Hector and thus were left blindsided by his betrayal: they have absolutely zero reason to leave Carmilla alive, let alone trust her.

Why does it matter? 3: Isaac has no solid reason to resent Hector. The two have no connection whatsoever, Carmilla is clearly the one in charge, Isaac sees Trevor, Sypha and Alucard storming the castle with his own eyes, and he was also partially responsible for Carmilla betraying Dracula. He never feels guilty for his negligence in recognizing her as a threat or Hector as someone capable of betrayal. His glee at seeing Hector suffering and his desire to kill him are far less motivated, impactful and tragic. It also comes as a slap in the face that in S4 he "forgives" Hector for lacking agency, without a word about his blind loyalty and stubbornness that nothing could harm his Lord.

Addendum: this is a smaller point related to the previous one, but I feel the need to mention it: there is a very big difference between an insane, ruined Isaac spying on a happy Hector from the shadows, plotting his downfall, and a gleeful Isaac spying on a tortured Hector and rejoicing in his suffering. The former creates palpable tension, because we are rooting for Hector's new happy life, and Isaac ruining it cements him as a despicable and threatening villain; when Isaac in the show is glad to see Hector in pain but still wants to kill him, it has no impact because everyone wants to see Hector suffer, and by that point, killing him would have been a mercy. Once again, it only feels spiteful and kicking someone when he's down.

Isaac and Hector swapped places without reason.

This is by far the most unpopular opinion and perhaps the most biased, but it has to be included.

Isaac in the games had a very specific role of being Hector's foil. He was the loyalty to Hector's pride, he saw himself as a tool while Hector recognized his own humanity, he succumbed to his own hatred while Hector eventually rose above it. He has a negative character arc, becoming more and more obsessed, unhinged and destructive from the prequels until the end of the game where he meets his tragic end, both puppeteer and puppet - his sister Julia is proof that he too had people who cared about him and he cared about, but it was not enough against Dracula's influence. Even his design tells us a lot about him: not only he let his uniform rot off his body in his insanity, but the intricate tattoos on his body can be seen as proof of how far he'd twist himself to show loyalty to his Lord.

While it's not necessary to recreate 1:1 his story in the show, it is immensely frustrating that show Isaac pretty much stole what should have been Hector's arc, leaving him with a flat arc that can be vaguely read as "forgive your abusers if they're sad enough".

It's not just about Hector, though. Show Isaac comes off as a worse version of both characters. I have already explained how in S2 he comes off as more negligent and thus less sympathetic than game Isaac in similar circumstances. S3 and 4, combined, should be about him travelling around, meeting new people and slowly realizing that he can be more than Dracula's right hand because not all humans are rotten to the core. In practice, show Isaac spends the majority of S3 causing much more reckless havoc than game Isaac, targeting people who merely dared to stop a dark wizard from invading their towns, flip-flopping between "maybe humans can be good" to "nevermind you are all rude and deserve to be used by me as demons", until in S4 he suddenly has the realization that he enjoys having agency and would rather build a better world (which includes killing people for "just" reasons); it's almost like the arc game Hector went through in the manga, except we actually see him trying to atone for his past sins, acknowledging that his dark past makes him hateable, and genuinely reforming thanks to Rosaly's influence.

Why does it matter?: Isaac is nowhere near as sympathetic as the show wants him to be, and his arc is shallow, rushed and generic. This is because he switches between two different characters with little buildup.

Why does it matter? 2: Hector and Isaac were meant to be foils in everything, from designs to personalities to arcs. They make each other stronger as characters. In the show, they have no thematic relevance, and the only contrast is that Isaac keeps getting what he wants while Hector keeps getting tormented and humiliated, not for a good narrative reason but out of petty favoritism and spite respectively. It makes their reunion in S4 ring hollow, because, much like the three protagonists, the two didn't have a relationship in the first place to make their mutual forgiveness poignant.

Bonus: the uniforms.

This is the hill I will die on: Hector and Isaac's designs in the games are crucial to the understanding of the characters, and the way the characters were redesigned in the show makes no sense.

In Prelude to Revenge, we see the Devil Forgemasters' full uniforms:

They wear a big, dark cassock with a sash, that makes the both of them look like priests, and bat-shaped chest armor bearing the crest of their position. As we know, Isaac also went so far as embedding that crest on his back, signifying how devoted he is.

After the events of the prequel and during the game proper, their outfit changes. Hector wears what we can assume are the clothes underneath the cassock, haphazardly stitched back together, but keeping the sash (now with Rosaly's ribbon tied around it) and the chest armor, symbolizing how he's forced to face his past again to avenge his wife. This outfit is also designed for running and combat, as shown by the one glove and the arm guard.

Isaac, on the other hand, is unrecognizeable. After three years of rotting in the ruins of the castle, the uniform fell off his body, and he did not bother to fix it. He only modified the chest armor, making it smaller and creating chains, shoulder pauldrons and a collar to keep it on his body. It is meant to contrast his previously put-together design, and convey that Isaac's sanity is as gone as his clothes. Furthermore, he is flaunting the tattoos that symbolize his utter devotion and belonging to Dracula.

In short, Hector and Isaac started from a similar place, but they diverged to very different paths.

This, on the other hand, is nothing short of lazy.

There is no explanation as to why they wear different uniforms. There is no color coordination, no red/blue motif in their clothes. There is no reason Isaac wears a dark priestly uniform while Hector still looks combat ready when he's only a smith (wouldn't the arm guard get in the way?). Hector is shown wearing a red sash ever since he was a child, which doesn't explain why it's included in Isaac's uniform as well. Even the crest on the armor looks different:

There was no thought put in any of this, it was all sloppily stolen from the fandom wiki, and once again, it ruins the carefully woven connection between the two characters.

Hector and Isaac's story was airtight, with just enough room for speculation but enough material to get invested in, emotional, a great example of tragedy, and every choice was made for a reason. It was a story of revenge on the surface, but it also tackled quite well, despite its limitations, themes of humanity and agency and freedom. The writing in the show is not only sloppy and more shallow, but it accidentally promotes terrible themes in its misanthropy, cruelty, and lack of care regarding abuse and trauma.

#anti netflixvania #long post #i might edit this in the future #especially the isaac part which i don't know how to phrase #but yeah. there you go. i have feelings about them.#Youtube

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ratlesshonret · 10 months

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Song Analysis - And Then is Heard No More

Part 0 - The Part You Skip if You Just Want the Analysis

Hi! Its me again! Last time I analyzed Children of the City, and someone requested an analysis of And Then is Heard No More, which I've actually already written in the past.

With that said, this entire analysis was posted on Reddit about a month ago, and I'm simply reposting it here for a new audience. If there's any formatting errors from the copy-paste action, please let me know.

Part 1 - Analysis of Lyrics

If you don't already know, this song is about Philip from Library of Ruina. Its his Character Song. I assume you did know, but this is just so we're all on the same page.

Do the candles look forward to being used? Enjoy bidding adieu, adieu? Every word I have saved for you came out wrong Afterwards, so I spoke no more

(credit to tumblr user tearychildren for helping me analyze this verse)

In the first two lines of the song, Philip is wanting to be reassured. He's looking for solace, for comfort, attempting to convince himself that his life was worth it. The metaphor, with candles looking forward to being used, is meant to represent humanity. If I were to translate, I'd say he's asking, "Do people look forward to burning out and doing nothing, before dying?"

Philip wants to know he didn't waste his life. He wants to be told that all there is to life is burning out immediately. Because if he was told there's more to life, he might not be able to handle it. He wants reassurance, to be told that this is the fate of everyone.

The latter two lines refer to Philip's co-worker Yuna. In the Unstable Book of the Crying Children, Philip details a failed love confession to Yuna, which is almost certainly what this verse is about. When his confession didn't work, he likely internalized it as him just saying something wrong, and thus he decided to "speak no evil."

Would you say That someone who had every intention to be brave Was a coward?

This line speaks to several things. The first, and most obvious, is that Philip wants to know if he has been a coward. He wants to know if all his fleeing and denying of the facts makes him cowardly, even if he intended to be brave.

And this details a theme of his whole arc: Philip wants to be a hero, but he can't be one.

The second thing this line speaks about is the Project Moon universe's general question of, "Do the thoughts/intentions behind your actions matter, or the actions themselves?" Is it enough to have just wanted to be brave? Or do you need to act the part, as well?

In my opinion, Philip was a coward. He made attempts not to be, but they all fell short, sometimes for reasons in his control and sometimes for not. And I don't think his "intention to be brave" is enough to absolve him of that.

Must be great being you Power comes as second nature Must feel amazing to be longed for, longed for

Philip has this trend of blaming everything but himself. This verse starts the detailing of the dichotomy in his mind, which leads to immense hypocrisy. Philip sees himself as inherently weak, and due to this, he doesn't feel like he can be held to the same standards as everyone else. He can deflect people's criticisms of him by just playing the, "I'm weak, I couldn't have done anything" card.

It also appears Philip believes in "inherent ability." That someone can be born better than another person. But he doesn't take this idea to its logical extreme.

If other people are born better than him, and thus Philip is the only one doing the noble climb to be strong, then why isn't he strong? If he thought it through, he'd know the answer: he isn't trying hard enough. He just expects his heroic opportunity to be handed to him.

Philip almost seems to think he's the only one who has to work for his success, despite him being basically given a position that many people could only dream of.

But there's a reason he doesn't take this idea to its extreme. Because in its current state, it acts as a shield. If other people are inherently better than him, then he doesn't need to be held to their standards. He enjoys having the ability to just block out blame by using weaponized incompetence.

(I opened my eyes) Cemented excuses to my lash-line So I could see no more

At the very least, in the end, Philip seems to admit that he's just making excuses. At every turn, he finds reasons that he couldn't have done more. In every situation, he manages to blame someone other than himself for what happened. But deep down, he knows that his friend's deaths and the killing of three other people he went to for help is his fault.

In Philip's foolish quest for vengeance and heroism, he got three innocent people killed.

And this is where I want to detail the second part of this dichotomy. Philip claims everyone is better than him, sure, but he also thinks he's some legendary hero. He uses this idea that he's some heroic figure to ignore the guilt for his actions.

If he's able to go into the Library with Wedge Office and strike down the ones who killed his colleagues, then it'd all be worth it. That was probably his rationale for dragging those three into the library with him. If he can get vengeance, he'll be the hero. And if the people of Wedge Office have to die, then he'll make that sacrifice if he can get his epic final battle.

And in this battle... if he dies, he doesn't need to worry anymore. And if he wins, he'll be a hero.

Which is why he gets neither.

Philip has to face reality. He isn't a hero. He isn't just some unfairly tortured soul, waiting for his chance to be written down as a legend in the history books. At the end of the day... he's just Philip.

Not to say he doesn't try! In the Philip fight during the Wedge Office Reception, he is very powerful, and fully intends to destroy the Library or die trying. For once in his life, he is determined to do something, which is why he's able to manifest EGO. His desire to be a hero, his desire to win, creates a sword and wings with which to fight with.

As one last aside, let's talk about Philip's EGO. He has a flaming sword, which is very traditional for heroes. The knight holding a flaming sword over a dragon's head, that kind of thing. But he also has burning, melting wings. Which calls back to the tale of Icarus, who in his excitement to finally fly, went to close to the sun and had his wings melted.

Just like Icarus, Philip, in his excitement to finally be the hero, brought three people to their deaths and compounded his own guilt because of some selfish desire to avenge his friends. That was his, "fly too close to the sun."

So which home should someone as weak as I go? (And which sky should I aim for when I've only been low?) I have only been low

Yet again, Philip is pointing out how weak he is. He wants a place to belong, a place to go, now that his friends are all dead. And he also seems to be continuing to avoid blame. He can't aim very high, because he's so pathetic that he'd just fail anything too hard. He doesn't need to try and aim higher, because he has already decided he isn't capable of anything. It shields him from the guilt of not doing enough.

Day and night, your ghosts continue to haunt me Tell me who to be

This references the scene at the 8 o'Clock Circus, where Philip distorts. When he is shown his own visions of his colleagues, they do nothing but blame him for his actions, and in some cases, his inaction.

We get a front-seat look into what Philip thinks they'd say to him.

Both of them are cruel. But he doesn't want to hear it. As they criticize him, he covers his ears and closes his eyes, not wanting to confront the fact that he made the wrong choice.

But he has to confront it. It's impossible not to. Which is why he ends up distorting.

If I went with you, will there be happily ever afters? Sipping on tea I steeped together, together

At this point, Philip seems to wish he had just died with his friends. He wants to know if he'd be happier in whatever afterlife that exists if he hadn't just continued to make a fool out of himself. Its definitely sad, how Philip just seems resigned to the idea of death at this point.

He just wants to have tea with them again.

(Read me a story of a hero born knowing the all) Read me a book of me So I could hear no more

Finally, we get to the last verse. Philip wants to know what his book says. Or, more accurately, he wants to think that when he dies, his book will be about how heroic he was. About how he was born as some tragic figure, who overcame all the negativity in his life and became a legend.

But of course, his actual book is mostly just about the times he was a coward and refused to face reality.

Not only does he want to think his book would be about his heroism, he doesn't want to hear different. He wants someone to tell him how amazing he was, until he can't hear any of the negative things other people have to say. He wants to ignore reality for his petty hero fantasy.

Philip is a hypocrite.

He's simultaneously too weak to try anything, and too heroic to be criticized.

He admits how cowardly he is, and then desires to be told he's a brave hero.

Philip is maybe a prime example of cognitive dissonance.

Part 2 - Summary

Despite all of this... I can't bring myself to hate Philip. He's cowardly, hypocritical, ignores any criticism, hides in his own fantasies, and uses his incompetence as a shield to block anything he doesn't want to hear. But I don't hate him.

Honestly, I think most people would act how he did in his situation.

I understand running for your life. And I understand the survivor's guilt that comes with that.

And revenge is just a natural human desire.

In terms of his actions, which I think is what matters, his gravest sin is dragging three innocent people into his revenge quest.

And Then Is Heard No More is, in essence, both Philip explaining how he got to where he is, and wanting to be told he didn't make any mistakes. Even in the end, he's too cowardly to own up to them.

Because that's who Philip is.

Part 3 - Final Part

So yeah, that's And Then is Heard No More. I like this song, and I like Philip. I hope you all enjoyed this copy-pasted analysis.

#project mili #mili #library of ruina #philip lor #and then is heard no more

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fishedeyelenz · 7 months

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ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE BLACK CHRISTMAS FANDOM

Hello everyone who's been following my writing and art and OC's!! Your support has warmed my heart, and got me through some thought times. Thank you very much for sticking by me, commenting, sending me kudos and asks regarding Dilf Billy and my oc-verse I made around him!

However... I have come to realize I have made Billy, at least the older 45-50 year old version of him my own. Very much my own. I think there's a discrepancy between my characterization of him, and how he is portrayed in the movie/novel/commentary. Another thing is that I love him too much. I want to make him my own, not an interpretation of a pre-existing character...

So that's exactly what I am going to do! I'm taking him and making him an OC. Currently I am in the process if changing up his backstory to make him distinct from Billy Lenz, though the Dilf version we see in Rats in the shadows and partially in So give me coffee and tv will stay similar.

My goal is to create a group of ocs consisting of the character formerly known as Billy, Camille, Bean and other side characters who will exist in a story about an ex serial killer father. I'm still early in the rework, but I feel like I don't have change too much.

What this means I will effectively be distancing myself at least partially from the Black Christmas fandom, at least in terms of my content creation though these past few months I have been in a rut given college preoccupying most of my time. I still love Black Christmas, it will remain one of my favorite movies forever. I cherish the friends I made and the experiences I had, but I want to move on to more original creations, uninhibited by primary existing source materials.

I will still interact with fan works in terms of reblogging art and writing , and I will most likely draw more of Billy Lenz and the other characters from the movie in the future. Anything regarding Camille, Bean, "dilf Billy" though, will be something divorced from Black Christmas, entirely its own thing, though obviously inspired by it.

Will I return to writing for Black Christmas? At this point I am uncertain. I have a WIP of a priest!au thing for Dilf Billy, which if I ever get around to finishing I would post under the pretense that it's a Black Christmas fanwork. However, I am not sure if I will finish it, given that I don't really have the time, and at the moment motivation to really work on it. Another story idea exists too, one which would better fit into the Black Christmas ethos with is very dark tone and heavy subject matter (while still remaining a smut work) which I would gladly have exist as a fanwork.... But once again I am lacking the time and want to do it. It would be a very big project, all things considered.

So what now? I will keep all my Billy Lenz/Dilf Billy content up on my blog, my AO3 will stay intact (though I will forward this announcement onto there), and I won't change my tags on Dilf Billy related posts. Moving forward, though, everything created for my oc inspired by Billy Lenz/Dilf Billy Lenz will be tagged as that. I need to come up with a new name for him first...

I will also make a post regarding how the plot of Rits/Sgmcatv would have went if I'd finished them, to give you guys some sort of conclusion. Though the new oc story with Bean, Camille and the new Billy oc in it will very closely follow Rits original storyline. Most of the events of Rits are canon still in regards to Camille's and Bean's backstory, with of course some caveats (no Brahms, Camille and "Billy" meet differently etc.). But the large majority of the plot points and story beats are the same.

I will be happy to answer any further questions, as my inbox is open. I'm sorry to disappoint anyone, but I've felt the need to move on, to elevate this story. I hope I can be forgiven. Now I bid farewell to this part of my life and creative era, and look forward to the new.

#billy lenz #dilf billy lenz #oc: camille #oc: bean #black christmas #my art #my writting #agnes lenz #oc: lily #not a goodbye #but things are changing

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littlehollyleaf · 1 year

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So are we talking about the Bible quote on the Gabriel!fly matchbox?

It's from Job - a nod to Crowley and Aziraphale's adventures with him no doubt

Specifically Job 41:19 "out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out"

So. Idk if this was once a common verse on matchboxes. I know there was a famous brand called LUCIFERS, as a play on the concept of 'light bringer' - cos matches bring light, yeah? Those had bible verses on I believe, but idk if it was this one. Even if not the same though, this Job verse does a similar thing to the Lucifer match brand - referencing sparks of fire cos that's what matches create (we're gonna circle back to this fyi, but there's other stuff first, hold on).

Now, obviously the box was used to contain the essence/identity of GABRIEL.

But it also acts as something of a visual representation of the very CONCEPT of an angel's essence/identity being something that can be removed and stored elsewhere. AND of the idea that the outside appearance of something (or someone) doesn't necessarily give an accurate/truthful indicator of what is inside - there are no matches in this matchbox, for instance.

The quote on the box also doesn't describe Gabriel. But that doesn't matter because, actually, Gabriel is never in the box is he? He takes the fly out before transferring his essence into it.

So. We have an empty box, representing the idea of angel essence/identity as removable from its... casing/packaging.

And this empty box describes something (someone?) from whom sparks of fire leap from.

If you look up the whole of Job 41, it turns out it's god describing what's referred to as a LEVIATHAN to Job.

Apparently there's speculation this refers to a crocodile. But a quick Google tells me various Bible annotations describe the creature as a GIANT SERPENT.

...a giant serpent

from whom fire leaps

and whose 'eyes are like the eyelids of the morning'

Hmm.

But the box is empty - the essence/identity/truth of this creature/being/person the outside is describing is not where the packaging suggests it should be.

...perhaps because, as with Gabriel, the essence/identity/truth of said creature has also been removed and stored somewhere else?

OR is it less literal than that? More of a metaphorical suggestion that the creature/angel/being Crowley is labelled as has never truly been HIM? The box is empty because who Crowley is does not fit in a box - he has, in fact, spent much of his existence trying to ESCAPE being put in a box, being labelled, ESPECIALLY by god/Heaven.

So, this little box has started to represent quite a lot now I think. The idea of angel essence/identity, but also maybe just identity in general? The idea of someone's identity not always matching their physical appearance. The idea of someone's identity being defined/limited by the descriptions/opinions/words of others. The idea of wanting and trying to escape the confines of an inaccurate and forced identity (give me coffee liberty or give me death).

Then, if that wasn't enough, on top of that we have that little added extra of matchboxes with bible verses infamously being known as Lucifers... (said I'd circle back!). Not as important as the rest I feel. BUT - if anyone wanted a little extra fuel for the 'Crowley as Lucifer' theory, this could fit... in a deeply symbolic, close reading, metafictional way?

In any case, what I'm getting at here is this box as reflecting the forced identities that Heaven/God persistently try to trap angels (and anyone really) into. And how it is possible to remove yourself from said box.

...am I taking this too far? Haven't tried any full on media analysis in such a long time...

This is the whole of Job 41 for reference (think there may be more in it relating to Crowley, and perhaps Aziraphale and their relationship too, plus GO!Heaven, that I'm overlooking):

Job.41

[1] Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?

[2] Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?

[3] Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?

[4] Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?

[5] Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?

[6] Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?

[7] Canst thou fill his skin with barbed iron? or his head with fish spears?

[8] Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.

[9] Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?

[10] None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?

[11] Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.

[12] I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion.

[13] Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle?

[14] Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.

[15] His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.

[16] One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.

[17] They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.

[18] By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

[19] Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.

[20] Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.

[21] His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.

[22] In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.

[23] The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved.

[24] His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.

[25] When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves.

[26] The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.

[27] He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.

[28] The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble.

[29] Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear.

[30] Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire.

[31] He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.

[32] He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.

[33] Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.

[34] He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.

#i like to over analyse #good omens meta #good omens 2 #good omens cinematic storytelling #character study: crowley #heaven is a dystopia #you need to stop playing

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richie-shitlips · 2 months

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darling can you please tell me about My High School Sweetheart. i am so normal about Sweetheart.

yes definitely absolutely

i feel like i've told you a lot of this but shhhhh no i haven't

as you know i see the show as marvin telling his story to whizzer (which i haven't actually said in these posts yet! just hasn't been necessary, but this is the one i have the biggest evidence for actually)

but it starts out in sweethearts perspective! marvin has trouble figuring out what's real and not throughout the musical (i'll make a different post explaining why i think he's schizophrenic at a later date) so the repetition of "i'm a person" is sorta a mantra for him. and in the process, he forgets that other people are real too (*cough* npd *cough*)

this whole song is confusing cause i also get the boys in the band vibes from the first verse ("Michael, you are a real person" "Thank you, and fuck you!") but that doesn't fit anywhere else in the analysis so it's going here

"i want to hold him, but he's not alive" is a line only in the 1985 version, and i think it's foreshadowing for I Feel Him Slipping Away! but also it just ties into the general metaphor of love and death in in trousers :)

"i say a person has her wants and needs, i'm not a greedy person! he says i'm just ridickalous!" i'd assume this is marvin calling her greedy for wanting/needing affection and love from him

"put me onto your bed, not a pedestal" is just a really good line in general but like. she's still saying to treat her like a person. even in bed, don't worship her, she'd be happy with just being treated decently. it's really fucking sad

then we meet miss goldberg for the first time in the show, and wow what a way to introduce a character! you get high expectations of her and also jealousy from sweetheart and also makes you wonder just what her relationship with marvin is?

"she gave me words to say" could mean just lines in the play, but i also see it as her telling him to lie about what happened between them. if you're new here, i see miss goldberg as a groomer, and i'll talk more about that if you ask me about set those sails or the r of miss goldberg...

unrelated but i like to think that marvin's moms name was nina and that's why he gets so happy about the boats! (in the dialogue. for fans of only the 1979 version, it goes as such: "Queen Isabella, as you recall, had three ships: The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. The Santa Maria being the best looking of the three, lots of gold and carved wood. Even the Pinta had its admirers. But it was the Nina Christopher was fondest of- for it was named after his mother, Nina Columbus!" which is a blatant lie but shh he's infodumping)

another interpretation of that dialogue is that it's a metaphor for the ladies, as in the trinity college production he gestures to wife, sweetheart, and goldberg respectively as he talks. which says that he sees goldberg in a sort of maternal way at first, which is really sad

then, after goldberg sings her part, marvin repeats it with her, which is what i say him telling whizzer about. bragging about what a good actor he was and such "i love the way marvin acts, i do"

the second dialogue is interesting cause goldberg is compared to isabella in a way, and marvin is obviously columbus, which implies that there was something romantic or sexual between them (which there was, no matter how you look at it)

#in trousers #marvin falsettos #sweetheart in trousers #miss goldberg #song analysis #my high school sweetheart

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got-into-worm-by-mistake · 2 months

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Interlude 15.x Live Reactions

(This is going to be a very - no, insanely - long post)

As I noted, after this I'll be trying (ha!) to read faster, and on my phone more so I can just get this done.

This is gonna be an interesting read. Purportedly, after all, this is where we're supposed to get the idea that Amy raped Vicky. Though supposedly Wildbow had to do a line by line analysis to make that point on reddit (which I have not read) and I feel like if you have to do that for something like rape, you've kind of failed your task as a writer, at least in terms of conveying what you meant.

I wish, even more than usual, I could be coming into this fully blind but I'm not. I know the 'official' interpretation of this scene is rape, and that the text of the sequel makes it canonical that Amy raped Vicky here, but I also know large numbers of people never got that take, and Wildbow somehow spent years not noticing massive swaths of his readership didn't realize rape had happened... supposedly.

We'll see if I come away convinced that rape is the best reading that can be constructed from this scene, though from what I gather, it's more that a rape reading in this scene feels wildly out of place with all of Amy's other stuff.

It's certainly hard to reconcile the Amy we just saw in Arc 14 with Raping Vicky, though 14.10 makes it not impossible.

Of course, since I'm not coming in blind - I'm aware of the official version, and I've seen some people make the arguments in support of that reading and I've seen a bunch of arguments against that reading, etc - it's not like that all won't be hanging over all of this.

And the thing is, on a certain level, it doesn't actually matter. In the context of the universe itself, it certainly matters, but from the perspective of all these characters not actually existing in the real world, it doesn't really much matter to me.

On the level of Amy's actions: What she does do to Vicky that everyone agreed on (changing her brain, then mind controlling her in 14.6 and 14.10, not immediately removing the 'love me' change from Vicky's brain, wretching her - intentionally or accidentally or a mix or w/e - and not fixing her brain at any point there, and so on) is a gross and horrifying betrayal and a deep, deep violation of Vicky's mental and bodily autonomy. Making actual, real rape a thing that happened here as well is just icing on a cake, really, in a lot of ways, in the context of Worm. (Ward can and will be safely ignored for the rest of this post - in just a moment anyway)

For another, while it appears a lot of readers and fans did turn on Amy - her popularity in the fandom and in fics and stuff purportedly took a bit of a nosedive after the rape was made clear in Ward and in Wildbow's various WoG, though apparently there were still people who read Ward and missed that rape was made clear (Maybe use the word? Apparently Wildbow doesn't even use that word in Ward), it wouldn't actually change much for me.

(Now ignoring Ward)

See, some of my favorite fictional characters have comitted rape.

Damon Salvatore? Mass murderer and... though the narrative doesn't really linger on it, he rapes Caroline Forbes in early Season 1, and his girlfriend that he gets at the end of S2 (I think) and is dating in early S3 is a relationship so full of Compulsion (mind control ability vampires have in TVD verse) that it's moved well past dubcon, I'd say. And there's probably other shit like that in the man's past. Again, the narrative doesn't linger, but it's fucking rape. Still love Damon, amazing character, my trash son, but yeah, committed rape. Absolute monster, by any reasonable standard.

Regina Mills - again, mass murderer, tyrant, and... at the very least, she raped the Huntsman for possibly up to 38 years. (Again, it's never clearly stated, but she ripped out his heart - which in OUAT verse is a thing dark magic allows that lets the holder of the hard dictate commands to the person and also just kill them if they crush it - and then commanded her guards to bring him to her chambers. Ten years later, she casts the dark curse, and the Huntsman's cursed persona is having sex with her about once a week, at least, for the next 28 years, though given the nature of the curse, only Regina and later her son Henry are aware of the passage of time.) Regina is my favorite OUAT character, has an amazing redemption arc, and is unquestionably a hero to the point where she's crowned the 'Good Queen' in the series finale by Snow White (i.e. the girl she became evil while chasing revenge on). The narrative doesn't really linger on it, I'm not even sure the writers quite realized that it was rape, but I never believed it anything else. Still love her, because she and the Huntsman are both entirely fictional. Not real people.

On BtVS, Faith attempts to rape Xander, and basically does rape Riley while in Buffy's body (Riley is Buffy's boyfriend and thinks it's Buffy he's having sex with. Also she also effectively rapes Buffy by having sex with Riley while in control of her body). I still love her, one of my favorite characters. Again, the narrative doesn't really linger on this (the show in general has a bad habit of not lingering on female-on-male sexual violence or sexual harrassment).

Also on BtVS, Willow wipes her girlfriend's (Tara) memory so she forgets a pretty serious argument they were having, and then they have sex the next day, which Tara would probably not have had if she was still angry with Willow. While the show never calls it rape, I and large parts of the fandom consider it as such. (Tara never calls it rape either, though she is incredibly furious with Willow when she finds out, and they break up - and then get back together 12 episodes later, buuut :shrug) Still big fan of Willow, Tara/Willow is still the biggest ship for willow and one of the largest ships in the fandom.

Now, it's true that in all four cases, the writers either didn't realize it was rape, or didn't care and never really address it, but the key point is that I am perfectly capable of being a huge fan of Amy and wanting to see her redeemed/get better/etc (which I am and do) and accepting that she committed rape. So it's not like I'm going to just insistently refuse to see rape

Now, apparently part of the argument against the 'rape happened' reading is also how 15.x fits into the rest of the work, both before, and after, with regards to the fact that (apparently) Amy doesn't really talk about Vicky with any sort of sexual element, just a worshipful adoration, etc, (and the fact that rape never comes up and so forth) which I won't know until I get that far. But again, it is worth noting that large numbers of people didn't get rape as the intended reading, which again, seems like a pretty big detail to fail to convey to the reader. It's worth nothing that the comments for 15.x on the actual worm website mention 'mindrape' and that it felt 'rapey' but not 'rape' full on.

Now, with a much larger preface than intended, let's actually read this godforesaken Interlude.

Actually, having done the live reaction below, I'm gonna put it all below a readmore

Some of that was fatigue, some of it was hunger, some was thirst. She had no idea how much time had passed. She might have been able to guess from her period, but her body had decided such would be a waste of precious resources. It hadn’t come, and she had no idea how many weeks or months it had been.

You only keep a Kidnap victim for weeks or months if you think there's a chance of a ransom. The fact that Carol's parents refused to just fucking pay the goddamn ransom for that long says a lot about how shit they were. Carol absolutely sucks as a mother, but she did have a pretty shitty starting point (though, somehow, somehow, Sarah managed to be at least halfway decent, so Carol could have come out better, but now I'm trying to compare traumas here and that's pretty sucky, but remember this is a Carol Dallon Hate Blog)

“Amy has always insisted she couldn’t heal brain injuries.” Alan winced. “I see. The worst sort of luck.” Carol smiled, but it wasn’t a happy expression. “So imagine my surprise when, after weeks of taking care of my husband, wiping food from his face, giving him baths, supporting him as he walked from the bedroom to the bathroom, Amy decides she’ll heal him after all.”

Love how she just glosses over the part where Bonesaw actively did even more, possibly eventually fatal, damage to Mark's brain. Even when she does Mention Bonesaw invading the house below, she doesn't mention that part.

I feel like Mark would be able to mention that, so I'm sure Carol is just conviently ignoring the part where Amy was faced with 'Mark fucking dies if I don't break my rule'

“Oh, I imagine she was. Victoria went looking for her after she ran away, returned home empty-handed. I think she was even more upset than I was, with Amy taking so long to heal Mark. She was almost inarticulate, she was so angry.”

So that would suggest that at least at first Vicky doesn't tell Carol what Amy did to her. Which would fit with Vicky saying she hadn't told anyone back in the early parts of Arc 14 (don't remember which chapter she said it) but the context could have just meant 'didn't tell the Protectorate/PRT' Though, it does still leave the open question: Amy was running around the city for fucking DAYS, a week possibly? between Interlude 11h and when she shows up in Arc 14.2 or 14.3. Did Carol even look for her? Why isn't she looking fucking now? She's your daughter, right, and Slaughterhouse Nine is looking for her too?

Is Sarah looking? Mark? Crystal?

Even if you don't love her or care about her, you shouldn't want S9 to have ahold of her, so maybe look for her rather than FUCKING FILE PAPERWORK?!

Carol fidgeted. “Oh, that wasn’t even the worst of it. Victoria’s been flirting with the notion of joining the Wards, and she went out to fight the Nine just a few days ago. Apparently she was critically injured. She was carried off for medical care and nobody’s seen her since.”

Ah, so this is now happening post-S9 leaving the city (though there's still no mention of Carol looking for her) and she's... not even looking for Vicky?

Like, okay, big city, might not be able to find her, but I feel like if I had a kid that I purportedly loved (as Carol does supposedly at least love Vicky, in her own horrible abusive sort of way) and said kid was missing and I had superpowers making it safe to go looking, I would be looking, damn the goddamn paperwork.

This woman just can't actively not suck.

Also, of all the people to be talking about this to, why the fuck is it Alan Barnes. Just a weird character to use for this. Is it supposed to be a juxtaposition - Carol was a neglectful bitch and Alan a too supportive parent and both ended up screwing their kids up?

“Or dead,” Carol said. She blinked a few times in rapid succession, fighting the need to cry. “I don’t know. I was patrolling, searching, and I felt my composure start to slip. I feel like shit for doing it, but I came here, I thought maybe if I took fifteen minutes or half an hour to center myself, I could be ready to start searching again.”

Okay, so there's that, so she was looking and just (understandably) needed a moment, but again - did you look for Amy at all earlier? Did fucking anyone? Somehow no member of New Wave actually showed up anywhere during Arcs 12 or 13 or 14, apart from Amy and Vicky.

He’d tried to attack them? Carol couldn’t understand it. He was the one who’d taken care of them. When he’d appeared, she’d been happy. And now it felt like that had been ruined, spoiled. She felt betrayed and she couldn’t understand why.

Stockholm Syndrome is a hell of a drug. But trigger trauma isn't much of an excuse, Carol, really fucking isn't.

“We didn’t know where you were. But let’s not fight again. The important thing is that Tattletale pointed us in the right direction. We think we know where your daughters are.” Daughters? Plural? Carol couldn’t put a name to the feeling that had just sucker-punched her.

Right, because with what little you know about the situation, you shouldn't actually have much reason to be that worried.

Technically, you're right this time, which I really kind of hate on the 'Carol Sucks' level of my personality, but you have no valid basis, because your paranoia was not actually well-founded.

The Brockton Bay Brigade closed in on the man who stood by his leather armchair, wearing a black silk bathrobe. He held his ground. “If you’ll allow me to finish my wine-” he started, bending down to reach for the wine glass that sat beside the armchair.

Marquis really is the textbook fucking definition of classy, isn't he? :rofl:

It meant she didn’t fall on her rear end, and she could pick a more appropriate posture as she snapped back into her human shape.

I mean, falling on your ass in a fight is just bad from a tactical standpoint, but also, I mean, you can't go losing style points, right?

The needles retracted. Marquis rolled his shoulders, as if loosening his muscles. “Broke your foot? How clumsy.”

If nothing else, he's fun.

Well, only in a sense. They still hadn’t touched him, and two of their members were out of commission. Three, if she counted Fleur being occupied with a wounded Lightstar in her arms.

And so let's use his child against him! Great move!

Let's invade someone's home without checking to see if there's any innocents around! GREAT PLAN!

Was he distracted?

Maybe ask yourself why.

Though, I will say - Marquis didn't have to play Coy. He quite literally could have just said 'my daughter's in that closet'. They might not have believed him, but it wouldn't have been hard to show them.

I'm not saying I don't get why he didn't, but technically Marquis didn't make the most optimal choice here.

But that... happens.

“Careful now,” Marquis chided her. “Don’t want to get decapitated now, do we?”

*giggle*

Instead, she turned and charged for the closet, creating a sword out of the crackling energy her power provided, slashing through the plates of bone that had surrounded it, then drawing the blade back to thrust through the wooden door-

I dunno. I know it's Amy - we all know it's Amy, at this point, even people reading Blind - and we're inclined to dislike Carol anyway at this point, again, even people reading Blind, I assume - but this just seems incredibly foolish.

Like, I guess maybe leaping straight to 'there's a kid there' might be a bitch much, and Carol in particular probably would have a hard time imagining Marquis as caring about another person because she's projected her issues with her kidnapper onto him for... reasons, but I mean, he could have a wife (or husband, I suppose) or girlfriend or all manner of things in there you may not want to hurt, and like... I dunno, I'd at least fucking open the closet before swinging in there? Maybe?

Fic idea - Marquis is a little too slow, but instead of killing her (I have read one fic where that happened. Marquis, understandably, kills Carol right after) he like, maims Amelia or something, cuts off her arm, or gives her a major scar or something.

That could be a really interesting story. Especially if Marquis still gets beaten, or Carol gets away and has to look at her daughter after having done that.

(I may hate Carol, but I can't imagine she'd be blithe about having maimed an innocent child, even Marquis kid, in the middle of a fight.)

*ads the fic idea to the list, which won't stop growing*

She stared down at him. That long hair, it was such a minor thing, but there was something else about him that stirred that distant, dark memory of the lightless room and the failed attempt at ransom. Her skin crawled, and she felt anger boiling in her gut.

This is so insane and then you take that projection and add a second layer onto Amy and like what the ABSOLUTE FUCK is wrong with you sick little woman?

“What were you so intent on protecting?” Manpower asked. “This where you stash your illegitimate gains?”

Because Marquis didn't just say he didn't really care if they destroyed his expensive home a few minutes ago. Jesus Christ Manpower really is a dumb brute, isn't he?

“Her mother’s gone, I’m afraid. The big C. Amelia and I were introduced shortly after that. About a year ago, now that I think on it. I must admit, I’ve enjoyed our time together more than I’ve enjoyed all my crimes combined. Quite surprising.”

Is that actually a thing anyone does? Or ever did? Is that a Canadian thing? Or a new england slang? 90s Lingo? I feel like no one has ever called Cancer 'The Big C' before.

That feels like something a writer - not necessarily Wildbow - invented and people just ran with even though it wasn't actually a thing people did.

If Marquis had realized how fucking terribly Carol would have raised Amy, I have to imagine he'd have settled for foster care instead. :rofl:

The idea disturbed her.

Why? Maybe get some fucking therapy for that, bitch? Seriously.

WHY THE FUCK DOES THIS DISTURB YOU?!

Maybe ask yourself that question?! But then, I suppose if you were capable of a single iota of self-examination, you would not have been such a shit mother and indeed, shit human.

That cultured act, the civility that was real. Marquis was fair, he played by the rules. His rules, but he stuck to them without fail. It didn’t match her vision of what a criminal should be. It was jarring, creating a kind of dissonance. That dissonance was redoubled as she looked at the forlorn little girl. Layers upon layers, distilled in one expression. Criminal, civilized man, child.

Right, and how dare something not line up with your view of the world? How DARE?! Surely the problem is with the thing, and not you?! SURELY!

“Then you take care of her,” Brandish replied, even as she mentally prayed her sister would refuse. There was something about the idea of being around Marquis’ child, that uncanny resemblance, having those memories stirred even once in a while, even if it was just at family reunions… it made her feel uneasy.

*shakes head* jesus christ.

I wonder what Amy Pelham's relationship with Aunt Carol would have been like. A lot of 'why doesn't Aunt Carol like me?' I imagine. Which might have led to Sarah berating Carol into getting help sooner, because I can't imagine Sarah wouldn't have loved her daughter Amy as much as Eric and Crystal.

Though who knows. May just be grass is greener.

“You should. Amelia’s Vicky’s age, I think they would be close.”

*nervous, awkward, darkly ironic laughter*

“I’m sorry to bring it up,” Brandish said. “But it’s relevant. I decided I could have Vicky because I’d know her from day one. She’d grow inside me, I’d nurture her from childhood… she’d be safe.”

And you did a bang up job with her! Two thumbs up! /s

“That child deserves better than I can offer. I know I don’t have it in me to form any kind of bond with another child if there’s no blood relation.” Especially if she’s Marquis’. “She needs you. You’re her only option. I can’t, and Fleur and Lightstar aren’t old enough or in the right place in their lives for kids, and if she goes anywhere else, it’ll be disastrous.”

I can't believe I'm saying this, but: Sarah, Sarah, look at me.

Listen to Carol. For once in her life, she's actually right about something.

Look at me Sarah. Listen to your sister.

You could grow to love and trust that little girl, too.”

Truth is, she probably could have, but it would have required Carol getting over herself, and that, as it turns out, was borderline impossible.

I don't believe it would have been completely impossible - people always have a choice - and that's why, at the end of the day, I will never let sympathy for Carol rise beyond the barest of minimums, because she had a responsibility to be better, to get better, not just for Amy, but for Vicky, and she didn't, and so again, This Is A Carol Dallon Hate Blog.

Was the girl in shock? Carol couldn’t muster any sympathy. Amy was stopping her from getting to Victoria. Victoria, who she’d almost believed was dead.

See, this is just...

I mean, I'm glad Carol didn't kill Amy here, but Carol has not even an iota of concern for Amy, and yet, once she sees the state of Victoria and supposedly finds out that Amy raped Victoria, she suddenly has enough sympathy for Amy to not kill her?

I -

Seriously. Absolute bizzaro world shit here, Wildbow.

“So I thought I’d put her in a trance, and make it so she’d forget everything that happened. Everything that I did, and the things that the Slaughterhouse Nine said, and everything that I said to try to make them go away. Empty promises and-“

Okay, so like, you can Amy's lying here, but all we have to go on is what she says, you know? If Wildbow wanted us to get the takeway that Amy's lying here, he kind of needs to make that more clear.

Like, far from done, and I am kind of biased against WB at this point, to say the least, but it's just really fucking hard for me to see this girl acting like this if she just raped her sister.

I mean, really, man, if that really was your intent, you did a REALLY bad job of conveying it, and when you fail as a writer you don't fucking take that out on the readers.

(Right, sorry, I said I was ignoring Ward. Back to doing that)

She could never be my daughter because she’d never stopped being his.

She doesn't even remember him, you crazy psycho!

Amy kept talking, her voice strangely monotone after her earlier emotion, as if she were a recording. Maybe she was, after a fashion, all of the excuses and arguments she’d planned spilling from her mouth. “I wanted her to be happy. I could adjust. Tweak, expand, change things to serve more than one purpose. I had the extra material from the cocoon. When I was done, I started undoing everything, all the mental and physical changes. I got so tired, and so scared, so lonely, so I thought we’d take another break, before I was completely finished. I changed more things. More stuff I had to fix. And days passed. I-“

I'm having trouble seeing it. I really am.

I get that we're supposed to see 'break' as like... Amy raping her or something but -

But that -

no.

It might even have been something objectively beautiful, had it not been warped by desperation and loneliness and panic.

Everything about this scene just paints Amy as pathetic and pitiable. She really is a sopping wet poor little meow meow here.

I'm not saying a rapist can't also be pitiable - someone can be victim and victimizer, of course they can - but if you want the pitiable character to be seen as a rapist, or, you know, hated, for what they did -

Especially when it's from fucking Carol's POV, and Wildbow just got done explaining how little regard Carol actually has for Amy, how she has no sympathy for the girl and everything.

If there's any POV that should not be painting Amy as pitiable, but as the rapist we're supposed to believe she is, it's Carol's right?

Then I’d go and spend the rest of my life healing people. Sacrifice my life. I don’t know. As payment.”

Wildbow makes the most woobifiable character in the world, and then gets self-righteous when people woobify her.

News at 11.

And with everything laid bare, there was not a single resemblance to Marquis. There was no faint reminder of Brandish’s time in the dark cell, nor of her captor. If anything, Amy looked how Sarah had, as they’d stumbled from the house where they’d been kept, lost, helpless and scared. She looked like Carol had, all those years ago. The weapon dissipated, and Brandish’s arms dropped limp to her sides.

All this does is make Carol look narcissistic in the weirdest and worst way. She can only give a shit about someone who reminds her of... her?

But I mean, the whole reason she supposedly loved Vicky is because Vicky came from her, so she should have that take priority over...

I'm sorry. I'm just not seeing it. I'm not -

And Carol's actions here, even with the 'she looked like carol had' just...

No. This is weird. This is confusing. This is nonsensical. And I'm sure as shit not getting a 'Amy Raped Vicky' takeaway here.

Even allowing for Jack's comment about 'indulging' in 14.10. When Amy didn't agree or anything, and Jack would have no way to know what Amy did or didn't do when he wrote that letter we see in 14.11.

Like, if I squint and force myself to twist my brain into nots I can... pretend I can see it... but even then...

I mean, maybe Amy's lying, and characters lie and misrepresent and so on, true, but unless the text gives us a good reason to believe they are, which it hasn't yet...

I mean, it's the official version, the official narrative, that it's Rape. That's the WoG. And like...

Even if I didn't have my, admittedly largely unfounded, suspicions that Wildbow is just flat out lying about his original intent or meaning, I do believe that WoG should be an enhancement to and addition to the text, not a direct contradiction.

It really does seem like WB ended up falling into the trap of figuring he could just let his WoG paper over mistakes in his writing rather than getting it right the first time?

Carol stared as Amy shuffled forward. The cuffs weren’t necessary, really. A formality. Amy wasn’t about to run.

I mean, this is another thing I don't get. Amy haters harp on Amy 'running away from responsibility/consequences' but I mean... quietly going to the Birdcage, an unaccountable black box of a prison where (IIRC from what I've heard) 2/3s of the prisoners ended up dying by the time of the breakout is sort of the opposite of running away?

I mean, Amy should have fixed Vicky before going, this is true, but it seems clear she wasn't sure she could, and would Carol and Sarah have even let her?

As if she could convey everything she wanted to say in a single gesture, she folded her daughter into the tightest of hugs.

I -

I mean, I suppose stranger things have happened, but of all the times to actually suddenly start giving a shit about Amy, it's here and now?

Yeah, I can't reconcile this with Wildbow's official narrative of things.

“Victoria is gone. There’s nothing of her left but that mockery.

Yeah, okay, back to Carol just sucking 100%. That's more familiar ground.

The day I cease seeing her as his daughter and see how she could be mine, he takes her back, she thought.

Well, no one to blame but yourself, Carol.

Yeah, my official verdict is: if this is supposed to be the scene that convinces the reader Amy raped Victoria, then...

Yeah, I'm not seeing it. I'm not seeing anything that makes that implied even with a tortured reading. Even with the most hostile reading, I don't -

I don't see it. I really don't. I'm trying to have as open a mind as possible, I tried to look for it -

This isn't me questioning a victim in the 'was it really rape' way or whatever, I'm questioning whether the writing of a scene conveys the idea that one character committed the physical/sexual act of rape on another, and this scene does not. Maybe there's another scene later on (In Worm) that will convince me, but...

This one sure doesn't.

#This Is A Carol Dallon Hate Blog #Interlude 15.x #Kylia Reads Worm #Amy Dallon #Marquis #Sarah Pelham #I don't fucking no #I just...#I don't see it

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its-me-vixen · 7 months

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I enjoyed talking to you about it, and you said you have more to say, so... elaborate on your kfp 4 rewrite? I've been living off seeing people try and fix this movie, and there's not NEARLY enough variants around. I'd love to hear more, especially since I'm not super well-versed in the franchise lore, specifically Tai Lung as a character.

OOh In that case bestie allow me, as someone who's hyperfixated on the series off and on, to ramble. This might be long becuase I'm justing wingin it lol

So Tai Lung as a character is introduced as basically Shifu's first adopted child, an orphan he took in to train in Kung Fu with the specific intent of making him into the Dragon Warrior. Oogway denied this, causing Shifu to abandon Tai Lung, forcing him out and causing his turn to evil after everything he had trained for his entire life was taken away from him.

This series of events is why Tigress (also an orphan Shifu took in) is raised much stricter, with an emphasis on a lack of feeling.

This also is Shifu's main character arc; the transition from thinking that everything he's done has earned him control over the future but realizing he is at the whims of the universe no matter how much he try's to change things. This is extremely contradictory to how he was presented in KP4 where he's suddenly encouraging Po to make his exact mistakes in KP1 all over again, with even less effort.

Back to Tai Lung - His entire life was consumed with the acquisition of the Dragon Warrior scroll, and the appointment of Po was at odds with everything he had ever believed about the way the world worked - that raw power and skill was all that mattered. Po defeats him of course, and send him to the spirit world.

In the events of the third movie, the chi of all Kung Fu masters in the spirit world is stolen to be used by General Kai, and we can assume Tai Lung was included in that, which would have been another defeat that could have pushed him further from that ideal still. I haven't thought this aspect all too much, but with the way they present the spirit world one could assume some character change and growth from the years he spent there. I think this would contribute to a growing sense of questioning things, along with rage at failing.

This growing feeling would be brought to the surface when Tai Lung is summoned much closer to the beginning of the movie, in an opening scene taking place on the night of the blood moon, or whatever allows the spell to happen. Tai Lung is not the first to be summoned, and witnesses specifically General Kai get absorbed - similar to yours, with no body remaining. The sequence could be made to parallel Kai's own ability to take the chi of others and turn them into Jade figures, maybe leaving them transfigured into some kind of object. I'm picturing that lovely golden tree palanquin, maybe they become the jewels. The process is through a specific item with a single task.

More exploration of the Chameleon as a Sorcerer would be very important. In this scene, Tai Lung would be the audience POV witnessing what's happening. He is powerless in the moment, to his increased and endless frustration, but something unrelated happens that allows him to escape mid-absorption. We don't clearly see who or how the spell is happening, its obscured and more esoteric. The vibe is much darker, in a visible sense.

He is left powerless, unable to remember or do any kung fu, and is forced with very little choice in how to recover his power at all. He has had some ability to observe Po from the afterlife, and knows that he is now well established as the Dragon Warrior, and that he is unfortunately the most powerful person, and thus the one capable of defeating this new evil. He is reluctant, but could have some interaction that sets him on the path, like getting shoved aside by someone now much stronger than him and seeing some kind of poster about Po.

The Dragon Warrior would be more popular in my version, if only like a bit of a Mascot. This guy has saved the capital, he found the lost city of the Pandas, people may not know exactly who he is, but they know the Dragon Warrior. In the first movie, there was merchandising for the Furious Five, so there certainly would be for Po, too.

Cut to Po kicking butt, devolving into a montage of battles that he handles well and gladly, happy in his routine, until there's another transition where he's entering the Jade Palace. Shifu is noticeably older, Po has some new visual changes to his design/outfit the imply more experience and maturity. He regards Shifu with respect before relaxing into his casual, comedic self. Shifu has actually found peace, more resembling Oogway in the first film, his arc has finished and he is enjoying a peaceful life.

The Furious Five has dispersed to create their own schools or take on more permanent responsibilities elsewhere, going where they're needed. Po has put off settling down in any way, and is used to being alone on missions, seeking adventure. He finds it difficult to stay in one place for long now that his world has opened up. His dads have that scene where he's late, he's often far from town these days.

Shifu has been trying to get him to stick around for longer stretches, telling him to teach classes.

(If we consider supplementary media, Po has already had storylines about being kind of pushed into being a teacher, I recommend Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny, so while that's an aspect of this I don't want it to be the central theme of his arc over the movie.)

Shifu announces to Po that he wants to step down and is naming Po as his successor, and suddenly there's a looming future where he becomes the Master of the Jade Palace instead of the Dragon Warrior.

Po has some kind of imagination sequence about becoming something he isn't, settling down, no longer being a warrior.

Shifu snaps him back to reality and encourages him to oversee a new crop of students, illustrating how there's nothing else that needs to be done. Po oversees a scene with auditioning students. Shifu is absent. He is very bored, antsy for the thrill of adventure, but being forced to let others handle it instead. In a parallel to the first movie, Tai Lung bursts into the courtyard in the middle of the proceedings, causing a full response from the guards, all shaken because they're watching a ghost collapse to the ground. Po jumps at the opportunity for something he perceives as a task only he can accomplish.

{I'm not a great comedy writer, so please assume there's also jokes and light-hearted air to this lol}

Po confronts Tai Lung in private (jail? I'm unsure, I wasn't into how they did that) wondering what the heck is going on. Coming back from the spirit world is a thing that's been established in this world, so he wouldn't bee too shocked I don't think? He'd also be defensively cocky because he's beat this guy before, but seeing Tai Lung's actual state would defuse the tension. Po gains a feeling of sympathy for him.

Tai Lung tells him about a new, growing evil, and that no matter how much he hates it, if he wants to regain his power and return to the spirit world, he needs Po's help. They leave for Juniper City. The journey actually matters this time around, illustrating the growth of their connection, while the dynamic is similar to the journey in the film. Po is overly friendly in the eyes of the pissed off, exhausted Tai Lung, pushing his boundaries. Po is wired and a little stressed, deflecting with a manic energy. Tai Lung is jumpy and snaps often now that he feels powerless. Po offers to help him re-learn, but is quickly shot down, and so circumvents it by acting like he's casually "practicing" things. Eventually Tai Lung would have to ask a question and they would make progress forward. Tai Lung would have been clinging to the idea that he was the best and needed to get HIS power back, and that nothing Po did could be anywhere near as good, being very stubborn etc but Po would casually wear him down. They make genuine progress by the end of the sequence.

Po has a vision about the villain, and the consequences of their plans going unchecked during the last night. There is a moment where Tai Lung shows concern for Po - some kind of emotional connection. They're both awkward about it lol

When they approach the border of the city they have some kind of encounter with a citizen who gets terrified or something? Something that makes it so they have to lay very low, perhaps they're wanted, perhaps the rumor of the ghost of the formidable villain Tai Lung has been haunting the countryside. They end up in a situation where they are saved by Zhen - a fast-talking street thief of Juniper City. Also not Awkwafina lol

Tai Lung is suspicious of the fox, but Po sings the praises of helping others in need and putting good out into the world. He's still trying to be more eloquent with creating proverbs over the course of the movie, but doesn't notice saying decent ones when he isn't trying.

Zhen leads them to the underground crime syndicate place and listens incredulously as Po overshares about their goals. She says that if something like that was going down in Juniper City, she'd know about it! Tai Lung describes the place he remembers escaping from, its the palace (much less dramatic but still heavily fortified). Zhen tells them that they'll need her help to get in.

Other denizens of the underground avoid her and ignore Po, making a few scared reactions to Tai Lung. There is gossipy, nervous whispering. Time passes, Zhen has befriended Po with food and conversation. They even have a small, genuine moment of connection over something while Zhen explains their approach.

The group invades the castle.

Zhen is taken out early and encourages the others to go on without her.

They encounter the Chameleon, we get a reveal of them. I would redesign the Chameleon to be a more shadowy figure, literally, with a constantly shifting appearance in some way. A normal chameleon in this world would be able to shift colors but would otherwise look fairly simple. They are hurt by the world, and feel abandoned and isolated. There is emphasis on how their sorcery has changed them, physically and mentally. I'd also like them more androgynous as a personal choice. They are menacing and formidable, their own guards abandoning the fight as soon as magic kicks up. This is the big, flashy, gorgeous fight scene.

Tai Lung is incapacitated via sorcery. The ability to take any shape is shown here, and the transition is much more complete. Po faces the Chameleon on his own, and it's more of a draw than a defeat. He is thrown off by the mental aspect of recognizing the Masters, Chameleon fumbling with a lack of practice at these new powers. They experience joy at the intense power at their disposal. I think the Chameleon should also be a bit more mentally unstable. There's monologuing where we learn that The Chameleon's goal is to absorb Po, China's strongest warrior, and take over China. There's some kind of dialogue like,

"No Kung Fu Master could ever defeat me!"

Po gets trapped, and is saved by a self-sacrificial move from Tai Lung, forcing his escape through the floor.

Po is alone and ends up back in the underground, feeling like a failure as a leader, projecting the feeling on his running away from his responsibilities. There would be hints of his self-doubt and deflection prior.

The dads' storyline is fine, I love them, best pairing in the whole series tbh. I'd probably just shift it so they end up also in the underground, maybe feeding all the criminals haha

Po meets up with them there, feeling supported by their presence and encouragement, some kind of scene where they help him see his worth and continued potential. Po rises to the challenge of being a leader, rallying the criminals together, and having a comical scene where they all show off their various skills, and Po has to come up with a plan that uses their skills that aren't Kung Fu, the only option is to try something new.

They pull off an infiltration, the group emerging back into the throne/ritual room, there's combat, it's comical and creative. Po finds a restrained Zhen, and is happy to see her until she begins to lose her form - Zhen was always The Chameleon.

{Adored your idea for that so don't mind if I use some inspiration here!!}

A more chaotic fight ensues, everyone coming together to conquer the Chameleon with their unique gifts and new things they practiced that were explored prior. Po has a realization regarding how skills aren't exclusively useful in their original contexts.

The fight sequence ends with the item for the absorption being used against the Chameleon, while also releasing all of the previous victims, and restoring their powers. They also begin unsummoning, Tai Lung taking the item now containing all of the sorcerer magic with him into the Spirit World. Po and Tai Lung have a moment of mutual respect before he goes.

The chameleon isn't sent into the Spirit World, but is instead offered a place at the Jade Palace by Po, offering to help them learn something new.

Po would return to his responsibilities, but also give them his own unique flair!! Time would pass and you'd see The Chameleon/Zhen growing into the better person they didn't think they could be. We get a bright ending showing hope for the future.

~~~

Okay I feel batshit insane after spending like two solid hours on this??

2300+ words later and here I am lol I kept going back and revising to try and make the story beats and themeing consistent, but I haven't like, edited this with any consistency. So don't judge me if somethings don't quite make sense lol And god the pacing feels so off writing like this but hopefully it still makes sense????? Anyways. Thank you so much for asking what I would do, I had a blast thinking about this in detail!!

#me #mine #ask #kung fu panda #kung fu panda 4 #kung fu panda 4 rewrite #fanfic #?#drabble #ramble #theory #rewrite

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buildingunderstanding · 13 days

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Don't mind me, I just need to ramble for a minute.

I was just watching this video about who the concept of monotheism isn't actually in the Bible like I was taught, and I've seen several break downs about how the concept of the trinity isn't really an accurate idea.

Now, I was taught which verses to use as evidence for the trinity, and there was often a stress on being able to prove my beliefs, didn't matter what it was if I believed something about the Bible then I needed to be able to prove it with the Bible. I was also taught that the concept of the trinity was beyond human understanding and it was a concept that just needed to be accepted by faith. That while it could be proven through specific verses, it wasn't a concept that our human minds could fully understand and just needed to be accepted by faith.

This has made the shift to Norse Paganism specifically...almost comical? For example, I remember watching another video, that was discussing Loki and how examining different texts and different kennings for Loki, it's reasonable to draw the conclusion that Loki is actually Lođurr in the Voluspa.

Is this idea absolutely proven? No. Do I choose to believe it anyway? Yeah.

Because I was taught that I don't have to fully understand something to believe it.

The way I was taught faith and a lot of things about religion and whatnot from the church wasn't great. But it did teach me something things that have helped me adjust to this new way of faith.

I was taught that personal experiences with the Christian God and Jesus were evidences of their existence. By that logic, personal experiences with other deities are also evidence for their existence. Yeah, there are still things that I trip over now and again, like being taught that Satan is always looking for opportunities to deceive people, but if I can accept praying that I'd get home safely and seeing a rainbow as a sign from God that my prayer would be answered, then I can accept my interactions with Loki as real too.

The church messed me up in a lot of ways, but teaching me that sometimes you just have to accept things by faith wasn't one of them.

#lokean #screaming into the void #messy thoughts #i know the discussion around the varios tellings of norse myth can get kind of dicey because of christainization #ive even seen one video that disccused how loki was potentially an entirely post-christianizstion creation #and they did a decent job explaining this veiwpoint #i dont necessarily agree with that veiwpoint and it was very much presented as one possibility and i think the video #did a god job of highlighting why things can get so dicey in norse mythology bringing to light several contradictions from how things #were written down and the motivation of the various authors and this that and the other #at the end of the day especially with such fragmented mythology i think you just have to accept it and go with the flow od things #i choose to believe that loki was involved in the voluspa and is responsible for giving man warmth #im not gonna take the creation myth literally either #but believing that loki was present at the beginning of it all and gave the gift of warmth amoung other things to humans makes me happy #it brings me comfort and thats really what faith is supposed to be about

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bxtonpxss · 24 days

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SHIPPING INFO. answer the following for your muse(s) so people know how shipping works on your blog.

what’s your OTP for your muse(s)?

Neya & Thor are the only two applicable options here when it comes to things outside platonic/familial relationships. Opacho is 5 and Jack is also just a baby, but she's like best frienemies with Faolan. I know when you hear OTP its usually referring to romance but I'm super big on platonic relationships being OTPs!

That being said Neya x chemistry, she's not overly complex but Neya is a kind-hearted and deeply supportive type of character who despite often being in situations where she's in way over her head, is willing to persevere and overcome whatever obstacle that may be, especially when it involves people she cares about! If our characters build a relationship through our writing then I will never say no to it! This also applies to Thor! They have a good relationship built through us writing together and/or chatting about stuff via messages I'll never say no.

what are you willing to RP when it comes to shipping?

Pretty much anything, except you know the obvious and universal no no's.

how large does the age gap have to be to make it uncomfortable?

Hoo boy ok. So, Neya, for her era (and the author even states this in the manga) at 16 she's considered an adult. On that alone I'd do 2 years younger and 4 years older cause I'm just trying to think of how it'd be from her time period. Now, this ONLY applies specifically for [main verse || itsuwaribito] when she's in her canon universe or some other feudal-era settings. I understand she's still 16 and other people don't vibe with that, I don't force anything on people (at least not intentionally, if you ever feel like I write something that makes you uncomfortable please tell me!) and romance is never my first or main priority, I like crushes/gradual friends to dating/lovers etc when writing anyway. This also obvi needs to be discussed first cause duh. Also, I'm fine with like 'x character looks 16/17 but is actually 100+ years old' (I’m an Inuyasha girly uwu, so we love a good demon/immortal s/o pairing).

For the verse where she's stuck in the future, [verse || under a rock] she is by modern-day laws legally underage. I'd go for 2 at most maybe 3 years older, 1 year younger. For the sub-main verse set at the end of the series with her running her village [verse || nanushi] she's canonically an adult there so I can deal with 10 years older or whatever and when it comes to the monsters/demons/immortal characters, so long as both parties are consenting adults it's cool!

Thor's a talking rodent. He's adult age and would be considered a young adult by human standards I suppose. So as long as the other creature is adult-aged it wouldn't matter to him. I can't put too much thought into this one, trying to make the math make sense is gonna hurt my brain, but obviously NO child-age creatures.

are you selective when shipping?

Can't really say, like excluding Coschu x Surgechu, which happened gradually through jubilantsparks and I's constant gushing about our chus via DMs I've never really shipped seriously with anyone else before so I can't really give an honest opinion about it *kanye shrug*

how far do steamy moments have to go before they’re considered NSFW?

When they start undressing and getting real handsy, but none of that will ever be happening here so no need to worry!

Who are other muses you ship your muse with?

For Thor, specifically in his Lt. Surge Raichu verse (affectionately shortened to Surgechu) I shipped him with jubilantsparks' Fem!Pikachu OC Elysia who had a Cosplay Pikachu verse (affectionately shortened to Coschu). Coschu x Surgechu was fun and I miss them :') Also, Thor and Elysia in general were my favorite platonic OTP that could have easily become romantic cause they loved and cared for each other so much as best friends who could have just as easily become something more if they wanted to </3

NeRiya with Jade's Iriya . We've had many discussions about this enemies-to-friends/maybe more slow burn/redemption arc for Iriya. I cherish it deeply and Iriya deserved better than what he got in canon ; n ;

does one have to ask to ship with you?

Hmm, not really? I have a very chill and go-with-the-flow type of mindset when it comes to building relationships and shipping in general. The more our characters interact, get to know each other and the closer they become the better! If there's ever a certain aspect of their relationship you wanna discuss with me privately or plot, then just shoot me a message!

Also, I never assume anything so if you're invested off the rip in wanting to pursue the ship beyond them being friends then once again just message me. I'm here to have fun and write with folks, so go for it I will most likely never say no lmao. Crushes on Neya or Thor are also 100% ok, even if it's one-sided I have no problems with it, you don't even gotta ask me for that.

how often do you like to ship?

I've only had two (2) actual ships during my entire time here on this site. I have a bad case of anxiety brain when it actually comes to shipping and I never wanna assume or push anyone into doing anything so it's rare I ever approach. I'll just sit and vibe and settle with my time in the friendzone while making up scenarios in my head like the dork I am.

are you multiship?

Ok, after getting some answers on what multishipping is from an RP standpoint, I want to say yes I am. I'd have no issues with having multiple ship partners. Every character interaction is like in their own separate universes so like I can't understand limiting myself as a single ship. This is subject to change but like I said, I barely have any shipping experience.

are you ship obsessed or ship more-or-less?

More-or-less! As stated above I don't really ask or approach first for ships soooo if it happens it happens. I'm down for shipping off of chemistry through a gradually built relationship!

what is your favorite ship in your current fandom?

ooh chile I'm in a bunch of fandoms lol so I'll just go with the fandoms for my muses specifically. For Pkmn it'll always be ShinHika/Paul x Dawn/ Ikarishipping. Pokeani can pry that dynamic from my cold dead hands.

I like all the potential pairings within Utsuho's group, but that'd be too much to list. Gin x Kin, Neya x Uzume, Neya x Hikae, Hikae x Iwashi.

For SK I was a sucker for Hao x Tamao back in the day. It still could've been cute if Takei didn't turn Tamao into Anna 2.0. I find her whole personality shift weird.

finally, how does one ship with you?

Just write with me! I don't care how many asks or threads we end up having. I cannot reiterate how much I adore relationship building in writing. We write enough threads together and our characters grow to like each other or something I'm 100% down to clown! Also, If you don't suffer from perpetual cold feet like me, just shoot me an IM and let's talk about it! Easy peasy, promise I don't bite!

Nabbed from: @gamenu initially, but I've been seeing other moots do it too! Tagging: @sillymuses, @lostusagis, @museguided, @despairforme, + anyone who sees this!

#memes || [fun]#covet || [likes]#but evolved and matured childhood besties Jack & Faolan?? Good shit 👌🏾👌🏾 also the Dead Money PMD verse. immaculate.#Thorlysia makes me so soft. Heavy friends turned lovers vibes but they were also content with just being with each other ; n ;#then coschu and surgechu (the beauty & her bodyguard) *SCREAMS INTO THE VOID* I MISS THEM SO MUCH #iinuma gave us all these fun pairings and character interactions but barely explored them so I have to do everything myself around here #christ on a cracker this was long

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thesongthesoulsings · 1 month

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You quite often say "facts don't care about your feelings," I've noticed. You're right in that case.

Where you're wrong is thinking the facts support your argument. Trans women are women, trans is just another adjective like tall, short, muscular, silly. One that's much more stigmatised and argued about, but an adjective nonetheless. Just like cis woman. Cis is an adjective.

Hundreds of thousands of years of a wide cultures having trans people in them, and some even actively worshipping trans people, proves you wrong.

Also, you mention in your bio that you're Catholic, so allow me to point you to a few parts from the Bible as further evidence for why, even if you are right and trans people are mentally ill, you shouldn't care and should still support them anyway.

Leviticus 9:18 states "You shall not take vengeance nor bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, for you should love your neighbour as yourself; I am the Lord." Since everyone, according to the Bible, is a child of God, then everyone is therefore the "sons of your own people," and that means you should not take vengeance nor bear a grudge, but love them as yourself. Based on your comments online, you've elected to ignore that verse. And in James 2:10 it is said "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it." In other words, cherrypicking the Bible gets you sent to Hell just the same as breaking any of the other rules.

Additionally, I can't find the precise verse, but it says in the Bible that you can suspend a rule if it causes harm to another. For example, if your work is necessary for the continuation of another's life, you may work on the Sabbath.

Honestly, if I were you, I'd be ashamed a "filthy pagan" knows more about my Holy Book than me.

In conclusion, you're wrong, both biology, sociology, anthropology, and the Bible prove it, and facts don't care about your feelings. Also:

Trans Women are Women, Trans Men Are Men, All LGBTQ+ People are Valid, Black Lives Matter, and All Religions are Valid.

No, Trans"women" are not women. They are men thinking they are women. Womanhood is not a feeling.

Loving others means wanting their best, not supporting them in sin. God is love, as such it means pursuing God.

Stop picking verses in isolation, cause the whole Bible makes a point of pointing out and avoiding sin.

People also worship(ed) demons, so I'm not surprised they worship(ed) Transgenderism. Not the argument you think it is.

"Additionally, I can't find the precise verse, but it says in the Bible that you can suspend a rule if it causes harm to another. For example, if your work is necessary for the continuation of another's life, you may work on the Sabbath." - That's not how it works. Ends do not justify the means, but the Sabbath was created for humanity and not the human for the Sabbath.

You can be ashamed of your ignorance and better yourself, but please don't tell me I should be ashamed of my sanity. I know Scripture well, which is why I try to live by it and am faring wonderfully. (All glory be to God who bestows me with the grace of living in his light.)

Transgenders have my compassion for their suffering, but I won't support lies. Womanhood is neither a feeling nor a costume, and neither is manhood.

Not all religions are valid, although they all contain some degree of wisdom. Truth cannot contradict itself.

"Give me liberty or give me death" - you don't even want to give people the liberty to speak their mind and use language to their liking.

You have the freedom to destroy yourself, if you so wish, but do not expect from me to support it. Dress up how you want, declare you are something you are not, but do not expect me to partake in your delusion.

Have a lovely day and try not to be terminally online. Life can be wonderful when actually lived. You're still very young and impressionable, so try not to destroy yourself by following those who have miserable lives and attempt to take you into their abyss.

We all fail, we all sin, but we need to recognize the truth or we are lost and our lives will be miserable.

#ask #reply #womanhood #manhood #truth #christianity

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triptychgrip · 1 month

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Yurio's post-canon maturation

In the latest chapter of my 2018/2022 Olympic Games Yuri!!! on Ice fic -- which takes place on the day of the Men's Singles Free Skate at the 2022 Beijing Games -- I was able to delve into one of my favorite topics to write about: Yurio's post-canon maturation, especially with regards to his perceptions around mental health challenges (like Yuuri's anxiety).

Yuri Plisetsky is my favorite lovable gremlin, but the first time I watched YOI (age 30, I'm now 33), my gut feeling towards him was strong dislike. When he yelled at Yuuri in the bathroom at the Sochi GPF, it reminded me of the bullies from high school that made fun of me because I was a nervous wreck in gym class (I am partially blind, but that apparently didn't matter to them), and his extreme belligerence that was met with seemingly very little consequences would never have flown in the extremely strict South Asian family that I was raised in.

If either of my parents had caught wind of the fact that I'd ever dared to call someone a pig...I shudder to think of the reaction. I honestly think I resented Yuri a little for his brashness.

In becoming more familiar with YOI, I grew to love his character and was able to pick up on nuances of his development that I'd failed to the first time around. He's been really rewarding to write about in my "Gold's On The Inside" fic-verse (which is at 300K+ words and counting!), and I love being able to show the protective side of him that occasionally flares up when it comes to Yuuri, but also when it comes to Viktor (who in my series, becomes his coach once Yakov retires in 2019).

Below is an excerpt from the latest chapter (#19) that I really loved writing.

It depicts a scene that takes place just before Yurio helps Yuuri through a panic attack (which is a full-circle event, considering some earlier events in the story). I won't give things away in terms of spoilers that take place in the previous chapter, but just know that something happens to Viktor on the day of the Free Skate that causes Yuuri's anxiety to skyrocket even more than it typically would, considering competition nerves (and the fact that 2022 Olympics mark Yuuri's final competition prior to retirement).

As an FYI re: original character names you'll see in this excerpt, 'Suko' refers to the name of Yuuri's therapist, while 'Ianna' is the name of Yuuri's close friend (and Mila's coach). 'Lakernik" refers to the Vice-President of the International Skating Union.

I hope this overview piques your interest in checking out this fic, or my other Yuri!!! on Ice work ----

Katsudon was literally gasping for air like a drowning man into Meni’s fur, full-body shaking under the weight of his distress. Ianna had begun speaking a bit louder, so Yuri now knew that she’d been trying to run him through some of the breathing exercises that Suko usually had him do.

“As you can see, Mr. Lakernik, I’m rather preoccupied,” Ianna snapped in answer, adopting an uncharacteristically impatient tone. “I wasn’t the only one close by. Otabek Altin was there, too, and I’m sure he’d be more than willing to give his account.”

He stiffened at his best friend’s name, knowing Beka had been texting him these last few minutes. He wondered how he was faring amidst the uncertainty.

“Yes, President Dijkema is speaking with Mr. Altin now, but I’m sure you understand that we need to be able to corroborate the details with as many people as possible,” Lakernik countered, sounding equally impatient.

He hesitated for a second, and then casted an unmistakably derisive glance in Yuuri’s direction.

“Provided they’re not, erm…indisposed,” he went on.

A plume of rage flared to life in Yuri’s stomach, and it was all he could do to prevent himself from stomping over to make it known.

Years ago, he might have made a similarly demeaning comment, but his teenage self had been a bit of a judgmental idiot that’d been completely clueless when it came to anxiety.

And not only in terms of understanding that it manifested for Katsudon as a disorder that affected his day-to-day life, but also in comprehending how he was the very opposite of weak for struggling with it.

Yuuri had told him shortly after dedushka had died – during the three month period of yawning emptiness when Yuri had started to experience his own, albeit infrequent panic attacks – that his anxiety sometimes made him feel like his feet were made of lead.

Like no matter how hard he tried to move them when his music started, that it felt like he had to expend gargantuan effort to lift them by even a fraction of an inch off of the ice.

To think…even as Katsudon’s mind told him that his feet were welded to his skates, he managed to lift them, anyway.

At times after a panic attack, his movements – by his own admission – were stiff and rote, devoid of his innate musicality. But then at other times, Yuuri truly did seem to create a chorus with his body, to the extent that a surreal weightlessness gilded his every turn, jump, and glide.

But in either case: he showed up. Katsudon pushed onwards.

So how dare this fucking idiot try to diminish him for his struggle?

Something on Yuri’s face must have betrayed his indignation, because now Celestino was gripping his wrist.

#yuri on ice #yuri!!! on ice #yuri on ice fanfiction #yoi fanfiction #katsuki yuuri #yuuri katsuki #yuri plisetsky #victor nikiforov #viktor nikiforov #victuuri #viktuuri #Gold's On The Inside series #post canon yuri on ice #yuri on ice longfic

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